AURex

hahaha A lot of angst and swatting and panty twisting over nuthin' I was born at Martin Army hospital in Columbus. Raised in Alabama. Graduated from Auburn. Now live in Knoxville. This is not and was never intended as a POLITICAL thread. In 2013, I was entering semi-retirement. I only do consulting now. Wifey and I sat down to figure out where we wanted to live for the remainder of our lives. Our forever home. Number one on our checklist was NO SEVERE WEATHER. Added items were taxes, mountains and natural environment, etc. Why not Florida? Her parents loved it there. But we are not beach people. No kids, so Disney/Universal is of zero interest. And Hurricanes. Tropical environment. We had no reason to be in Florida. No severe weather? Hurricanes + tornadoes? Eliminate Mississippi and Louisiana. We lived in Houston in the 80s. Liked it while there. Enjoyed proximity to San Antonio, Austin, hill country. But there was nothing there that was calling to us -- no family in the region, no specific attraction for us. Plus we had sat through a hurricane and some really bad storms. Severe weather? Yep. We loved SF in the 90s, but earthquake while in California and now it is a dumpster fire and a very expensive one at that. We lived in the Midwest for awhile. We are not farmers and the winters were BRUTAL. Wifey said if I ever accepted another job in the Midwest, she'd divorce me. Augusta GA was just as boring as the Midwest, with the only redeeming quality being you can (with some effort) drive to Charleston, Savannah or Atlanta. But why return? So we chose Knoxville. Why? My mother's family was from Knoxville and east TN. Seasons but no severe weather. Two mountain ranges and lots of state parks. No income tax. Beautiful easy drive to Asheville or Chattanooga. Close enough for extended weekends in Atlanta. Easy to visit family in Huntsville. We love it here. We do not for one moment regret our decision to live in Knoxville. Now, if you want to twist your panties in a wad because we decided against Florida and Texas, well, go to it and shove them deep! We also decided against a lot of other places. As far as "go north," hahaha welp, yeah Knoxville is north of both Florida and Texas. So we went north. hahaha Post your apologies for stupid assumptions or not. I don't expect them because ....... hahaha

Apparently, this idea of Texas seceding from the U.S. has come up again because -- I dunno -- immigrants. Texas receives $68.2 Billion. in Federal dollars. 1/3 of Texas state budget is Federal dollars. Should Texas secede?

My opinion is about states that I no longer choose to visit. Your response is to attack me personally, which is the typical way brainless azzhats and MAGAnuts respond when they have no cogent, intelligent, substantive response. Instead of attacking me personally, why not tell us why you think Texas and Florida are wonderful states deserving of our support?

SC now has 4 Quad 1 wins. Auburn has none. When SC come to Auburn to play our Tigers, they will likely be ranked higher unless they experience some unexpected problems in the interim.

Early in the season I was counting them as a W. Now I'm counting them as a L.

Sign him up .... on the bowling team ....... as a pin.

I'm not dissing on CBP because he has totally rebuilt Auburn BB into a good program -- not great, but waaaaaayyyyy better than it was when he arrived. I'm so impressed with what he has accomplished so far at Auburn. But I'm not as impressed with what I've been seeing on the floor the past couple of years. Yes, a big part of that is recruiting. He pulls in the best he can get, which objectively has not really been elite. But also .... hey, I'm not a coach and CBP has been a great coach for decades ...... I just have concerns about what I'm seeing on the floor. Life after CBP? I have no frigginstic clue. Will it come in 3 years? 10 years? Who knows what the BB landscape will be then and which coaches might be available. To me, this is all very premature. CBP ain't giving up anytime soon and truth be told, Auburn will not push CBP out anytime soon.

Lived in Texas 4 years. Lived in Florida 3 years. Would never go back to either state today even for a few days of vacation. Of course, I could say the same about a few other states, but they are not in this conversation ... yet. hahaha

I'm not disagreeing wityh you, I'm just being a bit more objective ... I think ... maybe not. If the likes of UNC, Purdue, UConn, etc -- the better teams -- are only winning 35% - 40% of their road games (I don't think that is correct, but okay), still they are playing Quad 1 teams and winning some of those games. Auburn is not (so far). I'm not saying Auburn will not win any Quad 1 games. I'm just saying the best teams do win some of their Quad 1 road games and Auburn is not doing so. Auburn SHOULD HAVE won at Miss State.

It told us something. I'm not sure if it was a lot. But the something it did tell us was not real positive.

Yeah, but look at their road games. Those top teams have been playing Quad 1 road games and actually winning some of them. Auburn has yet to win a Quad 1 game -- on the road or at home. I'm not saying it won't happen, but Auburn has not yet proven it deserves to be in the same conversation with the likes of UConn, Kansas, Tennessee, Purdue, Bama. I'm hopeful. I'm waiting. We ain't there yet.

In Norway, but also other Scandinavian/European countries, the word "Texas" is used as a way of describing events (not people, just events). The term derives from their fascination and love with old Western movies. The word is used as slang for wild, lawless, crazy, out of control. The most common phrase is "helt texas" as in "det var helt texas," which translates to, roughly, "that was totally/absolutely/completely bonkers." I lived in Houston during the early 80s. Liked it well enough. But then is not now. As for now ......... I'm not Norwegian, but ..... Yep! Sounds about right! hahahaha

None of us are happy after the Bama loss. But it does no good to stew in disappointment. Auburn still does not have a Quad 1 win and it is going to become more concerning going forward. I love this team. The depth, the camaraderie, the commitment to TEAM play. I am really happy at how well the team has taken care of business (in emphatic fashion) against mediocre teams. But now we are in crunch time. No reason to panic after the Bama loss, but Auburn desperately needs to have some Quad 1 wins. Finding Quad 1 wins will be tough going. Tennessee, Kentucky, a second matchup against Bama. I'm not enjoying the thought of a repeat of our earlier season, looking good for much of the season, then encountering defeat after defeat. This is not what anyone wants to happen again. Step One! Let's get Miss State! Let's get some Quad 1 wins!

The road is tough in the SEC. We will get Bama at Neville in a couple of weeks.

Bama is now a 3.5 betting favorite. Tennessee had the perfect recipe. Get back on defense and stop their effort to get to the goal unhindered. Play tough perimeter defense. Force turnovers. Bama had a huge amount of turnovers against UT. But that was Bama on the road. This will be Bama at home. And you can be certain -- they want it as bad as we do.

Not as long as the others, but .... Interviewer - What is your biggest weakness Job Seeker - I'm too honest Interviewer - I don't think honesty is a weakness Job Seeker - I don't give a **** what you think

Still putting in the work. Gotta love the effort our coaches are investing in recruiting. Now if they can just translate the bumper crop of studs into a coherent team that can win games!

Oh Man! Gotta love this!

It is a long haul to tournament time, but the big picture seems to be coming into focus. 1. UNC is the real deal. 2. UConn is the real deal 3. The Big12 has a bunch of really good teams (I DETEST Kansas) 4. Tennessee and Kentucky rule the SEC until proven otherwise (and I hope Auburn proves otherwise) 5. Illinois with their star player back is formidable in the Big10

Past is not future, but yes, they've under-performed come tournament time. Personally, I think Wisconsin and Illinois are probably better teams in the Big10.

Florida has had a rough go of it in the major sports. Napier is not exactly re-creating the Gator wonder years of the past. (I never wanted to hire him and am so glad we did not!) And the basketball team has been middle-of-the-pack for awhile now. Certainly way far from the glory days of championship contention. I don't follow baseball, but I seem to remember a couple of years ago they were concensus #1 entering the season and fell flat on their face during SEC play. I don't know how they've done since. They are still very good in gymnastics, I guess. But overall, their athletics program is not what it us to be. (Their academic decline is also concerning, but that's a different issue.)

Bills, wide right. They need an Auburn kicker. hahahaha

Still a lot of BB left to be played, but some teams seen to be rising to the top, others not so much. If I were choosing today, my #1 seeds would be UConn, UNC, Tennessee, Purdue My 2 seeds would be Illinois, Kentucky, Kansas, Arizona I think Auburn could be a 3 or 4 seed, depending on how the good guys do down the stretch. Surprisingly, Gonzaga could be left out of the tourney altogether this year. Whatcha Got?

Sunday the 21st. Still 8 inches of snow on the ground at my location outside Knoxville. Roads leading to my house are still impassible, and it's uphill, so no deliveries, no mail, and we are just holing up. To make matters worse, our HVAC died when the cold set in before the storm. The part had to be ordered. Shipping during the winter storm? Then the repair guys couldn't get to our house for a few days. Space heaters work fine in small rooms, but in our main living space, which is big open family room and kitchen, that's harder to get warm. The repair guys did finally brave the elements two days ago, going above and beyond, installing the new part in this frozen area. So now we have heat. But we are still immobilized until the thaw.

Auburn's depth is just so impressive. Starters Two (the bench team) scored 40 of the 82 points against OM. And that depth enables Auburn to play really hard defensively. But Auburn still has only played one Quad 1 team and lost that game (Baylor). Now it is time to step up to play next level opponents.