Jump to content

Search the Community

Showing results for 'we are going to win'.

  • Search By Tags

    Type tags separated by commas.
  • Search By Author

Content Type


Forums

  • Sports
    • Football
    • Basketball
    • Baseball
    • Other Sports
    • 🤫$9.95🤫
    • Gambling
  • Entertainment
    • Movies and TV
    • Music
    • Hobbies
    • Lulz
    • Food and Travel
  • News & Business
    • Daily Texan
    • Cloak Room
    • 6th Street Journal
    • You Can't Sit With US
  • Other
    • Can You Help Me With This?
    • Best Buy Coupons
    • Please do this better?
    • Surly 1%
    • Purgatory

Product Groups

  • Big Donor Area
  • Buy TreeFiddy for a friend
  • Burnt Ends
    • Merch
  • Surly Horns NIL Slush Fund
  • Tailgate Donation + Payments

Categories

  • Firings
  • 2020 Hires
  • 2020 Season
  • 2021 Season
  • 2022 Season
  • 2023 Season

Categories

  • Movies and TV
  • Music
  • Hobbies
    • Video Games
  • Lulz

Categories

  • Basketball
  • Baseball
  • Other Sports
    • Futbol
  • Gambling

Categories

  • Daily Texan
  • 6th Street Journal

Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start

    End


Last Updated

  • Start

    End


Filter by number of...

Joined

  • Start

    End


Group


  1. Jesus. He explained after the game how he met with the analytics staff before the playoffs to figure out what to do if they got into overtime in the playoffs. There have been countless articles explaining it. The fact the information was out immediately after the game and is in print all over the place and you somehow decide in your head that Shanahan didn’t know the rules is really an incredible accomplishment. I don’t expect you to actually read and understand, but here you go: "It's just something we talked about," Shanahan said in his postgame news conference. "None of us have a ton of experience with [the new overtime rules]. But we went through all the analytics and talked to those guys. We just thought it would be better. We wanted the ball third. If both teams matched and scored, we wanted to be the ones who had the chance to go win. So got that field goal, so knew we had to hold them to at least a field goal and if we did, we thought it was in our hands after that." https://vms.cbssports.com/nfl/news/2024-super-bowl-49ers-kyle-shanahan-explains-decision-to-take-the-ball-first-to-start-overtime-vs-chiefs/ Here’s another: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/02/12/super-bowl-overtime-kyle-shanahan/ You and any other folks claiming there is a right or wrong decision are just simply ignoring the facts. Which sums up my point. The internet allows dumbshits to spread their stupidity to other dumbshits and nod their heads in affirmation thinking they’re right.
  2. Sure, but enthusiasm still seems to favor Dems. We saw warning signs for Dems leading up to 2016 and 2022. We saw similar signs for GOP leading up to 2018, 2020 and now 2024. Regardless of election - who is going to turn out every single election? High propensity, college-educated voters (and WOMEN ESPECIALLY) in the suburbs. We saw quite a few big suburban swings last night - Bucks County especially and Souzzi winning Nassau (he currently leads in Nassau 53-47). Polling is what it is - you get who answers and stays on the phone and try to deduce what that is representative of. Elections are actual voters casting votes, not just saying something on the phone.
  3. While y'all are chuckling at the GQP Civil War, I just want to offer the sobering truth: this Civil War was over before it began. MAGA will win. It will win completely, and totally. And, knowing what we know of the fortitude and integrity of the remainder of the GQP....they'll fall in line. It's going to be a Civil War that has few lasting casualties and results in a unified MAGA party with complete and total control, with NOTHING left to even provide a minimal brake against their breakneck hurtling towards full-on treasonous insanity. You think that shit like Trump in his 3rd term launching a military strike against California cities is impossible. It's not.
  4. Boy, those guys think we care a lot more about Micah Hudson than any of us do. That guy said he could write a book about that recruitment, and I think he just did. Geez. I stopped reading that section in order to avoid nap time. Otherwise, there were some interesting snippets. I'll add some more color to a few of the names: -Texas would have had their pick of any QB in the 2024 cycle had they not landed Manning in the 2023 cycle. I think it worked out better for Texas. Manning is a better prospect than any of the guys in the 2024 cycle and Owens is a damned good recruit for this cycle and the QB room. -Once Texas felt like Clark was a legitimate candidate for the class, their work was done with TB and they effectively stopped trying to do much with the in-state guys. -Missouri tried all kinds of shit to land Wingo, from guilt, to lying about NIL capabilities, you name it. That family absolutely made it interesting in the end, no matter what the 247 guys are saying. -Livingstone is the guy that visited an ATM practice and then spent time with the players and saw all of the guys, led by Stewart, smoking weed and skipping classes while the coaches openly fought on the field. -Calhoun was a legitimate target for Texas and Georgia shut that down before the visit by playing the old school bag game. The one spot where it can still win out is when someone puts 6 figures into a gym bag and hands it to the family or handler and says "take it now and shut things down or we're giving this to someone else". Doesn't work in every recruitment, it's illegal as hell, and there's only so much of that to go around, but Georgia still will do with a local and Auburn seems like that's they're preferred approach. -The story I told about Kibble at the time is refreshingly straightforward in their report. Texas basically said "take this spot or we need to part ways" and the dude locked in. -Carter thought he should have the same NIL outlook as his teammate, Baker, and ultimately only Auburn was valuing IOL that way.
  5. This is very important to me. Here are the FA DTs available. As far as stopping the run and based on what the Texans need and (hopefully, value), I'd go with Christian Wilkins: 1. DI CHRIS JONES, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS 2024 Free agency rank: 1 It’s rare for a player of Jones’ caliber to reach unrestricted free agency, and Kansas City did not give up the right to franchise tag him for a second time when the two sides agreed to a reworked contract this past offseason. A tag for Jones would land north of $33 million, which perhaps helps him test the open market for the first time in his career. Jones is not only one of the best interior pass rushers in the game right now; he’s one of the best ever. He is also capable of lining up outside of tackles as a five-technique, bending around the edge and getting home. Top free agent comparison: Ndamukong Suh, 2015 Player Run-defense grade Pass-rush grade True pass set pass-rush grade Pass-rush win rate APY as % of Cap at signing Chris Jones 59.9 90.3 92.3 18.5% ? Ndamukong Suh 80.0 83.0 82.5 11.2% 13.3% *All data in tables reflects two years prior to UFA contract signing Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings 2. DI JUSTIN MADUBUIKE, BALTIMORE RAVENS 2024 Free agency rank: 6 Madubuike has a strong case for being the player to earn himself the most money in 2023. With at least half a sack in 13 of 17 games this season, Madubuike more than doubled his prior season high. He also exactly doubled his total pressure output. His effort and intensity on backside pursuit plays have always been there, and now an improved arsenal of moves with a more explosive first step has Madubuike set to cash in big time. Top free agent comparison: Javon Hargrave, 2020 Player Run-defense grade Pass-rush grade True pass set pass-rush grade Pass-rush win rate APY as % of Cap at signing Justin Madubuike 66.1 73.6 81.9 11.2% ? Javon Hargrave 81.3 77.5 79.8 12.2% 6.5% *All data in tables reflects two years prior to UFA contract signing Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings 3. DI CHRISTIAN WILKINS, MIAMI DOLPHINS 2024 Free agency rank: 7 Wilkins hoped to get an extension done before the 2023 season but didn't let the lack of one amid many at the position slow him down. Wilkins is as good a run defender as any interior defensive lineman in the NFL, setting career highs in every pass-rushing category this season — including pass-rush win rate, pressure rate, sacks, quarterback hits and pressures. Top free agent comparison: Malik Jackson, 2016 Player Run-defense grade Pass-rush grade True pass set pass-rush grade Run-stop rate APY as % of Cap at signing Christian Wilkins 78.5 74.5 75.7 10.0% ? Malik Jackson 81.5 74.1 78.1 9.7% 9.2% *All data in tables reflects two years prior to UFA contract signing Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings 4. DI LEONARD WILLIAMS, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS 2024 Free agency rank: 16 Williams' three-year, $63 million pact with the New York Giants in 2021 after he received a second franchise tag is one of the strongest contracts for a player in recent history. The leverage is strongly in his favor once again after the Giants traded him to the Seattle Seahawks at the deadline for second- and fifth-round picks. After being labeled as a stout run defender with limitations as a pass rusher, Williams backed up his career-high 74.8 pass-rush grade in 2022 with an even better 76.2 mark in 2023. His pressure rate is above 10% for the first time since 2020. Top free agent comparison: Fletcher Cox, 2022 Player Run-defense grade Pass-rush grade True pass set pass-rush grade Pass-rush win rate APY as % of Cap at signing Leonard Williams 66.0 76.2 84.2 11.8% ? Fletcher Cox 63.1 75.1 81.8 12.0% 6.7% *All data in tables reflects two years prior to UFA contract signing Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings 5. DI D.J. READER, CINCINNATI BENGALS 2024 Free agency rank: 19 Only injuries slowed Reader down in Cincinnati. Otherwise, he was a dominant force on the interior of a talented defensive line that was able to control the line of scrimmage and win big games up front over the past few seasons. The eighth-year pro was the anchor in the middle. Reader is as stout as they come and nearly impossible to displace by just one blocker. And while he’ll never fill up the stat sheet with sacks, he can push the pocket and free up teammates as well as any nose tackle. Reader, unfortunately, suffered a torn quadriceps injury in Week 15 that knocked him out for the remainder of the season. We will await more details on the recovery process before changing his projection, but the injury could obviously impact his market. Top free agent comparison: Dalvin Tomlinson, 2023 Player Run-defense grade Pass-rush grade True pass set pass-rush grade Run-stop rate APY as % of Cap at signing D.J. Reader 76.1 85.6 86.8 9.5% ? Dalvin Tomlinson 67.4 79.1 85.8 7.6% 6.3% *All data in tables reflects two years prior to UFA contract signing Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings 6. DI GROVER STEWART, INDIANAPOLIS COLTS 2024 Free agency rank: 51 Stewart served a six-game suspension this season for performance-enhancing drugs but returned in Week 14 for the stretch run. On/off splits are largely noise, but Indianapolis ranked in the top half of the NFL in expected points allowed per rush with Stewart and dead last in the games without him in the lineup. Stewart’s presence frees up rushers around him because he takes on double teams and clogs up the middle. Top free agent comparison: Terrance Knighton, 2016 Player Run-defense grade Pass-rush grade True pass set pass-rush grade Run-stop rate APY as % of Cap at signing Grover Stewart 72.8 60.2 62.6 8.9% ? Terrance Knighton 77.3 57.1 55.9 7.4% 1.3% *All data in tables reflects two years prior to UFA contract signing Contract projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings
  6. I got on my FB for the first time in a couple of months to see the reactions from the small-town West Texas people I grew up with. Pleasantly surprised. I'll start with this meme a guy posted. Others: Some Guns Up by guys for Mahomes for the Tech connection. A very liberal woman was concerned for Taylor, discussing how Kelce's sideline blow-up might be a red flag about him being an abuser. Another woman pondered what Taylor was going to do last night to celebrate with another saying provocatively, "I know what I would be doing...hoping my bag is getting packed." One made this comment: "Blake Lively’s hair is what we Gen X girls were trying to do in the ‘80s. We just got a little carried away. Thanks for understanding. We’re mostly ok now." Another said "When you lose HULU and resort to SpongeBob!!! SpongeBob coming in clutch" One had a photo of herself with a bedazzled cap with "87" and "KC" on it. The caption reads, "Let’s Go, Taylor’s Boyfriend’s Team!" One guy said, "The halftime winning performer!! AKeys!!" A gal posted a photo with Usher taking his shirt off and said, "Is was at that moment when I said….DAMN USHER!!!! Like I was out with my friends." Another posed with his acoustic guitar in a Kelce jersey. One posted a meme about "Jesus approving his weird foot commercial." One guy sarcastically posted, "Looks like Taylor's team won, which will surprise no one who knows the truth about Taylor Swift and the government plan to use her for their agenda. That sentence will either make perfect sense to you or it will come across as sarcasm, depending on what you believe, and what you believe I believe." A guy posted a cake his wife baked saying this "And once again the Chiefs prevail in the end, and with the cake." My sister reposted a Texas Tech "From here, it's possible" caption with Mahomes celebrating. One guy posted, "Harpo Marx gets all the chicks" with this photoshop. The only negative one read, "CHIEFS #1 What a fkng disrespectful immature liberal man child." All in all, the corner of West Texas where I grew up seemed pretty pleased with the outcome, but there's apparently a brewing controversy about a drag show being hosted at a local hang-out spot. Just the fact that this conservative small town of 25,000 is hosting one at all is a definite sign of progress.
  7. a)i declared it before any of these highlight plays happened (the game was 4-2) and b)i absolutely stand by what i said. i am out on believing that this team will be anything but a disappointment. and it’s not the players’ fault. as i said, there are singular plays where a team shows you who they are, and that lack of effort and competency would never ever ever happen under beard, or barnes, or probably even tom goddamn penders. that type of pathetic effort and competency is why we lost to this shitty team already this year. i’m still going to watch the games and enjoy the wins, but i am done believing that this coaching staff is anything other than incompetent, and every team they coach will be completely hamstrung because of it.
  8. Yeah, nothing terribly insightful about running a campaign on winning the Electoral College which boils down to just a handful of states. I don't need a U.S. Senator to 'splain to me. Economy is quickly becoming a toss-up issue, or even bonus for Biden. I get the border thing, that ain't going away from the news for the next 9 months. Like it or not, no matter the actual facts, it's gonna be an issue that may actually drive folks to the polls---sorry that's the reality we live in. But yeah---what in the ever living fuck on gun violence? Is there some October surprise coming I don't know about? And then what's the play, what's the angle after that? Hahaha, Biden sent money to illegals to hustle guns in or shoot people or what the fuck? I come up with twisted scenarios for a living, but what in the shit is the narrative here?
  9. Putin says he's open to peace talks. So let's change the status quo that brought him to this point. In fact, had we not supported Ukraine at all, I'm sure Putin would have asked for peace even before his dying army confronted such furiuos opposition. The time to turn down the pressure is just before you will get what you want. When you're going in for the winning touchdown, punt! The other team will concede after you do so. Fucking bent idiot.
  10. I think Massey's odds are pretty reasonable. Odds are 78% that we will beat ONE of Baylor, Tech, Kansas, or Houston. But... the odds are only 28% that we will win out at home. So my guess is that we go 4-4 to close the year with a surprise win on the road and a surprise loss at home.
  11. Biden should have been elected, got all the shit he needed done, and then a year in should have said he's not running. This would have given the Dems a chance to go through the election/debates and use it as an opportunity to talk about all the shit they were getting done and how they would fine tune things and we would have had multiple forums of taking brutal pot shots at Trump. So I get the idea of him winning now and stepping back. it would have been a risky strategy for him to step back in the first term but it would have been a heck of an anti-Trump message for him to say he wanted to put everything he had into this one term and take age-ist shots at Trump. We all knew deep down that it would come down to this. It's not the same thing as what Ruth Bader G did to the Dems but it sure as shit may turn out that way.
  12. Played Big O tournament at Lodge on Monday. With 16 people left I had 800k in chips out of 3.7 million, no one else had $200k. Don’t win a hand for an hour, enter the final table with about 250k. Limp along for a bit, one guy refuses to chop and we’re down to 5 when I go on a run and end up knocking two out and we’re down to 3 and a have 3.3 million of the chips. I end up losing 5 all ins in a row, getting scooped each time and each time I was a huge favorite after the flop. I have AA234, villain KJ985, flop J65, two bricks. Next hand I have J6432 he has AAKT8, flop J65, turn 5, river brick. End up chopping and I got $1334. Went to bullets to play big o on Thursday and got slaughtered. came to TCH for the plo tournament, was chip leader with 4 left and we chopped and I won $730. playing plo bomb pot now
  13. Maybe 3. That doesn't change the fact that I felt better on January 2, 2005 about the upcoming season than I did on January 2, 2006 about the upcoming season and I feel better today about the upcoming season than I did in the winter of 2006 after winning it all. I got well actually'd and when that happens I need the person to actually be correct and me wrong or I push back. I think OSU over Texas is a stupid and terrible idea, but whatever- you are probably right it might well happen. Oregon over us would be legit dumb. I think Texas has the best roster in CFB going into the 2024 season (and we fuck Georgia's shit up in Austin as a bonus prediction), especially if something interesting shakes loose on the interior DL like you've basically promised us was going to happen (I know- you didn't- I'm putting words in your mouth and wish casting a bit).
  14. I said trajectory dude. VY announced he was gone- what did that do to program trajectory (percieved) on the day he left. Put another way- we are going to enter the season ranked #2, probably, in the preseason poll with the idea we have answer at all the skill positions for 3 years at least. You couldn't say that a week after winning the national title. Trajectory is a forward looking thing- you are looking backward.
  15. I don't know what to tell you guys who keep bringing up the bogeymen of the 80's or even the recent bag game. The game is no longer the same. It's not just more fierce. It's changed. OU can wish their way into cheating with an extra million on the side whatever dumb reason you guys imagine in this example. If that means they're pushing $5M through a roster instead of $4M, while Texas is X times that total, why do we give a fuck? and how is that harming us? Is it some unwillingness from a bunch of you to understand what's happening? Texas is the bogeyman, the one who knocks, the entity with the biggest chip stack, the person you get scared of seeing enter the chat, the name you don't say three times in a row, etc. We're no longer in there with the bad guys. The bad guys are now locked in here with us, on our terms. You can stop being scared of LSU, Bama, and Oklahoma. They'll still sign good classes and win guys we wanted, but Texas is going to get what Texas wants and needs.
  16. I don't get the logic of these victims. Some dude tells you the cartel is after you and you need to pay them off. Why don't you go straight to the police/FBI? AAS doesn't ask the right question: what shady shit were these victims involved with that it made sense not to immediately contact to law enforcement? https://www.statesman.com/story/news/local/2024/02/09/wealthy-austin-tx-residents-scam-millions-alleged-con-man-saint-jovite-kota-youngblood-feds-say/72399667007/ 'It almost felt like you could trust him.' How feds say an Austin con man stole millions Tony Plohetski Austin American-Statesman Eric Perardi rolled over from a night of fitful sleep, waiting for the phone call from a friend that finally came at 6:15 a.m. Perardi, an Austin real estate developer, had been warned the night before that the call from Saint Jovite Youngblood would arrive from a blocked number. Youngblood, whom Perardi had known for five years, told the developer that he’d be there within the hour with urgent, troubling news that had to be delivered in person. Clad in his signature all-black cargo pants, dark-colored T-shirt and Crocs, Youngblood bounded into Perardi’s Steiner Ranch home. Against the chirping of the birds, the two men paced back and forth on Perardi’s balcony that June 2022 morning against the backdrop of a majestic Hill Country overlook. “Look, I found out a really frightening piece of information,” said Youngblood, who Perardi believed was a top-secret federal agent with high-level CIA clearance. He explained that Los Zetas, a Mexican drug cartel known for its viciousness and even beheading rivals, had put out a hit on Perardi and his children — that they could be kidnapped and killed as soon as that day. Perardi, whose projects include the Crossover in Cedar Park and medical office parks, sank in a chair, still in his pajamas, with head-to-toe terror. “They believe I had all this money from projects I’ve done,” he remembers Youngblood telling him. He also said the cartel knew that Perardi had a multimillion-dollar life insurance policy. Eric Perardi, a developer of the Crossover, a sports and entertainment facility in Cedar Park, sits in its lobby. Federal investigators say Perardi funneled Saint Jovite Youngblood $900,000 that Youngblood claimed he used to fend off cartel threats. Federal documents say it was an epic fraud, and that Youngblood used the false threats as a ruse to get money he squandered at posh Las Vegas casinos. In further describing the encounter, Perardi said Youngblood offered instant protection: Perardi could give him $70,000 that he’d use to pay off the cartel. Perardi wrote him a check right then and there. And over the next several months, Perardi and federal investigators say, he funneled Youngblood up to $900,000 that he had believed Youngblood used to satisfy cartel demands. Federal documents say it was an epic fraud — a magistrate judge called the crimes “the most massive pattern of intimidation of threats and violence and death I have ever seen” — that ensnared at least 20 victims in Austin and across the nation. FBI agents say in court documents that Youngblood — a 51-year-old husband and father living in a 4,000-square-foot Manor home with no documented employment — scammed millions of dollars in recent years, including from victims who believed their safety depended on high-dollar payoffs. They say Youngblood used the threats as a ruse to get money that he squandered at posh Las Vegas casinos. “All I can say is, ‘wow,’” U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Lane told Youngblood in an August detention hearing. “The number of lies, the depth of those lies, is beyond anything I have ever heard. Absolutely incredible. ... The weight of the evidence is absolutely against you, Mr. Youngblood.” Saint Jovite Youngblood, 51, appears in court in August. A federal magistrate judge has described Youngblood's case as “the most massive pattern of intimidation of threats and violence and death I have ever seen.” In the hearing, FBI special agent Lindsey Wilkinson rattled off a sprawling range of victims — old and young, wealthy and middle-class: A manager and bartender at the ShadowGlen golf course. A seatmate on a Vegas-bound flight. A fellow estate sale customer, and a man who sold exotic fish for Youngblood’s aquarium. “Friends of friends” and others he met from his children’s extracurricular activities, Wilkinson added. Ricky and Rebecca Kumar of Cedar Park are among them. They say they wanted to help their friend — they called him “Kota” — twice with loans to pay for family heirlooms, settling an estate dispute, and to handle blackmail involving his wife. They gave him $200,000 — a fraction of which he returned, they said. “It kind of sounds unbelievable that we would do that,” Rebecca Kumar said. “You have to understand how he molds his relationships with people and how he just tries to continue to build this trust. He is a master storyteller and a fantastic con man." Investigators say Youngblood left a trail of financial devastation and monetary ruin. In an FBI victims’ meeting, Perardi recounted, some tearfully admitted surrendering their life savings and homes to Youngblood. Wilkinson testified that one victim was so terrified of a cartel hit that he and his family abandoned their home and lives in the middle of the night and secluded themselves in an extended stay in Florida for months, all the while paying Youngblood. Perardi sold his home, unable to pay the mortgage. The Kumars — Ricky is an engineer, and Rebecca operates a small gym in Cedar Park — gave Youngblood their son’s college tuition savings. Youngblood remains in a federal detention facility near Waco charged with wire fraud, aiding and abetting and engaging in monetary transactions in criminally derived property — crimes for which he faces up to 40 years in prison. A trial is set for April. His court-appointed attorney, Charlotte Herring, declined to comment. In the end, Perardi and court documents say Perardi relied on internet sleuthing and a series of phone calls to break through the deception. In a made-for-TV moment, federal investigators teamed up with Perardi to set up an undercover operation at a North Austin Carrabba's Italian Grill. They wired him with a hidden microphone that let the feds record Youngblood perpetuating the cartel threat and monetary demands, documents say. With $18,000 in his front pocket that he told investigators was from a casino win, Youngblood was nabbed by agents two months later boarding a flight on his latest Las Vegas junket. “Call it a higher power — somebody put me in this position to bring him down,” Perardi said. The Delta Force, hockey and friendships Perardi, 52, moved to Austin in 2006 after playing college ice hockey and working in the Hollywood entertainment industry. He thought it would be a family-friendly area to raise his children. Over the past 15 years, he founded and built Perardi Development, constructing 12 medical office buildings regionwide. His most ambitious and prized project is the Crossover, a 240,000-square-foot entertainment, sports and wellness expanse off U.S. 183. Beginning in 2010, when his son was 4, Perardi served as a volunteer coach for his son’s ice hockey league. That’s how he met Youngblood and his family in 2018. Youngblood’s son joined Perardi’s son’s team. Perardi saw immediate talent. “I took the kid under my wing and just tried to help teach him the game and skate better,” he said. Eric Perardi watches his son's hockey game at the Crossover sports and entertainment facility in Cedar Park. Perardi first met Saint Jovite Youngblood and his family in 2018 while serving as a volunteer ice hockey league coach after Youngblood’s son joined Perardi’s son’s team. The Kumars' son also played hockey. The families cheered together in the stands, passed practice time at the Pond Hockey Club and the Chaparral Ice rink, and traveled to regional competitions. Saint Jovite Youngblood became a constant — and captivating — presence. Perardi and the Kumars recall how he told fellow parents he had served in the Army, describing daring adventures as part of the elite Delta Force. He said he spoke multiple languages and had lived in Japan and Russia. He drew sympathy with a story that his parents had been killed when he was a child — and intellectual intrigue by claiming he had a master’s degree in quantum physics. He kept his work intensely confidential, they recalled, insisting secrecy was required for his classified government job. He seldom carried a cellphone and resoundingly rejected being photographed. "He was extremely generous, and he would throw a bunch of money at purchasing dinners and doing events with people and giving fancy gifts to whoever would accept something like that from him," Rebecca Kumar said. "He seemed very loving, very attentive, and you just feel like he's going to protect you," she said. “You almost felt like you could trust him with anything.” "He would rent out a whole movie theater and take you and your family to the movies,” Perardi added. “Always paying for things on road trips. Buying the team dinner for kids. He was an extremely likable person, always talking about geopolitical things.” But looking back, Rebecca Kumar says she had a back-of-mind suspicion that she never allowed herself to voice. At times, Youngblood was almost overly friendly. She said he encroached on personal space during conversations, talking too closely face-to-face. Kumar added that he seemed manic — always. “I have a really strong gut feeling, and something about him threw me off,” she said. The alleged scams On the witness stand in the summer detention hearing, Wilkinson, the FBI agent who spent months uncovering his alleged crimes, unfurled what she described as Youngblood’s multilayered, sometimes difficult-to-follow patterns of deceit. She told the judge that Youngblood relied on a combination of investment schemes and extortion, sometimes offering purported antique clocks, a Confederate flag and sports memorabilia, including baseball bats he claimed belonged to Lou Gehrig or Babe Ruth, as investment collateral. “Among other claims, Youngblood told investors that he had access to a large number of gold bars and that Youngblood was going to then sell and share profits with the investor,” a six-page federal complaint said. Saint Jovite Youngblood remains in a federal detention facility near Waco, and his trial is set for April. In Wilkinson's testimony, she traced victims back more than a dozen years, including cases that the Los Angeles-area media reported in 2011. Police in California arrested Youngblood on theft charges after investigators said he wrote a fraudulent check for $94,000 in gold coins, sold them and gambled the money, according to published reports. At the time, the Los Angeles Daily News reported that other victims said Youngblood told them that he had earned a Purple Heart in the war on terror, that he had served as a U.S. Navy SEAL, and that a drunken driver had killed his wife and children. Federal officials said in court that he was convicted, and records show he was sentenced to the time he had already served. Wilkinson said that, as in Perardi’s case, Youngblood often used fears of cartels. Perardi said that, at first, Youngblood did not ask for money, only mentioning in April 2022 that his family might be under threat based on preliminary covert intelligence he said he had received. “He was just, ‘Be careful; watch where you are going,’” Perardi said. Two months later, Perardi got the alarming call from a mutual friend traveling with Youngblood in Las Vegas. The friend said Youngblood was extremely concerned about Perardi’s safety and was urgently flying back to Austin to meet with Perardi. After the initial $70,000 that day, Perardi’s payments to Youngblood continued over the next six months. Perardi said he faced growing pressure from Youngblood. The indictment lists two transactions of a combined $86,000 in July and August 2022 “for payment to provide protection against threats to E.P. and his family.” Wilkinson testified that Youngblood also told Perardi he would receive an “exorbitant” return on the money and offered him a tattered Civil War flag, supposedly valued at $2.5 million, as collateral. In the following months, Perardi said he was the victim of several property crimes and social media harassment that Youngblood told him were the cartel’s work. An online Nov. 6, 2022, review of the Crossover said it is a haven for “a few folks that are creepy and say they know the owner … sad that the owner, Mr. Perardi, can’t get his ‘friends’ in line.” Perardi said, and Wilkinson testified, that the posts coincided with Youngblood’s increasingly urgent demands for more money. Perardi said he sold business entities, took out lines of credit and borrowed money from friends and family — some of whom met with Youngblood and were also convinced Perardi and his family were in danger. Eric Perardi orders from a food truck at the Crossover in Cedar Park. After internet sleuthing helped confirm some of Perardi's suspicions about Saint Jovite Youngblood, he went to the FBI. The FBI then set up an operation at a North Austin restaurant with Perardi, Youngblood and an undercover agent. The first time Youngblood asked for a loan, the Kumars said he told them that a family friend needed money to pay for nostalgic items that belonged to his father to prevent other family members from selling them at an estate sale. Months later, they gave Youngblood $100,000 after he told them his wife was being accused of arson, but a person had a recording that vindicated her, and he needed the money to purchase the recording, the Kumars recalled. “We are grateful that is all it was, because the other victims lost more, and that’s heartbreaking,” Rebecca Kumar said. “And we are grateful we were not led by fear because other victims were — for their lives and for their families’ lives.” Last summer, Perardi and the Kumars independently grew suspicious. Perardi reached out in April 2023 to an out-of-state antique flag dealer. Perardi said the dealer told him the supposedly $2.5 million flag was actually valued at $85,000 — and coincidentally, that he had recently sold it to Youngblood for $75,000 but had not been paid in full. That revelation prompted him to hire Austin attorney Steve Toland. Together, they went to the FBI. Rebecca Kumar decided to investigate Youngblood’s background and paid $30 for an online criminal history search. “What I found was shocking,” she said. The search showed the previous arrest in San Bernardino, Calif., and related newspaper articles. She found through those articles that Youngblood had allegedly told victims a decade earlier the same stories about himself. “Every word out of his mouth was a lie,” she said. “Every word.” Perardi began asking other mutual friends if they had loaned or given Youngblood money. When the Kumars confirmed they had, he asked them to speak to an FBI agent as quickly as possible. On May 1, the FBI set up the Carrabba’s operation with Perardi, Youngblood and a third man whom investigators staged as Perardi's wealthy friend who could loan him more money. Instead, the man was an undercover FBI agent. At a round table outside, and over a shared meal of green salad and pasta with shrimp that Youngblood ordered, Youngblood told the men that the cartel was becoming impatient and needed $77,000 immediately. “There are agents inside the building, agents outside the building, just like you would see in a movie,” Perardi said. What’s next? With the incriminating audio in hand, the FBI stepped up its investigation into Youngblood. They searched his home, where they found five guns and a note in his wife’s purse that included a script to law enforcement if they showed up, Wilkinson testified. Youngblood’s wife, Gloria, declined an interview with the American-Statesman. It is not clear what she knew about Saint Jovite Youngblood’s alleged crimes. Wilkinson also set out to perform months of forensic accounting, poring over transaction logs from the Aria Casino & Resort in Las Vegas showing Youngblood lost more than $700,000 in 2023 alone and gained only about $200,000 through winnings, she said. She said she traced the $18,000 Youngblood had with him during his arrest to several victims — one of whom had taken out a loan to pay him. Some of the alleged victims packed the courtroom to hear the prosecutors' case, with several of them in tears. “It was such a mixed reaction,” Perardi said of the crowd. “You feel foolish, like ‘How did I let this person dominate my life for so long?’ But then I was just disgusted. Just the lies and destruction.” “You feel foolish, like ‘How did I let this person dominate my life for so long?’ But then I was just disgusted. Just the lies and destruction,” Eric Perardi says of the alleged fraud schemes he and many other people in the Austin area got caught up in with Saint Jovite Youngblood. By then, they said they had learned nearly everything about Youngblood was untrue. His birth name was Dennis Schuler Jr., and he was born and raised outside Cleveland. His parents were not killed in an accident but were alive and well. “I spoke with them last week at least,” Wilkinson testified. (A woman with the same name as his mother told the Statesman that the two have been estranged for 30 years before ending the call.) Wilkinson told the court Youngblood had never served in the military — much less in the Delta Force or 82nd Airborne Division. The only international destination he had visited was Mexico. Investigators said the only documented employment Youngblood ever had was as a used car salesman. His highest level of education was a high school diploma, not a master’s degree in physics, Wilkinson said. “I was astonished,” Perardi said. “To be able to construct that level of detail about his life, and the way he knew things to the level of detail, yet he had never done any of those things.” Perardi said he is trying to rebuild his life and finances. “I just think to myself, I am financially devastated right now, but I am still hopefully young enough to make it back,” he said. The Kumars said they have slashed their spending, and their son might need to take out student loans. They also are healing emotionally — that a man they once thought was a trusted friend utterly betrayed them. “There are some days I don’t think about it, and others when I am extremely angry,” Rebecca Kumar said, tears forming in her eyes. “We are hurt in so many ways.”
  17. same. i’ve said it before, but his idiotic series of decisions which let to his termination is the worst moment(s) of my sports following life. worse than colt’s injury, worse than the 2008 TTU game, even worse than Black Jesus being drafted by a team with jeff fisher as its head coach. i was explaining it to my mom the other day and i put it to her like this: think about how hard it is to land a truly great player. aside from zach edey and maybe a couple other guys this year, there’s just not many of them around, and the ones that are around only consider going to a select few schools. now multiply that x100 and you’ve got how hard it is to land a truly great coach. they are very few and far between, and they tend to stay put for 2-3 decades once they get a great job, usually only leaving for their alma mater. that was us with beard. we had our bill self, roy williams, jay wright type of coach- the kind that you normally only dream of having. the kind who brings you 20, 25, 30 years of winning 7-8/10 of your games, signing the best recruits, sending guys to the nba, and winning championships. there is no other position in the entire world of sports like “elite cbb coach”. they win big, they do it forever, and they don’t go anywhere. we had that guy, and you don’t get that guy more than once. not if you aren’t kansas or unc. we had that guy, and as quickly as he gave us all a taste of what was coming, he got himself fired and then immediately hired by one of our new rivals. it still doesn’t seem real. shit is cruel and tragic. so yeah- i’m not going to stop thinking about this one for a while. he’s in my head.
  18. Yes I’m done with it. I fundamentally disagree on what he thinks the Democratic Party/left stands for, but we are united in making sure Trump doesn’t win again. Let’s fight it out after November if things go our way
  19. I will repeat it. We have an election coming up that may very well be for the soul and survival of this nation. We have a poster who had already said he is voting for the guy I think most here would agree is the candidate who isn't going to destroy this country. And some of you are arguing with him over ideology, policy whatever. I guarantee you this is what Aaron Sorkin meant when he had Jeff Daniels utter, "If liberals are so fucking smart how come they lose so goddamn always." It's THIS right here. It's more important to be right than to fucking win. I get it..... more intellectual people like to play chess, they want to turn over angles, probe weakness, engage in combat of the mind, BUT sometimes you gotta play checkers and jump a motherfucker. If we were on SEC Rant and Dixonhur said, "I'm voting for Trump even though I'm more of a centrist and don't support his direction on all the issues" the gumps over there would say "damn straight, Trump's the man" and that's it. TAKE THE WIN
  20. It’s funny- there’s a lot of “weaker elements to Sarkisians regime,” and yet program trajectory looks to be at its absolute apex since what- 2004 after beating Michigan in the rose bowl? he’s going to squire talent and he’s going to run a really good offense and I guess we just have to cross our fingers and hope he can win 4 post season games in a row (either sec title game and then 3 games in the 12 games with a bye, or no sec title and 4 games from the 5-12 seed line). Think that’s going to be a really big problem if I’m being honest.
  21. Wait, you're stealing documents too? -Well, sometimes I have to. Your father forgets. My wife just dropped off our oldest at hoops practice and was running to Target. She called me in a panicked voice and asked what was going on with the country? She is the most pragmatic person I know, so I ask "What the hell are you talking about? I thought you were at Target?" She replies, "Your cousin (BIG BIG MAGA disciple) just texted me and said Biden was addressing the nation because he's done something horrible and we need to get to safety." I asked, "What the fuck? don't listen to her. He's doing an update on the investigation and probable the two active theaters of war. I love my cousin, but please don't listen to her shit. You didn't for the previous 7 years, don't start now." My cousin tryied to convert my mother to Qanon and shit during Covid and my mom's coming back to her homestate this month to see her grandkids and I think my cousin is trying to lay "groundwork" for converting her for 2024 as if that's some massive win. But it's indicative of evangelizing people in religion, politics, or how to make money in real estate with no money down. It's all bullshit. It simply comes down to some of these people never felt like they were being taken seriously with regard to politics. And then somebody told them they should be. Empowerment is a helluva drug.
  22. looking at the schedule i’m seeing us heading into the season finale at 7-10 with a home game against OU being a must-win game, or essentially a play-in game, save us winning 2+ games in the league tourney. if we don’t take a game or two that we shouldn’t between now and then that’s going to be a tough season finale with that much on the line.
  23. You're half right. That's the problematic conundrum the GQP finds itself in, and why it's incredibly dangerous for all of us. See, they can't win (long-term and/or nationally) with the current "be utterly batshit and cruel, and battshittier and crueler" approach. BUT....if they abandon that approach, then they lose the very large chunk of their base that demands and will only show up for "battshittier and crueler." In other words, either path results in a loss. Which puts the party in a desperate position. And desperate political entities/people can and will do some horrific shit when they feel that cornered and stuck. Thus, the fact that the party -- the actual fucking political party -- is PRO a violent overthrow of the government with an authoritarian GQP government installed in its place. It's the only path they can see to taking power long-term. So, that's what they are going with. They have abandoned the two paths I described, because they are both guaranteed to see the GQP out of power. If they want to take power -- and not only do they have that hope, it's literally the only motivation they have now -- then they have no choice but to pursue the "fuck the law, fuck counting votes, let's just seize power and never let it go" path. That's where we are. And it's where we're going to be for a long while, even if the GQP gets its teeth kicked in this election, because they have no other viable option to take power. That makes our current path really, really fucking dangerous.
  24. I think it's real difficult to project much more than immediacy because all this assumes status quo, which ultimately isn't what winds up happening. When we win this fall, Republicans will be more or less forced to choose staying the course (which currently has them on a losing streak since 2016) or developing a new platform. While I'd love for them to maintain the same platform that ultimately leads them to consistent bad results; the reality is that they won't. How they go about doing this is entirely their problem, but they will make changes, thus making today's thinking on the future somewhat moot. It will be some sort of repackaged bullshit that doesn't stray too far from their current platform, but they will be forced to make concessions on some level in an attempt to regain or gain voters.
  25. This board is a bubble. Is that wage growth CEO wage growth or the average worker's wages? Did their wages keep up with the cost of goods? How many millennials can afford a house now? What is the average age of a millennial? The middle class and below are getting squeezed terribly whether this place wants to admit or not. Grocery bills eat up more than they used to eat up. Then there is everything else. Use cards cost more now than they used to cost. Home repairs, medical bills, whatever. It all costs more. Do you see the amount of tech layoffs going on lately? Oh sure we created more jobs--at what pay level? None of that is to blame Biden, per se. But when people hurt* telling them "the economy is great its your fault for being deceived" imo isn't awesome messaging. I'm pretty convinced Biden needs Trump. Because "I'm not Trump" is his main winning line. * https://jacobin.com/2024/02/us-economy-opinion-polls-cost-of-living
×
×
  • Create New...