oldshurst442

@ocnblu @Drew Dowdell Why you laughing Blu? (plus all the downvoting you do when somebody mentions THEIR opinion on politics that is different from yours yet you dont offer anything of value...just dumb rhetoric...as if you are knowledgeable on the subjects...) The massacre of Natives is funny to you? Why? You think its because it happened in the past that we should all just ignore history? Because you think it wasnt you personally that harmed Natives that somehow its all good now? Greeks were slaves to the Turks for 400 years during that horrid Ottoman Empire. Every March 21, Greeks celebrate their FREEDOM (Its called their Independence Day...but THAT is false...Greece was ALWAYS independent...we FREED ourselves) Greeks dont EVER want to forget that...and for you...that would be stupid, right? In THIS situation....we want the Natives to just go away? Because your laughy thingy says exactly THAT to me... How does that work? How does that work in the eyes and skin of a Native? Its easy for Greece and Greeks to start moving on from that past as the Ottoman Empire is no longer around....yet it still is...Constantinople and Cyprus is a very harsh reminder, but at least the main mainland Greece...Greece gets to be HELLENIC. In North America...the Natives see their land STILL being occupied bu NON Natives...and YOU have the AUDACITY to laugh? You know...politics is a strange animal... Politics involves EVERYTHING we do in our CIVIC lives. But, some aspects of politics is very human related. And when we are so IGNORANT on the plight of peoples because of our PAST politics and just want it to go away...well... You know Blu...I COULD discuss cars with you...its fun...but you are one very IGNORANT individual with everything else... I for one...will vote NOT to have a political forum open for us to discuss.... Not for me...for YOU... Im embarrassed for you and your ignorance...

yes..it was a wild ride. An awesome ride. Enjoy your parade!!!

There is no blood or violence in any sport... There are injuries. Some of those injuries ARE violent. Sports are physical and fast paced and collisions of all types do happen so yes...it can get violent but for the most part...that violence is NOT malicious. It does happen that one player could be malicious towards another player, but sports do mirror real life...and real life, can be malicious and violent... But...in the sports community, its less violent and malicious than in real life... Hockey gets a bad rap...because hockey players do beat the shyte of each other...they fight, hit each other over the head with their sticks... But its still not as violent as most people think it is. Im sure there are people that enjoy the gore that comes with playing a hard physical game. All teams sports remain team sports and Im not seeing what you are seeing with me me me players with high egos, There are athletes with huge egos....always been that way since the dawn of time...arrogance is a human trait... But its probably the sensational journalism that you read about certain athletes that makes you believe that modern sports is inflicted by this...But its really not. There are many beautiful story lines in all 4 major sports in North America that does NOT make the news... I bet you read about the women's soccer team...but I bet you have no idea what this picture is all about. Over paid, huge ego sports guys? TRUE! There are plenty of those. I will NOT argue... But no different than some CEOs in the corporate world.

My reasons why I loved to play hockey and to watch hockey Not in a particular order 1. Its a fast paced game. The fastest of all sports. Transitions happen instantly, frequently, on the fly. In fact, attacking, counterattacking and defending all in the blink of an eye is what hockey is all about and is what makes hockey such an interesting and fun sport to watch. 2. Its a physical game. As in hitting you opponent trying to get the puck from him being allowed as long as you hit him "legally" and "safely". You could "bodycheck" your opponent to separate him from the puck. (The bolded part is the correct terminology) Its great to see an awesome bodycheck just as its great to see a player avoid a bodycheck. Just as it is great to see a game with a lot of bodychecks dictating the pace just as it is exciting to see a game being paced by fast plays and cool maneuvers with players spinning, skating and dancing on the ice. But a nice placed bodycheck stopping a guy dead in his tracks...is in fact...entertaining. 3. Its an intimidation sport. All sports you could say, have a level of intimidation to them, but hockey, you really really do bully your opponent. But...your opponent most of the time does not get scared too often and sometimes, the bullied becomes THE bully instantaneously. Through various plays during the game, and it may not even be by pushing back psychically that turns the tide. Because the game is fast paced, awesome plays on the ice that gets the bullied to control the pace of the game turns the tide and the bully loses his grip and the tide is turned. 4. Contrary to popular belief...fighting is not exactly permitted in the game....especially in today's version of the game. Fighting was not even permitted in the "Rock 'em Sock 'em days of the 1970s and 1980s. Old time hockey of the 1920s and 1930s neither. (which was more rough than the '70s and '80s) BUT...its not frowned upon nor discouraged either. WHY? Because North American hockey...the ORIGINAL hockey game...ALLOWS the players to police themselves. Not so much in today's game...(but the refs have to do a BETTER job seeing the dirty hits on the ice (its an intimidation game...hence the dirty hits still present in today's game) and the suspensions have to be more frequent and more just to STOP and ELIMINATE the dirty hits from the game...but as long as the game will allow hits, the game will be about intimidation, and the refs and player safety WILL miss a few calls here and there....the game will ALWAYS allow the players to police themselves and THAT alone allows the bad blood between players and teams to dissipate quickly preventing worse outcomes. I think today's game, allowing some fights to happen, and more or less getting it right with head shots and the like, prevents worse stupid actions taken by players later. It was very common from the 1920s all the way to the 1980s for players to swing their sticks at each other's heads... It even happened (more than) a couple of times from the 1990s to the mid 2000s. Yes I like a good fight from time to time....THAT is not the reason why I like hockey...its the fact that players could police themselves. 5. Its a very hard game to play. All sports are hard. But hockey, you need 2 skills to perfect. a) The actual game of hockey. Its fast paced. So a participant needs to acquire and perfect hockey knowledge. (No different for a soccer player to learn soccer knowledge...) b) But...an ICE hockey player needs to learn how to...skate. That is a different set of skills...and he/she needs to skate perfectly while playing hockey 6. Small guys dictate the plays. Big guys dictate the plays. Big guys steamrolling along is fun to watch. Small guys avoiding the big guys is also fun to watch and all that leads to the transitions to happen fast and smoothly. Strategies often happen on the fly. Coaches do use the old "x' and "o" method but its more of a suggestion. There are many set plays that hockey players practice defending and attacking....but when the game is on, and you are in the moment, yes there are systems being followed, but its more likely that "in the moment" decisions dictate the pace. Hockey HAS lost that individual, artistic, spontaneous flow it once had, because systems and calculations have taken over, but hockey is still a more free flowing game than most other sports. Baseball will always be free flowing, but I have come to the understanding that baseball too, is succumbing to systems and number crunching, strategical thinking...more than allowing its players individuality... 7. Hockey players are tough as nails. Yes...athletes in general are all tough and strong. But hockey players are just one level above. Even football players dont play through their injuries as much a hockey guys do. Granted, football used to be a very tough grueling sport that did not allow injured athletes to continue...but hockey guys are known to be playing with broken jaws, lost teeth, broken toes, legs, punctured lungs. OK...Rugby players are on that level as well... Some call that stupid. They maybe correct. But...you got to admire that determination... 8. Its a simple game....to follow. And there is continuous action making it fun to follow. And there are high scoring games and there are low scoring games, each with their own excitement. Im not talking about game 45-50 in the middle of the season which happens to be in January or February after the holidays where the games SEEM to not mean as much because even the players are holiday fatigued, and Football seems to get all the attention, because of the Superbowl and usually the NHL all star game is around the corner even the players are bored with that...so in January and February, the games tend to be boring because their is no passion being displayed...but when passion and emotions are involved, especially a nice rivalry game or in the play offs...hockey is just out of this world fun.

@dfelt I wasnt offended. It came out that way. I decided to start a thread, just so we dont derail the other thread. And it may be an interesting topic for everyone to discuss. Not in particular order 1. I watch sports because I played sports when I was a kid. I was quite good at playing sports and I loved the competition from playing, so I continued enjoying that passion while watching professionals play on TV or live at a sporting event. 2. I also watched sports as a kid, just to get pointers and ideas and strategies on how I could improve my game. 3. Its drama. Its comedy. Its a thriller. Its action. Its romance. (A different type of romance but love is definitely there.) Its a storyline. Its history. Its heroics. Its heroic. (two different things) Its passion. Its glory. Its gory. Its pain. Its humanity. Its the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Its the original reality TV. And its REAL... Its difficult but rewarding. And many more.... PS: as an athlete and as a spectator. This photo below, not even 24 hours ago...is EXACTLY what Im talking about... 4. As an athlete, that I once was, playing sports pushed my limits physically, mentally, spiritually. I learned how to push myself to get better. I learned my strengths, my weaknesses. I learned who I was. I got to know myself and I learned to love myself no matter what. On the flip side, I learned to work with others to reach a common goal. I learned to listen to others' advice concerning me, not easy to take advice when others critique you. I learned to teach and be taught. I learned how to lose and how to get better and more importantly, I learned how to win. How to compete. How to win...(yes I said it twice. How to win gracefully.) I learned that the agony of defeat could be as sweet as the thrill of victory. Its sucks losing, especially in the moment, but as time goes by, those losing moments are cherished by me as much as those glorious wins. I learned how to work in a team as a team. I learned about brotherhood. I learned to love others. To respect others. 5. Watching sports now, all those things I said, all those emotions come flooding back to me and I feel the athletes agony of defeat, or happiness, or pain when they get hurt. In other words, I can relate. 6. Watching a spectacular play, knowing how hard it is to achieve through my own personal experiences, I have a profound respect for it and I find it extremely entertaining seeing it happen, and I always envision myself in that particular spectacular situation and I question my abilities and my former team's abilities if we and I could have replicated that. 7. That adrenaline rush. By pushing myself. By competing. By playing. By losing and winning. Those butterflies in my stomach just before an important game. That feeling not wanting to lose to a particular team. That feeling WANTING to WIN against a particular team. (two different feelings. Similar, but quite different.) Those feeling get transferred by watching my favorite team on TV 8. Losing. Yes losing. I hated losing. But its with losing that I got to be a strong minded, strong character person. I miss that sentiment when I lost a game. Because that sentiment pushed me to be better the next time around. Its that fire after the loss that I miss. That competitive nature. And so I craved playing sports all the time. Because I craved that inner fire I had. And so watching sports, watching all the in-game and out-game scenes brings me back to when I was competing. Like I said, its the original reality TV and its the honest to goodness truth about it! 9. Winning. I loved winning. There are a few things in life that rival that feeling you get when you win a big game. If you live in St Louis, and it does not matter if you watch hockey or not, what a feeling it is today!!! Same for Toronto...maybe...hopefully!!! These are some reasons why I watch sports and why I used to play sports.

Discuss all the reason why we may watch sports. Or why we may not watch sports...

Instead of me defending my love for hockey...you provide reasons why you find hockey...boring Because, hockey, for many reasons, is not boring. I would understand somebody tell me soccer is boring, because that person would not understand that soccer is a chess match and the reason why its a slow paced game is because each opponent is trying surgically to defeat its opponent by strategically find weaknesses. I would understand somebody tell me baseball is boring because that person would not understand that baseball is a timeless game. Its a pastime. Its also one of the hardest games to play, but that person probably never played baseball so that person does not get the nuances of the game. Such as its the only game that the team on offense does NOT control the ball and its the defensive team that tries to control the offense produced by the offensive team. Ignoring the fact that an offensive player, being 30% good makes him a superstar offensive player. Trying to hit a small round ball at 90-100 mph with a round bat is one daunting experience... But I....do NOT understand one person telling me hockey is boring... Like I said...instead of me defending hockey to you, why dont YOU state your reasons on why you find hockey boring. Because...hockey is not slow paced. Hockey is not passive. Hockey is explosive in more ways than one... (and those seem like reasons why I love hockey, in reality, these are just general adjectives thrown your way...there are reasons that I could explain to you...in detail... like I did with soccer and baseball on why I LOVE hockey) I will tell you why I love hockey later...

Good news. The Toronto Maple Leafs lost to the Bruins!!! Bad News: The Bruins lost to the Blues... Good News: I wont have to hear Gloria all that much now... Bad News: There is always next year... Good News: The Raptors WILL win tonight making another sports franchise win their 1st Champsionship. Bad News: Montreal does not have an NBA team... Nor an MLB team... And their CFL team does not have an ownership group...

@balthazar I just got it and NOW I understand... THIS is about Germany being screwed... Honestly, I dont care about Germany. Beautiful country. Beautiful people. Smart people. Great history. But since the turn of the 20th Century, I dont respect their politics too much. I understand their politics and the why it lead to what it lead to, but I dont care about Germany all that much.

Then everybody wins as this tech will be universal and will be even cheaper to produce?

SVT!!! Yeah. S. V.... T. Thanx for the info. SVE...SVT...close but no cigar. Especially cigars from Cuba...because of the embargo??? Or has that been lifted? Maybe reinstated? There goes my memory again...

SVE? I know this company's name was SLP...of Trans Am Firehawk fame and then unto the actual production of the 4rth generation F-Body Camaro SS and Trans Am WS6 Ram Air stuff... But wasnt SVE a Ford aftermarket performance company in the 1990s or early 2000s? Anyway, glad that this nameplate is back. Now of Ford could do a Lightning alongside the Raptor and we are all good. Well, we will need a SUV based on the Canyon and then a Typhoon version and THEN we re all good. Not quite...RAM could give us another "Lil Red Express" and THEN we are all good!

I refuse to use St. Louis Blues highlights... But..awesome win!!!

Yeah...your Comp-ass ooooozes machismo!

I dont think he was a douchebag. Its more me thinking this way and reading into his mannerisms more than I should. He did arrogantly smirk....but there is NOTHING wrong with that. I would too, arrogantly smirk if some stranger admired my brand new awesome ride. It was arrogant as much as it was playful between two guys happily driving around in beautiful weather. Life is good for me as Id like to think that life is good for him too. We were both enjoying the moment. It was a cool moment. He let me into his lane. He did not have to do that. I would either scrape my car on some barriers, or wait for at least 5-6 cars to go by before I would be able to go around the obstacles in my lane going into the lane beside me. It wasnt like that asshat with the '69 Cutlass convertible last week. THAT was a douchebag. He should have acknowledged me admiring his car. He could have arrogantly smiled at me too....which I would have approved even further. Yeah, dawg! You got the car, bro! Good for you! Yeah...you deserve that arrogant smile. Enjoy your ride, man!!! That is how I view folk that acknowledge others for admiring their car... When they smile back at you! He chose to ignore me! Like I wasnt there. A mere peasant I was to him...THAT is 100% douchebag behaviour right there!!! In my opinion at least. I always compliment folk on their rides when I see a nice car that catches my eye. And it doesnt have to be cars that I personally like. Like an Olds 442 or Trans Am. Anything that looks good, Ill compliment. In reality with the situation with the new 'Gator'... I did feel down.... A tad jealous? For him having a 2019 model year vehicle? Maybe Im itching form a new car myself? Probably not. Mid-life crisis? Not for wanting and lusting after an SUV...so scratch that idea. I dont know why I got down today after that incident...but Ill tell ya one thing. Im no longer feeling that sentiment.

Yeah...a big truck (or Miata or Muscle Car) wont help with my manliness if Im having issues... LOL I am not having issues. Though...maybe I need sex... (It has been awhile) \Maybe I need to take my woman and tell her: "listen babe, when the kids go to sleep tonight, you and I, will make the earth MOVE!!!" "Shhhhhh....let me take care of you baby!" And then proceed to do it all over our house....and quite honestly...I dont care if I wake up the neighbors let alone my kids... EDIT: Or maybe...mid-life crisis is kicking in? I highly doubt that! I would rather think that I need to please my woman and make her feel like when we first met...over and over and over again...

So...Im in my car today. Driving my daughter to her high school so she could do an exam she has. I drop her off, and so I decide to joyride and cruise around in closeness to her school. I do have a couple of hours to kill and its a nice sunny day today. Ive never felt ashamed of what I drive in my life. Ive never felt intimidated by other cars (size or badge wise). Nor Inadequate in any way. Until today...(I was in my car, a 2012 Acura TL ) A brand new Lincoln Navigator driven by a dude from Ontario. He had Ontario plates... He was in the right lane on a 3 lane boulevard. I was in the middle lane. We were always right beside each other. I was admiring his truck. Its such a big ride. Its got presence on the road. But it is not there that I felt this way. There was a little bit of traffic so we are not driving fast. A good, cruising speed for everybody. He wants to go in front of me to merge in the middle lane, he accelerates and gets in front of me. All is good so far. We continue for another 5 minutes, but by now, Im going a tad too far from the school so I wanna get back. I got the time, but I dont want to drive further on this road as its such a boring commute. I proceed to merge to the right. We get to the lights but there is construction in my lane. The 'Gator driver realizes that, so he kinda lets me squeeze next to him. Good guy...but...as we are acknowledging each other, me thanking him, him accepting his nice gesture and kinda thanking me for my gesture earlier... he kinda sees it in me that Im enjoying his truck, so he pulls on a very arrogant smirk and obviously he is looking down at me...his ride is soooo much higher than mine...so...with his arrogant smirk, looking down at me, he NOW not only is LITERALLY looking down at me...but he is LOOKING DOWN at me...and me...squeezing into his lane...feeling vulnerable at the sheer size of this thing... Light turns green, he drives straight, I turn right, and Im questioning my manhood...should I bite the SUV bullet and trade my sporty sedan in for the next generation Escalade ESV? I really felt...small...in more ways than one...

This "formulaic style" started in the 1980s if Im not mistaken. Actually, it started in the 1950s, but it was less rampant...again, if Im not mistaken. I enjoyed your joke though. Because I would normally post a cheesy 1980s hair metal band song or disco tune in a discussion like that!!!

I just this response. Nah. Cherry Pie is...everything wrong with today's music. Composed by a formula. At least Cherry Bomb would be one of those songs that the producers use(d) as a basis for a...formula. PS: I often fall victim to these formula produced songs though...I aint sayin I like falling prey to these songs, but I will admit that...hey...some of it does work on me.

Not if Rivian has a "Find a Friend" app on their Rivian app store. These are supposed to be "lifestyle" vehicles, non?

Just like any other CUV that was ever created from every manufacturer since the mid 1990s...

I use those codes all the time.... I AM NOT A BMW FANBOY!!!

This...I did NOT know. I was always in awe of Mount Rushmore, but learning this about it being sculpted on sacred Indigenous Native American land...I all of a sudden view it in a different light.

E-- is just the generation of a particular model of a BMW. From Wiki as I dont remember when the generations begin and end myself. E30 = the 2nd generation of 3 Series of years 1982-1994 E36 = the 3rd generation 3 Series between 1990-2000 E39 = the 5 Series 4rth generation of years 1995-2003

Same. I had a chance to drive a friend's father's E39 540i as well. This gentleman had a late 1980s Bonneville SSE that he traded in for that 540i. I had a chance to drive the Bonneville too. I liked both cars but I did prefer the Bimmer.... (you did not read that...OK?)