Decade in Review

Since summer is generally a better time for fluff topics and the first decade of the twenty-first century has effectively closed for many Cornell teams, I thought now might be a good time to kick off a best of thread for the decade that was. Maybe it will help heal the wounds from Memorial Day. It can be supplemented throughout the fall (e.g. MSG in Nov.), but frankly, who's expecting much from the fall teams this year anyway?

So in the interest of e-water cooler debate, what were the best games, moments, athletes, of the decade that was in Cornell athletics? Biggest disappointments, gut punches, etc.? Best/worst threads here?

Of course the decade is not over till the end of next year.

Jim Hyla
Of course the decade is not over till the end of next year.

Thank you, Wesley Crusher.

Pedantry aside, we still have the Fall 2009 football season to come. Summer 2000 to Summer 2010 seems like a natural way to define the decade in college athletic terms.

Jim Hyla
Of course the decade is not over till the end of next year.

No. No no no.

You can say that the "20th Century" is 1901 to 2000, inclusive and the "19th century" was 1801 to 1900, inclusive... but by literal usage of the wording, "the 1900s" are 1900 to 1999 and "the 1800s" are 1800 to 1899,

Just the same way, the "decade" is usually defined as the "80s", "90s", "naughts" (or whatever you want to call this one), which is likewise literally defined as 80-89, 90-99, etc.

Sure, the 201st decade may not end until 2010 is complete, but when's the last time anyone used such phrasing? The naughts end this year, and the 'tens' or 'teens' or whatever start Jan 1 2010.


I know this will be of great disappointment on eLynah, but the pedantry on this matter has to wait another hundred years.

DeltaOne81
I know this will be of great disappointment on eLynah, but the pedantry on this matter has to wait another hundred years.

Wow, those are fighting words.

I think the bottom line is that actual people care when the numbers on the calendar change: they don't care about some dictionary definition of "decade" or "century" or "millennium". So, you are both right: Jim in a technical way, you in the only way that most people care about.

Jim Hyla

DeltaOne81
I know this will be of great disappointment on eLynah, but the pedantry on this matter has to wait another hundred years.

Wow, those are fighting words.

Just means that we should start referring to the 201st decade and then demanding that people get it right. Let pedantry reign!

Kyle Rose
I think the bottom line is that actual people care when the numbers on the calendar change: they don't care about some dictionary definition of "decade" or "century" or "millennium". So, you are both right: Jim in a technical way, you in the only way that most people care about.

I'm by no means going to agree that I'm not technically correct

We're both right technically. I'm just making the additional technically correct point that the 20th Century and the 1900s aren't the same thing. The 'something-th' century and the 'numeric' century are offset by a year.

It has nothing to do with 'what people care about' (although yes, people do care more about the numeric category).

And further, as decades are always referenced by the numeric category, not the something-th category, they therefore start at the beginning of the zero 0 and end at the end of the 9.

DeltaOne81

Kyle Rose
I think the bottom line is that actual people care when the numbers on the calendar change: they don't care about some dictionary definition of "decade" or "century" or "millennium". So, you are both right: Jim in a technical way, you in the only way that most people care about.

I'm by no means going to agree that I'm not technically correct

We're both right technically. I'm just making the additional technically correct point that the 20th Century and the 1900s aren't the same thing. The 'something-th' century and the 'numeric' century are offset by a year.

It has nothing to do with 'what people care about' (although yes, people do care more about the numeric category).

And further, as decades are always referenced by the numeric category, not the something-th category, they therefore start at the beginning of the zero 0 and end at the end of the 9.

I misunderstood the distinction you were making. I agree with you and support you now.

Kyle Rose

DeltaOne81

Kyle Rose
I think the bottom line is that actual people care when the numbers on the calendar change: they don't care about some dictionary definition of "decade" or "century" or "millennium". So, you are both right: Jim in a technical way, you in the only way that most people care about.

I'm by no means going to agree that I'm not technically correct

We're both right technically. I'm just making the additional technically correct point that the 20th Century and the 1900s aren't the same thing. The 'something-th' century and the 'numeric' century are offset by a year.

It has nothing to do with 'what people care about' (although yes, people do care more about the numeric category).

And further, as decades are always referenced by the numeric category, not the something-th category, they therefore start at the beginning of the zero 0 and end at the end of the 9.

I misunderstood the distinction you were making. I agree with you and support you now.

Good, that's settled. After 2 days, we now have a definition of "decade." Perhaps now we can finally tackle what is meant by "athletics," or perhaps a round-about misunderstanding of the existence of an "e-water cooler."

I nominate this thread as the worst of the decade.

RichH
I nominate this thread as the worst of the decade.

Which decade?

Josh '99

RichH
I nominate this thread as the worst of the decade.

Which decade?

I nominate the "naught" decade, as in, "it naught have ever existed"

Killer

Josh '99

RichH
I nominate this thread as the worst of the decade.

Which decade?

I nominate the "naught" decade, as in, "it naught have ever existed"

Which reminds me of my favorite decade nickname that never, or (I suppose) hasn't yet, caught on: "The Naughty Aughties."