Discussion Random Discussion

[Yawkey way]

Ease up buddy, I'm an Aussie too - got a passport and everything. I lived in Melbourne for 8 fantastic years and loved every minute of it. Got a lot of love for the city and Victoria in general. And I agree it's probably the most tolerant place in Australia - or was when I was there. I haven't been there for a while but still got plenty of friends there, plus of course this forum which provides somewhat of an insight.

That summary is pretty much my recollection. I understand there are a few more black folks there who are African immigrants - really don't want to get into yet another debate about the positives of this as this has been done to death on this forum already.

Anyway this may be why sadsainter didn't hear of any "chunky black women" getting upset about the cartoon - there aren't many around. Even on the internet, if you stick to Aussie media you won't find much from a black perspective.

This is one of the points of the original article. We comment on a black person in a way that black people find offensive because we are either oblivious to or uncaring of those issues. Even if there were black people in the Herald Sun, the easy going tolerance of Australia is a world away from the tinderbox of race politics in the USA where every gesture is significant. Maybe that's a good thing, but in the age of global communication we ought to be a bit more responsible IMO.
If Knight had just depicted Williams as a baby or something, the cartoon would have got zero negative commentary. He accidemtally or deliberately chose to evoke tribal Africa or the racist imagery of the early 20th century and got pulled up on it. To suggest this is just a cynical way of detracting from her poor behaviour is a pretty low act.

Well not totally ignorant, but it's like reading about something in a book. The African American or even black perspective is missing from Melbourne conversations. But the very fact that Melbourne can have this conversation points to a great deal of intelligence and sensitivity towards this subject.

That's exactly the point the article and I made initially. In a way, we may find American and Afro-American attitudes too sensitive but since the subject is them, it's always a good idea respect those sensitivities.

Yeah not much point, and really don't see why you're being defensive. I didn't scour anything, I came across an article about the country/city I love which confirmed one of the negative points I saw/see in it. I think it could be better in this area. I sometimes wonder why it has to be this way. Sorry if you think Australia or Melbourne is perfect, or you don't have a problem with this negative. I'm sorry to say though being the national education leader just makes Melburnians better educated than the rest of Australia, is that really any surprise?

But like I said, I should have known better really coming on here with this stuff is always a recipe for frustration and ultimately is unproductive. Waste of time.

IIRC Yawkey, you're from the US yourself or have a history there. I've read stuff from you before and it's always interesting to take in your pov on issues like these, as you have first hand experience in that culture unlike myself and I try to remember that despite our different political leanings colouring our differing views.

Well that explains your level of interest, you would find Melbourne massively changed in the built environment and the population size.

No Melbourne is far from perfect but it’s a tolerant liveable city by any standard and a very multicultural one, I do get annoyed when I think Melbourne, the US or anyone has been unfairly attacked. I thought some responses to the cartoon we’re unfair and over the top.

US history is not Australian history, people being aware of things is not living them. Im not convinced you need that level of awareness/sensitivity it would see a whole range of things that can still be debated here completely shut down. The age is now taking so many pieces straight from the US that some days it seems there’s more about Trump and the US than the PM and Australia. I don’t like it, if anything Australia is still in a polititical sense imo quite British in many ways and I hope it stays that way. Yes globalisation is impacting just about everyone including Australia, I still hope Australia has its own conversations and makes its own decisions rather than just importing other peoples.

I know exactly what people are seeing or reading into Knights cartoon, I’m still not convinced on balance by the selective nature of the outrage or how the debate about her behaviour developed. I wouldn’t have drawn it or printed it simply because I know exactly how some will view it. It’s a fine line between being sensitive to injustice, historical or current and shutting down debate on anything you don’t agree with. There’s a trend here and in many places towards violent protest to stifle any opinions you don’t agree with. There have been attempts to ban speakers from the country and even secret locations for events. I much prefer that people have the chance to put forward their views, if it’s garbage most people will see right through it. Think of the Williams cartoon in that context if you like, it’s being talked about and debated people are learning some things and thinking about it and deciding how it fits into this society.

I must admit I remembered you were visiting but had forgotten about you living here if you have posted about it in the past. I was just amazed about the reach of the cartoon, I was beginning to think it was developing into another only in Australia piece that you sometimes see.

It’s almost impossible to discuss topics like this in this space, what can be discussed over lunch or a beer would take pages and pages.

 

[gringo2011]

Well that explains your level of interest, you would find Melbourne massively changed in the built environment and the population size.

No Melbourne is far from perfect but it’s a tolerant liveable city by any standard and a very multicultural one, I do get annoyed when I think Melbourne, the US or anyone has been unfairly attacked. I thought some responses to the cartoon we’re unfair and over the top.

US history is not Australian history, people being aware of things is not living them. Im not convinced you need that level of awareness/sensitivity it would see a whole range of things that can still be debated here completely shut down. The age is now taking so many pieces straight from the US that some days it seems there’s more about Trump and the US than the PM and Australia. I don’t like it, if anything Australia is still in a polititical sense imo quite British in many ways and I hope it stays that way. Yes globalisation is impacting just about everyone including Australia, I still hope Australia has its own conversations and makes its own decisions rather than just importing other peoples.

I know exactly what people are seeing or reading into Knights cartoon, I’m still not convinced on balance by the selective nature of the outrage or how the debate about her behaviour developed. I wouldn’t have drawn it or printed it simply because I know exactly how some will view it. It’s a fine line between being sensitive to injustice, historical or current and shutting down debate on anything you don’t agree with. There’s a trend here and in many places towards violent protest to stifle any opinions you don’t agree with. There have been attempts to ban speakers from the country and even secret locations for events. I much prefer that people have the chance to put forward their views, if it’s garbage most people will see right through it. Think of the Williams cartoon in that context if you like, it’s being talked about and debated people are learning some things and thinking about it and deciding how it fits into this society.

I must admit I remembered you were visiting but had forgotten about you living here if you have posted about it in the past. I was just amazed about the reach of the cartoon, I was beginning to think it was developing into another only in Australia piece that you sometimes see.

It’s almost impossible to discuss topics like this in this space, what can be discussed over lunch or a beer would take pages and pages.

Good response, anyway I'm a cynical bastard and can't help thinking media outlets love to court controversy. They would've had a about a million hits a day on their website. They feign outrage while reaping the rewards from it.

 

[CursingFijian]

Good response, anyway I'm a cynical bastard and can't help thinking media outlets love to court controversy. They would've had a about a million hits a day on their website. They feign outrage while reaping the rewards from it.

 

[CursingFijian]

 

[CursingFijian]

 

[StFly]

Greyscale, play on. Borderline sexism with the elongated neck on the man, so I'm watching you...

Swords & arrows is barbaric, the use of the colour brown, white man being "big businessed", you racist.

Use of the colour brown, paper text using males in negative context, you racist sexist.

Good response, anyway I'm a cynical bastard and can't help thinking media outlets love to court controversy. They would've had a about a million hits a day on their website. They feign outrage while reaping the rewards from it.

Nah, only happens in the NT, as they're a different sort up there;

Amazing that of 4 people quoted, 2 blokes said "lol" 2 women said "wtf?", I bet no one thought of that in the planning hey?

I'm personally glad that Serena has a subscription to one of the national papers of Australia. Sucked in Fairfax and anything not news limited.

What do you mean it got handed through social medias? We're super important yeah? Global and trending.

 

[Crusty Undies]

If anyone criticised Serena's tennis or habits on a personal level without the negative racial reference, I can't imagine anyone being offended. If that's all you think happened then you have missed the point of what I've written and the accompanying articles.

If we begin from a baseline of mutual respect, no problems remain. If I say something you find offensive, if I respect you, I apologise and make a mental note that I shouldn't repeat my faux pas. I may believe you're being too sensitive but at the end of the day I don't wish to cause offence. If I do wish to cause offence or I care more about my freedom of expression than your sensitivity, that's a different story.

If I walk around in public with no clothes on, I'm not hurting anyone. My freedom might make others uncomfortable and someone might object to my naked body at which stage if I respect society I put some clothes on. If I say "I demand to be free from your hangups about nudity" I'm taking a combative stance.

It's becoming more and more common to see people fighting back against what they see as a restriction on their freedom by offending people solely for the purposes of provocation. It's an interesting philosophical action, but doesn't say much for a person's humanity IMO.

If you've got a disabled child and I crack out a few disabled jokes or whatever in your company, if you get tense and ask me to stop, should I tell you to lighten up and accept my freedom of expression? Ricky Gervais was faced with this problem a few years ago and decided his freedom was more important than anyone's sensitivity. Would he care more if he was in Mark Knight's position? We may never know.

It benefits us all to have thick skins and take jokes at face value, but sometimes history hurts too much. Some Jews like Mel Brooks can laugh at Nazis, others find the mere mention of Nazis too much to stomach. They probably are being too sensitive, but if you respect them you have to respect their sensitivity.

You mentioned a little quote earlier in the discussion that I've thought more about. "Racism = prejudice + power." I think this idea is badly expressed and I think a lot of problems stem from us confusing the idea of racism.

Racism as I understand it is making a distinction based on race. This white person must be rich. This Chinese person must work hard. The assumption can be positive or negative. Anyone can be racist. But power does change the equation.

Few in the US have ever been denied work or killed by the authorities for being a "cracker" for example. No one has ever been institutionalised to believe that a cracker is LESS than human, and undeserving of human rights at any point in "white history", if such a thing exists. Even if white folks in Africa feel unloved or unwelcome, do you really think they will ever feel less than human? Why do you think that is?

The biggest problems a cracker has are not being invited to the best parties. So getting called "cracker" may hurt because of the fact a distinction is being made, but I don't feel the pain of my people being kept down. I may feel hated or even unwanted but if I ever felt threatened I could easily retreat into the white privilege I enjoy in western society. This doesn't mean its fine to call someone a cracker. It's still racism. But there is a difference.

The same is true of sexism. It's as sexist to be anti-man as it is to be anti-woman, but while men feel a bit sad that they are unfairly seen as misogynists, very few have had to deal with denial of access to anything. I doubt many reasonable men feel oppressed except for on a manufactured level as a reaction to feminism.


So it's not really sexism or racism itself that is the problem.

Mark Knight and Eddie McGuire weren't coming from a position of hate or oppression when they evoked racist imagery. It's still offensive to look at or hear. It causes black people to remember the days when white society viewed them as primates. Some black people wouldn't have cared, some would have felt that white society will never view them as equals or respect them while they still use imagery such as this.

I really don't know what I'm trying to say here, just my thoughts out loud and you've probably heard it all before, but I think the issue is and always has been respect.


There's some stuff there that I agree with.

I'll be honest, it's hard to take all the time necessary to respond to this with as much detail as it deserves.

The distilled version though is, I just don't see how even historically racially charged racism is anything other than racism. And with that in mind, why it's more racist to caricaturise a black woman throwing a tantrum than a white man in politics or "corporates".

I will say though that, what you talk about (white people in Africa) is the explicit reference to the point you're making. White South Africans are being dehumanised to the point that they're refused service at hospitals, attacked on farms daily and killed weekly. If that isn't real, systematic, government-enforced oppression then I don't know what is but whatever is happening in America is absolutely not the same.

Clearly in the past things have been wrong, but they've been rectified to the point that anyone in any first world country can rise out of the lower class or fall out of the middle class, they just need the ability and the drive. You may disagree with that, and that's fine, but I've not seen remotely enough evidence (which is to say none) of actual systematic oppression in America, Australia, England etc. And like I said earlier, the only case to be made is for those in "privileged" lives which means you're white, male and straight. It doesn't matter what else has happened in your life if you're these things, you don't deserve the same opportunities as someone else.

 

[gringo2011]

I'll be honest, it's hard to take all the time necessary to respond to this with as much detail as it deserves.

The distilled version though is, I just don't see how even historically racially charged racism is anything other than racism. And with that in mind, why it's more racist to caricaturise a black woman throwing a tantrum than a white man in politics or "corporates".

I will say though that, what you talk about (white people in Africa) is the explicit reference to the point you're making. White South Africans are being dehumanised to the point that they're refused service at hospitals, attacked on farms daily and killed weekly. If that isn't real, systematic, government-enforced oppression then I don't know what is but whatever is happening in America is absolutely not the same.

Clearly in the past things have been wrong, but they've been rectified to the point that anyone in any first world country can rise out of the lower class or fall out of the middle class, they just need the ability and the drive. You may disagree with that, and that's fine, but I've not seen remotely enough evidence (which is to say none) of actual systematic oppression in America, Australia, England etc. And like I said earlier, the only case to be made is for those in "privileged" lives which means you're white, male and straight. It doesn't matter what else has happened in your life if you're these things, you don't deserve the same opportunities as someone else.

South Africa is still a much worse place for black people than white people. The poverty there is proper desperate poverty with shanty towns that don't have services. White people often live in gated communities still and there are areas to avoid in JBerg that are the poorer areas that black people live in. If the government is allowing the whites to be murdered they are also allowing the poor to wallow in poverty. Like anywhere on earth where the wealth distribution is extreme, the poor are desperate and often value their and others lives cheaply. The dehumanisation is pretty much across all races there.

The people I know have amazing photos from South Africa and drive and walk around with out issues and have never been robbed. My cousin who works for the UN is out jogging there in park land near the city and walks in the poor areas and has never been harmed. I think you have to be careful with how the media portray a place. It is corrupt, there are car jacking etc. But at the end of the day like they say you can't go out to a restaurant in Melbourne because African gangs will get you, most of it is so over the top that is loses credibility. I go out all over Melbourne and have never even seen a black gang, even in the Western suburbs like Sunshine where they live on mass.

 

[gringo2011]

Well that explains your level of interest, you would find Melbourne massively changed in the built environment and the population size.

No Melbourne is far from perfect but it’s a tolerant liveable city by any standard and a very multicultural one, I do get annoyed when I think Melbourne, the US or anyone has been unfairly attacked. I thought some responses to the cartoon we’re unfair and over the top.

US history is not Australian history, people being aware of things is not living them. Im not convinced you need that level of awareness/sensitivity it would see a whole range of things that can still be debated here completely shut down. The age is now taking so many pieces straight from the US that some days it seems there’s more about Trump and the US than the PM and Australia. I don’t like it, if anything Australia is still in a polititical sense imo quite British in many ways and I hope it stays that way. Yes globalisation is impacting just about everyone including Australia, I still hope Australia has its own conversations and makes its own decisions rather than just importing other peoples.

I know exactly what people are seeing or reading into Knights cartoon, I’m still not convinced on balance by the selective nature of the outrage or how the debate about her behaviour developed. I wouldn’t have drawn it or printed it simply because I know exactly how some will view it. It’s a fine line between being sensitive to injustice, historical or current and shutting down debate on anything you don’t agree with. There’s a trend here and in many places towards violent protest to stifle any opinions you don’t agree with. There have been attempts to ban speakers from the country and even secret locations for events. I much prefer that people have the chance to put forward their views, if it’s garbage most people will see right through it. Think of the Williams cartoon in that context if you like, it’s being talked about and debated people are learning some things and thinking about it and deciding how it fits into this society.

I must admit I remembered you were visiting but had forgotten about you living here if you have posted about it in the past. I was just amazed about the reach of the cartoon, I was beginning to think it was developing into another only in Australia piece that you sometimes see.

It’s almost impossible to discuss topics like this in this space, what can be discussed over lunch or a beer would take pages and pages.

Yeah, that's why I said I don't think Knight was deliberately racist. Melbournians and Aussies in general are extremely tolerant and for such a mixed race place there is very little tension. Aussies don't mind anyone as long as they don't take things too seriously. I think traditional Aussie thinking believes that people should take a ribbing and because there has never been much tension we have never had real race issues. As such we just don't really get the racial politics of the rest of the world. We have some racists but that is pretty universal.

Most places that have enough for most people in society to have good standard of living don't mind sharing. Most serious racial tension is still due to lack of a fair go for all or people feeling like their share is being distributed to someone else. We are naive to it because we haven't had issues to really deal with I guess. The indigenous Aussies are probably the only people in Australia that really have a great deal to be pissed about. Overall we aren't generally racist.

 

[CursingFijian]

https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.co...on-go-australia-auburn-paying-off/1289126002/

Punter Arryn Siposs going from Australia to Auburn paying off
Josh Vitale, Montgomery Advertiser

Published 12:07 p.m. CT Sept. 13, 2018 | Updated 5:29 p.m. CT Sept. 15, 2018

AUBURN — Looking back on it now, Arryn Siposs describes the decision he made as “high-risk, high-reward.”

The risk was flying nearly 10,000 miles from Melbourne, Australia, to Auburn, leaving behind an Australian rules football career in the hopes of becoming an American football punter. The reward — he hoped — would be to follow in the footsteps of countrymen like Michael Dickson, who came to America from Sydney, became a star at Texas and was selected by the Seattle Seahawks in the fifth round of the 2018 NFL draft.

“You got to come over here and really get the job done, or there’s no point, is there?” Siposs said this past Saturday in his first interview since arriving in Auburn. “You’ve kind of failed coming over here and giving it a crack.”

The risk has been worth it so far. Siposs didn’t win the competition with incumbent Aidan Marshall to be Auburn’s starting punter in the fall, but he was on the field more than the field more than him in a Week 1 win over Washington in Atlanta and was named the starter ahead of a Week 2 thrashing of Alabama State.

On Tuesday, head coach Gus Malzahn announced that Marshall, a sophomore walk-on, had left the Tigers’ program. Siposs, a first-year sophomore, will be the guy going forward.

“We feel very good about Arryn,” Malzahn said. “He's done a good job.”

Siposs was a player Auburn desperately needed this season. Last year, the team ranked 102nd nationally averaging 39.47 yards per punt and allowing 11.43 yards per opponent punt return.

Never was that more of an issue than Oct. 14 against the same LSU team Auburn will host at Jordan-Hare Stadium this Saturday, when DJ Chark returned a Marshall punt 75 yards for a touchdown that came as part of the 20 unanswered points LSU scored in a come-from-behind, 27-23 victory.

Siposs said he has seen that play on film. He hopes it won’t be the case this time around.

By all accounts, the 25-year-old Australian is off to a strong start on the Plains. Marshall’s first and only punt against the Huskies covered just 30 yards. The first two of Siposs’ career averaged 43.5 yards. His second punt against the Hornets this past Saturday was downed inside the 20.

“I’ve been really happy and the coaches have been really happy with how it’s gone so far, which has been really good,” Siposs said. “So as long as I’m making them happy and I’m doing my job, then it certainly makes things a lot easier for me. I’m just really enjoying the experience, and hopefully I can continue doing that. We’ve obviously got some really big games coming up in the next few weeks, and I’ll be ready to go.”

It has been a significant adjustment for Siposs, though. For starters, he’s gone from a city of more than 4.8 million people in Melbourne to what he described as a “small, essentially country town” of about 64,000 in Auburn.

“It’s pretty crazy this time a year, but obviously when footy’s not around and things like that, it’s certainly a lot quieter,” he said, “which does make things a little bit different compared to what it’s like back home.”

The game is a lot different, too. Siposs is no stranger to kicking the ball — the 75th overall pick in the 2010 AFL draft scored 22 goals in 28 games for the St Kilda Football Club of the Australian Football League — but about the only thing American and Australian football share is the name.

That’s where Prokick Australia came in. The program, developed in 2007, is designed to “help guide and transition Australian athletes to perform at the College/NFL level,” according to its website. Tom Hornsey (at Memphis), Tom Hackett and Mitch Wishnowsky (Utah), and Dickson (Texas) — the last five Ray Guy Award winners — all came through the program before Siposs did.

“It takes a little bit of time just to adjust to, dealing with that pressure all the time and the high intensity-type stuff. That took a little bit of time. But I really feel like I’ve gotten used to that now,” Siposs said of transitioning to American football. “Prokick Australia will do a lot for you do to make sure you’re in that right position before you get over here so it doesn’t take too long for you to adjust. They’ve been great, and it’s definitely put me in a good position to hopefully do my job when I’m here.”

The only thing Prokick couldn’t prepare Siposs for was what game day would be like. The punter asked his teammates — “the boys,” as he calls them — what he needed to be prepared for this past Saturday, and they told him about Tiger Walk and playing in front of more than 80,000 fans inside Jordan-Hare Stadium.

But it’s impossible to know what that’s like until you experience it for yourself.

“It was a bit surreal,” Siposs said.

He had only experienced something like that one time before, at the AFL’s Grand Final, which is “the equivalent of your Super Bowl,” and takes place at the 100,000-seat Melbourne Cricket Club. The biggest crowd he said he had every played in front of with St Kilda was about 65,000, but that was once.

No. 7 Auburn drew an announced crowd of 84,806 for its home opener this past Saturday, and that was just a 63-9 win over FCS Alabama State. There should be little doubt that it will fill the 87,451-seat Jordan-Hare Stadium for a crucial SEC opener against No. 13 LSU on Saturday.

“It was amazing,” he said. “The crowd was amazing, the fans were amazing, and it certainly makes it a lot easier when you’ve got people like that behind you that are supporting you all the way.”

Those experiences alone might have made Siposs’ big move worth the risk.

Nice video of Aaron in the link at the top. His stats from todays game:



The opposition punter had 4 punts averaging 52.8

 

[Crusty Undies]

I think you have to be careful with how the media portray a place.

The media in the first world portray South Africa as all sunshine and rainbows though, I believed them until I saw the hundreds of videos of Boer farmers on twitter pleading for help, until I saw the set of alternate statistics that the SA government isn't interested in anyone finding out. Like I said earlier, Farmlands is a very good doco to watch if you're actually interested. I don't think having entire political parties and their leaders talking about "cutting the throat of whiteness" or "stealing back what they stole from us" or "Black First Black Land" are really the slogans of a government that is racially equal no matter how impoverished its people.

 

[gringo2011]

The media in the first world portray South Africa as all sunshine and rainbows though, I believed them until I saw the hundreds of videos of Boer farmers on twitter pleading for help, until I saw the set of alternate statistics that the SA government isn't interested in anyone finding out. Like I said earlier, Farmlands is a very good doco to watch if you're actually interested. I don't think having entire political parties and their leaders talking about "cutting the throat of whiteness" or "stealing back what they stole from us" or "Black First Black Land" are really the slogans of a government that is racially equal no matter how impoverished its people.

I thought it was some guy that was like the black Pauline Hansen that was the main dickhead there?

 

[SaintsSeptember]

I don't think S.A. was ever about black and white. That was simply an easy way to define it.
It was about colonization of a country that was already populated.
It sounds a bit like something Chopper Reid would have said, but you don't go and invade some country , just so you can hold an election and hand it back.
I also think if they'd gone democratic sooner , things would have been even worse than they are now. Probably more like Zimbabwe.
Black/White was a simple way to identify conqueror or conquered.

Suddenly giving it back was never a good idea either.
It clearly needed to be managed.

 

[Crusty Undies]

I thought it was some guy that was like the black Pauline Hansen that was the main dickhead there?

Yeah but it's not just one guy. One of their biggest parties is a collection of Pauline Hansen's. I'd actually argue they're worse too, Pauline Hansen is pretty awful but at least she doesn't actively promote violence against aboriginals or immigrants etc.

 

[Persevering Saint]

My boy just came up and asked me, "Dad, are we pyromaniacs?"

I told him straight, "Yes, we arson."

 

[SaintsSeptember]

Why do the cops need to buy $120 000 BMW pursuit cars when they don't do pursuit?

Yes i understand that they have an internal standard that calls for brakes capable of making it through the Bathurst race, but surely these should be reviewed with regards to the capabilities of modern cars and the current police pursuit policies.

Hyundai i30 N 0-100 6.1 seconds Top speed 250Km/h

XD Falcon V8 Four Speed. 0-100 8.2 seconds. Top Speed 205km/h.

But.... in light of the current policies. the N shouldn't be needed.
Hyundai i30 1.6T GDI 0-100 8 seconds. Top Speed 219 Km/h.

It seems that most high speed chases make the news these days, and they "sometimes" report speeds of "up to" 160km/h.
So the $40 000 Hyundai should be fine.

Yes the cops have a standard that calls for rear wheel drive cars. Has anyone thought to examine this archaic standard and ask the question "why"?

 

[st_trav_ofWA]

Why do the cops need to buy $120 000 BMW pursuit cars when they don't do pursuit?

Yes i understand that they have an internal standard that calls for brakes capable of making it through the Bathurst race, but surely these should be reviewed with regards to the capabilities of modern cars and the current police pursuit policies.

Hyundai i30 N 0-100 6.1 seconds Top speed 250Km/h

XD Falcon V8 Four Speed. 0-100 8.2 seconds. Top Speed 205km/h.

But.... in light of the current policies. the N shouldn't be needed.
Hyundai i30 1.6T GDI 0-100 8 seconds. Top Speed 219 Km/h.

It seems that most high speed chases make the news these days, and they "sometimes" report speeds of "up to" 160km/h.
So the $40 000 Hyundai should be fine.

Yes the cops have a standard that calls for rear wheel drive cars. Has anyone thought to examine this archaic standard and ask the question "why"?

if we are going to cut cost i think the cars the cops drive should be towards the bottom of the list... the dollars spent on parlimentry drivers would be high on the list of what i would cut

 

[SaintsSeptember]

if we are going to cut cost i think the cars the cops drive should be towards the bottom of the list... the dollars spent on parlimentry drivers would be high on the list of what i would cut

its not cutting costs, its stopping them from spending 3 times as much.
Instead of sitting in BMW's they could spend money on.... i don't know, stopping crime or something.

 

[CursingFijian]

 

[DGontheQT]

https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.co...on-go-australia-auburn-paying-off/1289126002/

Punter Arryn Siposs going from Australia to Auburn paying off

https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.co...on-go-australia-auburn-paying-off/1289126002/

Punter Arryn Siposs going from Australia to Auburn paying off
Josh Vitale, Montgomery Advertiser

Published 12:07 p.m. CT Sept. 13, 2018 | Updated 5:29 p.m. CT Sept. 15, 2018

AUBURN — Looking back on it now, Arryn Siposs describes the decision he made as “high-risk, high-reward.”

The risk was flying nearly 10,000 miles from Melbourne, Australia, to Auburn, leaving behind an Australian rules football career in the hopes of becoming an American football punter. The reward — he hoped — would be to follow in the footsteps of countrymen like Michael Dickson, who came to America from Sydney, became a star at Texas and was selected by the Seattle Seahawks in the fifth round of the 2018 NFL draft.

“You got to come over here and really get the job done, or there’s no point, is there?” Siposs said this past Saturday in his first interview since arriving in Auburn. “You’ve kind of failed coming over here and giving it a crack.”

The risk has been worth it so far. Siposs didn’t win the competition with incumbent Aidan Marshall to be Auburn’s starting punter in the fall, but he was on the field more than the field more than him in a Week 1 win over Washington in Atlanta and was named the starter ahead of a Week 2 thrashing of Alabama State.

On Tuesday, head coach Gus Malzahn announced that Marshall, a sophomore walk-on, had left the Tigers’ program. Siposs, a first-year sophomore, will be the guy going forward.

“We feel very good about Arryn,” Malzahn said. “He's done a good job.”

Siposs was a player Auburn desperately needed this season. Last year, the team ranked 102nd nationally averaging 39.47 yards per punt and allowing 11.43 yards per opponent punt return.

Never was that more of an issue than Oct. 14 against the same LSU team Auburn will host at Jordan-Hare Stadium this Saturday, when DJ Chark returned a Marshall punt 75 yards for a touchdown that came as part of the 20 unanswered points LSU scored in a come-from-behind, 27-23 victory.

Siposs said he has seen that play on film. He hopes it won’t be the case this time around.

By all accounts, the 25-year-old Australian is off to a strong start on the Plains. Marshall’s first and only punt against the Huskies covered just 30 yards. The first two of Siposs’ career averaged 43.5 yards. His second punt against the Hornets this past Saturday was downed inside the 20.

“I’ve been really happy and the coaches have been really happy with how it’s gone so far, which has been really good,” Siposs said. “So as long as I’m making them happy and I’m doing my job, then it certainly makes things a lot easier for me. I’m just really enjoying the experience, and hopefully I can continue doing that. We’ve obviously got some really big games coming up in the next few weeks, and I’ll be ready to go.”

It has been a significant adjustment for Siposs, though. For starters, he’s gone from a city of more than 4.8 million people in Melbourne to what he described as a “small, essentially country town” of about 64,000 in Auburn.

“It’s pretty crazy this time a year, but obviously when footy’s not around and things like that, it’s certainly a lot quieter,” he said, “which does make things a little bit different compared to what it’s like back home.”

The game is a lot different, too. Siposs is no stranger to kicking the ball — the 75th overall pick in the 2010 AFL draft scored 22 goals in 28 games for the St Kilda Football Club of the Australian Football League — but about the only thing American and Australian football share is the name.

That’s where Prokick Australia came in. The program, developed in 2007, is designed to “help guide and transition Australian athletes to perform at the College/NFL level,” according to its website. Tom Hornsey (at Memphis), Tom Hackett and Mitch Wishnowsky (Utah), and Dickson (Texas) — the last five Ray Guy Award winners — all came through the program before Siposs did.

“It takes a little bit of time just to adjust to, dealing with that pressure all the time and the high intensity-type stuff. That took a little bit of time. But I really feel like I’ve gotten used to that now,” Siposs said of transitioning to American football. “Prokick Australia will do a lot for you do to make sure you’re in that right position before you get over here so it doesn’t take too long for you to adjust. They’ve been great, and it’s definitely put me in a good position to hopefully do my job when I’m here.”

The only thing Prokick couldn’t prepare Siposs for was what game day would be like. The punter asked his teammates — “the boys,” as he calls them — what he needed to be prepared for this past Saturday, and they told him about Tiger Walk and playing in front of more than 80,000 fans inside Jordan-Hare Stadium.

But it’s impossible to know what that’s like until you experience it for yourself.

“It was a bit surreal,” Siposs said.

He had only experienced something like that one time before, at the AFL’s Grand Final, which is “the equivalent of your Super Bowl,” and takes place at the 100,000-seat Melbourne Cricket Club. The biggest crowd he said he had every played in front of with St Kilda was about 65,000, but that was once.

No. 7 Auburn drew an announced crowd of 84,806 for its home opener this past Saturday, and that was just a 63-9 win over FCS Alabama State. There should be little doubt that it will fill the 87,451-seat Jordan-Hare Stadium for a crucial SEC opener against No. 13 LSU on Saturday.

“It was amazing,” he said. “The crowd was amazing, the fans were amazing, and it certainly makes it a lot easier when you’ve got people like that behind you that are supporting you all the way.”

Those experiences alone might have made Siposs’ big move worth the risk.

Nice video of Aaron in the link at the top. His stats from todays game:

View attachment 559425

The opposition punter had 4 punts averaging 52.8

Those experiences alone might have made Siposs’ big move worth the risk.

Nice video of Aaron in the link at the top. His stats from todays game:

View attachment 559425

The opposition punter had 4 punts averaging 52.8

 

[st_trav_ofWA]

Meth is bad kids ......

ok i sit here slightly shaken posting this feeling very lucky to be alive.. so this morning on my comute to work driving down the same street i drive every morning i came across something i was not expecting to start my day ... traveling at about 140km/h on the wrong side of the road was a White toyota hilux 4WD heading directly for me head on.. at first i though it was just an idiot trying to overtake at possibly the most stupidist place , but as the 4WD got closer and closer i could see the driver was quite litterally Meth'd out of his brain, he was bashing his head against the steering wheel screaming at the top of his lungs with the spit from his frothing toothless mouth hitting the windscreen ... averting the imminent head on collision i mounted the curb hitting the dewy grass of the business facing the road i was travelling on causing the back end of my car to lose traction almost putting me into a spin, thankfully i managed to right the car before heading into the brick letterbox of the said business and avoided a prang ...
mean while Mr 4wd Meth head continued down the road at 140km/h on the wrong side looking for his next victim ... once i composed myself a quick call to the cops to report the crazy driver was made ... hopefully they catch him before he runs across someone not as alert as me....

 

[CursingFijian]

Meth is bad kids ......

ok i sit here slightly shaken posting this feeling very lucky to be alive.. so this morning on my comute to work driving down the same street i drive every morning i came across something i was not expecting to start my day ... traveling at about 140km/h on the wrong side of the road was a White toyota hilux 4WD heading directly for me head on.. at first i though it was just an idiot trying to overtake at possibly the most stupidist place , but as the 4WD got closer and closer i could see the driver was quite litterally Meth'd out of his brain, he was bashing his head against the steering wheel screaming at the top of his lungs with the spit from his frothing toothless mouth hitting the windscreen ... averting the imminent head on collision i mounted the curb hitting the dewy grass of the business facing the road i was travelling on causing the back end of my car to lose traction almost putting me into a spin, thankfully i managed to right the car before heading into the brick letterbox of the said business and avoided a prang ...
mean while Mr 4wd Meth head continued down the road at 140km/h on the wrong side looking for his next victim ... once i composed myself a quick call to the cops to report the crazy driver was made ... hopefully they catch him before he runs across someone not as alert as me....

Scary stuff mate. We are thankful you’re still with us.

 

[karaoke]

Meth is bad kids ......

ok i sit here slightly shaken posting this feeling very lucky to be alive.. so this morning on my comute to work driving down the same street i drive every morning i came across something i was not expecting to start my day ... traveling at about 140km/h on the wrong side of the road was a White toyota hilux 4WD heading directly for me head on.. at first i though it was just an idiot trying to overtake at possibly the most stupidist place , but as the 4WD got closer and closer i could see the driver was quite litterally Meth'd out of his brain, he was bashing his head against the steering wheel screaming at the top of his lungs with the spit from his frothing toothless mouth hitting the windscreen ... averting the imminent head on collision i mounted the curb hitting the dewy grass of the business facing the road i was travelling on causing the back end of my car to lose traction almost putting me into a spin, thankfully i managed to right the car before heading into the brick letterbox of the said business and avoided a prang ...
mean while Mr 4wd Meth head continued down the road at 140km/h on the wrong side looking for his next victim ... once i composed myself a quick call to the cops to report the crazy driver was made ... hopefully they catch him before he runs across someone not as alert as me....

Not good mate, I hope you're ok & nobody does get hurt.

 

[st_trav_ofWA]

im all ok now was thinking i might need a change of undies cause it certainly scared the crap outta me but my main concern was someone else further down the road ... it was 5:30am so its not uncommon for drivers to be still somewhat waking up to start the day so they might not be as awake as i was to aviod this mad man....
interesting side note it was the same stretch of road Ben Cousins was caught driving meth'd off his face recently ... it wasnt Ben who i faced but it has me thinking that there is most likely a dealer close by ...

 

[DGontheQT]

Meth is bad kids ......

ok i sit here slightly shaken posting this feeling very lucky to be alive.. so this morning on my comute to work driving down the same street i drive every morning i came across something i was not expecting to start my day ... traveling at about 140km/h on the wrong side of the road was a White toyota hilux 4WD heading directly for me head on.. at first i though it was just an idiot trying to overtake at possibly the most stupidist place , but as the 4WD got closer and closer i could see the driver was quite litterally Meth'd out of his brain, he was bashing his head against the steering wheel screaming at the top of his lungs with the spit from his frothing toothless mouth hitting the windscreen ... averting the imminent head on collision i mounted the curb hitting the dewy grass of the business facing the road i was travelling on causing the back end of my car to lose traction almost putting me into a spin, thankfully i managed to right the car before heading into the brick letterbox of the said business and avoided a prang ...
mean while Mr 4wd Meth head continued down the road at 140km/h on the wrong side looking for his next victim ... once i composed myself a quick call to the cops to report the crazy driver was made ... hopefully they catch him before he runs across someone not as alert as me....

Ben is out ?