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Posts posted by Nuge
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Last night I hosted Branson Anderson. He was fantastic. I think he'll go places and I feel really fortunate to catch him at the beginning of his journey.
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I just hope that after Texas stomps a mudhole in our Big12 opponents hearts the crowd does not start in with the "S E C" bullshit.
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Stripper girlfriend would be asked to invite her girlfriends and leave the monkey at home.
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18 hours ago, FirstTimeCaller said:
Lol. Looked up the address. Yep, it's just a dude's backyard. Hell yeah, that's awesome... as long as I'm not a neighbor.
The neighbors are all invited and most show up. Kinda the point.
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1 hour ago, CashMcCoy said:Great DMN article on Colin Simmons.
How Duncanville DL Colin Simmons’ brother with autism motivates him on and off the field
Colin Simmons watched Steve Sarkisian make a break for the 30-yard line at Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium. That’s when he knew he was home.
The five-star recruit out of Duncanville sat on the sidelines during his official visit to the University of Texas in late June, as the Texas head coach, alongside the recruiting staff and graduate assistants, chased his 8-year-old brother Clayton during a game of tag in front of more than 100,000 empty seats.
Simmons can go to college anywhere he wants, and dozens of programs across the nation did whatever they could to recruit him. As the top player in Texas and a top-10 recruit nationally, he’s trending toward the NFL.
But his decision became rather simple after seeing the way the Texas staff interacted with his little brother, despite his differences.
“I feel confident in myself that I could go to the league wherever I go,” Simmons told The Dallas Morning News last week. “It doesn’t matter what school I would have committed to.
“It’s just a matter of which one would take care of my family before they take care of me.”
Simmons’ half-brother Clayton was diagnosed with autism at the age of 5 when Colin was still in middle school. Colin has since taken responsibility to care for his brother and help provide for his family, as he chases his dreams of playing football at the highest level.
As one of the best recruits to come out of the Dallas area, Simmons’ passion has always been football. However, football isn’t his motivation.
Even when leading Duncanville to its first state title since 1998 last fall, Clayton was top of mind. He will be again as Duncanville begins defending its title in the 2023 season starting Friday night against South Oak Cliff.
Simmons’ football journey comes with an extra layer that many top recruits don’t have to consider, as his family says resources and proper therapies for children with autism can be tough to come by near their home in Oak Cliff.
Clayton, for example, is impacted most in speech, social skills and attention span.
While the next few years in college and his budding professional career bring an opportunity for Simmons to find where he best thrives on the field, finding a place simultaneously where Clayton can live a fulfilling life is just as important.
“He should just live his life in peace and happiness without dealing with all the commotion,” Simmons said. “Let me deal with that. You just be my little brother.”Not all siblings are alike, but for Colin and Clayton’s mother Monica McCarley, she’s raised two sons who couldn’t be more different.
“Colin is highly sought out, and that can be great, and then I have my son with special needs, who isn’t always included in a lot of spaces,” McCarley said. “I’m still trying to navigate the world of having two sons on two different levels of social life.”
While Simmons was discovering his future in football in his middle school years, McCarley began noticing Clayton was different.
She said she first noticed when he was 1, but it wasn’t until he was 5 that he was officially diagnosed with autism. It took years of waiting for a diagnosis, which also meant years without services.
The delayed diagnosis was McCarley’s first experience with what she calls a lack of resources near where she and her family live. She said it wasn’t the last waitlist Clayton has had to be on to receive the therapy and accommodations that he needs.
“On the side of town that we live on, there aren’t many resources for special needs kids at all,” McCarley said. “I actually drive past downtown to get him speech therapy, and then I drive to Waxahachie to get him occupational therapy. It’s not accessible.”
Once Simmons began his college visits, the opportunities for Clayton outside of D-FW became clear. Programs started rolling out the red carpet for his brother, attempting to make him feel just as important as the star defensive lineman they were recruiting.
Simmons said SMU was the first program that prioritized Clayton on the visit, as the coaches spent time with him and took him swimming while Colin toured the facilities. For that reason, he added an SMU hat as a surprise fourth finalist to the table earlier this month when he announced his commitment as a nod to the program for their gesture. TCU was another that stood out by writing a letter to Clayton, specifically, following the visit.
From there, a number of other programs caught on and began showing similar interest in his brother.
In September 2022, WalletHub compared the 182 most populated citiesin the United States across 34 indicators of disability-friendliness and ranked Austin 69th overall with Dallas trailing six other Texas cities at 120th.
Because of the resources in Austin, Monica and Clayton plan to move there alongside Colin.
“I want to make sure my mom’s straight, my brother’s straight, my grandmother’s straight, my aunties are straight because they made sure I was straight when I needed things,” Simmons said.‘He will always be there’
Clayton brings out a side of his brother drastically different from the one that takes the field on a Friday night.
Instead of trash talk, it’s tickling. Instead of tackling running backs and quarterbacks, Clayton is the one who tackles him, climbing on him like a jungle gym.
Simmons said his brother and his autism have changed him. At a time where all eyes are turning in his direction as he gains national attention following a 22.5-sack junior season that set a Duncanville record, the values Clayton has taught him have kept him grounded.
“It changed the way I look at people nowadays,” Simmons said. “Not everybody’s the same. … Not everybody’s perfect. It made me realize that I’m not perfect. I’m only human no matter who I am. It’s OK for me to be human, it’s OK for me to be wrong, and it’s OK for me to just be myself.”
While their family’s time in D-FW may be up after the high school football season once Simmons enrolls at Texas, the future star is determined to make an impact for other children like Clayton in his community.
He works with the nonprofit organization For Oak Cliff, which aims to create programming for youth in the South Oak Cliff neighborhood. Through that organization, Simmons is working to build inclusive parks and playgrounds to better serve kids like Clayton. His mother said one day he hopes to start a foundation of his own to help children with disabilities.
Spend a day with Simmons, and it’s clear there’s nothing he loves more than football and his brother. But those two loves are separate.
Clayton hasn’t been to one of Simmons’ games in years. His mother says it’s too loud and overstimulating, and they worry he may run onto the field.
If Duncanville games are overstimulating, a Saturday morning at DKR will be as well.
But while Simmons’ passions are separate, he likes it that way. Because as the world discovers him in the coming years, he knows there’s at least one person who will love him unconditionally no matter how he plays on a Friday, Saturday or even a Sunday.
“The bigger I get, my brother will never realize that,” he said. “He will always just see me as his big brother. He won’t notice all the attention or the pictures or the hands that I shake, and honestly, I feel like that’s a good thing.
“He will always be there. I will always be the same person to him. Nothing will change.”Thanks for posting this article. Sounds like Colin will make an impact off the field as well. Really happy he's a Longhorn.
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11 minutes ago, Deej said:
Did she freak out a bit when she realized you were the only one there and had locked the gate behind her?
She calmed right down after downing the cocktail I made for her...
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I hosted Anna Katarina on August 12th. Very talented singer and musician. Beautiful inside and out.
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From facebook but I thought it might work here, too.
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Just got back from Pickathon. Music fest held in the woods outside of Portland.
I'm fucking beat. Lots of walking up hills and copious amounts of mushrooms.
Some favorites-
Wine Lips: I've been wanting to see them for a couple of years and they rarely come through Portland. The did not disappoint. They brought the energy. The whole barn was a sweaty pit. Loved every second.
Sgt. Papers: I had never heard of them but they blew me away. Mexican psychedelic punk rock. @stc I think you would probably dig them if you don't already know about them.
GA-20: Saw them twice at this fest and 4 times in the past year. I think they're great and criminally underrated.
W.I.T.C.H.: 60-70's psychedelic African rock band. So glad i finally got to see them. Very influential.
Lee Fields: Saw him twice. Just great old school soul.
Mikaela Davis: Very surprised by this woman/group. Mikaela sounds like Harriet Wheeler of The Sundays, plays a harp, and performs southern rock. I was impressed.
Small Paul, Hooverii, Nat Myers, and Vieux Farka Toure' all kicked ass. I feel like I only saw about 25% of the bands that played. Each group had two performances scheduled so that the volunteers working could go go see all of their favorites.
Great fest. I'll volunteer to work on the film crew again next year.
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Isn't sweatpants with no underwear the move for strip clubs?
I didn't realize it could lead to extra benefits with tradesmen, too.
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I just read this. He seemed like a wonderful man and I loved his records. Rest In Peace Anthony Dominick Benedetto. Thank you for the wonderful music.
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47 minutes ago, Mdhorn said:
Dope Lemon (Angus Stone) tix go on sale tomorrow for the 9:30 in DC. Silly name but skrong, mellow tunes. Going to try and grab a pair before they're gone. Also put in for The Prentenders.
Just picked up my tickets. Spotify presale password is Kimosabe2023.
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On 7/18/2023 at 9:26 AM, deadshank said:
Same as it ever was
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Went to see Wand last night at Mississippi Studios in Portland.
They blasted my ears and melted my face off with their distorted psychedelic feedback.- 2
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I had free tickets to the Neil Young show last night. It was a really great performance. Just him with a couple of guitars and pianos. No crazy light show or video screens, just a spotlight on him. He had a lot of funny banter between songs and told the story of how he acquired his various instruments and what kind of deal he got for them.
In the most Neil Young way - he did not play Harvest Moon, even after 3 encores.
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Neil Young tonight
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Willow enjoying the evening at the Sandy river.
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Wand on Wednesday the 19th at Mississippi Studios in PDX. Love that little venue.
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That's a young Captain Kangaroo
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He's just a victim of the weaponization of the DOJ. They're trying to silence him.
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4 minutes ago, Zeus said:
They've got Sanders rated higher than even worthy in this.
But they've got Arch ahead of Murphy so I had to alter the depth chart.
I'm used to running with the QB a lot it's different with all three QBs not even a run threat.
I wonder who will get the QB position in the wild horn or whatever they wanna call it this year. Maybe Blue? Maybe J Whitt?
Red used to be a qb, perhaps he'd be the wild horn qb.
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I built my own damn stage.
in Music
Posted