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statsman

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Everything posted by statsman

  1. Damn, I wish we could give Ukraine an AC-130 for Bakhmut.
  2. Honestly, I didn’t even remember the 2008 Russia-Georgia War. I imagine I was distracted by the US economic crisis and the presidential election. It was a rehearsal for 2014 Ukraine. Georgia is small, I guess, bordered by Russia and Turkey, and nobody really wanted to respond. The west blew it there and has been paying the piper since. Oddly, this might be the best time for Georgia to push back.
  3. In Stoops’ memoir, “No Excuses”, he has a lot of excuses for why he kept Mixon on the team.
  4. A few years ago, there were about 65 programs in the P5 (plus ND), and there was thought that there should be a super-division of 40 or so schools. Then you have some realignment, some backfill from G5 and now the P5 is set to have about 70 schools (before the PAC reaches down and grabs some more). A couple of conflicting thoughts-no Conference wants to be diluted to minor status and no Conference wants to lose what is considered critical mass. If the PAC decides to add SMU and SDSU, they have just as much right to a seat in P5 (and the CFP) as the B12. (It looks to me that fans of the B12 disparaging WSU and Oregon State is very much an example of the pot calling the kettle black)
  5. Yea, and the R8 doesn’t have a single program as good as UW. That may be a feature for the B12 and not a bug.
  6. I thought that would have been their optimal situation-adding California as a recruiting territory.
  7. I had an interesting experience watching the 2019 RRS at a friend’s house. This friend is a Sooner, as we’re most of his guests. Some were cool, but some really hated Texas (and brought out the worst in my friend). Evidently, they were big participants on Sooner message boards. They explained to me that OU could leave the B12 and be welcomed into any conference. I suggested that Texas could as well, given that Texas draws TV ratings, sells tickets and is a net exporter of recruits. They shouted that none of that mattered since Texas had the LHN and no conference would accept that. There was so much phlegm flying as they shouted that I just dropped it.
  8. There is a lot of disparaging of the PAC. I was looking at this valuation of football programs (I don’t care if it’s a few years old; teams don’t rise and fall dramatically in a few years): https://graphics.wsj.com/table/NCAA_2019 The remaining PAC schools compare well to the remaining B12 schools. UW does look like the best of both leagues. The main problem the PAC has is a poor media contract. The best advantage the B12 has is a good media contract. If the PAC figures out how to solve that (I recommend they look at scheduling to improve the value, as the SEC does with its week 1 and 2 league games), they’ll be fine. I also notice that the least valuable programs in the B12 are the recent additions. (SMU and SDSU would be the PAC’s least valuable, by a lot, if they were added). Conferences are diluting their value as they try to maintain size.
  9. Utah, UA, ASU and CU would be thrilled to be in the B12 with its better media contracts; they don’t care about GoR because they know they’re not attractive to other conferences anyway. Stanford, Cal, UW and Oregon are different. They are more valuable properties (better markets-except for Oregon-better recognition, better history, higher program ceilings). There is just no way that are willing to agree to the GOR that the B12 would (justifiably) insist on. (The B12 is very much starting to look like a “good west Texas marriage”- a union between parties that realize they have no better options). Is there any way the four old PAC members can make a go of it, separately? Without having to add blahs like SMU?
  10. OK, I can think of an example where Texas needed the Ags for help- Bevo. As I understand it, it’s an Aggie family that takes care of Bevo.
  11. My hope is that when Putin dies, the remaining powerful oligarchs will say, “What do we need to do to get my yacht back, my kid enrolled at Cornell and me back in London at the gaming tables? Get out of Ukraine? Da, you bet!”
  12. The truthful answers are: 1. TAMU gets 1/3 of the PUF because Texas BoR agreed to give them that almost 90 years ago, out of a spirit of collegiality. 2. TAMU is in the AAU because Texas sponsored and guided them 30 years ago. Somewhere in the Ag organizational structure, there are elements that know to ask Texas for help when they need it. I assume they have to keep a low profile. I can’t think of an example where Texas needed help from TAMU and received it.
  13. I first infused vodka with habanero (12 days) before a RRS. It was perfect.
  14. Truth. Texas’ history is that it doesn’t shy from a tough schedule. How has Aggy’s strategy of trying to ride a hot team through an easy/fortuitous schedule worked out for them? In 1983, we went 11-0, playing OU and Bo Jackson’s Auburn in non-conference. If Simmons doesn’t get hurt, or if we don’t field the punt, or if the refs call penalties, we would have been undefeated. As it was, we were one point away.
  15. God forbid they use that money to endow some professors and academic chairs, and improve the quality of the school.
  16. On this podcast, Gerry Baker discusses Ukraine, China, Tussia and Iran with Ian Brenner- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wsj-opinion-free-expression/id1609730284?i=1000602218899 Interesting Ukraine points- 1. Forget heavy tanks and F-16s- Ukraine needs ammo, now, if there is to be a counteroffensive. They don’t have it, the US doesn’t have it, and the US is unwilling to go to a wartime economy to produce it. 2. Russia and Iran are rogue nations (which is new for Russia) and China is not, which impacts China’s willingness to kit Russia. 3. “For as long as it takes” doesn’t thrill Ukraine. They want to get this over with and rebuild their country. (my opinion-looking at domestic US politics, … European nations maybe ought to consider going to wartime economies to supply Ukraine with munitions. If they rely on the US, there’s a damn good chance this war ends as well as the Afghanistan withdrawal).
  17. I don’t get these BYU guys bragging about their BBQ. You don’t see us bragging about the magic underwear in Austin.
  18. That’s a great point. I get these emails from Quora answering WWII questions. Whenever there’s a Holocaust question, some German apologist always chimes in that the Allie’s forced the Germans to starve the Jews, through Allie’s bombing. I have no idea how rooted that sentiment is in Germany, but I get that people don’t want to think their grandparents were monsters. (I always reply that there is no law of science or nature that required the Germans to put their Jewish citizens in death camps, and they could have responded to privations caused by bombing by just letting them go free. They never have a response to that and keep repeating their initial point).
  19. (And not getting fucked over, like in 2008)
  20. Here is the shareable (no sub required) link to a WSJ article about a Russian army town. https://www.wsj.com/articles/putins-war-rhetoric-rallies-russias-border-towns-but-nerves-fray-8b269360?st=m1hyhalgqinjiso&reflink=share_mobilewebshare 1. love the “History shows that Russia never attacks first”. 1939 Poland says, “Hi”. 2. The WSJ actually doxed a Russian Spetsnaz who was at Bucha and is now a Ukrainian POW.
  21. CFB is structuring like EPL soccer, with the playoffs looking like the FA Cup. (IOW, participation by all divisions)
  22. https://www.factcheck.org/2020/05/trumps-flawed-china-travel-conspiracy/
  23. That’s a solid point, because nothing has changed in the last theee years to upset the competitive balance and baseline. 😂
  24. A heartrending story from the WSJ, following up on people from earlier reports. This is the shareable link - https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-war-in-ukraine-lives-forever-changed-82669ec4?st=ks2tdkbnnbgf92l&reflink=share_mobilewebshare
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