Jump to content

statsman

Full Members
  • Posts

    2757
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by statsman

  1. Israel has always had a problem- Jews are a liberal people, and the idea of a Jewish state is illiberal. Everywhere else in the ME, you have Muslim states. A Muslim state is also an illiberal idea, but the other people are illiberal, so you don’t have that tension. If Palestinians were allowed full access into Israel, and allowed to claim residency, in short order it would become a Muslim state. The Jews would have to flee, submit or die. I’m sorry you need this explained to you.
  2. Israel has decided that, existentially, they cannot let Iran have nukes. And I really mean “existentially” (at least, for this iteration of Iran). There is a fascinating history of the lengths they will go to to forestall that happening - murder, sabotage. Great premise for a dark comedy- a uniquely brilliant young Iranian is encouraged to study physics, and upon graduating, comes into the Mossad’s radar, and then has to try to elude their assassination attempts while deciding what to do as he learns about the regime’s plans for his work.
  3. On the college campuses, I don’t know that it’s motivated by anti-semitism as much as by training to have a default affinity for marginalized peoples. Gazans are poor, and have restricted mobility out, either to Israel or Egypt. Israel takes the lead in restricting and monitoring supplies into Gaza. That is one part of the equation. Deadly missiles are regularly launched, from Gaza, into Israel, aimed at nothing in particular (but they hope to kill some Israelis). Israel has an Iron Dome, but it doesn’t stop all, and intersected missiles still have to fall somewhere. Missiles, and the materials needed to fab them, come from somewhere and get in somehow, so Israel is very careful to try to restrict such shipments. October 7 shows why they are careful about border control. This is the other side of the question. Are the Gazans oppressed and marginalized because of the cruelty of Israel? Or, are they in such a shitty situation because they have a really shitty leadership (like North Koreans)? I think that where you fall on this decision guides how you view the situation.
  4. That’s why I’m trying to nail down whether some ADs are making philosophical shifts. Brent Venables is from two trees- Stoops’ and Swinney’s. I’m pretty sure neither approach is the right one, unchanged, for the future.
  5. I think they are going to clear the tunnels and take the weaponry out.
  6. For blue blood schools, for years, the model to follow in hiring a new coach has been “Hire the most proven successful coach you can”. A few years ago, Texas was going to try that with Urban Meyer, even getting a serious offer together, but we were rebuffed. Here is an observation that I think is right, but y’all might have better info. Texas hiring Sark and Florida hiring Napier are similar strategies. The idea being that each school really decided to reconfigure their football program, boosting support functions (scouting, personnel, analysis) to mimic what Alabama does. The idea is that the tasks have grown too large (recruiting is year round, and you scout the entire nation, HS through college junior year), and organizational roles and responsibilities have to be rethought. To that end, Florida and Texas hired coaches that didn’t come to the job expecting traditional “King Coach” roles. Sark makes a little less that $6M per year with a buyout of 65% of his remaining contract. Napier makes $7M per year with a buyout rate of 85%. The idea is- they are paid to coach, and they have the senior roles in recruiting, but nobody is asking them review submitted recruit tape, or even make the first down select of positional offers. (Down the road, Jimbo Fisher operates a traditional “King Coach” role. Have you heard about his contract?) I think what I’ve posted is right. There isn’t a lot written about this huge shift in philosophy. Is Kirby Smart successful because he successfully imitated the Alabama program at Georgia? I think so, but I don’t know for sure. Brent Venables makes $7M per year, with no buyout discount. Has OU reconfigured their program, or is it still organized the way Riley left it? I don’t know. Im curious as to your thoughts.
  7. Thinking about your points doesn’t make me feel good, so I will ignore them. (Just kidding. Dammit, why do you make me think of this?)
  8. Luckily, the girls took care of soccer and volleyball. Now, for football.
  9. I heard a podcast recently where the speaker noted that Abbas hasn’t had an election in 18 years, and that’s a good thing, because Hamas would win if they did. Is that not right? Jews are a liberal people, but a Jewish state is a very illiberal idea, so there is a structural instability (Muslim populations tend to be illiberal, so Muslim states don’t have the same tension). The issue is: two states vs one state. The world has brokered two-state solutions, Israel has agreed to two-state solutions, and the Palestinians have consistently rejected two-state solutions. If you view it as a single state, the Palestinians are an ejected and oppressed people that are victims until allowed free unfettered access to all of Israel. This would be the end of the Jewish state of Israel, and the beginning of the Muslim state of Palestine. If you view the area as two states- Israel is not responsible for Palestinians outside the Israel border. The Palestinians need to govern and care for themselves, and final borders are negotiable. Until both sides agree on the one-state vs two-state issue, there can be no resolution. By withdrawing from Gaza almost 20 years ago, Israel tried to force acceptance of the two-state idea but the Palestinians refuse to accept it.
  10. https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/israel-hamas-war-biden/card/map-shows-labyrinth-of-tunnels-made-by-hamas-under-gaza-identified-by-israel-IieNDixn5Bs78HeUi46v
  11. I get the argument. Fox is obligated to show B12 games on Fox at 3:00. The B12 content is mostly stuff that should be on ESPN2 or FS1, but some will have to be shown on Fox, on Saturday afternoon. We’ll find out how it works out.
  12. Every time? Yes. UT, TAMU, OU, and LSU dominate Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana TVs. Their slots will be staggered. That’s not even counting Georgia, Florida and Alabama playing games. If you think the SEC 3:30 game, when OSU is playing KSU, is going to be MSU vs. Kentucky… The B12 media rights owners will have to decide if they want their best games on Saturday afternoon or Friday night. Texas wasn’t just the B12 cash cow; it was also a defense against SEC encroachment on and ownership of Texas TVs. And your league office despised it.
  13. I’ve rethought this. One problem with the past data on IR8 matchups- before 2024, they have never had to compete for viewers with major local powers, like UT and OU. Maybe they were counter-programmed with LSU or TAMU, and maybe not. Next year, every time a B12 game is scheduled for Fox at 3:00, it will have to compete for viewers with games like OU-Arkansas or Texas-Georgia.
  14. Interestingly, Russia wants a multi-polar world while China is calling for a new (China centric) world order(I.e. mono polar around Beijing).
  15. I really don’t see a significant difference in public interest between UCF/KU and (from your list) OSU/KSU (I believe the increased viewership of the latter was more from time slot than raw public interest). Maybe I’m wrong, but I have to think Fox grabbed UCF/KU for a reason.
  16. Thunder makes a great argument that the B12 will have a place staked out on Fox’ main channel and not be relegated to various FSx or ESPNx cable channels. I was looking at this year’s ratings for that slot so far. Last week, Iowa played Wisconsin (yaaaaawn) and 2.34M watched. The week before, UCF played KU, representative of what the B12 will be putting out going fwd, and 1.45M watched (50% more watches the evening ESPN OSU/KSU matchup; interesting the impact of time slots as well as channels). The week before, Michigan played Nebraska and 4.48M watched. The week before, UCLA played Utah and 1.32M watched (ouch! For UCLA). The week before, WKU played tOSU and 2.82M watched. The week before, Iowa played ISU and 3.38M watched. In week 1, 3.21M watches Texas host Rice. That is a channel and time slot that can deliver good numbers for an interesting matchup. Even unexciting B10 teams get better ratings than typical B12 teams. The challenge for the B12 will be in that ABC and ESPN can counter with more interesting matchups. I expect a heavy dose of Colorado there.
  17. I imagine Hamas will run the forensic investigation the same way Russia ran the investigation the 777 they shot down over Ukraine in 2014, not allowing any help, and coming to similar conclusions.
  18. Possibilities: IDF missile Hamas missile misfire Hamas missile intercepted by IDF (Iron Dome?) Question- does the Iron Dome intercept Israel-bound missiles while over Gaza, or West Bank, or Lebanon? I hadn’t really thought of that, but if so, I can’t really carp.
  19. It was explained to me (haven’t we all shared the experience of finding out about Aggie weirdness as freshmen, talking to old HS friends that went to A&M, as they tried to make it sound normal and reasonable?) that Aggies squeeze their balls so they will feel the same pain as their players actually in the fight.
  20. I think the biggest problem for the B12 teams, in getti mg those nice ABC, Fox and ESPN slots is the competition with the expanded SEC and B10. Say OSU beats Arkansas next year and ISU beats Iowa, and they meet up mid season with one or two losses, and ranked. That same weekend, the SEC, for example, might have Texas and Tennessee, LSU and S Carolina, OU and Auburn, and TAMU and Arkansas. Ok, so much for ABC and ESPN. How about Fox? Well, the B10 hasUSC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon to match up with blue bloods, too I think there will be a whole lot of FS1, ESPN2 and Friday night games for theB12.
  21. Texas made a really good hire in 1998. OU made a great hire in 1999. OU had better to significantly better coaching than Texas from 1999-2021 (until evidence to the contrary comes in, I’ll assume Riley is better than Sark, and I like Sark). This 23 year span convinced a lot of Sooners that there is something in the water in OKC that makes football players faster and more aggressive. There isn’t. UT has advantages that OU doesn’t- Austin is a more attractive college town than OKC, Texas has a more vibrant economy, state pride matters when recruiting Texans (Stoops was pissed that Mack was able to recruit that 2005 team while OU was owning UT), more degree status. OU has advantages over UT; the primary one is that the university subordinates everything to football success (this is Ohio State’s secret sauce, too). OU has made shitty hires; what sets them apart is in how quickly they move them along. I think it was shitty the way Riley swiped his best Sooner players to follow him to USC, too. Tell me this- at what point in his tenure at OU was he instructed on recruiting and roster building ethics?
  22. Sometimes life seems like a dream, especially when I look down and see that I forgot to put on my pants. Love can sweep you off your feet and carry you along in a way you've never known before. But the ride always ends, and you end up feeling lonely and bitter. Wait. It's not love I'm describing. I'm thinking of a monorail.
  23. We used to laugh at Grandpa when he'd head off and go fishing. But we wouldn't be laughing that evening when he'd come back with some whore he picked up in town.
×
×
  • Create New...