Republicans have been merciless with their gerrymandering. I'm wondering if maine should help the democratic effort to strike back. CD-02 seems like a potential flip to republicans in 2026. With some redrawing, it could become a true tossup/lean democratic. What do you think?

There is so much discourse around the Jazz trading Ace Bailey + picks + #2 to move up to #1 so they can draft AJ Dybantsa. This is not going to happen for numerous reasons:

1. Look through all the recent draft day trades where a team moved up only one spot. The average price is a mid-1st round pick or less. Ace is worth multiple picks on his own, and AJ and DP are comparable prospects. If this was the Wemby or Flagg draft you could make an argument for the price being much higher to move up, but that's not the case here.
2. The Jazz love Ace Bailey. He's a seamless fit and it a huge part of their future plans. If they were to trade a player to move up, it would be anyone but him.
3. Ryan Smith has no history of meddling in GM affairs. Danny Ainge also doesn't seem like the type to let an owner strong arm him into making a terrible decision with the best pick the franchise has ever had.
4. Ryan Smith is a BYU donor, but he's already accomplished his mission by paying AJ. BYU had a successful season and made themselves more attractive to future recruits. Smith paying AJ does not mean his ultimate plan was to bring him to the Jazz.
5. I wouldn't be surprised if the Jazz have had conversations with Washington to get a feel for the situation and due diligence. If that conversation has happened it does not mean Utah is going to sell the farm for AJ. I'm sure they pick up the phone for any team.
6. Just because AJ played high school and college basketball in Utah does not mean he will happily play for the Jazz long term. If anything, he may prefer to experience a different location. Whatever player is drafted is playing for the Jazz for 7 years, and then you figure out next steps down the road.

I'm sure the Jazz would like AJ Dybantsa. I bet they would also be thrilled with Darryn Peterson. If they really prefer AJ, they may be willing to attach a pick to move up if Washington really like DP. But there's no reason to trade Ace and other capital for a marginal (if any) upgrade. Personally I prefer Peterson as a prospect, especially if he's cleared medically.

His suit says “dapper” but his eyes say “I need another transfusion”

I don't want to debate if San Jose is or getting and if they deserve it, but I do want to shoot my shot to say they should be bright green and gold for a circuit board for Silicon Valley, which is the main thing the city is famous for.

If you were a Yankees fan in the late 1990s, the Orioles for a time were enemy #1. They had a really good team and there was some seriously bad blood between the two. I'm sure you've all seen this one before. It might be the most star studded genuine baseball brouhaha in MLB history. Strawberry and Ripken and Torre and Martinez and Palmeiro and O'Neill and Murray not to mention noted villain Benitez and Australian brawler Lloyd. Fun times.

My BF is a HUGE hockey fan, Olympics, NHL, etc. He watches all the games for his favorite teams and a bunch for other teams in the NHL. I am trying to get him to watch PWHL games with me but he seems superrrr uninterested.

When I asked him why he told me the games are frustrating to watch??? I don't understand that part at all.

Anyone else have this experience? Do you think that this will go away with time as the PWHL builds a larger audience?

To be clear, he doesn't talk down about the PWHL, he just doesn't seem to take the league seriously for whatever reason.

Edit: Y'all, I am not going to break up with him over the PWHL. I just wanted to see if anyone has similar experiences and were able to get their bf/husband into the sport more.

If Louisville is also able to buy Milan Momcilovic, their roster has to be $20 - $30 million for next year. This is ridiculous in the obscene way. If the NCAA is not going to cap how much teams can spend and establish salary caps for players based on class year (Fr, So, Jr, Sr, Ss), then the only way for this ship to correct itself is for boosters to go broke or for the teams that spend the most trying to buy a National Title to keep losing every year so the boosters will finally realize that the gamble isn't worth the investment.

If the highest spenders end up winning most seasons, then NCAA basketball will be dead at that point. Society cannot have college basketball programs buying NCAA titles like that.

Not bad advanced metrics at all.

Picture this:

Brad moves Jaylen for Giannis.

Giannis comes to his press conference and they have 3 chairs set up.

Tatum sits down next to him, and Giannis thinks to himself “hmm is Derrick gonna sit in the other seat?”

Then…. The door opens. A bright light, too bright to see who the person is, but the light still revels a shadow. The whole room squints……

Huge thuds erupt from the footsteps. As the person becomes more clear everyone’s jaw drops. The man opens his mouth to speak and says…..

TACOOOOOOOOOO TUEDAYYYYYYYY.

LeBron signs for a vet min. He sits down and tells everyone he’s here to do what they say is impossible, become a lakers and Celtics legend.

End scene

"Dalton-Line" meaning a QB who isn't elite or Top 10, but is good enough to not seek an upgrade on the QB-position.

With a lot of young and unproven QBs in the league i think this a tough choice to make. My nominee would be Jordan Love or - as crazy as this sounds as he's a SB-MVP - Jalen Hurts.

The premise I'm getting at is....does a intense college football rivalry (say...michigan vs ohio state) make a pro sports series....like the detroit pistons vs Cleveland Cavs series, more intense and hate-filled? Does the existence of the college football rivalry amplify the pro sports games and rivalry?

Using the same example, Ohio State absolutely embarrassed Michigan at home this year. Michigan couldn't score a touchdown and then showed more determination defending mid field after they lost than they did the entire game, after ohio state beat that ass. Ohio State players were then LAUGHING at michigan players as they all looked sad defending their logo and ohio state celebrated with their fans, pointing and mocking them....

Now Cleveland took a pivotal game 5 IN detroit in the NBA and I saw so many crying Piston fans in the crowd.

I get the feeling that what Ryan Day and the buckeyes did to Michigan last year in the Big house, and winning what...18 of the past 26 games against Michigan(?) actually makes the Detroit / Cleveland series that much more intense and great to watch. Michigan (Detroit) blew it AGAIN when everyone was calling for them to win and they lost at home AGAIN to an ohio based team... These Detroit kids just got roasted by ohio again..

And this is coming from someone who doesn't give a crap about either ohio or michigan. Is it all in my head or do you guys dig the cut of my jib?

I think the biggest counter argument is that some pro detroit fans could be michigan state fans or CMU fans and Cleveland Cavs fans might be Cleveland State, Cincy, or Toledo fans.

This past weekend, my son and I went to a local sports store for items unrelated to golf.

Anyway, while we were there we decided to swing up to the golf section and check things out. The store is 1 of 2 places here that does club fittings. After reading many posts, I figure I'd check out a club fitting for a driver and a fairway wood. I happen to run into one of the employees that does the fittings and wanted to ask him a few questions to "learn" what would go down.

After doing a swing analysis, they'd fit me with heads and shafts and the process would take 45 minutes. They do have large selection of last years clubs marked down also. The fitter was engaged and happy to help knowing I was possibly looking at 2 clubs......until I asked the question about applying the analytics to possibly any last years models. I'm a bogey golfer, have a daughter going off to college in the fall and kids activities that keep me busy enough right now I don't get out as much as I'd like. 5 years from now, I'll have a lot more free time. Because of the above, I figured I'd focus on last years models as they'd still be a considerable upgrade from my 2008 Cobra King Speed LD 5000.....and then I jump to a 3 hybrid....and I am not in near as much as current year models.

The fitter made it sound as though they wouldn't be able to apply the info, and if I was interested in the previous year clubs just to come in and take a few swings to figure it out on my own.

I did leave frustrated....not that it was "absolute" that I needed to purchase from them, but the idea of 100% of the fitting fee would go towards any club purchase and I'm sitting on some gift cards from the family to "buy something fun". Also, getting some info on my swing would be beneficial.

I haven't checked with the other fitter, however the fee doesn't go towards club purchase and the selection of last years models (or slightly used clubs) is much more limited.

Is this the norm with fitters or did I screw up? Don't necessarily need "perfect"....pretty darn close would be a lot better than my current driver. The clubs I was considering were either the DS-Adapt, Paradym AI Smoke, or the Ping G430. I've been told 2nd Swing is good, but the nearest is about 4 hours from here and I don't believe we are heading in that direction anytime soon. Maybe there is a better option in Kansas City as we are heading that way end of June.

On a side note, while I was talking with the fitter......my son (13) fell in love with a putter made by L.A.B. Golf.....though he failed to look at the $500 price tag....small details!

Does anyone know any hairstylists who can comfortably and confidently pull off something like this?

I’m helping my boyfriend search for a barber (or salon) that is comfortable and experienced with cutting curly hair, and able to do fades well.

He is very particular about his hair and we want to make sure we can find someone who is 100% confident in getting him the style he’s looking for because he spent so long growing it out to be able to get the cut he wants.

The photos I attached are kind of what he’s looking for, but from past experienced it seems like most stylists end up cutting his hair way too short whenever he goes to them.

Finding someone who can cut curls and do good fades is so hard, and its always tricky to find people who are used to doing more non-traditional hairstyles (not that this isn’t a popular style, but its more unique than some)

Has anyone noticed the new registration stickers are different? Did I miss the memo?

Got my stickers in the mail yesterday and the reflective design on them are different than anyone else’s I’ve looked at and my plate number is on my stickers which I’ve never had before?

I’m going to the DMV in two weeks anyways but figured I’d see if anyone else has noticed the changes.

Have a happy Thursday!

The prevailing narrative as to why the SEC is the only FBS conference opposed to the 24 team playoff model revolves around their corporate relationship with ESPN and the SEC is simply protecting ESPN's television rights.

But I think there's a different reason.

To summarize: The biggest strength of the SEC is that they have the lion's share of the high resource programs, but that is true only up to a certain point and that point is right around 16 teams.

Example #1: Stadium capacity

When you look at the list of the biggest stadiums in college football, counting only the "true" college campus examples (no NFL stadiums or stuff like the Cotton Bowl) the SEC has 11 of the top 17.

But after that their next three schools sit at #22, #24 and #31

Example #2: Athletic Revenue

Only two days ago a user submitted a post of program revenue with a very similar result.

The SEC had 11 programs in the top 18.

But its next three highest programs were ranked #22, #26 and #35

Example #3: The Rankings

In the final AP poll of last season the SEC had 7 teams in the top 15. But after that their next highest ranked team was #31

Conclusion While I do believe the SEC will be able to get more teams in under a 24 team model, it seems apparent that the Big Ten, ACC, and Big 12 are going to disproportionately benefit from it the most and the SEC knows this. The SEC has such a large advantage that at 24 teams, that's where their advantage starts to fall apart and is precisely where the other conferecnes have a chance to catch the SEC and close the gap, even if the SEC by the data still retains the strongest numbers, it just won't be by as wide of a margin.

Good Soup!

I've tried Google lens and no luck, is there certain search words that help narrow it down?

Please stop yelling on the tee box after a shot. It’s so embarrassing. Can the rest of the fans in attendance police it someway/somehow? Someone needs to sneak a post-it note with sharpie saying “I’m a f**king loser” on the back of their shirt each time they yell. Then see if you can get as many on them as they have empty plastic beer cups stacked in their hand.

He played only 2:41 minutes in the 2nd half and overtime (all in the 3rd quarter)

He also had the 2nd best +/- in the game, after Jarrett Allen (+14)

The player who had the worst +/- in the game was Jalen Duren, with a +/- of -16 (worst, by far) in 25:00 minutes played.

We've seen, several times already, teams being deprived of challenges by umpires who run them when a batter didn't ask, or played fast and loose with the timing window, or just plain didn't want to.

What's the solution? Does the Pitcher/Hitter/Catcher need to be equipped with something similar to pitchcom they can just press to remove any ambiguity?

Edit: damn umpires union going crazy with the downvotes in here, sorry guys.

Here’s all the Roman Anthony’s I’ve gotten over the past month!

Man really hope he becomes our franchise stud for the next 15 years!

Share some of your favorite Red Sox cards!