Getting the appointment and going to the airport to enroll kind of sucked, but in just the handful of flights I've taken since getting it last year, I'm pretty sure I've already made up that couple of hours it took to go there, enroll, and go home, just in putting-shoes-and-belt-back-on time.
Also having 2-3 people ahead of you in line instead of 1400 is a plus.
I just flew out of ORD and they had separate Clear, Clear with TSA Precheck, and TSA Precheck lines. The two Clear lines were close to the main entrance. While I have TSA Precheck, I don't have Clear--I noped out of the enrollment 8-10 years ago at the biometric stage--so I tried the one marked TSA Precheck with Clear, and while the guy was super nice, he didn't let me through and instead pointed me to the TSA Precheck-only section, which was another 3-4 minutes' walk down from the main security entrance.
Even with that extra walk, I got through 10 minutes faster than my friend that doesn't have TSA Precheck.
It’s usually 12-13 minutes after the announced start time. They show pregame and commercials instead of televising player introductions and the national anthem.
KCP is a really, really good 5th option on offense, even if he's not a (consistent) offensive monster. But if he gets 15+, good night against pretty much anyone. But baseline Gordon is really my biggest fear beyond Murray--LeBron can float and play free safety against most matchups, but the Jokic-Gordon hookup is too dangerous to sleep on.
I've had good experiences with Solovair boots, and I'd imagine their shoes are much the same.
They also sell replacement soles, and last I ordered, they shipped for free from the UK to US and arrived in 3-4 days.
Yeah, exactly. Jokic is still deadly everywhere, but Rui can at least spell AD some wear and tear in those situations.
I've noticed both in last night's game and over the past few weeks that most teams' strategy to at least partially neutralize AD has been by using their shooting bigs to pull him out to the perimeter, and then running a bunch of screens to work for mismatches, which does work to an extent. But Rui/LeBron taking him on out there counters that move a little--I'd hope, at least.
If I were the coach (and aren't we glad I'm not, I know), I'd probably scheme to concede Jokic mostly getting his while still making it a little hard on him and trying to hold Murray* from going full nuclear. What I've seen Vincent doing over the past few games is pretty encouraging, and the rest of the backcourt at least has the size to not get completely stomped.
*And Gordon, and MPJ, and KCP, and...sigh, this is going to be a tough series.
Rui has the strength to body him away from the hoop but in a post-up situation he’s BBQ chicken.
It has been said that if Ted Cruz is hugged too hard, he will collapse into a pile of deadly snakes. The good news is that no one has ever wanted to hug Ted Cruz.
eClips does pretty nice custom clip-ons. They may be able to reference the lens shape since Versace frames are pretty common, but sometimes you have to send them in. Source: I used to be an optician.
I've taken a few Europeans to In-N-Out over the years. When I suggest it they've all said "Oh I don't think I'll like it, I've heard that American fast food is bad." Then they ask go back the next day.
That's the secret. 3x3 combo is like $11-12.
I pack a small 12-can cooler in my carry-on and pack socks and things in it so it barely takes up extra space, and since it has a plastic caddy inside of it, I take it out and fill both it and the caddy with hotel ice, leaving me with an excellent hotel bar .
If you take the vowels out of his name, you’re left with “RNC PR BS”.
From the "This Could Really Work For You Or Backfire Horrendously" category, The Mountain Goats. Their discography is pretty intimidating--the usual advice for new listeners is to start with All Hail West Texas (the last of his lo-fi albums) and The Sunset Tree (first* of the hi-fi). If you like one over the other, go backward or forward from there.
* Not actually the first, but Tallahassee is a little intense for a first-time listener.
Also watch Stop Making Sense (and see if it's in a theater near you right now). It might be better to go in cold than familiarize yourself at all with them, it's a really remarkable concert film.
It's a really weird gamble, but it's also kind of interesting--not endorsing it, just saying it's interesting.
To me, it's like this: If the Lakers hit 3-pointers at a league-average clip, they're hard to beat. If they hold their opponent under league average at the same time, it's usually a dominating win. If they hit 3s only decently and their opponent fills it up, like last night, even a terrible team like the Wizards can take them to OT.
The positive here--not that I'm endorsing it at all--is that 4th quarter/OT threes drop off a bit due to player fatigue, so this can look like a really stupid strategy for 3+ quarters but still allow for late comebacks. If it's me, I'd prefer not to trail all game and hope for magic, but there is a bit of method to this particular defensive madness.
Oh yeah, it's pretty dumb on all fronts. I'm just trying to make the best of it.
Pretty sure he did in the end, but there was some cap trickery that swapping Zubac for someone else freed up some kind of space--as far as I remember.
In the limited time he's had, he's looked really tentative and at times, his body language (to me) has read "scared," and he's played like it. That he puts up good numbers in the G League is promising, but this could easily mean either of two things: 1) He's not quite ready for NBA competition but the skills are there, or 2) His ceiling--at least for now--is "G League stud."
But he really is a kid (he turns 21 in June), and not every person can leap straight into the NBA at 19 or 20 and not be utterly FREAKED OUT that they're on a team with LeBron and AD.
I have a decent amount of faith in the scouting staff, and hopefully he'll turn into a decent (or better) player with a little more seasoning/maturing/experience. But it does suck to watch other players picked after him already being productive for playoff-hopeful teams while the Lakers have gotten essentially nothing from him so far, despite all the injuries. I get the idea of getting the "PG of the future" but while you don't want to impoverish future teams with young/good/home-grown players, this team in its current state exemplifies a "win now" situation.
I also feel a bit bad for him because of where he was picked and who was picked around him--if he'd been a second-round pick instead of a mid-first-rounder a lot of pressure would be off of him.
I think I read somewhere at the time that getting rid of Zubac's cap hold for the summer helped with getting AD by freeing up enough room to not have to move more pieces or not have enough room to absorb AD's trade kicker (which I can't remember if he had the choice to waive or if it was automatic). Getting Muscala (who was terrible that year for the Lakers) instead let them just not re-sign him instead of having the cap hold complications.
I'm pretty sure I remember it being explained that way, but I've looked for whatever article had this info and come up dry, so I've just decided that it's true, because the alternative is too dumb to have happened.
I have a 6335 trumpet, and it's definitely a beast. However, a friend in HS had a 1970s Bach, and that is the finest horn I have ever played.
That's fair, kind of--he did play 11 games for Orlando before being traded, so it's not like he played less than 1/3 of the season because he sucked or anything--he got injured and was out.
I will stand firm by my statement that missing Bynum for 7 games was somewhat more consequential than missing Perkins for 7 quarters.
We talking about the same team that's been saying for years if Kendrick Perkins wasn't injured in Game 6 in the 2010 series they would have won?
Versus, you know, being down two starters for the entire 2008 series.
For the full nightmare: Reggie Miller replacing Lawrence Tanter.
I can't think of Reggie without remembering him guesting on Dan Patrick's ESPN radio show around 20 years ago when he mixed up "full steam ahead" and "full head of steam" and said "full steam of head," which they mocked for ages afterward. He drops malapropisms like that on broadcasts all the time and it drives me nuts.
Laker fans on bleacher report ☹️
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