Ace's new venture: The Bucket Problem

Submitted by Blake Forum on July 6th, 2021 at 12:33 PM

Ace Anbender, whom you may remember from blogs such as this one, has a new independent media project. It's called The Bucket Problem, and apparently it'll feature podcasting and newslettering. Those of you who wanted to see what Ace would get up to next, here's your answer. Looks like it'll be mostly Michigan-centric, including football and men's and women's basketball, but may range a bit. In my humble opinion, it's definitely worth a (free) signup.

Newsletter/Substack/Home of the whole thing: https://www.thebucketproblem.com/p/introducing-the-bucket-problem

First episode of the new pod: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1ubjv0itEtYWyEl37xBlZr?go=1&utm_source=embed_v3&t=0&nd=1

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BucketProblem

MGoCarolinaBlue

July 6th, 2021 at 5:48 PM ^

Ace is undeniably a good sportswriter, and here you are trying to cancel him - without any sense of irony - all because your feelings are hurt or whatever. :^)

Anyway, to the OP, thanks for sharing! I'm not on Twitter and definitely wouldn't have found this otherwise. Looking forward to checking it out.

StirredNotShaken

July 6th, 2021 at 11:41 PM ^

You know it's not a lack of interest that drives these comments. It's a lack of liking Ace that motivates people to comment on a hype post for Ace's new venture. It's not like somebody created this post as a hit piece on Ace. It was created to hype up Ace so of course you will see people that don't like Ace calling this out.

Me?  I think it's dumb for any person to express politics on Twitter as there is no upside in making your views public other than self satisfaction about how clever you are. You won't ever convince someone on the "other side" they are wrong, so what is the point? Ace is obviously a smart guy but he has a real blind spot for pushing his political views on Twitter. Doing so has made him a lightning rod on this site, which should be his safe haven. 

Bo Schemheckler

July 6th, 2021 at 12:56 PM ^

They were both absolutely responsible for their behavior. Ace was responsible for banning them for their acceptable behavior. I would say WD had bouts of unacceptable behavior but "bronsexuals" was not one of them. I did not see that post that got XM banned but I would say he always stayed on the right side of acceptable 

blue in dc

July 6th, 2021 at 1:05 PM ^

XM certainly liked to stay on the right side, not sure it was always acceptable.   He is the only poster I’ve ever seen bring up abortion on this site (and more than once ).   He also posted clear disinformation on Covid (of course that wasn’t his fault- he just trusted the other poster he saw post it - guess that is what happens when your self professed claim to being scientifically literate is that you cheated for your teammates on stats tests).

mGrowOld

July 6th, 2021 at 1:05 PM ^

Xtra was banned for posting a graph that allegedly used CDC stats comparing Covid infections & death rates in blue vs red states.  Ace deemed that to be "misinformation" and subsequently banned him.  

The real issue there though was what happened the next day on Ace's personal Twitter feed.  That's where things turned personal and ugly.  No need to rehash it - we discussed that topic enough already.

mackbru

July 6th, 2021 at 9:54 PM ^

Did the CDC really waffle millions of times?  Or did it just update its statements and advice as more  information came in? Because the latter is what science does, especially when dealing with a novel virus.  

georgesanderson2319

July 7th, 2021 at 1:19 PM ^

Sigh.

Example 1: they recently provided guidance that the vaccine should NOT be given to those under 18.

Two days later (and under pressure), they changed the guidance to "not recommended for those under 18".

And now they say everyone 12 and over should be vaccinated.

That is just one example, all within the span of a week.  Pretty sure it wasn't the "science" that caused them to change their stance.

And get out of here with this novel crap.

blue in dc

July 7th, 2021 at 7:02 PM ^

The CDC changed its guidance related to those between 12 and 15 regarding the use of the Pfizer vaccine when they had sufficient data to show it was safe.   (May 10) https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-authorizes-pfizer-biontech-covid-19-vaccine-emergency-use

That was certainly science based.   I was unable to find anything talking about the other changes, but many states expanded eligibility to those 16 to 18 when higher risk groups had been vaccinated?   Maybe that is what you were referring to?    Would love to get more information on all these changes that the CDC has made regarding those between 16 and 18.   Maybe you could provide cites to educate us?

Eye of the Tiger

July 7th, 2021 at 8:09 PM ^

The CDC has never rescinded their guidance that the Pfizer vaccine is safe for 12-17 year olds. The org has consistently recommended that 12-17 year olds receive the vaccine ever since approving the EUA for that age group in May. You are factually incorrect. 

...and novel virus is an epidemiological term, deriving from the Latin novus. It means new, so "novel coronavirus" means "new coronavirus."

A lot of the early mistakes in guidance (e.g. downplaying the effectiveness of masks, overemphasizing the need to sanitize surfaces) came from faulty assumptions based on experience with influenzas, namely, that infection occurs primarily via heavy droplets rather than lighter aerosols. We now know definitively that infection occurs, first and foremost, via contact with aerosols.

This is how science works - you make hypotheses based on available information, then adjust once better information becomes available. 

mGrowOld

July 6th, 2021 at 1:32 PM ^

Oh please.  He posted two fucking graphs, that's it.  There was nothing inflamatory in either one save for the fact that if you're intellectually wedded to a political party (i.e my side can do nothing wrong and your side can do nothing right) they would trouble someone from a blue state.

For the record i completely disagree with X on the vaccine and got mine the split second it was available as has my entire family.  But I dont have a problem with people with different opinions on things than mine and I definitely dont label things I disagree with as "misinformation".

georgesanderson2319

July 6th, 2021 at 8:49 PM ^

"...the problem is when you can’t support your position with facts and have to resort to exaggerations and outright falsehoods"

...the problem is when you can’t support your position with facts BECAUSE THE FACTS CHANGED EVERY SINGLE DAY and have to RELY on INFORMATION CONSTANTLY BEING CHANGED AT THE WHIMS OF THE CDC...

There.  Fixed it.  

blue in dc

July 6th, 2021 at 4:52 PM ^

You might be surprised to know that I agree with you that Ace’s handling of the situation was totally inappropriate.   That doesn’t change the fact that many posters got banned for significantly less than xtra when it comes to covid disinformation.   I certainly may be wrong, but given the value that xtra brought to this site, I suspect that Brian would have been more than willing to let xtra back if that is all it had been about.   I stick by my original assertion - xtra had complete control of the long history of actions that ultimately culminated in a ban and absent that long history, it would not have happened.

I respect your right to disagree, but I think your disagreement lies on a very shaky factual foundation that is based on looking at one tree and missing an entire forest.

Also,  if you don’t think we should rehash the xtra thing yet one more time, then maybe you should stop bringing him up?

georgesanderson2319

July 6th, 2021 at 8:51 PM ^

"That doesn’t change the fact that many posters got banned for significantly less than xtra when it comes to covid disinformation."

How do you know about how many posters got banned and for what reasons?  Especially when there are in such quantity that you authoritatively state that it is many...and authoritatively seem to know the reasons why so many are gone.

Are you a secret moderator or something?  hmm...I go back to my comments above about your posting history. Very...um...interesting, let's just say.

blue in dc

July 6th, 2021 at 9:53 PM ^

Almost as interesting as a poster who “joined” a week ago being so interested in commenting so extensively on a post about a guy who no longer rights for the blog.   It’s almost as if you have some longer history hear.    I am flattered that you thought looking up my posting history was worth looking up. 

Gulogulo37

July 6th, 2021 at 11:16 PM ^

"in such quantity?" You think like 5 people get banned a day or what? Sometimes there's a blow up but I'd say besides the random obvious trolls who sign up just to scream obscenities about Michigan, it seems more like once every couple weeks. And if you're on the moderator forum and on here a lot, you know why someone got banned like 90% of the time.

TIMMMAAY

July 6th, 2021 at 2:26 PM ^

At best it was willful misrepresentation of the "facts". And that wasn't the only time, you know this. He was a great poster here for a long time, then he went off the political deep end, just could not leave it alone. It says something about something that you are here, misrepresenting the situation as it occurred. 

M Go Cue

July 6th, 2021 at 2:47 PM ^

Haha.  I remember that thread.  There must have been a dozen graphs and a dozen more posts dumping out statistics.  All of them saying different things.  It was hilarious.  How would any mod be able to validate all of that?

If someone is coming to MGoBlog to get their COVID information from an anonymous poster then I don’t know what to say.

Double-D

July 6th, 2021 at 6:21 PM ^


It’s interesting but I literally just met a guy and his wife 30 minutes ago having a beer in Petoskey on vacation. He is taking his very 1st high school head football coaching job this fall in the Ann Arbor area.

He loves the analysis of this site and says he learns from it and enjoys the wit and personality of the board.  However the one sided politics has pushed him elsewhere.

It’s not my program to run but I don’t believe that is the spirit of what Brian or most of us want this community to be.