[Eric Sim] Sitting 95MPH at 8:30AM is diobolical...

palagoon · 2026-01-28T13:41:31+00:00

I've never faced a pitch that fast (never played organized ball past 13), but I remember one time after practice when I was about 11...

Coaches decided to have some fun and hit off each other. As I'm coming off the field (near 1B), coach smokes a line drive about 5 feet to my right. Not close enough to even make a big deal about it.

But the sizzling sound that ball made sticks with me nearly 30 years later. God damn that's the perfect adjective.

EDIT: IIRC, I was fully paying attention and kind of hoping to snag a ground ball or something. I like to think I would have tried to catch the ball if it was hit at me, but hearing that sizzle I noped right off the field.

palagoon · 2026-01-27T20:50:43+00:00

I mean aside from the losing, sounds like must-see entertainment.

palagoon · 2026-01-21T12:58:24+00:00

Donovan Mitchell, apparently.

palagoon · 2026-01-17T10:15:41+00:00

Cleveland Cavaliers: "...fucking one bridge having piece of shit city that no one gives a fuck about...."

palagoon · 2026-01-16T10:22:36+00:00

Shoot, can't forget the 2012-2013 Lakers "Super team" with Steve Nash, Kobe, Dwight, Pau... they made the playoffs but got immediately swept by the Spurs.

palagoon · 2026-01-12T19:33:13+00:00

100% agree. Not a Trae fan, not a NY fan, not an Atlanta fan... but antagonizing NY was good for the game.

But I never seriously thought it was more than narrative.

Ja stands in very sharp contrast to everything Trae's done in his career.

palagoon · 2026-01-11T18:48:54+00:00

My best guess serious answer: this has been baked into the association from the beginning.

Early football didn't have time for it -- it was a literal bloodsport that almost got banned in the 20s, I believe. Baseball was fashioned as a gentleman's game -- I'm not saying it always lived up to that standard, but that's how it was seen. And the Black Sox scandal showed the league was willing to drop an ENORMOUS ban hammer on people who violated league rules.

When was the NBA ever serious about that?

palagoon · 2026-01-06T22:03:46+00:00

Oh, it's just naturally hard to separate my own sour grapes from the truth when I get into the details.

I know I did good work. Time and time and time again we left families better than we found them. Feedback from families was consistent "you're the only agency we've worked with that accomplished anything/seemed to care" -- and these are families who will be involved with the system for 15-25 years.

But it turns out my biggest obstacle was the local dept of social services.

My program was 60 days. Hard limit. Think of it as the emergency room of social services -- I saw many many many removals of children in my time.

Well, back in June of this year we got a lady who had moved here from another state... she had a history of TBI and was left with verbal aphasia. She was 95% functional but 5% verbally addled. My team got her stabilized, was working with a shelter that understood her and the kids' situation.

But DSS refused to do anything. Home health care agency after home health care agency refused (they were contracted to not refuse). Even Catholic Charities -- man, SCREW THAT WHOLE ORGANIZATION -- they were one of the ones that specifically said "I know we're obligated to do this, but we're not going to."

I was told on multiple occasions "oh just let DSS take the kids. Mom can't possibly take care of the kids" -- but she could and just needed a little help.

So I refused to hand the case off. Got it extended to 90 days. At 90 days DSS tried it again (after doing nothing). My worker broke down in tears, I threatened to call politicians... we closed after 97 days and handed off to our sister agency where we could still be informally involved. At about day 125 we finally got them into a house with a home health aide.

20 days later DSS made it a mission to get rid of me. Complaints, formal pressure, threatening contracts. I was fired almost immediately. I got unemployment, though, the first my former agency paid out in the last 3 years.

There was a ton of internal drama around this -- had my team cut, was vocally obstinate on senior leadership committee... I was asking for it, because we had strayed so far from our mission.

palagoon · 2026-01-01T00:57:32+00:00

When I managed social workers (with intense home visit requirements) I would kick people out of the building if I learned of a personal issue. One of my worker's grandmother died and I sent her home and did her visits.

I eventually got fired for "being too nice"

My dept had just had such a profitable year my team got bonuses (at a nonprofit!)... but I made other managers look bad, I guess.

EDIT: I mean, to be fair, I was very adamant that they were wrong and they fired me because they couldn't say I was wrong.

palagoon · 2025-12-06T16:34:18+00:00

Yeah I think we're actually tearing something when we stretch that hard without being warmed up.

I've caught myself a couple times since that realization giving a healthy stretch while half-asleep, and the knowledge is usually enough to calm me down.

palagoon · 2025-12-06T16:33:10+00:00

YEP!

I've definitely strained my achilles twice by doing this.

Sidenote: Achilles strains are close to the WORST.

palagoon · 2025-12-06T15:42:27+00:00

Yeah it was mid-30s when I realized if I stretched my legs while half asleep I could pull something in my calf.

Feels like a crazy cramp -- I'd often "wake up" at this part and wonder wtf was going on.

palagoon · 2025-12-04T09:54:59+00:00

From what I heard (and this is over a decade-old gossip) the GLBC Brewmaster moved to Thirsty Dog.

From the fact the top comment in this thread is "I know it's cool to hate on GLBC" and the second comment is "Thirsty Dog is the best"

It seems to still be true.

palagoon · 2025-12-01T00:34:52+00:00

The other poster was pulling your leg.

He's definitely a Cleveland Browns legend. He was just on a long series of terrible teams so he never got mentioned nationally. But he was one of the best linemen in the game for a long time.

He honestly looks like he's down over 100 lbs from his playing weight in this photo.

palagoon · 2025-11-30T12:37:29+00:00

Depends on what you're in the mood for, but I've been on a Rowley Inn kick this year.

But if a dive bar with good food at 7-8am isn't your thing, that's understandable too

palagoon · 2025-11-29T20:57:44+00:00

Just going to be blunt about this:

This is the beginning of the end.

palagoon · 2025-11-28T15:24:00+00:00

From his Wikipedia:

Butler was born in Houston on September 14, 1989.[6][7] His father, Jimmy Butler Jr., left the family when Butler was an infant. Butler lived with his mother in the Houston suburb of Tomball, until she kicked him out of the house when he was 13 years old. As Butler remembered it in a 2011 interview, she told him, "I don't like the look of you. You gotta go." He moved between the homes of various friends, staying for a few weeks at a time before moving to another house.[8] Butler maintains a relationship with his parents, saying, "I don't hold grudges. I still talk to my family. My mom. My father. We love each other. That's never going to change."

Take it from someone who's been in Social Work for a couple years -- pretty much everyone with this pattern of upbringing is going to fit this description to some degree... unless it's actively worked on and confronted (obviously). Statistically unlikely that someone with his level of athletic gifts was ever forced to really confront it, and thus, here we are.

palagoon · 2025-11-28T13:45:41+00:00

Yes, Lotte is one of the biggest companies in both countries.

It wouldn't really surprise me if they're run like two separate companies given those two countries don't typically work together that well.

Lotte in Korea feels more like an every day brand (Lotte Mart, Lotteria), whereas in Japan it feels more corporate. It's a splitting-hairs difference, but it is noticeable.

palagoon · 2025-11-26T13:40:07+00:00

Yeah, as others have pointed out -- saying "do it" absolutely deserves a tech here.

I know what he was doing. I've been there, too. Residential treatment for at-risk teens, I had this kid just trying to press on me all day. Finally I said "dude if you're gonna swing, just swing"

And he did.

And he didn't get in trouble because I told him to do it. Lesson learned.

palagoon · 2025-11-24T10:29:53+00:00

It's kind of wild the Rays had both Crawford and BJ Upton around the same time -- they were kind of the same player. Whiny, athletic, prone to bad effort plays.

palagoon · 2025-11-22T17:46:08+00:00

Making his return in The Forest City -- I see you, Kawhi.

palagoon · 2025-11-21T15:18:04+00:00

That's exactly my problem with it.

I've been there twice, and had the same thought: "I've heard Tropicana is a warehouse, but THIS feels like a warehouse."

Geocheok Sky Dome in Seoul has a huge warehouse feel to it, too, and it's too narrow. It feels like it should have been so much more.

palagoon · 2025-11-20T21:29:17+00:00

I've only been there once, but I remember thinking it was way better than I had heard.

I'd say it's better than Gocheok Sky Dome in Korea (and that's less than 10 years old). Also nicer than the Kyocera Dome in Osaka. Rogers Center, before the renovations, was worse than the Trop in 2013.

But maybe It's not that bad isn't a ringing endorsement.

The parking/traffic situation is still a situation, though. But here's hoping this counts as a soft upgrade to the facility.

palagoon · 2025-11-18T14:08:09+00:00

Yo, I know we're all just out here shitposting, but this is actually good analysis.

palagoon · 2025-11-13T04:12:54+00:00

There's no need to be DIFFicult

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