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Herman vs. Strong


bschoolprof

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At this point, it looks like both were bad hires, though some still hold out hope for Herman.  Many have noted the eerie similarities in their tenure thus far.  One thing that is different is the reaction of the fanbase to their failures.  

By this point in Strong's tenure (1 game into season 2), most fans had not turned on Strong.  There were doubts, to be sure, but there was a lone thread on Shaggy calling for Strong to be fired, and most of the first few pages were posters telling the OP (subliminal) he was an idiot, etc.  Bear in mind we were coming off perhaps the most embarrassing bowl performance ever (at least offensively), and Strong had decided to retain the OC everyone knew he shouldn't have hired, let alone retained after a year.  However, most fans seemed to stick with Strong into year 3 with the OC search fuckery and the hiring of Giblet. Us Strong haters were a vocal minority.  My recollection is the fanbase was still split 50-50 or thereabouts whether he should stay or be let go well into year 3.  It wasn't until the Kansas debacle that even the most ardent Strong apologists realized their support was irrational and keeping him was untenable.

Now, with Herman, one game into season 2, the majority of fans seemed to have turned on Herman (myself included).  And it's not just on this site.  Most fans on the 995 sites seemed to have turned on him as well.  Why the difference?  I can think of a few possible reasons:

1) Herman is an asshole and Strong is kind of an "aw shucks" likable guy

2) We didn't want to look like we were being too hard on our first black coach

3)  Strong followed Mack, whom many argued had allowed the program to rot, thus initial expectations were lower for Strong

4) We have suffered from battered fan syndrome so long, we know what a dipshit coach looks like when we see one 

I think 3) is the biggest reason, though others may have played a role.  Thoughts? Muledick?

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It has been repeated ad nauseum, but Charlie Strong was a likeable guy and therefore got the benefit of the doubt for a lot of bone headed decisions. Most people ended up agreeing that the responsibilities of managing a program the size of Texas was too much for him, and that he’s much better suited to a place like USF where alumni pressure is a lot lower and you only have to prepare for 2 or 3 really high quality opponents per year.

Tom Herman is the opposite. He a condescending dickhead to the media, presumably to BMD’s, and has a bad habit of turning large numbers of the team against him during the offseason. He digs in his heals defending underperforming assistants and manages to look like a child throwing a temper tantrum in doing so. He plays favorites with players who have never done anything on the field to deserve it. Either he is going to learn to show humility and be willing to admit and correct mistakes or I think he’s on track for an awfully short leash from CDC. 

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I think you are missing the most important one to me.  Tom has told us 2 years in a row how prepared his team was and then proceeded to look completely over matched by Turtles.  

Charlie had the audacity to tell us that the team wouldn't the winning the national championship.  Mensa Tom told us he had never seen a better team in his life.  He looks like a complete fool.

 

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5 minutes ago, jinx said:

I think you are missing the most important one to me.  Tom has told us 2 years in a row how prepared his team was and then proceeded to look completely over matched by Turtles.  

Charlie had the audacity to tell us that the team wouldn't the winning the national championship.  Mensa Tom told us he had never seen a better team in his life.  He looks like a complete fool.

 

True, but Strong told us his first season was a major failure and we'd never see 7-6 again under his watch (we didn't - lulz).  And then we came out and got buttfucked by ND like we had never even practiced.  

I think if Herman had followed Mack, we'd being hearing tons more "but Mack" and "this was a complete tear down"  and most fans would still be behind him.  

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Strong had some of the most embarrassing losses this side of Mack's OU debacles.  Mack had some leeway for those fuck ups.  Strong losing to Kansas was the end.   Kansas lost to Nicholls Sate yesterday.  Last year, Herman has some wins and three brain fart losses by a QB with the football IQ of a fucking snail.  If Herman does not get his ego in check on some weak staff members and the QB situation then his ass will be gone too. 

Maryland lost a majority of its games last year because we tore up Pigrome's knee and Kassim Hill got hurt soon after.  Maryland,  barring injuries at QB,  will prove to be a Big 10 bowl team.  

I hope Herman gets this offensive mess figured out before USC.  Play Watson, Ingram and Young.  Kyle Porter not so much.  Get Rising some work in the Tulsa game.  

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I think the original poster is spot on with every point. I remember flat out just hoping the black dude would work out because I didn’t want to deal with the bullshit from the media and rivals if he didn’t. The other points are also excellent. It was a far more complicated thing than this Herman bullshit. 

I am LOL at anyone defending anything about Herman at this point. 

Matt Canada coached his first game yesterday. He was at field level for the first time in over a decade. He was coaching through a program scandal. He called all of the plays on offense. He presented a better prepared team and he won. Meanwhile dumbfuck Tom Hermeh proved himself in over his head again when facing a superior football mind. This rube should be wearing bike shorts and tube socks while berating 12 year olds in 7th grade and getting paid to teach social studies. 

I was dead fucking right (as were plenty of others, albeit less than totality of everyone claiming this stuff retroactively) from the jump that he made bush league hires in Tim Beck, Warehime, and Mehbro. He looked like he was repeating the same not-ready-for-prime-time mistakes that Chuckles made immediately in front of him but ooooooohhhhhhh no - Tom Hermeh knew better. 

Well, Tom Hermeh can go fuck himself. I’m crossing my fingers something horrific is revealed in the Ohio State scandal that forces Texas to fire him for cause. 

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Herman's mindset wears thin faster than Strong's. Having said that, I do know that no team is ever as good or as bad as they appear in one game, much less the first game of the season. Herman still has two games left to make corrections and get the team ready for conference play. Usually in college there is a lot of room for improvement over the first 3-4 games. Herman will make or break his season and likely career over how much improvement he can show from now until the usc, tcu, ksu, ou slate of games happens. 8-5 is what he absolutely has to do to keep fans on board with him as coach and keep the kool aid flowing for next season when 10 wins will be the expectation. 3 years is long enough to win 10 games at any major program if you can recruit at all.

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1 minute ago, Surlybastard said:

Herman's mindset wears thin faster than Strong's. Having said that, I do know that no team is ever as good or as bad as they appear in one game, much less the first game of the season. Herman still has two games left to make corrections and get the team ready for conference play. Usually in college there is a lot of room for improvement over the first 3-4 games. Herman will make or break his season and likely career over how much improvement he can show from now until the usc, tcu, ksu, ou slate of games happens. 8-5 is what he absolutely has to do to keep fans on board with him as coach and keep the kool aid flowing for next season when 10 wins will be the expectation. 3 years is long enough to win 10 games at any major program if you can recruit at all.

You are living in fucking fantasyland if you think people are fine at 8-5 with this fuckwad. 

Your post reads like every fan after the first loss to the season from 2010 forward. That is not a good thing for your outlook. 

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Just now, closetojumping said:

You are living in fucking fantasyland if you think people are fine at 8-5 with this fuckwad. 

Your post reads like every fan after the first loss to the season from 2010 forward. That is not a good thing for your outlook. 

8-5 isn't fine. Its the bare minimum that needs to happen. 10 wins next year would be the benchmark to meet. If he can't do that then its time to get a new coach. 8-5 with a couple good wins and solid recruiting class would still have people drinking the kool aid next summer. I guarantee you that.

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54 minutes ago, bschoolprof said:

At this point, it looks like both were bad hires, though some still hold out hope for Herman.  Many have noted the eerie similarities in their tenure thus far.  One thing that is different is the reaction of the fanbase to their failures.  

By this point in Strong's tenure (1 game into season 2), most fans had not turned on Strong. 

Didn't the Fire Charlie thread start after the Notre Dame loss? Seems like we are right on schedule.

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Just now, Surlybastard said:

8-5 isn't fine. Its the bare minimum that needs to happen. 10 wins next year would be the benchmark to meet. If he can't do that then its time to get a new coach. 8-5 with a couple good wins and solid recruiting class would still have people drinking the kool aid next summer. I guarantee you that.

Guarantee in one hand and shit in the other and let me know which one fills up faster. 8-5 and no one wants the fucking koolaid. Joe fan is rolling their eyes and yawning right now. They’ve got other shit to do and it will be reflected in attendance and a continued decline in viewership and merchandise sales. People are tired of the act from the football program and a huckster like Hermeh is the wrong fit with that as a given. 

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1 minute ago, closetojumping said:

Guarantee in one hand and shit in the other and let me know which one fills up faster. 8-5 and no one wants the fucking koolaid. Joe fan is rolling their eyes and yawning right now. They’ve got other shit to do and it will be reflected in attendance and a continued decline in viewership and merchandise sales. People are tired of the act from the football program and a huckster like Hermeh is the wrong fit with that as a given. 

I didn't say I would be drinking it. I don't think he'll win 10 games next year either. I can still hope to be proven wrong though.

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They’re both good recruiters that suck at coaching. 

Something I had completely forgotten: Herman finished 5th in AAC the year before he came to Texas. The AAC. 5th place. And for whatever reason no one in charge (or most of the fans on the shag) saw that as a potential red flag.

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This is as much a managerial issue as Ann athletic one and it is blatantly obvious that this teams managerial system is not up to par with the Alabama’s and tOSUs. It’s not close and it should be. We’re not aggy, isu, Baylor, miss st. or some other bullshit backwoods shithole. We have resources and (had) pull in the industry. We let fucking laziness, hubris, incompetence and just plain greed fuck up a foundation that took a decade to create. 

 

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1 minute ago, Helobious said:

They’re both good recruiters that suck at coaching. 

Something I had completely forgotten: Herman finished 5th in AAC the year before he came to Texas. The AAC. 5th place. And for whatever reason no one in charge (or most of the fans on the shag) saw that as a potential red flag.

Remember, it was because the team knew he was leaving at the end of the year!

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4 minutes ago, Helobious said:

They’re both good recruiters that suck at coaching. 

Something I had completely forgotten: Herman finished 5th in AAC the year before he came to Texas. The AAC. 5th place. And for whatever reason no one in charge (or most of the fans on the shag) saw that as a potential red flag.

There were a few posters on the shag that were very worried about this - most of them were Charlie apologists though , so no one really paid much attention.  I remember cdt23 being really down on Herman and the fact he lost to SMU and Navy.  

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1. with Charlie we knew that Mack had left the program with soft as fuck players and with players that fit no system at all so it was going to take some time

2. while it is hard to think of Louisville as a "big time" program it is bigger than UH and has more pressure and plays tougher teams week in and week out and Charlie had actually built a program there and had success and not only that he did so with a transition to a better conference and he took over a bad program left to him by Kragthorpe

3. Charlie was likable

4. Charlie at least accepted responsibility and said shit was unacceptable right up to and until he was fired when he did try and burn things down a little

5. Charlie did not immediately go in on the facilities as being an issue

 

1. with Herman he took over a UH program that that thinks they are way bigger than they are and that fired a guy for going 8-5 two years in a row after a 5-7 season which came after a string of coaches leaving after 3 years for better jobs......Hermans success was making pretty good recruits pissed off at the world for a game or two (while also shitting the bed in a game or two) while beating mostly "meh" competition week in and week out....Strong took over a program that was 6-6, 5-7, 4-8 so getting worse, played in a better conference and then in Charlie's best year had moved to a BETTER conference

2. Herman had a hard time dealing with HOUSTON SPORTS RADIO which is some of the shittiest and most amateur sports radio media ON EARTH.....Herman made an ass of himself  dealing with two morning DJs that anyone that was not a total dick brain would have handled with ease instead Herman gave them their 15 minutes of fame and then some

3. while Charlies left a bunch of recruits of questionable intelligence he did not leave near the shit show that Mack left and Herman barely improved on that in his first year, talked a lot of shit and then comes out this year and fucks up worse

4. Tom does not even know how to shop for his own groceries

5. Tom seems clueless for answers about why his bullshit does not sell and he doubles down on the same bullshit that even he admits is not selling.......that shit is probably the worst of all he does 

6. Tom immediately went to shit like locker rooms and other stupid crap that Texas is hardly behind on and that has nothing to do with winning, but does attract soft as fuck entitled dumb shits

7. Tom still cannot handle UT Austin sports media which only looks good compared to shitty Houston Sports Media and that looks like total shit compared to everyone else

8. with Charlie he at least finally made a change at OC and while many people knock Gilbert here is what I saw....Gilbert at least came in and was able to teach the team the offense and get them to execute it and it did well until the other teams DCs had enough tape to figure it out.....but you know what it was YEAR ONE for him, he at least got the team to fucking learn something and execute it and if the D, Special Teams and the head coaching in general had not been so shitty that vanilla Offense that other teams were figuring out would have had more wins......and I trust the Gilbert would have been able to implement and TEACH more in another season......with Tom it is clear shit is not working on O, he refuses to make a change, and he cannot get the team to learn the O, he cannot get the team to execute the O, he cannot get the players to match the O, he refuses to understand that and he refuses to try and change it and I see nothing that tells me he could get it taught if he did try and change it.....much less the fact that most DCs have probably figured it out already, but we may well never know because right now the plan for the DC is let Texas run that O and they will fuck it up on their own

 

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9 minutes ago, Helobious said:

They’re both good recruiters that suck at coaching. 

Something I had completely forgotten: Herman finished 5th in AAC the year before he came to Texas. The AAC. 5th place. And for whatever reason no one in charge (or most of the fans on the shag) saw that as a potential red flag.

How do we know Herman is a good recruiter? Who has he taken from HS to the NFL in his career?

(And I was SweetJones, another Charlie apologist who was very concerned about Herman's 5th place AAC finish, and also with his douchey appearances on Houston radio, which included throwing his players under the bus, whining about his lack of fan support, getting into embarrassing feuds with certified morons like aggy John Lopez, and being outed as a poser about his supposed deep knowledge of H-Town rap. That last item seems petty for sure but to me it was revelatory; it screamed fraud. That was the image he tried so hard to cultivate -- UH's hip-hop white dude with the ice grill, but it was all a lie.

The others revealed a skin thin enough to make Bad Mack seem like a pachyderm by comparison. 

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7 minutes ago, ButtFumble said:

 

8. with Charlie he at least finally made a change at OC and while many people knock Gilbert here is what I saw....Gilbert at least came in and was able to teach the team the offense and get them to execute it and it did well until the other teams DCs had enough tape to figure it out.....but you know what it was YEAR ONE for him, he at least got the team to fucking learn something and execute it and if the D, Special Teams and the head coaching in general had not been so shitty that vanilla Offense that other teams were figuring out would have had more wins......and I trust the Gilbert would have been able to implement and TEACH more in another season......with Tom it is clear shit is not working on O, he refuses to make a change, and he cannot get the team to learn the O, he cannot get the team to execute the O, he cannot get the players to match the O, he refuses to understand that and he refuses to try and change it and I see nothing that tells me he could get it taught if he did try and change it.....much less the fact that most DCs have probably figured it out already, but we may well never know because right now the plan for the DC is let Texas run that O and they will fuck it up on their own

 

We barely got to see what Gilbert was capable of -- his playbook was stripped down over the course of his first season by injuries and poor execution until it pretty much consisted of "give it to D'Onta" and "chunk it deep and pray someone runs under it." I really, really wanted to see him retained and have that offense grow with better personnel. 

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The only thing that I know for sure. Is that in my almost 6 decades of watching from a stroller to a walker I have never, ever seen the number of WTF things that have happened over the last few years.

I have seen bad Texas teams, but nothing that even remotely comes close to the strange fucking way we keep getting beat. From coin tosses, to turning the ball over at the worse possible time.

Never have I seen things like this happen as frequently as they have from 2015 until now. It’s like the Mack curse is real, and he put it on us for letting him go. 

As I am superstitious, I believe we need something to happen to change our karma. Just some out of the blue, the same as when you are playing bad golf and you make a putt, chip, whatever. And then birdie the next 3 holes. Because unlike some I don’t believe we have bad players. These same guys were the shit in high school. Something, whether coaching, or lack of it. Is preventing these players from being put in a positive situation to succeed. I refuse to believe we have 85 scholarship stiffs.

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1 minute ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

We barely got to see what Gilbert was capable of -- his playbook was stripped down over the course of his first season by injuries and poor execution until it pretty much consisted of "give it to D'Onta" and "chunk it deep and pray someone runs under it." I really, really wanted to see him retained and have that offense grow with better personnel. 

 

I know it would have never been popular, but I really wished Tom had kept Gilbert, but being an "offensive guy" (yea prove it mensa guy) I knew there was not a chance in hell he would, but unfortunately he did just like charlie and brought in very inexperienced "his guys" and then has been "loyal" to them

and yea from your post above the fake rap and "grillz" stuff was stupid as fuck too again that is G5 shit that sells to "us against the world" programs that take $25 million a year from academics to support their football while crying they belong in the Big 12 because they had a good season or two (before they watched their coach ditch them again)

that is the type of shit you have to throw in the garbage when you come to Texas because it is everyone looking to kick the shit out of Texas week in and week out

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Seems like you all are blaming Herman more intensely about the QB play than you were going to blame Strong for QB play.  Maybe it was because we could find space on the team for Strong's failed QBs -- they clearly were athletes who could make plays.

You guys also have less patience at this point. 

Reverse the situation and I doubt you'd be cutting Strong much slack.       

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52 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

Guarantee in one hand and shit in the other and let me know which one fills up faster. 8-5 and no one wants the fucking koolaid. Joe fan is rolling their eyes and yawning right now. They’ve got other shit to do and it will be reflected in attendance and a continued decline in viewership and merchandise sales. People are tired of the act from the football program and a huckster like Hermeh is the wrong fit with that as a given. 

It doesn’t matter what people want. Even if he only wins 4 games, there is zero chance he is fired this season. Zero.  

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I do and continue love Strong as a person and wish him nothing but good.  He was in over his head and also had to deal with that unbridled piece-of-shit fuckstick Patterson, but Strong never made excuses, took every hit from fans and the media while taking the high road and was just a solid guy, period. 

Compare and contrast with this Heman, whose shit never stinks in his eyes, will tell you that 2 + 2 = 5 because, well, he says so.  And he may present that new math with gold teeth, a baseball bat, sledgehammer or any other candy ass schtick that he or Michelle feels appropriate.

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10 minutes ago, tantric superman said:

Seems like you all are blaming Herman more intensely about the QB play than you were going to blame Strong for QB play.  Maybe it was because we could find space on the team for Strong's failed QBs -- they clearly were athletes who could make plays.

You guys also have less patience at this point. 

Reverse the situation and I doubt you'd be cutting Strong much slack.       

Not sure I get your meaning -- most of Strong's QB's were Mack's guys. Heard was inaccurate and a turnover machine. Swoopes was a decent athlete who could make plays...as a fullback. Strong had Ash for one game and about five minutes -- I often wonder where this program would be if Ash's skull wasn't so fragile. Losing him cost at least two or three wins in both 2015 and 2016, which cost us bowl appearances, and who knows -- maybe a conference championship and better recruits. 

Buechele was Strong's only "guy" and he looked great until he took a helmet in the ribs / throwing armpit from some Cal blitzer. He's never had the same touch or deep ball since then.

 

 

 

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In addition to being an asshole, Herman inherited way more talent than Strong did. Strong had some talent on defense his first year, but by his second season the cupboard was bare and he acknowledged that. Herman certainly didn't inherit a loaded roster, but he hasn't had to deal with what Strong dealt with.  Last year he said this was the best o-line he'd been around and then they stank. This year he repeatedly mentioned how much better the team was. Then we lost to Maryland. Again. 

The defense is better, but otherwise there isn't much difference. So far, Herman's offense reminds me of the last few Mack Brown teams in that the players don't seem to be developing. I suppose the o-line looked better yesterday, but Sam seems to make the same mistakes, the receivers still can't get open (or block), and ... Kyle Porter. We still don't have an offensive identity and we have a bizarre tendency to go away from what works. I don't know what happened with the defense, but I suspect Orlando will get it turned around.

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8 minutes ago, VaHorn said:

It doesn’t matter what people want. Even if he only wins 4 games, there is zero chance he is fired this season. Zero.  

if we lose every game from here out 0-50, he is NOT coming back for a 3rd year. 

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2 minutes ago, Wally Pryor said:

I do and continue love Strong as a person and wish him nothing but good.  He was in over his head and also had to deal with that unbridled piece-of-shit fuckstick Patterson, but Strong never made excuses, took every hit from fans and the media while taking the high road and was just a solid guy, period. 

Compare and contrast with this Heman, whose shit never stinks in his eyes, will tell you that 2 + 2 = 5 because, well, he says so.  And he may present that new math with gold teeth, a baseball bat, sledgehammer or any other candy ass schtick that he or Michelle feels appropriate.

Strong did try and burn it down at the end after he was fired and I lost some respect for him with that because the fuck ups and the Kansas game were 100% on him....I was ready to stay with strong if he had had a 7 win season and either a bowl win or a REALLY GOOD game against a much better bowl team to end the year 7-6.....until that Kansas game when I knew it was over and he had to go

I hope he does well enough at USF to stay for a while and maybe even move on to some other better program where he can have a few good years and then be let go because he did not get them over the hump and everyone can stop saying Texas was the issue and they can realize he just caught lightening in a bottle at Louisville and he was over matched anywhere outside of a G5 program

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1 hour ago, ClubWhatever said:

Yeah I think it’s twofold.  People want good people to succeed.  Strong was good people.   Second, there’s a “fool me once” thing at work. 

Meyer coaching tree-- check

coordinator for UM during MNC run-- check

gets HC job at mid-major-- check

has a few good seasons-- check

has 2 signature wins "proving" next great thing-- check

Getst Texas job-- check

brings along a lot of dead weight staff--  check

brings an NU reject OC-- check

reject OC shits bed 1st year-- check

KEEPS shitty OC into year 2-- check

shits the bed in game 1 largely due to incompetence on O-- check

 

same song, second verse.  We can pretty much guess how this goes from here since it's fucking Groundhog Day.  This is why he's being turned on so quickly, plus he's a prick.  I know you've seen his presser by now.   What's fucked is this is where the timeline likely splits because his narcissism is having no part in demoting Beck Tuesday.  

Charlie tenure was like waterboarding for the fan base.   Hermans tenure is like waterboarding with old motor oil.   You know it's bad because you just spent 3 years getting waterboarded but you really don't realize how much worse this time is going to be.  Hopefully it ends sooner. 

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