I expect the Stiftungfestivities to dramatically lift its game this year.

https://x.com/blinkinriley/status/1961610316825125288?s=46

Quote from: BDB on August 26, 2025, 06:59:10 AM

Hey Oz, I think the truth has come out.

Ha!  That made me laugh.  It's odd how ripped kangaroos get.

Quote from: art76 on August 24, 2025, 06:20:36 PM4) Only returning 5 starters on offense, including Cooper Drews at QB
5) Only returning 3 starters on defense

    

This will be a challenging year.  That's some degree of turnover.

SJU is in week four at BU. We'll both be in a mad race to settle the new teams.

It's the last round of the home and away season and the Hawks are closing out the weekend in a Sunday night game up in Brisbane. If the Hawks beat the Lions then we finish third and play Geelong at the MCG in the first round of the finals.  If we lose then we likely finish seventh and play Greater Western Sydney up in Sydney.

Brisbane are 12 point favourites but I reckon we've got this. The team is peaking at just the right time for a big finals run. Clear to the cup!

EDIT:  Lost by ten.  Dang.  It's a frustrating "almost" season.

Quote from: faunch on August 14, 2025, 09:10:24 AMThis guy is good.
https://x.com/gottliebshow/status/1955831016293355750?s=46

Yeah, but unfortunately he'll either be fired or running a dumpster program in three years. There are far too many people who don't adhere to the same value set as he does.  And that's a shame.

This kid, the new punter for Nebraska, from Frankston ('Frangers' in Melbourne slang) is making big waves over the last day.  A good boy that loves him family.  He's 18 and hasn't been home in almost a year.

https://x.com/cfbonfox/status/1955397849606394014?s=61&t=KbCNsWeom8KlUt8-D0TUlw

Quote from: DuffMan on August 13, 2025, 03:49:06 PM

Quote from: GoldandBlueBU on August 13, 2025, 03:40:29 PMI'm curious if any money is actually flowing through it.

I doubt it, but I have been wrong a time or two.
 

I wonder if there is a tax advantage for parents to give their kids some spending money via the NIL portal.

EDIT: It's treated as self-employment income for the student and is rarely tax deductible for the donor.  So maybe if the fam has a business and wants to avoid payroll but still pay the boy, then set up a sponsorship?  My super quick search didn't make a tax scheme obvious, but if this actually isn't a giant tax avoidance scheme then that would be a first.

EDIT II: I'm 100% for tax avoidance schemes, by the way.  I never heard of one that I didn't try to leverage myself.  I do get miffed, however, when I see schemes being leveraged for exactly that and people pretending that's not the point of the whole thing in the first place.

Quote from: hazzben on August 12, 2025, 12:27:46 PMMost D2 or FCS commits have clear strategy for how they'll make their way up the chain.

It's a shame that the strategy is almost always football-oriented and frequently ends with a half-assed degree and debt for whatever was outside the scholarship.  Even at SJU, which had resisted for years, we're seeing one-year (or less) transfers seeking football glory over scholastic pursuit.

The universities as the pathway to professional athletic success for football and basketball has definitely warped the student-athlete paradigm.  Sports that follow a club model to professional development seem to do a better job of separating the sport from the non-sport.

Quote from: faunch on August 10, 2025, 12:53:29 PMAlso Lindy's has the Tommie$ picked to finish 6th in the Pioneer
https://pflfan.proboards.com/thread/4705/preseason-media

Lindy's is being a bit lazy, I think.  The Tommies have done well in the Pioneer, for what that's worth, since they have been a member.

21: third
22: first
23: second
24: fifth

But their starting Jr QB transferred to SDSU this year so... they may be challenged as they need to get another.  Maybe Lindy's knows something after all.

EDIT: I imagine any talent in the Pioneer is raided pretty heavily.  The Tommies did very well with a D3 roster.  The Pioneer is obviously not a D1 talent destination.  Any talent that does end up there is gone pretty quickly, it would seem.  Must suck for the Tommies to be a recruiting minnow that has talent stolen by bigger programs and better financial packages, only to see that talent sit on the bench...

Chickens, roosting, coming home and all that jazz.

Some wrastlin' entertainment from Fargo, duff.

https://youtube.com/shorts/y0rYefkYkOg?si=AII7piFK6LP5s6AP

Any word on who our mystery QB will be this year?  I'm really holding out for a report from ROR on his day at the kickoff luncheon in a few weeks.

The Twitterverse believes Bartch will get the starting LG spot on the 49ers.  Let's hope that the great unwashed know what they are talking about.

(He hurt a quad while doing a weights program, so he has started with the injured group but will soon return to the main practice group.)

Quote from: Retired Old Rat on July 13, 2025, 03:14:00 PMThe road trips I miss the most are the two I made to Salem.  Second one was better than the first.  The first one was very good.

I still have Mrs Oz's commitment that if the Johnnies ever make the championship game again, then I can go.  I almost don't want them to make it as I don't know if I could take the heartbreak of hearing, "You weren't serious about that, were you?"

Quote from: Retired Old Rat on July 02, 2025, 10:06:37 PMThanks, Oz and MadRed.  I'm all signed up.  Kind of disappointed that your wife got that and I did not.

Spectacular. I hope it's a good afternoon filled with juicy updates.

Quote from: Retired Old Rat on July 01, 2025, 05:27:55 PM

Quote from: OzJohnnie on June 26, 2025, 06:59:14 PMThe football kickoff luncheon is on August 20th.  Hopefully, someone on the boards goes to that and can report back as it's the next big news event available to us.

Oz, where are you seeing that?  I want to register but I can't find anything.

I think I found it on the alumni association calendar page.  Let me take a look...

Here you go.  No registration for it yet, as far as I can see.

https://www.csbsju.edu/sjualum/events/

The football kickoff luncheon is on August 20th.  Hopefully, someone on the boards goes to that and can report back as it's the next big news event available to us.