Hank Chinaski

Haha yes. We are, what, in year 13 of being absolutely mediocre in every imaginable way? Nobody needs some sort of intangible, righteous “culture” to beat fucking Texas in a football game. It’s all narrative bullshit that helps them get their rocks off for a week every fall. Another way of summarizing the game is “a senior QB, with a million career starts, outplayed the freshman who’s played about 12 quarters of college football, and led his higher-ranked team to a home win.” I know that doesn’t have quite the dramatic flair that “winning culture” has, but is quite a bit more grounded in reality.

I think every team in the B12 is within a standard deviation of being as good as each other. It’s kinda like the NFL. So, 3-2 or 2-3 are probably the safest bets. (Though I guess now it’s 2-2 as the safest bet.)

Hey I was at that game. Visited my USC buddy that weekend. I told him after the game that Texas would beat USC because VY was going to absolutely gash that SC defense that I just watched, and that the Texas defense would be good enough to slow SC down a little. 38-35, I told him. He said “no, you just have to keep VY in the pocket and he’s not that great.” I told him he didn’t get it. Turns out, I was right for once.

Lots of similarities to Tom Herman.

3-2. I thought we’d be 8-4 before the season started and the team seems about as good as I expected/hoped. Still a young team with a young QB and some soft spots on D, but certainly seems better than the ‘21 team. And though a 3-2 finish seems maybe a little disappointing right now, and I wouldn’t be shocked if Texas goes 4-1 or 5-0 (because they could obviously beat anyone on the schedule), or 2-3, overall 8-4 would be a good season and a nice step from last year’s clusterfuck. (Then I’ll be sort of expecting a “next step” / 10-win season in ‘23.)

Hmmm…what year was that? Simms, VY, Gilbert, and Ewers (though he was a transfer) are the only 5* QBs I can recall signing with Texas. That’s 4 in a 20+ years span. For 20 years it seems like everyone feels the need to exaggerate/pretend that every player Texas signs is a 5* recruit.

Well here’s the thing. He’s listed at 5’10” and 178 lbs. the average American adult male is 5’9” and 200 lbs (!), so he’s actually taller than average. He’s a reasonably fit pro athlete; the average American male is considerably less fit. I’d estimate that he’d fare pretty well in a fist fight against the majority of Surly posters. Agree? I don’t know what that number is, but let’s say it’s 75%. Now, you may be in that 25% minority. But, if I had to bet, having never seen you in real life, I’d bet on Straw, because I have to play the odds. No offense. (Typing out an explanation as to why it’s reasonable for Surly posters to assume that Helo couldn’t “beat up” Myles Straw in a fistfight was certainly an unexpected use of 5 minutes that I’ll never get back.)

I could be wrong, but he strikes me as a better NFL coach than college coach. Maybe @slorch or someone can correct me, but seems like recruiting and/or talent evaluation wasn’t his strong suit while at Tech. That’s most of what makes college coaches successful. Seems like he’s at his best when he can outsource the defense to a capable DC and let a GM build the roster. I do find it funny that Kliff is light years better as an NFL coach than Urban was. And honestly, not that surprising.

Yup, great season for the Ms. I thought they’d be tough but not quite as good as they turned out to be in ‘22. Julio is a legit star and DiPoto knows what he’s doing.

Yeah that’s Tom Herman level immaturity/insecurity.

Hey hey hey take it easy, I’m from the NW Houston suburbs. (Of course, I couldn’t wait to get the fuck out of there and get to Austin as fast as I could, as opposed to the crew that wants to keep the Nw Houston suburbs party going in CS.)

I’m not sure what the author of this is supposed to be outraged by. What am I missing?

I've bowled a 232 sober. And that same month bowled a 37 after 7 Long Islands and a couple pitchers of beer. I doubt I could beat a 37 stone cold sober. It’s the damndest shit. I was always at least decent at any sport I have ever played, even good at a few. But I couldn’t roll that goddamned ball straight if my life depended on it.

I don’t know about “B-“ but he did miss a few throws. The obvious one was missing a wide-open Whittington for an easy TD the play before that horrid INT. But there were a few others that were complete but, because he was a little off, could have been much bigger gains than they were. It was also his first game in a month and only his 3rd college game ever, so it’s not like any of that concerns me about QE.

lol “beat #10, beat #13” Put another way: “beat a couple teams that are currently unranked.”

Maybe. I expect some “Machado got SD to the playoffs by himself” narrative.

Imagine researchers tested 15 drugs on hundreds of subjects, and then, instead of recommending the use of the drug that clearly and significantly has the best results, they instead pick the top 6 and test them on 3, 5, and 7 subjects, in somewhat arbitrary pairings, and make their recommendations based on that. That’s the MLB playoffs.

This is the most interesting race IMO. I think Goldschmidt, Arenado, and Machado will be the top 3. I’m guessing that Machado takes it, as the two Cardinals take votes from each other. Would have no issue with any of the 3 taking it - will be good to for one of those 3 guys who’ve had great careers to win an MVP.

Yeah, plays a role in the production of testosterone. Back in the 90s it was available to anyone anywhere. But yeah, McGwire or any player having it didn’t seem like a big deal because it was just a supplement, not banned by MLB (it was banned in 2004) nor illegal. It was reclassified from dietary supplement to anabolic steroid in 2005.

I mean, there was some speculation back then, but it was almost entirely ignored. People loved both guys and were all-in on the HR chase. Yeah, the andro thing…in 1998, that wasn’t a banned substance and anybody could buy andro at the grocery store. I remember the reporter asking McGwire about it in his locker, but there was no reason he shouldn’t have had it.

Yup. Between ‘21-‘22, he played in 155 games, hit 48 HR, slugged over .620, about a 175 wRC+…and his K rate spiked to 28%. Will be interesting to see what the rest of his career looks like. He’ll be 31 next season: he obviously remains one of the best hitters in baseball, but hasn’t been able to remain healthy. I don’t think his 30s will be exactly like Griffey’s (at least I hope not), but they could end up with really similar careers arcs (interestingly Griffey also hit 40 HR in his age-30 season, which was his first with the Reds, albeit in more games and in a crazy offensive environment (Trout was much better relative to the league)).

People don’t give a shit if NFL players use PEDs. They just don’t. It doesn’t sully anyone’s reputation, etc. It’s really just a baseball thing. Secondly, nobody liked Bonds. He always came across as a prick. Baseball writers have a long history of creating narratives around guys that don’t kiss their asses, and that was probably part of it; Barry was probably also just a bit of a prick. There was suspicion around him while he was breaking the record, which somehow wasn’t really a thing for McGwire or Sosa 3 years prior. And the fact that he set the mark just 3 years later meant his chase lacked the same type of enthusiasm anyway. But yeah, it’s still the record. Just because people don’t respect a record or wish someone else had it under different circumstances doesn’t mean that you just get to pretend it isn’t the record. MLB didn’t test for anything back then. By 2001 everyone knew it was an issue, and MLB didn’t do anything. Don’t be mad at Bonds just because he was head and shoulders better than everyone else in that era.

FSU fans: