🏀 KuBuckets Archive

DoubleDD said:

Again what do you gain by attacking a symbol (flag) ....

at·tack əˈtak
verb: take aggressive action against (a place or enemy forces) with weapons or armed force, typically in a battle or war.
"in December, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor"

Please tell me which athlete "attacked" the flag?

That's some pretty strong rhetoric to start your post. To be honest, I stopped right there and didn't read the rest. I will go back and read the rest because I care to hear what you have to say...,

My point is that the 'voices' that are being used in the debate aren't voices that seek to bridge the divide. The voices are juiced with intent to forcibly persuade rather than to inform... on both sides ;-)

Sorry to single out one word in your post, but it serves as a good example of what I see as an epidemic of hyperbole.

It has been a special run. They gave us memories that will be with us for life! Hear hear to the Silver Age of Royals baseball.. possibly passing into legend before our eyes.

Why oh why are people more concerned about how people treat the symbol than what the symbol represents?

I attended a college football game yesterday where the National Anthem was presented 15 min before the game and neither team was on the field. Not sure if this was intentional, but it made me wonder if this whole thing will continue to corrode the very thing that everyone is fighting for.

One thing that certainly has become more apparent is the power of symbols in the minds of the masses. It's as if there is less tolerance of and more sensitivity to the Nazi flag than the beliefs and principles that it represents.

So when I hear such concern about disrespecting the symbols of freedom that they are willing to repress the very freedoms the symbols represent, I have to bow my head and say a little prayer for the country and its people.

I see it on ESPN3 tomorrow at 4pm my time.. I may not be back from a football game when it starts.

Is Late Night on ESPN3 or streamed somewhere?

Curious that Ben Simmons and LSU is not in the mix. That was a head scratcher.

@mayjay It wasn't that he was given shoes...

The story goes something like this... I think it was Kurtis Townsend that was recruiting Wiggins. If you recall, there wasn't a strong indication to know which way he was going. On the day of the announcement, KT called Wiggins' coach to see if he had any news..

The coach said something like, I don't know but, today he's wearing adidas shoes if that's any indication.

The way I read it was that he had traditionally been wearing Nikes prior to that.. I think he had been in Nike camps and such, so folks thought it was a foregone conclusion he would go to a Nike school.

If there is justice in the world, this should be primarily about Nike. I guess we will have to wait for the next shoe to drop. (pun intended)

@JayHawkFanToo @REHawk

There were three schemes outlined and the third one was described as a goal to have the athlete agree to sign a contract with Adidas after turning pro. That immediately reminded me of Wiggins who was seen uncharacteristically wearing Adidas shoes the morning of his announcement to come to KU.

Not many coaches make such a projection of their retirement. I wonder what his motivation was for making this statement. I suspect he has his reasons. It comes on the heels of his induction into the Naismith HOF... coincidence?

Will Ohio U put up 50+ on KU today? Sheesh.

A bloodbath has begun. When will we be respectable in this sport?

@jayballer54 Agree-- in fact, even if those are the words that were uttered, we don't know that it was Self vs. someone else on the staff..

There is a range of sophistication in those pitches. Texas and Kentucky sound competent and appear to be appealing to the rational mind: they have a plan and they are thinking of how he fits into their system and how his goals and their goal align. Kansas and Marquette sound like they are appealing to the ego.. The pitches sound desperate -- like all the eggs are in one basket -- and full of promises that kids what to hear; superficial.

Very interesting.

I think Vick is going to be the x-factor. The other guys are going to draw a lot of attention from teams. That will leave Vick in a position to exploit mismatches and gaps in the defense if he can see them quickly enough. And his athleticism is so great that he will punish those who think they can recover from a hedge.

IMHO, Vick will be an NBA player. If he gets the right opportunity, he'll be better than people think.

Let's see if there's an alpha dog attitude across this bunch that refuses to lose. If there is, then we could have a pretty good squad. Winning will make everyone look better at draft time.

I like the look! Hope they have a good season. I think Mich St. is the team to beat this year..

Nice addition and kudos to Self and the staff!

Welcome to the team, De Sousa!

At this point, I think a third party could help and is probably necessary. There's nothing magic about 2 or 3 or any other number.. but the current two parties have evolved into incredibly powerful entities that now prioritize self-preservation over service to their constituents.

And they have tremendous resources that are gathered (donated) for the purpose of representing the interests of the people, but that are misappropriated to smear the opposing candidates and party.

There can be no doubt that Hosmer is the best since Brett.

This is all too reminiscent of the Morri introduction to Lawrence. But with less talent and likely not as many years of service.

I will offer no advice for this. I know nothing of gas engines, so my guess is that your mower "lost the will to live."

@justanotherfan

yep.. My guess is 2030 NFL falls to second place.

Part of the precipitous drop will be from the impact of the talent migration you mentioned...

Athletes that used to be WR or TE are now Forwards in the NBA.. The NBA (and other sports) get better as the most talented athletes move from football to less dangerous sports. Track and field should be interesting.. Tennis... Swimming...

@globaljaybird It has been 25 years at least since I was there.. It's just a little bar in a little town with underwhelming presentation... But the ribs are unforgettable, after all this time. Glad there are a few others who can back me up on the awesomeness of G&M in Williamsburg..

As for KC BBQ (which is the best in the world) My top 3 are Joes, Gates and Bryants. I can't deny that Joe's is the best. It didn't exist when I was in school, so the debate used to be Bryants vs Gates... But I've made the pilgrimage to Joes a couple times in the last 10 years and it's made me a believer. Joe's is sublime.

Anyone go to Guy & Mays in southeast KS?

Did the Hawks win all four games in Italy?

my version of the shirt has that phrase on the back of the shirt..

Looks like any other college town in Big 12 country... (Waco, Manhattan, Lubbock...)

Ravens player (John Urschel) battling for starting job retires from NFL to finish Ph.D at MIT

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/ravens-player-battling-for-starting-job-retires-from-nfl-to-finish-ph-d-at-mit/ ↗

"In a 2015 post on ThePlayersTribune.com, Urschel wrote that he envied former 49ers linebacker Chris Borland, who retired after just one NFL season because of concerns about head injuries. Urschel explained that he played football, despite his promising mathematics career, because "I love the game."

Starting a thread for folks to share info about the trip.

Please post pics, game times, broadcast info, game results here for those of us that are trying to follow from about a dozen time zones away.

All-- I have attempted to 'fork' this topic.

That doesn't mean "stick a fork in it".. rather it means split the topic as the conversation has wandered into new territory. The new post is called "Colin Kaepernick's protest and it's impact on the NFL"

I have moved it to the General Discussion section..

Also-- my apologies that not all of the posts were moved when I forked it. I could not scroll to select all of the posts, and it looks like once it's created, there's no way to move posts across topics.

Watch. More. Basketball.

Watch. More. Basketball.

Regarding ESPN's leanings: I don't know if they lean left or right. But they do have a conflict of interest when it comes to issues like CTE that threaten the #1 revenue-generating sport.

Don't expect them to become a source of information on the topic or a critic of the sport.

So many interesting thoughts and comments from the community.

I agree with many of the observations and the insights.

I think I should clarify that my reason for posting is not to predict the demise of the NFL. I think the NFL will find ways to drive consumption of their product for years to come. There's too much money behind this -- it employs too many people and generates too much revenue to simply go away without a fight. And the stadiums... what to do with those stadiums?

But Someone mentioned tobacco as a analogous industry... That's probably fair in the sense that football is as synonymous with American culture today as smoking was to American culture in the 40s and 50s. The NFL will resist and it may take time for the demand to wane.. But the NFL will decline primarily because of the quality of the product -- the talent will be depleted.

And that leads to the main reason I posted this: because I believe the medical evidence will lead to 1) a reduction of kids who want to play the game, and 2) a chilling effect on the funding sources to public institutions such as public high schools and state universities. These constitute the pipeline for talent to the NFL.

State funds -- taxpayer's money -- cannot support actives that are known to harm students. The threat of lawsuits against the institutions could move up the chain to the states that are funding / supporting the sport. To continue to fund football would be akin to using state funds to put cigarette vending machines in schools and campuses.

Private schools and academies may continue to support football programs, and perhaps they will surge as a source of talent to professional football as the traditional sources dwindle. But that won't be enough to keep the sport at it's current level of prominence /dominance.

As Football declines, a void will be created. Basketball is already poised take it's place at every level. And when basketball becomes #1 in popularity (in College Athletics), it will also replace football as the #1 source for fund-raising a the collegiate level from alumni and donors.

Take THAT conference realignment! KU looks pretty good in this context.

@mayjay you are right that Soccer is the #1 sport worldwide. My point is that basketball has more global popularity than football and is poised to become increasingly popular around the world (see olympic sport, the number of foreign players in College and NBA... etc.)

If I was an investor, I would sell football and buy basketball.

Football.

It has been at the top of the mountain. Financially, it has been the driving force behind conference re-alignment. It's been the main engine for fund-raising for many universities... The NFL is a huge business.

But the demise of football is imminent. This week's news that autopsies of 111 NFL players' brains revealed CTE in 110 of them is the death knell for football.

Not today. Not next year. But it's coming.

The demise of football is certain. With the medical evidence mounting, it is undeniable that playing football is hazardous to your health.

Universities cannot continue to sanction a sport that is assured to cause a brain injury. If I was an NFL owner, I'd be looking to sell sell sell. The product that you sell is killing the people who create it. How do you manage the workman's comp liability for this?

So what does this have to do with Basketball?

Everything.

As football declines, the #2 sport will rise to take its place. Basketball is not only the #2 sport, but it is played by both sexes and it has global popularity. In short, the ceiling is much higher for basketball than football.

It's only a matter of time before the reality sinks in for the power 5 conferences. Once they get it, there will be a scramble for the schools with basketball pedigree.

My guess is that as early as 2020, the tide will be turning.. (apologies to Alabama) and by 2030, basketball will be the dominate athletic enterprise in universities and the NBA will eclipse the NFL in revenue and popularity.

This is good news for KU and the great basketball tradition we all love. It will be even more valuable and more coveted in the future.

Mason's a master chef at serving crow.

@JayHawkFanToo

Agree.

Ironically, this is one place where the Big12 (with 10 teams) actually helps KU.

Our home-and-home in-conference schedule means we play every B12 opponent on their floor, unlike the other mega-conferences.

Awesome feature. I totally understand @wrwlumpy 's perspective.

Could Nick be the successor to Bill Self? When we had that discussion, I don't recall Nick even in the conversation.

(Agree that Nick is one of the all-time favorite Jayhawks!)

I have read and agree to the rules stated above and the spirit of this category, and hereby do solemnly swear to treat my peers with respect and discuss the issues on their merits in an effort to further our collective knowledge and ideas about politics and world affairs.

If one is to understand “the great mystery” one must study all its aspects, not just the dogmatic narrow view of one political party.

I guess that makes me a Sith Lord....

There's always the Financial Times or the BBC.. but some would say they slant. Economist is well written but considered on the conservative side. Then there's Al Jazeera if you want to look at another view. Switching between Fox and CNN is interesting, but they are both virtually caricatures of 'news' providers.

In the last 20 years, the work required to have a balanced information diet has increased dramatically. And confidence that the 'truth' is identifiable in what is published has nearly evaporated.

Last night, I watched the "PAC12 Classics" game that my DVR recorded. It was Kansas vs Arizona in the SouthEast Regional Semifinal.

I remembered it was bad.

It. was. bad.

Talk about a team that had talent and should never have lost... Roy was coach of the year. The team was 34-1-- only loss was at Misery in OT...

The tournament losses are frustrating and the thing that can lead to a loss is or a win can be so many things.. but unlucky matchups or hitting a team on a hot streak is among them.

I would say that our run in 2011 was as much about good luck and us getting hot as our early departures are about bad luck and going cold. (Watch that Purdue game and the Ohio State game.. We were a good team, but it could have gone either way.)

It's frustrating to have exits earlier than our record would suggest we should have. And it's tempting to want to have a clear explanation for those losses -- we are geared to look for cause and effect. But the reality is that it's a complex system with lots of variables. Most of those variables, the Coach has no control over (opponent, location, officiating team, etc.)

It is what it is: An entertaining game (when the refs aren't tampering with it) and a satisfying outcome about 87% of the time with Bill Self, which is better than any other fan base can claim. Of course, if you only count NCAA games, that percentage is lower. And if you only count the last game of the season, well, we should be glad that our last game of the season has been an sudden elimination game 32 out of the last 33 years (also better than any school).

We've won the last game twice out of those 32 tries. It's natural to want more, if that's all you look at.

@JayHawkFanToo Compared to LaVar, Carl Henry was a dead-beat dad.

@KirkIsMyHinrich

So glad you put the numbers together on JJ's shooting.

On draft night, I recall hearing that refrain that he can't shoot and wondering where that perception was coming from because my recollection was that he was a pretty solid contributor and was much more reliable down the stretch during league.

His 3s were more consistent, but it also seemed like he could get his shot driving whenever he wanted and was pretty good on the stop and pop as an alternative.

The numbers don't lie. The draft pundits do.

The comments on his shooting feel like either misinformation to ward off certain teams or a case of a exaggeration / over-reaction. In either case, it's not accurate and I think at least one of the first three teams is going to be wishing they picked Josh within 3 years.

Wayne's in.. Tarik's out.. Ben's out.. hard to keep up, but appreciate the folks here with all the updates. I'm hoping all of the recent Jayhawks find a good place to land...

The demographic picture suggests that KU would be best served playing St Louis, Nebraska, Creighton, Iowa and Illinois teams and Indiana teams. Playing non-conference teams like WSU, Arkansas, and even schools in Southern Missouri muddies the waters as to which direction we want to go.

Thinking of you and rooting for you RR!

Frank is TGFS

(Too good for Sacramento)