Happy New Year You Surly Bastards!
Everything posted by bureaucrat
- 2025 CFP First Round - Alabama vs. Oklahoma
- 2025 CFP First Round - Alabama vs. Oklahoma
- 2025 CFP First Round - Alabama vs. Oklahoma
- 2025 CFP First Round - Alabama vs. Oklahoma
- 2025 CFP First Round - Alabama vs. Oklahoma
- 2025 CFP First Round - Alabama vs. Oklahoma
- 2025 CFP First Round - Alabama vs. Oklahoma
- 2025 CFP First Round - Alabama vs. Oklahoma
- 2025 CFP First Round - Alabama vs. Oklahoma
- 2025 CFP First Round - Alabama vs. Oklahoma
- 2025 CFP First Round - Alabama vs. Oklahoma
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Sean Miller is already losing me
I grew up in Tucson before coming to UT for school, so I watched a lot of Sean Miller's Arizona days. When he was hired from a mid-major the message board question of "Can Miller recruit" quickly turned into "Can Miller coach" as Arizona missed the NCAA tournament for the first time in 25 seasons, which was a remarkable streak. So questions about his coaching ability are not new. He responded in year 2 by taking the same group of relatively unheralded recruits he signed in year 1 to the elite 8 with a memorable sweet 16 destruction of a #1 seed Duke team featuring Kyrie/Singler/Plumlee. I have a hard time believing this guy who put together a run of conference championships and elite 8s that dwarfs anything in recent memory at Texas doesn't know how to coach. I mean he helped turn TJ McConnell from a nobody at Duquesne into a guy approaching $100 million in career NBA earnings, for gawdsakes. I can't speak to his second stint at Xavier, but if the idea is his success at his previous major program job so far in the rearview mirror it is now irrelevant you need to accept the caveat that his last several seasons were clouded by the self inflicted wound of the "NCAA corruption scandal." This was a thing involving the horrendous crime of young athletes being paid for their services in a way that we are all cool with now. That first bubbled up in 2017 and was unresolved until 4 years later - it absolutely clouded his program and precipitated him going after international kids, some of whom were on the roster when Tommy Lloyd burst out of the gate with a 33-4 record in year 1 at AZ. So I'm going to give this guy the benefit of the doubt in his first year. I won't miss the RT holdovers on this roster and was a bit baffled at why they were retained, but I'm going to pull for them this season like I do for anyone wearing burnt orange. Reserving judgement on next season seems wise when we haven't hit conference play yet, especially for a coach who has shown a history of player development and using transfers (pre-transfer portal era!) to build a competitive roster.
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Bourbon
Thanks, I jumped on it. Still mulling over the Single Malt Sherry finish you keep advocating for 🤔
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Bourbon
It's best of 2025 list season for anything and everything, including bourbon. Sharing Breaking Bourbon's list for no other reason that it's a fun read and generates discussion. They listed the following: Bulleit BIB ER 17 year Beam Lineage Batch 2 McLaughlin Distillery Cask Strength Baby Barrel Woodford Chocolate Whisper Redux Of these I have only had Bulleit BIB and thought it was fine, so maybe I need to give it another go. I'm not familiar with McLaughlin and would assume they don't distribute to TX, but seems like from their website they ship here? I always find our laws confusing on this point. Breaking Bourbon also publishes lists for best American Single Malt, Finished Whiskey, American Whiskey, and Rye. Curious if anyone has thoughts on those lists as well!
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Bourbon
Tanager release! I saw on instagram someone was lined up at like 7am the day before. Is that bottle worth it?
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Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton, and Other Good Stuff
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Texas vs the lesser Hurley's Sun Devils- 10:30 pm-ish on ESPN2
Sean Miller and Bobby Hurley have some interesting history, both as players and during Miller's time at Arizona. Pregame reading below if anyone is interested: AZ Central article from 2016 Athletic article from 2019 Miller's teams ran that series though, as far as I can tell he was something like 9-3 or 10-4 against Arizona State. Hurley was mostly known for acting like a complete lunatic.
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Bourbon
Won't go wrong with Old Forester 86, imo
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2025 Thread of the Rains
Tomasco said on FB Flash Flood Emergency out in Menard
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NCAA Hoops 2025-26
Oh damn I flew right by that post and missed it, my bad. Yeah I had just been curious last night about the teams ahead of AZ. Doesn't seem like much of a comparison for who has the best resume in this early point of the season. Purdue's best win @ Alabama, which should hold up really well this season. Houston's best win is Auburn, which is another team AZ will play in a couple weeks, along with Alabama and San Diego St.
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NCAA Hoops 2025-26
Seems like they should be #1 with wins on semi-neutral courts against Gata and UCLA and a true road win @ UCONN. Tommy Lloyd's teams have done this before though, it's getting over the hump in March that has been the challenge for him.
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Beer 2025: Merry Christmas Everyone, Including the Haters and Losers
Man that stinks - fond memories of drinking Rogue as it was one of the first craft breweries I encountered while growing up out west. It was one of the ones that opened my eyes to a world beyond Natty Light as a 22 year old. RIP
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aggy cock game thread
3-6, now 3-7 for a reason. Just an embarrassing 2nd half.
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2025 Random Games thread
Wouldn't you want to boot that deep if the other team only needs a FG to tie??
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2025 Random Games thread
Penn St still can't beat a top 5 team lol