oSuJeff97

LOL. I made the awesome decision of watching Old School stoned back in the day. I almost passed out in this scene because I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe, lol.

I thought we were in the trust tree...in the nest...are we not?

I suggest you stop being such a fag. You're in the back seat!

100%. I try to judge shows based on what they are trying to accomplish. Mando is a rousing "adventure of the week" series with inspiration from westerns, samuri and 80s prime time action series. Andor is a cerebral, dialog driven series with inspiration from paranoid 1970s spy movies and Cold War films. Both are excellent at what they are trying to accomplish.

Filoni and Faveru understand the difference between animation and live action and have even talked about it in interviews. Filoni talks about how animation is a "heightened version" of "reality" in the SW universes which is why you see the characters (especially Jedi) doing things in the animated series that they wouldn't do in live action. So yeah, Hondo can come off a little "cartoony" in Clone Wars, but I'm betting they would dial that back and still make him a cool character in live action.

It wasn't so much about being "busts" as the fact that there are finite starting positions. I get the idea of 4- or 5-star guys being "busts" if they go to places where they are supposed to be the most talented and they don't pan out... like when OSU snags the random 4-star guy every once in a while... but if you're a 4- or 5-star guy at, say, Alabama, and you aren't starting because there's some other 5-star future NFL star in front of you, are you really a "bust" or is there just someone way better in front of you? Someone like that may be better off transferring to a next-tier down program that's still good but maybe not a blood so they can play instead of being stuck behind some future NFL all-pro. But your overall point actually sort of supports what I'm saying. So far, it seems (with a few exceptions) the portal has largely been about QBs moving around so they can play and then just a smattering of other transfers based on who-knows-what reasons. We haven't seen wide-spread issues with blue bloods poaching players developed at other programs. The exception is probably Lincoln Riley at USC, who has had no problem doing that.

I'd bet money that he's coming. Nearly all of the most popular Filoni characters from Clone Wars/Rebels have either already been seen in live action or are known to be coming: Ashoka - already seen in live action Cad Bane - already seen in live action Phoenix crew - we know Sabine is coming for sure; likely Ezra too with the Thrawn storyline; Hera and Zeb also maybe? Hondo is almost certainly going to join that group in live action at some point. Would bet money on Rex showing up also.

This is exactly what has, and will continue, to happen. People who get all worked up about NIL and the Transfer portal still have to deal with the fact that there are finite roster spots and (more importantly) finite starting positions at blue bloods. It’s not like Alabama can have a roster of 200 5-star guys. I think the player mobility via the transfer portal actually helps spread out the talent more. Yeah sure some blue bloods will poach low-star guys who become studs, but there are also tons of 4- and 5-star guys on the bench who will want to play and will get their chance at a “lower tier” school.

Oh man looks like they are hitting the Jones Assembly in OKC instead of Cain's this time. Bummer. (Although Jones Assembly is a cool venue - I saw Old 97's there a few years ago) Yeah they played at Cain's on their last tour - weren't you originally planning on going to that show?

Gonna put this in spoilers since the show only came out yesterday, but had a question for the group:

LOL same. ”Oooh it’s a big pretty white plane with red stripes…with curtains in the windows and wheels…. it looks like a big Tylenol!”

That’s literally the face I made when I saw them, lol.

Yeah you don’t have to argue with me about the value that Gundy has brought to the program. I have this argument every single time dipshit OSU fans want him fired. But the football program, and the entire athletics department for that matter, are in a COMPLETELY different place than when Gundy took over. The odds are that the next coach will not have the same success that Gundy did because he’s an incredible coach who set the bar very high, but it’s a bit disingenuous to look back on our shitty history and be like, “well Gundy was the only coach with sustained success.” A big part of that was that OSU didn’t do shit about investing in football UNTIL Gundy took over. If Gundy were 10 years older and became our head coach in 1995 instead of 2005 would he have the same success that he’s had? Fuck no. He probably would have been fired in the early 2000s after firing out three or four 4-7s in a row. So while the next coach will likely not replicate his success, they will be in a FAR better position to do so than any other coach in OSU football history.

My point is that OSU has been structurally disadvantaged all along. None of the things that have been pointed out ("second school" in a small state, location disadvantaged relative to Texas peers, etc.) are new problems. If you're telling me the new world order in college football heavily favors blue bloods, I'll say the new world sure seems like the old world order to me. I'll say this - if all of this had happened in about 1996 or so then I'd be singing a different tune. OSU would truely be fucked. But we've spent the past 25 years investing in football and building a successful brand in that regard. We have the pieces in place to navigate the new world and be successful, IMO.

The sidelines will remain tight until morale improves.

Yeah a P5 athletics program planning on spending $300 million to upgrade facilities is the exact same as you wanting to buy the Dallas Cowboys. Boy you got me there. What a completely apt comparison.

Username checks out.

Yep this is my point exactly. The blue blood programs that can afford to pay big $ for recruits are where all of the big-time recruits have been going all along anyway. So if you're telling me that OSU won't be able to afford a bunch of 5-star recruits, I'm like well... OK then. I guess we'll have to get by with zero 5-star recruits instead of our normal number of zero 5-star recruits. Do you think he's the only donor we have? His big donation pretty much caught us to par in the mid-2000s after like 50 years of doing nothing. Since then we have done hundreds of millions in additional facility expansions that he had no part in, including but not limited to: New football Indoor Practice Facility ($20mm) New baseball stadium ($60mm) New tennis facilities ($20mm) Additional upgrades to BPS ($50mm+) We literally just announced another round of facility upgrades yesterday totaling $300mm+ that includes a new softball stadium, new indoor track facility, new basketball and wrestling practice facilities, a human performance center and several other amenities.

OK explain it to me like I'm 5 then. How many programs are there that will be paying $100k/player for a full roster of players? What are those schools' average recruiting rankings over the past 15 years and how do we expect them to materially change going forward? Starting with your $100k/player figure, how far down do you have to go to see material change in competitiveness? $75k? $50k? If OSU can spend nearly a billion $ in facilities upgrades over the past 15 years or so, why is it hard to believe that we would have the resources to be successful going forward? College football has NEVER been a level playing field and never will be. I don't see how this new era is any different in that regard.

When was the last time CFB was an "amateur" game exactly? OSU has put nearly a billion dollars into athletic facilities over the past 15 years in order to put ourselves in position to be successful in this "amateur" game. There's no reason to think that we can't or won't be competitive in the new landscape. And I'm not concerned if we won't have the money to get the level of recruits that Texas or other blue bloods have. We haven't been recruiting on that level in the past 15 years and have been plenty competitive. NILs and collectives aren't changing where the top recruits are going; they're just getting paid over the table instead of under the table so I don't really see what the difference is.

I mean.. "El Guapo" (The handsome) is freaking hilarious too. "Today he is.... 33 years old!"

Yes. They are essentially standalone Mandalorian episodes within BoBF that set up where Mando season 3 will be starting.

[crying] What am I doing in Mexico...???? [crying] I've been shot already...! [crying] I know...!

Also related - one of the things that I (obviously) never picked up on as a kid was the fact that the arms dealers in Mexico were Germans. I’m assuming this was purposeful given Germany’s attempt to create an alliance with Mexico if the U.S. entered WWI.