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Ketch's 10 Thoughts From The Weekend (A wild ride down memory lane)

Ketchum

Resident Blockhead
Staff
May 29, 2001
293,183
468,723
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In what turned out to be quite a therapeutic exercise, I spent the weekend putting together one hell of a trip down memory lane.

Buckle up. This ride has a lot of bumps.

Saturday, December 7th

On an afternoon when the Longhorns were 30 minutes away from a share of the Big 12 title and a spot in the Fiesta Bowl, Baylor ran away in the second half in what turned out to be a 30-10 loss that seemed to signal the end of the 16-year Mack Brown era. Following the game, Brown declines to talk about his future.

Subscriber flashback: (oldspur)

"My UT graduate father took me to the first UT-BU game at Floyd Casey stadium ~50 years ago and I was happy to be there for the closing game. It was also meaningful for me in that the 2013 game was on the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack; my dad, a WW II veteran was aboard ship (USS Tangier) during that attack.

"By a set of circumstances, my wife and I were guests in the BU President's box that Saturday. Although I was (the only one there) wearing Orange, and was pulling for UT, I was also happy for my BU Graduate children (son and daughter) that their team won the Conference championship. I was inwardly convinced and pleased that UT would be getting a new coach. As the events of the next few days played out, I was afraid Brown was going to finesse his way in to another (losing) season. Despair turned to elation when his 'retirement' was announced."

Sunday, December 8th

Mack Brown and Steve Patterson fly to New York for National Football Foundation events. Bill Powers did not go to New York because of other responsibilities, thus the much-anticipated meeting between the three about Mack's future does not happen on Sunday as big-money donors had hoped

OB also reported that three sources had confirmed that Powers had definitely taken control of the "Mack Brown situation." As OB had previously reported, Powers basically told Patterson he'd handle any decisions involving Brown's future as coach at Texas.

Meanwhile, OB also reported sources had confirmed that Mack Brown had told his assistants that he planned to coach the team in 2014.

Monday, December 9th

Mack Brown and Steve Patterson spend the day in New York without Texas president Bill Powers.

Tuesday, December 10th

While Mack Brown traveled from New York to South Florida on a recruiting trip, Orangebloods reports Brown is expected to announce that he is stepping down as head coach by the end of the week, according to two high-level university sources.

"Mack Brown loves Texas and wants what's in the best interest of Texas and what's in the best interest of Mack Brown," one high-level source said. "I don't think it's been an easy decision. But he doesn't want negativity around the program he helped unify."

While ESPN's Brett McMurphy and CBSSports.com's Bruce Feldman follow up Orangebloods' report with confirmations of their that Brown is expected to step down by week's end, Brown tells 247Sports that if he was planning to resign, he wouldn't be "killing" himself on the road in recruiting.

Subscriber Flashback: Joe Levin

"I'm a 15-year old high school freshman in Los Angeles, and it's safe to say I'm the only Horns fan in my high school. When I woke up on Tuesday December 10 with a feeling that something was going to go down regarding Mack. Because of this, I kept my phone on vibrate in my pocket all day in case something happened. Well, something happened at about noon our time, and my phone buzzed in my pocket. Only problem was that I was in Spanish class. Taking a test. With a super strict teacher. My curiosity kept eating at me at me, though, and I snuck a glimpse at the screen. Mack was out. That should have been the end of the story, but I was so done with Mack and ready to hire Nick Saban that an "About f***ing time!" escaped my mouth a little too loudly. My teacher saw my phone in hand and thought someone had texted me answers and sent me to the principal. I got 4 weeks of detention, but it was well worth it"

Wednesday, December 11th

Brown continues on the recruiting trail, visiting Texas linebacker commitment Andrew Beck in Tampa before meeting with Beck's father in Alabama later that evening.

Brown returns to Austin from the recruiting trips in Florida late that evening or possibly on Thursday morning. No meeting between Brown, Patterson and Powers takes place.

Thursday, December 12th

Mack Brown holds court at an Alamo Bowl press conference in the morning with Oregon coach Mark Helfrich. But Brown refuses to talk about his future, saying he plans to sit down with Steve Patterson soon to talk things over, but does not give any specifics.

Meanwhile, the UT Board of Regents meet and engage in what is described to OB as a 5 1/2-hour fight over Bill Powers' future as President of Texas. Sources tell OB athletics never once came up during the executive session, as the meeting was more about Powers' ability to co-exist with regents on key, higher-education issues. Powers emerges with a 6-3 vote to continue on as UT president.

By the end of the day, there had still been no meeting between Brown, Powers and Patterson.

Friday The 13th

OB confirms the long-awaited meeting involving Bill Powers, Steve Patterson, Mack Brown and Brown's attorney, Joe Jamail, will occur at 5 pm - just before the UT football banquet that night.

A high-ranking source informs OB after the meeting that Jamail told Powers and Patterson if Nick Saban is brought in as Brown's replacement, Jamail will file tortious interference lawsuits against those involved in the January 2013 phone call with Nick Saban's agent Jimmy Sexton.

The meeting concluded with Steve Patterson leading Mack Brown to believe he can stay on as coach, a high-ranking source tells OB. Before the banquet, Patterson is approached by reporters and pleasantly declines to comment on Mack Brown's situation.

Meanwhile, OB talks to a source close to Nick Saban just as the football banquet is beginning who says word has already gotten back to Saban's camp that Brown wasn't going quietly and that Patterson had indicated to Brown he could stay on as coach.

During the banquet, Patterson says he looks forward to working with Brown "for many years to come."

But there is no emphatic statement from Powers, Patterson or Brown that Brown will be back as football coach in 2014. A source close to Brown told OB after the banquet Brown was upset Bill Powers didn't make a strong statement during the banquet that Brown would be back as coach in 2014.

With an uncomfortable scene taking place at the football banquet, a national bombshell goes off midway through the festivities when Kirk Herbstreit reports on Twitter Alabama coach Nick Saban had finally agreed to his extension with the Crimson Tide. Herbstreit's tweet, quickly confirmed by others, including OB, is seen as the end to his much-discussed, behind-the-scenes courtship from a group of big-money donors at UT.

The uncertainty of Brown's status after the football banquet combined with Saban suddenly seeming to be out of play led to a wild reaction inside and outside the Longhorn community.

Texas message boards were set ablaze within minutes of the UT football banquet ending. But the flames may have raged most uncontrollably on Orangebloods.com, the largest site on the Rivals.com network. Fans who had become attached to the idea of Saban replacing Mack Brown as football coach began assessing blame for what now appeared to be a shattered dream. Most of that heat seemed directed at the OB staff.

A sample of some of the venom from an overnight chat-session included the following comments (all within the first 15 minutes):

"I feel like Ferris Bueller's sister right about now."

"Don't get cute asshole. Have Chip out his sources."

"The people who run the university of Texas are incompetent old assholes. Fire them all."

"What a joke! OB 's is making some people wealthy. I will not be a part of it anymore! I love Texas but as a fan of OB, I am no longer. We get better inside info from ESPN. We are pissed! Mack Brown did it again. His politically correct verbiage fooled everyone again. My best to all you fools. Including the regents, Powers and the new AD. Us fans, who fork over most the money, wish you another shitty season and beyond. We will watch and cheer because we love but some of us are Done with this site!!! Ketch or Chip don't know S__T!"

"Did Orangebloods cost us Saban?"

"I'm selling pitchforks. Do you want one?"

"Has Chip apologized for allowing himself to get played and made to look like an idiot by shitty sources?"

"I feel sick and am debating whether I want to keep my subscription. I'm pissed at the 3 amigos of mediocrity (f*ckface m. brown, powers and patterson) This is the worst clown show ever."

Staff Flashback: Chip Brown

"I had been told repeatedly that Powers would handle Mack Brown's situation and that Steve Patterson would handle the hire of Brown's replacement.

After the regents voted to keep UT president Bill Powers on Thursday and there still hadn't been any public announcement about Brown stepping down, it raised the possibility of things going sideways on Friday the 13th. Why? Because it was clear Brown wasn't happy about the idea of Nick Saban succeeding him and wasn't going to go quietly. And Brown can be very persuasive and manipulative when boring in on someone.

Friday morning I asked one of my two initial sources about the chances of Mack Brown returning as coach in 2014 and was told "zero." But Brown took Joe Jamail into the Friday meeting with Powers and Patterson and let it be known he wanted to stay, even though he knew he had failed to meet criteria laid out for him after opening 1-2 (10 wins, BCS bowl or at least a share of B12 title).

I got a text before the football banquet from one of my sources saying Brown expressed in that Friday meeting his desire to stay. I was told Brown hammered away at Powers about Powers possibly allowing big-money donors to run the athletic department, potentially undermining Steve Patterson.

And Jamail expressed if Saban became UT's coach that he'd have grounds to file tortious interference lawsuits against those involved with a phone call to Nick Saban's agent back in January of 2013. At that point, right before the banquet, it wasn't even clear with my one of my sources where things stood between Powers, Patterson and Brown after the meeting.

That's when things went haywire. I was supposed to do an interview on ESPN radio's national network that I had to cancel while I tried to figure out what the hell was going on.

I called a source close to Saban right as the football banquet was beginning who said the word had gotten back to them that Mack Brown wasn't going quietly and that things had come off the rails. Less than 30 minutes after that call, Kirk Herbstreit tweeted out - right in the middle of the UT football banquet - that Saban had agreed to his extension at Alabama.

Then the world of social media seemed to collapse on me. Everyone who believed there was never a chance Saban would end up at Texas wanted a place to say, "I told you so!" - and my Twitter account seemed to be the best place to do it.

Over and over again, I was being blamed for having said Nick Saban was coming to Texas. I never said that. All I had reported was that Brown would step down by the end of the week. Obviously, there was some uncertainty about Brown's future at Texas as of the night of Friday the 13th, and OB subscribers certainly let us hear about that. So did Jay Mohr, who has 274,000 Twitter followers and quoted my tweet about Mack Brown stepping down by the end of the week, followed by "STILL WAITING."

The avalanche of negativity was so overwhelming, all I could do was watch in disbelief. I received two death threats on Twitter. Ketch wanted me to put my thoughts together for a post on OB, but all I could do was try to respond to threads as thoughtfully as I could. I reached out to my sources, but I didn't hear back from them until Saturday.

The night of Friday the 13th was probably the longest night of my career."

Subscriber Flashback: Grant Hartline (McLovin67)

"I've said this on the boards before, but I (then) belonged to 3 separate pay sites and was on all three that night. All caught fire big time, with people yelling/insulting the mods, pulling out their hair, killing puppies, etc. One site completely imploded, with one mod (clearly drunk posting by then) yelling for people to leave. Another basically backed completely out of the discussion in hopes that the fire would simply burn itself out. OB did a chat until wee hours of the morning, took all the slings and arrows, and kept its collective head. I had been a member of OB for a while, since (I think) the 104.9 bloodletting; and had noted things that I both liked and disliked. I became a fan of this site on meltdown night."

Subscriber Flashback: Jeff LaCoke (Cheadhorn)

"I remember sitting at BJ's Brewhouse eating dinner with me wife when the news of Saban's extension scrolled across the screen. There was a guy sitting at a table at the bar who yelled, "Orangebloods meltdown in 3...2....1!" I looked over at him and laughed. Then I looked at my wife who said, "Go ahead...." I then proceeded to take out my phone and pull up the Orangebloods app. My wife proceeds to say, "Let me guess...it's Mack's fault."

Subscriber Flashback: Raymond Coldren (Horny Gambler)

"My favorite post from the banquet meltdown was titled something to the effect of "F It, I'm Going Out in Style" and the guy blasted one of best sets breasts I've ever seen. And things were so chaotic that the thread stayed up for half an hour with about 40-50 responses. Classic."

Saturday, December 14th

OB talks to high-level sources who say either Bill Powers didn't have a good answer for Mack Brown during Friday's meeting or was complicit in allowing Brown to think he could stay on as football coach so word would get to the Saban camp that Texas would have no job opening.

At about 12 pm Saturday, OB talks to two high-level sources who say Brown's fate will be known to everyone "in six hours."

At 6 pm Saturday, word begins to leak to LHN and OB that Mack Brown will indeed be resigning. Within minutes of those reports, Texas releases statements making it official that Brown will resign/retire. OB is told Brown's dismissal came after a group of big-money donors contacted Bill Powers early Saturday and said if Brown wasn't removed, those donors would stop supporting the school financially. Word gets back to OB that Mack Brown called Bill Powers repeatedly on Saturday but that Powers had not returned any of Brown's calls.

Staff Flashback: Jason Suchomel

This is, without question, my most memorable day on the site.

We began to hear rumblings early Saturday evening that Mack was officially resigning and two key team sources confirmed via text that Mack had addressed the team after the first bowl practice and delivered the news that he was resigning.

On one hand, there was some satisfaction in knowing that OB's reports from earlier in the week had turned out to be accurate, and I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a smile on my face after all the crap the entire staff took from even our most loyal subscribers on Friday night, when Mack was digging in to save his job.

There was some relief on my part, and I'm sure for the rest of the staff, that we had finally reached the end of what had been a tumultuous work week and we were about to get some closure on the biggest story in the history of OB. That lasted about 5 minutes.

Immediately after we confirmed that Mack had told the players and his assistants that he was stepping down, it was time to flip the switch into recruiting reporter mode and a long Saturday night of tracking down prospects (many of whom were in Austin on their official visit) to get their immediate impressions.

Later that night, probably close to 11 p.m., when things had finally started to settle down a bit, I received a couple phone calls from people within the football program, people whose futures were directly affected by the news. It was a sobering moment.

Sometimes lost in all the excitement from fans in the change is the fact that the people who worked below Mack had gone through an agonizing week of not knowing their futures. When the news was delivered to the team on Saturday afternoon of Mack's resignation, the other people in the program were faced with the realization that they would likely be searching for employment and uprooting their families. The people I talked to on Saturday night were surprisingly level-headed in a very tough time ? they understood why the decision for change was made, but the uncertainty of their futures was really beginning to hit home.

The week leading up to Mack's resignation had been one of the wildest this site has ever experienced, and when things came to a head on Saturday evening there were some mixed emotions on my end.

Sunday, December 15th

Mack Brown, Bill Powers and Steve Patterson formally announce at an afternoon press conference that Brown is stepping down.

"I want what's best for Texas," Brown said. "There are just too many distractions."

"Life is too short for negativity," he added.

Moments after Brown finished his remarks, new Texas athletic director Steve Patterson, who was 14 days into his new job, outlined exactly what he was looking for in a new coach before embarking on a search that would likely make or break Patterson's tenure as AD.

"You need to be good with the press," Patterson stated. "You have to be able to recruit. You gotta understand what a big-time college program is about. You're going to be under a lot of scrutiny. You gotta win. You gotta win big. You have to graduate your student-athletes. They have to take real classes. You have to mentor them. You have to recruit the right kind of folks."

Monday, December 16th

OB reports Alabama head coach Nick Saban is off the table in the head coaching search after the events of the previous week.

Sources close to the situation tell OB Powers is dead-set against hiring Saban.

Also, a source close to Urban Meyer tells OB it's highly unlikely Meyer would leave Ohio State. A second source with direct contact to Meyer tells OB there's "no way" Meyer would leave OSU right now.

Tuesday, December 18th

Texas announces athletic director Steve Patterson has appointed the same eight-person advisory committee to assist with the coaching search that hired him as the AD. The committee includes vice chair of the Board of Regents Steve Hicks, UT regent Robert Stillwell and billionaire former regent Robert Rowling, among others.

Also, after a report circulates that Texas athletic director Steve Patterson had met with UCLA head coach Jim Mora on Monday, OB is told by a source close to Mora no such meeting occurred.

Meanwhile, the initial Vegas odds on the vacant Texas head coaching position looked like this:

Charlie Strong (Louisville): 2/1
Art Briles (Baylor): 9/2,
James Franklin (Vanderbilt): 5/1
Mike Gundy (OK State): 7/1
Bill O'Brien (Penn State): 15/2
Chip Kelly (Philadelphia Eagles): 10/1
Jim Mora (UCLA): 10/1
David Shaw (Stanford): 10/1
Jimbo Fisher (FSU): 15/1
Jim Harbaugh (San Francisco 49ers): 20/1
Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh Steelers): 20/1

Wednesday, December 19th

Orangebloods.com reports former Super Bowl champion head coach and current ESPN analyst Jon Gruden would be open to hearing from Texas about replacing Mack Brown. The report garners national attention, but is causally dismissed in a lot of corners. This wouldn't be the last time Gruden's name pops up in the Texas search.

Staff Flashback: Alex Dunlap

"Scoop was coming from everywhere and a coaching search only comes so often. I had to try and dip my toe in. There had been talk and rumors of possibilities that the administration would be vetting certain candidates with NFL experience. Since most of my contacts are on the NFL-side, I started kicking around the ideas of some NFL names and reaching out to folks who might know something. An interesting note is that the phone call that resulted in my initial learning of Jon Gruden's interest in hearing from Texas was not to solicit information about Gruden, but rather regarding Jim Mora, Jr. that went a completely different way than I expected."

Tuesday, December 24th

OB reports, according to high-level sources, Florida State's Jimbo Fisher is generating a lot of buzz among some big-money donors at Texas. A contract extension and raise from Florida State has been sitting on Fisher's desk without his signature.

A high-level source tells OB Baylor's Art Briles is definitely a candidate for the Texas job. OB breaks the news Briles has a $4 million buyout and that most of his new, 10-year contract extension is guaranteed to the tune of $50 million.

Friday, December 27th

After rumblings continue from other outlets in the Longhorns universe that Alabama's Nick Saban remains in play as a candidate for the Texas job, high-level sources confirm to OB once again that the door to a Saban hire remains very much closed.

Meanwhile, a high-ranking Texas source confirms that Vanderbilt's James Franklin has emerged as a serious candidate for the Texas job.

Saturday, December 28th

After Louisville's thrashing of Miami in the Russell Athletic Bowl, OB confirms with a high-ranking Texas source that Charlie Strong is also emerging as a top candidate at Texas.

Sunday, December 29th

OB confirms with a source with direct knowledge of the situation that someone representing the University of Texas had engaged in communication with Jon Gruden.

Monday, December 30th

The end of the Mack Brown era takes place in San Antonio as the Longhorns fall 30-7 to the Oregon Ducks in the Alamo Bowl.

Hours before the game, Texas athletic director Steve Patterson holds court with the media to discuss the shape of the ongoing coaching search, declaring the job will be filled before the recruiting dead period ends on January 15.

"We have to be back open for business in the middle of the month once the dead period ends," Patterson said. "I think we've got to be done by then."

Tuesday, December 31st

In a wide-ranging story about all the agendas Steve Patterson will have to navigate in his search, OB is first to report via a high-level source that Patterson flew earlier in the day to an undisclosed location to interview Louisville coach Charlie Strong. OB reports Strong had received a high recommendation from Korn/Ferry, the search firm assisting in the Texas search.

OB is also first to report via another source close to the situation that Patterson had already interviewed Vanderbilt coach James Franklin and wanted to talk to Michigan State's Mark Dantonio.

OB reports that Patterson met with a group of Texas lettermen before the Alamo Bowl to take their temperature on the search.

Even though Jimbo Fisher signs his contract extension at FSU, increasing his salary to $4.1 million, causes some media outlets to conclude Fisher won't be leaving the Seminoles any time soon, OB reports otherwise.

OB reports, according to sources close to the situation, the signing of the extension was done to show Texas Fisher wasn't using the Longhorns' search as leverage to get more money out of FSU. OB also reports that Fisher's new deal essentially takes a $2 million buyout in his old contract down to zero - making it easier for Fisher to leave.

Finally, in OB's wide-ranging report, a billionaire Texas donor (later to be confirmed by the San Antonio Express-News as Red McCombs) had let it be known to university officials that he supported Jon Gruden as Mack Brown's replacement.

Subscriber Flashback: Lisa Benfield (Benflr)

"I never believed the Gruden talk and quite frankly think he would have been a complete disaster. I remember talking with my husband and after the OSU loss about who Texas would hire. I strongly felt after OSU when winning the conference was unlikely at best, that Texas would soon be hiring the university's first African-American coach. Charlie Strong was mentioned, but so was Franklin, so I will not say I knew all along he would be hired. I WILL say that after all the Saban stuff died down and the top candidates were mentioned I thought Strong would be near the top. If I had had a gun put to my head, I would have guessed Art Briles would have emerged as the next coach over Strong. I remember making a bet with my husband that either Briles or Strong was going to be the next coach. I have yet to collect my winnings BTW!"

Thursday, January 2nd

Two sources close to the situation told OB Texas athletic director Steve Patterson was interested in interviewing Baylor coach Art Briles that week and possibly as early as Thursday.

But a Baylor source told OB the previous night that Texas had not yet reached out for permission. That same source told OB Briles expressed to Baylor officials "you have nothing to worry about" regarding Texas after an upset loss to Central Florida in the Fiesta Bowl on Wednesday night.

OB also confirmed preliminary communications between the Longhorns and UCLA head coach Jim Mora had taken place and it was possible Steve Patterson would meet with Mora for a formal interview within the next 24 hours.

Friday, January 3rd (morning)

Orangebloods reports that a source close to the Texas coaching search says Louisville's Charlie Strong and Vanderbilt's James Franklin are among the finalists to replace Mack Brown at Texas.

Earlier in the day, Baylor's Art Briles and UCLA's Jim Mora, who had both been targets of interest in the Texas search, issued statements saying they were planning to stay at their current schools.

A source tells OB Texas' Steve Patterson attempted to talk to Briles in the days leading up to the Fiesta Bowl but that Briles was uncomfortable with the timing of such a meeting and indicated he'd be willing to talk after the game. But no such meeting has happened after the game up to this point, the source tells OB.

A source close to Briles tells OB he would have taken the Texas job if it had been offered - without having to go through interviews. When Texas didn't take that approach, Briles decided to issue his statement on Friday.

Friday, January 3rd (afternoon)

A grassroots online campaign supporting Jon Gruden (billionaire booster Red McCombs' choice to replace Mack Brown) hits OB. Within hours, the hashtag #GrudentoTexas was trending in Austin on Twitter.

Friday, January 3rd (late evening)

OB reports that Louisville coach Charlie Strong will replace Mack Brown as the head coach at the University of Texas, a high-ranking school source told Orangebloods.com. The source said Strong, 53, would be offered a five-year contract at $5 million per year. Strong had previously indicated he would accept the job, the source said.

Staff flashback: Chip Brown

"I knew the regents were talking the night of January third and that Patterson had his man. I just needed confirmation that it was Strong, and I finally got that Friday night. I was reassured throughout the day on Saturday, Jan. 4, that everything was a formality with Strong accepting the job - and I reported that at OB. I was told the previous Wednesday by a Louisville source that Strong 'wanted the Texas job' and reported that at OB."

Saturday, January 4th

After a day of waiting for Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich to fly through severe weather from Colorado back to Kentucky, Charlie Strong meets with Jurich and informs him he is taking the Texas head coaching position.

Staff flashback: Geoff Ketchum

"When you look back at the month of December and the first handful of days in January, I think you're talking about a window of time that will forever define the history of the site. In fact, with a little bit of time to process exactly what occurred during that month, I think you'd say without question that this story has a locked in spot in the Mount Rushmore of Significant OB Moments, along with the final two months of the Ryan Perrilloux recruitment, the national title year and both Big 12 Missile Crisis I and Big 12 Missile Crisis II.

The difference between those stories and this one is that we were mostly without competition on those other three, as the marketplace is much more competitive than ever before and perhaps more competitive than in any college market in this entire industry. Before this story ever started to take off, we got together as a staff for dinner and discussed the stakes of covering this story and we formulated a plan for coverage and support for each other. There was a clear understanding that the stretch of time from early December to early January would define the way people viewed the online UT universe, and while we might have held the belt for a long while, not getting it done to the standards that we believe we've established could possibly open the door for someone to put a dent in an our armor. We were determined to be at our absolute best and make use of every connection we've developed in the last 70 or so combined years of covering this team on a professional basis.

In the end, I think anyone on the staff would tell you that we feel really good about the work we put in from the moment Mack Brown's final post-game press conference took place to the moment when Charlie Strong held his first UT press conference on the day of the BCS Championship game. With as many moving parts as there were in this saga, it seemed like possible landmines existed at every turn and the truth is that we trusted what we were reporting the entire way. Very few regrets exist. And now we turn our collective attention to the next phase of the story and the next chapter in UT history. There's really not any time for celebration because there's forever more work to do, but we really wouldn't want it any other way."

No. 2 - Scattershooting on the Longhorns …

… This is the part of the column when I try to pull some of you off of the rhetorical tall buildings and remind you that you can't make too much out of what you're seeing right now in the 2014 class because Charlie Strong is fighting a lot of these battles with one hand tied behind his back and in some cases two. This is the issue you find yourself in when you try to combat 12-24 months of relationships these kids have with other schools with about eight days of conversations. The scoreboard really counts in my mind with the 2015 class. That's when we're going to find what this staff is made of.

… There's no getting around the fact that the loss of Houston Cy Falls linebacker Otaro Alaka to Texas A&M is a hit for the 2014 class for a couple of reasons. First of all, the guy is a dynamic defensive talent in a recruiting class that doesn't have as many dynamic pieces in it as a University of Texas recruiting class should have. In fact, that's the biggest problem with losing Alaka, the Longhorns are let with a class that currently has two four-star prospects on the defensive side of the ball, which really hammers home why it was so important that a change was made in the football department. That just can't happen again and it almost certainly won't in 2015 under the direction of Charlie Strong.

… Had the Longhorn athletic department not foolishly allowed the decision of Mack Brown to drag on so long that they allowed a guy like Alaka to use his official visit on the weekend that Brown was fired, the four-star linebacker likely would have been in Austin this weekend and the dynamics of his recruitment would have likely been quite different.

… I'm a big fan of Schertz Clemens linebacker Kolin Hill and finding a way to get him on campus, and eventually away from his Notre Dame commitment will go a long way towards softening the blow of losing Alaka. While the Rivals guys have Hill ranked as a three-star player, I have him ranked as a four-star kid and No.22 overall in the state of Texas, which is only four slots behind Alaka.

… Speaking of softening the loss of Alaka, the recruiting world is all ears awaiting the official word from Richmond Travis athlete Nick Harvey, who was in Austin this weekend as one of the more decorated A&M commitments in the 2014 class, but this tweet to Alaka on Sunday night is rather ominous.

@_IMakePlays11
@OtaroAlaka congrats bro welcome aboard let's go win this Natty!

… Sione Teuhema visiting Oklahoma State this weekend? Man, I didn't see that coming.

… If the Longhorns find a way to close the deal with Lakeland (FL) Victory Christian Academy DT Chris Nelson and Hilton Head, South Carolina defensive tackle Poona Ford, I think you'd have to feel very good about the way Strong and Co. have been able to salvage the defensive tackle situation, which is at a critical juncture when you consider that the Longhorns have zero commitments at the position in the last two classes.

… If you're a Longhorn fan, the most reassuring words you read all weekend came in the form of a 15-word Tweet from 2017 superstar running back prospect Dylan Moses (@Explicit_scene3):

"I can tell Coach Strong is gonna be successful at Texas. That man is unbelievable."

No. 3 - Here's hoping Rick enjoyed himself a Cuban cigar on Saturday …

Oh man, I'm sure that Rick Barnes has felt rather good after a few of his team's 16 wins this season, but I'm quite certain that none have comforted his basketball soul quite like the 14-point spanking his team delivered to Scott Drew and the Baylor Bears in Waco on Saturday.

After dominating the Bears throughout most of his career in Austin, the single toughest thing to swallow as it relates to the program's recent slide is that Drew and Co. have had the upper hand in the battle between I-35 rivals to the tune of seven wins in the last 10 games between the two schools.

I'll be honest, I didn't really see this one coming because I still go into every game with doubt in my mind about this Texas team and with a series of strong performances under its belt, a letdown performance against a Baylor team sorely needing a win to turn around its own season seemed possible.

So, over the course of two hours, my internal dialogue went a little like this:

"Hey, the Longhorns are getting ready to play. If they keep playing like they've been playing, they've got a chance to win this game. Man, how big would that be? Wait, it's a Big 12 road game, so let's not get ahead of ourselves. A close loss would still be pretty good for the RPI."

"Hey, the Longhorns look like they came to play today."

"I know Baylor will make a run before this thing is over, but damn, these Longhorns play hard."

"Man, Texas might win this game."

"Texas is flat-out kicking Baylor's ass. Barnes might start breakdancing before this game ends."

"Wow, Texas made Baylor quit with more than half a minute left in the game. I wonder if Barnes is going to go Richard Sherman after the game. "

Look, we all know not to get too far ahead of ourselves with a Barnes squad because he's had teams that ranked No. 1 in the country collapse into the abyss by March, but in the last two weeks they've whipped West Virginia in Morgantown, upended top-10 Iowa State, outlasted No. 22 Kansas State and throttled one more top 25 team on Saturday on the road.

Suddenly, this team is 16-4 and on a five-game winning streak, which will almost certainly mean that it will be ranked next Saturday afternoon when it hosts conference-leader Kansas. Every time this team takes the floor it seems to change the conversation about the level of expectations everyone should have for it.

I'm at a point now that I don't know what to think anymore because I'm still trying to process this group emerging as a 20-win team and possibly a single-digit seed in the tournament. Maybe the whole damn thing falls apart at some point, but these coaches and players are doing the damn thing at this very moment.

This team deserves a sellout with more burnt orange than Kansas blue on Saturday.

No. 4 - I'm taking Peyton Manning in Super Bowl XLVIII …

It's really as simple as this … on one side of the field you've got one of the three greatest quarterbacks of all-time in the middle of the greatest season any quarterback in the history of the sport has ever known and on the other side you've got a second-year quarterback that might one day be within a few zip codes of the rarefied air that the other keeps.

It might sound like I'm taking a shot at Seattle's Russell Wilson, but this really isn't about him. He's a hell of a football player and there is a mini-Drew Brees inside of the guy. This is about the other guy. The guy that's in all of the commercials.

This just feels like it should be the moment when Manning ascends to the pinnacle of his entire career. For all of the post-season failure that has defined so much of his career, he's been on-point at historical levels every step of the way this season.

Yes, the Seahawks represent the greatest challenge that he's seen yet and it certainly wouldn't shock me if the NFC champion emerges as the victor in this game.

But, it feels like to me this is the moment that Peyton Manning has waited his entire life for. This is the moment that verifies that everything he put into coming back from those neck surgeries was worth it. Thus is the moment when he sends home the point that his career will not be defined by previous losses to Brady and Belichick.

Like I said, this isn't about Russell Wilson and the Seahawks … this is about Manning.

Denver 27 Seattle 23

No. 5 - Redefining the way the world views you …

Coming into the 2013-14 season, most of the NBA probably felt like it had Lamarcus Aldridge figured out.

After seven seasons in the Association, Aldridge was a two-time all-star and without question one of the NBA's top big men, yet in a league that defines its star players in tiers, I can't think of anyone alive that believed the former Longhorn was a player that an NBA team could make the centerpiece of an NBA contender.

If the new NBA model of success calls for a contending team to have a trio of star parts as its backbone, few would have suggested that Aldridge was a No. 1 on an elite-level team. As the trade winds blew during the off-season, one of the questions going around the league was whether the Trailblazers might move their best player of the last seven inconsequential seasons to a team looking for a No. 2 or No. 3 piece to go along with its own No. 1.

For instance, there was scuttlebutt around the 2013 NBA Draft that Aldridge might have been just the kind of piece Chicago needed to get to help Derrick Rose's Bulls to the next level. The rest of the league viewed him as more of a sidekick than alpha dog and while he might have made for a potential elite-level side-kick player in the vein of a D-Wade or Russell Westbrook, he was still viewed as a sidekick.

Yet as teams, media and fans probably wrote off Aldridge's NBA alpha dog potential a few years ago, the one constant believer in Aldridge seemed to be his own team. It didn't want Luol Deng or Joakim Noah as the centerpiece of a deal with its all-star power forward.

Portland believed there was more inside of Aldridge than his 2012-13 season averages of 21.1 points and 9.1 rebounds per game indicated. Amazingly enough, in his eighth NBA season at the age of 28 years old, Aldridge is proving that Portland's patience and faith was absolutely warranted, as he's emerged as the top power forward in basketball this year and a second tier MVP candidate.

By second-tier, I mean that Kevin Durant and LeBron James represent the top tier all by themselves and it's unlikely that anyone could do anything to penetrate through the lock on the top two spots for the award that they currently possess. Beyond that? Hell, if the vote was held today, Aldridge would likely battle Indiana's Paul George for the No. 3 spot.

That is how good he's been. His scoring (24.6 per game) is a career-high level. His rebounding (11.5 per game) is at a career-high level. His assists (2.8 per game) are at a career-high level. His PER (23.7) is at a career-high level. Most importantly, his Trailblazers have emerged as a legitimate contender in the Western Conference, going into Sunday's action 1 ½ games behind Oklahoma City for the No. 1 seed in the conference.

Basically, Aldridge is having the year of his life and the entire Association is watching to see just how high he can ascend. Suddenly, he's an MVP candidate, a vital member of Team USA and no longer viewed as a No. 2 player at best on a contender.

The question that keeps popping into my head every time he drops another 20-10 performance on whatever team gets in his way is this … what are Longhorns fans going to do it he faces off with Durant in the playoffs?

No. 6 - Speaking of Kevin Durant …

Here's a look at Kevin Durant's last 10 games, a stretch of basketball that has transformed him into the NBA's front-runner for league MVP:

at Philadelphia: 32 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists,
at San Antonio: 36 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists
vs. Portland: 46 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists
vs. Sacramento: 30 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists
vs. Golden State: 54 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists
at Houston: 36 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists
at Memphis: 37 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists
vs Milwaukee: 33 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists
at Denver: 30 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists
at Utah: 48 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists.

If you look at the entire 13-game log of Durant's from the month of January, you'll find that he's averaging 36.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 6.2 assists, while shooting 53.5 percent from the floor, 39 percent from three-point range and 89.1 percent from the free throw line.

In the last month, he's been the best player in the world. Period.

No. 7 - Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …

… Never count the chickens before they hatch. Like almost everyone else, I went ahead and chalked up major No. 14 for Rafa Nadal after his destruction of Roger Federer in the Australian Open, only to wake up on Sunday morning and find out that Villanova had beaten Georgetown. Hell, this might have been a bigger upset than that. In the previous 12 matches against Nadal, Stan Wawrinka hadn't so much as one a single set off the all-time great. Yet, a combination of the best play of Wawrinka's life and flaring back issues for Nadal created a perfect storm of a situation. Suddenly, men's tennis has a new majors champion and you have to wonder what that injury will mean for Nadal's chances at the French Open.

… Carmelo Anthony needs to leave New York after the season and make his way over to Los Angeles, so that he can team up with Kobe Bryant and give both players what they need in the next few years. Contrary to the long list of Carmelo doubters out there, I think the guy is one hell of a player and you don't have to let that sensational 62-point performance alter your picture of his abilities, just focus on his season stats: 27 points, 9.1 rebounds and 3.0 assists, along with 44.7/42.0/85.2 shooting splits. Those numbers currently produce a PER that is higher than the ones Aldridge, Steph Curry and Paul George all possess.

… The best of the surprises of the weekend was being on the fantasy basketball receiving end of Terrence Ross' 51-point, 10-three point shot and nine rebounds performance on Saturday night. Only 12-percent of all Yahoo fantasy basketball teams had Ross in their line-ups for that Haley's Comet performance.

… I don't know what to make of what Marcus Smart did on Saturday, but I expect more out of the guy because he's a veteran of college basketball … yanno … with him being a sophomore and all.

… It wasn't exactly a masterpiece of a win, but I did have Benson Henderson beating Josh Thomson by a 48-47 score in the final of the free Fox card on Saturday. Considering the injury he was performing with and the closeness of the match, I'd love to see a rematch. Come on, Dana.

… You're not going to see many leg-kicks connect as flush as this one did against Adriano Martins. I don't know where Cowboy Cerrone goes from here on the UFC lightweight ladder, but this bad boy goes on the career highlight reel.



No. 8 - If I had a vote that mattered (Oscar-style) …

I swear I'm going to knock out these final few movies on my must-see-list before the Academy Awards ceremony on the first Sunday of March, but the windows just haven't opened up for me because I couldn't convince Mrs. Ketchum to go see Her with me at the Alamo Draft House, but that ended up being okay because that means that I was able to check out Lone Survivor this weekend, which turned out to be a much more pleasurable experience than I expected.

In fact, I'm a little surprised it hasn't received a little more love from the end of the year's best-of lists. It's really good.

100 Words Or Less Movie Review: Lone Survivor (A)

One of the most underrated movies of the year and one of the best military movies I've seen in the last decade. Like Captain Phillips, there's a captivating tenseness in watching a story that involves you knowing the final outcome in advance, but the captivating tenseness exists for much more of the movie. It leaves you without a lot of remaining emotion because it just takes it all from you in two hours. There were times when it was really hard to watch and yet I kind of feel like every 12th grade class in America should watch the film.

Here's a look at the updated Oscars leaderboard as of January 27th.

Best Picture

1. 12 Years a Slave
2. The Wolf of Wall Street
3. American Hustle
4. Gravity
5. Dallas Buyer's Club

Must-See-List: Philomena

Best Actor

1. Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)
2 Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyer's Club)
3. Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)
4. Christian Bale (American Hustle)
5. Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips)

Best Actress (current leaderboard)

1. Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
2. Sandra Bullock (Gravity)
3. Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks)
4. Amy Adams (American Hustle)

Best Supporting Actor

1. Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave)
2. Jared Leto (Dallas Buyer's Club)
3. Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street)
4. Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)
5. Bradley Cooper (American Hustle)

Best Supporting Actress (current leaderboard)

1. Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
2. Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)
3. Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine)
4. Sarah Paulson (12 Years a Slave)
5. Jennifer Garner (Dallas Buyer's Club)

Best Director (current leaderboard)

1. Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave)
2. Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity)
3. Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street)
4. David Russell (American Hustle)
5. Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips)

No. 9 - Pop goes the culture because the culture goes pop …

… Hottie of the Weekend: Introducing Melissa Giraldo

… SMH: Kristen Stewart Says She Wants To Tattoo Her Head

… Worst Police Sketch Ever: Dear OB subscriber base, have you seen this man?

… WTF: Florida dad high on meth tells son he is 'the demon' and 'needs exorcism'

… Creeper : Dude arrested outside Selena Gomez's house

… Can't Hold Biebs Down : Snitch Pop Star Flies DeSean Jackson's-Ex down to Panama because he can

No. 10 - The List: Natalie Maines/Dixie Chicks (Listen Via Spotify)

Oh, I can just hear the groans out there from the haters from a mile away. I didn't realize the level of angst towards Maines that still existed until I had the audacity to include her on my Best of 2013 lists from a few weeks ago. The only artist I've ever featured that received anywhere near the same level of reaction is Kanye West.

Then it occurred to me … Natalie Maines is the Kanye West of country music … Natalie Maines is the Richard Sherman of country music.

Oh, I was hooked at that point, especially when I was itching to take another listen to Mother, Maines' outstanding debut solo album from 2013, which I thought was a hell of a lot better than some of the efforts that were represented on the Grammys tonight. Plus, she's a Texas native that has a home in Austin. Say what you want about her and hate her politics all you want, but there's an unbending, non-conformist nature to her that embodies what her home state is supposed to embody. What I can I say? I dig that chick.

Ok, before some of you reach for the pitchforks you put away following the Great Message Board Meltdown of 2013, let's see what I came up with …

Last four songs out: Take It On Faith

10b. Goodbye Earl

There are better songs in the catalog that didn't make the list, but it felt like an injustice to leave out this girl power anthem for dealing with abusive men. No man from the South has eaten black-eyed peas the same ever again.

10a. Vein in Vain

I simply could not leave this song off the list. It's at this point on the album Mother that you realize that Maines has something cooking going with this record.

9. Without You

I'm a sucker for a beautiful, understated ballad and this is one of the group's best. It's just a beautifully crafted piece of music.

8. Cold Day in July

One of four songs from the 1999 album Fly that make the list.

7. Travelin' Soldier

Originally a Bruce Robison song, this is a story of a Vietnam soldier that strikes up a correspondence with a girl from high school. When the soldier dies, the only one that notices is the girl he had fallen in love with.

6. Landslide

This Stevie Nicks cover is one of the highlights on the Home album and is the only No. 1 hit that the group has ever had on the adult contemporary charts.

5. Not Ready to Make Nice

After the political fallout of Maines' 2003 comments about President Bush, the group fired back with one of the group's best songs.

4. Lover You Should Have Come Over

My favorite Jeff Buckley cover of all-time and my favorite song off a country music album in 2013. The haters can just hate because the women have my back on this one.

3. You Were Mine

Another classic off of the Wide Open Spaces album, this song is about the real-life break-up and divorce of original Dixie Chick members Martie Maguire and Emily Robison.

2. Cowboy Take Me Away

It's a Dixie Chicks anthem and one of the songs that the group better sing at a show or they can expect riots from the females in the crowd.

1. Wide Open Spaces

I had been dating a girl for about a year when this song came out, which just happened to come at a time when our relationship was a little rocky. She loved this song. Anyway, one night I was listening to this CD when this song played and I really listened to the words for the first time. It occurred to me that this song was her song and that she was at a point in her life when she needed to spread her wings, so I let her go the next day. Honestly, that's when I realized the personal connection that women had with this group, in a way capturing the inner-American woman's vibe in a way that Steve Nicks once did half a generation before them.

Archives List

Blues/Jazz: Listen via Spotify )

Classical: Listen via Spotify)

Country: Listen via Spotify )

Electronic: Listen Via Spotify

Funk: Listen Via Spotify (Part II ? After Hours))

Metal: Metallica

Pop: Listen via Spotify )

Punk: Listen via Spotify)

Random: My Number 1's on Spotify

Rap: Listen via Spotify),

R&B: Lionel Richie

Reggae: Listen via Spotify)

Rock: Listen via Spotify )
and Listen via Spotify )

















This post was edited on 1/27 11:52 AM by ChipBrown
 
Last edited:
If Melo joins Kobe on the Lakers, I pity the other players on the team. They may never get to shoot.
 
Maybe for an encore next week you can painfully rehash the BCS tie-breaker vote we lost to OU.
 
Originally posted by Flash1978:
If Melo joins Kobe on the Lakers, I pity the other players on the team. They may never get to shoot.
When great players are around other great players, it's amazing how they can sometimes become very unselfish.
 
good weekend wrapup

-worry more about the ones you get, and not the ones that u loose!

-Dixie Chicks Rock!!
 
Originally posted by Texas8412:

Good stuff. Two points:
It's just football.
The Dixie chicks can go to hell.
scared0016.r191677.gif
 
no one saw this coming with the basketball team…Baylor sure didn't. They play hard the entire game and win the second half.
 
Originally posted by Akina Matata:
Maybe for an encore next week you can painfully rehash the BCS tie-breaker vote we lost to OU.
I'll be offering all day hugs on Tuesday.
 
Some people on this board need to enhance their calm about this recruiting class. Many are sounding like texags. We are Texas; we'll be back. I do not want to emulate aggy in any way nor do I envy them. Finally. we all have a right to our opinion. Mine is: I am ashamed Maines is from Texas.
 
Originally posted by sallybeautiful:
This class and last years small class will make above mediocrity a success.
Only reinforces the need for the 2015 class to be really good.
 
Originally posted by robtex81:
Some people on this board need to enhance their calm about this recruiting class. Many are sounding like texags. We are Texas; we'll be back. I do not want to emulate aggy in any way nor do I envy them. Finally. we all have a right to our opinion. Mine is: I am ashamed Maines is from Texas.
I'm ashamed that you are ashamed. At least she actually is from Texas.
 
The BMD's were a week late escalating a shitstorm on Powers.

It should have begun the hour after the Baylor game, resulting in Powers/Mack meeting on Sunday. Instead, everyone was allowed to screw around for a week.
 
Originally posted by Ketchum:

Originally posted by Akina Matata:
Maybe for an encore next week you can painfully rehash the BCS tie-breaker vote we lost to OU.
I'll be offering all day hugs on Tuesday.
Ketch - you, jason, chip, alex, taylor etc. have been great and spot on the last 8 weeks. I had refused to believe some of the things you guys were reporting and I was definitely wrong. Keep up the good work!
 
Originally posted by robtex81:
Some people on this board need to enhance their calm about this recruiting class. Many are sounding like texags. We are Texas; we'll be back. I do not want to emulate aggy in any way nor do I envy them. Finally. we all have a right to our opinion. Mine is: I am ashamed Maines is from Texas.
a. Totally agree about the recruiting point.

b. I hope you ashamed-ness doesn't center on a single overplayed, originally misquoted comment from a decade ago. That would be quite an ashamed grudge.
 
Originally posted by dallashorn02:
The BMD's were a week late escalating a shitstorm on Powers.

It should have begun the hour after the Baylor game, resulting in Powers/Mack meeting on Sunday. Instead, everyone was allowed to screw around for a week.
Impacting the news of the hour, most certainly.
 
what's the deal with the Keller Brothers looking around? I thought they loved Texas and were 100%. Will we keep them?
Will we keep JB the Houston db from Baylor?
Will we add the S from Ennis that's a Tech kid?
Will we add the DE kid committed to ND?
 
Ketch,

If Mack was relieved of his duties on the day after the Baylor loss, what the chances, in your opinion, that Nick is Texas' head ball coach right now?

This post was edited on 1/26 10:00 PM by DeepEddyHorn
 
Re: Ketch's 10 Thoughts From The Weekend (A wild ride down memory lan

Awesome! I am not pleased with 10, but the summary of events leading to the Strong hire is excellent.
Posted from wireless.rivals.com[/URL]
 
Originally posted by DeepEddyHorn:
Ketch,

If Mack was relieved of his duties on the day after the Baylor loss, what the chances, in your opinion, that Nick is Texas' head ball coach right now?

This post was edited on 1/26 10:00 PM by DeepEddyHorn
very strong chance IMO.

He didn't stall through most of that Friday for no reason at all. A lot of heavy lifting had been done.
 
I'm assuming you got permission to use OB's real names?

Richard Helmer as in Dr. Helmer?
 
So what is worse then Natalie Maines, the Dixie Chicks...Booooooo1
 
Originally posted by WLH1013:

what's the deal with the Keller Brothers looking around? I thought they loved Texas and were 100%. Will we keep them?
Will we keep JB the Houston db from Baylor?
Will we add the S from Ennis that's a Tech kid?
Will we add the DE kid committed to ND?
I think they'll keep the Teuhema brothers. ust one of them things.

I think it remains to be seen what happens with these other cats. Bonney has not been talking much lately and there are some baylor folks that feel like he's going to flip.

Need to get Hill on campus.
 
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