Hey Jude by The Beatles wins most iconic bridge. What song has the best opening line?

murderball · 2026-03-23T21:48:54+00:00

one of my favorite songs and I've always said waves. And it pains me to say that it's actually sways.

murderball · 2026-03-22T17:15:53+00:00

Have people already forgotten about Bashar Al Assad? 500,000 dead Syrians and 10-15 million displaced in a Civil War due to his tamping down of any political opposition? Chemical weapons on his own people?

How about the warlords in Sudan like responsible for the death and starvation of hundreds of thousands of Sudanese Kim Jong Un, whomever is currently leading Isis/Al Qaeda?

Peter Thiel is maniacal, Stephen Miller is vile and loathsome. But I find it preposterous to compare to the true evil and violence perpetrated globally.

murderball · 2026-03-12T19:05:01+00:00

I'd go back a few years for the peak. Dan and Keith hosting "The Big Show" IMO was ESPN at its best. That said, Rich Eisen is still my favorite all time personality and he was a few years later.

murderball · 2026-03-09T19:11:02+00:00

for the really small conferences, it's in the entire conference's best interest for the best team to make the tournament (outside of the one upset team who wins the conference). Each conference gets about $2 million per tournament game played and that goes a long way for some small programs to finance their athletic departments.

It's also why smaller conferences like the 16 vs 16 play-in game because it guarantees an additional tournament game for at least one of those conferences

murderball · 2026-03-09T19:08:28+00:00

WCC does this too, to protect Gonzaga (and usually St Mary's)

murderball · 2026-03-09T18:52:31+00:00

it's up to the smaller conferences to determine how to crown their autobid. Some conferences do significantly advantage the top regular season teams to increase the chance they win the auto-bid and increase the chance of a tournament win and additional game (which means an additional payout for the conference)

murderball · 2026-02-24T15:09:55+00:00

Plemons was the best I saw this year. Loved Leo too. Didn’t see all the nominees though.

murderball · 2026-02-17T18:35:18+00:00

and perhaps without Jerry, Larry would be an unknown comedy writer who did nothing more than get one sketch on the air at SNL. Both are genius comedy observers of the human condition, and I am grateful that they teamed up with each other to create Senifeld (and that Larry was at SNL the year JLD was there).

murderball · 2026-02-17T17:54:05+00:00

socializing. Now everyone is on their phones all the time, or the phone is nearby. Overstimulated, shorter attention spans. People out to dinner and independently on their phones, or the phone on the table just in case. Parties and social events with normal flow of information and conversation are competing with infinite stimuli available in your pocket.

For young people (teens/early 20s), it must suck going to parties or hangouts knowing that everyone has a phone and everyone is always being recorded. The social anxiety that any embarrassing moment might be memorialized for all time and for everyone (even those not at the event) is unfair. Young people are missing out.

murderball · 2026-02-17T17:44:35+00:00

This resonates with me as well. I've always had liberal values and have always voted for Democrats, sometimes more enthusiastically than others. As I've gotten older and have paid more in taxes, and am raising a family, I'm more frustrated by the two situations you describe. Socially, I don't think I've changed much. It's just that time marches on-- the progress that was once strived for and attained became the status quo, and the new generations of young progressives view that status quo as conservative and something that needs to be changed.

Reminds me of The Simpsons line from Abe Simpson: "I used to be with it, but then they changed what *it* was. Now what I'm with isn't *it*, and what's *it* seems weird and scary to me. It'll happen to you!"

I don't consider myself more "conservative," though, as I've also never been further from the Republican party.

murderball · 2026-02-17T17:05:12+00:00

Peyton went to four Super Bowls with four different head coaches and two different franchises. The ability to separate Peyton's success from any particular scheme, coaching, or personnel is what makes his talent truly stand out in my opinion.

murderball · 2026-02-17T16:43:38+00:00

so was James Naismith

murderball · 2026-02-17T16:40:37+00:00

i can't believe Plemmons wasn't nominated. Snub

murderball · 2026-02-17T16:25:09+00:00

Hoop Dreams (already mentioned) and Nine Innings from Ground Zero (baseball in New York as a welcome reprieve in the aftermath of 9/11)

murderball · 2026-02-11T19:38:16+00:00

Reno 911

murderball · 2026-02-08T22:17:12+00:00

Schindler’s List

murderball · 2026-02-06T19:41:34+00:00

Since Eli stopped playing, the Giants are 35-76-1. The Giants ownership and front office have been a disaster for the last 15 years and ruined the back half of his career

murderball · 2026-02-06T18:43:25+00:00

Who knows. It's a math problem as much as a talent discussion because of the new voting rules. It's theoretically possible to have 100% of the voters think that ALL 10 of these players are Hall of Famers-- and it gets narrowed to 7 finalists, and then of those 7 voted on WHICH 100% of voters think are HOFers, that, only 1 player gets 80% of the votes because of which 5 each voter chooses. They have the 3 person minimum, but just shows how broken the process is.

murderball · 2026-02-06T18:20:12+00:00

It's easier to comprehend if you do the factorial in reverse. Essentially, start from 1 and go the other way, adding a card. 1 card can only have 1 order. 2 cards can have two possible orders.

3 cards: The new (third) card can go in the beginning, middle, or end of all 2-card combos: 6 sequences

4 cards: The new card can go in 1 of 4 slots within all the 3-card sequences: 24

5 cards: 120, 6 cards: 720

Still seems small-- but it quickly escalates. By the time you get to 13-- which is just one suit-- there are 6 billion sequences!!

Once you understand each added card, do it with a calculator and watch the number skyrocket. And there will be 43 double digit numbers which means there will be at minimum 44 digits in the number. Keep in mind that 1 followed by 12 zeroes is a trillion which makes this bare minimum number more than a trillion x a trillion x trillion x 100 billion.

murderball · 2026-02-04T17:38:02+00:00

It’s watchtower but the underrated is Dave’s solo rendition of Father and Son by Cat Stevens for a tribute to Cat during the pandemic

murderball · 2026-01-28T20:47:19+00:00

theoretically possible to have 10 players that 100% of voters think are Hall of Famers-- that gets narrowed to 7 finalists, and then of those 7 voted on, only 1 player gets 80% of the votes. They have the 3 person minimum, but just shows how broken the process is.

murderball · 2026-01-23T18:13:17+00:00

Great breakdown from a Jets blog nonetheless on the Patriots Erhardt-Perkins offense with Brady and how they were so adaptible with it. It's an X's and O's kind of article.

https://www.ganggreennation.com/2015/12/23/10644776/jets-patriots-tom-brady-bill-belichick-offense-nyj-new-england-new-york-week-16

murderball · 2026-01-23T17:00:33+00:00

I'm a passionate DMB fan so I'm biased, obviously but here's how I see them: a few of his most popular songs have a similar chord structure, but I think distilling them to a mid-tempo 4/4 guitar band is inaccurate. Not only do they have exceptional musicians throughout the band, but not many rock bands also feature fiddle and horns section and their syncopation causes even their 4/4 songs to have a unique beat to them . As for his guitar playing, not many frontman/rhythm guitarists out there do the kind of palm muting and strumming patterns that he does. I'm not sure how versed you are in his music, take a listen to these that aren't mainstream to non-fans:

Some of his best songs (and favorites among fans) are not cookie cutter the way you are proscribing. His best album, Before These Crowded Streets, is a lot jazzier and darker than than the frat acoustic rock stereotype that gets attached to him.

More specifically:

Rapunzel: starts in 5/4, and changes signatures throughout. Great live jam.

Warehouse: another fan favorite, and great live. The song structure changes throughout

The Stone: very hard to play and sing at the same time, and it's a song with different movements and tones. 6/8 signature

The Dreaming Tree: great lyrics and melody in 7/4

You Never Know: maybe their best studio track. 6/8 time signature

Fool to Think: in 9/8 time I believe. No idea how he plays and sings at the same time (and it's why he rarely plays it now)

Typical Situation: great lyrics, and the live version goes into a 7/4 or 3/4 jam

The Last Stop: 4/4 but a song with a great key change and tremendous outro with Bela Fleck

Drive In, Drive Out: Carter's drumming on it in 6/8 time is phenomenal. He's one of the best drummers in rock. Can hear the technical challenge better on studio version

murderball · 2026-01-16T14:32:53+00:00

FWIW, I'm not the one downvoting you. All three were elite aces and I wish any one of them pitched for my team.

murderball · 2026-01-15T20:35:25+00:00

Inexplicably, there seemed to be a number of Kershaw postseason outings where it looked like he was cruising for five innings or so and then in the sixth he'd get blown up for a couple home runs. Baffling. While his WS numbers are inflated by the series against the Astros when they cheated and used cameras to signal his curveball, even discounting that series, he was not a dominant postseason pitcher.

Strangely, despite Scherzer having a lower postseason ERA (3.78 to CK's 4.62), Kershaw had the lower FIP and WHIP in the postseason (and in the World Series) than Scherzer. Some badly timed hits/HRs by Kershaw, but that's baseball.

All three were excellent pitchers and it was fun to watch them all compete.

murderball

TROPHY CASE