Ketch's 10 Thoughts From the Weekend (Trying to make sense of Texas baseball)

[Universal Horn]

Dany showed her true colors to Jon, and he didn’t do what she wanted. Now Varys is involved and the Stark clan isn’t exactly in Dany’s corner. Either Jon is going to have to sacrifice himself or kill Dany, or Arya’s plan may include taking out Dany. Either way, I don’t see a happy ending for their relationship.

 

[Baguette]

He didn't end up on the same level as Magic.

Separation occurred. Very few people have Larry Bird as a Top 5 all-time player.

Separation only occurred when Larry Legend's back became problematic.

Magic said he was the greatest ever. That's right. Magic said that. Some of those arm chair "experts" let his lack of razzle-dazzle athleticism color their perspective

 

[Ketchum]

Durant is a hell of a player but right now he is not even the best player in the 2019 playoffs. Kawhi Leonard is on another level above everybody right now. Will be interesting to see where he lands next season.

Kawhi has to do it against Durant. The last time those two played, KD made him look like the JV.

 

[W_a_L1989]

Separation only occurred when Larry Legend's back became problematic.

Magic said he was the greatest ever. That's right. Magic said that. Some of those arm chair "experts" let his lack of razzle-dazzle athleticism color their perspective

Larry Bird was absolutely incredible until his back went to hell during the 88-89 season. His style of play caught up with him similar to Ken Griffey jr in baseball. Remember him laying on the sidelines while not in the game even before his back finally gave out.

 

[Ketchum]

Dany showed her true colors to Jon, and he didn’t do what she wanted. Now Varys is involved and the Stark clan isn’t exactly in Dany’s corner. Either Jon is going to have to sacrifice himself or kill Dany, or Arya’s plan may include taking out Dany. Either way, I don’t see a happy ending for their relationship.

Dany doesn't have much left. Everything has died.

 

[Ketchum]

Separation only occurred when Larry Legend's back became problematic.

Magic said he was the greatest ever. That's right. Magic said that. Some of those arm chair "experts" let his lack of razzle-dazzle athleticism color their perspective

The separation occurred before the back issues.

The Lakers beat the Celtics in Part III of their Finals showdown before the back issues really became a dominant issue. The Pistons ended Bird's surge for higher greatness.

 

[California Horn]

BUY or SELL: If Texas doesn't win the conference this year, the season is a failure?

(Buy) I believe that about every single year. That's the bar.

People say things like this, but nobody really believes it. 2004, 2008 and 2018 seasons were failures? Okay, sure.

 

[Ketchum]

People say things like this, but nobody really believes it. 2004, 2008 and 2018 seasons were failures? Okay, sure.

There are rare exceptions. You just picked three from basically the entire modern era of the program going back to the 70s.

Any other examples you want to list? 1998 is probably the only other one that qualifies IMO. Typically, it takes a Major bowl game to replace the conference title to qualify. In the case of 1998, the win over Nebraska, A&M and the Heisman trophy made those possible.

 

[W_a_L1989]

The separation occurred before the back issues.

The Lakers beat the Celtics in Part III of their Finals showdown before the back issues really became a dominant issue. The Pistons ended Bird's surge for higher greatness.

I would not say that the separation occurred because of the 87 finals. The lakers were supposed to win. they had the better team with ac green stepping up nicely in his second season and the pulled another coup landing Mychal Thompson during the regular season in a trade. This team had 4 former number one picks in the draft on it. Talk about what could have been however. How would Bird be looked at if Len Bias had not died?

 

[HorntoWin]

This team is probably 5-8 games over .500 and headed for the post-season if the bullpen hadn't been trash for most of the season.

Exactly.

While the Horn baseball team was weak offensively and stunningly below average in the field, the most glaring weakness was the bullpen. Frankly, every regular pitcher outside of our top 3 starters was embarrassingly poor, in their performances, if not their talent level. No lead was safe with this bullpen. The biggest weakness on this ball club was the inability of the relief pitchers to attack the strike zone at a quality, top collegiate level. The number of walks, hit batters, wild pitches and grooved, center-of-the-plate meatballs had be at record worst levels in the history of our legendary baseball program, once know as “Pitching U.”

Never has a Texas bullpen squandered so many 8th and 9th inning leads, at least not in modern Texas baseball history dating back to the 60’s.

I believe in David Pierce and think he can get the program back on track, as evidenced by the quality job he did in ‘18 and ‘17. But to do so, at minimum, he’s got to hire a top flight pitching coach that knows how to coach attacking the strike zone and how to do so with intelligence.

 

[Ketchum]

I would not say that the separation occurred because of the 87 finals. The lakers were supposed to win. they had the better team with ac green stepping up nicely in his second season and the pulled another coup landing Mychal Thompson during the regular season in a trade. This team had 4 former number one picks in the draft on it. Talk about what could have been however. How would Bird be looked at if Len Bias had not died?

I mean... he never played in the Finals again.

Magic passes him in 1987 and never looks back.

 

[California Horn]

There are rare exceptions. You just picked three from basically the entire modern era of the program going back to the 70s.

Any other examples you want to list? 1998 is probably the only other one that qualifies IMO. Typically, it takes a Major bowl game to replace the conference title to qualify. In the case of 1998, the win over Nebraska, A&M and the Heisman trophy made those possible.

So wouldn't your answer to the question be "if we didn't win the conference but won 11 games / finished in the top 10 / made a NY6 Bowl / whatever, it wouldn't be a failure?"

Because that's not an especially unlikely outcome for 2019.

 

[Ketchum]

So wouldn't your answer to the question be "if we didn't win the conference but won 11 games / finished in the top 10 / made a NY6 Bowl / whatever, it wouldn't be a failure?"

Because that's not an especially unlikely outcome for 2019.

That is what I write every time I discuss the matter. As recently as this month.

 

[California Horn]

That is what I write every time I discuss the matter. As recently as this month.

Well, not every time . . .

 

[TrailsPoppy]

So you are saying we lose to blowu twice, to LSU, or our bowl game for 3+ losses?

 

[Ketchum]

So you are saying we lose to blowu twice, to LSU, or our bowl game for 3+ losses?

I'm not sure the world is ever as cut and dry as that.

None of us would have picked Maryland a year ago.

 

[McGuapo]

So, how much can we blame aggy for opening the door wide open to SEC recruiting in Texas?

Also, don’t lie, you would have certainly paid money to see Cowboy fight Conor a couple years ago...and you probably still would now.

 

[Ketchum]

So, how much can we blame aggy for opening the door wide open to SEC recruiting in Texas?

Also, don’t lie, you would have certainly paid money to see Cowboy fight Conor a couple years ago...and you probably still would now.

a. Largely.

b. Certainly, but Conor is unwatchable for me after his last fight. I can't turn away from the racism and the trash. Cowboy has come up short so many times that he is what he is. Like Urijah Faber, he's in the Hall of Very Good.

 

[dabster]

I remember the talk about this Texas baseball team at the beginning of the year is that they never quit, battled to the end, and found a way to win on many occasions. I guess now they are just finding ways to lose.

 

[Ketchum]

I remember the talk about this Texas baseball team at the beginning of the year is that they never quit, battled to the end, and found a way to win on many occasions. I guess now they are just finding ways to lose.

I literally wrote about all of it.

 

[McGuapo]

a. Largely.

b. Certainly, but Conor is unwatchable for me after his last fight. I can't turn away from the racism and the trash. Cowboy has come up short so many times that he is what he is. Like Urijah Faber, he's in the Hall of Very Good.

Yeah, I enjoyed his rise, but he’s a poster child for being an entitled celebrity who doesn’t have to play by the rules and knows it. I have to think this is always who he was and he’s just being true to himself, but nobody cared before. However, it’s hard for me to turn away from an intriguing fight. I mean, we are talking about guys who lock themselves in a cage to fight for a living, so we have to be realistic about the flaws many of them have.

 

[TrailsPoppy]

Ketch—I appreciate your candid answers on the future of Shaka & Pierce—it gives me hope.

 

[Califashorn]

You know I was hoping Bronn would put an arrow in Jamie.

 

[Universal Horn]

Dany doesn't have much left. Everything has died.

Dany doesn’t realize how vulnerable she is...if she loses the last dragon, she has no more power, and the Westeros elites want Jon to be king because he is the rightful king. She is blindly insisting that she be queen and for Jon to step back and keep quiet, but he couldn’t do it and now Varys and Tyrion know he’s the better option. She is overplaying her hand and now may do something really stupid like torching Kings Landing. Also, Arya can take her out without a problem.

Unless Jon steps back or dies, she’s not gonna get the throne.

.

 

[Ketchum]

Yeah, I enjoyed his rise, but he’s a poster child for being an entitled celebrity who doesn’t have to play by the rules and knows it. I have to think this is always who he was and he’s just being true to himself, but nobody cared before. However, it’s hard for me to turn away from an intriguing fight. I mean, we are talking about guys who lock themselves in a cage to fight for a living, so we have to be realistic about the flaws many of them have.

that's real.

 

[Ketchum]

Ketch—I appreciate your candid answers on the future of Shaka & Pierce—it gives me hope.

Both have very big 12 months in front of them.

 

[Ketchum]

Dany doesn’t realize how vulnerable she is...

You could make a case right now that she's very expendable. Having one dragon can only buy her so much clout at this point, considering how vulnerable they've been.