Sunday, September 18, 2011

Harley Style Bobber Chopper

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The Emmy Awards are a big ocean liner that turns very slowly, and this year's nominations, announced this morning, were no exception: a lot of familiar faces and a few new (or old but underrecognized) entries. So there were a slew of nominations for Mad Men, Modern Family and [Insert Name of HBO's Big Movie/Miniseries of the Year Here].

But let's focus on the newbies and the pleasant surprises first. It was also a good morning for HBO's newcomers, Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones (the latter well-deserved but a mild surprise in the best-series category). And while clear eyes and full hearts definitely can lose, they can at least get nominated: Friday Night Lights finally got a richly earned Best Drama nomination for its final season.

The nominations are always a big info dump to process (see the Emmys website to download a complete list of nominations) and I'm sure that there are insights/outrages that will occur to me later. But here are some off-the-bat reactions:

* With Breaking Bad out of eligibility this year, there was a little more room in the drama categories (especially actor, which Bryan Cranston had won three years running). I assume this year is Jon Hamm's turn (though I can't count out Buscemi), but I was also happy to see Timothy Olyphant pick up an open slot. Yes, Justified should have been nominated--I'd sub it for Dexter--but given that nomination, Walton Goggins', Jeremy Davies' and especially Margo Martindale's, I can't complain too much. (I will complain, again, about John Noble's omission, and the snubbing of Fringe in general.)

* Speaking of drama, The Good Wife seems to have the permanent One Nominated Broadcast Drama slot now (I'm not counting FNL); also, nominations for not only Julianna Margulies and Archie Panjabi, but Christine Baranski, Josh Charles and Alan Cumming. Sorry, Chris Noth.

* As I remind myself every year, awards shows in general are silly and not worth getting worked up about. To the extent that Emmys do matter, though, it can be giving a lease on life to good low-rated shows, convincing their networks to keep them on for prestige. This year, TNT's excellent Men of a Certain Age is looking for help, but while Andre Braugher's nomination is deserved, I suspect the show could have used more than that.

* OK, comedy. I guess Community is now officially in The Wire's role of "show whose renegade status is honored with a lack of nominations," or something. Making up for that: nominations for Parks and Recreation (should win but won't) as best comedy and Louis CK for both acting and writing. Making up for that in turn: the omission of Nick Offerman, for whom I would have made room with one of Modern Family's four[!] supporting actor nominations. (Delighted to see Sofia Vergara acknowledged for a great season, though; she was the series MVP this year.)

* Also in that category: yes, Glee got a nomination, but dig down into the list (beyond Chris Colfer and Jane Lynch) and I don't think Emmy was any more wowed by season 2 than the rest of us.

* I generally take Movie and Miniseries even less seriously than any other Emmy group, because there are so few to compete in the category anymore. Even at that I was surprised that Reelz's sluggish The Kennedys picked up nominations as a miniseries and in the acting category. I'll guess Mildred Pierce to win, though I'd personally give it to Downton Abbey this year. (And fingers crossed for Idris Elba in Luther.)

* As others have noted, there may be sort of a generational shift going on in the late-night comedy competition: neither David Letterman nor Jay Leno's shows were nominated as series, with nods going to Conan, Jimmy Fallon, Bill Maher, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and Saturday Night Live. (OK, that last: maybe not so much evidence of a generational shift.)

* Lest you think I'm only interested in crowing about the nominations for my favorite shows credit where due to Melissa McCarthy and Martha Plimpton for actress noms in two sitcoms (Mike and Molly and Raising Hope) that are not on my must-watch list. But I'm still rooting for Amy Poehler. On the other hand, Kathy Bates is a great actress, but she has no business being nominated for Harry's Law, a show which only permits overacting.

* Also in the deserved-nomination-for-a-show-I-rarely-watch: Cat Deeley, as host of So You Think You Can Dance. I'm serious! I don't know if she has a chance in the category, but she's an underrated host, pulling off the tougher-than-it-looks job of bringing personality to SYTYCD without making it about her.

* Finally, I know there's a big Game of Thrones contingent at this site: the show had a good freshman year at the Emmys, but it's interesting to see where it got its nominations. It got a series nod but only one major acting nomination--Dinklage, natch--which, not to diss anyone, seems about right for a series in which the story was the star, despite several strong ensemble performances. On the other hand, I'm a little stunned it didn't get a theme-music nomination, though it deservedly got recognized for its title sequence, which I assume will crush Boardwalk Empire's flood of whiskey bottles.

And with that, I am tired of typing. Bring on your cheers and grievances, and place your bets!

Emmy Nominations 2011: The Good, the Bad and the Surprises

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At 51

Kara Kennedy Dies

WASHINGTON — Several years after she was deemed cancer-free, Kara Kennedy accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom on behalf of her father, just weeks before Sen. Edward Kennedy died battling a brain tumor.

However, her own lung cancer treatment – surgery and grueling chemotherapy and radiation – left her physically weakened, her brother Patrick Kennedy said. She died Friday at age 51 after her daily workout at a Washington health club.

"Her heart gave out," said Patrick Kennedy, a former congressman from Rhode Island.

"She's with dad."

In a telephone interview from her home in Boston on Saturday, Joan Bennett Kennedy said she and her daughter were "best friends" who liked to take long swims together and walks on the beach. She said her daughter had fully recovered from cancer and didn't have any lingering health issues.

"She was very healthy. That's why this is such a shock," Joan Kennedy said.

Kennedy was a member of the Sport & Health fitness center, though spokeswoman Nancy Terry declined to release further details about the incident, citing member privacy.

Her ex-husband, Michael Allen, said Kara Kennedy frequently visited the club and went swimming every day if she could. He said details about her death would be released by The Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. He said funeral arrangements are being made.

"Insofar as I'm concerned her legacy is one of courage and grit and determination in the face of her own illness and in the face of many family tragedies and limitless, absolutely limitless, devotion to our children," he said.

Kara Kennedy was born in 1960 to Edward and Joan Kennedy, just as her father was on the campaign trail for his brother John F. Kennedy during the presidential primaries.

The late senator wrote of his oldest child in his 2009 memoir, "True Compass," that "I had never seen a more beautiful baby, nor been happier in my life."

Later, she appeared with her father during his unsuccessful 1980 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, and she and her brother Edward Kennedy Jr. helped run the senator's 1988 re-election campaign.

Her lung cancer diagnosis came in 2002, and the prognosis was grim. But the family refused to accept that, the senator wrote. She had an operation in 2003 that doctors said was successful, and Edward Kennedy accompanied his daughter to chemotherapy treatments.

"Kara responded to my exhortations to have faith in herself," he wrote. "Today, nearly seven years later as I write this, Kara is a healthy, vibrant, active mother of two who is flourishing."

Her children, Grace and Max, are now teenagers.

Kara Kennedy's two brothers have dealt with health issues of their own: Edward Kennedy Jr. lost a leg to bone cancer as a child, and Patrick Kennedy had surgery in 1988 to remove a non-cancerous tumor that was pressing against his spine.

"Her magnificent strength in her successful battle with lung cancer was a quiet inspiration to all of us and provided her family and fellow patients with hope," the Edward M. Kennedy Institute said in a news release.

Five months before her death, Kara Kennedy wrote of her father and the institute named in his honor in an article published in The Boston Globe Magazine. She described Christmas 1984, when her father insisted on spending the night helping relief workers feed hungry people in the Ethiopian desert. And of how each summer, Ted Kennedy loaded the family into a Winnebago for road trips to hike through historic battlefields and buildings.

"What mattered to my father was not the scale of an accomplishment, but that we did our share to make the world better," she wrote. "That we learned we were part of something larger than ourselves."

In August 2009 Kara Kennedy accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, on behalf of her father during a White House ceremony. She smiled when President Barack Obama put his arm around her in a comforting way, and teared up when a statement was read about her father's accomplishments. When her father died later that month she read a psalm at his funeral mass in Boston; it spoke of bringing peace and justice and helping the poor.

Kara Kennedy, a graduate of Tufts University, also worked as a filmmaker and in television. She helped produce several videos for Very Special Arts, an organization founded by her aunt Jean Kennedy Smith. She also served as a board member for the Edward M. Kennedy Institute; director emerita and national trustee of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation; and as a national advisory board member for the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.

Terry Lierman, the co-founder of NOFAS who knew Kara Kennedy for more than two decades, said she was always positive, even when she was ill, and always available when the organization needed her.

"She was always there, but she was there for the cause and not for her own visibility," Lierman said Saturday. "I always found it so refreshing."

Kara Kennedy Dies: Ted Kennedy's Oldest Child Dead At 51

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We recently got to take the girls back to our college for their first college football game. Some of our friends gave us the tickets and we jumped at the chance to enjoy the game, the beautiful weather, and of course teach the girls our love for the OSU Cowboys!! Luckily the girls still fit into their hand me down cheerleading outfits from last year, so we were dressed and ready to cheer on the Cowboys. We also got to go eat at our favorite restaurant with some friends from college before the game.
Renna waiting patiently on her yummy pizza. She looks so big in this photo.
Quick family photo before the game. Reagan was less than thrilled about stopping for a photo.
The girls really loved the game. Their favorite part was Bullet galloping onto the field, Pistol Pete and the large cowboy hat, and of course the cheerleaders.
Our seats were beyond great as we were on the second row. However, I am pretty sure everyone around us looked at us like we might be crazy as we crawled over people with two year old twins! I am confident they were all thinking, "what were those parents thinking?" Reagan loved standing up and clapping at every opportunity. We cracked up because there was a very very loud fan sitting directly behind Adam and Reagan proceeded to tell him several times he was too loud!! Funny enough the guy was so loud he never even heard her. I love the frank honesty of children. She looks so excited in this photo.
Renna and I cheering on the Pokes! They both waved their little hands in the air like pistols and hollered Go Pokes. It was so priceless. Renna and I even got our pictures up on the jumbo tron at the game. Renna kept asking every two seconds "Where Bullet go? Where cheerweaders go? Pete take hat off?"
They got a restless at halftime so we let them run around a little down by the concession area. You can only ask so much for two year olds. And apparently Renna is on to the smell of popcorn because before she even saw any she started asking for some...of course we had to have some after that!
Daddy and his little cowgirls. Renna looks like she is sleepily rubbing her eyes here but our little night owls stayed awake all the way home and didn't go to bed until about 11:30! They actually still had a lot of energy when we got home. I guess they were just pumped up about their first football game...and the Cowboys win of course!
After halftime we moved to some higher up seats where it was less crowded. The girls were so cute because they wanted to sit in the seat together. Here are the sweet sisters sharing their goldfish with each other...I caught them at a good moment...they don't always share this well. The adventure was exhausting but a ton of fun and we made lots of great memories. The girls always want to play catch with the football now and now have the color orange down for sure!! Thank you so much Taylor family for the great tickets, we appreciate it more than you know. Lets Go Cowboys!

First OSU Football Game

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The Oklahoma Sooners will wear a helmet decal this year as a tribute to Austin Box. This offseason, Box passed away due to "mixed drug toxicity" at the age of 22. He was to be a senior this season and was in line to be the Sooners' starting middle linebacker.

Here is the decal that will adorn each Oklahoma player's helmet (via the Oklahoma Sooners' Twitter feed)

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In addition to the decal, members of the Oklahoma defense will reportedly honor Box by taking turns wearing his No. 12 jersey on a game-by-game basis. A decision on who will wear Box's jersey for the Sooners' season-opening game against Tulsa on Sept. third has not yet been made.

For more on the Sooners, head over to Crimson and Cream Machine. You can find more on the Box tributes Oklahoma is planning for the season in this post and in the comments section below it.

Austin Box To Be Memorialized By Oklahoma With Helmet Decal

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Tuesday, September 13, 2011

It's been 15 years since but his murder still remains unsolved, landing the shooting of Tupac in Time magazine's Top 10 Unsolved Crimes, along with the still-unsolved murder of fellow rapper the Notorious B.I.G.

But thanks to his impact on the industry and the musical legacy he left behind - and, we suppose, the insistent meme that Tupac is alive, well and walking among us - Tupac's name is still often spotted in headlines.

One of his songs, "Changes," made its way to the Vatican's official MySpace playlist in 2009, the rights to a screenplay he penned while in jail were acquired in May, and a potential film about his life has been talked about for the past few years.

The superstar rapper may be gone, but he is clearly not forgotten.

Remembering Tupac: 15 years since fatal shooting

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Laura Goncalves of Portugal was born Vanessa Andrea Gonçalves. The 22-year-old grew up in Caracas, Venezuela.

You can't go wrong with a Jersey girl: Alyssa Campanella snagged the Miss USA 2011 title and could be the this year's Miss Universe. American and ginger pride!
You can’t go wrong with a Jersey girl: Alyssa Campanella snagged the Miss USA 2011 title and could be the this year’s Miss Universe. American and ginger pride!
19-year-old Natalie Vertiz comes from Peru.
19-year-old Natalie Vertiz comes from Peru.
Viviana Ortiz represents Puerto Rico. The 24-year-old is a fashion model and graduated magna cum laude from the Sacred Heart University of Puerto Rico.
Viviana Ortiz represents Puerto Rico. The 24-year-old is a fashion model and graduated magna cum laude from the Sacred Heart University of Puerto Rico.

For the 60th anniversary of the Miss Universe pageant, dozens of head-turning beauty pageant winners will convene in São Paulo, Brazil for this year’s competition.

The lovely women have worked long and hard to maintain good figures, healthy looking hair, and toned muscles, so take a few moments to honor the sacrifices they’ve made by scrolling through our slideshow of some of the 2011 contestants.

We’ve only included our favorites and top picks, but you can see the full list of Miss Universe 2011 hopefuls here. Before tuning in to the big show on September 12, check out our faves and decide on your own preferences for the crown.

Link
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/09/07/the-glamorous-miss-universe-2011-contestants/#ixzz1XrM7RUOw

Miss Universe 2011 contestants Picture

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Sunday, September 4, 2011

Extreme Couponing

Everyone knows the feeling of buying something for a great deal. Whether it’s groceries, shoes, computers, cell phones or a car, finding something you need or really, really want for an astonishing discount is exciting every single time. Even seeing a favorite toothpaste flavor on sale can brighten someone’s day.

And people like to tell anyone who’s willing to listen about their big steal. “You’ll never believe what I got this for,” or “Oh, this? I got it for next to nothing!” or my personal favorite, “Don’t tell me you paid full price for that. I saw it on sale at another store.” Thanks.

Don’t get me wrong, I like to celebrate a good find (usually by using it as an excuse to buy more), and there’s definitely a rush that shoots through me when the check-out person says my purchase total. However, there’s a popular practice out right now that takes sales, steals, deals and discounts to a whole new level – extreme couponing. Almost three-quarters of women and moms say the trend is on their radar.

The cable television channel TLC even has a reality show based on this massive savings phenomenon. Consumers carefully strategize a combination of retailer and manufacturer coupons, in-store promotions, rebates and any online deal they can find. The result: hundreds of dollars of groceries for $5 to $10 per trip. The savings add up to thousands of dollars each year. Sounds complicated, yet rewarding, right? Others must agree, because this trend is growing, and businesses are wary.

A report from Nielsen concluded that while coupon redemption is down from 4.4 billion in 2000 to 3.3 billion in 2010, the percentage of consumers who are heavy users (defined as those who bought at least 188 items in a year using coupons) is increasing. In 2010, 13% of consumers claimed to be heavy users (“enthusiasts”), up 2% from 2009. “Enthusiasts” redeemed 70% of coupons in 2010.

The amount of savings from this practice of couponing is at times unbelievable, and I can only imagine the rush these shoppers feel. However, some shoppers take extreme couponing too far and sometimes cheat the system. Retail chains are reviewing and changing their policies by adding more restrictions and rules to their coupons.

“One of the reasons why retailers have been posting their rules is because there has been fraud, there has been misuse of coupons [and] they want to control that,” said Todd Hale, senior VP-consumer and shopper insights at Nielsen.

What kind of misuse? A woman in South Carolina extreme coupon-ed so many boxes of rice that she would clear the shelves, leaving no rice for anyone else. The store believed she was turning around and selling the rice at a flea market for a profit, so they intervened and asked her to stop. Some shoppers buy obscene amounts of groceries and products for practically free just because they can, only bringing it home to more mass quantities of the same products hoarded away. Maybe their rush is more of a high – and addicting.

Retailers have to be careful, because this small percentage of coupon-abusers can’t ruin all of the fun for others. With more than two-thirds of shoppers claiming coupons influence their decisions to buy grocery items and people of all income levels using coupons, retailers’ restrictions must be fair and aim only at keeping out the abusers. Coupons and promotions are vital during a recession and will increase customer loyalty. Retailers must keep giving their customers the little joys of saving.

What do you think? Is extreme couponing hurtful to a retailer’s bottom line or a great way to encourage customers to shop in their store?

Source :http://www.ls-unscripted.com/index.php/2011/09/01/extreme-couponing-on-the-rise/

Extreme couponing on the rise

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For Mack Brown and Texas, the 2011 season is all about process.

Eric Gay - ASSOCIATED PRESSMore photos »

For Mack Brown and Texas, the 2011 season is all about process.

Hallelujah, game week is here at last, the season is upon us, the slate is clean and anything is possible. This may not be the most promising season of the Mack Brown era in terms of wins and losses, but I'm nonetheless as excited and intrigued by the future as I've ever been -- including, by the way, 2009, a season set up for a title run, but which for all its promise felt as though it was setting up to be an exercise in survival. And indeed it was, as Texas' sputtering coaching staff was fortunate to survive a rocky season and a near-calamitous Big 12 Championship Game.

But five plays into the national title game, their luck ran out. Texas lost Colt McCoy to injury, lost the game to Alabama, lost its entire (two-man) offense to graduation, and then lost one, two, three, four... seven games in 2010. Not even Greg Davis could survive such spectacular failure. Will Muschamp could have, but decided not to stick around for the aftermath.

As ugly as it all was, a 5-7 catastrophe was exactly what Texas and Mack Brown needed. After 13 mostly successful years at Texas, Mack Brown was forced to hit program reset. Out with the old, in with the new, including two fresh coordinators and six new coaches in total, all of them young, impressive, and hungry.

Given the state of the program in December, it's tempting to look at the 2011 season narrative through that which was done in the months that immediately followed. Whether Mack Brown would respond well to the challenges facing him and the program was critically important, and without question his unqualified success in that regard has shaped the definition of the 2011 season.

Nevertheless, the 2011 season narrative is about more than what Mack Brown did in resetting the program. The 2011 season narrative is about what has to happen next -- about what is required for all this exciting potential to become actualized, maximized, and sustained on-field success. The 2011 season narrative is about process.

In connection with that broad theme, after the jump are four big points on process that I'm looking at to define the 2011 season.

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1. Carrying over the energy, accountability, and improvements from the offseason program reset into the season.

Again, the 2010 meltdown was in many ways a good thing. As I've always insisted: Mack Brown is at his best when the going gets tough. He's tougher, wiser, and more resilient than many realize. And the manner in which he reset the program following last year's meltdown was nothing short of outstanding.

Laying that foundation was absolutely necessary, but the flipside of Mack's underrated strengths is a weakness when things are going well. When things are going well or looking good, Mack Brown has had a tendency to shift in to a mode of protecting assets, instead of continuing the process of developing them. Protecting strong assets is not inherently a bad thing, but there are real dangers in the context of a college football team/season/program. Opponents change, strategies change -- even your own players change all the time.

Mack Brown has responded exceptionally well to redeveloping and re-energizing the team and program, but one of the lessons it will be interesting to see if he's learned is how to sustain that energy, accountability, and effort to improve. It needs to carry over into the season and inform everything that he and the staff do, whether Texas is struggling or rolling.

2. Managing the team and coaching staff.

I think it's easy to misunderstand Mack Brown by his media appearances. That's not to say that there's nothing revealing about Mack Brown in what he says on camera or to reporters, but I think you have to carefully digest it through a filter or you risk mistaking noise for substance. For the most part, when Mack Brown is speaking on record, he is managing media; he is not talking directly to you or me or any of the most hardcore football fans. He is managing reporters, speaking to broad audiences, and managing a brand/message/image. Not every coach does it that way, and it doesn't particularly matter whether you like it or not, just that you digest it through that filter.

What really does matter, though, is how Mack Brown manages his coaching staff and the players. And there it's his actions, not words, that do the talking you should be listening to. It didn't matter what Mack Brown said about running the football, or what Pat Forde wrote about how he was managing the team; what mattered was what we saw in the first half against Rice in Reliant Stadium. Keep that in mind as you evaluate Mack Brown's management of this year's team, as well.

It doesn't much matter what he's saying publicly about Garrett Gilbert or managing the quarterbacks. What matters is what we see on the field on Saturdays. Are the back ups getting meaningful snaps? Do the assistant coaches appear to be protecting egos or seniority, or are the best players playing? Are we pushing to improve both when we're struggling and playing well? Win or lose, is this season developing this team and program for what's ahead, this season and next?

I don't much care what message Mack wants to try to sell through his words to the media. What I really care about is the message he's giving his staff and players. I want Mack Brown to: (1) foster urgency, (2) facilitate the use of that energy to produce development, (3) instil meaningful accountability, and (4) challenge everyone.

3. Challenging everyone.

If anyone should understand just how important it is to challenge everyone, it's Mack Brown, who by now should recognize that he responds best when he is under the gun. Everyone's a little bit different and there's room for degrees of difference in terms of approach and handling, but anyone who can't respond to being challenged is probably not someone on whom you want to rely, whether it's football or anything else.

Challenging everyone, all the time, is among Mack Brown's most important tasks this fall. If everyone is being challenged and decisions are being made the right way, for the right reasons, with the right goals in mind, that's mission accomplished, whether or not the results are optimal. Because if the process is optimal, you're giving yourself the best chance to achieve those optimal results -- the process itself is geared towards improving on the deficiencies.

That may seem a bit abstract, but it's the concrete foundation on which everything else rests. When the process started to break down in 2006, it was only a matter of time before the whole house came tumbling down. Above all else, Mack Brown's job this season is to solidy that foundation, and doing that is about instilling the right process all the way from the top on down. Mack must challenge himself, challenge his staff, and challenge his players.

4. Developing the roster.

As far back as I can remember I have memories of my father telling his favorite running joke. "Q: Who's the most popular player on Texas's team? A: The guy who's not playing."

We all have our favorites, as well our guys that we value more than others and think deserve more than they're getting. Sometimes you're the only one yammering that Chris Ogbonnaya can develop into a nifty little player and you look like a genius. And other times...

Refund, please.

...well, sometimes you're wrong. That can't be helped, not only for fans but for coaches, too. Sometimes a kid who excels in practice proves incapable of delivering in a game. Sometimes you choose a starter but the back up proceeds to outplay him. The objective is to get your program to the point where the process provides the coaches with the right information they need to make the most correct decisions, but even in the best of times there will be a fair number of misses. But whatever the state of your program at any given time, what matters is whether (1) the right guys are getting a chance to prove their worth (whether in practice or games or both), (2) the evaluation process is thorough and ongoing, and (3) there is a commitment to making changes where needed, as needed.

Heading into 2011, Mack Brown and Texas are in a period of learning and transition. That's fine and mistakes can't be helped. It is important, however, that the staff make the most of the 2011 season in terms of player identification and development. It doesn't matter if the best player is a junior or a freshman, or whether the best player is the one you named the opening week starter or his back up. What's important in 2011 is that you challenge everyone to develop, give the right players opportunities, make critical evaluations, and be willing to adjust.

It's going to be exciting to watch and root for this team, but whether they go 7-6 or 11-1 the 2011 season can be a success if the process that led to the impressive offseason improvements carries over to how the staff and players do things this fall.

Do that, and the wins will follow. Soon, and lots of them.

Two days to kickoff... Hook 'em

Source:http://www.burntorangenation.com/2011/9/1/2394340/texas-longhorns-football-the-2011-season-narrative

Texas Longhorns Football: The 2011 Season Narrative

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