Needle

Parents are holding kids back for sports constantly in my kids school district. I had so many people tell me that I was making a mistake sending my daughter to school when I did. Totally insane and pathetic.

This is true but we can't eradicate morons from society unfortunately. Go to any shelter, in any city, and spend a couple hours watching the people drooling over this breed. I have very little faith in the average dog owner. They get a bad rap because of the long well documented history of violence. There are far too many outlets that hand these dogs out to anyone.

I used to be very competitive but as I have gotten older (40 this year) I find less outlets to compete. Most of my peers use their kids to compete and I can't get into that. I want my children to push themselves and compete for themselves but I don't feel like it's my own accomplishments. The best way to be competitive as an adult is with your own self. Push your limits in whatever makes you happy and help others improve as well. You will live longer with this approach.

Manatees don't do well out of water.

Bruce but it's splitting hairs. Reggie was always surrounded by way more talent and coaching in my opinion. This Eagles defensive rosters were up there with the most loaded ever.

Massive upset and would have been an enormous story in another era. Boxing is dead unfortunately and it's a blip on the radar. It's a shame

Good for Mick! His energy and motivation is incredible. Those guys just enjoy being rock stars and it's amazing they can still pull it off. I don't understand people that have to cut everything down.

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I think you might be getting a little too worked up over this and I don't mean that to sound like I'm calling you out (many seem to be annoyed). I honestly think we are picking up a guy that offers zero mystery. The Bills staff knows what he brings to the table and what he can't do. That is valuable to an offense that is loaded with question marks. Smith is going to be an example of how to work and do the ugly things. He wasnt much money either. I don't think he will make much of a visible impact. At least to the fans he won't. The desire for teams to use him over the years is proof enough that he has value. Smith on the field doesn't signal run necessarily. He pass blocks as well as he run blocks. We may be running more two TE sets this season as well. The use of play action is also something that is going to be emphasized again. I'm not worried about the Xs and Os of it. In fact, I hope teams over play the run because we have some burners to play with. On any given Sunday the game plan can change. Smith allows for a different kind of game than some of our other TEs. Crooms potential in my opinion is a dime a dozen. Every year free agency and the draft offer dozens of athletic TEs that have little impact. You can pick up 10 Crooms at any time.

Yeah I hate shrooms too

I am another home gym fan. I had various memberships over the years and they were useful. One of the gyms was 24/7 as well and that was fantastic. Now I have kids and no ability to just take off. So I invested in a dumbbell set from 5-100 in increments of 5 lbs, a commercial bench, and a rack. I also was gifted a pully/Smith type machine. All of this stuff was found used and relatively cheap. I've added different bars, a couple kettle weights, and other stuff. I have found my dedication to working out to be 100 times more consistent with the home gym. My life is crazy with work and 3 little kids. When the dust settles at 9 pm and everyone is asleep, it's the best way to decompress. I'm alone, I'm watching what I want on the tv, and I am pounding out sets. The dog is there though, it's his time too.

For once it seems like the timing of available talent is lining up with the Bills needs. How many years have we watched them take a QB in a weak class or a RB when other positions were strong or miss a franchise player by one pick or trade up when they should trade down etc.? It's all on paper and means nothing but it feels like a positive direction.

I would imagine that it can be a lot of fun especially if the kids are close in age or even playing together. The family is together and invested the same thing. I would imagine it doesn't work for other families with different dynamics, different finances, or different career requirements.

I agree with all three of your points. I played in travel baseball as a kid but it wasn't the type of traveling kids do today. In my opinion the travel sports at a young age are too much. I have to believe that most areas can field competitive enough teams without having to go all over the country. Kids really don't need to live out of a hotel for youth soccer. It is costly and a strain on family time in my opinion. In addition to that I have 3 kids, I don't mind making personal sacrifices but I'm not going to make one child sacrifice for another's travel sports. I have another buddy who has a 10 year old son that plays baseball. The kid is a good player and loves the game. My friend is the parent who lives for this kids baseball, which is fine because right now the boy loves it. He literally plays in multiple leagues all year long. He meets with a hitting instructor a couple times a week. The newest league was an invite only tryout for a private team with a full time coaching staff. The requirements for this league are 1. Make the team 2. Pony up $6,000 and pay for all traveling 3. Quit all other teams. The kid isn't allowed to play with his friends anymore and my buddy is never home. He admitted to me that he has missed massive amounts of time with his younger daughter and put a little financial strain on the family for baseball. Insanity to me

I am a parent of a 7, 4, and 3 year old. I have been warned for years about the ridiculous intensity of kids to high school sports today. I played a few sports as a kid up through highschool. I spent most days playing games in the neighborhood. We invented quite a few games as well. I'm 39 years old and I would guess most of you around my age and older have similar experiences. I have no clue about today's world. I was blown away by something I heard from a friend last week. I told him my daughter is into soccer right now and she has been playing for a couple of seasons. She scores most games and is really confident on the field. This is low skill 7 year old soccer. She hustles and never stops running but that's all you need at this level. My friend told me his 8 year old got cut from the travel team tryouts last year. I said no big deal, she has a whole lifetime of soccer if she is into it. He said that as they were walking off the field on cutdown day he heard the coach say to the 8 year olds....."look at the faces around you, this is your varsity team". I laughed and said the guy has to be the biggest douchebag ever. He told me point blank that I was wrong and they were going to try another sport! The conversation blew me away. Does anyone else have any interesting stories of youth sports? Good or bad?

I'm disappointed in this season. I think the writing has been kind of weak. Are we suppose to overlook that Cersei didn't take the gift wrapped opportunity to kill Dani, Tyrion, and 20 or so unsullied? They just stroll up and talk?

That's only because Gronk written in crayon on the back of a check is not an accepted signature.

Irv Smith Jr to the Vikes in the 2nd Love that pick for them

I love the show but was disappointed in the last episode. I have no problem with Arya killing the NK. The WW have been the threat being pushed the entire show and I thought it was ended too quickly. I also didn't care for all of the major characters making it. Winterfell had been overrun by the dead and everyone is slaughtered minus our favorite characters. They just dust themselves off and hug each other. It was a little soft.

I don't really want to get into a bidding war for Ziggy Ansah. I know we have money and I know it's a need but Im not in favor of a bad contract. I don't think he is all that special

For every Ray Rice dozens more get away unscathed. You have to be caught on camera or tee off on others to the point it can't be ignored. League doesn't give a rats ass. Chiefs just rolled out the red carpet for Frank Clark. The viewing public doesn't really care either. So no the kids aren't learning a thing.

DT is no longer an impact player. I don't even think the Pats system can save him. He has become Anquan Boldin of his final years. Possession WR with no wheels or size. Strong blocker like Boldin and crafty in the red zone but mostly done. That was before the injury too.

Fournette's immaturity and injury history are going to derail a promising career.

I like Frank Clark but a huge contract and the loss of significant draft value would be too much for me. Clowney's impact doesn't match his talent IMO.

I guess I don't find either of them to be overly pompous in comparison to other great athletes. Barry Bonds, Deion Sanders, TO, Antonio Brown, Bubba Watson, Michael Irvin, Big Ben, Serena Williams, Floyd Mayweather, Conor Mcgregor, Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, John MCenroe, Andre Rison, Brett Favre, Randy Moss, Jon Jones, All 90s Bills, Roy Jones, Isiah Thomas, Ochocinco, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens, Bernard Hopkins, Sugar Ray Leonard, Lebron James, Sergio Garcia, Albert Belle, Gary Sheffield, Peyton Manning, John Elway, Dan Marino, Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, Shaq, Mike Tyson, Riddick Bowe, Lennox Lewis, Phil Mickelson, Sidney Crosby, Eric Lindros, Yasiel Puig, Madison Bumgarner, Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, Rickey Henderson, Emmitt Smith, Dwight Howard, Kevin Garnett, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Gronk, Aaron Rodgers, Jim Brown, Charles Barkley, Desean Jackson, Odell Beckham, Darrelle Revis, Lawrence Taylor, Tito Ortiz, Leveon Bell, Latrell Sprewell, Paul Pierce, etc. etc. etc. This could go all night. I didn't include arguably the most pompous athlete of all time. He also happens to be the most beloved as well. Muhammed Ali