I'm right there with you. The ego of the man to insist on holding a rally in the midst of a pandemic....just think about that and let those words sink in, a massive indoor campaign rally in the midst of a deadly pandemic in a location where cases are rising rapidly....it's truly incomprehensible. How much lower can they sink?

It's definitely a scary time for those of us who don't have out heads in the sand and are informed to the reality of this pandemic. The latest U of Washington projection put out today projects 200,000 deaths by October 1. I just wish more people would take this thing seriously and do things that are so simple and easy such as wearing a mask that are proven to make a huge difference in reducing transmission.

I find the sociological divisions that the pandemic has highlighted in the country quite fascinating. I would definitely agree with the liberal / conservative divide among Lowes and Home Depot customers. The other one that I really notice in my part of the world is the Target / Walmart divide, where you see a much higher percentage of customers at Target wearing masks whereas its a significantly lower percentage at Walmart. Not surprising since Target is a very progressive company that attracts more left-leaning individuals and Walmart is a favorite among those on the right.

Yeah, I don't know which is worse, the states that as you said are simply failing to make public their statistics on cases and hospitalizations because they know they won't be pretty or the states that readily acknowledge they are rising rapidly and STILL insist on going full steam ahead with their re-opening and will not even consider rolling back some of their allowances on businesses and gatherings. It's truly unbelievable the actions of some of out so-called leaders.

You're spot on. It's almost as if we're living in two parallel universes. Who would have thought a global pandemic could become a partisan and cultural issue and create such a divide. Only someone as completely tone deaf and incompetent as Trump could use this as a wedge issue as opposed to using it to united and bring everybody together in a collective effort to "defeat" the virus. The opportunity was there and instead he weaponized it and it's costing lives.

I broke down and finally got a haircut this week, it had been about 5 months and made myself go. I see the same guy who works in a small shop so I knew there wouldn't be crowd. We both wore masks like sane people, but then lo and behold the two people in the next chair over came in and neither wore a mask and were talking and putting god knows what into the air in the salon. I couldn't get out of there fast enough, but despite me wearing my mask, they're ignorance / selfishness could have possibly infected me.

I hate to get too political on here, but I certainly appreciate your perspective. Living in Texas it's obviously not the easiest of places to have a left of center perspective on things. It's definitely times like this I wish I were back in a place like California. I know it's not perfect by any means but it's better than the lack of leadership we have at the state level here that once again is literally killing people.

It's really getting bad or should I say worse here in Dallas. Everyday we are setting a new high in cases and hospitalizations are also again on the rise and yet if you drive around and look at the parking lots of restaurants and retail stores it looks like it's business as usual. On top of that, I'd say less than half of the people you see out even wear masks. It absolutely amazes me. There are very few things in life that can actually be described and as issue of live and death, and this is literally one of them, and yet nobody here seems at all concerned.

You make some very good points. I live in Dallas so I'm right in the middle of the example you're citing. Dallas and the surrounding counties have been very aggressive in their re-openings, pretty much turning a blind eye to the fact that both cases and deaths have never really shown any sustained downward trend and if anything have ticked upwards. It's very disconcerting to say the least; the general attitude seems to be that the virus is now a thing of the past and we can return to normal everyday life which is so far from reality it's not even funny. We're just setting ourselves up for a resurgence. So to see SMU staking their claim to such a large number of tests certainly raises some serious questions. In the case of SMU, I'm assuming it's a case of them spending whatever it takes to get their hands on however many tests the deem necessary, which as a private school which a large endowment is a piece of cake for them to find the money in the budget. Is it right morally? Well I'd certainly like to make sure that all medical facilities, private practices, clinics, etc that need tests have ample amounts on hand before they're just put out there on the open market to go to the highest bidder.

That New Orleans trip definitely sounds like it fits the bill of being a prime opportunity to give the guys a chance to spend several days together with no other distractions and grow as a team and family. All three of those games are certainly winnable on paper, but we all know how that goes. Living in Dallas, I'm looking forward to making the relatively short trip down to NOLA to take in those games. I'm just crossing my fingers that we don't see a resurgence of the virus and the season is able to proceed as normally as possible.

I love it! That definitely takes you back!

That's a good point about the possibility of one of the blue blood programs looking to come in an pick up Manjon. I honestly hadn't even really thought about that but given the environment surrounding transfers these days you'd have to think that it's a distinct possibility. You're right on about the atmosphere that Coach fosters within the program, so hopefully that will go a long way toward his staying.

The added size down low should hopefully go a long way to helping us on the boards as well, that seemed to be another achilles heel of the team last year especially against some of the bigger, stronger teams. I guess I'm kind of old school compared to where the game is at today in that I just love the ability to have a dependable big guy down low that you can get to ball to in crunch time and count on to go up strong to the basket and convert or drawn contact and get to the line. Today it's obviously much more en vouge to rely on 3's, but I think there's still a lot of value in having an inside game.

Definitely exciting to see the additions of the big men, this should really give us a new dimension as they get acclimated to the program and give Coach a lot of flexibility and options on both ends of the court.

Great win for the guys tonight. I think the past few games including the second half runs we had in the losses against Cal and Utah we've really seen the team start to come into its own and find a sense of identity and belief in itself. Sitting at 2-7 I don't think it's too over-dramatic to say the season was a few more losses away from potentially spirally out of control, whereas now I think we all feel a lot more bullish on our prospects going forward. Let's keep this momentum rolling!!

I'm loving the start, it makes such a difference to not have to try and dig out of a big hole the entire game. Keep the momentum going and don't look back!

Couldn't agree more, we've shown flashes the past two games but now it's time to put it together for a full 40 minutes. If we can finally have a game with multiple guys having good shooting nights that would certainly go a long was to bringing home the win. At this point, it's time to dig down deep and find a way to scratch this one out any way possible! Go get 'em Ags!

I do give the guys a lot of credit for not throwing in the towel the past two games on the road against good competition when they got down and it would've been very easy to do so. That being said, as others have mentioned 2-7 is what it is, it's a tough hole to dig out of and rebuild the confidence of the team and even the fan base for whatever that's worth. I still think there there are reasons to believe the team is going to come together by the time the conference schedule rolls around as long as they can keep the their self belief up and not let themselves get too beaten down.

Keep the faith Ags!!

Frustrating indeed! The lack of consistency on the offensive side has definitely been the recurring theme throughout the early part of the season and I'm really worried that there isn't a quick fix coming right around the corner. I think the best we may be able to hope for is to find one or two hot hands in a given game that can carry the load and lead the team to a win. Looking ahead the schedule certainly doesn't get any easier with trips Cal and Utah so lets hope we can find something to give us a chance.

This is a tough one to swallow for sure. As much as losses like this one hurt us as fans,I really feel for the players and coaches who get to spend the rest of the day sitting in airports and on planes on their long trek home with nothing to do but ruminate on how close they were to getting the win and coming home with what I think we'd all consider a successful trip going 2-1 over the 4 days.

Arkansas State should be a real good test for the guys tomorrow night. I agree with the need for Neufeld to be a force inside. I love his game, he shows flashes of being a dominant big man down low, it just seems to be a matter of consistency and putting all the tools together at one time. I think by the end of the year and by the time we get into conference play he's going to be on the verge of doing so

I totally agree with you that the three tournament games in Arkansas could prove to be fairly telling as to what the true identity of this team will be. I'm far from an expert on any of our three opponents, but I'd be willing to bet the talent levels will be roughly equal in all three games and I wouldn't expect us to be a significant underdog with the possible exception of the Arkansas State game. Three games in such a short time frame offers a chance to get on a nice roll and garner some big time momentum or could leave the team going from 1-1 to 1-4 in three days and not knowing what hit them.