WHOOPSIES it’s 10-9 now BITCHES!!!! DO YOU FEEL IT YET ASTERICK FANS!!! IT SUCKS TO SUUUUUCK!!!! 😎😎😎

I rarely post. If this was already posted, I apologize. Pls note the attached link for the film about Dat's family and his accomplishments. I watched this story develop and I can attest that Dat is a better person than he was a football player. This film is a testament to Dat's late father and his influence on the entire family. Happy 4th and enjoy this film about an incredible family.

Having taken business management classes at TAMU in areas of union labor relations/law, etc. while I was waiting for some research equipment to be repaired......and the fact we live in a right to work state where state employees are not allowed to formally unionize, what are the implications for college sports, and in Texas in particular??

It seems the lawsuit that opened up the possibility of NIL has also resulted in discussions as to whether players should be considered employees of the university, and as such, would be able to form unions.

I know of one state that has actually been encouraging that discussion although with one group tried to get college player unions started a couple of years ago, it flopped with little or no interest by college players. The NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, etc. are the corporations that the player unions deal directly. The teams are part of a franchise type system that must adhere to the organization and any labor agreements. There is no similar national organization that falls under this category. The NCAA has volunteer members and has no contractual agreements this would fall under.

One the one hand, if players are considered employees, there are lots of national and state regulations that must be followed. That alone could be overwhelming as to how to do this. I think scholarships would have to be revamped into a new contractual agreement (based upon the state laws). HR would become a major player and headache. Benefits provided players vs. regular students would become benefits and taxable. Would players have to pay for some insurance since regular students are not provided this. etc. etc. etc.

Players in California, New York, etc. would find support to organize in unions but who would they engage. In Texas, state employees are not allowed to organize. There are state unions but they can only advocate and provide some services. They have no authority to negotiate contracts. However, there are companies in Texas that must deal with unions because of their contracts with the federal government or military. Lockheed is one. Airlines are another. The petrochemical plants are unionized as is the automotive plant in Fort Worth. I spend time running my father's heavy construction shop and dealing with the unions when the company worked on the docks or plants in CC. That was a mess bound by insane rules that increased costs at job sites significantly.

Nick Saban says he is not afraid of players organizing or players becoming employees. He also says he "can’t honestly say that I’m qualified to know exactly what the cause and effect of that would really be". Truth is he has no idea how this would impact his program, his recruiting, his ability to deal with player issues, etc.

Is there a real chance players become employees? what would that entail, and what impact would that have on the university and athletics?

Would players actually unionize in other states, and how would this play out in Texas?

IF I remember right, professional players have to pay a tax in some cities when they play there under the rationale that since they earned income in that state and city, they owe some type of income tax. How would that play out?

You can see I am a little bored today with the heat, mugginess (2 inches of rain last night wiping out the drone show (no fireworks anymore) last night, and limited options to go do something today.

Driving south from upstate NYC and flying out of DC tomorrow evening. Thinking about getting to Philly (with wife and 2 kids) by this evening and spend the day tomorrow in Philly.

I would appreciate any recommendations of areas to stay and things worth doing/visiting tomorrow.

I am open to other places between NY and DC if others think another location would be better.

Thank you.

My wife and I are celebrating our 30th anniversary this year with a trip to Ireland and the UK.

I was fortunate enough to have made this trip (although a much abbreviated-10 day trip) in 2016 as a chaperone with my youngest son and a group of high school kids with EF Tours. Was a life-changing experience as my family is Scotch/Irish.

We'll be landing in Dublin in early Sept and will be there for 3 weeks. We will be renting a car and doing our own trip, not part of a group. Our plan is to take 9 days each in Ireland and Scotland and the remaining days in England/London. With an unlimited number of sites to see, we have to make good use of our time.

Our rough itinerary is as follows:

IRELAND
-Dublin (couple days) - staying in the Temple Bar district then heading S to,
-Wicklow
-Wexford
-Cork
-Blarney Castle
-Kilarney
-Dingle peninsula
-Limerick/Shannon
-Cliffs of Moher
-Galway
>then heading N to,

NORTHERN IRELAND
-Londonderry (Derry), Northern Ireland UK
-Bushmills
-Giant's Causeway
-Belfast
>ferry over to Scotland (Cairnyarn), then head N along west coast of Scotland

SCOTLAND
-Ayr
-Troon (plan to see Prestwick and Royal Troon golf clubs)
-Irvine
-Kilmarnock/Kilmaurs
-Cunninghamhead (this area is my family is from), Ayrshire County plan to spend some time here
-Finlaystone Castle (W of Glasgow), my family had this castle for around 400 years.
-Glasgow
-Bannockburn/Stirling
-St Andrews (plan to see the Old Course)
-Edinburgh (Edinburgh castle and Royal Mile). Couple days here.

ENGLAND
-London & surrounding area
-Stonehenge

For those who've taken a similar trip to this region, looking for must-see locations, bars, restaurants, b&b's, historical sites, towns, neat shops, events, etc. Really was hoping to see the Royal Military Tattoo drum and bagpipe corps at the castle, but it ain't gonna happen.

We already have a bucket list of sites already, some of which I've been to before but would appreciate any insight for our trip.

Cheers and thanks in advance.

Ags on a roll

Wildens Leveque, formerly of UMass. 6-10, 255, average 5.5 points, 4.6 boards and a block in less than 20 minutes a game. He's a fifth-year guy, so he's a single season acquisition.

Caruso is on Russillo's podcast today, discussing his career in basketball. You can listen here, or on your podcast player of choice.




(On a side note, the life advice portions of his podcast are usually very entertaining, so stick around for that after the interview)

They are currently ranked #44 in recruiting. What is going on here?

Profiled in today's WSJ, this is supposed to be a free link:

Thread title says it all.

A&M has landed Charlie Pagliarini who played both 3B and 1B for MAAC Fairfield. His bat is the appeal, though -- .399, 24 HR, 97 RBI last year and he was third team All-American. He'll be a fifth-year senior, so he'll be at A&M for a year if he doesn't go pretty high in the draft.

When I look at the film snippets, simply, I see ballplayers and Ags. There is enough star power to start setting the table again and truthfully some of these kids are just vastly underrated. The receivers and tight end are just dang good. I really don't care about anyone characterizing Reliford as tweener. That kid is going to be putting people on their butts for years. Love the LBs. They are all fast. They just need to get bigger, stronger and taught to sort through the trash. O Line recruiting is coming around. Really like that we are acquiring some meanness. Still lots to do....

Gig'em!

Just wanted to share a YouTube series that I've found pretty dang interesting. Absolute zero common sense being used out there these last few years. The inmates are very much running the prison - so to speak....

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What ya got?

the full site is pretty unreadable on a phone, imo.