162 Comments

Well, this makes things interesting. Maybe we can leverage our way onto the party barge. https://www.si.com/fannation/college/cfb-hq/ncaa-football/college-football-realignment-ucla-big-ten-regents-legal-issues

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I doubt it. The regents isn’t going to sacrifice both UCLA and Cal to the sinking Pac12 ship. The Big10 only have so many lifeboats and the regents will make sure UCLA is on it while Cal goes down with the he ship.

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Regents said they can't do anything. The question is if Cal will sue the Regents and make things messy.

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How a out the Regents send Cal to Big 10 and keep UCLA In Pac12

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Gift givers (or TREAT YOSELF)

New York Public Library shop has a sale--everything is 20% off with the code SUMMER20 https://shop.nypl.org/

The leather briefcase stamped with NYPL made a nice gift for a friend, but forewarned is forearmed, they have some necklaces that are over $1000 wtf!? The library!

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DBD Test Kitchen

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Nobody commented about the Test Kitchen yesterday (for Sunday dinner)- I could list my choices as a DJ if you want.

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TBB recommended Taiwanese pop-up eatery turned into permanent spot "Good To Eat" Dumplings - they're doing special event tasting menus that are $125 + mandatory tip. I'm going on Sunday, and got into a small argument with a friend who didn't think paying so much money for Taiwanese food was "worth it" - I told her I'm happy to pay people for their effort and labor and not to continue the perception that Taiwanese food should only be cheap (she's Taiwanese)

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The only thing that should always be cheap is shaved ice machines. Looking at you, MoMA, trying to sell a bear shaved ice maker for $100

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Why are you buying shaved ice makers from the Museum of Modern Art?

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Certain Honda cars are vulnerable to theft. Great.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/i-tried-the-honda-keyfob-hack-on-my-own-car-it-totally-worked

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Cold comfort that my CR-V's model year and Double D's Accord model year are not listed in that article.

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I never worry about anyone stealing my civic - it has the best theft deterrent available in the US market aka a manual transmission

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I wish Miatas were like that. The only people stealing Miatas can drive sticks.

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I miss my old Ranger. It was a manual, no power steering, no power windows, no AC. I could have left the keys in the ignition and the window rolled down and no one would have taken it.

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When I was a pup, Hondas were particularly susceptible to being broken into via their triangle back windows. They've always been hard to hang onto!

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Apparently Hyundais are the target thieves in the Midwest - Milwaukee and Cincy apparently.

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Jul 12, 2022·edited Jul 12, 2022

Oh god. I thought this had to do with conference realignment...Iran joining the BIG10 or something along those lines.

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If Fox Sports can get more people to watch than will tune in for truck racing, don't discount the possibility.

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Jul 12, 2022·edited Jul 12, 2022Author

Nikon is phasing out SLRs, going mirrorless

https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/12/23204975/nikon-dslr-slr-cameras-stop-report-mirrorless

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Time to get a Nikon F2.

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I've always bought Nikon SLRs (3 in last 10 years) but I guess my next one will be mirrorless. I'm sure it's better and lighter anyway, but that's still sad.

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Never had a Nikon SLR, but I did use a Pentax SLR for many years.

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HAPPENINGS IN LITTLE ODESSA

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Jul 12, 2022·edited Jul 12, 2022Author

The average age in Little Odessa is pretty old. There are dozens of little Russian-style apothecaries. If you go into a Walgreens/CVS, it's primarily a convenience store that happens to have a big pharmacy at the back that has branded drugs and advertisements. Soviets grew up on import substitution, so when you walk into a Russian pharmacy, it's all white tile, with white walls, and white canisters with few brands. It's literally just a retail counter where the pharmacist suggests solutions whether they're prescription or over-the-counter, as opposed to the US version where you ask for your own drugs. The upside is that its cheap. The downside is that the counter person may be wholly unqualified or uninterested in helping you.

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Are all the stores set up that way? Some people must miss communism.

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Sounds eerily like the Soviet Union.

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Jul 12, 2022·edited Jul 12, 2022Author

Eastern Bloc Spirits

Royal Elite "Purple". Uzbekistan is known for its very cheap and cheerful vodka. It's premium brand is Royal Elite, which sells its vodkas based upon how many times it has been distilled (blue, gold, & purple = 6x, 7x, and 8x distilled). A fifth of it cost $15. It still has a bit of a bite up front, so one is less likely to guzzle it but the finish is super smooth.

Khortytsa, $14/fifth, Ukrainian wheat vodka. This is the best $14 vodka I've ever had. Super smooth. Like, uh-oh-that-is-too-smooth-and-it-would-be-a-problem. I think it's called Khortystsa because of khorse you show your tytsa after drinking it.

There's this Lithuanian cranberry liquor that I want to try, but I have to find it in a mini.

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Utt oh

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ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE

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Your local over-hyped restaurant

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Din Tai Fung in Costa Mesa. Everytime I try to go it's a 3 hour wait. I love it but I wish the hype would go away so that I can go again.

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I have only ever had it in London, where I've never encountered a wait! I think the one at Valley Fair is all lines all the time.

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Sit in the bar area. They have either at the bar or two seat tables in the bar area, no waiting!

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Oh I should try that next time

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Go to the one at iAPM Mall in Shanghai. I've never had to wait there.

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Nice. It's gonna take a lot longer to get there than wait at South Coast Plaza though😂

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You could go to the original on Yongkang in Taipei - but last time I was there I did have to wait for like an hour.

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Franklin's BBQ... Never had it. Why wait 4+ hours for the world's best brisket when I can wait 15 minutes for the world's 4th best

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I feel this way about Horn barbeque in Oakland. The quality is great, but not so transcendent that it's worth the effort and price. Much rather go to Smokin Woods, which though not quite as good, is at least hassle free.

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Horn is $$$$. A friend and I went there and got like 2 lbs of brisket, two links, a couple of sides and it was over $100. Shocking.

Where is Smokin Woods? I'll have to check it out.

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It's on Telegraph in Temescal. They do a beef rib on the weekends that sells out pretty quickly.

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That would be $95 at 4505 BBQ before the sides, tax and tip. Seems normal for the area.

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$90 ish at Franklin in Austin

$60~ish at La Barbecue in Austin

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44th and Tele in Temescal

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According to my family, La Barbecue in Austin was the absolute best place.

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on the same tier. I have had La B and it was delicious

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HSB and I liked Snows in Lexington, Tx.

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Snow's is legit and is an experience. Franklin's is... sitting in a lawn chair in the sweltering heat. eff that

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When we move to the ACC and play at Clemson every other year, we can make the trek out to the sticks to go Rodney Scott's whole hog barbeque. That place is dope.

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Which brisket is better?

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never had Franklin's so cant say but Snow's beat them on the "Best of" list a couple years ago. Honestly, as long as they use Prime cuts, the difference is going to be preference, use of seasoning, sauce, etc. cause most of these pitmasters know what they are doing

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Franklin's was like 3% better than La Barbecue to my taste buds, but that also may have been sitting in a chair for 4 hours so I was starving by the time it opened, so I can understand a local Austin resident not wanting to go.

But as a out-of-town visitor who loves experiences, I felt like it had to be done.

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Brophy Brothers…on the harbor. People always wait 45 mins to an hour for it. Meh.

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Angus Barn. It's a steakhouse set in a barn. People go gaga over it like it Peter Lugars, Cut, or Gibson's simply because the restaurant knows how to age beef. It's way over-hyped.

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Douglas Adams

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Got a cheap anthology at Borders. It kept me company through my many med school interview flights a little over 20 years ago (not long before his death).

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I've never read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

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I re-read it at least once a year, but never get back to the sequels for some reason.

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Never have either but I know some of the quotes they are so ubiquitous. I prefer Tuva or Bust by former Caltech professor Richard Feynman and Richard Leighton.

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Neither have I, but we watched the show, which was fun.

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Also enjoyed the movie.

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And played the Infocom text based game!

You can play it here: https://playclassic.games/games/adventure-dos-games-online/the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/play/

But honestly, it's not that great. Infocom's time has come and gone.

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Same.

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Funny

|| there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds.

but bad math ;-)

I prefer his description of how the Babel Fish proves that god doesn't exist (and does so in a poof of logic)

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Ha, this infinite/finite one triggered me.. what an awful deduction for a setup.

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I used to joke that the Pac-12 Network is primarily broadcasted at the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard'. I mean, I guess that's still true.

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Infinite

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OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

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Jul 12, 2022·edited Jul 12, 2022

Apparently twist is reviewing the Twitter/Musk suit.

Here is the full Twitter v. Elon Musk lawsuit. Will review and provide thoughts. As <a href="https://twitter.com/draculaic?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@draculaic</a> would say &quot;radio play.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/uYg6xvyKST">https://t.co/uYg6xvyKST</a></p>&mdash; TwistNHook (@TwistNHook) <a href="https://twitter.com/TwistNHook/status/1546971855709298688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 12, 2022</a>

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and I don't know how to do shareing links in this format. gah.

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because I'm an idiot and did an 'embed tweet' thing, rather than copy from the browser url line.

https://twitter.com/TwistNHook/status/1546971855709298688

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1/6 Commission links Trump and inner circle to deliberately plan and execute 1/6 Insurrection, not a coincidental thing that got out of hand based on the "Eastman Theory". Pat Cipollone throws Trump under the bus, citing that Trump knew it wasn't legal.

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Jul 12, 2022·edited Jul 12, 2022Author

The table has been set. Trump planned and organized a desperate coup to overturn the 2020 election. Trump proceeded to plan the coup using the same strategy he always does, which is try to put in a layer of advisors to give him advise so that he has deniability. "People always tell me" type of act. But as advisors repeatedly told him that what he was doing was illegal. So he continued ahead anyways - shutting out his previous advisors and only including sycophants who would execute the plans he wanted. He would continue until essentially there was an intervention where his staff would say "if you do this, everyone is going to resign and you're gong to jail" and he would relent. For example, Trump approved installing Sidney Powell as special counsel + Giuliani, Michael Flynn, and the CEO from Overstock-dot-com to move forward to seize voting machines, insert the alternate electors, and have Pence bless the whole thing. He later back down from that, but did continue with the J6 rally, which included continuing to threaten Pence even after he said no by sic'ing the J6 mob on him. Liz Cheney was careful to say that Trump had "willful blindness", which reduces proof needed as part of a conspiracy because willful blindness is just as knowledge per SCOTUS ruling. The next J6 meeting will focus on how Trump did nothing to stop the insurrection despite all his close advisors screaming at him to call it off, how he was gleeful at people attacking Pence, and how he raged at wanting to join the insurrectionist, until he is warned that he has to do a video to call it off under threat of his cabinet invoking the 25th.

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[Liz Cheney] Trump tampered with a J6 witness. This matter has been referred to the DOJ.

https://twitter.com/bubbaprog/status/1546946214171639809

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I assume that nothing will come of this, until it does.

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I think many people will throw Trump under the bus to save themselves.

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DeSantis is so happy with this. That being said, I think one of the questions asked GQP presidential nominees will be, “will you pardon Trump/his inner circle/J6 people”. He won’t be able to avoid that.

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Susan Collins will be shocked they did the thing they said they wouldn't do.

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Shocked!

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Katie Porter's kids also get the whiteboard treatment.

https://twitter.com/RepKatiePorter/status/1546556133682413572

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Lindsay Graham: Finna skip the Fulton County subpeen because I'd rather not take time out of my schedule to repeatedly take the Fifth.

Judge: No. No, you're not.

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta/sen-lindsey-graham-ordered-testify-front-special-grand-jury-trump-election-probe/CWFIZ4EZLFBY3L3MEMJPA6TVL4/

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It's not like Congress is usually in session during August anyway.

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Cal beats Stanfurd again.

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1546891855396159488

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What a prick. Smug MFer.

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Talking over her while claiming she is talking over him is so on brand for the GOP. He is such a jackass

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Jul 12, 2022·edited Jul 12, 2022

Hawley is Jackass, but he is a jackass that is collecting clips to demonize the left. Sorry, but when she asks Hawley, "do you believe men can get pregnant," and challenges his "no" response, you realize why the left is losing politically. That is a bridge that is just too far for the average voting American.

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She's right though. If the answer to her question is "no," then one is asserting that transgender people do not exist. Which is a stance I guess, but I would encourage people who think that to really examine what they're saying.

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I'd say that being right is exactly why the left is accused of being elitist intellectuals in circumstances such as this. Hawley is a jackass but his response is likely representative of the majority of the American public. These folks simply don't get how a a pregnant person can be called a man. Only those who in the first place, possess the cultural capital to fluidly navigate conversations on gender identity, would question someone who can't understand why a pregnant transgender person is being called a man. Hawley himself knows this and he also knows that Joe and Jane Public are sitting there nodding their heads in agreement with him.

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Yeah, unfortunately I think Hawley got exactly what he wanted there.

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Jul 12, 2022·edited Jul 12, 2022

I think for the average voter there a salient point in what he is saying or trying to say. BUT he comes across as such a smug dick in making it, you have to think there is a better vessel for the sort of “common sense” viewpoint than Hawley

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If Stanford were a human being, it would be Hawley.

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The left is losing because Americans have short attention spans and can’t be bothered to listen to a full answer to better understand a situation.

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Well, that has been true for a long time and the left still hasn't figured it out. We continue to fail to understand this to our own detriment.

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Jul 12, 2022·edited Jul 12, 2022

Gavin Newsom signs bill allowing for California residents to sue gun manufacturers.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-07-12/gavin-newsom-signs-firearm-laws-supreme-court-gun-rights

A step in the right direction

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SHE BLINDED ME WITH

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James Webb Space Telescope

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Am I the only person who finds that photo to be a complete meh?

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No. I’m glad everyone else is excited, it’s technically impressive, but I’m broadly indifferent.

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Yes!

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I’m amazed it launched and worked! Lots of amazing data coming very soon.

Too bad Bill Nelson was an ass and kept the Webb name.

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Amazing images plus gazing back 4 billion years is a long time, when the earth was just an emergent planet from the original proto-solar nebula.

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PRO

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Cal Bear Max Homa paired with Stanford golfer for first two rounds of The Open. Supposedly he's famous or something

https://twitter.com/maxhoma23/status/1546892580390146051?s=20&t=SBAQvRaSmalD2ajAeWMDbg

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[NBA] League looking to make the playoff play-in for low-seeded teams permanent

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/34227968/sources-nba-board-governors-expected-vote-make-play-tournament-permanent

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Jimmy G trade expected by the end of July...

https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-rumors-jimmy-garoppolo-trade-161959960.html

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Bullschitt. That contract is not getting moved.

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The 49ers bet and lost on Jimmy G's offseason value. I feel that they're now just embarrassing themselves with their ham-fisted PR and trying to manufacture news that there is any interest in an obvious negative market value option of trading for him now.

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Exactly. It really is a dreadful look….also not convinced they would’ve moved him without the injury, because their rumored asking price for him was unreasonable. They continue to overvalue him.

Then again, they’ve already pretty much missed the chance to use the $24.5M in cap space…but if he’s still on the roster come training camp, it’s GM malpractice.

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I would honestly just keep him because I’m not sure Trey Lance is going to be better than Jimmy G.

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I'd just keep him because he's fiiiiiiiiiiiiiine.

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Trey Lance is absolutely going to be better than Jimmy G.

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Wiseman returns and Kuminga shows out in Warriors’ win

https://www.goldenstateofmind.com/2022/7/11/23204401/wiseman-returns-in-warriors-win

The Golden State Warriors waited 15 months to see prized young center James Wiseman play basketball in a real game. They only had to wait 15 seconds for Wiseman to throw down an alley oop from Jonthan Kuminga in the Dubs’ second NBA Summer League game, an 86-85 comeback win over the San Antonio Spurs.

Wiseman tore his meniscus in an April 10, 2021 game against the Houston Rockets, and after multiple surgeries and many months of rehabilitation and ramping up, he finally came back Sunday. And Wiseman looked like a guy you would spend the No. 2 pick in the draft on! Right out of the gate, Kuminga fed Big Jim for a slam. 18 seconds later, Wiseman blocked a shot by Spurs’ rookie Blake Wesley. 36 seconds after that, he hit a deep three-pointer, and the Warriors fans in the Thomas & Mack Center were going wild. Wiseman altered a Josh Primo shot and blocked another Wesley attempt before sitting after four minutes.

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Game #88: Comeback falls short in 10-8 loss to Rangers

https://www.athleticsnation.com/2022/7/11/23204626/game-88-comeback-falls-short-lose-rangers

Well, the A’s lost tonight by a final of 10-8 to the Texas Rangers, but they definitively made it interesting at the end.

The bats took a while to wake up, but after falling behind 10-2 after seven innings, Oakland put up a 6 spot in the eighth, their biggest inning of the year, then got the tying run on base in the ninth. They ultimately came up just short, but it’s always a good sign to see the Green & Gold fight to the very end.

More to come...

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Giants get back to their losing ways

https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2022/7/11/23204907/giants-diamondbacks-recap-brandon-belt-wilmer-flores-alex-cobb

When the San Francisco Giants woke up on Monday morning, they had won two consecutive games. Two!

That probably didn’t sit particularly well with you.

After all, the Giants hadn’t won consecutive games since back on June 17 and 18, when you were still in fifth grade. You were uncomfortable with it, even if you secretly enjoyed it.

You thought it was probably time for the Giants to get back to their losing ways, as they’ve grown so accustomed to this year.

Well, they did.

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Carlos Rodon named today to the All Star team, replacing John Hader.

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Should have been named an All Star from the outset.

That said, hopefully he doesn’t pitch in it. Guy has had arm troubles every year of his career - any chance to save innings are good.

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Jul 12, 2022·edited Jul 12, 2022

If you want to see exhibit 1 of why the Giants are losing games they won last year, look no further than Brandon Crawford. In ‘21, he enjoyed a career year at the age of 34, garnering MVP consideration. Unfortunately in ‘22, he’s hitting .215, playing subpar defense, and has been hurt some.

I love Craw, but he sure doesn’t look like the same player this year.

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The Giants had to do it, but the contract extension Crawford got is not aging well.

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Crawford probably took a bunch of PEDs last season in the hopes of getting one last big contract extension.

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I do find it puzzling when guys have career seasons in a contract year…begs the question why now?

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Profit motive, my friend! Welcome to capitalism, we have cookies (for a fee)

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Definitely not.

The Cobb signing was a rough one, too. He’s been hurt 3 times, and genuinely ineffective when healthy.

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Apparently, giving out post-coitus swag bags of autographed memorabilia is more successful than insulting women who read books in bars

https://www.thedailybeast.com/derek-jeter-breaks-silence-on-rumor-he-gives-gift-bags-to-hookups

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[USWNT] Americans defeat El Tri 1-0 in Mexico, ensuring the host's non-qualification for the World Cup.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/concacaf-w-championship/story/4698887/uswnt-ends-spirited-mexicos-womens-world-cup-dream-with-concacaf-w-championship-win

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CAL

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Go Bears!!!

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