unclevlad

I missed the joke.... That said, I think relegation would be awesome. NFL, NBA, MLB...all of em. Wanna tank? Get yer ass relegated. It'd never fly; it's next to impossible to retrofit it. But it's nice to dream.

Good gosh. Twas market day today. Ran a tad late; missed the first quarter and a half of the early games. Fox's game was WFT-GB. ZZZZZ..... Titans-Chiefs, ok, this should be interesting. WRONG!!!!! 17-0 and Titans driving when I switched over. 24-0 now and the Titans just got a TO and are moving for a potential score right before half. Even a FG makes it 4 scores, and that's assuming the Chiefs can shut the Titans down. FAT CHANCE of that. Yep...they got the FG. 27-0 at half. Might have to switch to the Fox game...ugh. This Chiefs team is falling apart faster than an ice sculpture in a blast furnace. The defense is horrific, the offense is trying to make too many things happen, and is making a ton of mistakes. Even last week, they struggled through the entire first half against the weak WFT. Second half, OK, was good, but that's been the exception. Week 1 win against the Browns...that's week 1. Practically a random result, no one ever knows how week 1 games will go, and they aren't at all predictive. Otherwise, beat the hapless NFC East Eagles and WFT. (We can virtually write the Cowboys into the playoffs in India ink because the other 3 teams are soooo bad.) Flip side...they've lost to Titans, Bills, Chargers, and Ravens....numbers 2, 6, 8, and 10 in ESPN's power rankings. Of course, the Chiefs were 9th, so that calls that power ranking into question. But to me, putting the Chiefs that high is less about the facts of THIS season, and more about the level of anointing that's been coated over Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes. The biggest concern is, assuming the Titans get one more offensive score in the 2nd half, the Chiefs will have given up 30+ 5 times, and 29 another. This defense is VERY bad. That makes for a very long road to return to the playoffs.

Yeah but what can they do against real football teams?

First, how is this a Drain? What is Rust Draining? Drain is more specific, it's not a catch-all. Second: if this can be done with Drain, then why not with Blast? I blow the grenade up. Hey, maybe the explosion will hit the gadgeteer. Third, this is what Deflection is for. The SFX is it crumbles to dust. So, no, I wouldn't allow it like that.

The very low base cost of DI, and the lack of Limitations, do have their own implications in the rules. DI at 6 points per level is NOT identical to the STR, PD, ED, and KBR bought with Costs END. They look that way on the surface...but not once other Advantages and Limitations come into play. The low base cost makes Advantages cheaper. Limitations are subject to diminishing returns...you get less and less for each -1/4. First gives 20% savings. Second gives 13%. Third gives 9%. Fourth gives 7%. There can be active point implications for MPs and VPPs. I've done "Constant Mass DI" like that, buying STR, PD, and ED...but not necessarily the KB resistance. It's a combination of Shrinking and DI where the mass changes offset. But rather than worrying about it, given that even the KB is being cancelled, just buy everything as a compound power with the SFX of "I'm smaller." These are all basically equivalent...not in points per se but in effect...as a Compound Power: Shrinking, 1 level DI, 3 levels Shrinking, 1 level, Normal Mass +15 STR, +3 PD, +3 ED. Add in Perceivable and Costs END to Maintain on some of em. +15 STR, +3 PD, +3 ED, +2 DCV. Again, toss in Perceivable (none of these are normally) and Costs END to Maintain Custom Power, hard to spot...4 points for -2 to perception rolls SFX: half normal height Since Shrinking doesn't impact movement (at least not at this level...gets more arguable with several levels) and the mass and KB are all offsetting, this is the net result. You maybe have to tweak with custom limitations, but it's manageable. Not saying any of these is right or wrong...just pointing out that they're all functionally equivalent. This gets you a baseline to start saying, OK, I want DI but no defenses...because I'm not gonna buy nonresistant defenses, I'm gonna Link substantially more Resistant Defenses to them: +15 STR, Costs END to Maintain, Obvious == 8 real +2 DCV, Costs END every phase, Invisible Power becomes Obvious (-1/2) == 5 [or 6 if you'd call DCV Inobvious to start with, but it feels like it's Invisible' 4 points for the hard to spot...I'd leave it alone just because it's easier. And in a compound power it won't matter. So the compound power is 29 active and 17 real. 29 active means I get 9/9 Resistant, where I can toss in Linked to knock it to 18. Total? 35 points for a pretty darn nice combat boost, with no implicit Complications. I'm not saying any of these are better or worse. DI alone has multiple effects. Some might not be good enough...like the semi-trivial non-resistant defense increase. 3 levels of DI means you're density 8...same as steel. So entirely appropriate to say you're solid steel...but only 3 PD? Ehhh... Package powers always have issues like that, so it's always worth considering unpacking them to look at different configurations. Side note: with RAW DI, 3 levels is 12 points. If you want to Link some Resistant Defense to that, the most you can toss on is 8 points, in whatever config you want, in order to get the full -1/2. You can toss on more for -1/4. By the same token, you're getting 9 active points' worth of benefits for 4 to 6 (depending on how much Reduced END you want to apply)...this can be important in a VPP or multipower. And it's with NO Limitations. You can play games like: DI 3 levels, Costs END only to activate). 15 active. Extra Time, Full Phase only to activate (-1/4) --> 12. Shrinking, 1 level, Costs END only to activate (7 active), Linked to DI --> 5.

Meaningless count. An "overtime" now: OT #1: each team gets the ball at the 25. On a TD, they may opt to kick the XP. OT #2: same, but they must go for 2. OT #3 and forward: alternating 2 point conversion attempts. So it's not that far from a penalty shootout in soccer. One play, largely a crapshoot. Same thing will happen a fair amount of the time. The teams combined to run only 160 plays. How meaningless can time of possession be? Army ToP: 43 minutes. Scored 56 points. Lost by 14. Wake Forest ran 52 total plays to rack up well over 600 yards...12+ yards per play (!!) and 9 TDs. Plus an 83 yard pick-six. The Army coach probably coulda quoted John McKay. Reporter: "What do you have to say about your defensive execution?" McKay: "I'm in favor of it." The college passer rating isn't artificially limited; the WF QB's passer rating was about 270.

The way this season is going, style points might not matter. 2 more top-10 teams lose to unranked teams: Iowa State beat OK State. Which I'm sure made Iuz fracture a few cheek bones by smiling... So Cincy and Oklahoma...if either can stay undefeated, that might do it. Looking like the winner between OSU and Michigan for one spot, and Georgia for another. If Bama beats Georgia in the SEC title game that's #3. For the fourth...? That's gonna be the tricky one. Michigan might get in even if they lose in the Big 10 title game. So....who knows...maybe style points will matter.

Unfortunately, the rankings churn wasn't quite pulled off. Sooners tried to lay a massive egg at...of all places...Lawrence, where the JayWrens have lost 19 straight games against FCS teams. They had a lead as late as, IIRC, mid 3rd. And Cincinnati let 1-5 Navy...28 point dogs...actually possess the ball with 45 seconds left and needing 1 score to *win*. Neither team did themselves any favors, particularly Cincinnati IMO. Yeah, fine, the talking heads are all going "well Navy's tough to prepare for"....but that's their standard "everyone is SOOOO REMARKABLY GOOD!!!" mantra. Cincy didn't lay an egg because they didn't lose, but I can't say anything more positive. The possibility that Ed Orgeron's departure will be rather sooner than the end of the season is rising. 31-7 vs. Ole Miss, end of the 3rd quarter. And as noted...9 OTs but Penn State's chances are almost certainly done now. Gotten sick and tired of hearing "longest game in history" just because it was 9 OTs. Yeah, well, the definition of an OT period has changed. NOW, IIRC starting in the 3rd or 4th OT, it's nothing but 2 point conversion plays...so 1 play for each side. So if your measure for length is the number of plays run...it wasn't *that* many.

As the article noted, I wouldn't be surprised if Rondo gets a fine from the league. My take is, the fan was saying things that went past acceptable first, but the finger gun gesture just doesn't fly these days. I'll concede a bias here; I'm always prepared to believe in fan Bad Behavior.

The LA Times story cited, did say a projectile; the cinematographer was winged (makes me thing, REALLY bad luck...probably got a major blood vessel?) and the other person also hit, IIRC. So yes, it does sound like a live round, and yes, there's no bloody freaking way live rounds should be in the staging area, much less loaded into a prop gun. This factor could be the clincher for jail time for the props people. And yes, I think the production company has no prayer of surviving. Their insurance company will very likely refuse to pay any claims from this...and the layer upon layer upon layer of GROSS!!!!!! screwups, from what's being reported, should be more than sufficient grounds. So the...what, 8 digit wrongful death claim...maybe 9 digit? That'll come out of the production company, but by the same token, they've got no assets. Whether the company partners can be held liable as individuals will be a separate point.

Ohhh boy....from that article... Jail time might not be on the table yet, but serious charges absolutely are. Not sure of the exact charge but something like "reckless negligence resulting in death" frames the incident fairly well, I would say. Whether anyone goes to jail is somewhat separate. What's the past history, is this a one-off or is there pattern and practice? The production company is going to be crucified in civil court; the career of the woman who died was really taking off, so her future earnings would be substantial. That's before we get into the *massive* pain and suffering damages. If safely procedures aren't followed, the production company's got no defense, I'm pretty sure. Even without that, the company is responsible for mitigating the KNOWN danger...the moreso because the actors *might not* know that a gun with blanks is still a potentially lethal instrument. I think the law would hold the company to a higher standard in ensuring that such an incident did not happen. If there were shots from a supposedly unloaded gun days before?? Oh man. But that's on the civil liabilities side. The criminal side...yeah, I think there will be charges, but as said, I'm not sure there will be jail time. I'd even say that there won't be trials here, because there won't be much of a defense...depending on who's charged with what, of course. BUT, pleading guilty to reckless endangerment or somesuch, *guarantees* that there'd be no leg to stand on, come the civil suit. On the flip side there...the props guys feel like they'll be the most likely to be charged, and they aren't necessarily beholden to the production company. They could well take a plea deal. Part of that is commonly the allocution...the statement of what happened. THAT will bury the production company.

Many of you probably don't remember Jon Eric Hexum...for good reason. Very short career. Pretty boy, athletic (major college football), model-actor. One of the principals in a Charlie's Angels style show. You likely never heard of the show; this was 1984...and while filming the 7th episode, Hexum was goofing around with a prop gun loaded with blanks, and killed himself. I agree, it certainly sounds like quite a few people messed up; the production companies *have to be* militant about this. Financially? This project can't continue, one would not think. Obviously, the cast and crew...and for now, while Baldwin might've been an idiot for playing with the gun in the first place, I side more on the tragic (albeit potentially negligent) accident more than anything. But this movie couldn't be released without reminding EVERYONE of the events. So all the money spent so far....whoosh!!! Gone. Professionally, the prop manager's career might be over as well.

Note that senses can't be purchased in a VPP as a rule...clairsentience being an exception. Anything under Enhanced Senses is a Special Power. If you include movement then there's a potential limitation...IF you require minimums on your base movement. Cuz otherwise you can define megascale Flight or Teleport for next to nothing. (3" of teleport...you get up to +9 advantages, so you can teleport a massive group anywhere on the planet.) Defenses...not really because there are so many separate defense powers that you can buy separately. For example: 10/10 Resistant Protection, and, say, 3/3 Damage Negation, STUN only. If you're looking at characteristics, 30 points per is huge. In 6E, you can build a 60 point pool with a 30 point control cost. Start from that basis and see what you can do with it...particularly in the potentially abusive case like this: VPP, 60 Pool, 30 Control; 1/2 phase to switch (+1/2 on control cost); common modifier on the pool, Requires a Skill Roll (-1/2). This allows you to have 3 separate 30-point powers active at the same time. OR, alternately, you can drop the pool size to 40 to save points. Cost is 90 or 70. And with either one, you can do a WHOLE heckuva lot. In your notion...would Telepathy be an attack power? Healing? Magic pools have no implied limits on the available options, and if healing is being run by the book (re-use is the big issue) then Healing can blow up. You might be able to talk me into a -1/4, MAYBE -1/2...but ONLY on the point cost for the 2nd 30 points of the control cost. And I might well just say no to avoid the headache. It's not worth it; you're making for a level of complexity I'd prefer to pass on, and it's just saving you 5 points. I'd far rather you built a combination of powers and SFX that define what you can do, for a full -1/4 or possibly -1/2.

I have a weird fixation with EXTREMELY dense builds. As in, a level of Shrinking with Normal Mass (1/2 height == 1/8 volume, so with normal mass, x8 density) and 4 levels of DI to get you into the 128 range. Turns out that's about the same density as the sun's core. Yeah, when you get this massive...and this, note, only masses about 1.5 metric tons...you're way, way over weight limits for typical construction. Look at weight-bearing ratings for even pretty high-grade shelving...500, maybe 1000 pounds. Wanna run? Cracking the concrete. With the teeny tiny feet he'd have? Making big deep holes as CRT points out. Those 15 levels of DI you mention...2^15 is 128K You're 10,000 times the density of lead. You're about 1000 times the density of the core of the sun. There's basically NOTHING this dense in the realm of normal matter; neutron stars are actually MUCH more dense, but that's a form of degenerate matter. And figure that the mass alone...given the size of a human foot, the normal pressure exerted by the foot is about 6 pounds per square inch...PSI. (CRT: the area of a human foot is actually closer to about 1/6 of a square foot.) So with this density your foot...just standing there...is exerting about 750K PSI. VERY few things will not collapse. To OP: if you have 6E1, then go back into the appendix, page 446. Heavy Characters. It's the templates for "always on DI"...the bonuses and drawbacks for extremely massive characters whose density doesn't change. Even 4 levels of DI justifies a 20 point physical complication; 5 levels maxes you at 25...very frequent, greatly impairing.

Judge's reasoning, from the end of the article: If you accept that reasoning, then a few months off the streets sounds like a pretty good idea to me.

If you're willing to bail on all the players, then you can't also assert that it's Shurmur's fault and say "it's not that he doesn't have good players." First and foremost: if you don't have a QB, you have no offense. Period. The end. The Broncos have no QB. That said, they really are pathetic so that isn't the ONLY problem they have. Not stopping anyone...man, did we see that at the end. Just over 5 minutes to go...8 yards, 20 yards, 7 yards, 3 yards and first down, 7 yards, 3 yards and first down, 3 yards, 5 yards, penalty sets Browns back to make it 3rd and 7....and 8 yards to cap it off. First down, take a kneed, game over. 7 solid runs...the Browns' back gets credit for busting it to get those extra yards several times, and made those plays...2 play-action slants. All very predictable plays for a team holding onto a thin lead late. 5 minute drill for 62 yards. NOT ACCEPTABLE defensive performance. But this is where Denver had looked to be. Hey, Mr. P, you had your bright shiny start...it coulda been worse..... As it is, yeah, I think the Broncos are headed for a top 10 draft pick and complete (practical, if not mathematical) elimination by Thanksgiving.

And the AAC raid on C-USA is now complete. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/american-athletic-conference-expands-to-14-teams-for-football-adding-six-conference-usa-programs/ But the process isn't over. Heck, the commissioner flat-out said, the goal really is to revert back to 10-12 in time. Which may well be nothing more than acknowledging that every school and every conference will chase every last dollar they can. And you wonder where the athletes learn to chase every dollar...???

If my empathy was a 1 hour time candle, then for the unvaccinated, it's been lit for about 58 minutes now.

The Big 12 probably won't do a full no play on Sunday policy; their regular scheduling, IIRC, doesn't include Sundays for conference games anyway. There might be occasional conference games, but as long as it's not a full slate, accommodating a single team isn't hard. That said...IIRC, the Big 12 conference tournament final is, I believe, on Selection Sunday and changing that is a bit trickier due to TV broadcasts. And for non-conference games, there's 2 types: made-for-TV conference-vs-conference "challenges" and the usual run-of-the-mill games. The former are usually during the week...Monday-Tuesday or Tuesday-Wednesday IIRC. The latter are scheduled by the teams, so avoiding Sunday is no big deal. As far as the musical chairs, I think it's mostly a scramble to find a decent landing spot for the teams, and for the conferences, staying viable enough to maintain things like bowl tie-ins.

And as the league kicks off...first 2 games of the season were last night...dysfunction is already raging on the East Coast. With Irving gone until he accepts vaccination, or the pandemic recedes enough to take the indoor mask mandates down (several months away at best, I would think), the Nets are threatening the same issue as last year...no cohesion. Not that I like Kyrie and Harden in the same backcourt in the first place, but they need consistent on-court time to work things out, if they can be worked out. And then the whole Ben Simmons fiasco in Philly. Think it was some of the ESPN talking heads suggesting the Sixers are going to get him on the court, and let the fans express themselves. This IS Philly, the town that booed Santa Claus. I think they're hoping for enough dereliction from him so they can cut him loose altogether *for cause* so they can get out from the $140M they owe him through the 24-25 season. (Yep. $140M. Fully guaranteed, but that's usually out the window if the player's actions break the terms. Like when Jay Williams signed with, IIRC, Detroit after his college POY at Duke...then injured his leg badly racing on a motorcycle...a prohibited activity. All that money...PPPPOOOFF!!!)

No doubt about that. Especially for, say, national endorsements like, say Under Armor. More boosters, probably, but the bigger key is much greater exposure. How many people watch an Alabama game...quite often on CBS or ESPN in a major time slot. Comparatively, when's the last time UAB was on TV? And what were the ratings? The schools are NOT involved in NIL...at least not overtly. In fact, if a school became active in connecting up its athletes with sponsors, they'd probably be breaking rules. Nope...these are individual contracts with businesses, whether local or larger. Now, yeah, as a recruiting tool? "Come play for us and your NIL potential is way better" is sensible. A secondary angle here is that LOTS!!!! of players may end up transferring due to limited playing time...meaning their NIL income potential is being curtailed. Another aspect is that NIL is likely to increase showboating; the flashy dunker will get more followers (and therefore $$$) than the Tim Duncan types, unless they really are as good as Duncan. Also figure there'll be some increase in complaints over calls...because if foul trouble forces you off the court in basketball, say, it'll cost you down the line.

US is still seeing 10,000 deaths a week. <sigh> Someone on my neighborhood app posted a notice from the state, related to crisis conditions due to the ongoing strain from the pandemic. This, of course, ignited another firestorm; the post, which started out as a news statement informing us (I hadn't seen it, so I was quite appreciative of the OP) ended up being deleted. (Which is a separate issue with the mods, but also somewhat understandable.) The claim resurfaced: that hospitals get paid more for calling a death from Covid. GAHHH!!!!!! SO convenient to spew conspiracy theories, the more wlid, the better, so as to blow off facts that conflict with the distorted reality they live in.

Very cool. Good first step, altho I can hear the howls of certain types claiming even trying to do so is an abomination.

Found a very good article about NIL here: https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/name-image-likeness-what-college-athletes-should-know-about-ncaa-rules Also: the compensation is specifically not tied to their athletic performance directly. Boosters are still not allowed to pay a kid to go to the college they support; schools are still not allowed to pay the players. The athletes are allowed to profit from their recognition and fame.

The illusion of the student-athlete has been nothing more than a fig leaf for several decades. I don't think NIL was about that; NIL was discriminating against the athlete. NIL rules, AFAIK, didn't apply to normal students.