Bookworm And Kings Daughter Beat-Down Fight Day 2018

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Parakeet
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Post by Parakeet »

I hope I'm doing this right
Yes, he is. Have you never noticed that he is green?
Don't you
remember
the SNOWFLAKES.
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bookworm
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Post by bookworm »

I'm going to have to pass on that one I think. While it is true the idea behind this celebration is debate for debate sake, it has to at least be somewhat grounded I think. But something like that would be fun to do in a different venue sometime, seeing if people can come up with reasonable arguments for unreasonable positions just to be silly.
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Scientific Guy
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Post by Scientific Guy »

Okay, here's a better one.
The electoral college in the United States should not be abolished.
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bookworm
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Post by bookworm »

It should be abolished, the most important election in the nation should be decided by popular vote.
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Post by Scientific Guy »

I would agree, but in the current system the smaller states receive minority rights. I don't have the numbers here but a state like Rhode Island would contribute about 0.5% of the vote in a popular system but 3% in the electoral system. The electoral college also keeps the four largest states (California, Texas, Florida, and New York) from being an oligarchy when it comes to votes.
Last edited by Scientific Guy on Thu Apr 12, 2018 6:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by bookworm »

Yes, that is precisely the reason it was instituted. But why is that thought to be proper? Intentionally making the election outcome a more equal representation of the states at the expense of being an equal representation of the actual voters doesn't seem to make sense.
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Post by Scientific Guy »

Think of the people who live in those most populated states: liberals. Again, I don't have the exact numbers, but think about if the people in those states just chose liberal candidates. Some conservatives would be left out and the system would have an imbalance.
Besides, when you think about it, the President does very little for the average citizen. His main job is maintaining the bureaucracy, which does business with and regulates the state governments. These state governments, since they are more affected than average citizens, should have a larger say in who is elected. This is accomplished by giving them a larger voice.

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Post by Bob »

Don't know if this is still going, but hey.

Baseball coaches should wear suits.
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Post by bookworm »

We'll go ahead with this one and then wrap things up.


Baseball coaches are required to wear uniforms by rule, so I assume you are referring to the manager, or what other sports would call the head coach. Manager dress is not mandated as a uniform, but the reason they wear one goes back to the early roots of the game. Back then the position we today call manager was called captain and was usually held by a player on the team who would be in the game, so they wore uniforms. As it gradually shifted to being a nonplayer manager they continued to wear uniforms out of tradition. That continues to this day and should not change. These pieces of the sport's storied history are part of what make baseball so great and different from other sports.
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Post by Bob »

Even if they have always done something a certain way that doesn't mean that it isn't wrong. The reason why the captain wore a team uniform is because he actually was a player on the team, playing on the field. It scarcely follows that someone who spends no time hitting, throwing, or catching the ball, or running around the bases, should be so clothed.

Think of how much more respectable they would look. Suits are associated with formality and authority. If someone wears a suit, you know they mean business. This adds more gravity to his influence. The players would find it easier to look up to someone as a strategic mind who is wearing a suit, instead of looking like a fan, wearing a uniform that possibly doesn't fit him very well, and acting as though he's on the baseball team even though he's not going to make a single play on the field.

Furthermore, the fans will also find it easier to respect the manager and the team. Such an important man being dressed in the same outfit as someone who is sliding into bases is evocative of a casual attitude in someone who isn't actually playing the game. If, on the other hand, he is dressed conservatively and professionally, it will show that he has a serious, professional attitude about the game and expects the same from his players and the fans. This sense of respect will likely decrease the amount of hooliganism in fans, and cultivate in every way a professional spirit in the players and staff. It even improves the experience incidentally by allowing fans to immediately and easily see who the guy is that's in charge of the team -- the man who's in a suit.

Finally, it is my opinion that the appeal to tradition is misplaced in another sense. What did Cornelius "Connie Mack" McGillicuddy, who is the longest-serving manager in baseball history and has many other records and achievements, wear?

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Post by bookworm »

Bob wrote:The reason why the captain wore a team uniform is because he actually was a player on the team, playing on the field. It scarcely follows that someone who spends no time hitting, throwing, or catching the ball, or running around the bases, should be so clothed.
It doesn't follow from that sentence, it follows from the previous one. Originally the manager did do those things, so he had to wear a uniform, and they simply continued to after it became a nonplayer position. Not because they had to, because they didn't not have to. It's out of respect for the tradition of the sport, which is what baseball is all about arguably more than any other sport.
Bob wrote:The players would find it easier to look up to someone as a strategic mind who is wearing a suit, instead of looking like a fan, wearing a uniform that possibly doesn't fit him very well, and acting as though he's on the baseball team even though he's not going to make a single play on the field.
This is an utterly silly argument with multiple pieces to refute. First, the manager wearing a uniform is in no way comparable to a fan wearing one, the fan gets it from a merchandise shop and just slips it on, yes it might not fit properly, it's not for them it's just a general uniform. The manager's uniform is for them, as any player's is. As for pretending to be on the team, I know you aren't serious about that because no they don't make plays, but of course a manager/coach is part of the team. They're introduced in the lineups. But most importantly, the primary claim you make is ridiculous. Players would look up to their manager easier if they wore a suit? Instead of wearing a uniform just like theirs showing they are as integrally a part of the team as they are? Absolutely not. A suit would separate the manager from the players. It may add a slightly higher feeling of authority, but in baseball you need a feeling of camaraderie. The manager is the leader, not the boss.
Bob wrote:Furthermore, the fans will also find it easier to respect the manager and the team.
I dispute this assumption for reasons similar to those noted previously. I think it's easier to respect someone who is showing they are undeniably part of the team, projecting an image of unity, then a suits vs uniforms image which conveys a rigid hierarchy.
Bob wrote:What did Cornelius "Connie Mack" McGillicuddy, who is the longest-serving manager in baseball history and has many other records and achievements, wear?
Irrelevant to this discussion. No one has said managers must or must not wear suits or uniforms. We're debating what they should wear. Yes, a handful of managers have opted to wear suits in the past. None do today. But some could decide to. It isn't mandated either way, which is how it should be.

However, since we're getting into super specific technicalities to make our points here, while the dress of the manager itself is not mandated in any of the sport's rules, there is a rule which states dugout access is only granted to individuals in uniform, technically indeed requiring, in an indirect way, the manager to wear one. At least if they want to manage from where the players are. Which is the only way to do it.
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