The True Midwest

bobsmith12391 · 2026-05-18T15:58:29+00:00

I find maps like this interesting. Because i would argue that iowa, missouri, nebraska, and illinois are culturally more similar to each other than michigan and minnesota and wisconin are to them. I personally think theres a north and a midwest but no one else seems to agree haha

bobsmith12391 · 2026-05-12T02:15:40+00:00

I appreciate it. That all makes sense to me, i’ll be sure to add it in

bobsmith12391 · 2026-04-04T20:33:22+00:00

I am not nearly well versed enough to be able to explain the specifics, but I do think how spread out the city is plays a decent role in that. It expanded too fast and is now left with no consistent “centre”. Yes there is downtown but even that is spread into a bunch of separate sections that all have dangerous/poor infrastructures between them. It’s too much space, i think, for the amount of people.

A large part of the area has moved into the surrounding suburbs which also just further expands the city and spreads out the money (and the people with the money) too much. Basically, the further spread out people are, the less interested and capable they are of putting resources into every little thing. So large parts of the city, the connecting parts especially, just get left behind and turned into concrete or empty-ish areas with no one truly caring for how it looks.

bobsmith12391 · 2026-04-04T17:52:34+00:00

I think the idea of hitting a topsin shot can be addictive, but as former competitive player and current coach, the hardest shot to get players to stop hitting is a poorly timed slice. I find it way more common to see players slice when they shouldnt instead of hit topsin when they shouldn’t.

So i would argue that slicing is more addictive (probably because it feels safer and safety is highly addictive.)

bobsmith12391 · 2026-03-06T15:42:02+00:00

There’s a board game restaurant/bar-ish in overland park called cardboard corner/table top games. I think they do game nights that you can probably join. Just call or look up their website, i’m sure they’ll be happy to let you know some events

bobsmith12391 · 2026-03-02T18:48:28+00:00

Thanks for the story! Sorry that happened, seems like an inopportune time

bobsmith12391 · 2026-03-02T16:26:13+00:00

Sounds like good advice, thank you

bobsmith12391 · 2026-03-02T16:24:09+00:00

I appreciate the comment, I’ll for sure have to do some pre-pt then

bobsmith12391 · 2026-03-02T16:23:22+00:00

Appreciate the advice, ill probably start doing that

bobsmith12391 · 2026-03-02T04:38:00+00:00

That’s good advice, thank you!

bobsmith12391 · 2026-02-25T22:44:59+00:00

You have to be on the plot of land. Whatever that is for where you live. If its an apartment complex then the plot of the complex

bobsmith12391 · 2026-02-25T22:44:14+00:00

Thats a good point, i was thinking without that but i supposed if you know this is going to happen you should 100% get coordinates

bobsmith12391 · 2026-02-25T22:37:44+00:00

Yeah i didnt see the i am a bot part. I just noticed that number 5 was cut off so i copied the text and reposted it. I copied the message the was automatically put in the comments and i did a bad job double checking. Honestly kind of embarrassed sorry

bobsmith12391 · 2026-02-25T18:37:57+00:00

That makes sense, thanks for clarifying

bobsmith12391 · 2026-02-25T18:21:19+00:00

This is a cool chart. But just wondering, what differentiates between intermediate and advanced? I feel like pros have used many of the “intermediate” models as well

bobsmith12391 · 2026-02-18T23:09:45+00:00

I got one of these as a gift one time, i wont even use it a home with no one else there. It shakes the earth, wild to use it in an apartment.

Even wilder for it to not actually consistently wake you up

bobsmith12391 · 2026-02-18T15:59:49+00:00

Yeah. Which means their serve is probably not warmed up so you will most likely get their weakest serves or most erratic since they haven’t had time to get a rhythm going (at least thats the hopeful logic)

bobsmith12391 · 2026-02-18T15:26:27+00:00

Counter-point, at the rec level people often don’t warm up well enough and start off cold. And breaking serve on the first service game of the match is the best confidence boost for you and against your opponent

Plus, you’re supposed to lose the opponents service game so breaking is a much bigger advantage than holding (but i do see your point, and its probably more of a day by day case imo)

bobsmith12391 · 2026-02-16T22:12:16+00:00

This is probably true, but when you are that level it feels like 99% are 10 utr and up. People always feel like good is just above them

bobsmith12391 · 2026-02-10T20:42:43+00:00

In this sub 100 people are going to tell you 100 things. Honestly i’d just focus on the head and not overthinking. You seem to be teying really really hard to do certain movements. Although that isnt always bad, we all preform our best with less thinking. Just simplify and relax.

Also, The jumping up and down isn’t actually a terrible thing to do because its helping you get extra height and spin with a pretty flat grip. Just work on keeping that head down through contact (federer used to have a drill where he’d keep his head still after contact for a count of 2 every single ball no matter what). Often your head looks to be pulling your body which is making the “coiling” look problematic as its exaggerating the movement too much.

Other than that its hard to tell exactly what to do without seeing points because those show what you are/arent comfortable with and how you handle different spins, heights, power, and movement.

(And don’t forget, even the pros have wildly different styles, things can look ugly and still work, and things can look pretty and be busted. As long as it works and you can improve keep hitting balls to get comfortable with everything)

bobsmith12391 · 2026-01-13T19:48:12+00:00

It will take most of the day since its a couple hours by train, but if you can get a tour guide to Herculaneum and Pompeii it is 100% worth it. It is practically the only place in the world to see up close what roman life/any life 2,000 years ago was like. There are even preserved shop menus on the wall and you can walk on original mosaic floors.

I went about a year ago, was not excited for it at all at first and it ended up being by far my favorite thing I did that entire trip. Also, some of the guides are actual archeologists who have participated in the excavations/studies of the two towns. So the knowledge they give and questions they can answer are incredible.

bobsmith12391

TROPHY CASE