BeauBenken's Fireside Chats

[woolybug25]

Why should we NOT trust the coaches feelings when it comes to recruiting? These guys have jobs at the best football school in the country,they know at least a little bit more than any of us.If anyone feels otherwise,go take Kelly's job and try and do better honestly.
I think it is ludicrous to criticize and overly critique a high school player based off of numbers and a couple minutes of highlight film on a website.None of us are going to the kid's games,workouts,interviews, or anything of that nature to get a true sense of how good the kid really is.To put it in the closest analogy I can think of, we go off of about as much information as Obama does when deciding to spend money.
Willingham and Weis all recruited good players along with middle of the road players, and neither really knew how to develop said players, and play both sides of the ball.That is why they failed at ND.Hopefully for our sakes this will be different with Kelly....and I for one certainly feel he is well on the right track.

So... I take it that you didn't read a single word I wrote, eh?

One thing I didn't say. Weis was a good recruiter, did you trust every single evaluation he ever made? How did that work out for you?

 

[BeauBenken]

Regarding the not-so-subtle political parallel you're invoking, I'd say conservatives tend to be more passionate about the 1st Amendment/ Free Speech stuff. Perhaps you should switch your labels?



I agree (surprise!) As long as it's expressed politely and has a reasonable basis, I see no problem with it.

Shh. This has nothing to do with politics....

 

[Irish4Life09]

So... I take it that you didn't read a single word I wrote, eh?

One thing I didn't say. Weis was a good recruiter, did you trust every single evaluation he ever made? How did that work out for you?

I also take it you didn't read my entire comment.
Weis' downfall wasn't his recruiting,he was a great recruiter.His problem was that he could not develop players, he couldn't build a decent offensive line to protect the QB, and he had no idea what defense was.Those were his problems.

 

[woolybug25]

I also take it you didn't read my entire comment.
Weis' downfall wasn't his recruiting,he was a great recruiter.His problem was that he could not develop players, he couldn't build a decent offensive line to protect the QB, and he had no idea what defense was.Those were his problems.

I read every word. Again, you are missing my point. Weis missed on the evaluation of players too. Gallipo, M Martin, and dang near every kicker were completely mis-evaluated by that staff, thus, they are playing on other teams. We also tend to put too many "he didn't develop" excuses out there. Fact is, Weis did develop several low ranked prospects and some higher ones just never got it. At least some of those higher rated prospects were just mis-evaluated. We cant unilaterally say that every single player that didn't meet expectations simply wasn't properly developed.

As I said before, every single college football coach misses on recruits every year. So it is silly to say that we should blindly follow every player evaluation of our staff like it is gospel.

 

[k1ssme1m1r1sh]

Ummm...I fall into none of the above. Don't know much about recruiting, and to me, it doesn't matter if the person was the best high school player to ever walk onto the field, college is a new ball of wax, and I wanna see what you can do for NOTRE DAME, not what you did for JFK High. So therefore, I don't really comment on recruiting threads. Or maybe I never have. I don't think I have.

 

[NeuteredDoomer]

...

As I said before, every single college football coach misses on recruits every year. So it is silly to say that we should blindly follow every player evaluation of our staff like it is gospel.

Might be even sillier for random fans reading random sites to think they know better.

But it is still fun to chat about.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Might be even sillier for random fans reading random sites to think they know better.

But it is still fun to chat about.

Best not scrutinize what we do on this board too closely.

 

[BeauBenken]

Tonight's Discussion

Tonight's Discussion

So I had a bit of a (hmm I'm not quite sure how to put this) dispute (?) with a black male on facebook. He's a year younger than me, but anyways, to the story...

A mutual friend of ours made a comment along the lines of "Obama sucks! Democrats suck!..." yada yada yada. So this young black male responds something along the lines of "Typical white kids yelling obama sucks and yelling go republicans...y'all racist kids are stupid."

Now I know this guy a little and I've never had a problem with him so I thought I'd poke a little fun in his logic and said, "Hold on, wouldn't you be the racist for saying it's typical for a white kid to dislike Obama and be pro republican?"

Instead of the friendly "touche lol" I expected, I get in return a paragraph of him pretty much calling me racist and that I or any of the white people would ever say anything to his face because he would "lay the breaks on ya" or something like that. He also added, "I bet you would have got a boner if McCain was elected."

Now, being attacked like this is something I don't exactly take lightly so I respond (politely as possible) that I'm really more liberal than anything; I'm not afraid to address him face to face if I have a problem with him, but I really don't; And that I'm not racist, and he doesn't know how to take a joke too well.

So here is where it gets real fun. He says in response, "We'll see who you are next time we meet."

Did I just get threatened? And over what? Really I think he's looking for racism. I don't get it.

And now that I think of it, he's only half black.

People nowadays...I really regret posting to begin with. This is what you get for trying to be a funny smartass.

 

[military_irish]

I will try and answer this as politically correct as possible. First I am half white, half Mexican, and in a long term relationship with an African American woman. So to say it lightly, I've seen all aspects of every debate and respected on all sides because I am clearly not a racist.

I really don't think most races are racist but rather they just don't understand other races. I had a heated discussion with one of my GF's family members about Willingham being fired and I completely won the battle because I presented nothing but facts but he still did not accept it because he thought it was racism from the beginning. He figured it was racism because Weis got 5 years and Willingham got 3 years. So I had to politely show him that his recruiting sucked and that he still continued to suck at Washington. The arguement ended there with no conclusion. In my mind I won.

When it comes to your specific case, I know a few African Americans that completely dislike Obama and his views. Not his skin color. No one calls them racist though. I am not a huge political person so I don't get involved with politics. But I will tell you this with a fact, because I told you my GF's is African American so I am around alot of African Americans. They told me they voted for Obama stricly because he was African American. They had no idea what his views were.

I could do nothing but politely shake my head, but then again I won't vote unless I feel a candidate is someone I truly want in office. So I did not vote last election.

Anytime, a white, Hispanic, or African American goes into a debate or anything else they will always side with their race. Just look at the OJ Simpson case. I've been around people who get harrassed all the time because of the color of their skin but they are actually successful and intelligent people.

I think it is fun getting into discussions with people over "racist" things because most of the time they have no idea what they are talking about. I will admit whole heartedly that racism is still very prevelant in American. But in my view and my experience is because everyone wants to see racism in everything. Even if it really is not.

So in conclusion, it is a no win battle. Trust me.

 

[NankerPhelge]

Yeah, and the continual fracturing of our society into ever smaller and more insular identity groups is eating us alive. I don't care what your race, gender, religious beliefs, physical handicaps, sexual preferences, native language, etc., etc., ad infinitum, if we can't get over the constant victim/entitlement wars between the ever-growing number of splinter groups, we are done. Without some sort of cohesive understanding on a broad level of the basic principles and obligations of citizenship in a free society, we are done as a nation.

IMHO.

 

[BeauBenken]

I will try and answer this as politically correct as possible....

I think it is fun getting into discussions with people over "racist" things because most of the time they have no idea what they are talking about. I will admit whole heartedly that racism is still very prevelant in American. But in my view and my experience is because everyone wants to see racism in everything. Even if it really is not.

So in conclusion, it is a no win battle. Trust me.

That's what I feel is going on with this guy.

And you're right, there really is no winning.

Oh btw, the original poster of the status commented today saying it's not because Obama is black, but because he honestly thinks he sucks.

He received the same threat I did.

 

[BeauBenken]

Yeah, and the continual fracturing of our society into ever smaller and more insular identity groups is eating us alive. I don't care what your race, gender, religious beliefs, physical handicaps, sexual preferences, native language, etc., etc., ad infinitum, if we can't get over the constant victim/entitlement wars between the ever-growing number of splinter groups, we are done. Without some sort of cohesive understanding on a broad level of the basic principles and obligations of citizenship in a free society, we are done as a nation.

IMHO.

Great frickin' post! I agree.

 

[NeuteredDoomer]

Ummm...I fall into none of the above. Don't know much about recruiting, and to me, it doesn't matter if the person was the best high school player to ever walk onto the field, college is a new ball of wax, and I wanna see what you can do for NOTRE DAME, not what you did for JFK High. So therefore, I don't really comment on recruiting threads. Or maybe I never have. I don't think I have.

lol. Neither me.

 

[jmurphy75]

Yeah, and the continual fracturing of our society into ever smaller and more insular identity groups is eating us alive. I don't care what your race, gender, religious beliefs, physical handicaps, sexual preferences, native language, etc., etc., ad infinitum, if we can't get over the constant victim/entitlement wars between the ever-growing number of splinter groups, we are done. Without some sort of cohesive understanding on a broad level of the basic principles and obligations of citizenship in a free society, we are done as a nation.

IMHO.

Amen, Our country is loosing it's identity and sense of self preservation.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Yeah, and the continual fracturing of our society into ever smaller and more insular identity groups is eating us alive. I don't care what your race, gender, religious beliefs, physical handicaps, sexual preferences, native language, etc., etc., ad infinitum, if we can't get over the constant victim/entitlement wars between the ever-growing number of splinter groups, we are done. Without some sort of cohesive understanding on a broad level of the basic principles and obligations of citizenship in a free society, we are done as a nation.

IMHO.

James Madison agreed with you. The Federalist #10 is primarily about the threat factions pose to the Union.

 

[BeauBenken]

James Madison agreed with you. The Federalist #10 is primarily about the threat factions pose to the Union.

I want to make a Lebowski joke, but I can't think of a good one at the moment.
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[Whiskeyjack]

I want to make a Lebowski joke, but I can't think of a good one at the moment.
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The only one that's even vaguely constitutional is: "For your information, the Supreme Court has roundly rejected prior restraint."

 

[BeauBenken]

The only one that's even vaguely constitutional is: "For your information, the Supreme Court has roundly rejected prior restraint."

Or several of Donny's quotes are simply along the lines of, "What the **** is he talking about?"
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[BeauBenken]

So today, I stayed home from work sick. I've been burning up most the day, but still managed to get out to hhgregg for that GD laptop. It doesn't disconnect from their wifi so I've been trying to figure what the deal is. It might be router or ISP. Who knows? I changed up the router configuration so I hope that helps...

 

[dshans]

Yo, Beau! It's friggin' hot – could you move your chat from fireside to poolside? With a cooler of beer within easy reach. And one of those mister thing-a-ma-bobs.

 

[BeauBenken]

Yo, Beau! It's friggin' hot – could you move your chat from fireside to poolside? With a cooler of beer within easy reach. And one of those mister thing-a-ma-bobs.

Is this what you had in mind?

<embed src="http://www.ebaumsworld.com/player.swf" allowScriptAccess="always" flashvars="id1=679770" wmode="transparent" width="567" height="345" allowfullscreen="true" />

 

[dshans]

Is this what you had in mind?

Close; but no (sometimes a) cigar (is just a ...).

Just invite the usual ne'er-do-well posters and all of the hotties that Kneutered, et al. have mentioned at one time or another.

I doubt, though, that anyone would look as good as I do in my high school swim team Speedo™. That includes Jessica Alba and any other babe-du-jour.

 

[k1ssme1m1r1sh]

I have a pool yall come on over!

 

[BeauBenken]

I have a pool yall come on over!

Where in the heck is Dowagiac? or however you spell it...

 

[dshans]

I have a pool yall come on over!

Does it have a diving board? A slide?

Oh, and Beau, this is more what I had in mind:

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[HereComeTheIrish]

Hi Brad....

 

[BeauBenken]

This installment of my Fireside Chats, brought to you at 3:11 AM EST, is due to a little bit of love drama. When does it ever end?

If only I'd not woken up. I had passed out at 9 after sleeping a lot already today (yesterday, I suppose), but I woke up at 12:39 and drifted into thought. Oh boy do I think when I'm lying in bed in the wee hours of the morning.

I got a text message from a girl who was hoping I was asleep and feeling better after being sick for the past couple days. Well, I wasn't asleep though now I wish I had been.

We start talking and when I get tired I get "D&D". Deep and depressing. Sometimes I can be fun when I'm tired, I often act as if I were drunk to be honest, but when I'm alone in bed it's almost always depressing. I'm complaining to her about how I'm alone, and she explains that I'm not. I have her. Well I tell her I love her, but not like what I mean.

Turns out I would rue that remark. As things go, after I had made the attempt to cordially date her and she was against, she now wants to, but I make it clear to her that any sort of dating between us now would just be casual. I think that's where I really went wrong.

Apparently, girls don't like to kiss you once they find out it's only casual and not serious. Let alone, talk to you once they find that out. Thing is, I could have sworn I had made it clear long ago.

*sigh*



Women.

 

[tadman95]

You will eventually come to the conclusion that you don't want to understand. Then you can just enjoy the ride.....

 

[BGIF]

This installment of my Fireside Chats, brought to you at 3:11 AM EST, is due to a little bit of love drama. When does it ever end?...

When you get married.







It will never be a "little bit" of drama after that.

 

[johnnykillz]

When you get married.







It will never be a "little bit" of drama after that.

This.

And the funniest thing you will come to find, is that not divulging all of everything is happiness, contrary to popular thought.

It sounds like the girl is a friend. So honesty with her is warranted.