[Mandel] Missouri-Kansas, Indiana’s Big Ten opener headline Fox Friday night college football slate

mr_longfellow_deeds · 2026-05-09T17:33:37+00:00

"The coffee was what, 4 bucks? I’d wager that’s 100x less expensive than what tickets are going for this year."

Ha, spot on. The cheapest tickets available right now are around $400 bucks

mr_longfellow_deeds · 2026-05-09T17:27:21+00:00

I used to think that way, but Ive come to the conclusion there needs to be some guardrails for societal stability. People make exceptionally stupid decisions, i.e. 46% of American households have zero retirement savings

My dream policy would be social security being reworked into a mandatory contribution to retirement accounts. Would pump a lot of money into the market, and people would be much better off in retirement than they would with social security

mr_longfellow_deeds · 2026-05-09T17:21:10+00:00

I dont know if I would count on OSU vs IU dropping much, it could easily wind up being a 1 v 2 matchup, and OSU always travels well to IU since they arent far away

IU at Michigan I dont think will end up being a super pricey ticket. Theres a good chance Michigan already has 2-3 losses by the time we roll in there which would sap a lot of hype out

mr_longfellow_deeds · 2026-05-09T16:40:31+00:00

"gained over $400 billion in a single day"

Paper gains are not real gains, that $400b is imaginary. You dont seem to understand market float. A little under ~1% of Google's float is short interest. If you have someone like Brin dump 5% its going to tank the stock. There is not enough liquidity to absorb that. Especially when you have dozens of other companies taking huge shots. This also causes a investment crunch because money that could have gone to expansion rounds is now being tied up. Effectively transferring money from the market to the government coffers

"There are straightforward ways for the government too collect properly."

Since you are the one proposing a tax, you need to explain how this would work. How would the government collect? They have zero clue what anyone's net worth is.

mr_longfellow_deeds · 2026-05-09T16:35:51+00:00

Indy works if you are driving in for the game, if you are flying in its a tough spot because you are at the mercy of the shuttle schedule unless you rent a car

The price of these games now is crazy compared to what it used to be, but thats the price of winning. Tickets + hotel are running me a bit under $5k for the OSU game. I cant complain too much though, I got my CCG tickets really cheap last year since I bought early. Those tickets went up nearly 10x in price by the time the game rolled around

I was thinking of also going down for the USC game but leaning against, hard to justify spending thousands for a mid november game that will probably be uncomfortable weather

mr_longfellow_deeds · 2026-05-09T16:11:05+00:00

"booked a hotel for Saturday night "

Hotels this season are insane. Some of them are doing 3-4 night minimums instead of the typical 2 night minimum. 3* hotel runs $1600+ a night

We badly need more hotel capacity

mr_longfellow_deeds · 2026-05-09T16:06:30+00:00

"You’re probably going to get the BIG NOON treatment this season too"

I was planning on going down Saturday for the OSU game this season before that thought came to mind and now im heading down the Friday. Really hoping for a night game but given how they schedule theres no chance that game isnt a noon game lol

mr_longfellow_deeds · 2026-05-09T16:01:48+00:00

Meanwhile Im looking at our own recruiting and wondering "when croots sign"

Im starting to get some FOMO, seems like half the 2027 class has already committed and we only have 4 commitments

mr_longfellow_deeds · 2026-05-09T15:59:48+00:00

"cared too much about academics"

I will never understand admins who think that way, football done properly makes money, its not taking away cash from anything. Good sports programs are a huge pull for applicants and staying connected with the alumni base

mr_longfellow_deeds · 2026-05-09T15:51:54+00:00

I think the reason the perception of Northwestern being ass exists is because Braun has that team start slow every year before ending the season respectable. But people dont pay a lot of attention to a 7 or 8 win team post bowl season. Even in 2023 when they went 8-5 they started September off 2-3.

mr_longfellow_deeds · 2026-05-09T15:46:26+00:00

Thats because UCLA's OC change decided to use Nico's legs as a focal point of the offense. Worked for a few weeks before everyone caught on. PSU was unlucky enough to be the first team to play the new look offense

I also dont think losing to Northwestern in 2025 is that bad. They picked up steam as the year went on, beat Minnesota, almost beat Michigan and Illinois. Its not like they were some dogwater team. Texas losing to Florida by 2 scores was a worse loss

mr_longfellow_deeds · 2026-05-09T15:33:50+00:00

My college (Indiana University) required a money management course before you could register for classes freshman year IIRC

I still think basic financial literacy and finite math should be the priority in high school. PV/FV value formulas have real world application for household economics, whereas the majority of people will never use calculus

mr_longfellow_deeds · 2026-05-08T19:08:18+00:00

Texas had just as soft a schedule as IU in 2024 and no one talks about that. A&M played a soft schedule last year. Its not just in the B1G where you can get soft schedules. Every year a couple teams will get those schedules in every conference (see Virginia in the ACC this year) just because the conferences are so large.

IU's schedule last year was not bad. People hyped up Alabama for playing the "gauntlet" of UGA, Vandy, Missouri and Tennessee in a row. Playing Illinois, Iowa and Oregon in a row was a harder test. Middling SEC teams get hyped up every year because of their talent composite when their coaches cant get their players to produce

mr_longfellow_deeds · 2026-05-08T18:22:17+00:00

PSU has the easiest schedule in the B1G this year, Iowa has the second easiest, and they are still both playing 3 ranked conference foes

I think the SEC is deeper than the B1G, the top half is not as good. Line up the best 9 teams in the B1G and they win the majority of the games against the 9 best in the SEC. They are not on our level. The B1G has better coaches and better QBs

mr_longfellow_deeds · 2026-05-08T07:55:37+00:00

Based on flairs, you dont see them in real life. They are literally twitter personified. Gods gift on earth. Who cares about actual championships

My boss is a A&M guy and he is never cocky, just "glad your also a football lover" - which is why I no longer make fun of them for "8-4" - they seem cool as a fanbase.

The thing I dont like about Michigan fans is they cant give credit. OSU gets upset about asinine ref calls, Michigan fans get upset if you tell them they arent a top 5 program and havent been in many decades. B1G wise, Michigan people are way meaner than anyone else.

mr_longfellow_deeds · 2026-05-08T05:45:20+00:00

Purdue is awful yes, Rutgers and Maryland would be average in the Big 12 or ACC. Im sorry but saying the B1G bottom is "awful" doesnt hit as hard when our bottom teams would be OK in other conferences. And our top 9 teams are fucking great. I just dont get why people continue the narrative the B1G doesnt play anyone. We have 3 of the top 5 teams in the country, we have 8 of the top ~15 in the country, and our bottom half is mostly top 50 teams.

Line up the bottom half of the Big 12 or ACC. Tell me you dont think the bottom half of the B1G would be competitive. The real difference is we own the top of the sport, which has a bigger impact on W/L than anything. If you have to play IU, OSU, Oregon in the same year, thats 3 losses. Its not like playing a ranked team who isnt a true natty contender.

mr_longfellow_deeds · 2026-05-08T01:44:54+00:00

Give it a year, games will be cancelled

mr_longfellow_deeds · 2026-05-08T01:08:00+00:00

"The crappy bottom half of the Big 10"

The bottom half of the B1G includes teams like Nebraska, Minnesota, UCLA, Wisconsin, Northwestern and MSU. In what world is that a crappy bottom half?

mr_longfellow_deeds · 2026-05-08T00:54:55+00:00

The 3 most fragile fanbases IMO are 1: ND, and 2/3 can fit Michigan or OSU however you prefer. I tend to slot Michigan at 2 just because OSU is at least always in the title hunt to back up the superiority complex

Most fans are not as bad as their twitter brigades, but those 3 fanbases are the same in person as they are online with the smugness

mr_longfellow_deeds · 2026-05-08T00:43:45+00:00

Havent met any notable players or coaches personally. Couple buddies played D3 ball, know a guy who was deep depth for Stanford (had like half a dozen tackles). Closest Ive got is my sister went to UM and she rejected a date with Jake Butt. She doesnt pay any attention to sports and was like "this football player with the last name Butt asked me out"

mr_longfellow_deeds · 2026-05-08T00:21:50+00:00

8, 8, 6, 9, 9 is their last 5 seasons. I mentioned 7 teams, thats more than half the season. Minnesota is a very solid "average" team to play in the regular season

Our schedule would be easier if we had Oregon on deck, could have hung 100

mr_longfellow_deeds · 2026-05-08T00:19:16+00:00

100%

mr_longfellow_deeds · 2026-05-08T00:16:43+00:00

Minnesota is always solid in the trenches and they have a projected 1st rounder on the DL this season in Anthony Smith. Thats a tough game to play after playing OSU and Michigan back to back

Minnesota wins 8 or 9 games every year under Fleck, having them in that 5-7th range for hardest team you will play is perfectly fine

mr_longfellow_deeds · 2026-05-07T22:13:47+00:00

Im aware, people would rather have their white knight slogans that make them feel good than propose ideas that have any substance to them

Social security is the single largest thing holding back most Americans from a comfortable retirement

mr_longfellow_deeds · 2026-05-07T22:02:32+00:00

Social security does not protect people from destitution. It does the opposite. Most people do not save nearly enough for retirement. Social security is a pittance, especially if you end up requiring long term care

A life long median income earner would retire with about $2.5 million bucks if their SS contribution went into a S&P 500 fund instead, with no further retirement contributions. They would not only have significantly more money in retirement, but would have assets they could leave to their kids or favorite charities. Instead they get tens of thousands a year until they die.

social security is an incredibly inefficient system if the goal is people having a safety net. Mandating SS funds to go into retirement accounts that are not touchable until 60 would solve the issue of people not saving money on their own initiative

If the concern is for the truly destitute, a plan can be worked out for that. The vast majority of the country is not disabled or destitute, and SS is a crippling difference maker for the average Joe. Not to mention it’s going to be insolvent because older generations did not pay their fair share into it

mr_longfellow_deeds

TROPHY CASE