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PTINS

Burnt Ends
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Everything posted by PTINS

  1. Prayers for you. Our '67 Oldsmobile Delta 88 (4 door tank) was rear ended by a Ford Mustang going 100+ MPH (estimated 80 MPH differential between the cars). The read end of our car was folded upright to a vertical position, with the ruptured gas tank fully exposed. The gas tank "exploded" on impact, though the impact from the expanding fire was secondary compared to the violent collision between the vehicles. The darkest of days ...
  2. USC brought in John Wayne to recruit AJ. Only time the Duke lost.
  3. #39, lower left corner, #39 Sam Salz RB 5'-6" 155 JR Philadelphia, PA Did the towel boy from Michigan transfer to A&M?
  4. TLDR. I made my own decisions and am happy with life. But I always felt some what cheated. I was an Air Force Brat, moved every 2 years, and grew up as a young teenager in Austin during the Viet Nam War. I watched the Watergate hearings my senior year, earned a scholarship to UT, and Nixon resigned on my 18th Birthday. I feel like I was in a tiny slice of American History were the desire to serve your country was at an all time low. But I always grew up with supreme admiration and respect for those that choose to serve. With that said, here is a portion of the Eulogy I gave for my Uncle in 2008, who served in WWII in Africa & Europe. Guadalupe G. G. Uncle Lupe’ The last time I saw my grandfather, in the early 60's, I was 6 years old. For over 40 years, Lupe’ was the Family Patriarch, the Elder Statesman, our Family’s Leader. I always marveled at the respect he commanded from his brothers and sisters, and the kind of man it takes to earn that respect. Uncle Lupe was always there with a smile, a twinkle of the eye, and a kind, soft word. He personified Loyalty, to his brothers and sisters, and to his extended family, and to his Army Buddies in Company A. He had 4 opportunities to leave the Company, three times to go to officers training, and he declined each time. He wanted to stay with his men. His Loyalty to his customers for 39 years, 15 years as the Parts Manager for Woody’s Jeep and 24 more as the owner of “Lupe’s Parts.” His Loyalty to the church, to the Astros, and most important, to Aunt Lupita, for over 59 years. Being an “Air Force Brat”, I was always interested in military history, and World War II. I always wondered why Lupe never talked about the war, and about ten years ago, I asked my mother about it. She told me he would never bring it up, but if I asked, he would tell me about it. About 2 years ago, I went to see Lupe, As we talked, I asked about his childhood, and he just started talking. I asked him to wait, he got me a pad of paper, and I started taking notes. Here is what he shared with me: He was born December 12, 1919 (passed away 9/8/08), the first of 10 kids from Hills Prairie (south of Bastrop, Tx); it had 1 store, 1 cotton gin, 1 school, Mexican’s only, whites took a bus to Bastrop. (We are descendants of a Spanish Land Grant family from the 1750's) They were share croppers, and kept 2/3 and 1/3 went to the landowner. When the owner died, they split the farm into 3 parcels, with 1 piece going to my grandfather. They had water, but no electricity; 120 acres, grew cotton, corn, peppers, beans, onions, garlic & potatoes, had peach trees, pigs & chickens, and a 1 horse cart. They used to sell peaches for $1.50/basket, and eggs for 5 cents/dozen. At age 7, Lupe' began plowing the fields, with 2 mules. At age 11, he smoked his first cigarette. He only went to school till 9th grade, from October-March. He picked cotton til October, and left school in the spring to plant cotton. Later, he'd go to Lubbock to pick cotton til December, making $15/week. He joined the Army after Pearl Harbor, 1st 3 days in San Antonio. (He was mostly in 5th Army, 85th Infantry Division, 339th Regiment, Company A. (Rifle Platoon, Mortars & Machine Guns) 1942, Camp Shelby, Mississippi He had good hearing, so they sent him to Athens, Georgia, to Radio School (Tech Corporal), 6 weeks Fort Polk, Louisiana California, Mojave Desert Yuma, Az, Mountain Training, 4 ½ months Radio Operator w/ 40 lb radio, always next to Company Commander, had 3 runners to get info to each platoon Trenton, New Jersey, training 2-3 weeks December 25, 1943, left Norfolk, Virginia for Africa, troop ships, 900-1000 people/boat January 1, 1944, Casablanca, Morocco, ~ 5 months 50 miles into the desert, more training Practice landing w/ landing craft Men rode camels, women held tails of camels, women in Muslim dress, only eyes exposed Weekends, went to town ~ 25 miles Fall 1944, Naples, Italy, 36th Infantry Division, from Texas Staff Sergeant, Company Communications Went to France, sang “Rancho Grande” @ Christmas Party Was offered a transfer to “Recreation Service Company” (Entertainment); declined There was a fire in their occupied house, lantern & gas can exploded, killed the Company commander, Captain Britain Went through middle of Italy, Mt Vesuvius, 3 hours to get to the top Walking through waist high grass, US Artillery fired on troops; shells exploding, dirt flying, He radioed call to stop; close calls, but no casualties. German Rail Guns, Screaming Mee-Mee’s; 1st Sgt. Luke Jackson was hit (knee). Lupe promoted to 1st Sergeant Went to Rome, people gave them bread and food. Went to the Vatican, met the Pope Lots of snow, tents had 2” of ice on them Po River, Italy, Company HQ in an occupied house Went outside to get an onion, house hit by German Artillery, everyone killed; Battlefield Commission to 1st Lieutenant 3 offers to go to Officers School, he declined each time When War ended, was at a German arm’s depot on the Austrian border He didn’t have enough points to come home, and was sent to Florence, Italy Came back to Brownwood, Texas, and was given an Honorable Discharge from the Army after serving for 42 months. He left Virginia in 1943 with 199 Men. 29 came back. 170 either killed or wounded. He was one of four that did not receive a Purple Heart, one of four that wasn’t wounded. He had many close calls; the exploding lantern, the friendly fire, the onion and the artillery shell, the Screaming Mee-Mees. He got hit one time, a 6” piece of artillery shrapnel hit his right hip/pelvis, where his radio belt, pistol belt, and trouser belt overlapped. Had it penetrated the artery, he would have died. He didn’t get a scratch. In a very dense fog (Belgium?), they didn't realized where they were and walked behind enemy lines, could see the faces of the enemy. He had a 40 lb radio and a pistol. He ran. He ran for his life, up over the hill. He realized that the difference between life and death might be one step. He quit smoking that day. Prior to 1942, I don’t think he had ever left Texas, but he had been to Lubbock. After joining the Army, in 13 months, he went to MS, GA, LA, CA, AZ, NJ, & VA. In 29 months, he went to Casablanca, Morocco, to Italy, France, Belgium, Germany and Austria. He saw the Vatican, met the Pope, went to Rome, climbed Mt, Vesuvius, and spent peace time in Florence, the Renaissance City. He saw some of the most beautiful sights on earth, and the violence and horrors of war. I saw him many times in the hospital over the past few years. When he got sick this last time, I didn’t want to go. I knew he was really sick, not recognizing or remembering things. My mother and aunt kept me updated, but I couldn’t make myself go, I couldn’t see Uncle Lupe without him looking back at me. Finally, last Friday, weI went to see him. He had just got out of ICU. We walked into the room, exchanged greetings, and I walked around the bed to see him, and to hold his hand. My auntasked him, “Lupe, do you know who that is?” He looked at me, with a twinkle in his eye, a semblance of a smile, and he said, “that’s ... My Nephew!” He was so possessive! I had never heard that from him before. He was proud. But not as proud as I was. That was “My Uncle Lupe“, Smiling, with a twinkle in his eyes. In 1942, Ike (the General), came for Lupe to serve his country, and took him away. Today, 68 years later, Ike (the Hurricane) is back, to take Lupe, once again, back to his Lupita. Thank you.
  5. I saw something on You Tube that was interesting, talking about battleship range finders and the accuracy of their fire control. I never really thought about it til I saw it. Very simple math, when given the right optics and precise measurement tools. When you have the means to calculate something to the nth degree, life is simple. When firing 5,000 lb shells, you don't have to be hand grenade close.
  6. Not that I'm a blood thirsty mongrel, but I am missing the voluminous updates from times past ... News from the BBC a few days ago, but don't think I've seen it posted here. Ukraine war: Army claims foothold on bank of Dnipro river in south BBC News Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff Andriy Yermak has said that Ukrainian forces have gained a foothold on the left (eastern) bank of the Dnipro river. Russia has admitted that some Ukrainian forces have set up positions in a village but claims they will soon be wiped out. If the area is held it would mean a significant advance for Ukraine. Russia retreated from the right bank of the river a year ago. The Ukrainian army has since been trying to create and hold a bridgehead on its eastern shore. "The Armed Forces of Ukraine captured a bridgehead on the left bank of the Dnipro," Mr Yermak told a US think tank, using a military term for a secured position. US-based experts said earlier that marginal advances had been made into the village of Krynky, 2km (1.25 miles) inland from the river and 30km from the city of Kherson, recaptured a year ago. Russia conceded on Wednesday that "small groups" of Ukrainian forces had set up positions in the village on the left bank. But Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed official in charge of the Kherson region still under occupation, insisted that they had sustained heavy losses and faced a "fiery hell" and had no chance of breaking through. "Our additional forces have now been brought in. The enemy is trapped in Krynky," he claimed. His admission that Ukrainian forces had gained a foothold came two days after Russian state media bizarrely published and then swiftly retracted news of a retreat from positions on the left bank. Map of control around Kherson 1px transparent line Repeated attempts to cross the river made during the spring and summer had been met with little success. EU set to miss 1m shell rounds target for Ukraine Ukrainian forces conducted several raids across the Dnipro, Ukraine's longest river, in small boats. However, Kyiv lacks air superiority, which made the task more difficult. Securing a bridgehead means that Ukrainian forces may be able to begin transferring armoured vehicles and air defence systems across the river. This would put them one step closer to breaking through to Crimea, the peninsula illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. "Step by step, Ukraine's armed forces are demilitarising Crimea. We have covered 70% of the distance," Mr Yermak added. He appealed to Western countries to provide more weapons to Kyiv, saying Russia was using Iranian drones and North Korean artillery against Ukrainian forces. On Tuesday, President Zelensky said fighting was escalating in the east near the town of Avdiivka. He added, however, that Russian forces were "losing men and equipment" trying to capture the destroyed city. Ukraine launched its much-anticipated counteroffensive in June, seeking to regain territory in the south and east. However, the counteroffensive has so far failed to recapture significant territory. Ukraine war: Russian state media retract report of retreat BBC News Russian state media on Monday published and swiftly retracted reports of a withdrawal of forces from positions on the left (eastern) bank of the Dnipro River. The reports quoted Russia's defence ministry announcing troops were being transferred "to more favourable positions" on the Russian-occupied left - or eastern - side. The stories were quickly retracted. The Russian defence ministry blamed the "false report" on Ukraine. Ukraine claimed the announcement was a Russian disinformation operation being carried out against it. Monday's hasty reversal took place almost exactly a year after Russian forces withdrew their troops from the right bank, including from the city of Kherson. The river largely continues to separate Ukrainian and Russian forces. In the now-retracted reports, state news agencies Tass and RIA-Novosti said Russia had repositioned troops to positions east of the Dnipro river, in order to "free up some of its forces, which will be used for offensive operations in other areas". They reflected similar language to those used in previous announcements of Russian retreats. The Kremlin declined to comment on the incident, saying it was a matter for the military. Ukrainian forces have escalated raids targeting Russian forces across the Dnipro in recent weeks - a key aim of its counter-offensive, which aims to slice through Russian occupied territory, severing a land corridor to the Crimean peninsula which Moscow annexed illegally in 2014. On Friday, Russia claimed to have repelled a Ukrainian attempt to establish a beachhead - a landing position on a beach - which could have been used to bring heavy armour into the fight and would have represented a significant advance. Still, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US-based think tank, reported last week that Russian efforts to repel Ukrainian forces from the east bank had "not prevented Ukrainian forces from transferring additional personnel and materiel to positions on the east bank" of the river. Separately, three civilians were killed by Russian attacks on Kherson on Monday, Ukrainian officials said. And an earlier explosion which killed at least three Russian officers in the occupied city of Melitopol on Saturday was claimed by Ukrainian military intelligence. Kyiv said the blast was "an act of revenge" carried out by local resistance forces. Ukrainian-linked fighters have claimed to have killed a number of Russian officials and local collaborators with car bombs and explosions. Last week, Mikhail Filiponenko, a former head of a separatist militia, was killed in the occupied city of Luhansk in an attack claimed by Ukraine.
  7. I worked on an insurance claim for "business interruption" attributable to hurricane damage to an offshore platform, that included damages to wells that were never drilled. Even though it was a cut and dry issue in my mind, the attorneys advised that the insurance brokers would never testify to support that position. The brokers "earned" $300-$400,000 commissions for those policies, and would never jeopardize their gravy train by taking an adverse position with the clients. The kinda job you have to be born into. He did say travel to... nothing about coming back.
  8. "Tow them ... with horses? ... damn things have wheels" "You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing.. After they've tried everything else" - Sir Winston Churchill
  9. A coach may know Texas HS football, but can he recruit kids from coast to coast to big time P5 football, without him having first hand knowledge of what that is? Buy kids? Yes, that's easy. Sell kids on a vision, to work & watch & learn & wait until they're ready? Not quite as easy. Sark & CDC had to overhaul Texas Football from top to bottom, admin offices, alumni, leaks to the press, entitlement culture, relationships with former players, ad nauseam. That took a lot of energy, knowledge, organization, and interpersonal skills that are best learned on the job. If the coach doesn't have that skill set, the Athletic Director better. Sark & CDC both brought the benefit of their experiences to Texas. Advantage Texas.
  10. PTINS

    PFF Thread

    Thanks for the updates. Much appreciated.
  11. So the 12th Man cuts a check to the Athletic Department, who makes/endorses the decision to fire Jimbo, and they tell the BOR this is how the cow ate the cabbage? Can a 501 (c) make a charitable donation to a for-profit related entity (Athletic Department)? They apparently fired Jimbo without line of sight on a replacement. Saw some comments here about the contentious BOR meeting re: fire/keep Jimbo. Any thoughts? Where is (Not so) Sharp in all of this? Did they learn something from leaking info through the mouthpiece at the Chronicle instead of from the Athletic Department?
  12. Texas will never play a complete game, until we try too. It's not just passing the ball. Granted, QE missed a couple of reads and throws, but the mindset was clearly different in the 2nd half. Notice anything different between the 1st half & 2nd half, keeping in mind the last pass to AD was 35 yards? Texas started 5 playmakers on offense that were destined to play in the NFL next year and passed for 74 yards in 30 minutes of football. Completing a pass on 3rd & 1 is good, completing it for a 3 yard loss is worse than Greg Davis levels of idiocy. Play our normal game, the 1st half, and Texas wins going away. Instead we get outscored in the 4th Qtr 20-3 by a bad TCU team and lose our MVP in the process.
  13. We scored 5 times in the 1st half, 3 TD a& 2 FG. We got to the Red Zone 5 times. We scored once in the 2nd half, a FG. We did not get to the Red Zone in the 2nd half. Best drive of the half is a pretty low bar to step over. Texas passed for 251 yds in the 1st half, 73 yds in the 2nd half. Look a bit closer at 2nd half possessions; 3rd & 1, completed as for minus 3 yards, punt (5 play & punt) 3rd & 6, incomplete pass, punt, 6 plays & punt 3rd & 3, run for 0 yards, FG, 9 plays & FG 3rd & 5, pass for 1 yard, punt, 3 plays & punt 3rd & 12, 35 yard pass, 1st down, 7 plays, end of game Other than the last possession, Texas made a total of minus 2 yards on 4 3rd down plays. To paraphrase Abe Lemons, “that’s 2 yards less than a dead man.”
  14. 4-D Chess. This is how Texas jumps Oregon in the CFP rankings.
  15. He gave it to them in spades (not PC) last night. Unfortunately, I don't think we are going to get a chance. No one considers Texas the best 1 loss team, even though we should be. All good points. "There were a few points last night' ... you mean mean the entire 4th quarter (except for AD's catch). 9 straight runs to start the 4th quarter; ended in a FG when we need a TD. Sark punches all the right buttons, but he screwed the pooch last night. All Gas. No brakes? My Ass. The 2nd half was the most disappointing display of Sark's football IQ I have seen to date. 3 damn points. Much worse than Herman's turtling. I expected it from Tom, not Sark. 1. Losing Brooks, and our coaching: Our probability of going to the playoffs fell off a cliff last night. Even if we make it, we will get out coached by whoever we would play. We have the best team, and it's not going to matter. 2. Brooks & Baxter should have been done by then, and getting towards the end of Blue's turn by that point in the game. 3. I get wanting to play smash mouth football and force your will, but we don't have an offensive philosophy and OL that plays consistently well enough to do that. Running the Red-cat on 4th down with QE spread wide as a decoy was so f*cking stupid for so many reasons. QE coming off a tough injury for a QB, spread wide as a WR, is a serious threat? Really, to who? Damn arrogant of Sark to shout we can beat your 11 with our 10. Well, 9 1/2 anyway. 4. Of all places to run, right behind Hayden Conner? Weathervane Conner. The turn your back and let the defender run right past you and stuff the play Conner. The I'm not as smart as I thought I was Aerospace Engineer to Geography major Conner (No offense to Geography majors or anyone else who didn't like 808A). The perfect compliment to Bryce Foster Conner. Texas would be much better off with Campbell just mashing whoever is in front of him, the occasional yips be damned. Sorry. 5. Did AD give up on a downfield pass play? Would you blame him? 1 catch in the 1st half. AD saved our ass last night. 3rd time this year that play has been money. Why don't we throw it 3 times a game? Some rule I don't know about that says you can only do it once a game ? If AD had 10 targets a game, he would have a 1,500 yard year. 6. I think JWhitt had 1 target (thrown well behind him(, no receptions. Hustled his ass off, as always, to cause a fumble on the pic. He should get a slant look after every Brooks 9 yard run. 7. The only pass to Cook was that abortion of a WR (Worthy) screen. . Worthy was going to attract everyone on the field to that play, and he did. Minus 3 yards on 3rd and 1; I had Greg Davis nightmares all night! 8. CFB Playoffs; The further we get, the more the Alabama game looks line an anomaly. My brain would not allow me to vote Texas over a 1 loss Alabama or Oregon. Yes, Alabama was a big game, but the constant late 4th quarter wins against teams we should have beat by 3 or 4 touchdowns waters down our single good win. 9. All Gas, No Brakes? Great line. Unfortunately, that's all it is. Texas has the best collection of playmakers in college football, and they spent the second half idling. What a waste. 10. Sark's continued lack of awareness of how Texas is viewed by the B12, and others, is most unsettling. Starting with trying to hire a Stoops, and having no clue what Fayetteville would be like. But, that was 3 years ago. He does not appreciate how bad teams want to beat Texas, and why it is so important to crush their spirit early and not let them hang around all night. The B12 ref f*ckery. Sark, not the team, deserved to lose last night. Texas got all the close calls, or no calls, towards the end last night. 10. Recruiting: Texas has a great group of players, team chemistry, guys bought into the All Gas, No Brakes mantra. Great place to be, and an easy thing to sell. Until last night. AGNB? Not even close. That was butt ugly. Umm ... The play calling was everything. Intentionally crippling a balanced offense that was working was, pick a word, ... This is by far Sark's biggest FU. Losing Brooks. 100% on Sark. No way Brooks should have been the bell cow this late in the game. When you abandon the FORWARD pass to start the 2nd half... surprise, surprise, Gomer, ...things tighten up. That shit is normal for damn near every team we play. Not Rice nor the rent-a-win games, but all our conference foes. The tackle was clean; bear hugging the knee when he was already down as the they rolled on the ground was dirty as fuck.
  16. and ... JT Sanders with the tackle at the 1
  17. Jimbo Fisher's Hot Seat fueled by West Texas Oil Jimbo Fisher’s hot seat at Texas A&M is fueled by West Texas oil Story by Steven Godfrey • The Washington Post Right about the time Miami thumped Jimbo Fisher’s reliably inconsistent Texas A&M team back in September, I started trying to understand the price of oil coming out of the Permian Basin to predict the 2023-2024 college football coaching market. If the coaching carousel would start early, A&M was an obvious choice to kick things off: a wealthy brand underperforming for its deep-pocketed and frequently delusional corps of boosters. Mainly located in West Texas, the 86,000-square-mile Permian Basin is America’s highest-producing oil field, typically turning out 4 to 5 million barrels daily, and sometimes more. It is crucial to the American oil and gas industry. It is also chockablock with wealthy Texas A&M Aggies, almost all of whom vehemently regret the gaudy, 10-year, totally guaranteed $75 million contract their university feted Fisher with in December 2017. In return, Fisher has delivered an above-average 44-25 run over the past five-plus seasons, but nothing close to the national title expectations Aggies have long pined and overpaid for.CFP rankings stay steady ahead of a potentially momentous weekend. Entering this weekend, Fisher’s 26-21 record in SEC games had message boarders (and me) assuming that if oil approaches $100 a barrel anytime soon (it’s sitting at $76.42 as of this writing), cash-flush and historically squirrelly Aggies boosters would pull the trigger on Fisher’s current buyout of roughly $77 million. There are plenty of wealthy A&M boosters in other industries, but the price of chicken usually doesn’t upend global GDP in a week. And yes, Fisher’s buyout if he is fired this year is $2 million more than the total value of his original contract, thanks to a wonderfully stupid extension agreed upon after the Aggies went 9-1 during a 2020 season that was affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The new contract pushed Fisher’s salary to $9 million a year and extended him through 2031, and Fisher has responded with a 9-13 SEC record in the years since. After the Houston Chronicle’s Brent Zwerneman reported this week that A&M, at least as of now, was leaning heavily toward giving Fisher one more season despite another year of failure to meet expectations, a significant chunk of anticipation has disappeared. And here I was trying to understand OPEC’s impact on fourth-quarter pricing during a fresh Middle East conflict or potential supply constraints in the United States because of drilling consolidation. It seems — and I cannot overemphasize seems — that one of college football’s most notorious spendthrifts is exercising a modicum of reserve. One could argue that’s because Fisher’s buyout is serving the purpose it intended: Even among a social class that embodies the American stereotype of excess, $77 million to make one man go away is a prohibitive cost, crude prices be damned. Combined with the fact that A&M isn’t awful, just merely not great (each of its conference losses this season have been by seven points or fewer) amid quarterback injuries and bad assistant hires (former head coaches-turned-Fisher assistants Steve Addazio and Bobby Petrino probably aren’t long for College Station even if their boss survives), it’s at least arguable Fisher hasn’t fully earned bust status just yet. But, all that said and with every indicator both published among my colleagues and in my own off-the-record conversations suggesting Fisher is safe entering 2024, I still refuse to believe there’s zero chance he is let go. First, keeping Fisher would require a tremendous amount of calmness and maturity for a consortium that’s defined the exact opposite in the college football economy for decades. A&M is the world’s richest little brother, boasting national title finances to hide a community college trophy case. This was the football program once most famous for buying a gold Pontiac Trans-Am for a player who ultimately never signed with the program. Second, we often focus too much on the demand side of the coaching market instead of the supply side. The working idea right now is less that A&M doesn’t have a replacement in hand and more that it doesn’t have one ideal enough to eat that $77 million bill first. But supply can change quickly, and in the age of the transfer portal exodus, often very quietly. Third, crude production can never exceed the college football value of time or its paucity of patience. If A&M holds on to Fisher and weathers another fine-but-not-great season with no playoff appearance in 2024, it would still owe him $67.5 million if he is fired next year, saving the boosters a relatively scant $10-ish million. If I’m looking at the futures market, A&M’s pride is worth more than $10 million for another season of championship ignominy. Could the Aggies be better in 2024? Absolutely. Will the roster be stocked with talent? Almost assuredly. Is there a single indicator that Fisher or Petrino will evolve the offense past its plodding and outmoded form into something capable of keeping pace with LSU, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, etc.? There are years of data screaming “no.” I don’t doubt Zwerneman’s reporting at all — he broke the news that Oklahoma and Texas were joining the SEC — but his phrasing is careful to mention that it’s just now November, and things could change. The struggle here is believing in the supposed calm of the Aggies’ gilded class. Plus, I keep thinking about Texas’s suspiciously swift firing of Tom Herman after the 2020 season. Herman went 32-18 in Austin, received public support from the university as late as Dec. 12 of that year and was fired Jan. 2, 2021, after leading the Longhorns to an Alamo Bowl win. Hours later, then-Alabama offensive coordinator and former USC head coach Steve Sarkisian was announced as Texas’s new head coach, bringing direct SEC experience to a program then still in talks with the league about a potential transition. Granted, Texas only paid out around $15 million to fire Herman, while A&M would have to eat five times that. But the slickness of it all lingers: Before speculation could mount among the Longhorns’ strong roster or a leaky search conducted half in public, Sark was already in place. If I were Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp, the man every Aggie knows will actually be making the decision, I’d be looking to preserve as much of Fisher’s pristine, NIL-soaked recruiting as possible with a quick and clean coup planned with total discretion. I’d also spend November and December pushing a public narrative that Fisher was totally safe. Texas and Oklahoma will land in the league next season, closing a decade-long SEC head-start for the Aggies that has yielded zero division, conference or national titles. During Fisher’s run, A&M has watched rivals LSU and Alabama win national titles and Georgia reset the hierarchy of power. Not to mention that Fisher is now 0-3 against Lane Kiffin’s Mississippi, a poverty program compared with the Aggies’ budget (something Kiffin has taken great public pride in). If A&M holds to its alleged word and keeps Fisher, you can consider it either a stroke of rational thought or an admission of financial defeat — that dumping $77 million before another coach can be hired is the critical mass of the wanton Texas oil lifestyle. But I can’t help but see that insane number as proof the Aggies will continue apace, even now. After all, the strongest evidence A&M is willing to buy Fisher out is the fact it offered him all that guaranteed money in the first place.
  18. The I-35 corridor between DFW and San Antonio will have 50 Million people by the time my kids are my age. As soon as they get situated, they are buying 5-10 acre ranchettes in the Hill Country, drilling water wells, and planting grass. The number of larger ranches in the Hill Country getting sliced and diced into mini-ranches is astonishing. The OTX Camp in Bandera, building a water themed retreat 99% dependent on sub-surface water in the middle of the Hill Country, is the epitome of selfishness and ignorance. 40+ years ago, I gave a speech on the biggest issue I will face as a college graduate (Mech Engr) ... Energy supply & demand. It is worse now than it was then, primarily because of the reality of the negative consequences of simply generating the energy. I understand the concept of largely giving up hope. Our uncontrolled population growth, that cancer, will correct itself, as some point in time. i'll just spend more time at the ranch. Oh, wait! Seeing as how my Avatar will only look like that again is if a tropical storm/hurricane hits Texas south of Corpus ... what little hope I have is morphing into something else. Ethanol to supplement gasoline production might have made sense during and immediately after the Arab Oil Embargo. It hasn't made sense in a long ass time. Corn is for eating and drinking. Another Government subsidy that alters the natural balance between supply and demand. Growth in technology and innovation has mades us all more efficient (the internet, smart phones, home shopping, remote working, face time meetings, etc.), all of which consume energy. The most fun thing to do with money is spend it. I probably bring down the average carbon footprint as my ranch is managed for wildlife habitat and consumes CO2 and produces is oxygen. The US "consumes" a disproportionate amount of oil on its own, but a significant portion of that is for the export market. Absent that, we would still have an outsized impact on consumption. When I took our Au Pair to HEB 30+ years ago, she was amazed at all the fruits and vegetables. Why do you have so many different apples? Why do we have so much of everything? Innovation creating supply, and demand. My new solar powered water well went dry in less than 2 years because the Trinity Aquifer dropped at least 50 feet in that time. That is bothersome, but merely an inconvenience for me. Lake Travis having an island with grass and trees on it? Whoppee shit! Wait til all the new straws start sucking water out of the Edwards Aquifer. Wait till all the hunting ranches run out of water. Anybody with surface water isn't going to let somebody else lay a pipeline or build an aqueduct to take "their" water. I won't see it, but the shit's gonna get real down the road. Pissed off people fighting over land and water rights? I used to watch those movies with my dad. We (2 of us) fill a ~75 gallon container with recycle every 2 weeks, and make maybe half as much trash. When our kids were school age, much different story. School age kids drive consumption like nothing else.
  19. Arch redshirting means he may play in 4 games max. Arch won't see the field until Tech, and not unless Texas has a big lead late, or needs QB3.
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