#learning about basketball

[andrewdsapiano]

Sports With Andrew -Conference Semi - Finals Game 5

With the series tied 2-2, this is the most we've been tested in the playoffs. And this was a lot of pressure for a rookie to go through, most crumble.

With the series tied 2-2, this is the most we’ve been tested in the playoffs. And this was a lot of pressure for a rookie to go through, most crumble. Let’s see if we can get a win With the series shifting back to Toronto. With the series shifting back to our home, it’s crucial to get the fans in it from the start. That’s exactly what happend when we Hit a 3 from way downtown to take an early…

[crystallizsch]

jamil’s in basketball club so that basically translates into beach volleyball right -

stitch event where are you (it has only been a few days into june)

[1moreoffkeyanthem]

Enough of the jock Stan nerd kyle vs jock Kyle nerd Stan debate. THEY ARE BOTH BOTH!!!

[captainmartin20]

wdym players that made the final roster can still get cut???? the war's not over?????

[desultorydenouement]

one of the things that's most important in the discussion about bringing back third spaces is that i really think it's so so necessary for people to learn that strangers can be kind. everyday i think about that study they did that was like, the people who feel lonely aren't the ones who are most disliked but they are the ones who *feel* the most disliked. and with gen z we've thrown them into this internet cesspool where the worst of humanity is constantly being thrown in their faces, and their insecurities cemented at every turn, and so of course they're all bitter and polarized. they haven't learned about human decency yet. they walk around interacting with the furthermost corners of the world around them, all the time extrapolating from their online experiences to assume that everyone is as mean and judgmental as the people on tiktok or maybe the people in their high school and so on. but there's something so formative about entering a real third space, just a place where all kinds of different kinds of people can talk to each other and hang out, and learning that it's possible to enter a room of strangers and have them all be kind and leave the night with all of them friends. that's an experience that cements that you deserve to exist in the space you take up, and the world isn't broken into good and evil, and no matter how differently they see the world most people fundamentally are decent.

[qoldenskies]

poverty au alternate names:

Empty Pockets

Sleep is for those with money

Fuck Coffee is expensive

giggles cause i got a name idea (thank you for the crane wives and thank you specifically that person who recommended mad dog to me. ive taken to calling it the kickback universe in my head so i guess that's what its called now) but that is definitely a vibe. i bet they splurged on that coffee machine soooo hard but they have like dollar store grounds and it tastes like shit and no creamer could save it. donnie drinks it black anyway which is a sin

its not like i could call it the "donnie is the only one with college opportunities because mikey is barely skirting by with Cs, leo had to drop out because unmedicated adhd, and raph skipped most opportunities for higher education especially with sports to focus on providing for the family, so donnie's doing running start while also working a job because his father's dercums progressed to a point where he cant even really go outside without being in immense pain because they dont have enough money or insurance to afford any real care (and no extended family to fall back on because splinter was cut off from them, other than a cousin across the country) and rely on april to drive them around, and then the landlord unexpectedly raises rent in an attempt to get them out and donnie because he's taken on the job of managing their finances decides to hide this from them and start working a SECOND job under the table that includes the fucking graveyard shift with a boss that barely pays him enough under the table and its partially because he's blasian AND trans, and this is also while he's going to running start college, while having a job to go to right after running start college, and also he has to worry about tutoring mikey and helping leo get a GED and groceries and like everything because he doesn't want to put more undue stress on raph who is the only line of support he would normally have here" au. although maybe it would be funny if i did?

i got carried away when making the joke. there's the premise i guess. i'll probably just write one big oneshot but because all of them have Prablems maybe i'll expand a little, right now im keeping the scope small so dont expect anything for a while since i have so much to do atm, i'll talk about if people want to hear more though! .... i did not expect to get as invested as i did. CANARY CONTINUITY FIRST

[freshthoughts2020]

[functioningflesh]

Fwm

[krogans-give-the-best-cuddles]

Reading the Orchid Thief and lemme say. So fascinating to see someone like. Try to come up with a Reason Why humans like orchids. Two chapters here in a row pretty much treating Orchid hobbyists and plant hobbyists in general like one would an entirely alien culture- and don't get me wrong I understand why to an extent. Trying to make this book marketable outside just plant circles and what have you. But some of the way the camera is angled here is just. Fascinating.

Like, she explains how there are so many unique ways orchids evolved, as an attempt to contextualize for a reader why people might go crazy for them in specific, and describes individual species unique mating strategies, and the inability of them to self pollinate- but while I think that context is interesting it doesn't explain a damn thing. For one thing, having an extremely specific mating strategy is not solely an Orchid thing- a LOT of plants do it like that. Lots are flexible but I would say a vast swath are not and require specific things. For another- apples also don't self fertilize, but you don't have hundreds of thousands of apple varietal collectors.

She discusses their beauty as a reason they're collected- I won't deny that being a factor for sure, plants that humans like the shape of have a tendency to get collected and overcollected all the time- but like. A lot of people collect things that are traditionally ugly or even smell bad- and if it was exclusively a shallow pursuit, no one would work as hard as is required for an insane amount of orchids.

Part of the reasons orchids in particular are popular has to do with colonization. I can't articulate it all myself bc I haven't done research- but a genus that largely exists in tropical regions, that became popular in the late 1800s, that, in order to get in homes, white men would travel to all sorts of regions to take plants out of to get in the home? That is gonna help it get more popular than tomato or apple varieties for sure. I'm sure she's gonna touch on this eventually, given that the story she's covering actually involves the Seminole nation so I'm not holding it against her.

I suppose I'm just fascinated by her approach so far as to trying to understand why anyone would. Work to grow something? Really like something? I mean she pretty explicitly states that she "wants to want something" as much as these people want their plants- describes hobby communities and the idea of like. Working a hobby into your schedule or having friends related to the hobby as a "religion". She's baffled by like. Putting time and energy into a hobby and gaining joy and community from it and is trying to like. Break down orchids into their component parts to understand what makes someone. Want to grow a plant? And get community out of a hobby?

I'm going to be charitable and not make presumptions that she doesn't know like. The concept of loneliness and therefore a longing for community. Or that on some level she must know what common signs of autism are (ignoring her having spent several paragraphs describing several different people with classic signs and symptoms and then settling on "weird"). But it makes me want to turn the camera lens around for a moment. What makes someone presume that it's Orchid "obsession" (the word hobby is rather rare in the book acrually) that is particularly strange or more obsessed than other obsessions? What makes one abstract others hobbies and interests as needing a solve while the ones you surely have seen all over and even participated in aren't worth that examination? The line between "normal" and "abnomal" is entirely one made by dominant society

So this is why hobbies and kink aren't so different in the way they're perceived-

Orchids are an obsession to this author, to be highlighted and examined, or a hobby, to most people. They get a noteworthy category because they are seen as atypical. Sports-watching, however, is like. Never discussed as hobby. Watching football, watching soccer. It's just normal. No one says "that's my hobby." Even if a guy had a room full of memorabilia he would be noted as a "team fan" not a hobbyist. Sports has been declared normative, so it's not really considered a hobby by anyone. Plants? Non normative, therefore the same exact behaviors will get you considered unusual and a hobbyist.

Kink is the same way. People who are attracted to women being interested in breasts is so assumed to be normal and natural that no one calls it a kink. Breasts, the fatty deposits intended for feeding young, are expected to be hidden bc this kink (which everyone refuses to call a kink or a fetish or what have you) is seen as so universal. It's seen as immutable fact that there is a sexual nature to them. Feet however? If someone's into that that's a kink or a fetish if you're feeling kind, an obsession that makes you strange and worthy of examination and explanation if you're not.

I'm not arguing for doing away with calling things hobbies or kinks- I'm actually advocating for calling more normative things those words actually- I think it's just helpful to see where the framing of something, the way in which we choose to examine it, also has a lot to say about that which we leave unexamined, and unnamed. Because we don't categorize the normal.

[skywalker-swift]

sometimes the person who understands you the most has never tried any of your favorite things. they may not be the person who already comes prebuilt with the same hobbies and experiences. they might be the first person to challenge you because they want to dig deeper. maybe they played the sport you hate in high school, or they read way more than you have ever considered normal, or they think pineapple belongs on pizza. maybe they had someone in their life has made them feel some sort of way about the thing they love. maybe their parents encouraged them to do whatever they wanted and they only want that for others. maybe someone made them feel small about loving something that others just don't get and they've know how shitty it is to make others feel small. they ask you why you love it. they learn. they could be the one who loves that you love these things that they don't and they know to learn about these things, they learn about you. maybe they show you their favorite movie, and maybe, it's something you would have never watched by yourself. but you get it too. you ask them why they love pineapple on pizza. you learn. you grow.

[andrewdsapiano]

Sports With Andrew -Conference Semi - Finals Game 4

Game 3 was a huge win for us. We needed to steal one in their home after they stole one in ours.

Game 3 was a huge win for us. We needed to steal one in their home after they stole one in ours. If we didn’t, we would fall into a hole that would be really hard to dig ourselves out of. It didn’t start off well, though, as we quickly found ourselves in a 7-0 deficit. But with quick hands we get the steal, then DUNKMAN, to try and spark some life into us. With a minute left in the first…

[tani-b-art]

•A’ja carried the Aces to their second championship (back2back at that) with Chelsea out for game 4! [for the “she couldn’t do anything without Chelsea” people].

•A’ja is a CENTER (that occasionally plays Forward) and runs the ball up the court at times w/ball handles while crossing up her opponents. All very unusual for the position of a center.

•A’ja knocks down tres—centers don’t normally do that!

“She just started to develop those to add…”

RIIIGHT! That’s what happens as you get more years under your belt with the profession you’re in. You don’t start off from jump having everything in your arsenal. You train and practice and gain more experience overtime to tap into areas you can improve on or build up. [[See, point #79,648 (again) in how all the gullible sports analysts have pushed everyone into a false sense of reality…sports commentators and new fans have automatically proclaimed that one rookie as being the greatest basketball player (comparing her to MJ which is wild) that would come into the pro league and dominate…y’all think a player is instantly supposed to excel in what they do.]]

It happens gradually and progressively. And tbh, since A’ja’s first season in the W, she’s been doing all this but not at this level. She’s perfected it.

(seriously, what is wrong with some of you!?)

[cranberrv]

OMGGG are you going to go watch his game?🤭

idk yet! i really want to because my friend is also playing and i wanna support him as well, but the tournament is 2 hours away from my town and i cant drive and my mom doesn’t want to :( fingers crossed tho!!! 🤞💓

[female-buckets]

Apparently Clark's army of creepy and patronizing fans includes...

The Bidens 🤢

Ew. Someone please take away their basketball privileges please

First they did this with Maddy Siegrist and now they've pivoted to Caitlin Clark. They want the Iowa Hawkeyes to come to the white house with the LSU Tigers...

This is entirely not necessary and it puts both teams in such an awkward and uncomfortable position

[freebooter4ever]

If you weren't actually meaning to open a convo on the all star game feel free to ignore this!

But I think it just has a lot to do with how the all star weekend involves a ton of media so even if they enjoy the game/events themselves there's a lot of strings attached. Like all your coworkers are posting vacation photos, and you may have even been on vacation with them, but you had to cut yours short to work. Sure the office is also throwing a party but it just isn't quite the same as having those days off.

lol!!! Well its not really a discussion on my part because i will just never be able to understand the player's perspective, but i find it fascinating to hear explanations of why the players dont like it - partially because i wonder if the league was a little more "hip", if it could be salvaged.

For one thing, for some of us salary challenged people 'vacation' is not really a thing - i always used my time off to go home and visit my grandparents. Though quite honestly i'd rather hang out with grandma for five days doing nothing but puzzles than sit on a beach doing nothing for five days. When i lived and worked on the east coast i spent most of the year missing my grandparents and the pacific northwest and wishing i was there, so naturally it was always the first place i went to when i got a chance. Im weird. And boring. I realize this.

Secondly, when i did work in education there was this yearly conference and pretty soon after i became in charge of the art department we started bringing the whole team to these conferences. It was the highlight of my year - im not even kidding, im that much of a nerd. I thought my team were the greatest people ever - a sort of found family if you will - and getting to be stuck for an entire weekend with them in some of the most boring cities the united states has to offer never failed to entertain. You know how when you're with people you love everything just feels more exciting? Even dumb shit like getting lost on the DC subway because the foodie of your group wants to try a very specific japanese restaurant thats in a far corner of the city on the opposite end of where the hotel is located. Or getting lost in Atlanta because we had to walk all over the old olympi*c grounds just to see some old stadium so the sports fans in our group could take a photo. Actually now that i think about it most of our outings involved getting lost while walking places. Im not even going to go into detail about the more boring cities because im embarrassed to admit that i found even the most mundane events Really Exciting with these guys. I had a blast, this was the highlight of my LIFE, i dont have very many friends or get out much, lol. I miss those days. I see some of the team individually, like when i last visited pittsburgh, but its not the same as being trapped in a random city and having to entertain yourselves during the off hours when you're not giving presentations. These conferences were also the only time i ever experienced Popularity. Being able to sit in a hotel lobby and have people come up to me, because they recognized me (or my team) was a blast. This is the ideal scenario for a shy person who loves talking to people but cant start a conversation to save my life. I did not care that most of these fans were educators over 40, they all had interesting stories and hearing them talk about using our program helped me come up with new things to implement next so it was a win-win. I also shamelessly used this time to do research on the history of our team. The group peaked in the 90s/2000s and it was really easy to get the older members to start talking about those days. i could probably write a book with everything i learned over the years. except not because even education nerds have scandal. the thing i always found is that if a person seems boring its just cause you haven't asked them the right questions yet.

There was one instance of a guy my age who came up to me and turned out to know the sculpting program i used, and was canadian so we had the whole pacific northwest thing in common, so after the con was over for the day the two of us went out on the town alone. And stayed out till like 2am, not doing anything wild (we visitd tourist sites! We bought smoothies!) i believe we ended up hanging out on an empty playground and talking philosophy, but im pretty sure that was the closest i will ever get to having a one night hookup. The hookup part did not happen because i was too shy to invite him back to my hotel room, and he was staying in a buddhist temple because it was the cheapest housing available and he was a broke grad student studying machine learning and art. I still remember that night, that was the Best night, partially because it was so unexpected and a random happenstance meeting of two strangers who would normally never come together.

Aaaaaall that said, i do realize we are talking about hockey players here who i imagine are maybe not the best conversationalists, and maybe would much rather be sleeping on a beach somewhere. And most of them are probably not the creative type to make exploring a city new or interesting no matter how many times you've been there. (with the exception of sid*ney cro*sby who as we all know is excellent at scavenger hunts). So all right, yeah, maybe i too wouldn't relish the idea of being stuck in a city with a whole bunch of hockey bros.

I also imagine its very different asking someone like sid if he enjoys the all*star game versus asking some player who isnt the best in the league and maybe just got there because of a voting fluke or the rest of his team is just shitty, and is maybe fairly new to the league and this is his first time going, and holy shit he's sitting next to sid at breakfast. Cmon theres got to be at least one guy having that experience even if they would never admit it because its uncool to fangirl.

[cogentranting]

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