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Hellraiser97

Certifiably Surly
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Posts posted by Hellraiser97

  1. Fundamentally I agree with you, and I don’t love either of these guys, but it’s really important to all those things that more housing be created in central Austin. And since Ward decided to speak out against that and Ellis didn’t (AFAIK) Ellis takes it by default for me.

    I don't think Ward spoke out about it in Central, he seemed more in favor of it. He spoke out against it in the south. Either way, I think both of then are somewhat aligned with the issues 8 finds important. Their differences are a lot less than the ones in District 3.

     

    I do not like OU

     

     

     

  2. 10 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

    That’s an interesting perspective that I have entertained myself, particularly since he’s a P.R. guy. But I don’t buy it, for two reasons:
    1) Because that’s catering to a central Austin constituency that is weak in D8 and makes him seem bad on property rights.

    2) Because it doesn’t square with what he said.

    Also, on Ellis- those road issues you mention aren’t city council’s call. They just aren’t. And for the record, most growth should go to the central city, unless you like traffic, because our traffic problem is our sprawl problem.

    Like I said, it seemed he was talking out of both sides of his mouth.  There are some people, particularly in the NE and E sections of 8 that are pretty hard core NIMBY, so he does need to cater to them somewhat.  He's big on property taxes, which admittedly the city council can't do a ton on but they can make noise and push politics..

    The problem is that the sprawl is already here and that our infrastructure is overwhelmed.  You obviously need increased urban density to keep the sprawl from getting worse, but Ellis is on record as opposing the construction at the 290/71 Y in Oak Hill.  That's insane.  Her reasoning is both environmental and 'neighborhood character', but the sprawl is already well past that intersection and the problem needs to be fixed (much like LaCross/Salughter and SH-45).  I'm not saying I support decking every highway down here to double the traffic capacity (and double the urban sprawl with it), but growth is happening, regardless and you have to update your infrastructure with it.  She more concerned with stopping it all together.  I can't agree with that.  And while ultimately the highways aren't directly the City Council's call, just like property taxes, they have no direct authority, but that doesn't mean they can't have significant influence.

  3. On 11/27/2018 at 12:54 PM, DigglerontheHoof said:

    I don't understand the Charlie hate.  No, he wasn't good, his coordinators sucked and, yes, he had to go and he's gone.  But FUPM left this program in complete disarray; Charlie inherited a shit sandwich.  Hell, Mackovic left the Texas program in MUCH better shape than FUPM did.

    Charlie didn't leave the cake baked but he did leave some key ingredients.  Wish him well in his future endeavors. 

    The cupboard wasn't half as bare as the Charlie lovefest wanted us to believe.  Mack was far from perfect, particularly at the end, but he had enough talent to win 8 games his last year and I guarantee we would have won more than 16 games over the next three years had Mack stayed.  The biggest problem Mack had was staying Manny _iaz after year 2.  He didn't want to have full turnover of the staff again so quickly and after Harsin bolted, he chose to stick with _iaz.  

    It was time for Mack to go, but Strong was just a lazy hire.  He wasn't that great at Louisville and his on the field game was practically a mirror of Mack (underperforming offenses, failed to rise to the level on too many big games, etc.).  There were plenty of coaches out there that could have fixed the entitlement issues of the players without wrecking the program.

    Strong may have left more talent than Brown did, I think that's debatable given how thin we still are at so many positions, but one thing that Mack left that Charlie didn't was an expectation to win.  The players Charlie left expected to lose.  That should NEVER happen at Texas.

    • Like 2
  4. 1 hour ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

    For the record, I thought Troxclair was a good fit for her district and a good councilperson.

    And I would have assumed that Ward was along her lines until his shocking responses to questions on land use and planning. He sounded more like Leslie Pool or Allison Alter than Troxy.

     

    I actually think he's just playing politics.  There's a couple guys in my infill builder's group who are pretty heavily involved in politics and they think Ward is a friend to increased density.  He's just pushing the 'neighborhood character' angle for the NIMBY votes.  I sent him a facebook message and asked him "How do you up-zone in key transit corridors without 'impinging on the character of existing neighborhoods'? "  His response was typical political speak, but the feeling I got was that he was fine with up-zoning in central Austin more broadly and along key corridors in the south, but he just didn't want to see ADU's, triplexes, whatever in places like Legend Oaks/Circle C.  

    Ellis also supports up-zoning, but she's been heavily involved with a lot of environmental groups that have opposed things like the SH-45 extension, Slaughter/LaCross over passes, etc.  Her idea of environmentalism is put everybody downtown and stop all progress in South Austin, including anything that would actually help traffic.  So if you like traffic, she's a good person to vote for.

  5. 7 minutes ago, Dirk X West said:

    Right, he's the one, and that was, what?, 32 years ago? He was also a former UT player.

    And nobody was interested in Spike Dikes who stayed on forever, you fired Leach who managed a whopping 1 season with more than 10 wins, hired a has been who was mediocre at best and bolted for a mid-tier school, and then gambled huge on someone that didn't work out.  Come back and talk when you have some who's really successful and sticks around afterward.  

  6. Any chance OU has at making the playoffs rest in beating Texas on Saturday. If OU was resting this weekend, Ohio State would jump them by beating an average Northwestern team. The Big 12 was forced into this game because the committee's ever changing measures for determining the Top 4.
    Or you know they could just schedule some regular season games on 'championship'. OU would have done just fine inthe optics department playing OSU or WVU next weekend in a regular season game

    I do not like OU

  7. If it didn't exist we wouldn't be watching the Horns this weekend.
    It's a bit earily like 2001 though. After Aggy in 01, sitting at 10-1, we were a lock for the sugar bowl as an at large. They blow u lost to ok Aggy and we go to the CCG, loser and get relegated to the holiday bowl.

    This year, if there were no CCG or WVU hadn't lost to OSU, OU likely end up in CFP and we go to Sugar at the Big12 replacement. Instead, a play OU and while we may still 3nd up in the Sugar Bowl with a loss, they probably take WVU over a 4 loss Texas.

    Still like the opportunity to play for the conference title, but sucks if we end up in the Alamo bowl.

    I do not like OU

  8. I'm ok with it but I think we should drop back to 8 conference games. That extra game just guarantees 5 losses. The SEC pads their stats by only playing 8 conference games, why shouldn't we? If two teams go undefeated since they don't play that year, they still play in the champ game

    I do not like OU

  9. Did I miss it in this thread but on aggys last regulation drive, why did they not measure that first down on 4th down and 16 or whatever? At least with the line on TV, it looked like the ball was about a foot short the way the guy landed. Was the line on TV just that far off (I know it's not always accurate)? I was sucked they didn't at least measure it, it looked very clear to me that he was short

    I do not like OU

  10. I'd prefer WVU just because we lost to them in such a shitty fashion. Would love to see the D get vindication.

    And tickets will be cheaper so I might be able to go.

    Side note, not that I'm interested in participation trophies, but is there any type of title for the 'regular season's first place team? Just curious as I know in basketball and baseball they have regular season champs and tournament champs and in the old days we had football division champs.

    Just curious if WVU does win and we have a three way tie for first, would OU still technically be a regular season co-champ?

    I do not like OU

  11. The real question is why do we suck against inside kicks so much? How many have been recovered against us this year? It's got to be close to 50%. I remember onsides kicks being like a hail Mary, occasionally works but just a desperation play. I'd pick them against us every time.

    And Humphrey had no one between him and the end one on that recovery. He could have been in the endzone, not that it mattered but would have been a nice fuck you.

    I do not like OU

    • Like 1
  12. I suspect that the org has some type of insurance. But what is the theory by which the org is responsible? Cumberland was already a member and wasn't getting hazed (if hazing was even going on). And regardless, if there was hazing, it did not contribute to the accident. The org may have provided Cumberland with alcohol while under age, but there are no indications that his BAC, if any, contributed to his death, i.e. he wasn't driving and he didn't pass out. The report is that the driver fell asleep and crashed. Cumberland was the only one in the car not wearing a seat belt and was ejected. I think the only way you pop the org is by arguing that the org provided alcohol to the driver and that his BAC was over the limit and that caused him to fall asleep. Social host liability theory. But the defense (whether it be the org's defense or the driver's defense) is going to argue that Cumberland was contributorily negligent in not using his belt. 
    The allegation is that the pledges were subjected to sleep deprivation which had a direct cause in the accident. These guys never should have been allowed in a car for a 2.5 hour drive if they'd been sleep deprived. It's no different than getting someone absolutely plastered and then letting them go for a swim in the Colorado River in full cowboy garb. Which is what happened last time and lead to their 5 year ban.

    I do not like OU

  13. Dude, you might want to pump the brakes until the investigation is complete.  The Penn St comparison is laughable.  Why did you look into the cost of building a cannon in 1995?  Your hyperbolic reaction leads me to believe you have motivations beyond morning the loss of a Longhorn student.
    I looked into it because they were refusing to let anyone use it while they were banned. PSU is a good comparison because the problem in both cases is the deeply engrained culture of believing the law doesn't apply to them.

    I literally had zero interactions with the Cowboys during their 2 years on campus while I was there. I do take the reputation of the univesity very seriously though and I take the problem of hazing very seriously Read their website. They go on and on about how they represent the best of UT, etc. Their hazing actions have now lead to the deaths of two students. How anyone can defend them with a straight face is beyond me.

    I do not like OU

  14. While I might disagree to what degree it needs to hit them, I don't disagree these guys need the hammer dropped on them.
    I certainly agree that they are going to be off campus a while. The last similar case I can find happening on campus was Lambda Phi Epsilon, they were kicked off campus for 6 years in 2005. I don't know their disciplinary history. This was via a very cursory search.
    And look, this isn't defending the by any stretch, more along the lines of asking questions, think of it as, you're the one advocating they be gone, convince me':
    So you mention they have been on probation every decade since the 40s. What are the dates, and what for?
    How does their track record compare against other organizations?
     
    I'm basing this on articles written around the 95 incident, so I don't have the information readily available, but I'll look for it. I think the Texan archives are all online. There was no oganization even close though. Any organization that got in trouble that much just wouldn't survive without serious alumni backers.

    I do not like OU

  15. Well, to give some perspective, that was nearly a quarter century ago and I'm not sure they have continued that pattern. Also I find it difficult to believe that 9-11 penalties for hazing made them the most penalized organization in University history, although maybe it was registered student organization, which frats haven't been since the 70s.

    I know back in the 80s, the independent members knew what they were in for and largely acquiesced to the hazing.  Now, there are a huge number of non-Greeks that are Cowboys and Spurs and I don't know how you get them to acquiesce to being paddled >100 times on two separate occasions or drinking themselves into a blind stupor (although the latter is easier to believe than the former).  So I am inclined to believe the organzation(s) (here including the Spurs) have changed.  But I do not know to what degree.

    Also, by "cool" I meant they look cool on the sidelines, Smokey and Bevo are cool.  They are infinitely cooler than bell ringers, or sooner schooner twats, or most of the other sideline goofballs other schools have.  I don't believe most people see them and think, "oh, those are the pledge-murdering frat assholes  . . . . "

    Wow, you just keep making excuses for them. Do you really believe that they just suddenly started hazing again after keeping thier noses clean for 17 years? Are you that naive?

     

    Even if they aren't paddling pledges like they did in the 90s, there are plenty of other forms of hazing, like sleep deprivation, that are illegal and dangerous. They may have changed their methods but they have not changed their ways.

     

    No matter how 'cool' they look like the sidelines, they don't deserve to represent our University anymore, if they ever did.

     

     

     

    I do not like OU

     

     

     

  16. That's the exact point. These incidents are NOT few and far between. They keep happening over and over. At least in 1995, they had been on probation more than ANY other organization in UT history and always for hazing. It was either 9 or 11 times at that point, I cant remember which. And it's not like they weren't hazing then just sudden it goofed each time. Its a pattern of behavior year after year where they just got caught every few years, didn't give a shit about the penalities and continued on.

    They deserve to be gone permanently

    I do not like OU

    • Like 1
  17. 34 minutes ago, Captain Ron said:

    I can't say that the group is rotten to the core, but clearly there are some people within that group that have made some seriously bad decisions. Given that this is a repeat offense for this squad, something drastic has to happen such that this never happens again.

    It goes far beyond 'some people within that group that have made some seriously bad decisions.'  It honestly reminds me of the cultural problem at Penn State.  GoLL eviscerated them on the old site about how the culture pervaded everything surrounding PSU football and that the only way to clean it was to nuke it from orbit.  This is basically the same.  Look at the history of this organization.  

    Sure, they have a lot of prominent alumni that have legitimately done a lot of good things in life, but the Texas Cowboys simply isn't one of them.  The only reason that shit stain of an organization still exists is because of the power those assholes wield.  Consider the following:

    They were founded in 1922 - Starting in the 1940's, they literally did not go a SINGLE decade without at least one period of probation related to hazing.  Did they get the message?  Did they change their ways?  Nope, the hazing just got worse and worse until it culminated in the death of a pledge in 1995.  They had just been placed on probation the previous fall for hazing (you may remember we had no Smokey for 3 games in 1994 due to this), which followed on being probation for hazing the year before!  

    After Gabe Higgins was killed, President Berdahl dragged the leadership of all spirit organizations, frats and sororities for a big meeting on hazing.  It was pretty brutal at times.  He flat out said maybe if he had taken a harder line on hazing before, Higgins would still be alive.  But unless they had banned the organization, it obviously wouldn't have mattered as these assholes didn't care and didn't think the rules, or laws, applied to them.  This time they got the 5 year 'death penalty.'

    Only it wasn't the death penalty.  Literally within days, they formed the Texas Cowboys Alumni Association in order to 'preserve their traditions and history.'  Not once did the Cowboys or their alums apologize for the disgrace they brought onto our University, even after the civil settlements.  They did however refuse to let anyone else use Smokey during their 5 years, at first.  They finally agreed to let the Spurs fire it off, after they extorted $10k from them (which, not coincidentally, was the same amount the state levies as a fine in hazing cases).  

    Then they came back in 2000.  Ohh now, their alumni association had assured everyone that they'd taken a hard line against hazing.  Of course, we all knew it wasn't true.  Just google Texas Cowboys and hazing.  You'll find posts online as far back as '04 asking about how bad the hazing is and people talking about it being brutal.  But hey, they did manage something from 2000 to 2010 that they hadn't in 60 previous years.  They managed to not get put on probation for hazing for once!

    In 2003, they did manage to raise a bunch of money for a Gabe Higgins pavillion at the alumni center.  Take a stroll there some time.  There's a reference to his death, but last I looked, I failed to find any taking of responsibility, mention that the hazing of Higgins resulted in the 5 year ban of the organization, etc.  It was just a 'tragic accident' after all, just ask any Texas Cowboy member or alum.

    And now, here we are in 2018 and another pledge has died after a serious period of hazing.  Just like Higgins, while it may not be provable in a criminal court of law that the hazing directly led to the death, there's zero doubt it was a large contributing factor.  But, hey, their alumni association released a statement about how serious they take all this:

    Quote

    "The welfare and safety of its students is the first priority of the Texas Cowboys,” the association wrote in a statement to The Texan. “The Texas Cowboys have zero tolerance for hazing of any kind. After the investigation is complete, the Texas Cowboys will take any necessary actions to ensure a safe environment for current and future Cowboys.”

    Fuck them.  There should not be ANY future Cowboys.  This organization is an absolute embarrassment to our University and a danger to its members and pledges.  It's time for it to be gone.  Permanently.

    In '95, I looked into the cost of building a new canon since the Cowboys were holding it hostage.  It was about $25k.  So call that $50k now, because you know those self-centered assholes will do it again.  We should raise enough to do it and donate the damn thing to University.  The University's traditions belong to the school, not any one organization.  I'd kick in $5k just to increase the possibility that these assholes will never be on UT's campus again.

     

    http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2018/11/18/family-of-texas-cowboys-pledge-requests-investigation-following-deadly-crash

    Quote

    The family of Nicholas Cumberland has asked for an investigation into alleged hazing at this year’s Texas Cowboys initiation retreat, according to a statement provided to The Daily Texan. This follows the death of their son from injuries sustained as a passenger in a car crash returning from the retreat in the early morning hours of Sept. 30.

    The crash, which occurred at 5:43 a.m. an hour and a half northwest of Austin, was a result of the driver falling asleep, according to the crash report. The driver, who is a new member of Texas Cowboys, did not respond to requests for comment.

    “Why was our son and a group of new Cowboy pledges permitted to depart on a two and a half hour drive from a ranch back to Austin around 4 a.m. in the morning with zero sleep after a full day of initiation activities?” the statement said.

    Nicholas “Nicky” Cumberland spent four weeks on life support following the crash and his funeral was held on Nov. 3. Clio Harralson, Nicky’s girlfriend, said Nicky left for the retreat around 4 p.m. the day before the crash and told her he would return the next morning.

    The Cumberland family said they heard allegations of hazing following the crash and then shared “information and documents with the proper authorities,” according to the statement.

    University spokesman J.B. Bird confirmed the University recently received allegations of hazing connected to the accident but didn’t specify where the University received the information.

    “The University takes all accusations of hazing seriously and investigates them as warranted,” Bird wrote in a statement given to the Texan. “We are evaluating how to proceed with the information we have at this time.”

    Texas Cowboys, a registered student organization best known for firing “Smokey the Cannon” at football games, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. In addition, The Texan reached out to four current members of the organization, who did not respond to requests for comment.

    However, the Texas Cowboys Alumni Association said it has launched an investigation into the events of this year’s Cowboys initiation retreat.

    “The welfare and safety of its students is the first priority of the Texas Cowboys,” the association wrote in a statement to The Texan. “The Texas Cowboys have zero tolerance for hazing of any kind. After the investigation is complete, the Texas Cowboys will take any necessary actions to ensure a safe environment for current and future Cowboys.”

    Texas Cowboys were previously suspended for five years in 1995 after the University determined hazing occurred at the Cowboy’s initiation retreat earlier that year. During that year’s initiation retreat, then-pledge Gabe Higgins was found dead in the Colorado River near Bastrop with a blood alcohol content twice the legal limit for driving.

    The Cumberland family notes in the statement that Texas law and UT policy grant immunity to people who report hazing incidents.

    “Our family will have no sympathy for anyone who adopts or encourages a code of silence; however, based on the candid discussions and support we’ve had so far, we are confident that this will be an open, transparent and cathartic process,” the statement said.

    Harralson, Nicky’s girlfriend and a former Texan staffer, echoed the family’s sentiment.

    “We’re not trying to punish anyone,” said Harralson, a Plan II, management information systems and business honors junior. “We just want to find out what happened to the person we love.”

     

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