u/TMW_W

Putting this past season in the rearview and trying to look forward in the most level-headed way possible.

After some reading and thinking, here are the 7 things I'm most worried about going forward, from "most" to "least" worrying:

1. Vladar regressing. So many people acting like we found a long-term elite goalie, but somehow nobody seems to remember how finicky goaltenders are. It's probably more likely that he's not on the roster in 3 years than it is that he's still on the roster.

2. Tocchet, in general. I'll give him credit for the last few months, but I still worry pretty heavily that what we got this season is what we'll get permanently: him squeezing out the best from a team for a limited stretch of time, which may be enough to barely make the playoffs but never really blossom into a true contender.

3. Our lack of elite scoring talent. This really reared its head during the Canes series, obviously, but I think it becomes even more worrying looking ahead to next season as expectations are raised.

4. Michkov. I am not quite as freaked out as everyone else seems to be. I think he'll come into camp in good shape. As you can see by my rankings, I am more worried about Tocchet than I am about Michkov.

5. Goaltending depth. Even if Vladar regresses a bit, I still expect him to be a solid starting goaltender. But that means we're just one medium-term injury away from being completely screwed. If he had to miss 6 weeks, the season is basically tanked unless something changes.

6. Expectations being too high for Martone. I think he can score 25 goals next season, but I wouldn't be shocked if he ended up around 20 goals and 40 points. We need to let him still be a kid. He's going to have rough patches. That said, this is low down the list for a reason. He's a stud.

7. Briere. In a world where we don't go on that unbelievable run post-Olympics and we miss the playoffs, I think a lot of people would be calling for Briere's ouster right now. Expectations are higher now, but it wouldn't be totally shocking for us to miss the playoffs next season. I'll be curious to see what his offseason plan and messaging is.

As someone who has a fair bit of experience/fitness in both swim (grew up at the beach, was an ocean lifeguard in college, form isn't amazing but pretty capable in the water) and run (3:12 marathon PR) but has essentially zero cycling experience besides riding cruisers as a kid, I'm starting down the cycling road so I can see if tri is in my future.

As a semi-serious runner and lifter through my 20s and early 30s with a fairly busy job/life and minimal disposable income, I've veered towards the side of minimalism and skepticism. It amazes me how much people will spend on running shoes and gels and fancy gym memberships without any of it really making you better. Cycling seems like the most hyper-insane of the three disciplines in this regard. There's so much equipment and so much expense and so much...culture...around the sport that makes me a little wary, to be frank.

So my question is: what are the most overrated things that you see frequently recommended for newbie cyclists (or triathletes in general)? Note that I already have a bike: I'm starting out with my dad's old Trek Madone 2.1 that he graciously gave to me. If I really get into it then I'll spring for my own down the line.

Let's say some bazillionaire was starting a brand new university next year. For the sake of the hypothetical it would be a smaller elite private school. Think something in the mold of a Rice, Duke, Wake Forest type of school: roughly 5,500 undergrads, more undergrad teaching-focused but still with some major research and some graduate programs, Division 1 sports. No hospital or medical school (since that adds a whole new level of scale).

For some reason, that bazillionaire has told you that you can pick where the university goes. Where do you put it, and why?

Here's a few initial thoughts I had, basically putting different options into categories:

Category 1: Boring but otherwise solid large cities that have minimal current college influence and could really use some added fun personality. Cities like Charlotte and Kansas City could be interesting, especially if the new campus was right in the heart of their downtown.

Category 2: Inject some additional goodness into small to mid-size former industrial cities that could maybe use some revitalization. Cities like Greensboro, Hartford, Akron, or Milwaukee could be interesting to imagine.

Category 3: Completely change a small more rural town that has a lot of natural beauty and amenities but needs an economic anchor (but also isn't so small and rural that a new university would completely destroy the existing infrastructure). Tons of options here, but what about Eureka CA, Beckley WV, or Ashland KY?

Anyway, just thought it would be a fun thought experiment. Excited to hear where people go with it!

Here's the shortest possible version of the situation: my partner has a job offer in New Haven (basically returning to a job they'd had previously). I have a job offer in Storrs (at UConn, obviously). We are mid-30s with no kids.

How horrible would it be to commute from New Haven to Storrs? (An important point is that I would not have to do this commute every day. It'd be 2-3 days per week, and even less in the summer when UConn is not in session. I'd probably have a bit of flexibility time-wise too, so that I wouldn't always hit rush hour.)

Or, are there towns we should consider in between? Our initial research suggests that there isn't a whole lot of exciting options in between. A few of the coastal towns (Old Saybrook, Guilford, etc.) are interesting to us but make our commute situations worse, I think?

Edit to add: I should have mentioned my partner's job is almost entirely in person, so if we tried to go somewhere in the middle it'd be better to prioritize downtown New Haven proximity.

It feels like the acceleration is happening so fast that things might be very different (and worse) for the average runner in the not-so-distant future.

The second-tier marathons are quickly becoming the equivalent of what the first-tier marathons were 10 years ago: Grandma's sold out apparently on Day 1 this past year...Philadelphia is already sold out for November...CIM sold out so quickly they had to instate a lottery for additional entries. Do these all become lottery-only in 5 years?

And for the first-tier...the lotteries are functionally impossible at this point, and honestly from what I heard from folks who ran it in 2025, the logistics of NYC are so crazy now that it makes them less enjoyable. Do these majors become two-day affairs in 5 years? Do they end up being, like, $1k entry fees?

It's trickling down to smaller races too. I did Kiawah a few years ago because I thought it'd be a super chill and easy race, and it turned out to have the most insanely horrible race-day logistics ever because they clearly were not prepared for how fast the race was growing. What do these types of smaller races look like in 5 years?

Curious what people think. How do things look 5 (or more) years down the road if we keep up this exponential growth?

Having a little graduation party in a couple weeks with about 10-12 people (and a few small kids). Don't need a big formal catering operation or anything, but want to get a decent spread.

Any recs for local restaurants that we should look at?

I've gone to many, many Philly sports games over the last 30 years, across all four major teams. (I even went to the Flyers game last night). Tonight was the most embarrassing, hands down. The effort was bad, the team is clearly lost and that shouldn't be a huge surprise, but even more than that: the general vibe of the entire stadium was legitimately horrible in a way that I did not anticipate.

The in-game experience is so dreadful it actually makes me sad. Felt absolutely zero hype around tipoff. The crowd was so weak it was hard to believe. Tons of open seats.

We're down 30 in the second half and everyone was happily dancing for the jumbotron and I felt like I was taking crazy pills. Nobody seemed to care whatsoever that we were getting blown out, at home, in the playoffs.

The loudest chants of the nights were for Boston, which looked like it had ~25% of the lower bowl. And nobody even seemed to care that the opposing side was taking over the stadium? In comparison, the handful of Penguins fans I saw at Game 4 before were getting heckled constantly. I hate Flyers vs. Sixers comparisons but it was literally night and day.

Why do I keep giving this team my money and time? Tonight might have been my final straw, at least for awhile.