The Swamp

Also reminds me of this classic

Not college-related but once at a San Jose Sharks’ game, I got picked to go on the ice between periods to play a parlor game against another person for prizes. The game had six big cards face down on the ice, three pairs. If you matched two, you got the prize denoted on the cards and got to go again. So the other contestant got to go first, and damned if she didn’t run the table of all three prizes! I didn’t even get to make a guess. But, she felt bad for me and gave me her least valuable prize - a couple camera memory cards. I also grabbed a puck off a shelf and the host let me keep it.

In college I used to occasionally sell programs at the hockey games. Every game two of the programs would have an ad for a local pizza place/sponsor autographed by the coach. The two people that bought those programs got to try and shoot a puck from center ice through a plywood cover with a hole that was placed in front of the net for a cash prize that grew each week it wasn’t won (it was hundreds of dollars:so not much). When I was handed the programs I would keep my finger under one them that had the signature and hook up people I knew with the opportunity…several friends, my girlfriend, etc.

Not one of them made it….including a guy who was a pretty decent hockey player.

I submit the hockey thing is harder than a half-court shot.

First off, very few people (percentage-wise) have actually gone through the motions and mechanics of shooting a puck, whereas a majority of at least taken a basketball and shot it. Secondly, unless you are in some very crazy arena with weird air flow, shooting a basketball doesn't have to take into account the vagaries of a chewed up ice... Remember, those shots are always taken before the Zamboni has done it's thing.

And, finally, it's damn near close to a carnie set up, in terms of the size of the target you are shooting at. At least with basketball you have a backboard and the target is a reasonable size.

ETA - And they've gone away from this, but I know back in the day they'd have the participant come out on the ice, not mat/carpet. While comical to watch, it also made the attempt pretty close to impossible.

That said, it bugs me how bad ppl are at it. You're at a game, do the players set up like they're taking a golf swing when they shoot the puck?

Oldest boy graduates from Swarthmore in a couple of weekends. He changed his major very late in the game (not officially until mid-senior year!). He was physics most of his career, but realized a year or two ago that he really loves ancient history. We shuffled some stuff around and he'll graduate with a classics degree and physics minor. He intends to get his PhD in Ancient History and probably become a professor. Since he got into it late, he doesn't have the language requirements yet so he'll be doing a summer intensive (online at Cal Berkeley) and then a post-bacc year at Penn doing only (or mostly) Latin.

It's been difficult at times (we learned his sophomore year that we need to visit every ~3 weeks to get him back on track), but overall not bad for a kid on the spectrum.

Nice work, young Shirley!

Shirley wrote: ↑Fri May 05, 2023 3:12 pm Oldest boy graduates from Swarthmore in a couple of weekends. He changed his major very late in the game (not officially until mid-senior year!). He was physics most of his career, but realized a year or two ago that he really loves ancient history. We shuffled some stuff around and he'll graduate with a classics degree and physics minor. He intends to get his PhD in Ancient History and probably become a professor. Since he got into it late, he doesn't have the language requirements yet so he'll be doing a summer intensive (online at Cal Berkeley) and then a post-bacc year at Penn doing only (or mostly) Latin.

It's been difficult at times (we learned his sophomore year that we need to visit every ~3 weeks to get him back on track), but overall not bad for a kid on the spectrum.

Congrats! Great he found his passion and wasn't afraid to make a late change. Not an easy move from physics to ancient history, probably not much overlap in courses. I love the campus and town at Swarthmore, but my son seems to prefer the large universities. I did too at that age, so I get it, but I'd love to visit a beautiful campus like that.

Congrats!

Shirley wrote: ↑Fri May 05, 2023 3:12 pm Oldest boy graduates from Swarthmore in a couple of weekends. He changed his major very late in the game (not officially until mid-senior year!). He was physics most of his career, but realized a year or two ago that he really loves ancient history. We shuffled some stuff around and he'll graduate with a classics degree and physics minor. He intends to get his PhD in Ancient History and probably become a professor. Since he got into it late, he doesn't have the language requirements yet so he'll be doing a summer intensive (online at Cal Berkeley) and then a post-bacc year at Penn doing only (or mostly) Latin.

It's been difficult at times (we learned his sophomore year that we need to visit every ~3 weeks to get him back on track), but overall not bad for a kid on the spectrum.

That's awesome. Congratulations all around....

Shirley wrote: ↑Fri May 05, 2023 3:12 pm Oldest boy graduates from Swarthmore in a couple of weekends. He changed his major very late in the game (not officially until mid-senior year!). He was physics most of his career, but realized a year or two ago that he really loves ancient history. We shuffled some stuff around and he'll graduate with a classics degree and physics minor. He intends to get his PhD in Ancient History and probably become a professor. Since he got into it late, he doesn't have the language requirements yet so he'll be doing a summer intensive (online at Cal Berkeley) and then a post-bacc year at Penn doing only (or mostly) Latin.

It's been difficult at times (we learned his sophomore year that we need to visit every ~3 weeks to get him back on track), but overall not bad for a kid on the spectrum.

That's awesome. Do you have any concern about job prospects for a history major? I'm asking because my son loves history also and has chosen that as his major (after starting in engineering). I've pushed him to minor in Geography/GIS also, so he'll have a more marketable skill (at least as it appears to me). He's majoring in both subjects right now. But he definitely likes his history way more than his geography.

Shirley wrote: ↑Fri May 05, 2023 3:12 pm Oldest boy graduates from Swarthmore in a couple of weekends. He changed his major very late in the game (not officially until mid-senior year!). He was physics most of his career, but realized a year or two ago that he really loves ancient history. We shuffled some stuff around and he'll graduate with a classics degree and physics minor. He intends to get his PhD in Ancient History and probably become a professor. Since he got into it late, he doesn't have the language requirements yet so he'll be doing a summer intensive (online at Cal Berkeley) and then a post-bacc year at Penn doing only (or mostly) Latin.

It's been difficult at times (we learned his sophomore year that we need to visit every ~3 weeks to get him back on track), but overall not bad for a kid on the spectrum.

The world desperately needs more scholars.

Well done!

Steve of phpBB wrote: ↑Fri May 05, 2023 4:05 pm

Shirley wrote: ↑Fri May 05, 2023 3:12 pm Oldest boy graduates from Swarthmore in a couple of weekends. He changed his major very late in the game (not officially until mid-senior year!). He was physics most of his career, but realized a year or two ago that he really loves ancient history. We shuffled some stuff around and he'll graduate with a classics degree and physics minor. He intends to get his PhD in Ancient History and probably become a professor. Since he got into it late, he doesn't have the language requirements yet so he'll be doing a summer intensive (online at Cal Berkeley) and then a post-bacc year at Penn doing only (or mostly) Latin.

It's been difficult at times (we learned his sophomore year that we need to visit every ~3 weeks to get him back on track), but overall not bad for a kid on the spectrum.

That's awesome. Do you have any concern about job prospects for a history major? I'm asking because my son loves history also and has chosen that as his major (after starting in engineering). I've pushed him to minor in Geography/GIS also, so he'll have a more marketable skill (at least as it appears to me). He's majoring in both subjects right now. But he definitely likes his history way more than his geography.

Not worried yet, because he has quite a few years to get there. But yes, we're aware that it's not exactly a growth industry. We've joked to him that he has to wait for an existing professor somewhere to die. I suspect it's one of those jobs you never leave. We kind of think the ideal spot for him would be to land a job at a small liberal arts college kind of like Swarthmore. He'd be everyone's favorite nutty professor.

Great stuff, guys. My wife’s cousin’s kid is a professor of ancient history at a small college in Missouri. He moved there from New York City to take the job, but as he explained, you’ve got to go where the job is.

Congrats son of Shirley!

I hope he got to take some History of science classes, probably my favourite classes for my UG. My prof had a UG from MIT in some engineering then got into History and went and got a PhD. Dude was amazing, I think I took 4 classes with him. Had him for a US History topics class and then HAD to take more classes.