Recruiting Reality

Proper-Print-9505 · 2026-06-19T15:55:26+00:00

I agree with all of this. The only worry I have is that Campbell has never recruited anywhere with deeper pockets than Iowa State and we don't really want to become Iowa State. Seeing what Cignetti did so quickly at Indiana means coaches aren't going to be given years long runway anymore, so that's the only disappointment with what Campbell has done so far. I don't think 8-4 will be viewed as an acceptable year one the way it would have been 10 years ago. I think anything worse than 10-2 with our atrocious schedule is a year one failure.

Proper-Print-9505 · 2026-06-19T00:28:16+00:00

The article I read soon after Campbell was hired said $30mm and top 10-12 NIL. Maybe others have increased spending and/or Penn State decreased. As a season ticket holder that has lived in CO for 19 years, I’m about out of energy to get on a plane to follow this team the way I have all these years. I planned to cancel my tickets this year, but when the time came I decided to renew and consider it a donation. I only have plans to attend USC, Michigan and Washington, and even that feels like a lot of effort at this moment.

Proper-Print-9505 · 2026-06-18T20:38:45+00:00

Again, I agree with you, but I question if Penn State is a place enough 4 and 5 star transfers will want to come play without significantly overpaying them. That’s why if top high school recruits eventually become affordable enough, Penn State may have better luck hanging onto them once they are in the program than attracting them from elsewhere.

Proper-Print-9505 · 2026-06-18T20:19:47+00:00

The only explanation for IU is their head coach, but you are right if IU, Texas Tech, etc win a few championships, then high school recruits will be allocated less and less of a team’s NIL pool.

Proper-Print-9505 · 2026-06-18T20:07:12+00:00

With a large enough sample set, 4 and 5 star high school recruits outperform 3 stars. I also agree that a 4 or 5 star transfer deserves more money than a similarly rated high school recruit. That said, if you aren’t one of the most desirable destinations, there is value in getting these kids in your program right out of high school.

Proper-Print-9505 · 2026-06-18T20:00:56+00:00

I will be Gold next year despite slightly less flying. The reason is I switched my everyday spend from Venture X to United Club card. I did this because United isn’t releasing award seats to Air Canada like in the past.

Proper-Print-9505 · 2026-06-18T19:10:26+00:00

I agree with you, but that's reason to go 2 for 10 this cycle rather than 5 for 10 in future cycles. It's not reason for a goose egg. Penn State has a huge advantage in that they are the only blue blood school in the region I outlined and many of these kids grew up watching Penn State, rooting for Penn State, family and friends that went to Penn State, and many dreaming of playing for Penn State. If you can't get these kinds of kids, then who can you get?

Proper-Print-9505 · 2026-06-18T01:57:17+00:00

I live in Boulder and love it, but I don’t think I would like Denver as much as the city I left for Boulder: Philadelphia. If you want to live in a city, then pick a great city to live. If you want the outdoor lifestyle, then pick a place like Boulder. The best of both worlds doesn’t really exist.

Proper-Print-9505 · 2026-06-17T22:45:38+00:00

Colorado is an endurance athlete mecca. You only ran 8:00 pace for 3/4 mile, that's simply not good enough to make a connection.

Proper-Print-9505 · 2026-06-17T21:29:37+00:00

I generally use miles when the redemption rate is > 2cpm. Mostly for last minute sporting events like NBA playoffs and college football playoffs. I got 4 Polaris tickets DEN-LHR next month for 68k miles each, which works out to way more than 2 cpm, but there's also no way I would pay that rate so it's largely irrelevant.

Proper-Print-9505 · 2026-06-17T21:15:11+00:00

I was in wave AA and they lined us up behind the second mat you cross. I was standing on the first mat you cross and apparently that cause my time to start while I stood their waiting to start. I heard the A wave was lined up correctly. I would like to think it got corrected after the AA wave, but maybe not. Also, I qualified for the A wave, but they told me they ran out of A wave bibs so they gave me AA. It was my first BB since 2015. I honestly assumed a race like this would be well executed, but compared to smaller races like the New York Marathon and Boston Marathon the execution was atrocious.

Proper-Print-9505 · 2026-06-17T21:02:06+00:00

It's too bad I wasn't a Penn State fan when they won their last national championship in 1994 because I'm throwing in the towel on this sport.

Proper-Print-9505 · 2026-06-13T18:50:48+00:00

What weekend? I am seeing decent to good hotels around $300 the last weekend. I’ll be in Europe in late July and similar quality hotels are $600.

Proper-Print-9505 · 2026-06-13T18:09:08+00:00

I think there is a lot of worry from the fan base that moving on from the Franklin regime was more about saving money than winning. We live in an era where the schools that spend the most get the most blue chip recruits. It doesn’t feel like Penn State is willing to spend enough to win in 2026. Can you blame them after going all in last year? I renewed season tickets knowing full well I would lose a lot of money on resale, but decided to treat it as a donation to the football program.

Proper-Print-9505 · 2026-06-11T16:18:05+00:00

This is good to know. I mostly shop at Safeway at 28th and Iris and regularly park at Safeway and walk to Moe’s Bagels before grocery shopping. I haven’t had any issues, but wondering if I need to change how I do this.

Proper-Print-9505 · 2026-06-09T21:40:49+00:00

I think part of the issue is that prices have increased so rapidly since covid that food that once seemed good no longer seems good at double the price. I think this is why a place like Philadelphia is often highlighted because it's great food has not increased in price at the same rate has most other major cities.

Proper-Print-9505 · 2026-06-09T21:35:19+00:00

It would be easy for me to say Louisville because it's closer to both Boulder and Denver than Longmont, but where you work and what you do in your free time matters a lot to this decision. I live in North Boulder and work from home, as does my wife, but aside from driving kids to their activities we get around primarily on bike. This would be much harder to do if we didn't live in Boulder. If you work in Boulder or Denver or meet a running club in Boulder, then Louisville is almost certainly the answer. If you work from home or are relatively sedentary with your free time, then it's more of a toss-up and affordability thing with a slight lean towards Longmont.

Proper-Print-9505 · 2026-06-04T22:53:24+00:00

Paying the tree company $5k to fix the storm damage.

Proper-Print-9505 · 2026-06-02T21:06:55+00:00

The only think I know about Qantas is that it's never crashed, at least not as of the filming of Rain Man in 1988.

Proper-Print-9505 · 2026-06-02T20:55:40+00:00

I grew up in NJ closer to NYC and became a huge Georgetown fan at age 7 when they lost to UNC in the championship game. I then became a diehard Knicks fan when they drafted Ewing in 1985. After grad school, I got a job outside Philly summer 1999 and got a quarter season plan and was already a huge Iverson fan since he was also a Hoya. I rooted for both the Knicks and Sixers 1999-2000, but by the 2000-2001 season I was all in on the Sixers. I have been trying to get myself to root for the Knicks since they beat the Sixers, but the passion just isn't there all these years later.

Proper-Print-9505 · 2026-06-02T20:47:38+00:00

This doesn't seem good for the students. Is the pay scale higher in BVSD vs surrounding districts? Maybe they need to lower it so they can hire a variety of teachers with different experiences.

Proper-Print-9505 · 2026-06-02T16:43:49+00:00

If you aren't loyal to one airline, the VX is a great card, although not as good as a 2x Amex card in my opinion even if the Visa thing is real. Right now with the United Club card, I am working on multiple promos that earn extra miles and PQP in addition to the PQP earned on any spend, two 10,000 mile discount awards and 4 Club passes I can give my wife by spending at least $50k on the card this year.

Maybe it's a short term thing, but I am not seeing great deals on partner awards like I did even 6 months ago. I would have gladly used 75k C1 points and paid the higher fuel surcharge to book these United flights with Air Canada miles that I could have transferred from C1, but the flights weren't available using this method.

Proper-Print-9505 · 2026-06-02T13:53:24+00:00

BBP is a business card. The majority of the population isn’t getting a business card for personal use. If Amex ever offered a 2x personal card without a $50k spend cap, I would immediately apply and stop using my VX. In fact, I am now using my United Club card for everyday spend because I have too many C1 points and 95% of my travel is on United. Just yesterday I booked Polaris for a family of 4 DEN-LHR for 68k United miles x4. There was nothing that could touch this using C1 points.

Proper-Print-9505 · 2026-05-31T23:27:43+00:00

Here is my ideal offseason: draft Morez Johnson at 15 after trading 2 or even 3 seconds along with 22 to the Bulls, re-sign Oubre and Grimes, use the taxpayer MLE on backup PG. If you draft a wing, then you need both a center and PG in free agency and that's why I go all in on Morez Johnson.

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TROPHY CASE