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Ukraine/Russia

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I drove past the Russian embassy in DC yesterday. The fence facing the embassy is painted as the Ukrainian flag and there are lots of other actual Ukrainian flags flying about.

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Not sure if you're still around, but there's a nice tribute outside the Ukraine Embassy on M Street on the west end of Georgetown. Lots of posters, flowers, stuffed animals, etc.

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They're planting sunflowers across the street tomorrow.

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That video is hilarious! It reminds me a bit of Pac-Man.

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Buck

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Apr 15, 2022·edited Apr 15, 2022Author

Beside deer and rabbits, "buck" is also a male goat. The etymology of buck is Germanic word "bock", meaning male goat. The "bock" style of beer is from Einbeck. Bavarians and their accent made Einbeck sound like "ein bock" (one male goat), which is why sometimes there is a goat on a bock label.

https://beerconnoisseur.com/beer/double-bock

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The etymology for the slang term for a US dollar is unclear. A popular theory is that it corresponds to the early 18th century when barter was still very common. One of the earliest cited references to bucks as currency is a 1748 journal entry from Conrad Weiser, a Pennsylvania Dutch pioneer. In his journal, he described the rate for a cask of whiskey as “5 Bucks,” reportedly in reference to deerskins. The journal also cited a man who was “robbed of the value of 300 Bucks.”

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i will give anyone 5 bucks for a cask of whiskey

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George Costanza's porn star name

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Rogers..."b-b-b-buck" said the robot in the late-70s TV version

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Twiki was voiced by Mel Blanc (aka Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pigg, Yosemite Sam, Sylvester, Tweety Bird, Speedy Gonzales, Tom, Jerry, Healthcliff, Cosmo Spacely, Dino, Captain Caveman)

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000305/

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Twiki...yes! I shoulda remembered that!

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The Kill Bill V1 character Buck was played my Michael Bowen, an actor with over 130 roles to his credit.

One of those was Iron Eagle as Knotcher, the dirt bike riding dirtbag that races our hero Doug Masters in the rarest of contests: motorcycle v. Cessna. Incidentally, tracing the career arcs of nearly a dozen actors from Iron Eagle can fill the time on a rainy day.

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Rabbits are amazing great pets. They are extremely social, following you around room to room, laying down nearby for company, and appreciating a gentle petting.

They are also very clean, and interestingly quiet

They sometimes race through the house and as pictured do a sudden “binky” jump

Rabbits sleep a lot during the day so many people assume they're nocturnal but that's not true. They are Crepuscular, sleeping mostly during the day and night, and active at dawn and dusk. That’s good for people who work during the day as they need companionship (or course you can have more than one bunny for that)

The only downside to allowing them to roam free like a house cat is they chew cables so you need to wrap them

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Agreed...we just had our two pet buns pass away within 3 weeks of each other last month. Aged 7 and 11. Unfortunately, they weren't friends, so they had to stay in separate x-pens, with individual time out. But our first bun (Goma) was amazing...only put him in his pen at night because if we didn't, he'd jump up on our bed at 6am and hop all over us.

Had a friend stay with us a few days and he was amazed at how social Goma was. He'd hop over to the top of the stairs most days when I got home from work, etc.

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"They are extremely social, following you around room to room, laying down nearby for company, and appreciating a gentle petting."

Sounds like my cat.

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I think they're more between a dog and cat.

Less aloof than cats, but can't be left for multiple days with a bowl of food and water. Can be social like a dog, but don't need to be walked. Vegetarian, so their shit don't stink!

But when traveling, it's harder to find someone to care for them. Can't take them to a kennel. Can't just have someone come over every few days to give some food and clean the litter box. We'd usually have friends (who we'd need to train) housesit for us. They'd get a staycation and the buns would have someone around...

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Magic Johnson's nickname amongst the Lakers

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Blue Öyster Cult's longest-lasting and most commercially successful lineup included Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser (lead guitar, vocals),

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back-to-back days with BOC mentions on the DBD!

#SoftWhiteUnderbelly

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There are three bucks (deer) on Roosevelt, one still has his antlers from last year. Didn't see them on my trip around this morning but did see eight does and three turkeys.

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-wild. Crazy, out of control behavior.

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CAL

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[BASE] Cal vs. Wazzu postponed due to weather. Will be made up via double header today.

https://wsucougars.com/news/2022/4/14/thursdays-baseball-game-against-cal-postponed.aspx

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[SB] Bears knock in 5 runs in the fifth to beat #24 Stanfurd

https://calbears.com/news/2022/4/14/softball-five-run-fifth-powers-cal-past-no-24-stanford.aspx

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Go Bears!!!

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[Football] Home game vs. Minnesota Golden Gophers reportedly accelerated to 2025. If true, 2025 OOC schedule will be UNLV, MN, @SDSU.

https://twitter.com/Brett_McMurphy/status/1515019072156667915

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Oh we are playing them again? There are other Big10 teams I want Cal to play.

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I am already a "Lifetime" Cal Alumni member. CAA sent me a mailer asking me for $300 to upscale that to a "Golden Bear Lifetime". It's the same thing but they give me a lapel pin.

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I've been getting that for the last 5-7 years. Annoying.

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Apr 17, 2022·edited Apr 17, 2022

Me too. Also, the Alumni Association contacted me via an outside vendor who was printing a directory of Cal alumni featuring a brief bio and firm name you were associated with (e.g. professional accomplishments), advanced degrees, etc. They suckered me out of $450 because for some reason I was sold by the guy on the phone. The sales pitch was that the book was kind of a printed version of LinkedIn. When the directory arrived six months later the entry was tiny and the book overall reminded me of the gimmicky who's who publication. I did get a Cal T-shirt though. Not worth $450.

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i'm on that non-responding boat

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Apr 16, 2022·edited Apr 16, 2022

Andre Kelly to transfer - no surprise at all.

Next year is hopefully Fox’s last, though the Bears missed their Dennis Gates window, unfortunately.

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Maybe they can hire Bob R GB49

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Or Troy Taylor ;-)

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I don't know who that is. Do you have a link?

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Apr 16, 2022·edited Apr 16, 2022

https://twitter.com/ThePortalReport/status/1515044100411699202

Cal has contacted Eastern Kentucky SR G Jomaru Brown, and is the only P5 school in his final 7...Brown was the leading scorer and averaged 12.2 ppg on 38% shooting for an underwhelming 13-18 EKU in 20 mpg in the ASUN Conf...yikes.

Sounds pretty on-brand for Fox and the current Cal program, unfortunately...lose the best player on the roster to the portal, and replace him with a role player from the former Atlantic Sun Conference who figures to be overmatched v P12 competition, at least on paper. He has yet to set up an official visit to Cal, but has Coastal Carolina and Milwaukee in the queue.

Not seeing Cal linked to any big names in the transfer portal, but Brown did have a solid SO year. And if they landed him AND another experienced transfer, then maybe there are some pieces. Offseason improvement from Jalen/Sam/Kuany remains tantamount.

Sigh...Go Bears!

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Wyking's team at least had some talent.

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Stanford screws up a run down the Softball Bears win and win the series! Game 3 tomorrow

https://twitter.com/CalSB/status/1515124811156008960?s=20&t=t0mpPrY2Nd_mG13ofARHHA

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Wordle

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Stupid one today.

Wordle 301 4/6

⬛⬛⬛🟩⬛

⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

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today's word begins with the letter f

https://twitter.com/coachIasso/status/1514726256717217798

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not really but watch brett "roy kent" goldstein on sesame street

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Apr 15, 2022·edited Apr 15, 2022

Wordle's where it could be any 1 of 7 words and you only have 6 guesses are kinda lame...you could conceivably nail 4 of the 5 letters correctly on your 1st guess and still strike out...that seems silly.

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I'm starting to try to psych out Wordle, which of those 7 possible words is it most likely to be? Not sure if this is a viable strategy.

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it's only a problem on hard mode, but that makes sense because it's hard

if you aren't playing on hard mode, you just have to pick words to eliminate as many letters as possible

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Sure, YWC, but having a word that you could literally correctly nail 4 of the 5 letters on 6 straight times and STILL miss it seems less skill, and just luck...which Wordle mostly is anyways.

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It happens...

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First guess I had one right letter in the wrong place and the last letter in the correct place. Got the word right on the second guess. That's as good as I've done.

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Blargh - took 6, lots of different words worked with the fourth letter.

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Also got it in two. Had five letters on my first guess, one in the right place.

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I got it in four. but the letters I got on Rounds 1 and 2 avoided the "6 options" problem, it seems

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Got it in 5, on the fourth guess with four letters in the right place.

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I had the 4 correct on 2nd, and didn’t hit until 5.

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RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS

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My religious holidays are May 6 (Willie Mays' birthday) and November 20 (anniversary of The Play).

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Good choices.

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“Pleasure or businesse, so, our Soules admit

For their first mover, and are whirld by it.”

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44103/good-friday-1613-riding-westward

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Happy Easter

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beatus Pascha

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Sameach Pesach

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HOY EN LA RONA

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I’ve seen people on Twitter who seem to be more upset about the Chinese authorities’ behavior in Shanghai than anything that’s happened to the Uyghurs, charitably I’m going to assume that’s because there’s video of people getting beat on in Shanghai

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Ditto for Ughurs vis-a-vis Palestinians

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OUR RICKETY REPUBLIC

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DiFi is brain addled, says colleague.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/dianne-feinstein-senate-17079487.php

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It’s really sad that she doesn’t step down voluntarily. There should be an age limit on running for office, like maybe 80. You shouldn’t have to get into this awful stuff about whether someone is insane. It feels like a conservatorship case or something

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The limit should be whatever age Moscow Mitch is right now.

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But seriously though, I would hope she would voluntarily step down.

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The truly sad thing is she ran again in 2018 instead of letting new blood into the Democratic bench.

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Eh, she ran against another well known Democrat. People made their choice.

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The Feinstein story evokes broader issues: the unwillingness of so many who hold power to cede it voluntarily, with their identities and support systems so bound up in their jobs; and the inability of our political system, in the absence of term limits (which I oppose for other reasons), to deal with those unwilling to recognize when it is time to step down. In the private sector, a board of directors would find a way to shunt a senile CEO aside. In public life, the only effective mechanism is the voters themselves.

Which gets to the heart of the puzzle: How are voters supposed to know what’s up when an elected official’s staff works overtime to mask the problem? The instinct to do so is understandable. Loyalty to the principal is one of the highest values in political life, and your role as a staffer is to support the boss, not expose her. But this approach is also deeply self-interested. If aides in normal times are only as powerful as the official they serve, they can become extra powerful when the same official is no longer functioning.

These inherent tensions help explain the high turnover from Feinstein’s office in recent years. Covering up is not public service. At a certain point, it is the antithesis.

Ruth Marcus

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Ruth Marcus is brilliantly insightful, spot on, and absolutely correct.

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My point is, SHE made the wrong choice, it was very egotistical.

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Oh for sure dude. She could have hand picked her successor, left with grace, in a way extending her influence by having her hand picked successor in there. Instead it is Weekend at Bernie’s over there and probably a fair number of people are just hoping she croaks. Sullies an otherwise impressive career

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To the Dems’ credit the party backed someone else but she won. Incumbency and name recognition trump basically all else in congressional elections unfortunately

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Also Kevin De Leon is not the answer.

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But that's only because she was still running, wasn't what I would call an open primary.

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On the issue of age limits - I agree that there should be age limits for elected office. Only I would put it probably earlier. The bar would be that if you are not yet 74 years old on Election Day, you can run for election or re-election. That effectively forces retirement before the age of 80. I think this should apply to *any* elected federal office: President, Vice-President, US Representative, and US Senator.

I might even extend that to Associate Justice and Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court.

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Apr 15, 2022·edited Apr 15, 2022

It is tremendously sad that DiFi doesn't step down now that the SF Chronicle has made her mental state a front page story. Mark my words, this will end with sadness and embarrassment precisely because she's been backed into a corner.

I would much rather that she had stepped down *after* she had been approached privately not only by heavy hitters in Sacramento and Washington, but also by major Democratic donors. I realize that this would have amounted to an open secret, but it would have been better that way instead of the way it is being handled now. Which is to say, in a chaotic fashion.

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I saw an interesting supposition this morning that her staff is probably encouraging her to hang in there because they enjoy the unusual power they currently have.

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What concerns me about that comment is that it may be true. If true, it doesn't speak well to the staff's awareness that things could go sideways, fast, and produce a truly bad set of circumstances.

I can only hope that these are also people of sound moral principle; that they are truly engaged in carrying out Feinstein's work by proxy.

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In what way could things so sideways? What's the worst case scenario here?

I guess I don't really understand the angst here. She's hardly the first piece of office furniture we've had serving in the senate. If she steps down, she more than likely will be replaced by a 75 year old, who then will need to decide whether to run when she's 77.

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They are like Woodrow Wilson’s wife - shadow govt!

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My thought, too.

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Oh the irony, she's been known for decades to be really rough on her staff.

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Mark Meadow texts leaked to CNN. They are disturbing.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/15/politics/read-mark-meadows-texts-mike-lee-chip-roy/index.html

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1. They recognized they were legally grasping at straws

2. They recognized that their main effort (ie, Sydney Powell) wasn't reliable

3. How much they relied on media (eg, Breitbart) to think about policy is scary

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Federal Elections need to be federally funded, federally run, by an independent agency. And if you are another elected official it should be a crime to try to undermine the result of an election in this way. It is crazy that this is possible. We cannot any longer rely on norms. We need statutes and structure

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All of this, and they also need to be much, much shorter. No longer than 3 months, beginning to end.

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Dumbass JD Vance was advocating for this (unknowingly) when he praised the French presidential elections.

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That we need to rely on statute and structure became overtly clear on January 6, I think.

At some point, this should be a campaign issue as well.

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If we don’t make it a campaign issue now, in the first post 1/6 election, it never will be one

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Per soon-to-be-released book, Moscow Mitch knew that Trump was going to try to overturn election well ahead of 1/6. No shit, Sherlock.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/13/politics/mitch-mcconnell-trump-tension-book-excerpt/index.html

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All this book shit - it should have been released when it was current!

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Conservatives embrace Elon Musk as their Twitter savior

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/14/conservatives-elon-musk-twitter-00025447

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Not surprising. Musk is nothing more than a bull in a china shop with extraordinarily deep pockets. Unfortunately, that china shop is American business and politics.

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Good luck with that I guess

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PRO

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Dick Vitale cancer free. Ring the bell, baby, that's awesome!

https://twitter.com/DickieV/status/1514684873675620352

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NFL QB gets picked off by high school player. He reportedly plans to go onto sports-talk show to complain about the woke mob and promote a healing crystal enema his fiancé said that ancient gurus taught her.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CcQs2AfpzP8/

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Travis d'Arnaud gets hit by a pitch.

https://twitter.com/Cut4/status/1514072061093810176

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The sale of Brady's "final TD" ball has been voided. The seller of the ball is reportedly deflated.

https://twitter.com/brgridiron/status/1514776581050290185

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Bravo!

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ISWYD

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Dodgers find the big innings again to beat Reds

https://www.truebluela.com/2022/4/14/23026293/dodgers-offense-big-innings-freddie-freeman-will-smith-reds-recap#comments

LOS ANGELES — Finding grooves was the name of the game in the Dodgers’ home opener on Thursday night in Los Angeles, a 9-3 triumph over the Reds that saw the home team rally early and late to win their third straight game.

Freddie Freeman had two hits in his first home game as a Dodger, and before his double to lead off the eighth inning was greeted with a “FREDDIE” chant from the 52,995 fans in attendance at Dodger Stadium. The double necessitated a Reds pitching change, which allowed time for that ovation to get even louder, which Freeman acknowledged with a wave to the crowd and tapping his chest.

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Looked to me like he teared up

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Playing in the city where you grew up and having 50K chant your name? Hell yeah. Some of the stories Joe Davis was saying during the broadcast makes me think he'll be one of the most favorite Dodgers going forward.

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A's beat Rays 6-3 on the strength of Irvin and Cristian Pache's little league inside the park homerun.

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Game #7: A’s outplay Rays in 6-3 victory

https://www.athleticsnation.com/2022/4/14/23025930/game-7-oakland-as-tampa-bay-rays-score-result

Don’t overlook the 2022 Oakland A’s.

The rebuilding A’s completed a series victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday, beating them 6-3 for their third win in four days at Tropicana Field.

How well Oakland fares over the marathon of the next six months remains to be seen, but they’re making some noise in the early going. One week into the season they’re above the .500 mark, despite playing on the road against a pair of expected contenders, and at the very least opponents are going to need to take them seriously.

Today was a perfect example, as the A’s simply outplayed the other club. Their pitchers chewed through efficient innings, including both the starter and the bullpen. Their hitters strung together several run-scoring rallies, with some hard contact and productive situational at-bats. Their defense made more plays, while the Rays committed a key error.

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NOT CAL

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Alabama coach Nick Saban warns NIL model in college football is unsustainable, will lead to buying players

(Well, duh)

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/alabama-coach-nick-saban-warns-nil-model-in-college-football-is-unsustainable-will-lead-to-buying-players/

Also, highly compensated coaches don't want the like for student athletes, who must toil away for four years risking injury in the slim hope for an NFL payday one day.

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I agree that it’s unsustainable, for competitive balance reasons. Only a handful of schools are competive now and NIL isn’t making it any better.

IMO the solution would be a new tier for the Uber rich schools and let the normies have their own thing.

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Apr 15, 2022·edited Apr 15, 2022

Hawai’i Tourism Board

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Plans to go in March 2023!! Very excited

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Not they need help, but “be the first poster at the DBD” could be on their list. Especially now when it’s a 3-hour diff to CA

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That would be an extremely niche advertising campaign

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it'd work for up to several dozen people ;-)

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Cover photo??

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Apr 15, 2022·edited Apr 15, 2022

I understand that it was close but the rabbit on the right won it by a hare. (Thanks, you've been a great audience, I'll be here all week. Try the veal.)

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Why is this “buck”?

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Kind of reminds me of football huck-n-buck picture poses.

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Male rabbits? Like male deer?

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A male rabbit is a "buck"

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