Big Mark: BS & Predictions Aficionado

Proud dad of three. Fan of college football, fly-fishing, model railroads, MLB, NBA, NFL, mystery books, outdoors & westerns #GoGauchos #GoDucks #GoCougs

[Coach AJ 🎯 Mental Fitness @coachajkings]

Mike Brown shares a simple but powerful definition of winning in life.

"Even if you don't have the quote unquote ultimate success that you think you deserve - if you get knocked down in life and you're able to get back up and keep fighting - that's a fricking win."

"Most of our guys have probably had to go through that. But I think most people in the world have to go through it."

Success isn't always the result - sometimes it's just refusing to stay down.

It's choosing to endure, get back up, and keep fighting.

Successful people are relentless.
(🎥SNY )

[Barstool Sports @barstoolsports]

The vibes couldn’t be more immaculate in America right now

[Adam Ryan 🤝 @AdamRy_n]

Aldon Smith passed away this weekend. Most people are talking about his incredible ability, potential, and performance as a football player.

Even though that is all true. He was so much more than that. He was a great friend and his kindness changed my life forever.

I met Aldon our freshman year at Mizzou. He was redshirted and relatively unknown as an athlete. His giveaway was the biggest hands you'll ever see and his ability to dunk at 250lbs, but his size in many ways didn't match his personality. He was relatively quiet and in most scenarios would try to shrink into the room vs stand out in it.

Over the course of the next year, we became close. We were very different people, from different places, but we both connected on the feeling of being a bit lost in the beginnings of adulthood. That year, I never really thought about him as a football player. He was just this gentle giant who loved to play video games and talk about life.

His sophmore year he broke the single season sack record at Mizzou, became an All American, and his life changed forever.

He became a celebrity on campus. He became a household name in Missouri. He became a top NFL draft prospect.

I remember how crazy his life became, and how quickly. ESPN doing interviews. Fancy cars being "loaned" to him. And people everywhere inserting themselves into his life.

Despite the craziness, my friend was always a text away.

My junior of college, I decided to take my first stab at entrepreneurship. I wanted to launch a chapter of Camp Kesem.

Kesem is a summer camp for children whose parents have been affected by cancer. The camp would be totally free and be a chance for a kid to experience the magic of being a kid again. As a son of a breast cancer survivor the idea of being able to create this camp in Missouri meant the world to me.

The Livestrong Foundation was hosting a nation wide contest to win $10,000 as seed capital to get started. To win, you had to have the most votes.

I tried really freaking hard to win that competition. I was going up against some really influential people at huge schools. As a somewhat awkward kid in Columbia, MO I had no chance.

So I asked my friend Aldon for a favor. I asked him if he would help me out and promote the link to vote.

He did more than just posting about Kesem on Facebook, skyrocketing us into the top place in the country. He kept supporting me the next 3 years while I was working on building Kesem.

He showed up to have fun with the kids. He helped me fundraise. He helped me get Kesem to become an official organization sponsored by the NFLPA so he could publicly endorse us as as a player.

Since then Torry Holt, Larry Fitzegerald, and many others have supported Kesem. But Aldon was the first.

Kesem led me to move to Austin to work for the Livestrong Foundation. Kesem is how I met my wife. Kesem gave me the confidence to start Workweek and continue the path of building something from scratch.

But in reality, Aldon enabled all those things.

Throughout the years we had many amazing memories together. Having my wife and I vacation to his house in San Jose. Going to New Orleans for the Super Bowl and seeing his entire family make the trip. Meeting his son and watching him be a dad. The hilarious night we met Derek Jeter. Having the most intellectual conversations about life while playing Call of Duty.

I also saw him struggle. There's no doubt he was a complicated person. Truthfully, I don't know if he ever really figured out who he wanted to be. I know just because your'e 6'4, 250lbs, and get 5.5 sacks in a single NFL game doesn't necessarily mean you want to be a football player. No matter the reasons, he made many bad decisions in his life. Some of those mistakes made it hard for me to stay as close as we'd once been.

One day, not too long ago, I just decided to text him. It had been years since we really chatted. I just wanted to say thank you for all that he had done for me and that I was sorry I wasn't there for him more through his struggles. We FaceTimed after that, and it was like the old days all over again.

Aldon was more than the headlines, the mistakes. He was a generous, gentle soul, a kid at heart, someone who was endlessly curious about life... all in the body of a world class NFL player, bearing the weight of professional pressure and personal circumstances that most of us can't even imagine.

People are complex. People who make bad decisions can also do great things. A person can be hated by almost everyone and, yet, there are people in that person's life who still love them deeply.

I learned many of these lesson due to Aldon, and I'll carry them with me forever.

Rest in peace, Aldon. You won't be forgotten.

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

Republicans are in charge because we promised:

to Make America Healthy Again.
to start No New Wars,
to put people above corporations,
to put America above foreign countries,
to release the Epstein files,
to not spy on citizens,
to eliminate fraud,

what the hell happened?!

[Barstool Sports @barstoolsports]

Country Roads in Omaha… cherish these moments

[Joe Kent @joekent16jan19]

I’m skeptical that President Trump can secure a deal with Iran at this point in the war — I’ll explain why that is below, but let me first caveat my skepticism by reiterating: we don’t need to a deal to just declare victory and walk away. It’s the only way out of this mess in the short term that will deliver anything that looks like a win for the U.S.

Why can’t we reach a deal with Iran?

1. Iran believes they are winning—and they are not wrong to think they are. Iran is exploiting powerful leverage, which we delivered to them: closing the SOH has obviously significantly hindered the flow of oil/gas, putting massive pressure on us and the global economy.

Today, President Trump announced that the U.S. Navy has secretly escorted 200 oil tankers out of the SOH. While this is positive news and may have helped temper rising oil prices somewhat, the impact is not substantial enough to prevent a major energy crisis. These 200 tankers transiting the SOH over the past 100 days represent only about 2% of the normal volume—roughly 10,000 ships every 100 days—prior to the war. Furthermore, the U.S. has to deploy major naval and air assets to keep the SOH open. This is not sustainable and works to Iran’s advantage in the long run: Iran can disrupt commerce through the strait with relatively little effort, while the U.S. must risk two carrier battle groups simply to move 2% of the normal amount of oil and gas.

2. The Iranian hardliners have been emboldened and have no interest in reaching a deal. For years before the war, there was major tension between the moderates—who were open to dialogue with the U.S.—and the more militant factions of the Iranian government, primarily senior officers in the IRGC. At the outset of the war, we killed the leading moderate figure (moderate by Iranian standards), Supreme Leader Khamenei, along with several of his civilian counterparts like Ali Larijani. We’ve used the cover of peace talks as a ruse to launch attacks on Iran on two separate occasions. All of this bolstered the hardliners’ standpoint that we cannot be trusted in negotiations and that Iran had no choice but to fight.

3. Israel. Despite reports of tension between Bibi and Trump, the Israelis remain the spoiler of any progress towards a deal and prove it every time there are serious talks of peace. President Trump has made public statements urging Israel to show restraint, but has been ignored and, in many cases, outright defied. The Israelis consider any peace deal with Iran to be unacceptable and a major threat to their nation. Until President Trump takes away some U.S. military support from Israel, they will continue to sabotage any chance of a lasting peace.

[J&L Historical @Jason_R_Burt]

From the muddy fields of Normandy to the pages of history, Dick Winters didn’t just lead Easy Company — he distilled a lifetime of command into 10 timeless principles.

🧵 Dick Winters’ 10 Principles of leadership

[Maria Shriver @mariashriver]

I’ve been thinking a lot about the extraordinary outbursts of the President of the United States against female journalists... well, actually against journalists in general and journalism. But it feels like he saves his most childlike behavior and irrational language for female reporters, calling them all kinds of names that kids in kindergarten are given times out for. It’s stunning to me to witness such behavior from any leader, any CEO, any person of influence or importance. I’ve never witnessed someone like this raging, this weekend with @meetthepress host @kwelkernbc, just last week in the Oval Office with @cnn’s @kaitlancollins, calling women stupid or piggy, telling them to “smile”, calling them darling, demeaning their credibility. Every good man should denounce this behavior. Every person should be able to stand up for their colleagues and say “No more.”

Imagine this man screaming like this at your daughter, your wife, your sister, your mother... would you stand for it? No, you wouldn’t! And neither should any of us. It’s unacceptable and undignified. Period. End of story.

[Big Mark: BS & Predictions Aficionado @marksalcido]

80 days till the CFB kickoff. 🏈
Season’s first half schedule of the top entertaining weekly games:
Week 1 Clemson @ LSU
Week 2 Ohio State @ Texas
Week 3 LSU @ Ole Miss
Week 4 Oregon @ USC
Week 5 Miami @ Clemson
Week 6 Georgia @ Alabama
#CollegeFootball #BigGames #BigMark

[Mark Ennis @MarkEnnis]

Rick Neuheisel got fired from Washington for participating in an NCAA Tournament bracket pool for a sport he doesn't coach.

[Stewart Mandel @slmandel]

The Brendan Sorsby court ruling is unlike any NCAA loss before it.

This one is unconscionable.

Shame on Texas Tech for supporting it.

Free column:

https://t.co/fN4Yw4SBK6

[Space Ape @EatDaBugs]

Tucker Carlson says he told Trump to his face that the people pushing him toward war with Iran want to destroy him, and they are doing it on behalf of Israel.

Carlson names Benjamin Netanyahu, Rupert Murdoch, Mark Thiessen, Ben Shapiro, and Mark Levin as the figures driving the pressure campaign.

“The people pushing you toward this would include Rupert Murdoch, who despises you.”

“Mark Thiessen has always hated you. Ben Shapiro, they hate you. Mark Levin hates you, has always hated you.”

“The people pushing you to do this want to destroy you, and they're doing it on behalf of Israel, whose goals include getting the United States out of the Middle East.”

“I said that right to his face, and he said, yeah, I know.”

Trump knows exactly who is handling him.

[Bobbi @kittenaround_51]

With the kids out of school for summer this mother found a really neat way to help the kids cool off and be creative at the same time. How cool is this?

[Big Mark: BS & Predictions Aficionado @marksalcido]

@Coach_Yac Depressed

[Jack Carr @JackCarrUSA]

“Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well-trained, well-equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory!

I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!

Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.”

- Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower

[The Husky @Mr_Husky1]

A 24-year-old Polish tennis player arrived in Paris last week ranked 114th in the world, with no sponsors, no guaranteed income, and no certainty she could even pay for her hotel room.

She had to win three qualifying matches just to enter the French Open main draw. Prize money is only paid at the end of the tournament, so a Polish sports drink brand quietly stepped in and covered her hotel bill.

Her name is Maja Chwalinska. And today, she plays in the French Open final.

Before this tournament, she had won exactly one Grand Slam main draw match in her entire career. She had battled depression so severe that in 2021 she couldn't get out of bed. She underwent knee surgery in 2022. She spent years grinding through small tournaments across Europe just to stay afloat.

Then she arrived in Paris, won three qualifiers, and kept winning. Zheng Qinwen. Elise Mertens. Maria Sakkari. Diana Shnaider. Nine straight matches. One set dropped.

She is now the first qualifier in French Open history to reach the final. The last time a qualifier reached a Grand Slam final, it was Emma Raducanu at the 2021 US Open. Raducanu won.

By simply making the final, Chwalinska has earned more prize money than her entire career combined. The runner-up cheque alone is $1.6 million. If she wins today, she takes home $3.25 million.
One week ago she couldn't pay for her hotel room.

[Stewart Mandel @slmandel]

There is truly nothing like a Southwest flight to Vegas. (Where I'm connecting today.)

Flight attendant on the PA: "Is there a David (something) on board?"

Loud female voice: "No, he is not! We just broke up."

[House of Lowlights @HouseLowlights]

The difference between Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark in 10 seconds.

[Voices of WW2 @VoicesofWW2]

84 years ago today, a pilot running out of fuel made a decision that won the Pacific War. Most Americans have never heard his name.

June 4, 1942. Six months after Pearl Harbor, Japan's navy is undefeated. Four of the carriers that burned Pearl, Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, and Hiryu, are steaming toward Midway to finish off the US Pacific Fleet.

At 7:52 AM, Wade McClusky launches from USS Enterprise leading 32 Dauntless dive bombers. Here's the detail nobody mentions: McClusky is a fighter pilot. He'd been given the air group weeks earlier and had barely flown a dive bomber in combat. Now he's leading every SBD the Enterprise has at the most important target in the Pacific.

9:20 AM. He arrives at the intercept point where the Japanese fleet is supposed to be.

Empty ocean. Nothing for miles.

The Japanese had turned. Nobody knew where. And now McClusky owns the worst math problem in naval aviation: his fuel is bleeding away, and every minute he keeps searching, he condemns more of his own pilots to ditch in open water where nobody will find them.

Doctrine is clear. Turn back.

McClusky keeps going. He works a search pattern, squeezing miles out of dying fuel tanks.

9:55 AM. Far below, a single Japanese destroyer is cutting a white scar across the ocean at flank speed. It's the Arashi, racing to rejoin the fleet after depth-charging the American submarine Nautilus. Think about that. A failed sub attack is about to give away the entire Japanese navy.

McClusky reads the wake like an arrow and follows it.

10:02 AM. The horizon fills with the entire Japanese strike force. Four carriers, their decks crammed with planes being refueled and rearmed. Fuel lines snaking everywhere. Bombs stacked in the open.

And here's the miracle: the sky above them is empty. Minutes earlier, American torpedo squadrons had attacked at sea level and been annihilated. Torpedo 8 lost all 15 planes. One survivor, Ensign George Gay, watched what came next while hiding under his seat cushion in the water. Those doomed pilots dragged every Japanese fighter down to the waves. The door upstairs was wide open.

10:22 AM. McClusky pushes over from 14,500 feet. Both squadrons follow him down onto Kaga. It's actually a mistake, doctrine said split the targets, but Lt. Dick Best catches it mid-dive, pulls out with two wingmen, and goes after Akagi alone. His single bomb pierces the flight deck into the packed hangar. It's enough.

By 10:28, Kaga, Akagi, and Soryu, the third hit simultaneously by Yorktown's bombers, are floating infernos. Six minutes. Three carriers that attacked Pearl Harbor, gone. Hiryu follows them to the bottom that evening.

The cost of McClusky's gamble was real. Many Enterprise bombers never made it home, some shot down, others swallowed by the sea when their tanks ran dry. McClusky himself was jumped by two Zeros on the way out, took five bullets through his shoulder, and still flew his shot-up Dauntless back to the Enterprise.

Admiral Nimitz said McClusky's decision "decided the fate of our carrier task force and our forces at Midway." Japan never won another major battle.

One borrowed pilot. One destroyer's wake. One choice to keep flying when every gauge said go home.

[Autism Capital 🧩 @AutismCapital]

Remember the bird autist? His name is Samuel. He’s 11. And good news! Everyone loves him, respects him, he’s won the acknowledgement of his peers, and everything wonderful is going for him. An actual feel good story with no twists. Just winning. 👏🏼❤️