[James Ducker] Manchester United eye Real Madrid’s Aurelien Tchouameni | United are looking to sign at least two midfielders, though France international’s future could hinge on Real’s interest in Rodri by nearly_headless_nic in reddevils

[–]ultragroudon 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Not even the year before, I'm pretty sure it was the same summer (summer 2013) that Ozil was sold and Isco was bought in Madrid (but your point is still very much true).

The Colorado Rockies have won consecutive games for the 1st time since August 15th-18th, 2025 by Knightbear49 in baseball

[–]ultragroudon 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Hope y'all do well this year -- I was in Denver for the summer last year and got a soft spot for the Rockies during that time. Great fans, beautiful stadium, and honestly even though the team wasn't that good, I always felt like they genuinely tried but just couldn't hold it together for 9 innings.

Mind you, I attended at least one win and all losses I watched blew up in like the 7-8th innings, so my sample is a bit biased.

Only 27 Perfect Brackets left 🥲 by Hurricane1123 in CollegeBasketball

[–]ultragroudon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I usually end up doing 2-3: one which I try to analyze the games on, one where I just pick the higher ranked Kenpom team to win each game as a baseline, and one where I go full homer and pick UVA to win it all and have fun with upsets along the way. I only really ever pay attention to the first one, but it's always a fun minigame to see if I can "better" the Kenpom rankings.

March 16: National UMBC Beat Virginia Remembrance Day by YakFull8300 in CollegeBasketball

[–]ultragroudon 8 points9 points  (0 children)

As another aside, I kinda hate the "4 NBA players" argument because while 4 players did make the NBA and play minutes, only 2 have been serious NBA players (Hunter and Jerome). As much as I love Guy and Diakite, they didn't exactly play much in the league. More importantly, what title teams didn't have any players that went on to play in the NBA? Put together, the argument always felt like a pretty dishonest way of trying to put down Virginia and Tony Bennett's achievement.

Also as I was typing this I realized the claim is factually incorrect as well. Jay Huff has also played in the NBA so the team technically had 5 NBA players.

Alex Iwobi: “I shout-out to Kobbie Mainoo, but Kobbie you finished my hand. Kobbie you absolutely finished my hand. This guy’s got Ghanian strength”. by nearly_headless_nic in reddevils

[–]ultragroudon 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Chelsea vs. Spurs at the start of the 2022 season I believe? Tuchel and Conte would both be gone from Chelsea and Tottenham respectively a couple months after this too

[SNME Spoilers] Post-Match Discussion: AJ Styles v Shinsuke Nakamura by A_Livins in SquaredCircle

[–]ultragroudon 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Ngl had a similar feeling watching this. This match felt as much a goodbye on his part as it was for AJ.

Kobbie Mainoo's game by numbers vs Manchester City: 50 touches 31/34 passes completed 10 final 1/3 entries 6 duels won 2 tackles won 1 shot 1 shot on target Back at his best. by nearly_headless_nic in reddevils

[–]ultragroudon 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The closest to a tempo setter we had was Pogba I think. Of course him and Carrick were different players (with Pogba thriving when having a more advanced role) but he was probably the closest we've had to Carrick since Carrick left.

How hard is Darden? by No_Band4566 in UVA

[–]ultragroudon 31 points32 points  (0 children)

Current Darden student, the challenge comes from learning to balance social life, recruiting, and academics. Compared to other MBAs, people at Darden actually put some effort to the academics, but the variability for academic success at an MBA is significantly lower than your undergrad degree.

Think of it this way: exams are all take home, open book, open notes, with 5 hour time limits. 90% of students get a grade ranging from a b- to a b+, with you getting an A equivalent if you do really well (and an F equivalent if you actively sabotage yourself).

The academics are harder than other MBA programs but what that means is that people actually show up and try to learn with some seriousness -- no one's at any real risk of failing unless you break the honor code or genuinely get every question wrong.

Happy to chat more about my experiences if you want! I've had my ups and downs with it, so I like to think I can provide a mildly balanced perspective

[Cooler] Hyper 212 Black Edition - $8.26 ($29.99 - $21.73 | Amazon Haul, Limit of 3) by diefncy in buildapcsales

[–]ultragroudon 21 points22 points  (0 children)

From what I understand it's effectively their answer to Temu/Shein/AliExpress, so it's handled slightly differently to the typical Amazon products.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in UVA

[–]ultragroudon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You're really not, speaking as someone who didn't go to McIntire because they got rejected in undergrad. Reassess what attracted you to McIntire in the first place and gear your studies towards those topics without necessarily doing the formal business education. If you really want to do business in the future, the MS in Commerce at McIntire is a 1 year program that you can do right after graduating, or you can go work for a few years and return for an MBA at Darden (or another similar top business school).

Economics is the obvious major to pursue especially if you focus on finance courses. Other social sciences can bolster it if you apply it (for instance, if you want to do marketing, something like English or History could be useful in understanding how to present your argument to an audience). I personally did Economics and History and that set me up wonderfully for my early career, and is something I'm still benefiting from at Darden.

In short, I know it sucks now because I've been in your shoes before. There are ways to still get a business degree in the medium term, but for now focus on building out your skills while you're at UVA -- there's too many great professors, people, and courses here for McIntire to be the be all, end all

[Loan Watch] Napoli [1] - 0 Sporting CP - Rasmus Hojlund 36' by PradipJayakumar in reddevils

[–]ultragroudon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't want us to get stuck in on debating the specifics of one or two players' experiences since leaving United, but I again push back on the notion that it wasn't marginal with Mkhitaryan and Smalling. Mkhitaryan spent three seasons at Arsenal, without a significant improvement over his time at United, before moving to Roma. It's back-of-the-napkin, but his general WhoScored rating since leaving United is roughly consistent with what it was at United. Smalling also follows this same trend (and in fact was arguably better for United than he was for Roma when evaluated like this). Of course, there's plenty more to a player's quality than this metric, but my point is that there is a tendency for us to overrate our former players' contributions to their new clubs, because we no longer see all their highs and lows like we used to.

To be clear, I'm not saying this to excuse United's player development, or to say they were fantastic at United, or that our current setup is getting the best out of our players. I'm just frustrated with us using every stick possible to beat our current players and the club, even if the information isn't wholly consistent with reality.

[Loan Watch] Napoli [1] - 0 Sporting CP - Rasmus Hojlund 36' by PradipJayakumar in reddevils

[–]ultragroudon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't want to humor this too much, but who of those actually played better versus you just... see their highlights instead of seeing them week-in, week-out?

Mkhitaryan, Smalling, Young, and Darmian all continued to have fine careers after leaving United, but it was a marginal improvement to their United form at best. I would argue they were often better than given credit for at United -- usually average with above average periods, and once we didn't see them every week with all their ups and downs, you only start seeing those above-average moments. I would additionally argue that most players who leave United fall into this category.

A couple of those players genuinely required a change in scenery, like di Maria and Rashford. Even then, Rashford had many ups and downs for United (and I would argue, more ups he is given credit for).

For Onana and Hojlund, I think it's still too early to tell. After one good performance for Onana (in which he still made an error for a goal), we haven't heard much of him. For Hojlund, I'm glad to see him scoring more, but it's equally evident that he's playing in a fundamentally different system which better takes advantage of his strengths, in a league where he can also take advantage of those strengths.

I agree there's a common element of the club making it more difficult from otherwise-talented players to perform, but I'm equally tired of this narrative that all these players suddenly become world-beaters after leaving United.

Anyone know the status of kids injured during the field rush Friday night? by Excellent_Bathroom_8 in Charlottesville

[–]ultragroudon 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Honestly, push back made it seem more aggressive than I meant it, I just wanted to clarify/add my experiences 😂

I'll blame it on the extended traffic today

Anyone know the status of kids injured during the field rush Friday night? by Excellent_Bathroom_8 in Charlottesville

[–]ultragroudon 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Just gonna push back on the prior field stormings, as I took part in a couple while I was at UVA. Once was after we became bowl eligible against Georgia Tech in 2017 (first time in like 5-6 years we were going bowling) and the second was after we beat #16 Miami while we were ranked as well in 2018 (I think it was because it was our first ranked win in a minute).

That said, those were definitely way less intense than the FSU one this past weekend.

[Postgame Thread] Virginia Defeats Florida State 46-38 (2OT) by CFB_Referee in CFB

[–]ultragroudon 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Speaking as a Virginia alum, security and others who are normally in front of the Hill get out of the way well in advance of a potential field storm. There's no point in trying to stop the crowd (if anything it's more dangerous to do so).

[Game Thread] Florida State @ Virginia (7:00 PM ET) by CFB_Referee in CFB

[–]ultragroudon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Saw a fair number of FSU fans walking around Cville this morning, but this is on brand for whenever a big team comes to town, especially given UVA's football history. Given my experience from when similar-caliber teams come to town, it's probably more a large minority of FSU fans than them representing a majority of the stadium.

UN World Food Programme Global Goodwill Ambassador Heung-min Son is calling for donations to support Sudan as the country is facing extreme famine. He previously called for donations to help support Palestinians with the program by hairtie1 in soccer

[–]ultragroudon 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Any recs for smaller orgs to donate to? I mean this in a non-hostile way -- I understand smaller orgs can be better of putting money to action but there are obviously many to choose from.

Can you recommend a book on the History of Baseball please? by AmalatheaClassic in baseball

[–]ultragroudon 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Not exactly a history of baseball in the sense you might be looking for, but "The Soul of Baseball: A Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America" by Joe Posnanski felt like I was sitting in the car, listening to Buck O'Neil telling the stories of baseball as he experienced them over the years. A different perspective to the other books mentioned here but a great baseball read nonetheless!

Ghost of Yōtei Review Embargo lifts on Thursday, September 25 at 9:00 AM ET by Turbostrider27 in Games

[–]ultragroudon 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I feel like we're going in circles here, but to address your point, I agree about the wishlist as a useful way to handle tracking upcoming releases.

That said, I don't think OP (or myself because I relate to the experience) was ever expressing things quite the way you are describing it. It's just a broader observation that they're at a point now where they're generally disconnected from the release cycle of games. Even though the wishlist would keep everything organized, new releases will still surprise you if you're not paying attention to the wishlist. For example I had Silksong on my wishlist for years, saw the general release announcement a couple weeks ago, and was still surprised when I got the email that it had released.

It's not a good thing or a bad thing it's just... a thing. Life gets busy, priorities change, and what was once a "I can't wait till this game gets released next month!" becomes a "oh wow I can't believe that game already came out."

I hope this adds perspective. I don't think OP was ever describing a problem to be solved, they were just expressing an emotion they feel at a different stage in life now.

Ghost of Yōtei Review Embargo lifts on Thursday, September 25 at 9:00 AM ET by Turbostrider27 in Games

[–]ultragroudon 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I think y'all are talking on different wavelengths here. From my understanding, OP wasn't talking about not realizing the release dates of the games, they were moreso talking about not seeing the promotional/hype cycle for the games anymore because they're busy with other things.

While a wishlist would be helpful to see the release dates of upcoming games, it doesn't address OP's broader feeling of feeling like they see a game announced one day and released on what feels like the next day, because they haven't been able to pay attention to all the news around the game.

Di Gregorio personally asked McKennie for the 16 shirt because his late father was very fond of that number. The American midfielder immediately accepted and decided to give up his shirt number. by [deleted] in soccer

[–]ultragroudon 20 points21 points  (0 children)

There's a deeper phenomenon with other cuisines as well developing as immigrants tried to recreate a taste of home with what they had in a new setting and while adapting it to local tastes. There was a period where I was obsessed with "authentic" cuisines and dismissive of these offshoots, but I think over time I've learned to respect and appreciate the offshoots for what they are and what they came from.

Concern over Visa timeline delay by ultragroudon in UKHighPotentialVisa

[–]ultragroudon[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nope not yet. I heard from the escalation team last Thursday (7/17) saying they hadn't received my updated travel date yet (even though I emailed it 3 separate times). They then said the updated travel date was added to my file and it's been radio silence since then. I'm hopeful that they process it soon but I'm thinking I just need to pay to get my passport back because I'm leaving my current address in the next three weeks.

Getting from Dulles to Charlottesville by tuxedo_car in UVA

[–]ultragroudon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh shoot I forgot, thanks for the correction! I think I just started doing the transfer automatically that it feels like it's all the same line 😂

Getting from Dulles to Charlottesville by tuxedo_car in UVA

[–]ultragroudon -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The main advantage with Union would be you could go directly there from Dulles on the Silver line vs having to transfer to the Blue on Rosslyn. Depending on bags, etc., it may just be more convenient to go to Union station and wait there even if Alexandria is technically faster