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Magus Ossis

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Posts posted by Magus Ossis

  1. 20 minutes ago, Viper said:

     

    Every time I see someone trying to defend Hersh by pretending a US official might plausibly say “poor waif in his underwear” then I find the whole thing hilarious all over again.

     

    Note that even the very few people defending Hersh still have to admit that his “anonymous US official” used a russian idiom translated clunkily into weird English.

     

    Most people who usually spread Hersh’s stories and soft-peddle Kremlin narratives are smart enough to keep quiet about this to avoid humiliating themselves too with their own explanations.

     

    While this may indeed be a “simple translation error”, this is about much more than Hersh.

     

    Even though Hersh has already long descended into pro-Kremlin and Assadist conspiracy theories, his past credibility is still being laundered for his increasingly absurd blog posts that are heavily amplified by Kremlin propaganda and some supposedly credible commentators.

     

    His Nordstream article, for example, played a significant role in establishing the Kremlin’s narrative blaming others for the attack - even though Hersh’s story doesn’t fit any recent developments or the Kremlin’s current versions of the story, which means it was a detailed fabrication by all current accounts. False perceptions linger even after the source is forgotten.

     

    In our part of the world, it was beyond clear that Hersh was being fed Kremlin lines when he wrote recently that the Baltic countries and Poland were secretly urging Zelenskyy to surrender (along with other ‘pro-Ukraine countries like Hungary and Czechoslovakia’ 😂).

     

    The Kremlin is trying to rinse out any last credibility Hersh may still have, while people who indulged his narratives in the past are trying to hide away so it doesn’t affect their credibility.

     

    That’s why it’s so important to keep asking Hersh and everyone who has previously promoted his stories to explain why an “anonymous US official” would say “poor waif in his underwear” as some kind of expression that English speakers would understand in this context.

     

    It’s not even the only absurd, Kremlin-tell in that article, but it is absolutely the most hilarious.

     

    They either have to acknowledge that Hersh isn’t being briefed by a US official or they have to humiliate themselves by pretending there’s a plausible explanation.

     

    Don’t let them off the hook (as English speakers do say).

     

     

    Deion is pulling back from that stuff. Really more an aggy thing. Or maybe you’ve wandered into the wrong forum.

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  2. 1 hour ago, closetojumping said:

    Is it even possible to have a GOR past a media deal? Seems unlikely. Oregon and Washington could safely join knowing the GOR expires in 2031 and they can talk to the Big 10 anytime they like. The Big 10 will be renegotiating their deal ahead of that same deadline. 

    If Arizona and Oregon/UW break away to the Big 12, it seems like the obvious move to avoid the MWC penalties is to merge the conferences. Form a “Pac 16” with 5-6 of those schools and SMU. Maybe Stanford and Cal just bow out of football rather than go that route, but it seems like that would make a lot of sense for ASU, Utah, Wazzou, and Oregon State. That probably gets around $15M/school doesn’t it? If the PNW powers leave the Pac 9, what the hell is left for a media deal otherwise? Arguably less than AAC money. 

    I suppose a GOR to the league could be independent in time (longer) than existing contracts the league makes to monetize the rights, but my thought was that the league could try to negotiate early, trying to ensure that they were never within a short enough interval of the contract expiry that anyone could leave cheaply. It would raise the question of what happens if everybody but the PNW is ready to replace a contract expiring, eg in 2031, for one expiring in 2037.

  3. Assuming Oregon joins the B12, they will be subject to a significant financial hit if and when they desire to break their membership agreement to leave for the B1G. Because their move would not significantly increase the per-team value of either TV contract, no network is likely going to be motivated to ‘underwrite’ much of the cost/penalty. A cagey league, warned by this round of shuffling, could and likely would work to complete future deals and accompanying GORs early enough that the penalty is magnified. An Oregon motivated to escape the Pac would have little leverage for a carve-out when signing up. Even should the B1G decide at some post-B12-join date that they do want Oregon enough to offer, plucking them would be very unlike how easily they acquired Nebraska. A landscape change even more fundamental than this one might be required to allow future defections from now-stabilized conferences as the escalation of conference contracts continues. ACC may already be locked up too tightly for early departures much before GOR expiration, and even MWC’s terms at present may prove strong enough to wound Pac deeply based on awkward timing.

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  4. It’s OK for fans of an athletic program to have an “enemy.” What would we have given to stick it to OU most years or even aggy in their halcyon Sherrill FedEx days? The network slobbering over USC back in 05 bothered me, but the alumni are generally all right in my book. Oregon certainly did more to piss in our Wheaties cheating in recruiting than USC did. I’m at peace with USC having its Ceterum autem censeo Oregonem esse delendam. We can mock their coach and laugh at Utah games and get along with people who don’t pretend to like enemy programs, and we’ll hope to beat them like rented mules next time we face them.

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  5. Calf = muscle. Muscles heal much faster than do tendons (eg, Achilles. Also, most nagging hamstring injuries are tendinous). Muscles have a rich blood supply, but tendons do not.

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  6. The idea of a free market presumes the absence of monopolies. The laws of supply and demand are premised on the idea that there are large pools of potential suppliers and consumers. There are a few players that are so special as to negate this effect when negotiating for free agent contracts, but for the most part, the exception works in the favor of the league. There is no meaningful specific competitor to the NFL. One can not bargain fairly against a monopoly. This reality can be treated in various ways, but it does not vanish. Viewing the 32 franchises as competitors is only partially true. They negotiate the important contracts as a league.

     

    TLDR Playing a game for millions may be cool, but the owners will always be the real winners.

  7. A useful proxy might be average non-Texas and non-aggy UH and Rice football audience numbers in the SWC and post-SWC. I know the TV landscape has changed quite a bit, but it might help illuminate the degree to which the audience reflects interest in a league that includes Texas. It would take some work to control for network and time slot. I have trouble believing that Toledo’s playing ULL in a close game with CCG implications that goes down to the wire Saturday on ABC at 7p Central will be a big draw. There is in my opinion a minimum program relevance factor for people to watch sports on TV in big numbers, even if the other usual variables look favorable. Being in a league or otherwise being even moderately associated with brand names helps lend that relevance. That relevance problem to a degree may well start significantly to affect future B12 games and hence the next contract, even past the loss of the sweeteners put in to help grease the skids on our exit.

     

    TLDR I agree the next B12 contract is likely to fall further behind the P2.

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  8. 5 minutes ago, bullet said:

    No, it just burns it all off in Houston.  Now 90 in Houston vs. 90 in Lubbock is very different.

    As someone who has experienced triple digit temperatures in every Big 12 town in Texas, please let me assure you that the science does not lie. Our bodies do not cool themselves as easily in 100 degree humid environments as they do in arid ones. And heat does not burn off humidity. The same partial pressure of water in the atmosphere will be reflected by a decreasing relative humidity as temperature increases, but this is not the same thing at all.

    image.png.6730ad39393352d6a04944273382446e.png

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  9. In fairness to Florida, one would have to define terms to say with any certainty which school has the best or biggest brand. By some criteria, Florida is in our stratum. By some, we lag Harvard, Stanford, or Notre Dame. Texas, nevertheless, is Texas.

     

    edit Gothic posted about ND while I was still typing-- I agree.

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  10. 5 minutes ago, 'stache said:

    Cheesus, I sometimes forget how reactive this place can be sometimes. Bedlam will get played again eventually, probably not annually, but it’ll happen from time to time. He said the exact same thing several months ago in response to OU homers asking him about it as though all he has to do is pick up the phone, otherwise he must be “ducking” them, because if it’s not scheduled immediately, I guess it’ll never happen, and it’s solely osu’s fault. His response is factual, bedlam is ending because ou is moving to the sec. He’s also said he understands the move. He’s also correct that our noncon is booked for the next 5-6 years, and we have Oregon, Arkansas, Alabama, and Nebraska scheduled for future years. SEC only recently said they’ll play 8 conference games and it’ll definitely be 9 eventually. It’s not as simple as just saying “hey let’s play” especially with the money involved these days with scheduling and networks. Just slow your fucking rolls for a sec.

    If there was a will on OSU’s part to continue the series, it would continue. South Dakota State can be bought out or moved. The series is off for now because OSU is choosing to use OU’s conference move as an excuse to get out of an annual beat down. You sound either fatuous or disingenuous to suggest otherwise. Just admit the truth. The money from playing OU easily buys out much of the trash games OSU schedules. It’s OK to admit you don’t want any part of OU, even when they’re down.

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    • Haha 1
  11. 1. Hired external "independent" investigations are done for clients that the firm serves. There is no doubt that certain operating assumptions were in play to ensure that the investigation, its results, and the manner of their reporting would be in some way helpful and/or favorable to the university. See Baylor.

    2. The university had its opportunity to act in accordance with the report's recommendations or to suggest an amendment based on newly surfaced evidence. Instead President Knee-Jerk fires Fitz when the water gets hot.

    3. Fitz's suspension is an admission of what most here have stated. Coach knew or should have known about widespread, long-term, sexually abusive hazing. The actual hazing seems to be undisputed at this point. The report sounds to me to be crafted with a willing credulity wrt statements exculpating administration to the degree possible, with Fitz as the "gosh even he didn't know, but we are establishing high-level accountability" cutoff.

    4. If they were really sexually abusing players (and it sounds as though they were), while Fitz seems to be in position to hurt NU based on their process, he is not being unfairly punished. One would think whispers of this had made it elsewhere in administration over a course of over 15 years. Perhaps not, but if so Fitz's might not be last head that should roll.

    5. As above, kudos to the journos.

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  12. 10 minutes ago, Crockett said:

    Other than no Sunday play, what are you talking about? You're "answers" remain vague.

    We demonstrably have all the markers of a P5 program (we enter the B12 (minus UT & OU) with the biggest stadium; we have a national following, our record against P5 programs is even or a little better than even; we have a national championship, heisman winner, doak walker winner, NPOY in hoops all in living memory; we have a consistently high ranking in the Director's Cup rankings (for 2022 we were #3, ahead of Ohio State, Texas, and Alabama); and I could go on. So, yeah we feel like we deserve to be in the P5 realm and do operate at a higher level than the teams in the MWC, WCC, and WAC. 

    Like what? You double counting no Sunday play?

    We're accredited and our grads are well recruited by top companies, so almost everyone else disagrees with this take. My BYU transcript was accepted when I went to grad school elsewhere. 

    You seem bitter about something lol.

    I must be misremembering Texas winning the 2022 Director’s Cup.

    Texas wins second Director’s Cup in a row in 2022

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  13. A verbal commitment is like a kid’s crystal ball as of the recruiting season as to where he will play. LOI is the same kid’s CB as of the end of recruiting season. Until they use up their eligibility, there is never really a time when they belong to a school. Love the freedom or hate the lack of loyalty, it is the way now.

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  14. I’m sure there are some fascinating sociological, historical, philosophical, and theological lines of inquiry wrt Mormons. Neither their religion, nor Islam, nor Judaism is really what I come to this board to read, however. Sticking just to football and random blather, we should still have ample material.

    thanks and hookem!

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  15. 1 minute ago, Hurtlocker said:

    I'm beginning to think their fiscal is August to July, so the that moment of one year notice has to occur before July 31st.   USC/UCLA announced to be accepted into the B1G to be on the B1G's new deal, which aligned with the B1G's fiscal July.   

    So if a Pac team doesn't give a years notice before the year ends, they won't be leaving until July of 2025, one year into the new contract, so they're there because they chose to be or because they're fucked to be.

    This. Don’t be surprised to see notice of intent to depart for CU and at least one Arizona school to materialize on 7/31. I don’t know whether their boards (1) have authorized the respective presidents to offer such notice or whether (2) they need to do so. If no to 1 and yes to 2, expect ad hoc meetings by/on that final Friday or Monday.

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