Nigel Tufnel

This has been the concern since Dodge left. Would they slowly get worse offensively (but not noticeably affect outcomes at first)? This is what happened to LT. The fear with a defensive minded coach is that offensive production is not the priority. In Texas HS football, offense wins.

Lil’ Nigel was on an unofficial to UT with Johntay a couple of falls back. He was a big personality.

On a bit of a lighter note, I read Where the Crawdads Sing in very short order. It is very fun and engaging and a remarkable first attempt at fiction from the author. It is a bit clunky/inconsistent in spots, but forgivable. I thought the movie did a good job of telling the story as well as you can in 2 hours. It did a very good job of setting the scene very near how I pictured it, which is nice.

Catching up on some reading now that Lil’ Nigel is off at school and we only have one left in the house. I had certainly heard more about All the Light and nothing but good at that. It was fantastic and an enjoyable read. But Demon Copperhead resonated with me longer. It is just remarkable. Then I remembered how much I enjoyed The Poisonwood Bible and I have an even greater respect for Barbara Kinsolver. I need to read her other books.

Damn. That is a “well, I think I am done with this earth for now boys!” moment.

I think Felder’s part is played by Steuart Smith. Gill may be in Frey’s place.

Incentives cut both ways. Rough. Eliminated Pirates DFA veterans Rowdy Tellez, Michael A. Taylor - ESPN

Did you close with “Everlong”?

This. The JUCOs fill up over the Holidays.

I do wish it were like this, but the main reason will be that players will get cut in the fall. It's the ugly part of college baseball that so many tend to sweep under the rug. Teams bring in more than they can keep and use the fall to see who to keep/cut. It's tough because none of the players are told that they are a "bubble" player. It's one of the many things that makes baseball the most difficult of the major sports to navigate for HS and college players.

Something More Than Free

It did not cost her the podium. It certainly cost her points. However, the two in front of her finished close enough in the 800m that it would not have mattered. She would have needed to win by 6-7 seconds instead of 8-9.

So, I am watching but find it very difficult. Spain flopped three times in the first 1:15 of the game. I have started to call stoppage time at the end of halves “flopping time.” In this game it’s +7. It’s so frustrating to watch.

If you have Peacock, you can go to specific events and get the world feed, not the NBC version. Track and Field is labeled "main feed," this puts you in the stadium and takes you around to all the events going on between the races on the track.

While I do like the NBC crew, I recommend watching the world feed via Peacock and listening to Rob Walker and John Anderson. They are great.

Yep. I have posted before of our experience in recruiting. We got to see football, baseball, and track recruiting. On the spectrum of ease, track is the easiest by far. It’s beautiful how transparent it is. However, you have to initiate quite a bit for many schools to notice. Football is in the middle. A little more muddled than track, but somewhat transparent due to recruits laying their cards on the table for all to see. Baseball is easily the most difficult because it is completely opaque. It sucks. What you mentioned regarding factors is absolutely true. One disagreement with your post. We found that size was much more important in baseball than football (kinda counterintuitive). Baseball just doesn’t care about speed (rarely are the 60 yd times electronic). Baseball wants big strong bodies that hit for power. In a MLB game, it is comical watching some of these guys try to get around the bases. Plus, baseball coaches really are only seeing summer league games and camps. They are looking hard at numbers. Frustrating. I could go on for days.

“Time gets moving from a walk to a run” Patty Griffin

Shoulder surgery as a sophomore put him out for 12 months. Groin as a JR. he was healthy this year. He is simply projectable. 6’2” 190 as a high schooler. He has the build they want and is a good player. In baseball, (even more so than football that I can tell) if you have the size, you get to prove that you CAN’T play. If you are smaller, you have to prove that you CAN. During lil’ Nigel’s recruitment in both, we sensed that size was a more important factor in baseball overall. Football cares about speed a lot more.

We were fortunate and only without power for the day of the storm. However, we lost it last night about the time others we know who had been without got it back. Methinks they are just rotating power.

Theo is a good kid who Lil’ Nigel has played against for about 7 years. His interview is good insight into how different the MLB draft is compared to the NFL. HS players are not drafted unless a deal is cut. The teams know the player’s number and if the team meets it, they will be drafted.

Coaches want to work for who hires them. This is an important reason Schloss is at Texas now. Alberts was his new boss, not who hired him. Augie told Schloss that you don’t want to work for Patterson. So, if he took it, his boss sucks. If boss is replaced, he wouldn’t know who his boss would be. Then, in comes Perrin, who is a temp. Seems like wise advice and a wise (non) move.

Lil’ Nigel’s team played them last season. Orogbo was the best defensive player we saw. His name seems like it was called every freaking play.

Knowing his reputation, one of lil’ Nigel’s summer teammates was being recruited by Tenn. among others. I am used to seeing plenty of coaches at the big tournaments, but I looked over to see a coach in Vol gear. When I realized that it was Vitello, everything became clear, the issues with his teams, chirping, chippy, smack talking, getting tossed from games, it all became clear. He is short, like Lord Farquad, short. It made perfect sense.

Seems like a lot of extremes on this thread that make people dig in on one side or another (welcome to Surly). Pierce has issues to deal with internally that are not performance related. However, Pierce has issues that are performance and trajectory related as well. These issues can coexist. At the time there was a lot of whistling past the graveyard when Schloss went to A&M. He is the real deal. There is also a correlation between when he came to A&M and when UT's trajectory started downward. I have mentioned before that lil' Nigel was recruited by both, as were teammates. It is no surprise at all that the programs are where they are right now. UT is still a playoff team with some talent. But A&M redshirted a couple of kids that would have started for UT this year. So, to sum up: the extreme sides on here are both right and both wrong. It's a combination of things.