was just wondering what the inseam for the pants is cause adidas sizing chart says 32 inseam for small and medium but on another site I saw it says 30 I dont have a store near me to go try it on for myself

WTS: Not shipping any cheap items solo. Deals for multiple. Shipping from NYC. DM for pics or with any questions!
Items (most here)
Outlier:

• Strongshank - Medium (but fits like the small specs in this size chart) - Dark Olive - experiential version with the suede tag steamed off, hardly noticeable, otherwise excellent/like new shape - $180
• 3x FU GTs - 2x black, 1x dark navy - Small - hemmed to 25.5”, have normal neck openings - $40 each, $10 off for each purchased
• Rawcut Dreamweight Turtleneck - Small - Black shaved down the neck a bit to a mock neck but in great condition 'cuz I never wear it 'cuz it's too small - $30
• UFT Cut 2 - Dark Navy - hemmed to 26” but in great condition - $50
• Mackenzie Merino Billboard - Extra Small (they fit oversized), great condition - $40

Non-Outlier:

• Veilance - LT Spere Jacket - Small - Black - last year's version with coat hanger on inside; fits like an oversized small - catch and release but in great condition - $150 (retail $400)
• UniformLA - Studio Half-Zip - Black - like new - $80 (retail $210)
• UniformLA - Souvenir Fleece Crew - Extra Small (but fits oversized) - good condition - free with bigger purchase
• Asket - Black Zip Cardigan - Medium regular sizing - great condition - $50 (retail $230)
• Asket - Dark Green Crewneck Merino Sweater - Medium regular - great condition - free with bigger purchase
• Hoka One One - Black Bondi 7s - Size 9 - in decent used condition - $25 with any purchase
• Hoka One One - Black Challenger 5s (w/ gor-tex) - Size 9 - hardly worn but left in sun for a bit so one shoe is faded black (hard to tell unless in directly light) - $30 with any purchase
• Yellow Label Co. - Polar Fleece Half-Zip - Blue - $30 (retail $220)

What kind of production tracking software is the most popular in the industry for small-medium sized independents? Our tracking is currently in disarray with one SCADA software, a manual entry software that the pumpers use, and legacy chart meters.
It makes economic sense to have EFM’s on the steady producers and charts on the intermittent wells, but I’d like to consolidate the two for better tracking. It’s hard to see when a well goes down when our tracking is so spread out.
“The pumper should tell you!” If only.

Hey, everyone. I have a nephew who is fourteen years old and wants to get into archery. We've determined that he needs a bow about 66-68 inches, we're picking 66 just to be on the safe side, and we figured 20 pounds would be a decent starting point for a bow of that size. We would like a takedown recurve. However, I can not seem to find a decently priced bow that fits that description ANYWHERE. I really don't want to spend more than 160 or so dollars on the bow, considering I will likely need to purchase nocking points, an arrow rest, a bow stringer, arrows, etc. separately. Does anyone have any ideas?

Oil prices have been the same as they were in October 2018 for a few months now. Around $70/barrel.
National average in Oct 2018 was 2.90/gallon. National average today is 3.54/gallon.
Exxon, for instance, reported anywhere from 75% to 168% in year over year quarterly growth from June 2021 - September 2022. To be fair, this is after seeing negative YoY growth from March 2019 - December 2020. But, funny thing about the negative YoY growth that "big oil" experienced during COVID.. it wasnt caused solely by COVID. Exxon saw negative growth near 20% nearly a year before COVID brought down the world. In fact, the negative growth during COVID was very similar to the downturn from September 2014 - September 2016.
What I really want to emphasize here is the next part: I just laid out 2 separate downturns in Exxons history. Both were similar in length, and both were similar in size, albeit COVID being a little higher(5-10% higher during some quarters).
After the COVID downturn, Exxon reported quarterly YoY growth ranging from 75% to 168% over the course of about 6 quarters from 2021-2022. 4 out of those 6 quarters were 120% or higher.
After the 2014-2016 downturn, Exxon reported quarterly YoY growth ranging from 24% to 44% over 8 or 9 quarters from 2016-2018.
There is no precedent for the amount of greed we saw from corporations last year. Fuel prices were a driving force as well - and its very clear to me that greed was the driving force behind increased fuel prices after taking this small dive, confirming what we all should know already. So what we have here is compounded greed that ultimately made many things unaffordable over the past year - greed from the transportation side, greed from the producer greed from the supplier, and then of course regular YoY cost increases/inflation that should be expected. When you compound all of these increases into one final price that we all pay, you get record profits for everyone except the consumer, who gets fucked.
Id be willing to bet that YoY growth trends are similar for most corporations over the past 1-2 years, and do not match prior downturn years, just like with oil corporations.
And all they had to do was say "sorry, gas prices are high and COVID caused so many supply chain issues!!!" Yeah, you're not increasing production back to pre pandemic levels because you can just jack your prices up 200% and make record profits while not having to hire more employees.
America is fucked unless we do something about corporate greed. Greed is to be expected from the individual, but we cannot have monopolies run around completely unchecked.
If I left out something here, please point it out, thanks!
https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/XOM/exxon/gross-profit

Hello to you, fellow ingrates.
Year 6 of DABR Defends the New York Giants from Criticism has arrived.

Season Recap

tl;dr: The Giants had their most successful season since 2016, and arguably since winning the Super Bowl in 2012 (if the draft spot/playoff success is the measurement) and went into draft night with the latest selection they've had since 2012, the first outside the top 11 since 2016.
Giants fans didn't really expect to win that many games this year. There were still some hopefuls for Daniel Jones but most people had come to terms with new GM Joe Schoen and new HC Brian Daboll pretty much setting up to replace him, declining his 5th year option.
It was the first year of this regime, they hadn't really been able to fix up the roster fully, etc. Most Giants fans I know were expecting a 4-7 win season, not sniffing the playoff race. Ha.
It all started week 1 vs Tennessee. It was honestly a story Giants fans have gotten familiar with. Look absolutely horrible in the first half of the game, but somehow struggle back into it in the second half, only to be dramatically disappointed at the end of the game. After Daniel Jones threw a red zone interception with just under 9 minutes to go, we thought that was pretty much it.
But then with 4 minutes left, Saquon Barkley rips off a 33 yard run, Daniel Jones converts a 4th and 1, and the Giants score a TD to pull them to just a 1 point deficit. Most Giants fans are thinking "okay he's gonna kick it, play for overtime, I respect that, we didn't think it would be that close anyways."
And then we see the offense staying on the field...uh oh. The offense wasn't exactly clicking on all cylinders to that point in the game, having been shut out in the first half. If we don't get it, the game is pretty much lost. Daboll calls a shovel pass, Saquon gets it, it looks like it's completely doomed...I'm thinking "here we go again, his first game and the media is already going to be all over him for going for it"...but Saquon fights his way in! Giants take the lead for the first time in the game. We're feeling good, Daboll's huge balls in that situation giving us some confidence.
Then the Titans methodically work the ball down the field (along with a couple of assists from Austin Calitro and Darnay Holmes), setting up a 47 yard field goal for Randy Bullock to win the game.
Now, I'm thinking, "of course this is what happened, they gave us some hope, now it's going to get ripped away from us, just like always. Story of the last few years at times."
...and then Bullock missed the kick. That was the start of what turned into a magical first half of the season, the Giants getting off to a 7-2 start, all 7 wins coming by a 1 score margin (though the Bears and Texans games were a bit cleaner than the final scoreline suggests), and 5 of them really coming down to big time plays in the last 5 minutes of the game.
The Titans story, taking the lead with 3:38 left in the 4th quarter and Julian Love sacking Baker Mayfield to force 4th and 15 the next drive against Carolina, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Xavier McKinney batting down Aaron Rodgers' passes in London, Love intercepting Lamar Jackson to set up the game winning score against Baltimore, McKinney and Love stopping Christian Kirk at the 1 yard line on the last play against Jacksonville.
All of those games are games that go against us in previous years. But this year was just different. And somehow through it all, there were Saquon Barkley and Daniel Jones as well. Saquon was the focal point of the offense early in the season, Jones being efficient in a heavy, limited, play action focused passing attack.
All thoughts of the Giants earning a top pick and replacing Daniel Jones pretty much went out the window by week 4, and hope for Jones maybe finally becoming the QB he was drafted to be started to blossom in some parts of the Giants fanbase.
Things came crashing down a bit the next 4 weeks. Awful losses to Detroit, Dallas, and Philly, with a tie against Washington in there too that many Giants fans felt they deserved to win capped off a 1-4-1 stretch where the Giants simply did not look good. They looked more like what we expected the team to look like coming into the year. The playoff spot was no longer guaranteed, at 7-5-1. But a flexed SNF game against Washington would pretty much decide the season.
And the Giants took that win against Washington and ran with it. A close loss against the Vikings that was probably the best passing attack game of the season to that point, a dominating win against the hapless Colts that locked the Giants into the playoffs, and a surprisingly tight and scrappy game between the Eagles starters and the Giants backups gave Giants fans some hope headed into the playoffs. We didn't expect to win a Super Bowl, but the matchup against the Vikings seemed winnable.
And winnable it was, as in classic 2023 Giants fashion, they took a lead about halfway through the 4th quarter, and a couple of clutch plays on defense by Cordale Flott and Xavier McKinney ended the game.
Then we went to Philly and got absolutely ass blasted, ending our season.
That left the Giants with the 25th pick in the class, entering an offseason with a lot of business to take care of.

Free Agency Recap

The Giants had a lot more room to operate in free agency this year than last year, and Schoen was relatively creative in how he wanted to go about it.
The first step in that process though was figuring out the status of his pending free agents; most notably, the two who led the way on offense most of the year: Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley. The Jones negotiations were tense, Jones asked for the moon and the team was not having it. Eventually (literally right before the tag deadline) they settled on a 4 yr, 160m extension with 82m fully guaranteed and a boatload of incentives that could push the value up to almost 200m. That allowed the team to tag Saquon Barkley, whose extension talks are reportedly still stalled, as Barkley declined an offer worth almost 14m during the Giants' bye week, and continues to find the Giants' offer(s) unpalatable.
Speculation is that Barkley is seeking more guaranteed money from the Giants (greater than the sum of 2 franchise tags), but Barkley's camp is not leaking much (reportedly because Saquon doesn't want them to). And according to most reporters, Saquon is too competitive to actually sit out the season, removing his last bit of leverage.
Possibly the biggest addition of the Giants' free agency period was actually a trade: The Giants traded the Chiefs' 3rd rounder (acquired for Kadarius Toney) for TE Darren Waller. This is a huge move because the Giants were dead last in explosive pass play rate by a WIDE margin. Only like 6 individual team seasons since 2010 had fewer explosive passing plays than the 2022 Giants. That's something that Schoen and Daboll immediately set out to fix, and Darren Waller is one of the best explosive pass weapons in the league, leading all TEs in explosive pass plays this season despite playing just 9 games this year. Reports out of OTAs are that the Giants are expecting Waller to basically fill a "WR1" role for them; not necessarily in alignment but being the focal point of the offense, high target share, etc.
Schoen and Daboll followed that addition up with two more explosive pass play options: retaining Darius Slayton, and adding Parris Campbell to the room. Slayton is a solid WR, he's good for 600-700 yards when he gets run. His hands are inconsistent, but he makes up for it often. Campbell finally broke out having a healthy season for the Colts this season. I think Campbell is mostly insurance for Wan'Dale Robinson, who is coming off of a torn ACL, but if healthy should get primary run in the slot.
The Giants' other two main moves came on the defensive side of the ball, adding LB Bobby Okereke to a LB room that comprised of: Jarrad Davis, Micah McFadden, and Darrian Beavers (coming off a torn ACL). Much needed improvement in that room. The Giants also added Rakeen Nunez-Roches and A'Shawn Robinson to the DL room to improve the depth there; Dexter Lawrence and Leonard Williams were playing too many snaps, and the Giants were really bad against the run last year.
In the process though, the Giants lost both of their starting centers from 2022, Nick Gates and Jon Feliciano, as well as S Julian Love, who had been a consistent staple of the defense the last few years.

Draft Needs

The Giants roster was in much better shape this year than last year, but the team still had a number of problems:

1. CB was still a HUGE need for the Giants, and one that had not been properly addressed yet. Adoree' Jackson had another very good year in 2022, but the spot across from him had been a mishmosh of misfit toys: Fabian Moreau had a nice little run, but struggled down the stretch. Nick McCloud got a lot of run at CB2 after being claimed on waivers from the Bills. Cordale Flott had been drafted as a nickel defender but got some run there. And the slot position wasn't much better, as Darnay Holmes continued to be a liability there. This position needed reinforcements. I've been a relatively vocal minority in the Giants fandom saying this has been the BIGGEST need the team had for a couple of years now (basically aside from the one year that we had Bradberry and Jackson both on the team).
2. Despite adding Slayton, Campbell, and Waller, WR was still something the team needed. Specifically someone who could develop into a WR1 type player. The Giants WR room is relatively deep, but just adding Campbell and Waller and running back last year's group didn't feel sufficient. The team clearly was putting an emphasis on speed, separation, and yards after the catch ability.
3. Center was a massive need. The Giants basically didn't have a center on the roster who had played meaningful NFL snaps. Ben Bredeson could move to center if needed, but it wasn't that solid of a plan. And in what seemed like a good center class, this seemed like a good way to solve that problem.
4. LB. The LB2 spot currently will be either Jarrad Davis, Micah McFadden (who basically lost the job last year to Jarrad Davis), or Darrian Beavers (who tore his ACL last year). I think that says it all.
5. RB: Saquon is on the tag, so you feel okay here, but the team has been seeking a solid compliment for him for a while. They were in on a few of the RBs last year and the value never lined up, and Matt Breida and Gary Brightwell didn't really cut it last year. They don't want to run Saquon into the ground early in the year like they did last year, so having a compliment for him is big.
6. S: Losing Julian Love is a tough one. He played a lot of snaps and wore a lot of hats for this defense last year, especially with McKinney missing time with a hand injury. The team likes Jason Pinnock, and drafted Dane Belton in the early 4th last year, but more depth and competition here would be very welcome.

So let's get into the picks:

1.24: Deonte Banks, CB, Maryland

Seems like maybe Schoen agreed with me!
It was a lot harder to try to predict what the Giants would do this year, just by virtue of having a later pick. But the general consensus among the beat seemed to be that the team wanted to get a CB or an offensive playmaker with that first pick. I was a little skeptical of CB being an option, seeing how many mocks had all 5 of the top CBs off the board, but that often left WRs available.
So right after the Jets took Will McDonald at 15, if you looked at the board, only 1 CB had been taken and no WRs had been taken. That felt pretty good for the Giants.
Then Forbes and Gonzalez come off the board, and the top 4 WRs come off the board from 20-23.
That left the Giants feeling a little antsy. They had one guy they really wanted left, and negotiated a trade up one spot with the Jaguars to secure their guy: Deonte Banks.
This pick is perfect for what the Giants want to do on defense. Wink Martindale's reaction should say it all, if you go watch the Giants' behind the scenes videos on the draft process.
Banks is a tall, long, and athletic corner, which are all important traits for Wink's press man heavy defense. He's super fluid and smooth in his hips. He tested absolutely crazy. He also plays with a swag that I think Wink and Giants fans will come to really appreciate. He plays confident, he plays fast in terms of processing, and he plays physical.
He still has some development to go, I'm not saying he's going to be a top CB in the league from day 1. He wasn't a super ball productive corner, but that's not something Wink necessarily needs. It will take some time for him to get comfortable with the complexity of route runners in the NFL. But the tools are all there, and the Giants get a perfect scheme fit.
Banks will come in and immediately be the starter at CB across from Adoree' Jackson, and the trickle down effect that will have on the Giants depth chart at CB will be tangible.

2.57: John Michael Schmitz, OC, Minnesota

As this pick was coming up, Schoen and Daboll were discussing who to pick, and basically said "okay we're either going with Schmitz or (we'll get to that later ;) )".
Then the Bears traded up to the pick before the Giants pick. And Joe Schoen said "oh fuck." Daboll tried to calm him down and said "well I guess we're getting ."
Then the Bears took Tyrique Stevenson (good pick!), leaving the Giants the choice between the two players. And the Giants went with Schmitz.
Full disclosure: I was not a huge JMS fan in the draft process. I thought he was super solid all around, but he wasn't really impressive to me, there weren't a lot of overwhelmingly positive reps or traits in my eyes. I thought he was maybe a little heavy footed, especially in pass pro, and his testing kind of backed that up, and I didn't really see full unlocked power either.
I was probably a bit harsh on him in terms of the grade though. Like I said, he's a super solid player. There's relatively little to really complain about. He's smart, he's experienced, and he made few mental mistakes. His snaps were consistent. He is pretty strong though not crazy so. His anchor is really good, and he plays nasty and competitive, which is something the Giants are definitely looking for. It helps he had a really good Senior Bowl week too.
Was Schmitz my favorite center in this class? No. But he was for many people, and for some good reasons. Schmitz will come in and immediately start at center for the Giants, bringing the dead snap with him. If he can be the 3rd best player on this unit (behind Andrew Thomas and hopefully Evan Neal taking a step forward this year and being healthy), it'll be an immensely calming and steadying presence that should raise the OL play of the whole unit.

3.73: Jalin Hyatt, WR, Tennessee

So you may be wondering: Who was Player X?
Well immediately after drafting Schmitz, Schoen looked around the room and pretty much said "what if we can still get ?" He decided that the price he was willing to pay was the Giants 4th round pick. And he and everybody else in the room started calling.
That included Brian Daboll, who leaned over and said "hey should I text [Rams HC Sean] McVay?" Schoen said "yeah sure go for it." And Daboll officially negotiated the Giants trading up from 89 to 73 to select Player X: Tennessee WR Jalin Hyatt
Hyatt is a really fun player to watch. The speed blows you away on tape. It's the kind of speed that even if you're not throwing it to him all the time, defenses have to take note when he comes on the field and play him differently. He's not necessarily slippery or elusive after the catch but (and I'm scared to frame it this way but I'm doing it anyway) the speed and acceleration gives him credibility there, the way that Odell was such a YAC threat on slants just getting to full speed and outrunning everyone.
He's a little high cut I think, and that leads to a little bit of trouble with crisper routes. He wasn't asked to run a very complex route tree at Tennessee, though I do think he has the skills to improve in that sense. The biggest concern for me is just how quickly we can get him up to speed beating press and playing through physicality. When he has room to work, he can beat CBs in a few ways, but NFL DBs will knock even very good WRs off their routes at times. And that follows through to contested catches.
The Giants' WR room is so crowded it's hard for me to say exactly what Hyatt's role will be starting out. The Giants started last year trying to use different WRs in different ways on a game to game basis. Then the wheels fell off obviously, with Shep, Wan'Dale, and Toney being hurt and Golladay stinking and all that. So I wonder if we see a return to that.
Hyatt can be a threat in a lot of ways, end arounds, screens, etc in addition to the obvious "go long" situations. Just how many reps he can carve out will be fun to track in training camp.

So the Giants come out of the first 3 rounds with 3 players who were commonly mocked to them at 25. Pretty good business! But let's get into day 3:

5.172: Eric Gray, RB, Oklahoma

The Giants traded away their 4th round pick to get Hyatt so they went 99 picks without making a selection.
Like I said earlier, the team has been looking for a compliment to Saquon Barkley for a long time, and they find it here with Eric Gray.
Schoen said he sees Eric Gray as a 3 down back. And you can definitely see why. He caught 88 passes over the last 3 years at Oklahoma and only dropped 2. He's also strong and physical, willing to pass protect. That physicality carries over into his running style, he runs hard and is willing to run through guys. He's bursty in short areas and has pretty solid vision in my opinion.
He's a compact guy, just 5'9 207. He's not super slippery or elusive, and he's not really a home run hitter. But in terms of finding a backup RB on day 3 to feed some of those tough yardage carries to and keep Saquon fresh, you could do worse than Eric Gray for sure.
The Giants ran a fair bit of "Pony" type formations in 2022, using 2 or even 3 RBs at times. The competition between Gray and Matt Breida for the true RB2 spot will be fun to see. Breida brings a little more explosiveness to the table, but Gray will certainly give him a run for his money. And depending on what happens with Saquon Barkley's contract situation, we may see even more of Gray down the line.

6.209: Tre Hawkins, CB, Old Dominion

When asked about what is different this year from last year, what improvements or what has gotten easier now that he's been in the chair for a full year, Joe Schoen talked a lot about really getting a good handle on what his coaches look for in players. And he singled out Wink in that respect because him and Daboll have worked together so much.
The Giants selection of Tre Hawkins really highlights that. Like with Deonte Banks, Hawkins brings a ton of physical traits. He tested through the roof. He has the length that the Giants look for. He's also super physical in both phases, run and pass, which Wink loves. ODU let him just play press man, so he's comfortable doing that.
He's a little slim still, so his frame needs some reworking, but that's common with CBs and especially ones from outside the P5 schools. He also has a lot of technique and FBIQ stuff to clean up. His footwork is messy, he's not always patient enough with his punch. His ball skills still leave something to be desired. He's still learning to read routes and manage space both in man and zone.
I figure Hawkins will come in and be a depth player and core STer for the Giants. If his play strength holds up against NFL scrutiny, he can definitely be a day 1 punt gunner. Wink has started calling Jerome Henderson the best DB coach in the league, so it'll be fun to see what Henderson can do with a ball of clay like Hawkins. Even if he ends up just being a STer and CB5 type guy, that's still a pretty good pick in the 6th round like this.
Also, sorry Patriots writer :)

7.243: Jordon Riley, DL, Oregon

Beating a dead horse at this point, but this is another pick Schoen highlighted as an example of his understanding of what Wink is looking for.
Obviously Riley is a flawed prospect, it's the 7th round. He was a 6th year senior who spent time at 4 different schools, starting at UNC, then going to JUCO for a year, then Nebraska for 2 years where he barely played, and finishing his college career at Oregon. PFF lists him as having just 534 career snaps in college despite the 5 years he spent at the P5 level. He wasn't very productive, partly because he barely played and partly because he's just not very good. He's not a good athlete.
What Riley does have, though, is size, strength, and knockback power. And that's what Wink is looking for in a depth NT. He eats blocks, stuffs up lanes, and just is hard to move.
Schoen put it this way:
"It’s hard to find these guys. When you get into the seventh round, you are looking for guys that maybe it will be hard to get at different areas. And another guy we spent time with, big run stopper in there, 6-foot-5, 330.
You walk out to practice, and there’s this 6-5, 330-pound guy, who piques your interest right there. Again, some of these guys in different schemes may not have the production, the tackles, the sacks. But for what Wink looks for in terms of size, length, knock-back — he possesses those traits.”

7.254: Gervarrius Owens, DB, Houston

Last pick in the draft and the Giants go back to the DB room. They took two CBs already, but some depth/developmental guys at safety would help. Enter: Gervarrius Owens.
Owens is a former CB turned S from Houston. The CB in him flashes to me on tape, I thought his ball skills as a safety were good. He's athletic enough to play pretty much any safety spot, including that single high spot that teams find difficult to fill. He's super physical and willing to play downhill and tackle. He's super experienced, he was a team captain and 4 year starter for Houston.
He makes a lot of mistakes, however. The angles he takes to the ball in both phases are super inconsistent. He missed a ton of tackles in college, so that technique needs to be worked on. The ball skills turned into PBUs rather than INTs; Wink won't mind that but some of them were like "he really should have just caught that."
Owens is another guy like Hawkins who looks primed to earn his roster spot on special teams and provide solid depth for the team's DB room. Wink likes to play 3+ safety sets, especially when he feels like he has a good group there. And the Giants' S room right now is basically Xavier McKinney and a bunch of question marks, so it's entirely feasible that Owens can come in and beat Dane Belton, Jason Pinnock, and Bobby McCain to earn playing time early on.

UDFAs

The Giants UDFA class included a few notable names. 5 total players who got 100k+ in guarantees:

1. Bryce Ford-Wheaton, WR, WVU: The Giants gave Bryce Ford-Wheaton a LOT of guaranteed money for a UDFA: 236k, which is the full season PS salary plus 20k. BFW was one of "my guys" this year I was hoping for the Giants to get. He's got the size and athleticism to be really good, but he's a little one note right now. In a crowded WR room, I kind of doubt he'll make the roster without some injuries (or Wan'Dale/Shep being on PUP) but like other late rounders/UDFAs, if he can find some value on special teams, he's a fun upside swing.
2. Dyontae Johnson, LB, Toledo: Another guy who got a lot of guaranteed money. The Giants needed some reinforcements at LB and clearly didn't find them in the draft. Super productive in college, very instinctive player, but I'm not sure if he can run with the league. He'll compete with the Giants mishmosh of LBs to play on special teams.
3. Ryan Jones, TE/FB, East Carolina: The Giants have been searching for a kind of H-Back type for a while now. Last year they brought in Jeremiah Hall from Oklahoma, that didn't stick. Andre Miller, who was a WR at Maine, seemed like he was getting run at that spot in camp last year, but a broken arm ended his season. Chris Myarick ended up taking some of those reps. Ryan Jones kind of fits that mold as well.
4. Habakkuk Baldonado, EDGE, Pittsburgh: The Giants' pass rusher depth is...not great. Behind Kayvon Thibodeaux and Azeez Ojulari, it's Jihad Ward, Oshane Ximines, and Tomon Fox. And Ojulari missed a lot of time last year. Baldonado could potentially come in and earn a spot over Ximines/Fox. He's got good play strength and power and fits what the Giants would need as more of an edge setter and run defender to give Thibodeaux/Ojulari a rest rep before letting them loose to rush the passer.
5. Gemon Green, CB, Michigan: Another tough and physical corner. I don't think there's really a spot for him on this roster with the additions of Banks and Hawkins, and I think he's not quite the athlete the Giants look for at CB, but as a last resort/STer he can potentially get somewhere.

Final Takeaways

I did this last year because it was Schoen's first year here, but I like the idea of doing it every year. What can we learn from the way Schoen drafted this year that we can file away and learn for the future? What can mockers learn from this to inform them of who makes sense for the Giants.
And it's pretty similar to last year:

1. Athleticism. Once again, pretty much every player the Giants drafted, and the UDFAs generally, were excellent athletes who tested well. The main exceptions being JMS (who was still a solid athlete) and Jordon Riley this year; where the exception last year basically was just DJ Davidson. This team has faith in its coaching staff and wants to give them players they can work with.
2. Scheme/Roster Fits. I talked about it a lot with the defensive picks, but every single one is a "Wink Martindale" guy. What does Wink want for his system? This can be a little dangerous considering Wink was in the running for a HC gig last year, and another strong year might finally get him the HC job he has been looking for. If he leaves and the scheme changes, these players need to be able to match the new scheme too. But it's clear that the FO values the input of the coaching staff and there's really clear communication there. This also applies to the offensive side of the ball, where it's super clear that the team wanted more speed on offense, which pointed to Hyatt a little bit.
3. Youth. This one is a little less applicable this year as they did draft a few older players, like JMS and Riley, even Eric Gray who turns 24 in November or Tre Hawkins who turns 23 over the summer. But Banks just turned 22, Jalin Hyatt will turn 22 in late September. It feels like maybe they felt more attached to the age stuff when they thought this was a full on rebuild, but now that they're hoping to be a playoff team again, they need some more instant contributors.
4. Aggressiveness/willingness to trade. This is a newer one, as last year the Giants only traded back. But this year the Giants traded up twice, giving up 3 day 3 picks in the process. Schoen is not afraid to make trades in either direction. Up to secure guys he really wants (Banks/Hyatt), or down if there's nothing there. Schoen talked about having trades lined up in both directions with the first round pick, he had a trade down ready if there was no one he wanted left.

The Giants went into the 2022 draft clearly rebuilding, 5 picks in the top 81 and making 11 selections. This year, the team came into the draft with 10 picks and came out with just 7. Clearly the team thinks the depth is improving and wants to focus on building the championship contender they are looking to be.

Oil prices have been the same as they were in October 2018 for a few months now. Around $70/barrel.
National average in Oct 2018 was 2.90/gallon. National average today is 3.54/gallon.
Exxon, for instance, reported anywhere from 75% to 168% in year over year quarterly growth from June 2021 - September 2022. To be fair, this is after seeing negative YoY growth from March 2019 - December 2020. But, funny thing about the negative YoY growth that "big oil" experienced during COVID.. it wasnt caused solely by COVID. Exxon saw negative growth near 20% nearly a year before COVID brought down the world. In fact, the negative growth during COVID was very similar to the downturn from September 2014 - September 2016.
What I really want to emphasize here is the next part: I just laid out 2 separate downturns in Exxons history. Both were similar in length, and both were similar in size, albeit COVID being a little higher(5-10% higher during some quarters).
After the COVID downturn, Exxon reported quarterly YoY growth ranging from 75% to 168% over the course of about 6 quarters from 2021-2022. 4 out of those 6 quarters were 120% or higher.
After the 2014-2016 downturn, Exxon reported quarterly YoY growth ranging from 24% to 44% over 8 or 9 quarters from 2016-2018.
There is no precedent for the amount of greed we saw from corporations last year. Fuel prices were a driving force as well - and its very clear to me that greed was the driving force behind increased fuel prices after taking this small dive, confirming what we all should know already. So what we have here is compounded greed that ultimately made many things unaffordable over the past year - greed from the transportation side, greed from the producer greed from the supplier, and then of course regular YoY cost increases/inflation that should be expected. When you compound all of these increases into one final price that we all pay, you get record profits for everyone except the consumer, who gets fucked.
Id be willing to bet that YoY growth trends are similar for most corporations over the past 1-2 years, and do not match prior downturn years, just like with oil corporations.
And all they had to do was say "sorry, gas prices are high and COVID caused so many supply chain issues!!!" Yeah, you're not increasing production back to pre pandemic levels because you can just jack your prices up 200% and make record profits while not having to hire more employees.
America is fucked unless we do something about corporate greed. Greed is to be expected from the individual, but we cannot have monopolies run around completely unchecked.
If I left out something here, please point it out, thanks!
https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/XOM/exxon/gross-profit

I play Wow since 2017 and most of my game time was spent playing solo without any friends or guilds. Since I'm paying Expansion + subscription I'm trying to draw the most out of this game trying out literally every aspect and mechanic of the game. As an MMO RPG I'm MMOing and RPGing, collecting xmog, mounts, toys, achievements, doing PvP, Mythic+, sometimes Raids, I'm replaying older expansions with Chromie, reading about lore, characters and events, farming gold with professions and sometimes getting those tokens. Overall, I'm having full experience of the game. But I feel that majority of player base sees that as literal waste of time and seeks only repeatable instances where the biggest number gives them dopamine boost. Currently in DF I have a friend group of 10ish people and majority of them literally ridicule any other activity in the game other than Mythic+ or Raid runs. I understand every single individual seeks different gameplay and enjoyment, some love RP, some love high level Raids, some love Pet Battles, I don't care, but to so blatantly dismiss 97% of the game that is an MMO RPG so you can sound cool or edgy makes me think, what are you even doing. And that's purely consumerism and automatism. They will rather pay for char boost, learn and get meta rotations and builds off net, and disconnect their brain for 3-4 hours running literally same instances. Imagine spending so much money to play 5 same instances for random chance of few levels stronger loot in order to do it again. I love running dungeons and such, but man can you stfu when I'm like... fishing?!? In my opinion, you literally wasting money (not time) on the game you not even playing (properly). And that's their argument too, "you are not playing this game properly". So by properly they mean just that, dungeons and raids. Seriously? There is a new friend of mine that was introduced to WoW few months ago and he's still struggling to comprehend the size of the game, and the other day we were literally visiting Darkmoon Faire for sake of it and we were fishing there. When some friends found out, they were literally bullying us for wasting time. When he ran dungeons with me to level up, they were literally shocked for him not knowing the rotation of his class even tho he was 20ish level. Meaning he doesn't even have half of his talents and almost 0 experience in instances, let alone the game.
I believe this is a real health problem of the game where players like those can literally be blamed for the state of the game. Everything has everything now, you can teleport to anywhere anytime, everything has group finder, items are reduced only to item level, dps chart is all that matters, there is no room for anything other than instances etc. Just become NPC, give Blizz money, they give you instant dungeon teleport and infinite loot gambling. Just yesterday, one of those friends said "You (newbie friend) are currently playing (leveling) the very worst part of the game." That says everything.
Conclusion, if you play WoW just for instances, good, I love them too. I just so happen I love to do literally anything else as well.

My 11 year old has joined our local speed skating team and is searching for his first pair of speed skates. The team really pushes Bont. I checked their size chart and measured his feet. According to the charts he’s at the end of a 6.5. As a mom, I want to size up to the 7. Is that a good idea? We’re still learning how “real” skates are supposed to fit and feel.
I’m also open to any ideas, suggestions, skate recommendations, etc. He’s been skating for a few years but is super excited to take it to the next level.
Thanks!