Either One, Whatever [NOT 9/6/23]

9/6/23 blue dogcollar 60
Natchez Mississippi store with soda ads
Natchez Mississippi store / Marion Post Wolcott / 1940 / source:https://www.loc.gov/item/2017877479

Sure, Either Way, It’s Fine

Butcher had a FYCE about pumpkin pie, which led to a debate over whether pumpkin pie beat sweet potato pie, or whether sweet potato pie was better than pumpkin.

And I had to admit that both were fine with me. I struggle to pick one over the other.

So let’s talk about debates you just can’t engage in. Not “A plague on both your houses!” where you hate all sides. Let’s say situations where you could go either way.

For example: I also have to admit in the Lennon vs. McCartney debate, I just don’t know. I mean, if I listen closely to a Beatles song I can tell who is singing, but one Liverpudlian accent is about as good as another for me. Their post-Beatles stuff kind of blurs together for me too. They’re both nice enough.

What’s Your “Sure, They’re Both Fine?”

So what about you? Some people have strong opinions about whether NBA or NCAA basketball is better, but maybe they’re both just fun for you. As shown by the movie Ford v. Ferrari, some people are loyalists of the legendary Ford GT40, some swoon for the Ferrari 330 P3, and some like both just about as much.

In the image above, some people really don’t care whether you serve them Coke or RC Cola as long as it’s cold. Maybe when it’s Miller Light vs. Bud Light, you go with whatever is closest to the top of the cooler.

What’s a hotly debated choice where you think both are fine? Nike vs. Addidas, Ford pickup vs. Chevy, Whopper vs. Big Mac? Jordan vs. LeBron? Again, not things you hate with equal venom, just heated debates where you could go either way.

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60 Comments

  1. If I have a choice to snuggle a dog, a cat, a lamb, or a donkey, I can be persuaded in any direction depending upon the individual animal and it’s smoochability.

    The animals know this weakness in me and often take advantage of it.

  2. NBA is better basketball but March Madness is a hundred million times more exciting than NBA playoffs.

    Anything over Apple or Microsoft.

    It’s Zed, not Z.

    It’s potato, NOT potato!

    The above are not up for debate…I’m just right.

    For the sake of staying on topic, arguments over GMs in sports. It’s one thing to critique and judge, as well as, praise and compliment based on their decision making. But, as a whole, or in general, I think it’s a fool’s errand to argue over which GM is better or worse than another. Like…hey random convoy idiot, you’re not in the room where things happen. There might even be validity to your points about A and Z but you’re missing the B to Y of which literally none of us are privy…little things like MANAGING people…a billion dollar organisation full of people and all that comes with that.

    Same with coaches. Take Babcock for example. Everyone thought he was the best coach…he turned out to be an asshole every player on every team he coached HATED for decades.

    People are fucking hypocritical, too. Drives me nuts! Especially regarding coaches…because the best coach ever, in all sports, is very clearly Pop! And everyone who thinks differently is an idiot.

    And I say that with the utmost confidence…right here in my deep state of solipsism and within the comforting confines of my own site…after trying to remember where the shooting guard lines up on tipoffs.

    Damn…perhaps I should have stuck with the GMs.

      • Fair…very, very fair…BUT…can I make an argument on behalf of the fact that certain teams be exempt from the debate?

        GMs of the LIons or, say, the Browns since they came back shouldn’t really count. OWNERS on the other hand…

    • I feel like I’m a lesser person for having no idea what you’re talking about. Like going to a dinner party and everyone’s been following an award-winning multidecade soap opera–Well, that’s my own fault.

        • I’m neither familiar with those people nor which sport or which teams they managed, tbh.

          I will say that there are certain circumstances in which debates can be had by those not in the room where things happen but my original point clearly made a distinction between only knowing A and Z without being privy to what lies between B to Y. The certain circumstances to which I referred would be when we become privy to some of the shit between B and Y…whether it be through media or straight from the horse’s mouth.

          I’d have to assume that the GM of PITT and the other GM you mentioned both had some B to Y shit that got leaked to which the general public is privy?

        • I actually have a first edition (British) of William Hague’s (google him) Pitt The Younger, which is encyclopedic and extremely enlightening, especially when it came to the response to the French Revolution and the great question of his age, which was whether to abolish slavery. As for Disraeli, I am well-steeped in Victoriana and British politics of the era. The US cries out for statesmen like Pitt and Disraeli, and we get what? Joe Biden? Donald Trump? Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.? Ron DeSantis? Of course, the same thing is happening in Britain and the Commonwealth, so the decline seems to be irreversible and widespread throughout the Anglosphere.

          • Have you read Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy? I think it’s becoming increasingly clear that Biden is a clear minded character like Cromwell who people underestimate at their peril…. although hopefully without the decapitation part, of course.

            The Green New Deal backdoor passage, the debt ceiling switcheroo, the red wave fizzle, and now the Trump indictment — I think he’s conning a lot of the NY Times pundit class into underestimating him, only to end up eating their words over and over.

          • Ok Mattie you’ve inspired me to google. I know nothing about British parliamentarians from the 1800s or how they relate to sports other than the baseball uniform in that Simpsons clip? But because Wikipedia is always 100% accurate (LOL) I think it’s irrelevant as they clearly should have put Florence Nightingale in charge before Palmerston sent the light brigade “to do and die.”

    • NBA playoffs are usually better in early rounds in my opinion.  Opposite MOST years in March Madness.  This year was the opposite with so many upsets.  GM’s make a bigger difference in NBA than NFL as the draft is a total crapshoot.  Salary cap juggling is way too crazy in the NFL too.  Look at what Seahawks did to Denver with Russell Wilson trade, we took their lunch money.  They are run by idiots & we have smart nerds.

      • To add to your point about GMs in the NBA having a greater impact, another reason is because one player can make such a huge difference to their team’s success than a football or hockey or baseball or soccer player so one move for one player can turn a pretender into a contender.

        Speaking of the NBA draft…

        This is an owner who gives a shit:

        All these people were me, by myself in my living room:

    • @Myopicprophet, I will agree with you 1,000,000% about Pop being the best coach EVER–hands down, and I will *also* agree with you, on the idea that it’s stupid to rank/rate/argue over the concept of “Better or Worse GM?”

       

      But i will argue that your logic on that “Not Worth Ranking best/worst GM’s” is faulty!😉💖

      Because Kevin McHale is THE WOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRSSST GM, to EVER have GM’ed!

      That man BROKE multiple organizations, drove them into the ABYSS, made personnel moves & decisions based on *friendships* he had–rather than people’s *skills,* and for what you will *never* convince me was *not* a purposeful move, to keep his old teammate and *buddy* Larry Bird’s *solo* record intact by benching KG in early April of 2005–so that KG played 76 games, rather than his typical 81-82? Ensuring that Garnett only had *four* 20-10-5 years in a row, not the Bird-tying 5 years he had been on*track* for…

      McFAIL is-indubitably–the WORST NBA GM of ALL time😠😡🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

      There were SO MANY stupid decisions over the years, SO many “favors” he did for former teammates like Bird, and while the man WAS a hell of a basketball *player* he *doesn’t* have the intellect or skill to *successfully* run an Organization!!!

      Ffs,the man ran *two* teams into the ground as GM, AND *THEN* appointed himself head coach!!!

      McFail’s ego knows NO bounds, his loyalty lies with his *friends* and former teammates, rather than the team he’s employed by, and the jock from Hibbing is an inept DOLT, when it comes to team management.

      You’re CORRECT, that it’s not worth arguing over–but that’s because McHale is that bad!😉😁💖

      Hell, to add *another* example of McHale’s ineptitude? I’ll even admit that as much as I *do* adore KG–as one of our players–he *NEVER* should have had the power over team decisions on the *management side* of the organization, that he did, before 2005-ish!!! If Mcfail *was* an adequate GM, he would have kept those “Management & Player Boundaries” CLEARLY DEFINED, and *wouldn’t* have had Garnett *so* intimately involved in roster & hiring decisions.💖

      • I can’t argue any of your very valid points (some of which I wasn’t even aware) but, technically, they all fall between the B through Y being leaked.

        You being right, on its own, doesn’t constitute an argument or debate. I’m used to you being right. In fact, I’ve only seen you be wrong once!

        When you said KG was better than TD when everyone who has ever been right about anything knows the list is (very correctly) as follows:

        1. TD
        2. MJ
        3. KG
        4. Getting hit by a bus
        5. LeBron (who, btw, is the worst GM of all time…and who’d likely have more rings if he’d have just let even McHale be GM)

        • Myo–as much as I DO truly adore our argument of which end of I-35 was the home of *our* generation’s best Power Forward… (and I literally laughed when I read your list!😆😂🤣)

          I regret to inform you, that your list is wrong!!!

          As much as it galls me to admit it?

          *NEITHER* of our favorite PF’s *OR* Magic(😉) belong at the *top* of that list….

          Because Oscar Roberson did *ALL THAT* and did it in a league *without* a 3-point arc.

          Big O is at the TOP–it could be argued quite reasonably that Wilt should be up there, too…

          But Oscar Roberson was probably the *best* player to ever play basketball💖💞💝

            • Chamberlain holds 72 NBA records, 68 by himself.[8] Among his records are several that are considered unbreakable, such as averaging 22.9 rebounds for a career or 50.4 points per game in a season, scoring 100 points or 55 rebounds in a single game, scoring 65 or more points 15 times, 50 or more points 118 times.[7][9] During Chamberlain’s time, defensive statistics like blocks and steals had not been recorded yet. According to Jack Ramsay, “Harvey [Pollack] said he used to tell one of his statisticians to keep track of Wilt’s blocks in big games. … One night, they got up to 25.”[10]

          • FINE!

            *VERY ANGRILY PRETENDING TO BE ANGRY SMASHING MY KEYBOARD*

            I’ll admit that my list is “wrong” but the whole point of that entire bit was to make you laugh…which makes it right. I’ll also admit that I tried to bait @loveshaq and he wasn’t having it…which also makes it wrong.

            BUT!

            IF you take into consideration my initial argument about B through Y and forget A and Z (A and Z being MJ is and always will be at the top of any list, imo) an argument could be made for TD (as well as several others in the past). Everyone respected him. The entire league. He helped teach younger players on opposing teams how to defend against him MID-GAME!

            KD gets a huge shout-out as well. I mean, he invented the current state of the NBA. He invented the “super team” to beat the Spurs. The biggest and baddest Super Team ever won 6, 7, 8 (sorry I am counting on fingers here) 1 championship because TD missed an easy layup. The following year the Spurs beat that 3 player “super team” by…actual team play. It wasn’t even close.

            And now I’ve spent so much time trying to annoy you for no reason in that last paragraph I forgot that this comment was intended as a compliment…because that’s the kind of person I am.

            I’m no Tim Duncan!

            • Basketball really is the best sport, *ever* isn’t it?😉😁🤗

              Although I’m a bit surprised no one yet has mentioned the *other* two BEST San Antonio Spurs…

              The Admiral**

              And the *Second Best Coach in the League*… who *also* used to play for Pops😉😁

              And Somehow, we never mentioned the best player to have *never* won an NBA championship, and who was *never* a role model (which was one of the many reasons I ADORE him, and have since I was a tween😁🤗)

              Also, all the talk about “Short-Shorts Summer” the last couple years means remembering *another* member of The Dream Team😉😂🤣

               

              **an example of *exactly how TERRIBLE* this new “AI *enhanced*” Google/Chrome search is now, is that *even though* i have been googling hoops info & players all evening, i *still* had to type out the name “David Robinson” to get my link, because “The Admiral” returned absolute GARBAGE, with *nothing* that mentioned him!!!🙄😡🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

               

        • @Bluedogcollar?

          The reason for it was, “Oh, He’s from Hibbing!!!”

          Local kid “from up on The Range, don’tcha know!” who played for the Gophs, then was on all those winning teams for “The Celts, back in the day!”… so of course Glen hired “The Minnesota Guy!” to run his team into the ground!

          There was the Joe Smith scandal, Starbury, allll those nepotism-hires over the years–do you know how many head coaches he hired, who were born in Indiana–home of one of his *good friends*?!? Or who worked closely with *other* of his good friends?

          All of them… except for Flip… he played on the Gophs, with Flip!!!🙃;

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip_Saunders

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwane_Casey

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Wittman

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Rambis

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Thibodeau

          And then there was the KG trade to Boston–the place KG had previously said he didn’t want to play…

          There was a rumor ’round here, that there was a LOT of “bad blood” between KG & McFail at that point–and it wouldn’t surprise me, if that *initial* discussion of trading KG to the Celts was because McHale still had so many ties to Boston–and to *spite* Garnett, by sending him to a place he *didn’t* want to go (in part, because of the history of racism in Boston & amongst Celtics fans, which KG–and MANY others in the league have had to deal with over the years.)

    • “…after trying to remember where the shooting guard lines up on tipoffs.”

      Admittedly, in all of my years of watching basketball–including the years I was a statistician for our HS boys teams–I’ve never *really* paid attention to “who lines up where” for the jump–aside from the Centers *most often* beingbthe guy going for the jump (unless there is a 6’11 and 8/4ths Power Forward available, of course!)…

      But wouldn’t the shooting guard’s spot be on the “upcourt”/opposite side of thd circle, from the basket they’ll be shooting in, and “on the opposite side of the group, from the PG’s preferred/”dribbling” side of the court?

      Ie, if the PG *typically* prefers to take the ball up the *right* side of the court, because he/she is right-handed and that offers the most protection from the defensive team–you’d have the SG lining up on the “left” side of thd jump….

      Plus, *most* of the time, the Center is trying to tip the ball to the PG on *their* left–and many times the forwards are positioned to get down to the baseline asap, if the ball comes down on *their* side… so I guess I just always figure the SG lines up right around the 7:00-8:00 position, if the Jumping players are in the center of the clock, the PG is at the 4:00-5:00, and the hoop is at the 12:00 position.

       

      I guess, I’m *usually* paying more attention to the jump *itself,* and hoping that it’s tipped to “our” team!😉

  3. When I was in Alabama people were weirdly obsessed with Coke being so far superior to Pepsi. Meanwhile I was like hey I’ll drink either. Or RC. Or Dr. Pepper. It’s not worth getting myself upset over.

    I think an interesting one is Ritz vs Club crackers. I’ve always been team Ritz.

    • I’m 100% team Club on the Crackers thing–but, that is because *to me,* there is a very discernable texture difference in the two crackers, and I immensely prefer the “lighter”/less “dense” texture of Club Crackers over Ritz’s density.

      The hill i WILL die on?

      Chocolate Chip cookies are the only appropriate choice, because *far too often* Oatmeal Rasin cookies taste like *LIES* and disappointment!😉🤣💖

       

  4. I live in a neighborhood/political district that’s about as officially ideologically diverse as when the North Koreans go to the polls. If they ever do. My choice is always, “Oh, I think I will vote for X, like 99.3% of the counted votes in my neighborhood did, but on the other hand…” In my political district they don’t even bother running Republicans. Might sound like paradise, right? You do not want to live in a one-party environment.

    • I live in a place where the Democratic primary is rhe real election, and after a while I learned the names of the local dynasties. It makes identifying the anti-establishment reform candidates a lot easier, and some of them even win.

      • That’s how it works in New York, but we have closed primaries, so essentially you have to register as a Democrat to have any say in what’s really going to happen. But I remember the days when we had a Republican Governor, 12 years, and a Republican Mayor (for 20 unbroken years! And the chameleon-like Bloomberg is about as Democratic as any other oligarch, which is, not very, except when they use their vast wealth to push some self-invented agenda that may glancingly coincide with a leftist cause.)

        When I moved to Manhattan I changed my voting address but not my political affiliation, which is (D), lest you have any doubt. It took eight months before I could legally vote in an election. That Board of Elections. They run a tight ship. And this was under a (D) Mayor, the late David Dinkins, and a (D) Governor, the late Mario Cuomo, the progenitor of Disgraced-Former-Governor-Andrew-Handsy-Andy-Cuomo.

  6. Marvel vs. DC. Comic books, not movies. I’ve always been just fine with either. Now they are very different, mind you. Marvel’s always had a more down-to-earth approach, which affects the types of stories they tell. DC sees superheroes as more of modern-day gods. But I’ve always been fine with both approaches.

    Now Marvel movies are clearly superior. DC movies aren’t necessarily awful in concept, but the execution is typically marginal to poor, and that’s actually a function of  misunderstanding the underpinning philosophy I outlined above. The DC movies that worked (Wonder Woman. the Dark Knight) mostly leaned into the demigod portrayal. Yes, Bruce Wayne is a demigod — his actual super powers are inexhaustible wealth and genius intellect. The DC movies that don’t work attempt to portray the heroes as flawed (like Marvel does) and that simply doesn’t fit into that fictional universe. It’s not designed for it.

    I gotta write some more comic posts.

      • Hmm. Possibly, but you’d have to parse the media products more to draw comparisons. DC TV shows on the CW are … not good. Arrow was the best of the lot, and the others were largely mediocre (yes, I watched them all — young Bryan would have killed to have any sort of superhero representation in any media beyond comics — and current Bryan is still incredibly nostalgic for the Filmation cartoons and Super Friends). DC animated series over the last decade were top-notch, and their animated movie releases have been consistently good.

        Marvel started out at a deficit in TV (I enjoyed Agents of SHIELD but let’s face it, it wasn’t ever great). Once they shifted to Netflix where they could actually lean into the “flawed hero” basis for their universe, things improved dramatically. They’ve also accepted their characters’ comic potential (Spider-man has always been a clown in comics) and their TV product has improved immeasurably as a result.

  8. Fun fact: Lennon and McCartney considered the other so integral to their own songwriting that they would put both names on Beatles songs that only one of them actually wrote.

    I fear I am simply too opinionated to just go with an “either is fine” option.

    • I keep meaning to watch the Peter Jackson documentary on the late evening of the Beatles, but from what I’ve read, accounts of their rivalry are grossly overstated. They never saw the either/or that a lot of people created in their minds.

    • other end of the spectrum me…i have very few opinions i cant swing either way on…. not even whether fish or pineapple belong on pizza (pineapple is to sweet for me..but whatever…its pizza i’ll eat it) i just like mentioning it coz it almost inevitably starts an argument for me to watch

      only exception is people really…. very rare i change my tune once i decide someone is a dickhead…sometimes they dont deserve it….but you know…some people i just dislike immediately upon seeing or hearing them

  10. Yellow or orange pepper always causes me to pause at the grocery store. Both are sweet, bright coloured, and usually the same price. I end up choosing based on size or which ones look less damaged.

  11. Your prompt made me think of this tweet:

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