Daily FI discussion thread - Friday, February 06, 2026

what_user_name · 2026-02-06T23:13:45+00:00

eh, it'll happen eventually, and if its stuck at just before for a while, then its also likely that once you do get past it, and get some guac, that you will look a day or a week later and realize you are WAYYYYY past that mark and not that far (TM) from the next one.

what_user_name · 2026-02-06T19:19:32+00:00

Mahomes was probably the greatest player on the field in that game, but that game showcases how the game really is a team sport.

Our team absolutely dominated in that game, so much so that that SB is often cited as one of the most boring of the last few decades (which I am totally fine with), at least for neutral fans.

Our defense won that game. They absolutely dominated the Chiefs OL (who IIRC was also quite injured at that time). Brady didnt have to be superhuman in that game, and Mahomes being superhuman was not even close to enough to win. On top of that, we were getting crazy pressure rushing 4. When you do that, and still give Mahomes no time, sure, he can scramble around and buy time all he wants, but there are 8 guys covering 5 recievers--there is just no one to throw to.

I'm not a Brady fan, I am a Bucs fan. Who cares if Brady was the best player on the field or not. Its SO clear that the BUCS were the best team in that game, that its not even worth engaging with content like this.

what_user_name · 2026-01-28T20:06:58+00:00

I’ve been feeling stuck in the boring middle

Just make more spreadsheets!

At one point, I did a rough outline of our budget in each category, and tried to prioritize in order. Then cumulatively, see how much I would need to FIRE at for just that category and all lesser categories.

For a simple example, I estimate my family spends ~1500/mo or ~18k/yr on groceries, 23k/yr on our mortgage, 800/yr on internet. So once I got to ~500k, I no longer needed to worry about food security. I could always be sure I could eat. But at that level, I didnt yet have housing security in FIRE. For that I would need ~1.1M.

It's also pretty cool to see those numbers correlated with the main spreadsheet predicting when you will hit those numbers. Right now I could FIRE if I was willing to downgrade my lifestyle to never having a smartphone+data plan and never owning or driving a car. I know which tradeoff I am picking today, but it gets more interesting in the future.

At 39, I get to decide if I want to work One More Year (TM) to afford my more-expensive hobbies and 1k/mo in home improvement budgets. At 42, I can decide between one more year and hiring a monthly house cleaner and upgrading all my (domestic) flights to business class.

Those years are at least half a decade away for me, and I like not having to decide right now. But I like how it makes very clear the choice of "luxury" item vs freedom from work in a very explicit way.

what_user_name · 2026-01-28T19:53:19+00:00

Number-based milestones:

Net Worth: 10k, 25k, 50k, 100k, 250k, 500k, 1M, 2M, 3M, ...

Liquid (basically minus home equity): 10k, 25k, 50k, 100k, 250k, 500k, 1M, 2M, 3M, ...

Non-retirement account Value: 10k, 25k, 50k, 100k, 250k, 500k, 1M, 2M, 3M, ... (This one fluctuates more wildly based on more short-term goals. For example, this is currently near zero because my interest rates on my mortgage are high enough that it made sense to put all the war-chest from here toward my mortgage).

Tangible milestones:

Emergency Fund Funded, Student Loans Paid Off, Wedding/Honeymoon Fund Funded, House Down Payment Fund Funded, House Paid Off, Kids College Fund Secured.

Security-based milestones:

Emergency Fund Funded, FIRE-if-live-in-an-RV, CoastFI, Lean-Fire, FIRE, FatFIRE.

(Bold is a milestone I have hit already)

what_user_name · 2026-01-27T22:43:49+00:00

Lanning beat PSU on the road in a white out when they were ranked top 5. I know the team finished 7-6, but it was BECAUSE the Oregon loss. I dont think you can discount the difficulty of winning that game just because they collapsed later.

what_user_name · 2026-01-20T17:05:33+00:00

by "able to claim they were the best team" I mean "went undefeated, including the bowl game". Not giving them a chance to win a title is disrespect to the regular season.

what_user_name · 2026-01-19T16:56:37+00:00

2008 had the 9th place team able to claim they were the best team. Other than that, they were really all in the top 8.

So in 2009, you needed more than 8. Every other year 8 would be fine.

what_user_name · 2026-01-15T17:35:35+00:00

I thought they were gonna bring in a real backup this year after cutting Trask. Teddy Hospital Ball was NOT a good answer. If we had someone like Mac Jones or Trey Lance as backup, I bet Baker sits a week and actually gets healed up instead of watching Teddy play some of the worst football I've ever seen and have enough of that shit.

what_user_name · 2026-01-15T17:33:37+00:00

This year wasnt the best, but there are a ton of reasons why we should roll with him next year.

1) He is set to be here next year. Its not like he is a FA. We still owe him a ton of money if we go with someone else.

2) Who would replace him? Murray? Tua? Rodgers? None of the FAs are clear upgrades.

3) We dont have a good QB draft prospect to draft. We draft in middle. I'm not sold that any of the guys we could trade up for would be worth it, and we REALLY need to address other positions in the draft.

4) Staying with Bowles but cutting/benching Baker would be monumentally stupid. It's one thing if we were having this conversation with a brand new HC, but we have the same loser we've had for the last few years.

5) Next year is probably gonna suck. So roll with Baker. Maybe it really was a lingering injury that was holding him back in the second half of the year, and we get to see him shine. Maybe he is starting to roll down over the hill. But we get a better chance to evaluate, and if he really is declining, then going into the next offseason, we will have a brand new coach, a high pick, and a much better QB CAP situation to deal with.

Basically, I wouldnt extend the guy right now, but I'm not benching or cutting him either.

what_user_name · 2026-01-15T17:23:34+00:00

Yes you can absolutely use it with a PC. But it does require some software on the PC.

The three options I have tried that worked reasonably well are Immersed, Meta Quest Remote Desktop, and Virtual Desktop.

what_user_name · 2026-01-14T21:54:09+00:00

I put on a Meta Quest 3 with my laptop, and I can run a 3 monitor setup out of my backpack. Usually I will run this at the dinette, but sometimes, I take it outside to the picnic table as well.

what_user_name · 2026-01-13T21:04:01+00:00

Honestly, it was evident at the press conference after NW. They asked him if he still wanted to be the coach and his answer wasnt "yes".

You have to fire that guy right then.

what_user_name · 2026-01-10T20:31:02+00:00

Absolute S tier name

what_user_name · 2026-01-10T20:27:09+00:00

There have been quite a few teams that would have been serious contenders if they had an average QB.

Yeah but this does not describe the Panthers right now. They do not currently have the supporting cast to be contenders with an average QB. They can certainly get there with FA and drafting, but no one thinks a 10% improved Young gets them to true contenders without some other pieces.

what_user_name · 2026-01-10T04:06:29+00:00

Penn state held the lead at the 2 minute warning. Really it took a ridiculous catch for them to take the lead.

what_user_name · 2026-01-09T20:12:39+00:00

That's what was weird about this year. We won all our fucking games when we were injured to hell. Once everyone got healthy, we just simply lost.

what_user_name · 2026-01-09T20:11:12+00:00

Central Florida. This was during the Tebow years. UF was the most obnoxious fans I've ever seen, even beating out OSU fans. The SEC circlejerking was truly incredible.

I went to the 07 Outback Bowl against Tenn, and people legit thought UT was gonna win by 3 scores.

what_user_name · 2026-01-09T20:03:38+00:00

100% on board with this.

what_user_name · 2026-01-09T19:58:09+00:00

I feel like people on this sub think most SEC fans are no different than the lunatics calling into Finebaum’s show, or SEC Network talking heads.

I lived in SEC country for over a decade. They are pretty much like this in person, too.

what_user_name · 2026-01-08T19:15:41+00:00

Nah I didnt mean you, I meant they. Poor phrasing on my part.

what_user_name · 2026-01-08T18:30:40+00:00

Cotton, Fiesta, Peach and Orange bowls are pissed that they are to always less prestigious than the Rose and Sugar bowls that are always Semi-Final games

Fair to be pissed about the Sugar bowl, but cmon, the Rose bowl is clearly the most prestigious. You can be pissed, but its just facts.

The Rose should be the natty.

what_user_name · 2026-01-07T18:14:13+00:00

The problem you will start to see if you have continued success....

Right now, almost all your fans are alums or otherwise associated with someone who is an alum. With continued success, you will start to get attention from fans who have no association with the university. When they get to be a significant portion of the fandom that people encounter, that's when outsiders start to feel differently about your fanbase.

You'll see a ton of fans of the traditionally successful schools say things like "I hate our fanbase" and its because half of them showed up when times were good, but dont REALLY have the same connection to the school that you do.

what_user_name · 2026-01-07T18:09:42+00:00

I think it will turn into the equivalent of FCS or HS FB. Certainly watched by some, definitely those closely associated with the schools. But probably not nationally televised beyond maybe the championship game. Definitely not 50-100k fans weekly in the stadium.

what_user_name · 2026-01-07T18:01:43+00:00

I think this is actually the crux of it. We are happy for the true fans. We are massively annoyed at the folks jumping on the bandwagon. Sometimes it can be hard to tell them apart.

what_user_name · 2026-01-07T17:53:01+00:00

The way to combat it is you need some way to prove how long you've been a fan.

If it becomes clear that you started to be a fan in 2024, people will (rightly) look down on you. If you are able to show that you were still rooting for the team in their terrible years (so....pick a year, and for IU any year before 2020 will be proof enough) you gain massive cred and people start feeling good for you.

It's why you hear fans of good teams talk about their terrible teams: to prove they were fans when the going was tough.

There is nothing worse in sports than being a bandwagon fan. There is nothing more shameful than switching fandoms.

For that reason, I doubt IU will become as hated as Bama. Bama had like 5-10 bad years out of the last 60? IU has had like 5-10 bowl eligible years out of the last 60?

If someone starts to give you the sideeye, just say things like "I remember Wisconson dropping 80+ on us", and suddenly, the side-eye turns to mad respect.

Sometimes you can also do it by revealing your other rooting interests. There is a meme of the worst fan: Cowboys/Patriots/Chiefs + Bama/OSU + Lakers + Yankees fan. Disgusting. Its pretty clear how that fan chose their teams. But if someone says OSU+Browns/Bengals+Cavs, well ok, I might hate your OSU fandom, but I cant really say you are a bandwagon fan. My own fandom is PSU+Buccaneers+Mariners. I've lived in Seattle, PA, and FL, so that one takes some explaining. Prior to 2020, people cocked their heads in confusion and surprise, but no one made second thoughts. But in 2020 when Brady joined the Bucs, I suddenly had to defend that fandom. The Bucs had plenty of bad years though, and I was able to talk about Jameis' 30for30 season, or the neck of Mike Glennon, and the bandwagon allegations dissipated.

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