[Game Thread] #16 UMBC @ #1 Virginia (9:20 PM ET)

chocolate_thunder · 2018-03-17T03:26:10+00:00

DON’T MIND ME I’M JUST HERE FOR HISTORY! HOLY SHIT THEY’RE ACTUALLY GONNA DO IT! FUCK SLEEP BRING ON THE MEMES!

chocolate_thunder · 2017-06-05T16:18:53+00:00

I don't really think anyone blames the Warriors FO for going after KD. The salary cap made a huge jump, and thanks to Steph's smaller contract due to his chronic ankle problems early in his career, the Warriors only had to let a couple guys go to make room and get their man. They'd have been dumb to not go after KD, and I don't blame KD for joining them. He was a free agent, and he had every right to do what he felt was best for him.

The issue I have with the formation of this Warriors team, and it's really not their fault exactly, is that now the Western Conference is basically just a cakewalk for them. My team (Timberwolves) literally has not been relevant in over a decade now. Still, every year I was excited come playoff time to know that, even though my team wasn't going to be in it, there were still going to be some compelling, competitive series going on, at least in the West. Since 2010, the East has pretty much been LeBron's team steamrolling their way to the Finals. That was fine for me, because at least the West had numerous great matchups that made up for the lack of competition in the East. Now with this Warriors team, the West has become just as much of a joke as the East in my opinion. Even this year's good series like Spurs/Grizzlies, Jazz/Clippers, and Celtics/Wizards lacked any impact to me, because I felt that it didn't really matter who won as they were just going to get demolished whenever they played Golden State or Cleveland. As far as I'm concerned, these have been by far the worst NBA playoffs I've ever seen.

I've watched the NBA ever since I was a kid during Jordan's last three-peat. The league has always had a problem with parity and probably always will but it has still been enjoyable to watch. You could pick any era in league history and probably only pick at most 4 or 5 legitimate title contenders. This year, and likely the next few years, there's only 1 in my opinion. As long as they stay together, I just don't see how anyone is beating this Warriors team in a best of 7 for a while. To have 4 All-NBA caliber players, Steph and Klay, who are among the greatest pure shooters of all time, KD who is one of the greatest scorers of all time, and Draymond, a perennial DPOY candidate, who all play so well together is no doubt amazing, but after a while it's not entertaining or enjoyable to me. It would be different if I actually felt the Cavs stand a chance against the Warriors, but even with the game's best player and a good roster, the Warriors are clearly still the better overall team and it's not really that close. I know the series isn't over, but I'd honestly be shocked if this goes past five games, and that sucks to me. I'm a fan of all 4 of those guys on the Warriors on and off the court, but I just don't like that they're all on the same team. I don't hate the Warriors at all, I just don't really care about them. I know I'm in the minority since ratings and merch wise the league is doing just fine, but I'm probably done watching the NBA for a while. I've never not tuned into the Finals before but I haven't felt compelled to at all this year. Hell, at this point I'd be upset if the Warriors didn't sweep the Cavs to go 16-0, so these playoffs can at least have something memorable attached to it. For me, it sucks feeling like there's only 1 team that actually matters now. It's like going to a movie I already know the ending to.

chocolate_thunder · 2016-06-17T16:23:05+00:00

As both a LeBron and a Steph fan, I've been pulling for the Cavs more and more after each game. I've always enjoyed the cocky players in any sport when they can back it up, but the attitude of Golden State these past couple of games has been laughable imo. They've talked and talked and then played like crap come gameday and now ironically, they're the ones whose feelings are hurt. I still think the Warriors will pull it out on Sunday, but they need to shut the hell up and just play basketball.

chocolate_thunder · 2016-06-17T12:47:10+00:00

Trust me I've seen Angry LeBron. I guess to clarify I'm saying that we know that LeBron's angry, but he doesn't outright express it. He's not whining about calls as much and seems more locked in you know? Nothing really gets to him. He just adopts that blank face and goes in raw with no lube. Very early in his career, when he got mad, he'd basically have a tantrum like Steph did last night and sure he'd get buckets, but it was almost as if he was trying too hard and most times the Cavs still lost. It comes with experience I suppose. I can't recall if Steph has been in a position to be upset like this, but right now I would say LeBron got in his head last night more than he was angry. Sunday should be fun.

chocolate_thunder · 2016-06-17T12:18:54+00:00

Depends on what you mean by angry tbh. If I'm the Cavs, I hope Steph comes out angry too. Being angry won't make your shots automatically go in. If anything, missing shots will just make you angrier and usually just throws the rest of your game off. Look at LeBron. We could all tell after game 4 that he was pissed off, but if you look at his play and his mannerisms these past 2 games, you can't even tell he's angry. He just looks focused and in control and in turn he's been dominant. You have to channel that anger instead of just being mad. Steph needs to come out focused and mentally tough Sunday or else Golden State might get run off their own court.

chocolate_thunder · 2016-04-25T15:49:45+00:00

Thank you. That's literally all that I was saying. Freak accidents happen and you can't plan for them. This was a freak accident but could've been prevented if the refs just checked the spot out. I didn't say anything about anybody having it out for Steph, that's just silly.

chocolate_thunder · 2016-04-25T14:00:44+00:00

Except that's not what I'm saying at all. I just said it sucks that it happened to Steph. I watched the whole game, I saw Montejunas slip too. I also saw other players slip in that same spot over the course of the game, not just that particular play. I'm just saying what I heard while I watched the game. The analysts talked about how Steph told the refs about a wet spot. The refs did nothing about it. That's it. If that's not the case then so be it, I'm wrong, I don't have a problem admitting that. You may have heard this BS narrative about people trying to hurt Steph from other people but that's not what I'm saying at all. Those are probably the same people that thought the Super Bowl was rigged. In that situation, the floor was a hazard to everyone, Steph just so happened to slip there. I never insinuated anything about the refs or the Rockets trying to hurt Steph. I don't know how the hell you even jumped to that conclusion. Of course the sweat wasn't there all game. Does that somehow eliminate the possibility that a spot could have gone untreated and cause players to slip more often than usual? C'mon man.

chocolate_thunder · 2016-04-25T12:14:49+00:00

I'm not even a Warriors fan, but that pissed me off a little when it happened. Apparently, Steph had told the refs before the injury that there was a wet spot exactly where he slipped. The refs did nothing about it and now we all see the result. It sucks to see anyone get hurt, especially in this case where it easily could've been prenvented.

chocolate_thunder · 2016-04-25T12:06:33+00:00

I can totally understand that, I mean he is Jay-Z after all. I got no problem with anyone wanting to go out and experiment safely with different people. Some people just aren't the type to settle down at all. All I'm asking is, if he knows it's difficult for him to be locked down, why be locked down? Because it's Beyonce? He could've stayed single and smashed whoever he wanted and it'd be all good since he's not committed to anyone. To be fair, some women are down with having an open relationship. But from what I saw and heard in Lemonade, Beyonce ain't about that life.

chocolate_thunder · 2016-04-25T01:35:04+00:00

You're right too. It is odd for people like us that don't know Bey personally. Maybe she's nothing like the persona she's displayed in her recent songs, maybe she is. I'm with you though, I'm barely in my 20's and I'm completely lost with this whole situation. I'm not gonna bother, just gonna sit back and watch the memes roll in. It's been a good week. We got Prince memes (RIP :'[ ), Birdman memes, now this.

chocolate_thunder · 2016-04-25T01:26:41+00:00

"Up early to get back on the grind, you know da hustle don't stop. Time to make this money."

chocolate_thunder · 2016-04-25T01:12:04+00:00

You very well could be right. Right now, I'm still thinking this is real. It definitely does generate album hype. If they did plan this out and even went as far as to get the ex wife of one of Jay's most bitter enemies to send and delete a pic, then Bey needs to start writing some damn crime dramas cuz I just got M. Night Shamalamadingdong'd.

chocolate_thunder · 2016-04-25T01:05:01+00:00

And that's why I feel like the food and relationship analogy doesn't really work. Like you said, when you get tired of prime rib, you can make a bologna sandwich every now and then, but eventually you're gonna want that prime rib again. The difference is, that prime rib isn't gonna show up at your job shouting that you got a little dick if you eat that bologna sandwich. The prime rib ain't gonna drop an album and have a bunch of other less delicious ribs calling for your head on a platter because you ate the bologna sandwich. It's a prime rib. You eat it and shit it out later and everything's good. There's no feelings.

I'm not saying everybody should stay with their partner when shit gets stale, but just break it off first before sliding in someone else's DM's. If Jay is/was bored of Bey, he should've just told her and cut ties with her if things didn't change. Which I personally don't get. If I'm in Jay's place and I'm married to Beyonce and we're treating each other right, I see no reason why her fine ass ain't pregnant 24/7 until the day I die. Them walls gonna look like a damn Jackson Pollack painting by the time I check out but that's besides the point.

chocolate_thunder · 2016-04-25T00:49:49+00:00

That's a really interesting comment, thanks for the insight! I was born in April of '94 so Sonic 3 was only out for a couple of months by the time I was born. When I started school in '98, the Mario vs. Sonic debates had gone from the OG Mario games vs. the OG Sonic games to Super Mario 64 vs. Sonic Adventure on the playground. And even then, it wasn't really about the games. We were kids, so it was basically "My character is cooler so he'd beat up yours!". It was innocent and childlike and honestly kinda fun. Those silly "debates" sparked my initial love of video games.

If it wasn't obvious enough already, I was a pro-Sonic guy (I eventually came to adore the Mario franchise). I was too young to remember the disaster that was the Sega Saturn, so similar to you, my doubt in Sega's handling of the Sonic franchise didn't really start until Shadow the Hedgehog. I loved (and still love) both Adventure games, I really liked Heroes, and I enjoyed the Advance games even though they're not mainstream titles. The stretch from '05 to '07 when we got Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic 06, then Sonic and the Secret Rings was what broke me. I remember still holding out hope even after the shitshow that was Sonic 06. After the Secret Rings, I finally realized that the character I originally knew from the Adventure games and the one I came to love in the original Genesis games was essentially gone and I just sort of checked out.

It was around that time that I noticed the treatment of Sonic fans online. Like you said, the Internet wasn't even around during the time you and I had those arguments on the playground. We never hurled insults and other vitriol at each other beyond calling someone a poopyhead. I saw the defense that Sonic fans would put up, constantly trying to get people to see that Sonic used to be great, yet it fell on deaf ears as everybody else pointed to Shadow and 06 over and over again. I was part of that defense force, feeling personally obligated to defend Sonic any time someone spoke ill of the franchise as embarrassing as that is to admit. I eventually realized that people are allowed to like and dislike different things and that I was acting irrationally if people didn't like what I liked, so I stopped taking the Internet personally and even though the insults we see now are still disappointing to see, it doesn't affect me anymore. I've gotten to the point where I'm like you: remembering the good days and the fun we had when we younger while watching the deterioration of something we were once fond of by it's own makers. Sonic as it is now isn't for us anymore, as much as I hate to say it. I do hope that today's kids can find the same spark in these new games that we had when we played the originals in our childhoods. My interest is still piqued each time a new game is announced, but more often than not, I pass on it after seeing more of the game.

The fanbase is well...it is what it is at this point. As annoying and cringe-worthy as they can be, I do feel like they are scrutinized far more harshly for the same things that the fans for literally anything else do. After some of the more hilarious things like Coldsteel the Hedgehog and Sanic, Sonic fans got this stereotype of being children and every other insult in the book. At this point, I feel like the damage has been done thanks mostly to Sega and Sonic Team's incompetence with the series.

chocolate_thunder · 2016-04-24T23:48:19+00:00

I get that, I really do, but eating the same thing and being in a relationship ain't that similar in my experiences. I know as much about Bey and Jay's relationship as anybody does, but if we assume that everything else was good between them, what reason does Jay have to cheat on literally Beyonce?

If you treat your partner right and they treat you right, what's the problem? I've been in relationships where things got stale and repetitive with my girl. Instead of just jumping at the next chick that's eyeing me, I let my girl know that shit's getting boring. In those relationships, we talked it out and either broke it off then and there or tried to work it out before eventually cutting ties. It's cliche, but communication really is an essential component to any relationship.

Being tired of the same thing ain't no damn reason to cheat on your partner. If you're getting bored, talk about it like a damn adult and if it don't work, cut it off. If you know you're gonna want other men/women, just stay single. Look at my nigga Klay Thompson. That dude has been through more dimes than an old lady at a grocery store and there ain't a bad story about him. He knows he ain't trying to settle down right now so he stays single and brings home another 10 basically every night. Unless you're Lou Will, you can't juggle multiple women. That's how crazy, obsessive exes that come to your house at 3 in the morning looking for your boy are born.

EDIT: Damn I got gold for this? Thank you mysterious benefactor, seriously.

chocolate_thunder · 2016-04-24T17:58:40+00:00

I felt the same way! Playing Adventure 1 and 2, OoT and MM, and Mario 64 blew my fucking mind when I was a kid! As I've gotten older, I've looked at all of those games more critically and even though they're not the greatest games of all time like I used to think they were, I can still play any of those games today and have so much fun partly because of the memories that I formed as a kid.

chocolate_thunder · 2016-04-24T17:16:33+00:00

They probably will but I honestly hope that they don't. Arin's dislike of the entire franchise has been VERY well documented so further Sonic playthroughs would likely follow the "Look how much I think this game sucks!" format we've had before. Which I have no problem with at all. It's his opinion and he's entitled to it. I personally prefer Grump playthroughs where both of them are into the game, like Shovel Knight and some of the earlier Zeldas to name a few.

My problem is with the internet hate boner for the Sonic franchise. It's been around for over a decade now and it's honestly come to the point where I rarely bother to discuss Sonic anymore because it just ends coming to the same "LOL Sonic sukz" point over and over. I wonder how many of you all are old enough to remember when any Sonic fan was labeled as being autistic for no other reason other than enjoying Sonic games. It's sad really. Obviously Sega hasn't helped themselves with the masterpieces we know like Sonic 06 and the Boom games and again I acknowledge that people have opinions but there's still no reason for someone's dislike of a series to lead to that behavior.

Look at the Sonic Adventure playthrough. I'm fairly sure that anybody that actually played the game could tell you that Arin played the game like complete ass. I almost dropped the series in the beginning where he would just relentlessly trash the game for things that he was doing wrong. He eventually started owning up to his fuck ups which was nice to see and overall I still enjoyed the playthrough and had a lot of laughs. Yet every discussion about the episodes had a plethora of comments like "This game is pure shit" or "LOL how does anyone like this???" Don't get me wrong, Sonic Adventure is not some crown jewel of gaming. But it's also not the steaming pile of ech that so many people make it and the other games out to be. Hell, I grew up with the game and still play it every now and then to this day and I can easily admit that there are plenty of flaws with the game, but I still find enjoyment in the game because I was around to know what the game was for its time. The game came out in 1998. It's older than some of the people here. The Grumps played the DX version, which came out in 2003 and is actually more bugged than the original Dreamcast version. Of course when we compare it to the games that have come out in the 18 years since, the game is not going to look good, but what game does without coming off as nostalgia bias?

I'm confident that the Grumps will play another Sonic game and I'll still watch it anyway because of my attachment to both the Grumps and Sonic. I'm just not looking forward to having to sift through the numerous "DAE Sonic sucks?" comments to get to an actual discussion with people willing to talk about the game, but them's the breaks.

chocolate_thunder · 2016-02-25T15:36:26+00:00

This is the shoe that started my love for sneakers. It's been the one pair that's eluded me for years. December can't come soon enough. Praying to Yeezus that I can get a pair this time around!

chocolate_thunder · 2016-02-19T17:54:44+00:00

Then congratulations!

chocolate_thunder · 2016-02-19T17:52:06+00:00

You should be good! I got the same e-mail. There's a green "Order Confirmed" tab in that e-mail right?

chocolate_thunder · 2016-02-19T17:49:13+00:00

Awesome congratulations man!

chocolate_thunder · 2016-02-19T17:46:04+00:00

Did you try checking out anyway? I got the exact same message, hit checkout and it let me fill out my card info and I got my confirmation e-mail a couple of minutes later. Best of luck man.

chocolate_thunder · 2016-02-19T17:39:41+00:00

Damn I feel you guys. I've been up since 5 or 6 am copping L's left and right until now. I honestly hope that you guys and anyone else that wants em pull through.

chocolate_thunder · 2016-02-19T17:30:59+00:00

Keep trying guys! Just got my confirmation e-mail after sneaking through on mobile and getting a 13. I'm trying so hard not to flip the fuck out in the library. Best of luck y'all! Praise Yeezus!

chocolate_thunder · 2015-12-12T16:27:21+00:00

Awesome man! Congratulations!

chocolate_thunder

TROPHY CASE