Happy Holidays!! Oh yeah and Bowl Mania Phats Style
First off I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, this will be my last blog til after Christmas. So, I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season, and get everything you asked for under your tree.
This is the Bowl Pick Mania edition of Phats blog, it's been so long since the Boilers were in the post season(2007) I couldn't even remember how I did this. So, what I did was asked all the guest pickers from this season to pick 3 games with me, their team, the national championship game, and the Purdue game. If their team wasn't playing in a bowl I gave them a match up I felt was a good one. So, on with the picks and I am currently still waiting on Cheryl, & Gary. Yes, I know there are all different fonts and sizes I blame the arrogant Bama fan Booya! haha
PRO GAMES
Christmas Eve
Pittsburgh Steelers(Rocket) vs St Louis Rams
Rocket- PITTSBURGH
Phats- The Steelers let me down just a bit by not helping my Saints out and beating the 9ers but they should win this one the Rams aren't that good.
STEELERS 24 rams 10
FINAL SCORE STEELERS 27 rams 0
Rocket- WOOHOO
Phats- WOOHOO
CHRISTMAS EVE
Minnesota Vikings(Thomas) at Washington Redskins
Thomas- WASHINGTON 27 Vikings 21
Phats- Gotta go with Superman AKA Ryan Kerrigan and the Redskins
REDSKINS 28 vikings 17
FINAL SCORE VIKINGS 33 redskins 26
Thomas- D'oh
Phats- D'oh
COLLEGE GAMES
Dec 22nd MAACO Bowl
Boise State Broncos(Duck) vs Arizona State Sun Devils
Duck- BRONCOS 40 Sun Devils 21
Phats- This game is in Las Vegas I would totally go if the Boilers ever got there. I feel bad for Boise they should playing in the Sugar probably but college sports is political they will roll
BOISE STATE 55 arizona state 21
FINAL SCORE BOISE STATE 56 arizona state 24
Duck- WOOHOO
Phats- WOOHOO
Dec 28th Holiday Bowl
Texas Longhorns(Gary, Cheryl) vs California Bears
Phats- I always like this bowl and it's usually entertaining. I know nothing about Cal so give me Texas in a close one
TEXAS 31 cal 28
FINAL TEXAS 21 cal 10
Phats- WOOHOO
Dec 31st Car Care Bowl of Texas
Northwestern Wildcats vs Texas A&M Aggies
Jef- Gooooooodbye Aggies. This will be your easiest opponent before you get to the SEC. Welcome to the cellar A&M. A&M wins, but it will be the last bowl they see for a while.
TEXAS A&M
Phats- Big Ten really needs the Cats to win this one, they ended the season strongly, but I am not feeling this one
A&M 24 Northwestern 21
Dec 31st Sun Bowl
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets(Emily) vs Utah Utes
Emily- Ugh, this is not going to be a pretty game. I see lots of mistakes, and not much excitement. I don't really even think the GaTech fan base as a whole is very up for this game. I'm going to say GaTech gets it together, but only bc they're my team.
Ga Tech 31 Utah 21
Phats- I have been to the sun bowl before a few times 3 to be exact and it's one of my favorite bowls El Paso really knows how to treat the fans. I am not impressed with the ACC, but I am not impressed with Utah either Jackets should win STING EM!
GEORIGA TECH 28 utah 17
Jan 2nd Fiesta Bowl
Stanford Cardinal vs Oklahoma State Cowboys
Shife- OKLAHOMA STATE
Phats- This one could actually be a better and more entertaining than the National Championship game. Colts fans will have a close eye on this one as here in Indy they have been going for the suck for luck campaign. I think the Cowboys are the better team though, and probably deserved the shot at playing LSU especially over Bama
OKLAHOMA STATE 49 stanford 35
Jan 2nd Rose Bowl
Wisconsin Badgers vs Oregon Ducks
Booya- Where do I begin? I guess with how in the hell is Wisconsin a top ten team? Sure they went 11-2 this year but one of those loses was to Ohio State. Has anyone seen the news Ohio State
sucks this year. Oh and the Badgers beat the 8th ranked Nebraska Cornholios, wha? what is that? Oh they were 8th when they played them but ended up 21st...wow, they are good! And then there is Oregon...SEC! SEC! SEC!... yeah whatever. I can't hate on the Ducks for losing to auburn last year. I mean auburn was playing with professional
players, you are a professional when you are paid to play right? Oh and don't forget about Mr. Sportsman of the Year Nick (the knee) Fairley, he represents all that is auburn. Anyway back to the Ducks, they too have a loss to a team that they should have beat, USC. So both teams have the same record 11-2 and both teams have a loss to a team that they should have beat. Sounds pretty well matched to me. And this is the second year in a row for Wisconsin to play in the Rose Bowl and Oregon was there in 2010. On paper this looks to be a good
game but let's face it, Wiscon hasn't been very good since Ron Dane and he was the only thing they had. Let's face it, these teams don't play very tough schedule and no one with a defense. In other words all they have to do is outscore the other team... thrilling! I think that Oregon is going to run through Wisconsin like crap through a goo... a duck! Final score Wis 24 - Ore 38
Phats- This one scares me for the big ten, I actually think that Michigan State would have matched up better here. Although Purdue played Oregon the last two year's and both times should have won. Wisconsin is tough and has some serious weapons, but their coach is a douche. I am going with the Badgers in a slight upset
WISCONSIN 28 oregon 24
Jan 2nd Capital One Bowl
Nebraska Cornhuskers vs South Carolina Gamecocks
Travis- NEBRASKA 27 south carolina 13
Phats- Another bowl game I have been too, and another favorite because it's in Orlando!! I really like the Huskers in this one, more often than not it seems like South Carolina just doesn't seem to care about bowls.
NEBRASKA 31 south carolina 17
Jan 4th Orange Bowl
Clemson Tigers(Topolk, Emily) vs West Virginia Mountaineers(Angel Jr)
Emily- Go Tigers all the way on this one! Clemson get's up for big games, and this is one of the biggest I've been around for. Sammy Watkins wants to make a name for himself, and this is the stage for him to prove it. Clemson is hungry, and fighting not to be known as the team that 'Clemson's" themselves out of good seasons. I like the extra practice time, I like the added pressure. I'm ALL IN!
Clemson 48 West Virginia 36
Topolk- My Tigers are returning to the site of our program's greatest achievement. Not only are we returning to the Orange Bowl, but we're doing so with the ACC Championship and "The Belt" in tow. This match-up against West BAH GAWD Virginia has the chance to go in lots of directions, as both squads have a tendency to be unpredictable, but I'm expecting my Tigers to pull out the win here. Look for Sammy Watkins to have a field day in this "homecoming" of sorts.
Clemson 38, West Virginia 24
Phats- The Big East is awful, and the ACC is not much better but Clemson is the exception they have had a great season, and they will conclude it with a nice BCS Bowl win possibly their first??
CLEMSON 49 west virginia 10
Jan 9th National Championship Game
Alabama Crimson Tide(Booya, Gary, Cheryl) vs LSU Tigers
Rocket- LSU
Thomas- LSU 35 Bama 24
Duck- LSU 40 Bama 21
Jef- We hate the BCS, hate the BCS, hate the BCS, hate the BCS, hate the BCS, hate the BCS, hate the BCS, hate the BCS, hate the BCS, hate the BCS, hate the BCS, hate the BCS, hate the BCS, hate the BCS! Who CARES?!?!? LSU wins.
Emily- I. CAN'T. WAIT. for this game. I love it's a rematch, and I love that it's for all the marbles. I expect to see Alabama get it together more on offense, and more points on the board from both sides this time around. My gut says Alabama on this one.
Alabama 24, LSU 21
Travis- LSU 23 alabama 13
Shife- LSU
Booya- Puh-lease! Rematch game, boohoohoo, low scoring game boohoohoo, want to see other conferences in the championship game, boohoohoo. COULD I PLEASE HAVE YOUR ATTENTION?!?!?!?! EAT ME! This game is going to be stellar. If anyone thinks this is going to be the same song, second verse you need to go see your proctologist and get your head removed. Sure, Alabama missed not one, not two, not three but four very makeable filed goals. Do you honestly think that they haven't remedied that? And you don't think that Trent Richardson wants to show that he can score on that L$U defense? Come on, he thinks about that morning, noon and night. Now on to the bayou buttmunches. They gave everything that they had when they played Alabama, they had nothing that they needed to improve on, other than scoring but we are both in the same boat there. But they didn't need to work on catching or holding onto the ball or their defense giving up to many yards or even penalties. They pretty much played to the best of their ability. Oh, then they had to get ready to play Georgia. Sure they got the Honey Badger but much like they prepared for Trent Richardson, Alabama will be prepared for him too. While their players, when not getting into bar fights, had to hit the weight room and practice and so on while the Tide players were able to take a nice rest and heal. Obviously I see this as an advantage for the Tide. Final Score Bama 24 - Loser State 17
Topolk- Meh. I love a good defensive matchup, but I'm part of the crowd that didn't want to see this a second time. Who cares?
LSU 3, Alabama 2
Phats- Lets get one thing straight here Nick Saban is a DOUCHEBAG he was not liked in the Big Ten and he wasn't winning there so I am sure he's even worse now. However, he said once a great quote about if you can't win your own conference or division you have no right playing for the National Title. AMEN so why they hell are they there??? Nobody wants to see this game again except for Bama fans it was boring, QB play was BAD, special teams even worse, tons of penalties, and lets face it Bama couldn't beat LSU at home how the hell are they going to beat them in Louisiana??? I have this feeling LSU will roll, and I certainly hope so
LSU 35 Alabama 17
Dec 27th Little Caesar's Bowl
Purdue Boilermakers vs Western Michigan Broncos
Rocket- PURDUE
Thomas- PURDUE 31 Western Michigan 21
Duck- PURDUE 40 Western Michigan 21
Jef- Duhhhh!! Purduhhh Wins
Emily- This is actually tough for me. I'd like to say Purdue. Wins over 3 ranked teams is respectable, even if Phats hates his coach. I hesitate bc any team with Michigan in part of it's name scares me, and Purdue hasn't been able to win 2 in a row this year.
Purdue 35 W. Michigan 21
Booya- Ewwww a directional school, thank god Lower Northwestern Central Illinois State already accepted a bowl bid.*eye roll* And while I'm at it, is NASCAR somehow getting involved with the naming of NCAA Bowls now? The Little Caesars Bowl? What's next, the AAMCO Transmissions, RedMan, Dickey's, Phillips 76, Home Depot Bowl? And how many freaking bowl games do we need? Jesus, bowl games used to be something special now you have teams with loosing seasons going to bowl games, F-THAT! Ok, back to this crap-tastic game, would someone please tell me the outcome because I think it's being played on ESPN13 at 3:30 AM next Tuesday. Who is going to watch
this? I would rather watch blind kids put together a jigsaw puzzle...actually... never mind. And what is with Purdue playing bowl games against directional Michigan teams? Wasn't their last bowl game against Central Michigan, come on Phats, really? So Purdue is horrible and so is W.Michigan. Both teams play the same ass-scab caliber
teams. But at least Purdue is in a conference... of course it's a basketball conference. God, thinking about which of these two easy-win teams is going to win this thriller really has me in a quandary... oh the hell with it, let me get a quarter. George Washington picked the choo-choos in a close one. Just for giggles, Purdue 10 - W. whoever
the hell 6.
Shife- PURDUE
Topolk- The Boilermakers have had a pretty good year. Sure, there was some adversity and injuries along the way, but hey, they made it to a bowl and took down Ohio State in the process. Purdue now gets to square off against the "mighty" Western Michigan Broncos, a team that finished somewhere in the middle of the pack in the MAC. I'll be honest, I know next to nothing about W. Michigan other than they're some unimportant, directional Michigan school, but that's enough for me to guess that the Boilermakers shouldn't have too much trouble. BTFU, the steel craftsmen win big here.
Western Michigan 13, Purdue 27
Phats- Normally I would complain about this bowl, not because of playing a MAC school, because of the weather! Who the hell wants to go to a bowl game in Detroit??? I have been to every bowl game Purdue has gone to since Joe Tiller came to the program, I of course liked it better when it was on Purdue's dime, but we still go and we will be there for this one. I am not sure what to expect here, I know WMU has a good QB and WR but apparently they can't stop the run, and guess what that is our speciality soo I look for our talented young running backs to win this for us in a shootout.
PURDUE 41 western michigan 28
FINAL PURDUE 37 western michigan 32
Rocket- WOOHOO
Thomas- WOOHOO
Duck- WOOHOO
Jef- WOOHOO
Emily- WOOHOO
Booya- WOOHOO
Shife- WOOHOO
Topolk- WOOHOO
Hail Hail to old Purdue all Hail to our old gold and black
Hail Hail to old Purdue our friendship may she never lack
Ever Grateful, ever true thus we raise our song a new FIRE UP!
Of the days we've spent with you, all Hail our own Purdue
GO BOILERS!
BTFU!!!
Hail Hail to old Purdue our friendship may she never lack
Ever Grateful, ever true thus we raise our song a new FIRE UP!
Of the days we've spent with you, all Hail our own Purdue
GO BOILERS!
BTFU!!!
posted by Phats @ 4:02 PM
23 Comments
23 Comments:
Hmm, the two Bama fans are the only ones who are:
1. Happy that this game is being played.
2. Picking Bama to win.
Coincidence?
Oh and booya, regarding your Oregon/Wisconsin comments, most of the nation actually likes watching high-scoring football games, so yeah it should be thrilling (and isn't the objective in football always to outscore the other team? I'm confused.).
Duck- Yes the bama fans(Cheryl and Gary are definitely the exception they are great) seem to have pretty large egos. and yes I am looking forward to the Wisky/Oregon game might be entertaining :) Go Broncos! No H
Haha, not a true Bama fan (my allegiance is towards a broken Vols program) but as someone who grew up surrounded by SEC football I really like Alabama in this game.
Side Note: I am hating that I decided to wait a few months before I got cable and internet at my new house. Bowl season is the time of the year when I feel like I need all that ESPN has to offer.
Yes, the Rams are not good at all. In fact, they had to put an ad in the classifieds to find a quarterback since our other two are hurt.
Merry Christmas, man!
So phats, you are telling me that you wouldn't love to have that "douchbag" coaching your team? You know you would for Saban to make purdue a winning program for once. And while I find it highly entertaining that people whose team can't win love to throw that quote out there. So you would rather see just any teams play for the title is what youa are saying as opposed to the two best teams. I guess you would be fine with lsu and Notre Dame playing for the National Title then right?
Hey Duck - You might want to ask some people outside your circle who wants this game to be played, seems like most everyone who knows much about football want the two best teams in the nation to play. And I'd like to see where your stats on "most of the nation" come from. Pulling stats out of your head don't count for much. And let me help you with your confusion, yes, the objecive is to outscore the other team. But it's a pretty boring game watching them go back and forth scoring on each other. If I wanted to watch that, I would watch basketball. Offense wins games, Defense wins titles. I'm guessing the team you back hasn't won many, if any, of those.
First of all I was basing my "most of the nation" statement on a poll ESPN had on their site sometime before the final BCS standings were released. I'm not sure if you're familiar with their polls, but they pop up a map of the country and break down the voting results by each state so you can see if there are any regional biases. At the time I looked at the results, the ONLY state in the country in favor of a rematch was Alabama. It looks like the SEC country decided to help out a bit since that time (and the north east too which is strange), but there's still about 60% of the country that didn't want this rematch to happen. Here's the poll I'm talking about: http://espn.go.com/espn/fp/flashPollResultsState?sportIndex=frontpage&pollId=127433
We'll have to agree to disagree on how boring high-scoring games are. And for the record, I like basketball too, so I think we have a fundamental difference of opinion on that front.
You're right that the team(s) that I back haven't won many titles. At least not national ones. I happen to be a fan of a lot of historically bad franchises. I'm also a fan of Boise State, having received my degree from there in 2006, but before you start on that, NO I don't think they should have been in the national championship game, and this is not jealousy talking.
I am just sick of the highest level of college football being decided by completely subjective human polls and stat-crunching computers. There's just no place for that in sports. You're supposed to play the games to determine who the best is. That's pretty much the whole point of the thing, and we need a playoff system to accomplish that. I don't even necessarily think that a team like Oklahoma State is the second-best team in the country, but I would have been much more interested in watching them try to knock off LSU than watching Bama get a second shot at it.
So one media outlet speaks for the nation? One poll that quite possibly not everyone who is a fan of college football even knew about is the be all end all? Are you saying that the 95K people who took the poll are “most of the nation”? And for what it is worth, I live in Texas and there are a lot of people here who are in favor of the two teams playing for the title because they are the two best teams in the nation. I won’t argue that people who are not fans of the SEC would probably like to see another conference step up and play well enough to get into and win the title game, but you can’t fault the teams that do have the talent and do make it to the title game. Like it or not, the fact of the matter is that the SEC is loaded with talent.
Yes, we will disagree on high-scoring games. Let me ask you this, if you had a team who had a high-scoring offense that was matched against a team with a dominate defense and kept the high-scoring offense from scoring, would it still be an exciting game to watch? Or is it only exciting when both teams score like the defense isn’t even on the field?
I will say that I agree with you on college football being decided by a popularity contest for most purposes. Matter of fact, I don’t think they should even rank the teams until at least four or five weeks into the season and I would love a playoff system. Take away some of these ridiculous bowl games and set up playoffs.
You mentioned that you would like to see Oklahoma State trying to knock off LSU, but if they aren’t the #1 & #2 teams why let them play for the title? That’s an honest question. If it is for entertainment sake, fine, but not for the title. Make that a different game. To me, if you let any teams but #1 & #2 play for the title regardless of where they are from the title is meaningless. Do you think if #1 & #2 meet in the regular season that they shouldn’t play for the title? Any #1 & #2 teams, not just the current teams playing. Regardless of conference, division or whatever.
I will respond to each of your paragraphs in turn:
1. Have you ever taken a statistics class? Polls like this are an attempt at a random sampling of sports fans that is representative of the whole. Obviously you're never going to be able to ask every single college football fan in the country/world this question and get their response. So yes, the 95K+ people who took this poll are supposed to represent the entire country, and it does a good job of showing the regional tendencies like I said. And who says they're the two best teams anyway? It's a ridiculous argument, but one you keep holding up as if it's irrefutable. There are many examples of teams that are in the top two in playoff seedings in other sports that fail to make championship games. The whole "Team A beat Team B who lost to Team C (and so on and so forth)" logic that is employed by the people who vote on these polls is obviously suspect, and that's not even taking the coaches' poll into account, where even the coaches themselves admit that they vote teams up or down for strategic reasons to either help their team or conference!
2. I can appreciate a defensive struggle. I admit that it can add drama to a game when you know that one big play can decide the game. I also like high-scoring games. Variety = The spice of life.
3. I agree with everything you say here.
4. Well first of all, we've already reached common ground talking about the inherent flaws with the current system that determines who the #1 and the #2 teams are. The scenario I was talking about in which Oklahoma State would play LSU for the title was assuming that OSU was the #2 team instead of Alabama. I would be in favor of a rule prohibiting teams that didn't win their conference from playing in the NCG. Otherwise, what's even the point of conference championships? If you look at pretty much any other sport with a playoff system, a team who didn't win their division/conference would only get into the playoffs as a wildcard and would start closer to the bottom of the ladder of playoff teams regardless of the other teams' records. If they really were the second best team, they would have to prove it. So we're back to a playoff system being the only way to really sort this out...
Damn it. I failed you Phats. Even with the reminder I forgot to get my picks in. It dawned on me while watching Purdue survive last night.
Anyway I'm not rally feeling bowl season but I think the Huskers win 27-13 and I'll take LSU 23-13.
And I will respond to each of your paragraphs in turn as well.
1. Yes, I have taken statistics and passed it. I completely understand random sampling and polls. If I were to produce an online poll that showed just the opposite (http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/11/27/poll-if-no-1-who-should-lsu-play-in-title-game/related/ & http://www.footballforum.com/college-football-forum/123788-who-should-play-title-game-vs-lsu-2.html even though they don’t have the same number of voters, they are free, online and non subscription based) would it hold the same merit? My point being that this is all just entertainment and not a real statistical poll. This is only representative of the people who went onto espn.com during the time that the poll was open and clicked on a selection. I am sure that lots of people didn’t even know of the poll (I am one of them) and I would guess that espn.com has more than 95k+ readers on a daily basis. This is not a true survey where pollers where sent out to a place such as a mall and asked people to pick. And I’m sure you know people can do things to vote multiple times on polls like this, making it not a true random sample. Do I think that many people took the time and effort to do that enough to sway the outcome? No, not in the least, but they could have. So if it is on the internet it must be true right? Who say’s that they are the two best teams? The current system that is in place, the BCS, that’s who. It is not a ridiculous argument it is a stated fact that under the current system they are the two best teams. Remember, we are talking about the current system not a non-existent playoff system. Again, I would be in favor of a playoff system but we currently do not have one so the #1 & #2 teams are in fact the two best teams in the nation. The argument could be made that to find a true ranking of teams that all 120 teams would have to play against each other. And that’s just not possible. You mentioned that you would like to see Oklahoma State play LSU instead of Alabama if OSU was ranked #2. Even Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State’s head coach, said that Alabama should be ranked ahead of OSU and that they (Alabama) should play for the title. So it’s not just Alabama fans. The fact of the matter being that the people whose opinion counts under the current system, regardless of what most of the people want or don’t want, want the game to be being played with LSU and Alabama in it. I’m not saying it’s a perfect system, I am just happy that we are benefiting from it.
2. I can’t fault you on your opinion. I, personally, do not find it to be an exciting game when the winner is pretty much determined by who has the ball last when the clock expires. Again, that’s just my opinion.
3. Excellent
4. So for this rule of prohibiting teams that didn't win their conference from playing in the NCG, what do you do with the four independent teams (Army, BYU, Navy & Notre Dame)? Do they not get to play regardless of record and rank because they are not in a conference? Where would they get placed in the playoff scenario? Do they get an automatic wildcard slot or are they excluded completely?
Keep going you two I haven't gotten this many comments in a long time! haha
Travis I will add your picks to the other games in a bit
LOL, Duck and I don't need you any more, we are going to exchange e-mail address and talk amongst ourselves. Hey Duck, let's start an internet radio show. How great would that be, haha.
You mean the same person you called a butt plug in an email to me?? hahaha
Well, since the Vols aren't in there and there are 2 SEC teams in the Championship.... I will have to go w/ the TIGERS!!! GEUX Tigers! I can't stand the TIDE!
Check out my post Phats!
Booya, you win. You win at the Internet. You're right about the current system and that Alabama is a legitimate #2 in the current system. I obviously don't agree with the current system, and we seem to mostly agree on that, but not entirely. That's fine.
I happen to think the SEC is over-rated, but the only way to really prove that either way is to have a playoff system. I don't think that having two teams that have already played each other once play again for all the marbles really proves much. Many of the BCS supporters like to say that the regular season is the playoff for the BCS game, but that's obviously not true. I say blow it all up.
This butt plug is out of here.
Duck, don’t listen to Phats. He hates Alabama and likes to stir the pot just to try to get people, mostly me, wound up. What I said was “I love all of you butt plugs getting all pissy about it”, referring to the championship game, not calling you a butt plug. And I enjoyed our banter back and forth. I had fun talking with someone who enjoys talking about football. There is no winner or loser, well maybe Phats is a loser, but it was just an exchange of opinions.
Booya, I have enjoyed the back and forth too, and I'm glad we were able to disagree without resorting to namecalling (I didn't care either way about the butt plug comment. I thought it was funny, no worries.)
Oh, and there's another poll on ESPN's homepage you might want to weigh in on: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/fp/flashPollResultsState?sportIndex=frontpage&pollId=130507
;)
Oh man, I better go vote on that poll.
Here is one you might want to vote on too.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/fp/flashPollResultsState?sportIndex=pollindex&pollId=129953
Interesting poll. I expect it will be a fairly entertaining game. I won't be watching it though, so I'll leave that for others to decide.
It's really none of my business but are you not watching it because you don't agree with the teams playing or is it somethingmore like you have a previous engagement? Or simply, none of my business?
I'm mostly not watching it because I really don't care about either of the teams involved, and I obviously don't agree with the current system and the championship game it's decided on. I've only watched one bowl game this year from start to finish, and that was the Boise State/Arizona State game, so it's not like I'm completely singling that game out. I live in Alabama, so I'm sure I'll hear all about it either way...
Would you two just get a room already jesus christ.
I am not watching either duck, mostly because i'd rather watch paint dry. I don't hate Bama I have a very good friend who cheered there. Their fans for the most part are totally obnoxious though
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