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My early days fishing were in and around Chesapeake, with regular weekend trips to OBX with the family to the Frisco campground. Freshwater we fished for bream and crappie with cane poles and worms, graduating to popping bug fishing as I aged, fished the NC piers a bunch as well as the surf from Sandbridge to Hatteras. Had my go for wild trout in mountain rivers, and settled on smallmouth and walleye as an adult. I have been fortunate enough to fish with guides as friends and mentors, and have even spent 5 days on your Susquehanna, 4 of them with Ken Penrod and some of the best smallmouth fishing on the planet during high muddy water at the mouth of the Juniata and surrounds. Penrod was a real trip, but he knew that water. Never had the money for destination fisheries or guides until I became one myself, but met serious anglers for tutelage. I remain an unabashed imitator in my fishing pursuits, if somebody's catching and I'm not, I'm doing what they're doing regardless of what I think or thought would be the best thing to do. I have so often seen stubborn fishermen getting outfished because they want to do it "their" way. I come around in a skinny New York minnit myself, and if I don't have what I need and can't just go get it, I try to come as close as I can to the successful lure/bait and live with that until next trip.
A lot will depend on what's there, obviously. Trout fishing was suspended after a cold winter, not sure how that has recovered. Flounder are rebounding some, I'm told, but still restricted. Don't know about the drum, but there should be some pups around. Only time I fished Masonboro, I was after flounders and got them on my go to saltwater bait these days, a gotcha jig head (or big eye type jig head) with 4" Gulp Swimming Mullet, I prefer chartreuse/white or just chartreuse, fished on the bottom. As for the tide, depending on location, I generally prefer a couple hours before and after tide change, with a beer break when the tide isn't moving.
Another possibility is pompano and whiting, both easily caught on a bottom rig with fishbites as an alternative to trying to keep fresh bait, though sometimes shrimp can be good, fishbites don't go bad in the tackle box.
My biggest gripe is the commercial breaks
GD/GF makes more sense to me as a tiebreaker when only two teams qualify than if three do, but I'm not sure i can articulate why succinctly.
But, what if...and hear me out. This is going to be a long post.
Mayonnaise.
You definitely weren't the only one. I loved it.
In that Sugar Bowl he was the best. Wow. Still can't stand him for that.
Completely agree on Donavan and Lalas. Its like watching Woody and Buzz Lightyear interact, trying to explain physics.
When I was a lad, we lived near the Susquehanna and my grandfather had a cottage in Kent County near the mouth of the Chester River.
I grew up fishing the bay from the shore and crabbing, fly fishing freshwater for trout and pan fish. I bicycled past Gary Diamonds shop every Monday morning when school wasn't in session.
so it seems that where you and I disagree is on your first sentence here. You think the tournament should be about the "sporting merit". I think it should be about "entertainment". If we can't agree on that everything else is moot.
If you want it to be about sporting merit h2h as a tiebreak makes sense. If you want it to be about entertainment, it's preferable to have GD as the first tie-break because that forces some drama in the third match (especially since the third match in every group is a simultaneous match so that none of the teams know the result of the other match to strategize around. It forces the teams to put their best foot forward in every game.
I agree there was nothing wrong with the 32 team format (incidentally, back when it was only 32 teams, the tie-breakers were GD and GF ahead of H2H and nobody complained about it then). I was not sure how I would feel about the expanded tournament. It felt like a money-grab by the corrupt FIFA organization. But as a fan who wants to be entertained by this tournament, I've actually enjoyed having more teams, more matches, more stories, etc. It's been fun. Curacao getting mauled by Germany wasn't exactly fun, but for every one of those games, you get Cabo Verde holding Spain to a 0-0 draw. So that's fun! This is the beautiful game. Part of the beauty of it is the unifying nature it has on people from different nations all over the world. I don't hate that there are more teams in this format. I'm also interested in how the dynamics of 8/12 third place teams getting through affects the last group stage game in each group. You're not necessarily going to know which third place teams are in the top 8 until the last day, which adds some intrigue that I think will be fun.
Overall, I'm very much enjoying this tournament. My complaint about the tie-breakers stands, but it's not a deal breaker for me. I have 0 interest in the USA-Turkiye match because it's completely meaningless. But the Australia-Paraguay match will be plenty dramatic since those teams both have a shot at 2nd place and can't count on 3rd getting them through.
My biggest complaint in this tournament so far has been the absolutely rubbish broadcasting by Fox. Fox clearly doesn't understand the sport and the production, particularly the camera work, has been dreadful. Also, Alexi Lalas and Landan Donovan are complete boobs and I'd rather listen to nails on a chalkboard than either of those dweebs. Outside of that, the soccer thus far has been amazing to watch. I worry that there will be a lull next week as we get into the 3rd group stage matches where most of the groups will probably already be decided (because of the h2h tie-break) but it'll amp back up again in the knock-outs, which is always fun.
TL;DR: Agree to disagree? This is a fun tournament and I love watching it every 4 years. Happy watching and Go USA!!!
Wow, TLDR! Is someone paying you by the word? ;)
Fish (and others here)! Im gonna be on the beach on north side of masonboro inlet in a week. Gonna hang w wife on the beach and wet a line and throw some mr22s and maybe bounce some paddle tails off the bottom. What would u recommend for summer in that inlet. Ongoing vs outgoing tide? Etc.
Tight lines to everyone!
Best of luck. Never know what'll hit that rig. Let us know how you do. I like cut fresh mullet and also fishbites myself.
Here on the Middle Peninsula, there is virtually no fresh water opportunity, save a couple of private ponds and one reservoir in Gloucester, with an electric motor only restriction. I have fished both, but it was always the saltwater here at my fingertips that I geared up for. After years of decent fishing, the current thing is really a bummer. When I first move here, flounder were my main pursuit, with croaker filling in in size enough to filet and skin when the flounder didn't cooperate. Trout were around, but I just didn't care about them that much, to be honest, though the area is eaten up with dedicated speckled trout enthusiasts. Then the flounder just seemed to disappear in this area but the reds moved in and stayed for several years. Last year, though, and this year so far, no reds. Winter temps killed most of the trout, and must have done serious damage to the reds as well.
Anyway, I usually did some crappie fishing in the spring, but have lost access to past places.
beating their average CWS score by holding UNC -1 below average.
The entertainment should be secondary to the sporting merit, and "who can run it up on curacao" shouldn't be more important than winning the other matches.
As an aside, your frustration is actually more with the expanded tournament that needs 3rd place group finishers to advance to round out the knockout field.
If entertainment is your thing, it should either be higher quality of team on average, and you can achieve that by a) weeding out the bottom feeders from the beginning and having fewer better teams or b) changing the qualifying process to bring more teams from the better federations at the expense of the smaller federations. Literally nothing was wrong with a 32 team field
Peter Warrick
John McClane
Welp Oklahoma took game 1 9-3. 4th inning killed the Heels. Gave up 5 runs.
Name someone who's won more with as little talent around them as Cam
Nah I liked it too. It seemed very cutting edge at the time
I'm at Carolina Beach hoping to get a bit of fishing in from the surf. Family trip so no serious attempts, but hope to pull a few on fishfinder and pompano rigs with whatever cheap frozen bait the local shops have. I'll change bait every other beer to keep it interesting.
Also when we went up to #3 for a brief moment before that dark and stormy night in Blacksburg against Miami....
I won't go as far as saying Cam was the GOAT, but we absolutely win a natty with him, yes
I am probably the only person here to feel this way, but I kinda dug the one orange sleeve paired with the compression shirt underneath.
Definitely not as a full-time thing but as a one-off, I liked the look.
It also harkens to a time when Nike gave a damn about VT...I know other schools did it but they were relatively few...
Shun me if you must...lol
Sports were created to be entertainment. That is their goal to placate the masses so they don't overthrow governments. Who is the best doesnt matter as long as you have some one to cheer for.
We are also talking about FIFA here, one of the most corrupt organizations alongside the IOC. This is about money and kickbacks. They would rig every contest if they thought it would bring them more money.