flatdawgs

Come on, Trojan Man - nobody at UW thinks of USC as an equal. Part of the Pac's problem is that USC is, and has always been, the conference's only blueblood. When you suck, there's nothing else to fill the gap in national relevance. UW is a strong "next tier" program, but there's no delusion of bluebloodery at Montlake. It's a place where you can be in the conversation. It's not a place where you will be the conversation every single season. USC most definitely is. Much as I hate what's happening with CFB in general, if it's a $40 MM vs $25 MM offer until the next contract, UW and UO would be fools not to jump - and if that's what Fox wants, they're going to get it regardless of some punitive desire for a perceived slight.

Ohio State backing out of the UW series is for two reasons - their stated one that now with the LA schools on board, having to go aaaalllll the way west twice in one of those seasons just isn't faaaaaiiirrr, and their unstated one that UW is probably better than they had expected. Any B1G schools bitching about having to make a 2nd trip west for an OOC game while the LA schools must travel east at least 4 times a season - exclusive of any OOC games such as SC-ND - are a pathetic joke.

Much like Orbán in Hungary, there's a veneer of democracy in Türkiye that Erdoğan still needs to deal with. It's why he's making stupid promises about re-housing everyone within a year. These soft dictatorships win elections by controlling the message via state media, jailing the opposition (if they appear to be too much of a threat) and handing out goodies left and right. Fragmenting the opposition is more important than imprisoning them. Neither country is a single party dictatorship; it's just that AK and Fidesz have all the ingrained advantages. Pinochet in Chile and the military dictatorship in Brazil both lost power via the ballot box - in Brazil to the "Diretas Já" (direct elections now) movement, and in Chile via a plebiscite that Pinochet lost by 11 points. Both occurred because the opposition coalesced against leaders that thought their systematic advantages would hold as they had in other elections. While Erdoğan still has those advantages, enraging his own supporters may well cost him. Perhaps not, but it is still possible (it is also possible, as you say, that it will take a coup - but this tragedy makes that more likely as well).

Fuck Erdoğan. One of the only good things that could come from this disaster (apart from better enforcement of building codes) is him getting destroyed in May's elections. This part of Türkiye is a stronghold of his and - needless to say - they are not pleased with him or his government.

Just denaturalize his bitch ass and deport him. God, living in the Age of the Toddler Kings sucks.

I have more major sports national championships over the last 70 years than aggy. Well, maybe not. But it's close.

I had no idea anybody was playing college football at all in the decade after 2001. I've heard otherwise on this board, however, so I'll have to take it on faith.

Swords into plowshares something something (but not yet)

Dammit, I'm going to be in the Algarve in late April (was hoping for Portimão to replace China). Oh well. Would love to do Baku sometime but probably not this year. The 4 week gap between races will kind of suck.

Kraken become the first team in NHL history to go 7-0 on a road trip (probably not a lot of those, but still...). 🦑

I assume the Germans told the Dallas Zoo that they couldn't let the leopard go somewhere else. /Ukraine thread

The food in Europe is amazing - for whatever region you happen to be in. The quality tends to be better, they've been making it for a couple of thousand years, and there's nearly always a local wine or booze that goes perfectly with it. It's the diversity that's lacking compared to the US, even in the larger cities. Portugal, for an example - insanely good breads and pastries, even at the supermarkets like Pingo Doce, great seafood, wine - and piri-piri chicken is hard to beat. (Can't wait to get back to Tavira for all of the above.) But good luck finding much from anywhere else of the level of variety and quality you can find in most American cities. (Definitely agree with you as well re the breakfasts in Europe.)

Well, yeah, the first 11 times. /no aggy

Bonner? Depends on where you are - if its ski/golf/water, probably a reasonable mix of folks... if not, you'll hear banjos. Lots and lots of banjos. (Best friend grew up across the state line in Pend Oreille County and has a lake house there. The people at the lake are a pretty wide-ranging mix politically, which is nice, but drive a mile in any direction and you're an extra on a Squidbillies set.)

Damn, just reading his tweet in his voice.... 🤣

If there's a transfer portal for cheerleaders, aggy's already called.

Yet another Big 10 loss. So sad.

Hell, they dragged you off the West Coast - isn't that enough for you? 😂

Move along; nothing to see here....

Damn desert curse. I'm not sure we've won there since aggy was national champs.

3am kickoff came a bit early (Chur, Switzerland >>> SA, except I assume the Tex-Mex here is subpar). UT worried me before the game and that didn't end until the game did. I hate the "sit out the bowl" thing although it obviously helped UW. Of course, y'all are Texas and we are not, and the Horns' talent across the board is better than UW's even with all that. Sark? He got us out of the worst period in school history and for that I thank him - but it was time for him to go when he did. I honestly don't know what he can do for UT at this point. I was impressed by UT's defense in general; this was the most explosive O I can remember at UW and Texas stayed in it until the end. I'm a guest here, but a fan too and am glad I can go back to pulling for you guys. Hope to see more of the Horns in the future. A UW-UT home-and-home would be epic.

That's not even a good troll, aside from that (and the incorrect date). Most of the players he mentioned are either long gone or just made-up names. The UW hasn't played anyone since Washington State. We neither play ball control nor worry much about TOP. Someone should be kind enough to show him where the bowl game is, at Kroger Field in Collie Station, and perhaps after he will regale us with a tale of how great everyone in Texas is and how although he's a lifelong "Husky" now he wants his kids to go to that incredible university he saw there simply because so many wonderful fans showed him around and said "Howdy!" and gave him a thumbs up even though there didn't actually seem to be a game going on at the stadium. Because that's the level of writing that was.

See y'all in Portimão. (Or on the 2023 post - thanks all!)

Unfortunately I thought we would suck again this year and made other holiday plans, so I'll be trying to stream it through a VPN at 3am in Switzerland. Sucks since for whatever reason we never play the Horns. Would seem to be a great home-and-home series opportunity. Still hoping to come down for a RRS soon though.