AbuTheMonkey

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Elite athletes don’t matter, look at Messi I really wish people would stop making this comparison. Messi is an alien. He's 1 of 1 and no one before him has ever possessed his entire skillset or footballing brain. I think we need to operate under the assumption that we aren't going to produce one of those. Elite athletes do matter. Kyle Walker, Virgil Van Dijk, Sergio Ramos, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe... I mean the list goes on and on and on. We've got the largest population of sporting age males in a multi sport nation. It's simple math that if you took the baseball travel ball structure even in the southeast and snapped your fingers and all of those kids were now playing soccer, we'd be a world power within a decade. The difference is that there is no structure, so even if you had 1,000 kids in every county playing the game from a young age, they aren't getting quality coaching. The flip side of that coin however is that from that 1,000 a handful of them are going to figure it out on their own to an extent and be obsessed with it and always have a ball at their feet. A percentage of those kids will grow up to be elite athletes. The math is the math, but until it's a widespread game played by 12 year olds instead of 5 year olds, then the only pathway to the big boy table is to make sure the 12 year olds that are playing are getting proper coaching It stands to reason that there are thousands of 6'5"-6'7" guys in this country that grew up playing basketball that were never good enough to play past a small college. Now imagine those genetics in goal. Now imagine the ones that were good enough to make it into the NBA and imagine those genetics in goal. The argument is a tired one and usually presented as a stupid one, like we should just start teaching Lebron James how to stop a 75 mph free kick form the top of the box. The real hypothetical to me is what if some of these guys that won the genetic lottery, which America has more of than any other nation, starting playing when they were 5 and took it serious. That's how you become a global power. It's not going to get to that point without structure though and I don't think we can have our cake and eat it too. Any rise of soccer is going to coincide with a decline in american football, I don't think the two can coexist and the long term injury data is going to damn the future of football in the long run

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You are summarized it well, though I think soccer would probably incrementally detract from all of the big 3 depending on player profile (probably slightly less so with basketball, but even then there are plenty of prototypes that crossover well).

I call it the Allen Iverson Argument because there isn’t a person on earth who could convince me that if that guy had grown up with a ball at his feet instead of in his hand and a decent developmental system, then he would be anything but a complete freak of nature (EDIT: After Googling it, I now realize Bill Simmons made the same argument about the same guy about five years ago - did not realize that but stick with, particularly when it's the same profile and set of genetic gifts that we all see).

Take your pick of examples from other sports (guys like Darrelle Revis, Reggie Bush, Bobby Witt Jr., Bo Jackson, etc, etc).

I’ll also say the converse is true (and fun to think about) - not hard to envision a guy like Mbappe being a star shortstop or slot WR or Haaland being a game wrecking TE or power-hitting 1B or Lukaku being a pretty badass OLB or SS and so on and so on. There are some great soccer players whose talent probably wouldn’t translate well to American sports (Kane being one who comes to mind), but genuinely elite athletic gifts are rare in any sport and are almost always table stakes to be among the very best.

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Didn't realize Mexico had Americans playing for them. Anyone know if they just weren't good enough in the US set up. Or us this more of my Mexican heritage is more important.

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In Gutierrez’s case, he played internationally for the U.S. all the way until last year (including a couple friendlies with the senior team) before making the one-time switch in November. Also came up through the Chicago Fire academy.

He was more or less buried with us - not replacing our attacking mid-fielders or our wingers as it currently stands. The window is pretty tight to ever get a chance to play a World Cup, especially for a good-but-not-superstar like Gutierrez, so I get it.

Less sure about Vargas - assume the same, really (came up through Sounders system, played internationally for the U.S. until 2024).

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Announcers said Ecuador came in last minute, which is about the worst thing you can do going to altitude.

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Granted, Quito is even higher in elevation than Mexico City. Guessing they figured they’d have a residual acclimatization and traded near in acclimatization for an extra day’s rest. That and they probably wanted to stay out of the zoo that was Mexico City the last 24 hours.

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Idk what it is with the Moroccans but they never get tired, they were the same way in Qatar.

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One of the great distance running nations in history - probably the third greatest after Kenya and Ethiopia. Algeria right next door isn’t far behind them, either.

Combination of genetics and growing up in and training at altitude (for the ones who are actually from there).

So far I think it's the grandeur of the event. I like to think I am pretty well traveled and worldly with a deep sense of love and patriotism for our country but a clear eyed view of its shortcomings...

But I think much of the rest of the world has forgotten or been led astray by their domestic media about what the U.S. is really like (much of, if not all of it, due to Trump, whom I admittedly loathe even as someone who leans more conservative than not), they forget that this is the most powerful and richest empire in the history of the world.

They think guns, healthcare horror stories, obesity, racial animosity, and so on and so on.

The stadiums, the scale, the wealth involved, the almost unlimited reservoir of human capital in this country, the beauty both natural and man-made, the show and artistry, the creativity, the genius, the innovation...

They forgot about all that. Big time.

We're effectively putting on a show where we host at the equivalent of Camp Nou, Stade de France, Iduna, Bernabeu, Wembley, San Siro, Berlin, Old Trafford, and Tottenham all at once but also have like 3X as many hosts that weren't even included in this (just off the top of my head, Chicago, Baltimore, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Denver, San Diego, New Orleans, DC, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Tampa, Charlotte, about 12 SEC stadiums, about 12 Big Ten stadiums, etc., etc.).

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Alabama is generally a pretty nice place outside of the Black Belt - more akin to Georgia or Tennessee than Mississippi.


Agree if you extend "Black Belt" all the way down to the Florida line.

I have a lot of family in south Alabama and once you drive north out of the Fairhope area it's about like that Bay Minette ice cream shop video posted here a few days ago until you're past Montgomery.

I have a fond attachment to the area but "nice" is about the last adjective that comes to mind.

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I wouldn't necessarily agree. Dothan / Wiregrass area, Enterprise / Andalusia, etc. aren't really any different than much of what you'd find in much of the Southeast - comparable to Valdosta or Tallahassee or Thomasville or Macon or whatever. Mostly perfectly fine places to live with relatively healthy economies (compared to the rest of the rural or small city South) and so forth.

The Black Belt specifically really stands out compared to those areas (or the areas north of it like Auburn / Opelika, Lake Martin, Tuscaloosa, etc.). That's an entirely different level of poverty that's more comparable to the Mississippi Delta or the Dakota Native reservations or Kentucky / WV Appalachia.

What is the scenario now for us not to play Bosnia?

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Who was that guy with the antlers on his head??? The part where the dragon seeds were just hanging out bitchn at each other


A Green Man. Almost nothing is known about them.

Corlys is still alive, right? I just finished rewatching it and it looks like he was just thrown in the water when the ships hit the shore, not because of any injury.

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He has at least one scene from the final trailer that was not in last night's episode, so presumably so.

SPOILER

Can't imagine that he'd be among the major story arc changes that they would make given the rest of his path entails.

What happened to Jason Lannister? Think I may have missed that bit.

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University of Washington is #12?

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This is a comprehensive view of the university and includes research, grad programs, etc. This format heavily knocks schools that are excellent undergraduate institutions but are relatively weaker in grad programs, research, etc. Notice Princeton outside the top 5 even though it is arguably the most difficult institution to get acceptance to in the world.

UW has excellent graduate programs, medical school, etc. World class, in many instances.