Richard Kimball

You and a few other posters have raised some legit points. Working for a college, I can tell you that if I let one of my subordinates go, and another company calls to ask about that subordinate, I'm very limited in what I can say. If I give a bad reference, I open the college up to the possibility of a lawsuit if that bad reference results in the former subordinate not getting the job. High profile jobs like coaching may be different, but the only time I can talk about a former employee or student is if they put me down as a personal reference. Anything else gets referred to human resources for employees, and all they'll do is give dates of hire and separation, job description, and they can reveal if someone was fired for cause. If they weren't fired for cause, you open up a helluva can of worms if you start saying, "well, there were rumors he was hitting on female students."

Also, the British think food is a form of punishment. Spotted dick? Blood pudding? I used to own an MG. Every part that fell off of that car was of the finest British craftsmanship.

With everything except players, Jones is a brilliant negotiator. A guy who can't negotiate couldn't have gotten ATT Stadium built and moved that many marquee college games into it. Guy was able to swing having the Rose Bowl and the Cotton Bowl in his stadium in the same bowl season. The problem with player negotiations is he's got no clue as to player value. I always thought that was why he and Jimmy Johnson were successful together, but neither was (as far as team performance) on their own. Johnson knew who they needed to get. Jones could close the deal. When Johnson went to Miami, he knew who he wanted, but couldn't close the deal. On actual player negotiations, yeah, they do some really goofy stuff.

I always thought he signed Manning's corpse because Tebow was popular with a lot of the fan base and he couldn't cut him without bringing in a big name.

Wait a minute. When did this go from worst casting to 70s female stars that get you hot? NTTAWWT. Heather Thomas.

Guy I worked with played golf at UT. He took a part time job at one of the major country clubs for something like $7 an hour cause employees got to play the course. I used to check my watch when we'd start talking to see how long it took him to start talking about golf. Never more than a minute, and I don't play golf or care about it, so it wasn't like there was an opening for him to start talking about it. Used to have to interrupt him, cause he'd relive every stroke on a round if you didn't stop him. I asked him why he didn't go pro, cause you gotta be pretty good to play for UT. He said, "I don't like golf that much." I said, "What the hell are you talking about. You're obsessed with golf." He said to be good enough to turn pro he'd have to ignore his family, holidays, and everything else in life. As obsessed as he was, he said he couldn't ignore everything else in life to chase the pro tour.

Don't have a story that good, but when I was with Austin Fire, made a wreck on I-35. Saw three people in the front seat of something like a Toyota Celica, and three in the back. I asked if everyone was okay, not knowing none of them spoke English. They all nodded okay. Turned out none of them understood me, some of them were hurt, and there were people behind the people in the back seat. Ten people in that car. Fortunately, nobody had life threatening injuries, but I felt like one of those magicians pulling scarves out of his sleeve. EMS was pissed. They kept having to bring more units.

That's great! Stents are no joke.

66. Spent ten days in the hospital last month with COVID. Usually in pretty good shape, but that whipped me. Still getting over it.

Even if interest in pro sports has flattened, the networks are in a bind, as sports is the only thing left that people will tune in to watch live, and the NFL has the highest ratings of any live sports programming.

Don't have ESPN anymore, but they had an option where you could just watch the sky cam. I watched any game where they offered it. You didn't get replay, but on most games you could hear the stadium announcer and didn't have to listen to the commentators. That was another plus.

Not sure, but I don't think Tom Brady has ever been higher than 12th or so in QB salary. However, both of Brady's teams were smart enough to use that money to fill out the roster with good quality players. If Dak took 25 million like Brady did, I have trouble seeing the Cowboys use the extra 15 million or so wisely.

Crazy how much things have changed. When I was a student at UT, there were several faculty members going out with students. Never heard of an instructor harassing a student, but there were definitely faculty/student hookups.

So, you're Manti Te'o?

You make good points. Shaka is a great recruiter, and at VCU he was able to recruit guys, and they could out talent most of the teams they played. Look at the VCU schedule this year. How many losses would Texas have with that schedule? West Virginia is the only possible one I see, and UT split with them this year. Thing is, though, you're not going win against Kansas, Baylor, Oklahoma, Texas Tech and West Virginia with talent alone. That's where the game planning comes in. Top to bottom, the Big 12 is a terrific basketball conference. Probably 2/3rds of the schools are recruiting at a very high level, and when you have similar talent, it comes down to game planning and setting up mismatches with the other team. Your point on Bilas, also, is important. Smart commentators know they have a megaphone and that off the cuff comments can blow up. I've never gotten this impression about Smart, but I've known some coaches that will carry a grudge for years over a relatively off hand comment.

Probably posted several times already, but they have some great old classics. During the snow week I caught the original Stagecoach and Sunset Blvd again.

Tell Jimmy not to worry. That son of a bitch does it to everyone.

Gotta give cred to him. He was one of the first to have a crazy celebration. He was also 5'9", and did it in an era when guys like Jack Tatum could still legally decapitate you on the next series.

If Cam returns to the Patriots, they get some decent receivers, and use the offense to take advantage of his running skills, he could be successful with them. I didn't watch the Pats much this year, but the change from Brady, one of the best ever at reading defenses and throwing the receiver open, but has the mobility of a small office building, to Newton, who isn't nearly as good at reading defenses, but can force the defense to dedicate players to watch his running capability, probably takes more than one year. Contract size isn't an issue with Newton right now. He's looking for redemption after being released by the Panthers and the rough season last year with the Pats. I can't think of another team that's ready to contend for the playoffs where he would fit. Rivera is coaching Washington now, and spent ten years with Newton. Their QB roster may be a little crowded, though.

No worries. Take care, and fuck OU.

Did you see this part of my post?

If there's one thing most people don't expect, it's having an engine come flying through the front door of their apartment and hitting them.

Yeah, pretty asinine for me to comment on a football player on a football thread.

So do Lamar Jackson, Matt Ryan, Rich Gannon and Brian Sipe.

Whether it was a good signing or not wasn't the point of my post.