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Horn of Gabriel

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Posts posted by Horn of Gabriel

  1. From the link above RE: Super League:

    NIL

    The deck proposes a national broadcast NIL (BNIL) construct whereby players receive pro rata shares of a collectively bargained “FB Player Pool,” which would come from the Super League’s TV money. That money would be distributed as follows: 5% to all rostered freshmen, 15% to all rostered sophomores, 30% for all rostered juniors and 50% for all rostered seniors and graduate students. 

    As another means of maintaining competitive equity, the pitch deck proposes a cap that would constrain how much a program’s athletes could cumulatively earn via NIL. The suggested “NIL Roster Cap” would mandate that individual NIL payments for football players at a single school not exceed those earned via group licensing and broadcast NIL (BNIL) deals.

    If a school exceeds the cap for a season, then it would be punished by losing transfer slots, and possibly scholarship slots. If, on the other hand, a school were to fall below 80% of a pre-established “NIL Roster Floor” for two consecutive seasons, it would be relegated to the Under League until it could sustain a full season above the floor.

    =====

    So lemme get this straight...after YEARS of Texas competing with one arm tied behind our back watching Bama, Auburn, and the rest of the SEC and other big programs drop bags and pay players under the table, we are now supposed to accept a "NIL cap" just when we're ramping up what should be our biggest (now fully legal) advantage?  I don't think so...besides this will just re-introduce the illegal bag game and circumvent the rules again so the cheaters prosper.  No thanks, status quo is actually in our favor for once.

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  2. 4 minutes ago, immamac said:

    in content reads are never going to get cut out, those go for such crazy money that it's not really economically feasible to even sell premium and drop those. That's the lifeblood of the revenue for this style of content. 

    Are we saying the same thing?  I'm not suggesting dropping those in the free version, only the paid version.  I don't know OTF's model but assume that ad reads are paid based on impressions like most ads?  They get thousands of streams on YT and probably several thousand +++ pod streams too, would moving the reads out of the premium version impact those impressions much?  Guessing my 9.95 is worth more than my ad impressions for reads...?  My frame of reference here is a crime pod my wife subs to, they snip everything in the premium version and make it work.

    But, maybe the future is not "pay to get no ads" it's "pay to get fewer ads" ...sigh...Amazon just did that with Prime. :( Kinda feels shitty, like "we're going to enshitten the free product enough to get you to pay, but still keep some shit in the paid version too."

  3. 36 minutes ago, Teryor said:

    There's no way I'm the first to make this suggestion but I'd make it similar to Patreon where Premium members get access to a private RSS feed and access to cleaner unlisted/demonetized YT videos? 

    Agree and not trying to get pedantic but the ad free supported version should really be ad free, not just injected ads but snipped of reads for manscaped or whatever realtor.  Heckuva double-dip to pay AND have to still ad skip.

  4. 1 hour ago, Hermanator said:

    How is the YT mobile App not good for driving or workouts? It's far easier to use than apple podcasts. On full screen you only have to double tap anywhere on the right side of the screen to fast forward. Don't even need to look at the screen to do it. On Apple you have to find that exact 30 second skip wheel. And for YT, provided you are smart and use Android, there's an easy to set up app to give YT premium for free. 

    Some of you are too damn lazy to search for solutions. 

    YT mobile CarPlay app is terrible.  And unlike you I'm not a dangerous driver fumbling with my phone as I drive.

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  5. I listen on Apple podcasts, and also noticed about 5 days ago the ratio of ads went up significantly.  Even if these are "auto injected" ads, I doubt very much that Spotify and Apple both turned the dial on more ads simultaneously.  This was an OTF decision and they went too far, it's definitely enshitification. Before I'm accused of not supporting OTF, etc, I'm totally willing to pay for an ad-free version that shows up in my podcast feed (I don't use YT stream and their mobile player isn't good for my use cases: car, workouts).  In fact, I'd sign up for OTF just for that.  I figure anything useful on the OTF website typically shows up here within a few minutes so I don't need that, but the ad-free pod would be a value I'm for which I'm willing-to-pay.

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  6. I had to get a shoulder MRI in January. The place at Cedar Park medical center had an older MRI machine and I didn’t fit. Like sausage in the casing. I’m a broad shouldered guy 240 lbs and they wanted my shoulder dead center in the machine - they even had a jig to hold my shoulder in place. Problem is that only leaves half the normal space for try rest of your body. It just wouldn’t work. I told the guy to pull me out and he said it’s common, they sent me across town where they had a newer machine with a bigger opening that could fit my gigantic girth.

  7. It was good: war really sucks, especially when it's us on us regardless of the politics.  Bad people (Plimpton) tend to pop up during war doing bad stuff.  War is innocence lost.  Mostly I found it as a love poem to war reporters.

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  8. 10 minutes ago, hornfan785 said:

    I'm at the game and have no idea what the refs just called towards the end of the 3rd that gave Denver a technical free throw. What did they call?

    Flop on the Spurs, don't remember who.  It was earlier in the play and they let the play end and then assessed the foul

  9. 14 hours ago, BigHorn'13 said:

    Watching that Michael Jordan documentary on Netflix lead me down a rabbit hole on Air Jordans. They apparently released a city series on the 10's, but none were Texas cities.

    So I started searching "Air Jordan Houston" and saw they had an assortment of Oiler editions that looked nice. But then I mistakenly searched "Air Jordan Texas Longhorns" and came across this monstrosity 

    Screenshot-20240404-202851-Chrome.jpg

    I mean... It's gotta be a joke, right? Right?

    Season 18 Omg GIF by America's Got Talent Stand Up What GIF by 800 Pound Gorilla Media What The Fuck Wtf GIF

  10. Good article on why Wemby/Sochan probably won't work: https://www.poundingtherock.com/2024/3/28/24110793/victor-wembanyama-jeremy-sochan-spurs-spacing-starting-lineup?fbclid=IwAR3y1GQ0R3B0yV8I3oTycdgRCyDGJc9MwWGKahMMxoEMFqxvfee92jq8g0g

    TL;DR - Sochan can't shoot.  Even though he's (slightly) improved, he's so bad of a shooter that the defense hides their center on him and sags help off to cut off passing lanes and provide help defense on Wemby.

  11. 25 minutes ago, allrightallrightallright said:

    I just realized that when I renewed my Season tix over the phone because their website was shit, that they didn't ask me about OU Tix.  I called in just now and they said that OU Tix won't be happening for another couple of months and I will get an email.  This is the first time I can remember that I didn't have a chance to opt in when I renewed.  Did they screw me over by not offering it when I renewed?  For those of you who were able to renew online were you able to opt into TxOU?

    It's been separate for at least the past few years.

    • Hook 'Em 3
  12. This is a ratings vs. nostalgia fight.  Neither #15 Princeton or #9 OU has any shot of winning the bracket, and only the slimmest of shots making the FF.  So the question becomes what's more interesting (nostalgia) vs. what will people actually watch (ratings).  For me the mid-major/small team is more interesting than the 9th team in the Big12 or 7th team in the SEC making it in, even though the ratings disagree because those brands pull along their viewership.

    Case in point, I actually flipped over to the Oakland vs. NCState game in multi-view and during halftime of the Texas game because I was interested...but to @TKthunder2 point it was in the final 5 minutes and OT.

    I'd argue the "magic" March Madness is the broad inclusiveness and the feeling of "everyone has a shot" (even if they really don't).  Start dialing down the small teams for the 8th place SEC team, etc and you lose that magic at the alter of the dollar.  It will happen, because money, and people like me will complain, because nostalgia.  But railing against it is railing against inevitibilitiy.

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  13. On 3/23/2024 at 7:52 PM, TKthunder2 said:

    Again, sportswriters and common fans like to romanticize underdog upsets but the cold hard fact are that no one watches those games outside the final minute or two.

    ...

    They see the final shot/miss on sportscenter or YouTube/tictok or twitter/fb but none of that brings in any money to the NCAA or P4+BigEast. The data doesn’t lie.

    I don't doubt this but you're citing this stat about the final minute - what is the source on that?  Asking honestly, not as a gotcha.  Yes, I did google first, and most of what I found was ratings in the aggregate, not minute-by-minute.

  14. Hunter was BAD last night.  Really really bad.  Yeah he got some buckets at the end but we never would have needed that if he hadn't put us behind the 8-ball over and over and over again.  You can't have 5+ turnovers including 3 on inbounds, especially as a mature player.  At his very best he is streaky AF, at his worst he's a team killer.  Love his energy, hate the streakiness and low IQ play.  If he wants to come back as a bench player and demonstrate that energy and higher IQ, great.  If not, good luck in Europe.

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  15. Pretty much what I was saying upthread: https://theathletic.com/5346282/2024/03/16/spurs-regional-team-san-antonio-austin/

    Quote

     

    AUSTIN, Texas — For the second time in as many seasons, the Moody Center on the campus of the University of Texas became the temporary home court of the San Antonio Spurs.

    A standing-room-only crowd of 16,222 treated the Spurs’ Friday night game against the Denver Nuggets as if it were a playoff matchup. And never mind that the Spurs (14-53) were playing the reigning NBA champion Denver Nuggets (47-20), which are now back atop the Western Conference standings.

    The atmosphere was electric — from start to finish.

    What fun it was, even for the Spurs big men who had to deal with 2023 NBA Finals MVP Nikola Jokić, looking lately very much like this season’s most valuable player.

    “Actually, it is (fun),” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said a few days ago of facing Jokić. “He’s something else.”

    “Something else” for Jokić on Friday was 31 points, seven rebounds and five assists without him playing at all in the fourth quarter of Denver’s 117-106 victory. In  the three quarters he played, Jokić gave Victor Wembanyamaanother lesson in what the Spurs rookie called “controlling the pace of the game, never being in a hurry and making his teammates better.”

    Sounds much like the description of an MVP.

    Austin proved a welcoming host to both teams as it neared the conclusion of its 2024 South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival despite Nuggets coach Michael Malone’s bemusement at having to play a game in a “non-NBA” city.

    “I don’t know why we’re here,” Malone said 90 minutes before tipoff. “I’m still trying to figure that out. But, here we are, so you’ve got to embrace it.”

    The game was in Austin because the Spurs organization is committed to embracing its fans in one of the fastest-growing cities in America. They will play a second game there on Sunday against the Brooklyn Nets to finish off what the organization calls “I-35 Series,” recognition of the highway that connects the two cities separated by about 70 miles of the heavily trafficked freeway.

    You also can call it one more intriguing aspect of Austin’s annual SXSW festival, and therein lies much of the reasoning behind the Spurs organization’s outreach to Texas’ capital city.

    What better way to shed the team’s long-standing designation as a small market franchise than to cultivate one of the wealthiest cities in one of the fastest-growing areas in the country during one of its singular events?

    “We have a market that isn’t in the top 10 in the country,” R.C. Buford, CEO of Spurs Sports and Entertainment (SS&E) told The Athletic. “When we connect our San Antonio and Austin markets we become one of the major players in the professional sports community.

    “We’ve got the fastest-growing region in the nation. Between Monterrey (Mexico), south Texas, central Texas and Austin it’s the fastest-growing economic region in North America. So, we want to come meet our fans where they are. We’ve got great fans and have a community in Austin that’s been a part of our team and culture for years.

    “It’s really just being the Bay Area — Oakland, San Jose, Santa Clara, San Francisco — that’s what this is. It’s 60 miles that separates us. How do we connect that?”

    Indeed, Golden State is the NBA’s best example of a regional franchise, one that came to San Francisco in 1963, moved to Oakland in 1971 and returned to San Francisco in 2019 with a brief stop in San Jose during an arena renovation in Oakland in 1996-97.

    The Warriors now stand as the NBA’s most stable model of success over a diverse but connected region.

    The Spurs hope to solidify their regional connection with what may well be annual I-35 week promotions. Those may not always coincide with Austin’s SXSW festival that takes place over two weeks in early March, but the organization won’t mind if they do.

    GettyImages-2079448992-scaled.jpg
     
    Jeremy Sochan of the Spurs arrives at the Moody Center before Friday’s game against the Nuggets. (Michael Gonzales / NBAE via Getty Images)

    “It’s a great opportunity for us to meet the fans where they are and expand our impact work,” Buford said. “The ability to take our Play ATX programming across Austin is an incredibly unique way to connect with our fans. To be a part of South by Southwest is a unique opportunity.

    Play ATX is a multi-year program of the Austin Parks Foundation and Spurs Give, the team’s nonprofit arm, dedicated to renovating parks and basketball courts throughout the city of Austin.

    You won’t find this weekend’s two Spurs games listed among official SXSW events. Nevertheless, the arrival of both teams at Moody Center on Friday was met with the same anticipatory buzz that accompanied SXSW musical performances by the likes of The Black Keys and Armani White, among dozens of others.

    “Austin’s a great city, and a lot going on here right now,” Malone somewhat reluctantly acknowledged. “If you like music it’s a good time to be here.”

    A Saturday afternoon game at Moody featuring the G League Austin Spurs against the Capital City Go-Go will be followed by the Sunday evening game between the Spurs and Nets. Meanwhile, various members of the Spurs family, including Wembanyama, Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson and David Robinson, were involved in additional SXSX activities all weekend.

    There have been other so-called regional franchises in NBA history: The Kansas City-Omaha Kings, based in Kansas City, Mo., played 15 home games in Omaha, Neb., 185 miles to the northwest, for their first three seasons (1972-75) in Missouri.

    However, it is Golden State that is the true model for what the Spurs seek to become. The Warriors’ 2019 move from Oracle Arena (Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum), where they had played for 48 years, to Chase Center, put them in the geographic heart of a region that stretches from San Jose to Oakland.

    Changes in Spurs ownership over the past four years have alarmed a segment of the San Antonio populace that both envies and resents Austin. Austin’s population is now estimated to be just under a million; its metro area is around 2.4 million.

    San Antonio’s population also has increased rapidly over the past decade, now estimated at just over 1.4 million. Its metro area population, including New Braunfels, is just under 2.5 million.

    When Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Austin-based Dell Technologies, and San Francisco-based Sixth Street Partners, which manages some $50 billion in assets worldwide, bought out 11 of the Spurs’ then-22 investors in 2021, there was considerable gnashing of teeth among a San Antonio fan base concerned about what the change could mean for the long term. Sixth Street reportedly gained 20 percent of the club, Dell 10 percent, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

    Buford points to the team’s $500 million investment in its Victory Capital Performance Center, on the northwest side of San Antonio, to assuage fears.

    “San Antonio is our home,” he said. “We just spent a decade building the most exciting performance campus we could imagine.”

    Such institutional assurances likely will need to be repeated often in a greater Bexar County for which community angst sometimes seems like a way of life, especially when Austin is on the other side of any comparison.

    For proof, look no further than the “Texas Taco Wars” that erupted in 2014when a critic for an Austin food magazine claimed the capital city was home to the state’s best breakfast tacos.

    Outrage in The Alamo City was instantaneous and viral. A San Antonio restaurant worker posted a petition on change.org calling for the writer of the Austin-fawning article to be exiled from the state. Before long, then-Austin mayor Steve Adler “declared war” on San Antonio tacos. That prompted then-San Antonio mayor Ivy Taylor to challenge Adler to a “taste-off.”

    The controversy sizzled like lard on a hot comal, until it didn’t. No taste-off occurred. Both sides smoldered.

    That was then.

    The Spurs I-35 Series is now.

    In terms of connecting its San Antonio and Austin fan bases, the Spurs also have a keen interest in efforts to provide rail service between the two cities. SS&E has kept track of talks between the county judges of both Bexar County and Travis County (encompassing Austin) about revising an old Lone Star Rail District to examine the prospect.

    SS&E also is aware of an ongoing study by Henry Cisneros, the former San Antonio mayor, about the overall future of the I-35 corridor, including possible rail lines. Cisneros, who resigned as mayor in 1989 to accept a position as secretary of housing and urban development in President Bill Clinton’s administration, is considered a leading expert on the synergy of the two cities. Members of the Spurs organization already have engaged with the former HUD secretary.

    “We’ve connected with the leaders throughout our communities to do what we can to bring this mega-region together,” Buford said. “We would be thrilled to be a part of a rail system that connects our communities.”

    Remember, the “incredible mega-region” includes Mexico, where the NBA estimates there are no fewer than 30 million NBA fans. The Spurs have visited Mexico City six times, for both preseason and regular-season games.

    Buford would welcome additional Spurs games there, and perhaps a few more in other countries.

    Paris, anyone?

    “Our club has been incredibly international for the history of our club,” said Buford, whose expertise and experience internationally is nonpareil. “Playing where our fans are, meeting them at their level, is everything we’ve ever tried to do for our club.”

     

     

  16. 4 hours ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

    I like these Austin games but I would be beyond pissed if I were still a season ticket holder and they took a game vs the defending champs and Jokic v Wemby out of the package so they can “expand their market”. The nets? Sure. But that was one of the marquee games of the season, even as shitty as the spurs played in it. 

    It's good for this Spurs fan living in Austin now ;) 

    I see it more as the Spurs laying claim to the Austin metro area for the future whenever expansion happens again to pre-empt any possibility of a discussion even starting of a new franchise in Austin, regardless of Austin's growth, size, or money.  Kinda surprised that the new arena discussions for S.A. are focused on downtown vs. on the Northside for that reason.  In the next 20 years the Austin/S.A. metro area will be even more contiguous, not quite DFW integration yet but getting there.

    I remember 25 years ago when I would drive from the N. side of S.A. (bitters/blanco area) to my apartment off of Oltorf in Austin it was 50-60 minutes max and it was all fields full of cows.  Now Austin to S.A. is 90 minutes on a good day and it's one gigantic strip mall the entire way...'

    It's kinda a good thing that Austin FC has been solidly established as a franchise in Austin first actually.  Spurs Sports and Entertainment (SSE) feels kinda mafia-esqe in S.A., like any other franchise has to kiss their ring and grant a significant ownership % or SSE will foreclose any chance they have of starting up.

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