#fellow fans you should apply to uts

[edge-oftheworld]

why is she looks so perfect playing at uni

[i-only-blow-bubbles]

This is my last day of being 20-year-old Sabrina. In just hours, I will be gone, and a 21-year-old version of myself will take my place.

I haven’t been itching to turn 21, but for most 19 and 20-year-olds, that’s all they look forward to. They want to be old enough to drink and go downtown. While that sounds fine and dandy, I don’t think it’s worth waiting to be over with being 20 to get there. I think age 20 has its own value.

After all, it’s 20. Twenty. It’s a new decade. It is the beginning and base of what will be my twenties. Even just saying it is lovely. It can be crisp; twen-ty. It can be quick; twenee. And it’s got a nice ring to it. Twenty. 

I didn’t want to rush through this past year to get to 21. I wanted to savor each and every moment, to which I did and to a fault. Now, I’m in love with 20-year-old me, and I’m sad to let her go. It’s been a year of self-discovery, and it sounds cheesy. I know. But I don’t care. 

View this post on Instagram

twenty.

A post shared by Sabrina LeBoeuf (@_sabrinakaye) on Dec 15, 2018 at 8:27am PST

It all began with Spiderman: Into The Spider-Verse. On my birthday, my friends brought me as a fifth-wheel to Alamo Drafthouse (It’s okay, I forgive them) to see the animated film. I never had a particular interest in Spiderman, being a Batman fan, but the movie blew my mind away. 

The movie spoke to what it meant to discover yourself. (If you haven’t seen it yet, what are you doing?!) Miles Morales had to navigate becoming Spiderman when there were so many other Spidermen telling him how it should be done. But none of the previous methods really worked out for him. He eventually figures that in order to fully become Spiderman, he can redefine what was previously done. He can take the spark he’s been given and turn it into something revolutionary.

This is what kicked off my 20. Mesmerized by the pretty picture and the heartfelt story, I was determined to take my own spark and actually do something with it. I would take charge of my identity and convictions. This would be my 20. 

And now I can say that it truly was.

Throughout the year, I explored my cultural identity more. I went on to visit Panama after an 8-year hiatus and wore the traditional dress of my culture. Then I took things a step further and applied to study abroad, giving me five months to speak Spanish in the new year. 

I grew comfortable in my appearance. I cut off my pink hair, grew it out, and embraced my curls for once in my life. I even went an entire month without taking a hot tool to my head, something I don’t think I’ve ever done. I took more pictures of myself because I wanted to be more comfortable and confident with how I looked. I also wanted to document what 20-year-old Sabrina looked like.

I made sure to capture not just the good days, but also the bad. Makeup, no makeup, hair done or hair poofed out. Silly faces were optional, and tongues were out a lot. I don’t even like how I look in all of them, but at least I know the pictures are honest. Here are a select few.

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Love and fear were the greatest emotions that followed me around in all shapes and forms. Out of curiosity, I explored them. I wrote love songs, both happy and sad, and so did my favorite artists. Marina released Love + Fear, and Taylor Swift released Lover. I met JoAnn, talked with her every week for five months and I wrote a 10-page piece on what it means to be in love and how to deal with fear. I made myself face my fears, and I overcame a few of them. 

I started going to events by myself and enjoying my solitude. I went to concerts, ballets and more. Every week, I took the trip to downtown and took pointe classes for the first time. I stopped limiting myself from things I wanted to do just because I had no one to go with, and I’m so glad I did. 

I embraced spontaneity and made things work as I went along. The UT School of Journalism sent me to the Online News Association conference in New Orleans, and I managed to go without missing too much from my classes. On top of that, I started a second degree studying radio-television-film this past spring, and now I’m already 80% done. 

In my work life, I was presented with so many new, exciting opportunities. I started off the year writing about technology for Spiceworks and Austin culture for Austin Woman magazine. This blossomed into another magazine internship at Texas Connect over the summer and freelance work for Austin Woman. This past fall, I was lucky enough to write for The Daily Texan on both the news desk and the life and arts desk. Now, I’m looking forward to blogging for Texas Global as I study in Spain, and I’m praying for an internship this summer.

Beyond all the things I did for myself this year, the universe introduced me to exquisite people.  I met JoAnn while I still worked at the Campus Computer Store. Saba stepped into my life when we became partners in a journalism class. I met my amazing editors and fellow writers. Marina went with me to see the bats for the first time. I had the opportunity to learn from fabulous professors. At least three times a week, Dr. Scott opened my eyes to media studies, and Kevin Robbins challenged my writing ability and my basketball skills. Every Tuesday and Thursday, Professor Paul taught me how to feel graceful in ballet class.

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The list continues forever. I can’t say it enough. Twenty has been the best year so far. It was emotionally rich, technicolor and inspiring. These big, fluffy words only touch the surface for how much I’ve loved being 20-year-old Sabrina. 

Thank you so much to everyone in my life. I know this year would not have been what it was without you. I shall treasure the memories always, and I will do my best to treasure you that much more.

So that’s it, then, huh?

This is 20-year-old Sabrina signing off, excited to see **how in the world** twenty-one can top what a wonderful year it has been. 

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  Twenty - This is my last day of being 20-year-old Sabrina. In just hours, I will be gone, and a 21-year-old version of myself will take my place.

[junker-town]

THIS WEEK IN SCHADENFREUDE, where Tennessee must replace Butch Jones with the coach from ‘Last Chance U’

In this weekly tour of the unhappiest parts of the college football internet, let’s visit six fanbases after Week 3.

After the first two weeks of this college football season, we took deep dives into the internet DEFCON situations among two fanbases: Texas A&M’s after a 34-point lead became a loss at UCLA, and Ohio State’s after falling in grisly fashion to Oklahoma.

Those teams felt like obvious picks. Week 3 has a bevy of competitive candidates, so it’s a good time to spread some wealth. Let’s take a ride through some of the most extraordinary fan reactions from Saturday’s games.

Nebraska

Lost to Northern Illinois at home, the Huskers’ first loss ever to a MAC team, mere days after announcing an extension for head coach Mike Riley.

Larry the Cable Guy is fed up to the point that he’s suggesting Nebraska should replace Riley with a coach from the University of Nebraska .... Omaha.

Somebody call Trev Alberts down from UNO and see if he can help out! Ugh.. Sorry but I'm just like most Husker fans. I'm venting.

— Larry The Cable Guy (@GitRDoneLarry) September 16, 2017

There’s a lot more there by Larry.

Let’s hop to r/Huskers on Reddit.

One Redditor has an outside-the-box name for a new athletic director.

Thread: Les Miles for AD?

Les Miles and Mike Riley together sound like a hell of a combo. If Riley doesn't work out after another year or two, give Les the money and power to hire the best coach available at the time.

Thoughts?

Miles’ son, Ben, is a fullback for Nebraska. Done deal. Put it on the board.

Nebraska opened as a 10-point favorite against Rutgers. Another Redditor asked:

What? Why?

The mood at the school’s Rivals message board was not happy.

Thread: At least we have volleyball

You don't see them losing to small directional state schools.

Perhaps the most morbid thing anyone said:

Thread: Internet, Cell Phones, Social Media and TV killed Nebraska

In the old days when Nebraska was great, there was no internet, cell phone and very few TV channels.

Today young kids can text beautiful photos of the beaches of Florida to communicating with other prospects via text to Facebook. In the old days they could not and they did not have the Elite 11 or travel.

My point is this. Nobody knew or could see how boring the state is and being in a state like Nebraska where your recruiting is 100 miles behind Florida or Texas your screwed. Nebraska's only chance to get to that Top 5 Level on a consistent basis is to land a Pete Carrol, Nick Saban, Urban Meyer or Jimbo Fisher type of coach . Technology killed the good old days

Louisville

Got obliterated at home against Clemson.

To the Scout message board, the Card March!

Thread: Maybe we should have stayed in the AAC.

There’s also a brief thread calling for Heisman-winning quarterback Lamar Jackson to get benched in favor of redshirt freshman Jawon Pass, who — to be fair — does have one of the best quarterback names of all-time.

At 247Sports, one fan called for former Bobby Petrino assistant Jeff Brohm — who’s coached all of three games at Purdue — to take Petrino’s place at the helm.

Thread: Ready for the 'Brohm Era'.

Thanks for the great memories BP. There were lots of them.

Missouri

Lost at home to Purdue, 35-3. And just because Louisville fans have had enough Petrino doesn’t mean the shenanigan-hooked coach couldn’t land elsewhere.

To TigerBoard.com we go, where at least one fan wants Petrino to take over the head job for Barry Odom:

Thread: tempt Bobby P. with money and hookers, motorcycles

Another suggestion: Louisiana Tech coach Skip Holtz, who previously went 16-21 at South Florida.

Thread: How about Skip Holtz as a replacement? Only 54, has a

winning record as a D1 HC, winning record in bowls, and has recruited the SEC states for 20 years.

The most upsetting thing is that this is one of the replies:

That’s actually a very good option. And one that isn't talked about. Nice work hefe.

These poor people.

Some just want the misery to end.

Thread: We might want to consider forfeiting the remaining games in

order to avoid more embarrassing blowouts

Baylor

Completed a tour of non-conference losses that already included the FCS and Conference USA by losing at Duke. Matt Rhule’s now 0-3.

Let’s check in on the boards at BU fan site SicEm365.com.

Thread: Mike Singletary Would Have Been 3-0 Right Now

Thread: Rhule is in breach of the contract if this continues.

Surely his contract requires performance. A buyout or full buyout is in effect if it is the school (employer) that breaches the contract.

There is this addendum, sorting out some legalese:

Caveat I have not read the contract. But surely it seems basic principals apply to it, other wise it isn't a contract.

Also, someone’s worried that Baylor’s getting kicked out of the Big 12.

Thread: This is a 10 year minimum rebuild--Are we safe in the big 12?

Hey all-

Let's be realistic here. We have ZERO depth and we will lose a lot of commitments with this horrible start. This "process" will take us until the mid to late 2020s to get close to decent.

How long will the big 12 put up with it? Admit it, we got very lucky to get in. We better be on the look out.

p.s. Anyone that does not think we got luck to get in the big 12 ask any other big 12 fan (not a baylor fan).

I sure wish I was wrong.

LSU

Lost at Mississippi State by 30 whole points.

Let’s start in head coach Ed Orgeron’s Twitter mentions, where — as the game was still going on — numerous fans urged him to Get Control of His Team.

Jesus @Coach_EdOrgeron get control of your team. Zero zero zero discipline

— Anthony Jimenez (@Big__A__) September 17, 2017

@Coach_EdOrgeron get control of your god damn team.

— Jamelle J. (@JJRagas) September 17, 2017

Jesus Christ @Coach_EdOrgeron get your fucking team under control

— bluse (@geauxbluse) September 17, 2017

LSU never got control of the game itself. Afterward, many offered potential solutions.

Now let’s sojourn at TigerDroppings.com, where the usual NFL coaches were in demand as possibilities to replace Orgeron.

Thread: Chip Kelly

Thread: Should LSU go after Sean Payton if he gets canned by saints?

Would be a smooth transition.

Some of the posters just wanted their fellow posters to chill out.

Thread: You people need to go have sex or something

I mean, assuming you have the wherewithal to make it happen.

It's one fricking football game. You're still alive. Presumably you have a wife and kids. North Korea didn't nuke us. Your mom didn't get bent over by her pool boy. Get over it.

Thread: Ban me if you want

I'm sick of all you crying arse pussies. You wanted les fired you got your wish wanted O got your wish. Lose one game due to key injuries u want his head fire him. You bitches cried cause les would interfere change play calls. O let's his coaches coach. You bitch bout that he just stands on sidelines. Yall bitches are pathetic mother frickers. You are no true fans

It’s good to see the community sticking together after a tough loss.

Was there also someone floating Lane Kiffin, who nearly joined up as Orgeron’s offensive coordinator this season, to replace the man in charge?

You know there was:

Thread: Stars are aligning for Kiffin to become LSU HC in 2019

It's happening. I can feel it.

Tennessee

Lost at Florida on a devastating Hail Mary that wasn’t properly covered.

Regarding Tennessee’s idea of goal-line offense, here’s a really fair question:

.@UTCoachJones I am standing roughly 1 yard away from my wife. Should I reach out and hand her the remote? Or throw it three times? #GoVols

— Fleck To The Hill (@BigOrangeHill) September 17, 2017

Let’s go to VolNation.com.

Is there a plot to temporarily reinstall former UT head coach Phillip Fulmer?

Thread: Think about this

Currie brings back Fulmer during the off season in a "admin" support role

What if Currie brought Fulmer in just in case Jones tanked this season and he would be forced to make a move

Then, he can slide Fulmer in as an interim, with the understanding that it would be temporary.

Currie gets to bring in his own guy

Seems far fetched, I know, but it could be possible. You maintain some stability and Fulmer could sure hold together the recruiting class

Could Tennessee fire Butch Jones and replace him with the guy from Last Chance U?

Thread: Great idea for replacing Butch

I know many of you are huge fans of Netflix. Have you ever heard of Last Chance U? Let's get currie to take a shot on buddy Stephens. If you may not know buddy is one of the best coaches in the JUCO ranks. Sounds crazy right? But so crazy it might just work.

Is this all the fault of Buffalo Bills QB Nathan Peterman, a Tennessee transfer who played the latter years of his college career at Pitt?

Thread: I blame this loss on Peterman...

He played so sh*tty in his two chances at QB that Dobbs never got the redshirt that the coaches wanted. Otherwise, #11 would have been behind center yesterday.

For at least a year or two now, this should’ve already been the term for frittering away a game late:

Thread: No longer Clemsoning.

The new term is Tennesseeing. We Tennesseed that game away.

Have multiple people changed their Twitter names to “Fire Butch,” or used “Butch” and actual fire emojis to convey their desire to Fire Butch?

They were calling for Jones’ firing all throughout a Week 1 win over Georgia Tech, so you know they have:

Zoom in on the inset on the left on this one:

Hey there, Dan Mullen.

[junker-town]

Still comin' to your city: Inside college football's national anthem

That Big & Rich music video you say you can't stand, but still watch on ESPN every fall Saturday? It has to be recorded somewhere. That somewhere is Tennessee in May. (This story was originally published in 2014.)

The original version, without all the football.

Whites Creek, Tenn. -- For a college football fan in mid-May, it could pass as a detailed hallucination for a college football fan. Out in a big nothing of Tennessee woods sits a fully operational "ESPN College GameDay" set, replete with smoke and strobe lights and football highlights playing on Jumbotrons.

And hey, there's Big & Rich singing "Comin' to Your City" to real, live football fans.

At the moment, the "zing" and the "zang" are not matching up between the live action and the audio. Consequently, the "ting" and the "tang" aren’t either. It makes sense, once it’s explained, that when shooting a music video, rapping is much harder to sync than singing. There's a decision amongst the producers to break for lunch and resume with rapper-specific coverage shots afterwards. The extras wander off to drink bottled water in the shade.

"Gets. You. Fired. Up.," says the middle-aged man with the lit cigarette. He had the bad luck of forgetting to bring any of his Clemson gear to "rep on TV."

He answered the email a friend forwarded him. Sixty bucks for a day's work as an extra.

He repeats himself with a broad smile.

"Gets. You. Fired. Up."

A version of the theme song from a recent season.

A pair of Alabama students, Shelby and Alex, had nothing better to do between the time they finished final exams and Alex drove home to Michigan, so they came up for the day.

"I mean, you see 'College GameDay' every Saturday. We thought it would be fun, plus we wanted to rep Alabama," says Shelby, a communications major at Bama. "We figured there would be a lot of Tennessee fans here."

Are there?

"Yeah, they're... see, way over there," he says, pointing a location at the far end of the crowd. It's worth nothing that, through entirely natural self-segregation, the Alabama and Tennessee fans have distanced themselves as far away from one another as possible.

"Of course a few [Alabama fans] show up," says one of the way-over-there Vols. "That's okay. We got the cheerleaders."

The cheerleaders are actually the University of Tennessee dance team, the national title-winning UTDT, as they're described by their coaches. They responded to ESPN's request, with the caveat that the girls dress in non-school-affiliated gear.

I'm also informed UT provided the dancers for Hank Williams Jr.'s famous "Are You Ready for Some Football" video introduction for "Monday Night Football" years back, which was also shot in the greater Nashville area. If you need a music video montage to hype a football institution, this here's the city, apparently.

"I'm not sure exactly why that is. I guess this being the home of country music helps," John Rich says.

"It's because people enjoy getting wild, and this a town to have a good damn time in!" Big Kenny follows.

★★★

You know the words to Big & Rich’s 2005 single "Comin' to Your City," even if you're a self-serious music fan who likely once hated the song. Like, really, really hated it.

And maybe you still do, but you really don't. After a decade as the anthem of "College GameDay," it's as much an American folk anthem as "Seven Nation Army's" zombified stadium chant.

You know all the words to all the verses even though they change every season, because sometimes they feature your favorite college football team, or the one you hate, or both. You especially know all the words that aren't even words, that famous honky patois you and your friends now recite in a social media battle cry every Saturday morning.

If you want a little bang in your yin yang

If you want a little zing in your zang zang

If you want a little ching in your chang chang, come along

And even if you claim to hate ESPN because it's a soulless conglomerate hellbent on owning all of sports or whatever, you really love "College GameDay." It's a deep and abiding love, and it's well earned. "College GameDay" is ESPN at its best. The network flexes its influence and coffers to provide us with hosts who blend insight with rapport while afloat in real, live seas of fanaticisms. Best of all, it's programming built with the purpose of raising up a sport most often referred to as a true religion. It's why Alex and Shelby drove four hours, and it's why executive producer Lee Fitting is standing on set just hours after having accepted an Emmy win for "GameDay" the night before in New York.

Smoke machines blast. The song concludes. And as the crew and talent immediately scramble for another full take, Fitting defends "City's" mainstay prowess on the show.

"I can't really explain it. It's one of those things that we really liked at the time, and we just rolled with it and kept our fingers crossed. As it picked up steam, we tried to tweak it and help evolve it."

If you need a music video montage to hype a football institution, this here's the city, apparently.

So no, there isn't a dubious licensing arrangement (or ransom) that's kept the song around for a decade.

"Every single part of the show goes under the microscope after each season. We're always trying to improve things. We wouldn't change it just to change it. Right now, we feel like it's still rolling. We can go to Fargo, North Dakota and people are screaming about 'Coming to your cit-ay,' and it's the same with South Central Los Angeles," Fitting said.

You will have another season of "Cit-ay," although with a few extra wrinkles added to the customary team shout-outs that Rich and company re-write at the behest of ESPN each season. They are as follows:

A notable reference to Stanford and "The Farm" in Rich's lyrics. I can't remember what this replaced from previous years, although I didn't hear anything about "Rocky Top" in Tennessee or "the Big House" in Michigan. ("That's the trickiest part each year, when ESPN calls and asks us to use certain names. You take a few liberties as a lyricist and sort of make 'Gator chomp' and 'tomahawk chop' rhyme," Rich says.)

A few video clips of Northwestern in action. Along with the Cardinal, nerd schools seem très chic for country pop anthems this season.

The usual suspects: Georgia, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Alabama, and a healthy helpin' of national champion Florida State. There's a fan sweating through an authentic Jameis Winston jersey in the front of the crowd, and every time the video board flashes the Heisman winner, the kid jumps up and down emphatically. Every time.

The last two clips during the big crescendo feature Urban Meyer's Buckeyes charging the field and Les Miles clapping. As it should be.

The addition of an extra rapper (Gym Class Heroes' Travie McCoy), to play off of longtime Big & Rich associate Cowboy Troy, and hard guitar provided by rock band Halestrom's Lzzy Hale. It's still the same song, just with that... rock edge.

And if that sounds like it was a focused-grouped decision, it probably is, but maybe that's the joy of licensing from Big & Rich: tack on an extra rapper and a fuzz pedal to "City," and it's not like you turned "Sunday Morning Coming Down" into dubstep.

"We're all for it," Rich says. "We've always viewed the Muzik Mafia [the duo's collective of fellow artists] as having strains of rock and rap and country, from all genres of music. That's like football fans. Football fans come from all walks of life."

McCoy, one of the song's two new performers.

"GameDay" almost entirely defines the national perception of his music. Rich doesn't offer a hint of indignity about this.

"Look, a lot of people don't know "A Country Boy Can Survive," but they sure know [starts singing] "Are you ready for some foooootball?" We never thought we'd be doing this, right now, 10 years later. We owe ESPN thousands of bar tabs in airports or hotels when people ask who we are. We start naming hits, then we say 'College GameDay,' and bam, everybody lights up and buys us beers."

Rich is a lifelong Texas fan, while Big Kenny claims allegiance to "any Virginia team, but just any team out there doing well, man. I like to ride the wave." Cowboy Troy is a Dallas native and a Texas graduate who steers an otherwise informal conversation into a serious discussion of Charlie Strong's team management style.

"It's really going to be interesting, honestly," he says. "I've heard from a discipline standpoint, the first time any player misses a single class or study hall, he runs until he's exhausted. The second time he misses, his entire position group has to run until they're exhausted. And then if there's a third time, at least from what I've heard, the player, the position group, and the position coaches have to run."

"And if he misses four times, they just shoot him," Rich says.

★★★

Behind a barrier, the extras are re-upping on gloss. The dance team re-applies makeup and re-curls hair, to combat the May heat. A makeup artist repaints the individual letters in "GAMEDAY" on the stomachs of dazed-looking extras.

"I had no idea I was gonna take my shirt off today," one tells me. "I just graduated from MTSU last week. I figured this was something to do. I mean, I'm cool with taking my shirt off," he says to the stranger painting over his belly button hair.

The smoke machine sets off again, the song plays again, and the intricacies of staccato rap and carefully placed team references are tracked. On the monitors, it all reads as slick and big and ridiculous, and yet the effect is undeniable. Seventeen takes in, the FSU fan still jumps, and the song you probably used to hate by that band you may never listen to otherwise elicits a perfect, pure Pavlovian response.

Squint. It's October, and Chris Fowler is setting a scene against the most famous fiddle solo in modern America. It gets you fired up, man.

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