SL Xpress

I guess maybe suicide is on a spectrum? Someone who puts a gun to their head and blows their brains out is on one side of the spectrum. Someone who only goes outside in a hazmat suit made up of bubble wrap would be on the other. I'd say the guy was hellbent on making a name for himself, had limited resources to do it, was running out of time and funds to make his dream a reality, and was willing to go through with risks other reasonable people would have balked at. He was also willing to take other people's money and put them at risk as well. Reading the article it becomes obvious everyone understood deep sea diving involved tremendous risks, and that things could go wrong for any of them. It wasn't the idea that people could possibly die while in a deep sea submersible vehicle that concerned them. They had already gotten past that objection a long time ago. Their concern was how Rush's negligence and hell bent attitude for realizing his vision was going to set back the industry when the inevitable occurred, and it was discovered how reckless he had been the whole time. I don't know that I would classify that as suicidal, in terms of seeking out his own preferred method of killing himself, as much as just a complete disregard for any risks he was taking because his identity was wholly connected with the success of his venture, and he didn't have the money to spend to make it safer. But again, I'd say these things are somewhat on a spectrum.

If Mike White comes in second in softball every year for the next 10 years there will be plenty of people talking about how he's a failure as a coach. That's just how it is. Personally, I'm glad we have the guy. It used to drive me nuts with the amount of softball talent in this state and the amount of money they spend on the program we weren't any more competitive than we were under our previous coaches. Gasso is an all timer. She's extremely good at what she does. It sucks to lose to her team, but it's not some kind of personal failure on White or any of the Texas players that OU was much better. They didn't win four championships in a row by providential luck. They've been the equivalent of the Wooden UCLA teams. They've had the Eddie Reese of softball over there. I know it was only one person, but calling Elliott an also ran until he won the latest back to back trophies is pretty rich, too. I get it. If you don't win it all, but you're very successful, you're known as the coach/player who never won it all. Dean Smith was known that way until he broke through in '82. Michael Jordan had that reputation early on with the Bulls. Could score, but could never lead his team to a championship. Bobby Bowden and Tom Osborne both had that reputation before they broke through. If UT had fallen short against USC in 2005, his reputation as a head coach would be entirely different. I choose to see Mike White building an extremely successful program, that will continue to have a tough time against OU. Same thing with the women's basketball team with Staley at South Carolina and Voldemort over at LSU. But the series win was still a heck of an accomplishment against a program that has completely dominated us. Okay, we shit the bed in the championship series. The season still represents a step forward. Hopefully they can break through and win it all soon. Maybe next year!

That will change next year.

One thing I feel highly confident in saying. Whoever permanently replaces Putin is going to spend a lot of time tearing down his legacy in an effort to build their own. May not be whoever takes over directly after him if they're dependent on his legacy for their control. But if someone establishes their own loyal hierarchy, part of it is going to come from distinguishing themselves from Putin. Also, maybe Andrei Belousov can be their Robert McNamara.

I'm a little late to the discussion, but James Patton was a defensive tackle for us for one of the unsung best defensive units in Texas football history. The defensive line in particular was fearsome. Patton and Tommy Jeter were the defensive tackles, and Shane Dronett and Bo Robinson were the defensive ends. Teams had such a difficult time moving the ball against that defense, but the offense was beyond putrid. Ended up with a losing season at 5-6 and McWilliams was fired at the end of the year. Patton was an awesome defensive tackle. He didn't play much in the NFL. Picked 55th overall. He had a hip injury that never really fully healed. As far as names for our Beach Volleyball complex, is we're thinking along the lines of Deathstar or Starkiller, I vote for calling it the Thanos Snap.

"I been caught stealing, once, when I was five I enjoy stealing, it's just as simple as that Ah, well, it's just a simple fact When I want something, man I don't wanna pay for it Now I walk right through the door And I walk right through the door Hey, all right If I get by It's a-mine Mine, all mine Hey! Yeah, my girl, she's one too She gon' get her a skirt Stick it under her shirt She grabbed a razor for me And she did it, just like that When she wants something, man She don't wanna pay for it She walk right through the door Walk right through the door Hey, all right If I get by It's a-mine Mine, all mine Let's go"

This is what pisses me off the most. There was a time the Ukrainians had the Russians on the defensive. Then the aid stopped, and it all became a series of depressing information, while in my community no one even thinks about the war in Ukraine any more, really. Then you look at the vote in both houses, where there's overwhelming bipartisan support for aid, but the minority has been able to dictate whether the bill even gets to the floor for months now. I like how the NY Post labeled the house representative Moscow Marjorie, because that's how it's felt to me, regardless of any other politics involved. And she's not the only one.

If Beard takes Ole Miss to the Final Four, we'll see if he gets looked at or not the next time the Kentucky job comes open. Unless we're all assuming Mark Pope is just the man to right the ship. Of course, we're a long ways away from Ole Miss doing anything significant just yet. It's just not much of a prediction when Ole Miss didn't even make the tournament last year. Not much to go on. Miller in much the same situation.

If Beard takes Ole Miss to the Final Four without melting down in some way he might get a different level of consideration. He's not going to get considered when Ole Miss didn't make the tournament. But the chances of Pope meeting the expectations of Kentucky fans feels pretty slender to me, so he'll get another shot at the job in due time.

Jerritt Elliott's new contract. https://volleyballmag.com/texas-nebraska-volleyball-notes-041124/ Appropriately titled for a Longhorn Network show.

I don't think he would. But I didn't think any of this would unfold. I'm just trying to play out the chaos in a way that most involves my various fan agendas.

Looks that way. It's hilarious either way. I would have enjoyed rooting against Scott Drew at Kentucky, but I'll enjoy rooting against him at Baylor all the same.

When Andy Enfield took the SMU job, I told all of you the only way this can go is that Scott Drew is going to end up at Kentucky. You laughed at me then, but who's laughing now? BTW, I'm rooting for Jerome Tang to take the Baylor job. Maybe Beard takes the KState job and then Ole Miss hires Gillespie. Why not?

I thought that's the way it was going to be for the rest of my life for UT sports. Particularly football, men's basketball, and baseball. Narrator: It wasn't.

Wetlich, too, for that matter. Wetlich was even worse than Smart. What a terrible time to be a Texas basketball fan.

I will always be proud of UT for how patient the administration was with Shaka Smart. My sanity was a much lower priority, as it should be. All I could think about was how proud I was of everyone responsible for keeping him on, as I beat my head against a wall for 5 of those 6 years. I don't care who anyone cites, if Terry misses the tournament the next two years he shouldn't be the head coach at Texas any more.

Where Lane Kiffin is the most scandal free head coach you have.

They did not. I mean, they thought about it before the tournament but the tournament run sealed it. I don't know why people want to dismiss the Elite Eight berth. Tournament performance simply is THE metric college coaches are measured by. There's not really another that comes close. Then you look in the rafters, and it's not exactly brimming in Elite Eight banners. Yes, it was Beard's team and program that was built and Terry inherited it. But he also inherited it under adverse conditions and righted the ship. It's going to be fine. We just have to live long enough to see it. Either Terry is going to get this right or he's going to be fired and CDC will go out and hire his main target. Because that's what he does.

I feel like you have a different view of human nature than I do. It won't die because it's controversial, it's topical as long as Terry is the head coach, and people have passionate opinions on the subject. It's pretty easy for someone to offer an opinion that someone else will disagree with. Like Red Bull, that gives threads wings.

That made me laugh and cry at the same time.

Chris Beard "no longer considering Arkansas job." Either he was told no, or the chances of him being told no were too high to risk it.

Is it, though?

If we all agreed about everything message boards would be a dull and empty place. And to be clear, I don't think it's reasonable to consider whether Terry should be fired right now. I think a legitimate discussion - as far as message boards go, that is - can be made whether he will be fired in the future or keep his job until he retires, but heck, there aren't many coaches at Texas who get to do that. Even some of the very best ones. You not only have to win at a high level to keep your job. You have to keep winning at a high level. David Pierce has been practically under the gun since that debacle of a hiring process where we got 4 or 5 coaches significant raises at their current job. Probably the worst coaching search I've ever seen conducted at Texas in my lifetime for a sport that should be a slam dunk. That's just not the CDC way. He identifies his target and then gets them. He had his hands tied with Rodney Terry in what I find completely understandable ways. I understand that baseball has a richer tradition at Texas, and frankly there's no reason not to have the best coaches in the country want to take this job, but the truth is college basketball is more prestigious and higher profile. There's no reason why Texas can't be elite in every sport it fields, which is not something that any other school can say. It just takes the right coach. And we've shown if we don't have the right coach we'll keep firing people until we find them.

I can't believe that's the guy's real name. I keep reading tree fiddy.

I don't think this thread is going to die.