Scary stuff about the sourcing of collagen in supplements.

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Had a calzone this afternoon from Uncle Bill's. Pep, mushroom, onion and a little cheddar to go with the always glorious ricotta cheese. Gonna sleep like a baby tonight. Sometimes will get Huckleberrys but it's hours are weird csb

What/where is your go-to?

Did anyone catch what happened with Jon?

After the election he went on a X posting spree and then deleted his account? I know he had went a pretty left leaning over the last few years, I am curious to see what he posted.

Talk about a desperate conference looking for money. I guess it could be worse; they could be talking to the Saudis.

The story from this morning from CBS Sports:

Big 12 considering private equity investment of up to $1 billion for as much as 20% of conference​

The proposed deal with a Luxembourg-based firm would bring a massive influx of cash to the league



By Dennis Dodd
June 13, 2024


Big 12 members are considering a first-of-its kind private equity investment to ensure the league's long-term financial and competitive security, multiple sources tell CBS Sports.

On the table is a possible cash infusion of $800 million to $1 billion from Luxembourg-based CVC Capital Partners in exchange for a 15% to 20% stake in the league, those sources said. A portion of the money would go directly to the 16 conference members, and the partnership would give the conference access to CVC's investment services and clients.

CVC is a global private equity giant that manages over $200 billion in investments worldwide, according to its website. The firm made a presentation to the league at the recent Big 12 spring meetings in Dallas.

While one source described the talks as "pretty serious," many league presidents need further convincing. Persons who spoke with CBS Sports preferred to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the discussions.

No league has ever been this close to a private equity investment of this kind.

Big 12 teams are currently earning $31.7 million each with Fox and ESPN in a media rights deal that ends in 2031. Add in the cash infusion from private equity, and the two revenue streams would combine to move the Big 12 "much closer" to the Big Ten media rights deal, according to a person with intimate knowledge of the proposal.

The Big Ten leads all conferences with its schools set to earn approximately $75 million per year after it signed a new media rights agreement with Fox, CBS and NBC. (Oregon and Washington are not receiving full shares initially as they enter the league July 1.)

Should the Big 12 and CVC come to an agreement, it is not clear how soon a deal could be completed or when that money would start rolling into the conference.

The CVC investment would likely require the Big 12 to stay together long term. That might require some sort of assurance for CVC that a new grant of rights would be signed in 2031. The investment would certainly be a significant motivating factor to stay together, but with realignment, anything can always change quickly.

The discussion is to the point that three sources told CBS Sports a small working group of three Big 12 presidents have started digging down on the proposal. Sources said commissioner Brett Yormark had a prior relationship with CVC. Yormark would not comment when reached by CBS Sports.

One of the motivating factors for CVC is the considerable upside in the Big 12's value and media rights, according to sources who saw the presentation. The Big 12's current rights deal is worth $2.3 billion total. The league is currently fourth in average annual value for its schools among the Power Four behind the Big Ten, SEC and ACC.

A doubling of the Big 12 media rights would put the total value of the league at approximately $5 billion in its next negotiation. A 100% increase in value was deemed as reasonable by a media industry source contacted by CBS Sports. Media rights revenues for all FBS conferences have increased steadily in each of their recent negotiations.

All Division I schools are searching for additional revenue streams after last month's House v. NCAA settlement that is in the process of being presented to a district court judge for final approval. Revenue sharing with players is now a reality for the first time.

If the settlement is approved, Power Four conference schools would be allowed to share up to $22 million annually with athletes. As part of that settlement, schools will also consider adding scholarships to fully fund some sports. That's another added expense that could total $300 million over the next decade for each of those Power Four schools.

Typically, private equity firms such as CVC invest for the long term in companies with a growth profile. They make their money when their investment grows and they sell their stake. The industry term is called "exiting the investment."

"If we do well, they do well," said a person within the Big 12 who is familiar with the talks.

Florida State athletic director Mike Alford said he wasn't surprised a private equity firm was getting involved with a conference.

"The future is -- we're looking at it -- private equity," Alford told CBS Sports. "I think it will start at the conference level first if it doesn't start with us first."

It's no secret Florida State has partnered with private equity firm Sixth Street, another leading global equity firm, to maximize its value as it continues an attempt to exit the ACC.

For one month, beginning July 1, the Big 12 will operate as a 12-team league with the loss of Texas and Oklahoma to SEC. It will formally debut as a 16-team league on Aug. 1. That new Big 12 includes only two teams that have won national championships (Colorado, BYU). Half of the teams in the new Big Ten (nine of 18) have won championships. The ACC has four national champions. In the new SEC, seven of the 16 teams have won a national title.

Those inside the Big 12 continue to be impressed by Yormark's aggressive approach. His move to get the latest media rights deal done in October 2022 -- ahead of the Pac-12 -- eventually led to the collapse of the latter conference.

"He's throwing punches," one Big 12 source said. "The dude is bold. He's all about it. He's bullish."

Among CVC's sports portfolio is the Women's Tennis Association, the Gurajat Titans (cricket franchise in the Indian Premier League), LaLiga (Spain-based soccer giant), Ligue de Football Professionel (governing body that runs soccer leagues in France), Premiership Rugby (England's top league) and Six Nations Rugby United Rugby Championship (top league in Ireland, Scotland and Wales). Its U.S. investments include Petco.

CVC was founded in 1981. Rob Lucas is the company's CEO and managing partner who has been with the company since 1996.

Private equity is being considered an inevitability for college sports as schools seek additional revenue streams. RedBird Capital founder Gerry Cardinale raised eyebrows in December when he said college football was vastly undervalued. RedBird has a stake in soccer giant AC Milan as well as the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Red Sox.

A new in-season basketball tournament -- the details of which were first reported by CBS Sports -- is backed by an offshoot of RedBird Capital, RedBird International Media Investments. RedBird IMI is majority funded by the United Arab Emirates and is headed by former CNN CEO Jeff Zucker.

I could hammer on her pussy all night long.

Over the past week, fires have ravaged greater Los Angeles, killing at least 10 people, destroying more than 10,000 buildings, scorching more than 35,000 acres, and forcing the evacuation of at least 180,000 residents. The dry Santa Ana winds continue to blow, threatening to spread the destruction further. As I write this, a backpack stuffed with mementos, documents, and a water bottle sits next to the front door of my West Los Angeles apartment.

Commentators wasted no time trying to find a villain. Was it Mayor Karen Bass, who had left the city for Ghana before the fires began? Doubtful. What about budget cuts to the Los Angeles Fire Department? In fact, its budget recently grew by $50 million. Was it a 2022 donation of firefighter boots and helmets to Ukraine? Water is in short supply, not uniforms.


The real story of the wildfires isn’t about malice or incompetence. It’s about well-intentioned policies with unintended consequences.

Take insurance—a trillion-dollar industry built to identify risks, particularly from disasters such as wildfires. Insurance companies communicate this risk to homeowners through higher premiums, providing them with useful information and incentives. People may think twice about moving to a fire-prone area if they see the danger reflected in a fee.

Read: The unfightable fire

But in 1988, California voters passed Proposition 103, arbitrarily reducing rates by 20 percent and subjecting future rate increases to public oversight. Nobody likes high premiums, of course. But the politicization of risk has been a catastrophe. Artificially low premiums encouraged more Californians to live in the state’s most dangerous areas. And they reduced the incentive for homeowners to protect their houses, such as by installing fire-resistant roofs and siding materials.

Decades of worsening climate risk alongside suppressed premiums have prompted many insurers to drop coverage altogether. Just last summer, State Farm dropped 1,600 home-insurance plans in Pacific Palisades. Earlier this week, most of the neighborhood was burning.


Many Californians in high-risk areas have been forced to depend on the California FAIR Plan—a public insurer of last resort. In 2023, the plan covered an estimated $284 billion in home value. In 2024, that exposure increased by 61 percent. Within the next few years, California taxpayers could be on the hook for more than a trillion dollars. The state insurance commissioner is scrambling to bring insurers back. But it may be too little, too late.


Artificially low premiums have also spurred new housing production in fire-prone regions on the edges of cities like Los Angeles. From 1990 to 2020, California built nearly 1.5 million homes in the wildlife-urban interface, putting millions of residents in the path of wildfires. Policy didn’t just pull Californians into dangerous areas. It also pushed them out of safer ones. Over the past 70 years, zoning has made housing expensive and difficult to build in cities, which are generally more resilient to climate change than any other part of the state.

The classic urban neighborhood in America—carefully maintained park, interconnected street grid, masonry-clad shops and apartments—is perhaps the most wildfire-resistant pattern of growth. By contrast, the modern American suburb—think stick-frame homes along cul-de-sacs that bump up against unmaintained natural lands—may be the least. Several of L.A.’s hardest-hit neighborhoods resemble this model.

Infill townhouses, apartments, and shops could help keep Californians out of harm’s way, but they are illegal to build in most California neighborhoods. And even where new infill housing is allowed, it is often subject to lengthy environmental reviews, which NIMBYs easily weaponize. And if you want to build anywhere near the coast—the only part of greater Los Angeles not currently under a red-flag warning—prepare for months of added delays.


In fairness, the state has made some progress. In 2008, California lawmakers passed S.B. 375, which directs planning agencies to reform land-use and transportation policy in order to facilitate housing production in long-settled areas. But this remains purely advisory—yet another plan on a shelf, in a state with too many plans and too little implementation.

In recent years, Los Angeles has also taken steps to fix itself. Thanks in part to state lawmakers and a rising local YIMBY movement, building homes in existing neighborhoods has been somewhat streamlined. But reform isn’t going to get any easier. Our city started the week with a housing shortage in the hundreds of thousands. Now it’s ending the week with thousands of homes destroyed, and thousands of newly homeless families.

Once the fires are out, California will need to build, fast. This disaster can teach it how, if policy makers will listen.

And they're both a MILLION times better than Collinsworth.

19 to 18 final score.. talk about tides turning.. who would have predicted this just a couple years ago?

Hello from Carver-Hawkeye Arena on a Sunday afternoon! If there's any dropoff in enthusiasm for the Hawks after their two B1G losses, nobody told the ticket-buying fans here — looks like it'll be a solid gold-out. Seats are still only half-full (I can assure you the traffic is nasty) but it's low double digits for the amount of fans in crimson I see.

No injuries of note for either team.

Starters should be coming in about 15.

I don't have a great read on this Indiana team — they're missing the elite star power that has defined the recent Teri Moren era, but she's a good enough coach (and Iowa is new enough) that this is the type of team that can give Iowa hell if the Hawkeyes aren't well-prepared.

What are you all looking for today?

When you get a random text (not from a contact) that just says "How are you?". I need some better responses than "fook off".

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As fires continue to rage in Southern California, causing more than 100,000 people to flee their homes, a Bay Area app has become the go-to provider of real-time information and a voice against a wave of MAGA-led misinformation.

Watch Duty, created by Santa Rosa-based nonprofit Sherwood Forestry Service, tracks fire risk and firefighting efforts in real time and as of Wednesday morning had overtaken ChatGPT as the top free app in Apple’s App Store.

The app clocked in 7.2 million yearly active users at the end of 2024 and has added 1.4 million since the fires began spreading across the Los Angeles area Tuesday, CEO John Mills told The Standard.

“Techies are obsessed with going to Mars and inventing an AGI robot to do art,” Mills said. “But I’m obsessed with time and life.”

Watch Duty launched three years ago and is a nonprofit with 15 employees and around 200 volunteers. It has rapidly become a go-to tool for residents, firefighters, city officials, and journalists. Southern California residents have taken to social media to praise the app for its timely alerts and the ability to monitor their homes and neighborhoods from afar.

Watch Duty logged more than 9,000 wildfires in 22 states in 2024 and relies on active and retired firefighters, dispatchers, and first responders who volunteer to track radio reports, analyze data from the National Weather Service, and vet information from other sources before sending out notifications to users at risk.

Mills said the app’s volunteers are sleeping in shifts, with one logging in from Australia, in order to continuously monitor the Los Angeles fires.

Mills created the app when he moved to a sprawling ranch in fire-prone Sonoma County after 16 years in San Francisco. In 2020, his neighbor’s ranch caught fire, and Mills failed to receive warning. He decided to use his training as a software engineer to build a “megaphone” app to collect, verify, and amplify fire information. Before that, many in fire zones had no option but to rely on unverified and sometimes incorrect information on social media.

“I had to convince these country folk that I’m not a Silicon Valley tech bro here to take advantage of their community and not be a part of it,” Mills said of recruiting volunteers, adding that he formed the company as a nonprofit to build an app “that is not about money but about life and safety.”
In line with its mission of broadcasting accurate and potentially lifesaving alerts, Watch Duty has been using its rising profile to fight back against conspiracy theories spreading about the Los Angeles fires.

When Elon Musk reposted to X one of Donald Trump’s Truth Social posts blaming Gov. Gavin “Newscum” for having “no water for fire hydrants, no firefighting planes,” Watch Duty replied: “Sorry to burst your bubble but there aren’t enough men, women, or equipment to deploy enough water to stop wind-driven fires like this.

“Why don’t you take some of that ‘go to mars’ money and actually help rather than Monday morning quarterbacking during a live fire?”

Musk, along with President-elect Trump and a host of right-wing personalities, has laid blame for the fires on wokeism and California’s diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.

“DEI means people DIE,” Musk posted Wednesday. In a now-deleted post, he agreed with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ claim that the fires are part of “a globalist plot to wage economic warfare” and deindustrialize the United States.

When one X user decried what they described as Watch Duty’s foray into politics, the app posted: “We aren’t anything other than a non-profit corporation.
We have no political beliefs. We believe in life and safety.”
“What we don’t believe in however, is yelling on Twitter about ‘what should have been done’ while people are running for their lives. Do better.”

Mills notes that this isn’t the first time wildfires have inspired conspiracy theories that proliferate online. “Social media is not the place for disaster information,” he said.

For now, Watch Duty is focused on disseminating accurate information in Southern California. But eventually, Mills said, the app will be “the disaster platform for the world.”

“Whether you’re dealing with a torrential flood or an impending wildfire, you need facts,” he said.

Just received this from UI:
Quarterback Mark Gronowski (Naperville, Illinois/South Dakota State) will have surgery in the coming weeks and will not begin on-field team workouts until June.

“Mark played last season with a common football-related injury,” Ferentz said. “While he could have continued to play through the injury, Mark is choosing to have a procedure to address the issue, and we support him in his decision. Our sports medicine team thoroughly reviewed his records and has confidence he will be fully rehabbed in time to participate in our summer program. Mark will participate in all non-practice team activities while he recovers.”

Story coming momentarily.

Go Bucs!!!

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We wrestled good but it is Wisconsin. Cassioppi is super skinny. Joey Cruz is a beast. PK's and Keuter's nosebleeds are a classic sign of cutting too much weight. I had a shit ton of them in high school my junior year. They got gremlins mining for gold in there.

Hoping he processes things better over the next few weeks. Feel for him right now

My personal favorites:

1. Cruise
2. Denzel
3. Sly
4. Oldman
5. Hopkins

Whacha got?

President Biden made what many considered a "disgusting" joke during his remarks on the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires Thursday.

Biden convened senior administrative officials to address the federal response to the Palisades Pacific wildfires that have continued to rage throughout the county, forcing the displacement of thousands of California citizens and destroying thousands of homes and buildings.

After briefing the public on the federal government’s plan to help local officials during the disaster, Biden gave the floor to Vice President Kamala Harris, who hails from California, and made a quick joke.

"Madam Vice President, I know you're directly affected. So you fire away, no pun intended," Biden said.

X users were quickly shocked by the comment and began blasting the president.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS DUDE," Redstate writer Bonchie exclaimed.

"Is the empathy in the room with you now?" Townhall.com video editor Kevin McMahon wrote.

Townhall.com columnist Derek Hunter wrote, "Most of the time, @JoeBiden is just a mean, vindictive person (has been his whole career), but in this case I think this can be blamed on his senility."

The Spectator contributing editor Stephen Miller remarked, "Even Kamala at this point is like ‘You serious dude?’"

"Completely tone deaf," Libs of TikTok wrote.

"What a jerk," Conservative commentator Steve Guest said.

Conservative writer Ben Kew remarked, "Probably not the time to be making puns."

During the briefing, Biden announced that the federal government will cover 100% of the costs of disaster response over the next 180 days.

"That's going to pay for things like debris and hazard material removal, temporary shelters, first responders' salaries, and all of the safety measures to protect life and property," he said. "I want to underscore, I told the governor and local officials: spare no expense. And we're doing literally everything we can at the federal level."

Biden had already faced backlash one day earlier during a meeting with California Gov. Gavin Newsom and firefighter officials.

After signing a disaster declaration and reiterating his support for the state, Biden took the time to announce the birth of his first great-grandson.

"The good news is I'm a great-grandfather as of today," Biden said.

Biden was also criticized for a joke in a similar situation in 2023 after addressing the devastating wildfires that took the lives over 100 people in Maui.

Prior to a speech he made on site, Biden met and shook hands with a group of officials, stopping in front of a search and rescue dog. While petting the dog, he joked about the boots the canine was wearing.

"You guys catch the boots out here?" Biden appeared to ask the press watching him. He smiled and said, "That’s some hot ground, man."

Forgive me if this was covered in the game thread but what is going on with Hannah? She's not running the fast break, slow to close out on shooters, and seems like she was just jogging out there for the majority of the game. Has she not recovered from her knee injury/surgery?

Buhr just committed. Story coming shortly.

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Gavin Newsom confronted by LA fires survivor as he fumbles phone call to Biden​

California Governor Gavin Newsom was caught in the middle of a heated exchange with a Los Angeles fire victim, as he fumbled over whether he was on the phone with President Joe Biden.

The fires, fueled by powerful Santa Ana winds, have destroyed over 10,000 structures and forced more than 170,000 people to evacuate.

The incident unfolded after the woman, who said she had experienced major losses due to the fires, demanded answers from the governor as he visited the disaster zone.

"That was my daughter's school, Governor," she said, pointing to a burnt structure. She added: "Please tell me what you're going to do about this."

Newsom, holding his phone, responded: "I am literally talking to the president right now to specifically answer the question of what we can do for you and your daughter."

The woman, visibly upset, further pressed him. "Can I hear it? Can I hear your call? Because I don't believe it!"

Newsom, visibly caught in his lie, replied: "I can't-it doesn't-uh, I'm sorry, there's literally-I've tried five times. That's why I'm walking around to make the call."

When the woman asked why Biden was not taking his call, Newsom responded saying: "Because it's not going through. I have to get cell service. There's no cell service."

Determined, the woman urged him: "So let's get it. Let's get it. I want to be here when you call the president."

Newsom declined and reiterated that he was already trying to reach the president. The woman then shifted to another pressing concern.

"Why was there no water in the hydrants, Governor?" she asked. "I would fill up the hydrants myself-would you do that?"

Can you call a woman a 'dick' if being an asshole or can you only call guys dicks?

She’s right about us libs too…

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