Here’s all you really need to know about how money drives everything in college sports:
Alabama football coach Nick Saban gets paid $4,000,000 per year. The average yearly salary for a professor at Alabama is $116,000.
Alabama won the National Championship last season. It is estimated that a home game in Tuscaloosa brings in over 21 million dollars to the university.
That’s PER GAME.
Just sayin'.
Nick Saban received a bonus of $200,000 for beating Texas in the title game. And what did the hard working young men who played for Nick Saban get?
A nice ring and a chance to study for free.
I’m sure got some swag, maybe a nice Rose Bowl sweat suit and some gym shoes.
But that’s about it. Or is it?
A few weeks ago Nick Saban referred to sports agents as “pimps” amid allegations that several Division I players, including former Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush, took money (in Bush’s case over $250,000) from agents while in school.
Imagine that.
The system is screwy. The NFL and universities have done a fine job fostering a “farm system” for the pros to develop players, so-called “student athletes.”
Think about that. How much does it cost for an employer to hire and train a new employee? For the NFL, not much.
Basketball is no different. The NBA imposed a “one and done” rule requiring players to play somewhere until the minimum age of 19, effectively letting colleges train them for a year, at no cost, with the idea that kids would benefit from “the college experience.”
Hooey. This is America, right? If someone told me when I was 19 “drop out now and we will pay you millions” do you think I would even consider another year of Mac and Cheese and Old Style? Money can’t buy you love, but it makes livin’ a lot easier.
Modern college athletics has turned the concept of “student athletes” on its head. I’m talking revenue sports, not fencing or field hockey.
And yes, I know there are plenty of college athletes who go to class with no aspirations of making a living shooting a ball or knocking people over. For every jock studying ceramics or martinizing, you have one majoring in astrophysics or electrical engineering.
But let’s get real. The time commitment to play a major revenue sport is year-round, the pressure tremendous.
And there are some silly rules. Athletes are not allowed to work in season (presuming they could find the time). But they are allowed to get paid to play another sport. Drew Henson was a quarterback at Michigan while under contract with the New York Yankees for a cool 6 years/17 million dollars.
Agents are pervasive in amateur sports, and the temptation is real because the “free education” carrot is not enough for many athletes. When I was in school at Missouri I certainly saw a few fancy cars, but I also witnessed guys who waiting until Thanksgiving to go home and do their laundry. Many wore team issue clothes every day.
So here’s a modest proposal: How about taking a slice of that revenue and paying players a small stipend, say $50 - $100 per week? It wouldn’t get rid of agent “pimps,” but it might help level the playing field a bit.
Pay to play? Please.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
The Kase Fer Book Lernin'
"Dad," I heard my 11 year old son call from the kitchen.
"I want to go to college at USC, Florida, LSU, what's LSU?, Ohio State or Penn State."
I guess there are worse criteria for picking a school than Football polls.
My two seventh graders and I have had quite a few talks about college lately. They are curious as a number of their cousins and friend's siblings go off to school.
They want to know "what you do there" and are intrigued, to say the least, by the idea that they are on their own. Our talks have me thinking about the value of education and the pressures kids face.
Growing up, my parents led by example. We lived in a home filled with books and newspapers and they were consistent in emphasizing effort and thirst for knowledge over grades.
They stressed the importance of being well read and the value of knowing a little bit about a lot of things. I remember coming home from college and my parents asking what I learned, not what I got.
Which isn't to say that if I crossed the Bluto Blutarsky line I wouldn't have faced the music. I did well. But graduation day was the beginning of my education, not the end.
Somehow we have bought into the notion that a college degree is a necessity, for everyone. Not sure I buy that.
My freshman year at Missouri I was in a large Marketing class with a visiting professor from Australia. On the first exam he gave 2/3 of the class a C or lower and heard moans when he posted grades. One student yelled, "Everyone deserves a chance" and he quickly replied, "No, not everyone deserves a chance. Everyone deserves an oppotunity to take a chance." He turned his back to us a moment and then said "You know what I am saying don't you?" (pregnant pause) "Most of you don't belong here."
College isn't for everyone, and yet we seem backwards compared to many cultures where kids serve as an apprentice in a chosen field before going to college or trade school.
Mr. Marshall at my high school was one of the most interesting, well read people I have ever known. I don't recall whether or where he went to college. He was a custodian, in charge of cleaning our athletic locker rooms. A good man.
As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, "Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.”
And for my kids: No matter where life takes you, be a learner, an interesting person. That's an "A" on my report card.
"I want to go to college at USC, Florida, LSU, what's LSU?, Ohio State or Penn State."
I guess there are worse criteria for picking a school than Football polls.
My two seventh graders and I have had quite a few talks about college lately. They are curious as a number of their cousins and friend's siblings go off to school.
They want to know "what you do there" and are intrigued, to say the least, by the idea that they are on their own. Our talks have me thinking about the value of education and the pressures kids face.
Growing up, my parents led by example. We lived in a home filled with books and newspapers and they were consistent in emphasizing effort and thirst for knowledge over grades.
They stressed the importance of being well read and the value of knowing a little bit about a lot of things. I remember coming home from college and my parents asking what I learned, not what I got.
Which isn't to say that if I crossed the Bluto Blutarsky line I wouldn't have faced the music. I did well. But graduation day was the beginning of my education, not the end.
Somehow we have bought into the notion that a college degree is a necessity, for everyone. Not sure I buy that.
My freshman year at Missouri I was in a large Marketing class with a visiting professor from Australia. On the first exam he gave 2/3 of the class a C or lower and heard moans when he posted grades. One student yelled, "Everyone deserves a chance" and he quickly replied, "No, not everyone deserves a chance. Everyone deserves an oppotunity to take a chance." He turned his back to us a moment and then said "You know what I am saying don't you?" (pregnant pause) "Most of you don't belong here."
College isn't for everyone, and yet we seem backwards compared to many cultures where kids serve as an apprentice in a chosen field before going to college or trade school.
Mr. Marshall at my high school was one of the most interesting, well read people I have ever known. I don't recall whether or where he went to college. He was a custodian, in charge of cleaning our athletic locker rooms. A good man.
As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, "Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.”
And for my kids: No matter where life takes you, be a learner, an interesting person. That's an "A" on my report card.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Found At Sea
RIP Captain Phil.
That would be Captain Phil Harris of the Cornelia Marie, star of Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch," who passed away during filming earlier this year.
I've been hooked(pun intended) on "Catch" for a few years now, my one dose of reality TV.
The formula is simple enough. A group of crab fishing boats head out in the Bering Sea (between Alaska and Russia) with cameras aboard. While they "compete" to see who has the most crab at the end, ultimately it's about their individual haul, a year's pay condensed into a few months.
The show opens with close ups each captain in front of his crew as Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive" blares in the background. At one point Captain Sig Hansen is shown thrusting his arm forward as if to signal a "first down." The faces are worn as an old tire, but the rush is on.
The ship's men are classic "bad boys," hard driving cowboys willing to risk their lives in one of the most dangerous jobs on earth.
And the danger is ever present. They work 18 hours at a time some 300 miles from shore. As they fight the raging waves, snow, rain and sleet, the crew offloads over 100 crab "pots" into the sea, each weighing about 800 pounds. Go overboard or get struck with a pot and your're toast.
They don't gather for yoga in the morning, and the work hardly lends itself to a spread in Men's Health or GQ. The captains in particular are overcaffinated, chain smoking and sedentary. Captain Phil suffered a massive stroke followed by a fatal embolism. His two sons are part of his crew, and one struggles with an addiction to pain killers.
So why watch? The show is pure testosterone, and there is a certain honor with each of the crews, many of which are second and third generation.
But there's no free ride. A rookie on the boat, called a greenhorn, goes through a stiff test in order to move up to deckhand. Some might call it hazing. With no HR department the vets have free reign.
I'm hooked, because it's my ultimate fantasy. When I was a kid we used to vacation in Wisconsin and had a neighbor (in the proverbial "house on the hill") who was a commercial fisherman. Paid to fish. Cool.
Not quite my career choice. I suppose someone could run up to my desk and douse me repeatedly, and I do recall a female co-worker many years ago with a mouth that would make a longshoreman blush, but that's as close as I get to life on the Bering Sea. A man can dream, can't he?
That would be Captain Phil Harris of the Cornelia Marie, star of Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch," who passed away during filming earlier this year.
I've been hooked(pun intended) on "Catch" for a few years now, my one dose of reality TV.
The formula is simple enough. A group of crab fishing boats head out in the Bering Sea (between Alaska and Russia) with cameras aboard. While they "compete" to see who has the most crab at the end, ultimately it's about their individual haul, a year's pay condensed into a few months.
The show opens with close ups each captain in front of his crew as Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive" blares in the background. At one point Captain Sig Hansen is shown thrusting his arm forward as if to signal a "first down." The faces are worn as an old tire, but the rush is on.
The ship's men are classic "bad boys," hard driving cowboys willing to risk their lives in one of the most dangerous jobs on earth.
And the danger is ever present. They work 18 hours at a time some 300 miles from shore. As they fight the raging waves, snow, rain and sleet, the crew offloads over 100 crab "pots" into the sea, each weighing about 800 pounds. Go overboard or get struck with a pot and your're toast.
They don't gather for yoga in the morning, and the work hardly lends itself to a spread in Men's Health or GQ. The captains in particular are overcaffinated, chain smoking and sedentary. Captain Phil suffered a massive stroke followed by a fatal embolism. His two sons are part of his crew, and one struggles with an addiction to pain killers.
So why watch? The show is pure testosterone, and there is a certain honor with each of the crews, many of which are second and third generation.
But there's no free ride. A rookie on the boat, called a greenhorn, goes through a stiff test in order to move up to deckhand. Some might call it hazing. With no HR department the vets have free reign.
I'm hooked, because it's my ultimate fantasy. When I was a kid we used to vacation in Wisconsin and had a neighbor (in the proverbial "house on the hill") who was a commercial fisherman. Paid to fish. Cool.
Not quite my career choice. I suppose someone could run up to my desk and douse me repeatedly, and I do recall a female co-worker many years ago with a mouth that would make a longshoreman blush, but that's as close as I get to life on the Bering Sea. A man can dream, can't he?
Friday, July 9, 2010
Leggo my Blago
I'm "all in" for the Blago Trial.
Thoughts so far:
- He's incompetent and delusional. And LeBron is a shameless self promoter. Tell me something we don't know.
- Speaking of LeBron, it would be great if they had a "Sportscenter" type Blago wrap up on the tube, although I must say this time old fashioned print journalism trumps TV, especially with tapes we are privy to in transcript form.
- The testimony is damning yes, but how? From what I can tell, Blago is guilty of being a naive idiot and betraying taxpayers by making a sham out of his time in office, but it sounds like he never took money and failed with his "schemes." In other words, he couldn't "close the deal" and as a crook he is quite the amateur. Will "honest services fraud" hold up once the defense phase begins?
- Speaking of defense, what surprises await once the defense has a chance to cross examine and bring their own witnesses? Illinois is bipartisan in corruption, and both parties have to fear this trial continuing into election season. There have to be a few state politicians shaking more than hands these days.
- Half a mill on clothes? Wow. How much does he pay KidSnips for a trim?
- After his trial and (hopefully) jail term end, Blago will have a long career as an political entertainer. It's downright Shakespearean the way he waves to the crowd and poses for pictures each day on his way from the courthouse. It's not a crime to be a national joke, and it can be quite profitable. Think Jersey Shore or Clara Peller.
Thoughts so far:
- He's incompetent and delusional. And LeBron is a shameless self promoter. Tell me something we don't know.
- Speaking of LeBron, it would be great if they had a "Sportscenter" type Blago wrap up on the tube, although I must say this time old fashioned print journalism trumps TV, especially with tapes we are privy to in transcript form.
- The testimony is damning yes, but how? From what I can tell, Blago is guilty of being a naive idiot and betraying taxpayers by making a sham out of his time in office, but it sounds like he never took money and failed with his "schemes." In other words, he couldn't "close the deal" and as a crook he is quite the amateur. Will "honest services fraud" hold up once the defense phase begins?
- Speaking of defense, what surprises await once the defense has a chance to cross examine and bring their own witnesses? Illinois is bipartisan in corruption, and both parties have to fear this trial continuing into election season. There have to be a few state politicians shaking more than hands these days.
- Half a mill on clothes? Wow. How much does he pay KidSnips for a trim?
- After his trial and (hopefully) jail term end, Blago will have a long career as an political entertainer. It's downright Shakespearean the way he waves to the crowd and poses for pictures each day on his way from the courthouse. It's not a crime to be a national joke, and it can be quite profitable. Think Jersey Shore or Clara Peller.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
My Name is Bill and I Don't Get Soccer
Today I learned that the U.S. soccer team lost in something called the "round of 16" and are out of the World Cup.
This after Friday and Landon Donovan's game winning goal. One moment you're up, the next in the gutter (cue the skier exploding over the railing on Wide World of Sports).
A loss to Ghana? 300 million people and we can't come up with enough players to beat a country the size of Jersey?
I don't get soccer. Never played it, barely watch it.
When I was a kid people said "Just wait until your generation can drive, then the sport will really gain popularity." I have been driving for many years, but not to soccer games.
Soccer is the world's sport, not America's sport. Not by a long shot. Ever watch a World Cup match and then tune in to the NASL, MSL, or whatever league is out there these days? Like watching the World Series before a game of T-ball.
Kids love soccer. My theory is soccer is popular with the shorties because it's the one sport adults know nothing about, freeing them to run around without grating, meddling parents.
I know baseball and have coached my son for years. Soccer? Two of my kids have played. I watched.
Let's not confuse participation with fandom, otherwise cycling and jogging would be outdrawing "The Bachelor" and "Desperate Housewives."
Americans play a lot of sports that they don't watch, particularly women's sports. I know an attorney who ran a now defunct women's pro volleyball league. When I asked him whether he thought women's sports would "catch on" like men's his "no" made sense. Put simply, when men get together they go to a ballgame. Women don't, and until they do leagues will struggle.
Ditto soccer. We certainly don't rally around the national team the way other countries do. Most nations shut down for games while we gather a handful of people in the lunchroom.
So good luck Ghana. See you down the road unless I am watching my kid chase a spotted ball.
This after Friday and Landon Donovan's game winning goal. One moment you're up, the next in the gutter (cue the skier exploding over the railing on Wide World of Sports).
A loss to Ghana? 300 million people and we can't come up with enough players to beat a country the size of Jersey?
I don't get soccer. Never played it, barely watch it.
When I was a kid people said "Just wait until your generation can drive, then the sport will really gain popularity." I have been driving for many years, but not to soccer games.
Soccer is the world's sport, not America's sport. Not by a long shot. Ever watch a World Cup match and then tune in to the NASL, MSL, or whatever league is out there these days? Like watching the World Series before a game of T-ball.
Kids love soccer. My theory is soccer is popular with the shorties because it's the one sport adults know nothing about, freeing them to run around without grating, meddling parents.
I know baseball and have coached my son for years. Soccer? Two of my kids have played. I watched.
Let's not confuse participation with fandom, otherwise cycling and jogging would be outdrawing "The Bachelor" and "Desperate Housewives."
Americans play a lot of sports that they don't watch, particularly women's sports. I know an attorney who ran a now defunct women's pro volleyball league. When I asked him whether he thought women's sports would "catch on" like men's his "no" made sense. Put simply, when men get together they go to a ballgame. Women don't, and until they do leagues will struggle.
Ditto soccer. We certainly don't rally around the national team the way other countries do. Most nations shut down for games while we gather a handful of people in the lunchroom.
So good luck Ghana. See you down the road unless I am watching my kid chase a spotted ball.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Al and Rush Together Again
So Al and Tipper Gore announce their separation after 40 years of marriage at about the same time Rush Limbaugh gets married to his fourth wife. Ideology aside, they have something in common with most of us.
We can't seem to find the secret to long-term, fulfilling marriage. But man do we like to try.
A friend passed along an article about Rush the other day which suggested he was a hypocrite for marrying again while being against same sex marriage. I disagree for a couple of reasons: 1) I haven't observed Limbaugh portray his personal life in a righteous manner and 2) Believing in an institution and participating in it multiple times doesn't make you a hypocrite. It means you're trying to get it right.
As to the Gores, I was sorry to hear the news, as I am to hear about any union ending. None of us with any sense enter into commitments with the intention of ending them. If the essence of love is sacrifice, then to have a marriage of any length end is to experience grief. I dealt with a man many years ago who was fond of saying he had been "married and divorced five times to my wife of 36 years."
But this one seemed to resonate because they had been married so long and appeared to be happy, appeared being the operative word. None of us know what our friends or colleagues experience behind closed doors. How often, for example, have you developed a mental image of a co-workers' marriage based solely on one person's view?
Tipper and Al looked happy. Who knows?
Maybe it was for show or political expediency, maybe they "grew apart" (the catch all cliche), or maybe there are other things going on. They have endured crisis in the form of depression and the their son's near fatal car accident. Crisis does not change people, it just exposes them. And if you asked them? None of us have the same view, especially of the mirror.
40 years is a long time. I read an article a few years ago about couples who had divorced after 30 years or more of marriage. Why? A few themes emerged. They married young. They focused on the kids and after they "flew the coop" nothing was left. There is less stigma to divorce today than was when they got married. But the main reason seemed to be a realization that at 55 years or so of age they had another 30years left on earth, which begged the question: Do I really want to spend it with this man or woman?
Reminds me of the couple who went before the judge after 73 years of marriage. She was 92, he was 95.
"Why are you divorcing?" asked the judge.
"Irreconcilable differences."
"And how long have you known this was irreconcilable?"
"70 years."
"70 years," said the judge. "Why would you stay in a marriage you knew was over for 70 years?"
"Your honor, we had a pact. We wanted to wait until the kids died."
We can't seem to find the secret to long-term, fulfilling marriage. But man do we like to try.
A friend passed along an article about Rush the other day which suggested he was a hypocrite for marrying again while being against same sex marriage. I disagree for a couple of reasons: 1) I haven't observed Limbaugh portray his personal life in a righteous manner and 2) Believing in an institution and participating in it multiple times doesn't make you a hypocrite. It means you're trying to get it right.
As to the Gores, I was sorry to hear the news, as I am to hear about any union ending. None of us with any sense enter into commitments with the intention of ending them. If the essence of love is sacrifice, then to have a marriage of any length end is to experience grief. I dealt with a man many years ago who was fond of saying he had been "married and divorced five times to my wife of 36 years."
But this one seemed to resonate because they had been married so long and appeared to be happy, appeared being the operative word. None of us know what our friends or colleagues experience behind closed doors. How often, for example, have you developed a mental image of a co-workers' marriage based solely on one person's view?
Tipper and Al looked happy. Who knows?
Maybe it was for show or political expediency, maybe they "grew apart" (the catch all cliche), or maybe there are other things going on. They have endured crisis in the form of depression and the their son's near fatal car accident. Crisis does not change people, it just exposes them. And if you asked them? None of us have the same view, especially of the mirror.
40 years is a long time. I read an article a few years ago about couples who had divorced after 30 years or more of marriage. Why? A few themes emerged. They married young. They focused on the kids and after they "flew the coop" nothing was left. There is less stigma to divorce today than was when they got married. But the main reason seemed to be a realization that at 55 years or so of age they had another 30years left on earth, which begged the question: Do I really want to spend it with this man or woman?
Reminds me of the couple who went before the judge after 73 years of marriage. She was 92, he was 95.
"Why are you divorcing?" asked the judge.
"Irreconcilable differences."
"And how long have you known this was irreconcilable?"
"70 years."
"70 years," said the judge. "Why would you stay in a marriage you knew was over for 70 years?"
"Your honor, we had a pact. We wanted to wait until the kids died."
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Beware the Boppy
and other random thoughts.
Go Hawks!!
Of course I am excited about the Hawks chance at winning the Stanley Cup for the first time in 49 years. They are an exciting team, with young stars who hopefully will win multiple championships.
But let's get real. Hockey has a limited following, with plenty of room on the bandwagon. It's a great sport to watch...in person. On T.V. it feels like I'm watching a two hour traffic cam.
And I can't tell Duncan Keith from Toby Keith or Brian Keith, other than the last two have their Chiclets. If the Hawks rode with me on the subway I wouldn't recognize them.
Chicago is, in order, a:
1) Bears town
2) Cubs town
3) Bulls town
4) Sox town
5) Hawks town
Discuss
BP Oil Spill
Disaster. A word overused, but not here. This is catastrophic. We seem to agree that we to reduce dependence on foreign oil. But at what cost? We love our cars, and cheap gas to run them. When will will commit to an national energy policy, something we not had for over 30 years?
And the people of the Gulf coast, who have endured and persevered, godspeed.
Imperfect ump
Armando Galarraga was robbed. The ump blew it, and admitted so after the game. But there is no way the call should be overturned.
As an aside, when I heard his name I thought of the way Harry Caray used to pronounce Andres Galarraga's name. Galllllaaaaahraaaggggghhhaaa.
I hate instant replay, in any sport. Why bother with umpires, referees or judges if there is a camera to overrule them? It's called human error, and it separates sports from video games. Baseball is perfect for it's imperfections.
Blago
The sewer which is Illinois politics continues, with wall to wall coverage as the trial starts next week. It will be great theater, and I would love to be a fly on the wall as Rod's lawyer tries to coach him as a witness. Can anyone contain this guy? I'm waiting for him to walk out of the courthouse, make a b-line to the cameras for his daily emoting only to be tackled by his own counsel.
Boppy boo boo
We have a newborn, which means we got out the boppy. A boppy (you may also know it as a "bouncy seat") is a wonderful neglectomatic device. An infant is strapped in the seat as it vibrates for hours, freeing parents for housework, reading, T.V., golf or activities which lead you to need another boppy.
But there is a hidden danger. The boppy has a wire base, really two long metal legs, or tentacles, that reach out and grab unsuspecting parents. This thing will find you at all hours no matter where it's positioned. The dangers range from bruised shins to broken limbs after a header down the stairs. Be warned.
Go Hawks!!
Of course I am excited about the Hawks chance at winning the Stanley Cup for the first time in 49 years. They are an exciting team, with young stars who hopefully will win multiple championships.
But let's get real. Hockey has a limited following, with plenty of room on the bandwagon. It's a great sport to watch...in person. On T.V. it feels like I'm watching a two hour traffic cam.
And I can't tell Duncan Keith from Toby Keith or Brian Keith, other than the last two have their Chiclets. If the Hawks rode with me on the subway I wouldn't recognize them.
Chicago is, in order, a:
1) Bears town
2) Cubs town
3) Bulls town
4) Sox town
5) Hawks town
Discuss
BP Oil Spill
Disaster. A word overused, but not here. This is catastrophic. We seem to agree that we to reduce dependence on foreign oil. But at what cost? We love our cars, and cheap gas to run them. When will will commit to an national energy policy, something we not had for over 30 years?
And the people of the Gulf coast, who have endured and persevered, godspeed.
Imperfect ump
Armando Galarraga was robbed. The ump blew it, and admitted so after the game. But there is no way the call should be overturned.
As an aside, when I heard his name I thought of the way Harry Caray used to pronounce Andres Galarraga's name. Galllllaaaaahraaaggggghhhaaa.
I hate instant replay, in any sport. Why bother with umpires, referees or judges if there is a camera to overrule them? It's called human error, and it separates sports from video games. Baseball is perfect for it's imperfections.
Blago
The sewer which is Illinois politics continues, with wall to wall coverage as the trial starts next week. It will be great theater, and I would love to be a fly on the wall as Rod's lawyer tries to coach him as a witness. Can anyone contain this guy? I'm waiting for him to walk out of the courthouse, make a b-line to the cameras for his daily emoting only to be tackled by his own counsel.
Boppy boo boo
We have a newborn, which means we got out the boppy. A boppy (you may also know it as a "bouncy seat") is a wonderful neglectomatic device. An infant is strapped in the seat as it vibrates for hours, freeing parents for housework, reading, T.V., golf or activities which lead you to need another boppy.
But there is a hidden danger. The boppy has a wire base, really two long metal legs, or tentacles, that reach out and grab unsuspecting parents. This thing will find you at all hours no matter where it's positioned. The dangers range from bruised shins to broken limbs after a header down the stairs. Be warned.
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