Tell Me About Texas a&m

[ABSR 5,324]

5 hours ago, Randolph Duke said:

Maintaining a stream of revenue-generating projects also has challenged the College Station site at Texas A&M University, where HHS initially invested $176 million to build a Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing.

...

The manufacturing site in North Carolina, completed in 2018 with $59 million from HHS

So how does it take $176M in 2013 for aggy and $59M in 2018 for North Carolina?   We all know why, but I think it should be asked.

[Doc Reeves 6,434]

6 hours ago, Dennis Taylor said:

Put it on the wall!  

 

[Cairn Horn88 8,283]

9 hours ago, Randolph Duke said:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/federal-vaccine-development-sites-ill-suited-to-counter-covid-19-epidemic/2020/03/15/34e8586c-63c4-11ea-acca-80c22bbee96f_story.html

Investigations

Federal vaccine development sites ill-suited to counter covid-19 epidemic

Facilities funded years ago to rapidly develop vaccines and life-saving medicines

By

David Willman 

March 15, 2020 at 10:33 AM EDT

Nearly a decade ago, the U.S. government invested heavily in four sprawling facilities that officials said could rapidly make vaccines and other lifesaving medicines if America were struck by an outbreak of infectious disease or a biological attack.

But as the nation confronts the coronavirus pandemic, none of the sites — in Florida, Maryland, North Carolina and Texas — have developed or are close to delivering medicines to counter the outbreak, according to records, government officials and others familiar with the facilities.

Instead of leading the rush to find and mass manufacture a vaccine or lifesaving treatment, two of the sites are taking no role, while the other two expect to conduct small-scale testing of potential coronavirus vaccines.

At a cost to date of nearly $670 million, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Pentagon awarded contracts beginning in 2012 and 2013 to build and expand the four manufacturing complexes. Proponents said the sites would work with three private companies and one university to deliver emergency medicines and treatments, including flu vaccine, for both the military and civilians.

A Defense Department statement on Sept. 1, 2011, said its plant, which was eventually located in Alachua, Fla., would provide medical countermeasures and meet the military’s needs with “capabilities to rapidly respond” to “emerging and genetically engineered infectious disease outbreaks.’’

The three new HHS-backed sites — in Baltimore; College Station, Tex.; and Holly Springs, N.C., — would use modern “vaccine technologies that have the potential to produce vaccines for not only pandemic influenza but also other threats more quickly and in a more affordable way,’’ according to an agency news release on June 18, 2012.

The facilities, HHS said, “will provide the first major domestic infrastructure in the United States capable of producing medical countermeasures to protect Americans from the health impacts of bioterrorism’’ and disease epidemics.

When the projects were first proposed, some medical and biodefense specialists warned about the expense and impracticality of rapidly producing such medicines at federally sponsored facilities.

The facilities were structured to handle laboratory tasks for both government and commercial clients. A steady flow of work at the sites, proponents said, would keep the sensitive lab equipment in ready condition for a crisis while maintaining the availability of skilled technicians.

Despite the federal spending commitments, the results have fallen short, according to an examination by The Washington Post.

The overall performance of the four manufacturing sites has been criticized by government and independent biodefense specialists as recently as late last year.

-

-

-

'Hoping for a Mercedes'

Maintaining a stream of revenue-generating projects also has challenged the College Station site at Texas A&M University, where HHS initially invested $176 million to build a Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing.

In October 2013, the university’s chief executive for the center, Brett Giroir, told a House Armed Services subcommittee that the Texas facility would be “fully capable of performing the advanced development and manufacturing’’ for medicines sought by both HHS and the military.

Giroir said he wanted the center “to be the cornerstone for an emergency response to genetically modified . . . organisms, as well as other unexpected agents that we believe are a growing, real threat to our national security and public health.’’ The center, he testified, would have “the capabilities to manufacture, at scale, vaccines or biological therapeutics required for an outbreak . . . as requested by the federal government.’’

Giroir, a physician, now serves as the Trump administration’s assistant secretary for health and is helping Kadlec with government-wide responses to the coronavirus. The health agency did not make Giroir available for comment.

The Texas A&M center was also touted by then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who said in September 2014 that the “anchor’’ of the center would be its partnership with a leading pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline, to develop and make flu vaccine at the campus complex. (In 2017, President Trump appointed Perry secretary of energy; he resigned in December and could not be reached for comment.)

The 100,000 square-foot HHS-supported manufacturing facility was completed in 2015 at Texas A&M to produce flu vaccine. However, the partnership with GlaxoSmithKline dissolved before a single dose was made.

“The expectations were that the government was going to put more products through there,’’ recalled Scott Lillibridge, who served as the university’s chief scientist for the manufacturing complex until 2017. “We were the garage waiting for the car, hoping for a Mercedes.’’

The Texas center’s current executive director, Daniel J. Williams, declined through an aide to be interviewed.

In response to written questions, a university spokesman, Laylan Copelin, said Texas A&M and a commercial partner now at the site are “obligated to manufacture vaccines at the order of the federal government,” adding, “We have not received that order.”

The manufacturing site in North Carolina, completed in 2018 with $59 million from HHS and now operated by Seqirus, a subsidiary of an Australian company, makes an FDA-approved seasonal flu vaccine.

A spokeswoman for Seqirus, Sharon McHale, said by email that the company is “not under any contracts related’’ to ­covid-19. If a vaccine against the virus becomes available for use, she said, “we have offered our full assistance to the U.S. Government.’’

 

 

"The 100,000 square-foot HHS-supported manufacturing facility was completed in 2015 at Texas A&M to produce flu vaccine. However, the partnership with GlaxoSmithKline dissolved before a single dose was made.

The Texas center’s current executive director, Daniel J. Williams, declined through an aide to be interviewed.

In response to written questions, a university spokesman, Laylan Copelin, said Texas A&M and a commercial partner now at the site are “obligated to manufacture vaccines at the order of the federal government,” adding, “We have not received that order.”

They have to be "ordered" to make a vaccine....seriously, after being given $176 million?  How fucked up are these folks?

[SwanderedTalent 5,761]

The people of Earth deserve better than Texas A&M.

[Randolph Duke 4,034]

How can there be any doubt that the Brazos Valley is utterly bereft of intellectual capital? The government gifted the aggys over a quarter of a billion dollars for (yet another) government welfare handout to Texas A&M, and their "partnership" with the outside interests bringing badly needed intellectual capital to College Station, Texas didn't last long enough for the facility to get built.

They were given an insane amount of money and partnered up with highly competent individuals responsible for show them how to manage the facility, and the aggys typically fucked the entire project up.

The high tech revolution of the past seventy-five years completely passed over College Station, Texas because of the lack of intellectual capital of that region. A highly dumbed down vaccine facility that all the aggys had to do was not fuck up was completely fucked up by the aggys because of the aggy culture's lack of intellectual capital.

I'm sensing a pattern here.

In a time of national emergency, we are seeing in real time that Texas A&M can't be depended on to live up to their promises and representations. Many of us could have predicted this over a quarter of a billion dollars ago. As a nation, we planned for this current pandemic. As a nation, we funded centers to develop, test, and manufacture vaccines in case of pandemic flu. Sadly, no one making the decisions understood as well as most Texans just how badly :"Fightin' Texum aggys" fuck things up.

Why again are the people of Texas still funding Texas A&M at even the current level? (Texas A&M College Station receives fifty cents on the dollar of what UT Austin receives through federal and state funding) Why again is ANYONE resisting giving Texas Tech whatever they need to start cleaning up the aggy-created veterinary college mess in Texas?

What in God's name is the purpose of Texas A&M, other than to offer a second-tier, redneck trade-school education for the state's less intellectually capable high school graduates?

I believe in the future of the state of Texas. Sadly, Texas A&M is holding the state of Texas back by wasting resources on a scale that is indefensible. The quarter of a billion dollars wasted on the non-operational "game changer" aggy vaccine lab is just one example. Had that money been spent responsibly, lives would have been saved.

Cold fusion, alchemy, guard rails, anything made of wood, "feed the people with cotton seeds," now the "game changer ground-zero" vaccine lab. When will the waste that exemplifies Texas A&M and aggy culture come to an end?

The people of Texas deserve better than Texas A&M.

 

Edited April 17, 2020 by Randolph Duke

[SEC 1,174]

Von Miller with the very first confirmed case of Covid-19 contracted from a glory hole:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001109727/article/von-millers-agents-say-broncos-star-has-covid19

[RomaVicta 30,018]

10 hours ago, Cairn Horn88 said:

"The 100,000 square-foot HHS-supported manufacturing facility was completed in 2015 at Texas A&M to produce flu vaccine. However, the partnership with GlaxoSmithKline dissolved before a single dose was made.

The Texas center’s current executive director, Daniel J. Williams, declined through an aide to be interviewed.

In response to written questions, a university spokesman, Laylan Copelin, said Texas A&M and a commercial partner now at the site are “obligated to manufacture vaccines at the order of the federal government,” adding, “We have not received that order.”

They have to be "ordered" to make a vaccine....seriously, after being given $176 million?  How fucked up are these folks?

Also the complete arrogance of a publicly funded operation refusing to face the press.

Fearless As Every Cunt

[NeverMarryAStripper 21,921]

How does one go about getting a job as Executive Director of a center that doesn't do anything, at a nice fat salary I'm sure

[Randolph Duke 4,034]

In light of the "game changing" status of the stillborn aggy pandemic flu vaccine clusterfuck, I did a quick search to see how many other "game changers" aggys have had recently.

There are a lot of them. Because the aggy-level education leaves them with an extremely limited vocabulary, they use "game changer" for almost every project.

My favorite to date:

Quote

"The new facility is drawing comparisons to the top NFL and MLB stadiums, said Populous principal Craig Kaufman. He believes the new, interactive “Hall of Champions” will be a game-changer for the industry."

Hall of Champions:  The coolest new space design-wise is the cavernous, 30,000 square foot Hall of Champions on the West side of Kyle Field. Fans enter through a cube into a high-tech space replete with big screen scoreboards. There’s also interactive kiosks were fans can learn about the school’s Heisman Trophy winners Johnny Manziel and John David Crow. Want to see what you look like in a maroon Aggies uniform? There’s a kiosk where you can digitally try one on for size — then tweet out the picture to friends.

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-football/news/kyle-field-texas-am-football-aggies-stadium-renovation-johnny-manziel-college-station/qkypucg4otq1148cgp5lzgil6

Note: This is the current picture used by the university for their "Hall of Champions." I did not look for an embarrassing photo in an attempt to make the facility seem "less cool," less of a "game changer," or other than it is. https://12thman.com/sports/2015/12/18/hall-of-champions.aspx

Edited April 17, 2020 by Randolph Duke

[texaslong 678]

21 hours ago, Jshep34 said:

Von miller test positive for covid 19

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 

What hasn’t he tested positive for?

[jTower 238]

2 hours ago, Randolph Duke said:

In light of the "game changing" status of the stillborn aggy pandemic flu vaccine clusterfuck, I did a quick search to see how many other "game changers" aggys have had recently.

There are a lot of them. Because the aggy-level education leaves them with an extremely limited vocabulary, they use "game changer" for almost every project.

My favorite to date:

Note: This is the current picture used by the university for their "Hall of Champions." I did not look for an embarrassing photo in an attempt to make the facility seem "less cool," less of a "game changer," or other than it is. https://12thman.com/sports/2015/12/18/hall-of-champions.aspx

At least they used cavernous correctly.  30,000 square feet for three kiosks?

[Guest Lobo]

Caveronous Virus-19?  

[Deej 76,921]

4 hours ago, Randolph Duke said:

In light of the "game changing" status of the stillborn aggy pandemic flu vaccine clusterfuck, I did a quick search to see how many other "game changers" aggys have had recently.

There are a lot of them. Because the aggy-level education leaves them with an extremely limited vocabulary, they use "game changer" for almost every project.

My favorite to date:

Note: This is the current picture used by the university for their "Hall of Champions." I did not look for an embarrassing photo in an attempt to make the facility seem "less cool," less of a "game changer," or other than it is. https://12thman.com/sports/2015/12/18/hall-of-champions.aspx

Needs glory holes on those empty walls for the "meat" judging team.

[SHOOTER12 8,828]

3 hours ago, texaslong said:

What hasn’t he tested positive for?

Brain cells...

[lemonandaturd 4,285]

11 hours ago, Randolph Duke said:

How can there be any doubt that the Brazos Valley is utterly bereft of intellectual capital? The government gifted the aggys over a quarter of a billion dollars for (yet another) government welfare handout to Texas A&M, and their "partnership" with the outside interests bringing badly needed intellectual capital to College Station, Texas didn't last long enough for the facility to get built.

They were given an insane amount of money and partnered up with highly competent individuals responsible for show them how to manage the facility, and the aggys typically fucked the entire project up.

The high tech revolution of the past seventy-five years completely passed over College Station, Texas because of the lack of intellectual capital of that region. A highly dumbed down vaccine facility that all the aggys had to do was not fuck up was completely fucked up by the aggys because of the aggy culture's lack of intellectual capital.

I'm sensing a pattern here.

In a time of national emergency, we are seeing in real time that Texas A&M can't be depended on to live up to their promises and representations. Many of us could have predicted this over a quarter of a billion dollars ago. As a nation, we planned for this current pandemic. As a nation, we funded centers to develop, test, and manufacture vaccines in case of pandemic flu. Sadly, no one making the decisions understood as well as most Texans just how badly :"Fightin' Texum aggys" fuck things up.

Why again are the people of Texas still funding Texas A&M at even the current level? (Texas A&M College Station receives fifty cents on the dollar of what UT Austin receives through federal and state funding) Why again is ANYONE resisting giving Texas Tech whatever they need to start cleaning up the aggy-created veterinary college mess in Texas?

What in God's name is the purpose of Texas A&M, other than to offer a second-tier, redneck trade-school education for the state's less intellectually capable high school graduates?

I believe in the future of the state of Texas. Sadly, Texas A&M is holding the state of Texas back by wasting resources on a scale that is indefensible. The quarter of a billion dollars wasted on the non-operational "game changer" aggy vaccine lab is just one example. Had that money been spent responsibly, lives would have been saved.

Cold fusion, alchemy, guard rails, anything made of wood, "feed the people with cotton seeds," now the "game changer ground-zero" vaccine lab. When will the waste that exemplifies Texas A&M and aggy culture come to an end?

The people of Texas deserve better than Texas A&M.

 

No CR, but send you stuff about aggyassholiness to Tucker Carlson.  This might ensure funny shit, but for Covid19.

[ousux 5,602]

Have these rubes rallied behind their orange (irony) lord and savior and created a cure..or at least vaccine yet? If this plague truly came from an animal...who's more qualified in animal/human relations than aggy?

[Iceman 2,725]

On 4/17/2020 at 2:29 PM, texaslong said:

What hasn’t he tested positive for?

Gifted and talented?

[Big Frog II 511]

On 4/16/2020 at 3:35 PM, DFW Horn said:

Congratulations to the Aggies for finally being #1

[Beau Vine 54,429]

On 4/17/2020 at 9:53 AM, BigXII said:

Von Miller with the very first confirmed case of Covid-19 contracted from a glory hole:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001109727/article/von-millers-agents-say-broncos-star-has-covid19

https://texags.com/forums/5/topics/3107191

[Beau Vine 54,429]

Have we paid off the stadium rebuild?

https://texags.com/forums/5/topics/3107425

[Beau Vine 54,429]

And, what they do best:

What might have been: Aggie football's biggest 'What if?' moments

https://texags.com/s/35978/what-might-have-been-aggie-footballs-biggest-what-if-moments/5

[Zone Read 299]

6 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

Have we paid off the stadium rebuild?

https://texags.com/forums/5/topics/3107425

No worries. When you owe a bank half a mil you are ****ed. When you owe a bank half a bil the bank is ****ed. We call the shots no matter what.

 

aggy logic. 

[Beau Vine 54,429]

https://texags.com/forums/5/topics/3106471

Would you trade SEC membership for a National Championship?

Quote

Detmersdislocatedshoulder

In reply to #Mke • 2:38p, 4/13/20

NO. Benefits of SEC accross all sports is to much to pass up even for a natty. Plus long term the move to the sec hurts Texas more than a natty would have.

 

[NeverMarryAStripper 21,921]

It doesn’t sound like anyone on that site has a clue how their stadium rebuild was actually financed

[Jkwellborn 6,741]

He’s correct in that last line. It increased the $ec’s ability to recruit the state.

[Beau Vine 54,429]

18 minutes ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

It doesn’t sound like anyone on that site has a clue how their stadium rebuild was actually financed

1234

[Randolph Duke 4,034]

1 hour ago, Zone Read said:

No worries. When you owe a bank half a mil you are ****ed. When you owe a bank half a bil the bank is ****ed. We call the shots no matter what.

 

aggy logic. 

One of these days, there will be an aggy so-phisticated enough to understand some high-falutin' big city types don't have to go to no bank when them is a-needin' to borrow some moneys.

No wonder the legislature refuses to allow the aggy Board of Regents to oversee any publicly-funded endowment assets.

The ags borrowed $350 million @5% (taxable muni bond) and scraped up $135 million in cash for their stadium. The SEZ project at UT Austin was $175 million, all cash, no debt. UT put more actual cash into their stadium project than A&M put into Kyle Field.

According to the latest 12th Man Foundation report, the foundation alone is committed to funding $390 million of future principal and interest to pay off the stadium. This is in addition to the student fee, the local hotel tax, etc that has to still be paid over the next 23 years to pay off the aggy stadium.

If the college football season doesn't get played this fall, expect John Sharp to beg for another bailout during the 2021 legislative session. If there is no season this fall, aggy athletics will (once again) have to "borrow" money from the academic side. That money will need to come from the taxpayers.

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by Randolph Duke

[Modessit 5,603]

Congratulations to the Aggies for finally being #1

I'm surprised only one SEC school is on that list.

 

[SwanderedTalent 5,761]

11 hours ago, Randolph Duke said:

The ags borrowed $350 million @5% (taxable muni bond) and scraped up $135 million in cash for their stadium.

This is why I want to LITERALLY AND I MEAN THAT WORD LITERALLY kick in the balls any sportswriter I ever read who writes something like "Texas A&M threw $500 million at their stadium renovation, the Aggies are swimming in oil money, the Aggies are a big money program" etc etc etc.

NO YOU STUPID FUCKS, America is a financialized economy in which EVERYTHING runs on cheap, easy debt. A&M doesn't "have" jack shit, it's just so fucking easy to borrow money in this slap-dick easy money economy that any entity wanting money can get it. 

[Randolph Duke 4,034]

2 hours ago, SwanderedTalent said:

This is why I want to LITERALLY AND I MEAN THAT WORD LITERALLY kick in the balls any sportswriter I ever read who writes something like "Texas A&M threw $500 million at their stadium renovation, the Aggies are swimming in oil money, the Aggies are a big money program" etc etc etc.

NO YOU STUPID FUCKS, America is a financialized economy in which EVERYTHING runs on cheap, easy debt. A&M doesn't "have" jack shit, it's just so fucking easy to borrow money in this slap-dick easy money economy that any entity wanting money can get it. 

The rednecks can believe whatever fairy-tale fish camp story they choose, but the facts are what they are. Regardless of how much money the ags have convinced themselves they have, of their 500,000 alumni, they only have 9,700 individuals who are members of their coveted "12th Man Foundation" and have purchased season tickets (the “2%-ers”). Add to that, 35,000 heavily discounted student tickets. 

Prior to the hit on cash flows from a drastically reduced MBB payout, and the expected hit due to $11 WTI and the decline in football revenue, aggys struggled to cover their operating costs (including struggling to pay back past 8-figure "loans" from when their athletics program couldn't pay its bills in past years).

The key here is operating revenue. The pool of money from which the bills are paid. The comps the ags are using to show their "financial aggyness" are the combined operating revenues and capital contributions of Texas A&M vs just the operating revenues of UT Austin. Even adding historic levels of capital contributions, Texas A&M struggles to reach what UT Austin generates in just operating revenues.

Time will tell just how well aggy manages to juggle its financial commitments which, even in the best of times, struggled to pay its bills out of the operating capital generated by aggy athletics.

And the expectations of aggys that CBS will bail out every SEC program when the current CBS television rights contract expires is highly speculative. If they want to go deeply in debt to cover operating costs, convincing themselves that after 2023 the "edded CBS money" will bail them out, they can believe that.

Personally, I am expecting John Sharp to crawl hat-in-hand to the legislature begging for yet another aggy bailout (remember the $250+ million they were funneled for their "game changer vaccine lab"? Or their "game changing" bailout during the 2019 session where they were going to expand their special needs-centric education to given even more aggy vocational certificates to "graduates"?)

Think of it this way, anyone's lifetime, the aggys have received more emergency bailouts from the legislature than they have national championships or Nobel Prize recipients combined. The number of aggy financial bailouts is about to climb during the 2021 legislative session. There is simply no way to avoid financial reality, even for those living in a world of aggy ignorance and fish camp stories.

The funniest thing is that aggy's games against FCS teams just became even more crucial to their financial fortunes and the fortunes of the local businesses that make their money off aggy home games. If there is no football season this fall, the B/CS economy is going to get decimated.

 

 

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by Randolph Duke

[Steel Shank 9,432]

While I'd never want to be in aggy's shoes, I wouldn't want to be in aggy's shoes right now.

[Beau Vine 54,429]

Come one, RD, you're totally wrong -- look here:

Quote

Jarrin' Jay

4:24p, 4/19/20

For a good chunk of the stadium rebuild they had terms longer than 5 years. Mine in section 115 was 5 years and I am paid in full, but the entire west side, loge, zone club, suites, etc. had 7 or 10 year term. Meaning we will collect a good bit of $$ these next few years that goes straight to service the debt.

Given the revenues we are generating, plus the additional TV $ that will increase post CBS, it will not be a problem to pay off the stadium renovation in full and on time.

It was 100% pledged and committed before we turned a shovel.

[Randolph Duke 4,034]

26 minutes ago, Steel Shank said:

While I'd never want to be in aggy's shoes, I wouldn't want to be in aggy's shoes right now.

One of A&M's big problems is the B/CS region is far too dependent on government and services. The entire Brazos Valley lacks businesses capable of bringing outside wealth into the local economy. Even their own local economists acknowledge this problem.

With the government not able to fund more welfare-style boondoggles, such as the aggy "game changing" vaccine plant, new money coming into the B/CS region will be hard to find. With students not in town since before spring break, there are a lot of local B/CS businesses hurting badly. Students bringing outside dollars into the local economy are very important to A&M and to the B/CS region. Think of B/CS as third-world country dependent on money earned elsewhere by migrants workers and sent home to help their hometown survive. The B/CS economy, plain and simple, is not self-sustaining even in the strongest of economic times.

Home football games are a very important source of outside income helping maintain businesses in B/CS and to keep their economy afloat.

If there is no football season this fall, what little outside money that comes into the B/CS economy will be significantly reduced.

In short, no, this is not the time to be in aggy's shoes.

Edited April 20, 2020 by Randolph Duke

[Burt Macklin 19,053]

49 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

Come one, RD, you're totally wrong -- look here:

Hahaha gotta love it. “It was fully pledged.” I guess that means every person in America owns their home outright because they’ve “fully pledged” to pay it off 30 years from now. 

[Beau Vine 54,429]

16 hours ago, Zone Read said:

No worries. When you owe a bank half a mil you are ****ed. When you owe a bank half a bil the bank is ****ed. We call the shots no matter what.

 

16 hours ago, Zone Read said:

No worries. When you owe a bank half a mil you are ****ed. When you owe a bank half a bil the bank is ****ed. We call the shots no matter what.

 

aggy logic. 

Actually, someone much smarter:

[C-Man 27,262]

16 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

https://texags.com/forums/5/topics/3106471

Would you trade SEC membership for a National Championship?

 

That is the aggy-est thing I've ever seen aggy-ed.

[Randolph Duke 4,034]

Ah, happy, happy times. "The halftime of infamy." With film clips.

Not to comment on my own post, but I wanted to put the link to the Rice school paper story concerning the event along with the video.

https://www.ruf.rice.edu/~themob/history/11_29_73.html

 

 

Edited April 21, 2020 by Randolph Duke

[NoName 16,406]

17 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

And, what they do best:

What might have been: Aggie football's biggest 'What if?' moments

https://texags.com/s/35978/what-might-have-been-aggie-footballs-biggest-what-if-moments/5

lol

Quote

 

What if Kyler Murray never transferred?

The 2018 Heisman Trophy winner and 2019 NFL Rookie of the Year was destined for stardom. That was apparent even when he arrived in College Station in 2015. Had he been the Aggies quarterback in 2016, the Aggies might have won the SEC championship and probably would have reached the College Football Playoff. Remember, the Aggies trailed Alabama just 20-14 and were driving late in the third quarter before a botched handoff exchange between quarterback Trevor Knight and running back Keith Ford resulted in an Alabama touchdown. Alabama prevailed 33-14, but the outcome might have been different with Murray at quarterback. The remainder of the regular season probably would have been different, too. Recall, A&M was fourth in the first CFB rankings but lost to Mississippi State 35-28. A&M wins that game with Murray at quarterback. The Aggies beat Ole Miss, too, and likely outscore LSU in the finale instead of falling 54-39. Knight wasn’t bad, but an offense that included Murray, Christian Kirk, Josh Reynolds and Ricky Seals-Jones would’ve been lethal.

 

Quote

 

What if news of Bear Bryant’s departure had not been leaked?

The Aggies were 8-0 and ranked No. 1 entering the next to last week of the 1957 football season. But earlier that week speculation surfaced that coach Paul Bryant was leaving A&M for Alabama. As rumors persisted, the Aggies were increasingly distracted. Consequently, they lost the last final three games (including Gator Bowl) by a total of six points. Without those rumors, A&M very well may have defeated Rice and Texas to reach the Cotton Bowl and likely would have faced Navy for a chance to win the national championship.

What if ‘Momma’ never called?

Bryant, who played college football at Alabama, explained his departure from A&M by saying “Momma called. And when momma calls, you just have to come running.” Bryant then built Alabama into a national power and was credited with winning six national championships. Had he stayed in College Station, perhaps A&M would have won some of those titles. Instead, upon his exit A&M struggled for a decade until winning the 1967 Cotton Bowl over … Bryant’s Alabama Crimson Tide.

 

one of the comments includes this absolute GEM about Kyler

Quote

IMO - the biggest loss from Kyler leaving was perception and unfortunately the broken relationship with him. Clearly he wanted to be an Ag. The late trip to Austin just pisses me off but I can't decide who to be more pissed at - coach or dad. 
They ****ed us. Ultimately Kyler went to a league that was better suited to his size which just wasn't suited to the SEC.

this is fantastic

Quote

 

The entire story of TAMU athletics is, "what if?"

Embrace it. It's who we are.

 

???

Quote

What if Drew Brees was big enough to play Div. 1 college football?

 

[tejas60 3,534]

1 hour ago, Randolph Duke said:

Ah, happy, happy times. "The halftime of infamy." With film clips.

 

no mention of "where oh where has my little dog gone?"?????

[SwanderedTalent 5,761]

what-ifs are for dorks

[Randolph Duke 4,034]

15 minutes ago, tejas60 said:

no mention of "where oh where has my little dog gone?"?????

The MOB did throw up the aggy "Bellamy salute" when they walked by the aggy band after that halftime performance. I know a couple of guys who were in the '73 MOB. They have great memories of that event.

Bellamy salute:

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by Randolph Duke

[NeverMarryAStripper 21,921]

I also have fond memories of the Aggy band 1981 performance at Rice stadium.  Some of the MOB members blew whistles during the aggy band performance causing a section to make their turn too soon.  The entire performance collapsed and the aggy band just had to leave the field in total confusion.  It was especially gratifying because my then BIL, who was your typical obnoxious corps turd, was a member. 

[Spawn of Cthulhu 2,241]

37 minutes ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

I also have fond memories of the Aggy band 1981 performance at Rice stadium.  Some of the MOB members blew whistles during the aggy band performance causing a section to make their turn too soon.  The entire performance collapsed and the aggy band just had to leave the field in total confusion.  It was especially gratifying because my then BIL, who was your typical obnoxious corps turd, was a member. 

NeverMarryACorpsTurd'sSister

[Deej 76,921]

1 hour ago, NoName said:

lol

one of the comments includes this absolute GEM about Kyler

this is fantastic

???

 

Murray couldn't win a title with OU. Like he'd win one with that scrub team aggy. 

[UTCzech III 2,907]

1 hour ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

I also have fond memories of the Aggy band 1981 performance at Rice stadium.  Some of the MOB members blew whistles during the aggy band performance causing a section to make their turn too soon.  The entire performance collapsed and the aggy band just had to leave the field in total confusion.  It was especially gratifying because my then BIL, who was your typical obnoxious corps turd, was a member. 

 

[Scheiss Meister 8,411]

That is just so damn beautiful.

[The Marsellus Wallace 102]

21 minutes ago, Scheiss Meister said:

That is just so damn beautiful.

aggy will say tu photoshopped it. 

[Chopper 17,245]

This article from today's WaPo explains a lot...this guy went from failing at aggy's vaccine center to failing the USA in enabling the country's ability to test for Covid. He's active in the fake military lifestyle, dressing up on the regular in an admiral's uniform despite never having served in active military. He was employed as a professor at UT Southwestern Med School but other than that his career consists of a series of appointed bureaucratic appointments and appears he has no other tangible career accomplishments. He obviously learned the art of blaming everyone else instead of accepting responsibility for his own failures while working as aggy. Also note in the article it confirms that aggy is doing zero to develop a vaccine and if they are given a vaccine they've now pushed back their ability to manufacture it from Sharp's original claim of 4 months to "a year or a year and a half." FUCKING LOL.

Quote

Brett Giroir, Trump’s testing czar, was forced out of a job developing vaccine projects. Now he’s on the hot seat.

April 20, 2020 at 2:25 p.m. MDT

Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/brett-giroir-trumps-testing-czar-was-forced-out-of-a-job-developing-vaccine-projects-now-hes-on-the-hot-seat/2020/04/19/b061b968-7e89-11ea-8de7-9fdff6d5d83e_story.html

Brett Giroir, the federal official overseeing coronavirus testing efforts, says that his experience working on vaccine development projects at Texas A&M University helped prepare him for this historic moment. He once said that his vaccine effort was so vital that “the fate of 50 million people will rely on us getting this done.”

But after eight years of work on several vaccine projects, Giroir was told in 2015 he had 30 minutes to resign or he would be fired. His annual performance evaluation at Texas A&M, the local newspaper reported, said he was “more interested in promoting yourself” than the health science center where he worked. He got low marks on being a “team player.”

Now President (Tard) has given Giroir the crucial task of ending the massive shortfall of tests for the novel coronavirus. Some governors have blasted the lack of federal help on testing, which they say is necessary to enact Trump’s plan for reopening the economy.

That criticism has focused attention on Giroir and whether he can deliver results under pressure. His years as director of the Texas vaccine project illustrate his operating style, which includes sweeping statements about the impact of his work, not all of which turned out as some had hoped.

During two recent interviews with The Washington Post, Giroir blamed his ouster on internal politics at the university, not on any problems with the project.

“If you’re not familiar with academic politics, it makes politics in Washington look like a minor league scrimmage,” he said. He said he was “heartbroken” to leave the position before his work was done, but he said that the vaccine projects have proved valuable — and might contribute to the devel

As for the evaluation, Giroir, 59, said, “I’m a team player. But not to people who act inappropriately, who are misogynistic and who are abusive to other people. I don’t have a loyalty to that. I have a loyalty to my faculty and my students. And that’s what I care about. . . . It’s better to be independent and stand your ethical ground.” Asked to explain his comment, he said, “I’ll just leave it at that.” opment of a coronavirus vaccine.

The combative response is classic Giroir, according to those who have worked with him over the years.

Robin Robinson, who as the director of the federal Biological Advanced Research and Development Authority oversaw a major grant for the Texas vaccine project, said in an interview that Giroir “over-promised and under-delivered.” He said, “I always had a good relationship with Brett. I know he has a temper and he sometimes has a very difficult time controlling it.”

Still, Robinson, like other former associates interviewed for this report, said that he has confidence in Giroir and praised Trump’s decision to pick Giroir for the job informally known as the nation’s virus testing czar.

“He does get things done,” Robinson said. “Sometimes it’s a little different than what one might expect. But I feel confident that he will do the job where he is right now.”

Giroir serves as the assistant secretary for health in the Department of Health and Human Services, making him the top medical and science adviser to HHS Secretary Alex Azar. He oversees the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, which has 6,200 officers and is playing a major role in fighting covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.

On March 13, a week after (Tard) said falsely that “anybody that wants a test can get a test,” Giroir was given the responsibility of coordinating the federal government’s widely criticized virus testing programs, which initially included a faulty product from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While he is not a formal member of the White House coronavirus task force, he is a regular presence at its meetings and often confers with Trump and Vice President Pence.

Although testing has increased since Giroir took over, some state officials continue to complain that the federal government lacks a coherent plan.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) said on NPR last week that “the truth is that the federal government has really been more of a hindrance than a help in most of the testing issues. . . . We got very little help from the federal government.”

New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) said Wednesday on brother Chris Cuomo’s CNN show that he wasn’t familiar with Giroir. Asked by his brother about the man “in charge of the most important component” of dealing with the virus, the governor responded: “I'll take your word that he exists, but I wouldn't know otherwise.”

A Giroir spokeswoman said he has been on task-force calls to governors. A spokesman for the New York governor did not respond to a request for comment.

As for the complaints from some governors that they still lack testing capabilities, Giroir said in the interview that anyone who “needs a test” can get one.

“That does not mean at this point in time that anyone who wants a test gets a test,” Giroir said. “There may be tens of millions of people who want a test, but they really have n

Giroir said testing must be increased to ensure that the virus does not resurge. He said the current capability of 3.5 million tests per month needs to increase to 6 million to 8 million for a “gradual reopening” of the economy to occur, and he said such capacity is growing quickly.

Separately, Giroir promised that “tens of millions” of serology tests will be available within a few weeks that enable people to determine whether they have h

Publicly, Giroir has been in sync with Tard, appearing alongside him at briefings in the admiral’s uniform he is entitled to wear as head of the U.S. Health Service Commissioned Corps. In private, Giroir said, he has no hesitation about being blunt with the president.

“His scientific advisers, including me, provide him very frank advice every single day,” Giroir said. “Any thought that does not happen, or he does not listen, is blatantly false. . . . It’s one of the most productive working environments at a senior level I’ve been involved in.”

Giroir, born in Louisiana and educated at Harvard University and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, began his career as a pediatrician and became chief medical officer at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas. He grew interested in how to develop new technologies, and in 2004 he joined the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, where he oversaw efforts such as the development of a ventilator that could be carried onto battlefields.

He wanted to find new ways to fight deadly pandemics, whether a virus occurred naturally or as a weapon of war. He concluded that new technology was needed to quickly make massive amounts of vaccines. “I realized the challenges were not just biological but engineering,” Giroir said.

Giroir returned to Texas in 2008 and eventually became vice chancellor at Texas A&M University, vowing to transform the region into one of the world’s hubs for vaccine development. He pushed the idea of creating mobile labs that could produce vaccines where they were most needed, and promoted a facility that would enable a pharmaceutical partner to quickly produce millions of doses of vaccine for a crisis such as an influenza pandemic.

“My job is to facilitate transformational projects that benefit lots of people,” Giroir said at the time. “I would like to be part of something that can save millions of lives worldwide.”

He told the Houston Chronicle in 2010 that “If this works, we'll have a billion-dose-per-month vaccine facility in Texas, which would be by far the largest and most capable center in the world.”

In 2012, Giroir played a major role in obtaining a federal grant that enabled the university to become one of several U.S. centers that would be prepared to quickly produce vaccines in a pandemic. “Once it's implemented, it really will solve the pandemic crisis,” he said at the time.

The university partnered with GlaxoSmithKline, a leading vaccine manufacturer. In a 2013 news release, Giroir said the company’s cell-based vaccine program was “the most promising near term influenza vaccine technology” to improve upon the traditional methodology of using eggs.

When there was fear of an outbreak of Ebola virus cases in Texas, then-Gov. Rick Perry (R) in 2014 appointed Giroir as chairman of a task force overseeing an effort to fight the disease.

In mid-2015, a new president, Michael Young, arrived at Texas A&M. Young asked some senior officials at the university to resign, while offering to keep them in their jobs for at least a year, Giroir told The Post. Giroir said he refused to sign the letter.

Giroir was summoned to a meeting at which he said he was told he had 30 minutes to resign or he would be fired. Declaring himself “heartbroken” over having failed to complete his mission, he resigned. Young, who is still university president, declined to comment.

Giroir, in response to questions about his ouster, sent The Post an editorial published at the time in the local newspaper, the Bryan Eagle. The editorial chastised Young for having forced out Giroir, saying Giroir had increased federal research grants to the university’s Health Science Center by 65 percent and was “treated badly” by the school.

Separately, the Eagle reported that the university said in a statement, “It is inaccurate and disingenuous at best to attribute growth in this area solely to Dr. Giroir.” The Eagle, which obtained Giroir’s evaluation, said that while Giroir had a grade of 4 or 5 for his management and related skills, on a scale in which 5 is the highest mark, he had a 2 or 3 in areas of “loyalty/commitment” and “team player.”

The vaccine manufacturing center was completed after Giroir’s departure, but his prediction that it would enable GlaxoSmithKline to produce a groundbreaking vaccine did not pan out. The company said in a statement that the “research underpinning the Texas A&M project did not prove fruitful,” leading federal authorities to halt funding.

The facility was acquired by a U.S. subsidiary of a Japanese company, Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, which has agreed to respond promptly if there is a federal request to develop a vaccine.

John White, who as chairman of the Board of Regents recruited Giroir to the university, said in an interview, “Brett was the architect of all these wonderful things we had put in place.” Asked to assess Giroir’s impact, he said, “It is just difficult to sum it up because the journey continues. . . . Do I wish everything would have gone faster with more tangible results? Sure, but I’m not disappointed at all where it’s been and where it’s going.”

Giroir defended the projects. He said the Fujifilm facility is available to rapidly produce a vaccine if one is requested by the federal government, just as originally envisioned, and he said his work has laid the foundation for such work, possibly including a vaccine for covid-19.

Of his vaccine work in Texas, he said, “It’s not entirely responsible for where we are by any means. But the work has really led to our ability to get a vaccine up to scale potentially in a year or a year and a half instead of five or seven years.”

Giroir also noted that a separate facility he helped develop, which uses plant-based technology to produce vaccines, is working on a possible product for the coronavirus. “It may work, it may not work,” he said. “But if you want a billion doses in a short time, plant-based is the only way to get it done.”

Giroir, after being ousted from Texas A&M, took a variety of positions, including chairing a commission that reviewed the health-care system at Veterans Affairs. With Tard’s election, Giroir found a new opportunity.

(Tard) nominated him in 2017 to be assistant secretary for health at HHS. The nomination languished for months as some Democrats questioned Giroir’s commitment to women’s health issues, but he was confirmed.

Tard named Giroir as acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration in late 2019, a position he held for two months while a new leader awaited confirmation.

Until now, some of Giroir’s most prominent work in the administration revolved around fetal stem cell tissue research, which some scientists think could be needed to find a treatment for the coronavirus. Some conservatives have urged a ban on the use of fetal tissue.

Giroir said during a 2018 meeting at the National Institutes of Health that an alternative must be as reliable as fetal tissue. But HHS later announced restrictions on the ability of some researchers to get federal funding for fetal tissue research, saying the importance of “promoting the dignity of life from conception to natural death is one of the very top priorities of President Trump’s administration.” The announcement pleased Trump’s political advisers but dismayed scientists. Giroir’s views on the issue appear to put him at odds with White House policy.

“I think it’s very clear that we don’t have models that completely recapitulate what the fetal tissue does,” Giroir told The Post. “And I just mean this honestly, what I advise the president, or what happens, that’s executive privilege. And I think it was widely reported that this was the president’s decision on the way to go. This was a presidential decision. And he’s the president; he gets to make those decisions.”

 

 

[TexasMan 10,987]

 

[Dennis Taylor 18,871]

12 minutes ago, TexasMan said:

 

Nice fucking going aggy Mark