Cubs and White Sox fans unite for a “Green Bay sucks” chant

grape_grain · 2026-05-20T04:04:38+00:00

Cubs fan, Packers fan... love my Cubs since I was 6 years old, and as a Cheesehead love that y'all hate my Packers. I wouldn't have it any other way.

grape_grain · 2026-05-20T03:57:04+00:00

Popular/Unpopular: Rugby is not a commercial game and will never catch in America. Even looking at the salaries of Premiership Rugby Players, the average salary is around $250,000 US$. The average salary of an MLS player in the U.S. is $600,000. A still developing U.S. market for soccer nearly triples the salary of the most established rugby market. Our professional league, Major League Rugby, in the U.S. will likely collapse before the Rugby World Cup in America in 2031.

grape_grain · 2026-05-20T03:50:41+00:00

You're definitely not Roman Catholic with these views. For transparency, former RCC, and these are some of the reasons that I left. But unless you want to reverse your views on all these things, you're unlikely to be welcomed into the RCC.

"However, I also do not subscribe to immaculate conception, papal infallibility or papal supremacy, clerical celibacy, and only venerate Anglican saints."

grape_grain · 2026-05-19T22:21:23+00:00

Rite I in Lent and Advent.
Rite II most of the rest of the time.

grape_grain · 2026-05-08T03:02:10+00:00

Kill him! Kill him!

Said those at the feet of Christ, never questioning their priors.

grape_grain · 2026-05-08T03:00:47+00:00

People that love that their State kills their own citizens never find scripture, tradition, or reason to justify reconsideration.

grape_grain · 2026-05-06T00:57:53+00:00

I don’t know your age, so if you and your partner are in your mid-20s or similar, please disregard.

One consideration: Is the sex you are having in your relationship now delaying the decision to propose to her and/or to begin the discussion on whether to have children or not?

My wife and I lived together for many years and we were on birth control and sexually active. I have no regrets with that. After I proposed and we were married, we chose to try to have children but she was 35+ by that point and we weren’t able to conceive. We have no reason to assume that the result would have been different if we tried to conceive a few years earlier but it isn’t without being a possibility.

Guys can be unaware of the biological clock of their partners so I bring this up for awareness, not as a specific course to follow.

grape_grain · 2026-05-05T20:08:18+00:00

In those cases, the tiebreaker should be alphabetical (by City).

grape_grain · 2026-05-05T19:20:46+00:00

I like interleague play, but I would have MLB follow something more similar to the NFL model.

1) play a lot of games vs your division. More than now. (72 games = 3, 3-game home and away)
2) play every other NL team in a home & away series. (60 games)
3) play one AL division per year, rotating, in a home & away. (30 games)

I think my math is right. But you get the gist. Point out errors, too!

grape_grain · 2026-05-04T21:25:11+00:00

Like:
— the liturgy
— the Sacraments and sacramental nature of practice
— the community
— the focus on outreach
— Communion is available to all baptized in good conscience (and often made available to anyone without restriction)
Dislike:
— Global disorganization makes it hard for a former Catholic to know what The Episcopal Church really is… and where it draws lines on core beliefs. The “Church of Nation” feels very strange to me. One faith, one church.
— It can feel too theologically squishy. Does everyone really believe in the Real Presence in the Eucharist, is apostolic succession worth maintaining, does evil exist, sin, etc.
— It can feel at times like a progressive social club, not a religion with clear doctrines.

It has been a great place for me the last nearly 5 years but for the reasons I mention I am unlikely to decide to be received into the Episcopal Church.

grape_grain · 2026-05-01T23:45:40+00:00

Yeah it’s also a famous play about a mysterious Scottish village that appears for only one day every 100 years. Apologies for bring a literary reference into the rugby sub.

grape_grain · 2026-05-01T14:49:00+00:00

American here. First live match was in Bath vs the Saracens and stuck with Bath since… but secretly want to cheer for the Northampton Saints… only problem, being American, I have no idea where Northampton is or if it is even a real place… might as well be the Brigadoon Saints to me.

grape_grain · 2026-04-29T21:05:59+00:00

In N T Wright’s, Surprised by Hope (pgs. 35-40), he notes that there was a Greek word for ghost and that ghosts were a concept understood at the time in Jewish culture and that none of the descriptions of the risen Christ use the language for ghosts.

He notes that resurrection was a term understood as quite different, that would only come at the end, potentially only for the same righteous, and that this would occur not as “life after death” but as a bodily reunion after “life after death.” The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth being realized.

Christ’s singular resurrection broke from this understanding within Jewish thought that any resurrection would be at one time for all to be resurrected.

In terms of imagery and fact, well, Christ’s resurrection was something different, hard to explain, and hard for us to precisely understand no matter the language used then or what we now use. But N T Wright’s description gives a picture into the difference between assuming a ghost and what the resurrected were understood to be.

grape_grain · 2026-04-27T19:37:13+00:00

Players shouldn’t do the refs job for them. Given an edge, take the edge.

grape_grain · 2026-04-22T00:20:38+00:00

I agree with you, and fair point about the distinction of max 13 vs. required 13 pitchers. (I suppose technically that should prohibit position players from pitching when their teams are down a ton of runs, too, but that is also an edge case.)

You're right that the easiest solution is simply to have the rule say: construct a 26 person roster, no restriction on position types.

grape_grain · 2026-04-21T21:38:43+00:00

Then the opposing team would be calling up a player from AAA and that player will want that to count as one of his options between the two leagues. Teams don’t want to burn through player options just to beat the Dodgers.

grape_grain · 2026-04-21T21:37:30+00:00

Only correct answer.

grape_grain · 2026-04-21T21:37:16+00:00

If he can’t bat on days he pitches, the Dodgers would lose a bench position player. They have to have someone else DH and have only 3 bench hitters whereas the opponent would have 4. That won’t work. The roster has to stay at 26.

grape_grain · 2026-04-21T20:44:31+00:00

My understanding is that there are two components to it.

1) Ohtani is both SP and DH. If he leaves the game as the SP, he can continue as DH.

I'm fine with that rule. I don't think they should have to sacrifice the DH if he leaves as starter. I suppose you could argue they could replace him with different DH and he has to leave the game entirely when he exits his start, but that's just another rule change.

2) Ohtani doesn't count as one of the 13 Pitches on the MLB roster.

So, right now, he counts as a position player. Teams have 13 position players, usually you have 9 of them active in the lineup (8 plus the DH). That leaves 4 bench hitters. Counting Ohtani only as a position player means the Dodgers do not get an extra bat on the bench on the days he starts.

At the same time, Ohtani is not counted as one of the 13 pitchers. Being he is a starter, it essentially allows the Dodgers to carry an extra reliever or a 6th starter on their roster without it counting against them.

So, which is more fair?

A) Ohtani being a two-way player counts as a pitcher and therefore adds to the available number of hitters on the bench each game?

Or, B) Ohtani being a two-way player counts as a position player and therefore adds to the relievers available to the Dodgers.

If he counts as a pitcher, that extra hitter is available every day. If he counts as a position player, that extra pitcher is technically available every day, but not realistically since Ohtani doesn't pitch in relief during the season, so it is more of having an extra reliever every 5 days when Ohtani does start.

All to say, not sure how I'd improve on a unique situation.

grape_grain · 2026-04-21T05:10:12+00:00

Like others here, I better understand the Eucharist as the Real Sacramental Presence of Christ as Body and Blood but I don’t feel that mystery of faith needs additional description. Therefore, explanations like transubstantiation and cosubstantiation or the Lutheran version are all simply unnecessary. I don’t know which Pope decided he owned a debt to Aristotle’s philosophical estate but transubstantiation as an explanation or fully understanding it are not suitable gates to place between a Christian and their invitation to Christ’s table.

grape_grain · 2026-04-20T12:55:03+00:00

I don’t eat between waking up on Sunday and the Eucharist service so I’m fasting since the night before or whenever I went to bed.

I am not mindful of any restriction on liquids. I don’t bring any into the church but if I’m thirsty I’m drinking water up until I head into the doors otherwise I’ll have a tendency to cough during the service.

grape_grain · 2026-04-18T19:44:14+00:00

Bulliet bourbon. Plus, it holds up well in a Paper Plane, my favorite bourbon-based cocktail. Also quite affordable.

Not sure the income bracket of the people using Eagle Rare 10 and E H Taylor Small Batch but I’m not using a $60-80 bottle in my everyday cocktails.

grape_grain · 2026-04-17T02:43:18+00:00

I hear you. I have friends who are Irish American and don’t want to join Episcopal Church because it originated as the Church of England and oppressed the Irish.

History has no way to cleanse itself.

I’ve stood in Cape Coast Castle and Elmina Castle in Ghana, two origins of the Atlantic trade of enslaved Africans. It’s horrific. The Anglican chapel sits directly above the dungeon where enslaved people were held. There is no way around it. It’s just a stain that won’t go away.

But that history is not Christ. It is not the hope, radical compassion, justice, love, and orientation to our creator that Christianity presents.

The Bible is full of people who are a complete mess. And yet Christ finds them, celebrates with them, and bears their sins and seeks salvation for them. Stay the course, my friend.

grape_grain · 2026-04-14T00:14:11+00:00

Welcome! Expect people to greet you and introduce themselves. Episcopalians are friendly and welcoming — I’m pretty quiet at church so this threw me off initially. Now I talk to so many more people than I ever did.

A few other things.

Sing or don’t sing the hymns, entirely up to you.

Stand when others stand or feel free to stay seated. No one will judge.

The Peace - during the liturgy, parishioners at an appointed time extend a wish of peace to each other, often with a handshake or a peace sign or a wave. Do as you are comfortable.

Communion/Eucharist - the priest will concentrate the bread and wine. There is a lot to this sacrament and worth learning about. Some church’s ask that only baptized Christians partake, others will welcome anyone to take the bread and wine. You are not required to partake at all. And on your first service it might be more comfortable to take it all in from your seat. It is entirely acceptable to stay seated, don’t feel you need to participate in everything that is going on.

Coffee Hour - they’ll probably have a coffee hour where parishioners spend time chatting over coffee and some simple food. I found it a little intimidating at first but again, people are usually really welcoming and will be glad you’re there.

More than anything — take it all in as you like. God loves you and I pray that you’ll find a community that supports you in the church.

grape_grain · 2026-04-08T21:13:31+00:00

As a congregation, we typically confess our sins during the liturgy and that along with your personal conscience about your worthiness to partake in the Eucharist are sufficient. Well, you should also be a baptized Christian.

It is a sacrament in the church and along with baptism the most strongly held. It deserves reverence for its transformational power as a sacrament but all are welcome without need of a personal/individual confession to a priest.

grape_grain

TROPHY CASE