Showing newest 32 of 68 posts from 3/30/08 - 4/6/08. Show older posts
Showing newest 32 of 68 posts from 3/30/08 - 4/6/08. Show older posts

Monday, April 7, 2008

ONLY 142 DAYS UNTIL FOOTBALL

FSU will not lose on opening weekend.

Thursday, August 28

Jacksonville State at GEORGIA TECH (T.A.H. PICK = GT)

Charleston Southern at MIAMI (Nice, Miami NICE -- don’t pick on Charleston, go for Charleston Southern)

NC STATE at South Carolina, ESPN (South Carolina)

Saturday, August 30

BOSTON COLLEGE at Kent State (Cleveland) (B.C.)

Alabama vs. CLEMSON (Ga. Dome) (Alabama, but it’s close)

James Madison at DUKE (Funny…JMU)

Delaware at MARYLAND (The Fridge better not lose the opener to the Blue Hens)

McNeese State at NORTH CAROLINA (Same for Butch Davis v. McNeese)

Southern California at VIRGINIA (Like as in USC? For real? Nice, UVA, NICE!…Slaughter rule: USC)

VIRGINIA TECH at East Carolina (Charlotte) (Hokies in another close one)

WAKE FOREST at Baylor (Hmm…Wake?)

WOMEN'S FINAL SET

TENNESSEE 47, LSU 46

Alexis Hornbuckle made her only two count.
It was just enough to put defending champion Tennessee back into the title game.

Hornbuckle’s putback with seven-tenths of a second left lifted the Lady Vols to a 47-46 victory over LSU in Sunday night’s national semifinal. It was the lowest scoring game in Final Four history.


It’s no coincidence that LSU announced that previous Duke A.D. Joe Alleva had been hired. Let the losing begin.

(Tennessee's Alexis Hornbuckle (14) and Candace Parker leave the floor. AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)


STANFORD 82, CONNECTICUT 73

Candice Wiggins refused to let Stanford lose to Connecticut. Not again.

The Cardinal star continued her electrifying run through the NCAA tournament, scoring 25 points and grabbing 13 rebounds while getting some timely help from Kayla Pedersen and JJ Hones as Stanford shocked Connecticut 82-73 in Sunday night’s national semifinals.

Back in the Final Four for the first time in 11 years, the Cardinal (35-3) avenged an early season loss to the Huskies (36-2) and advanced to Tuesday night’s title game, where they’ll put a 23-game winning streak on the line against Tennessee.

(Stanford's Candice Wiggins celebrates her team's 82-73 win over Connecticut. AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Comply Or Die, the easy winner of the T.A.H. 2008 Worst Horse Name of the Year Award, produced a gutsy jumping display to win the $1.59 million Grand National Steeplecahse at Aintree near Liverpool on Saturday.

The race is constantly under pressure from English animal rights group exorcised over the inherent danger of the long race with big jumps such as Beecher’s Brook and The Chair. This year 40 horses started and only 15 finished. There have been 11 fatalities in the past 11 years.
So who names their horse Comply or Die? Jeez.

All that aside, the 7-1 well-backed joint favorite triumphed by four lengths from King Johns Castle (20-1), ridden by Paul Carberry, with Snowy Morning (16-1) a further length-and-a-half back in third after the four-and-a-half mile marathon over 30 fences.

Irishman Timmy Murphy, 33, was always going well on Comply Or Die and pushed him into the lead at the last of 30 fences. The nine-year-old then readily held off his pursuers to give Murphy his first National win in 12 attempts.

Murphy has overcome his own demons to get his career back on track. He has battled alcoholism and in 2002 served a short prison sentence for indecently assaulting an air stewardess when drunk on a flight back to London.

Nice, Timmy, NICE!

(Photos by Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty Images and Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images)

PICTURE(S) OF THE DAY

IT WAS A NICE DAY IN CALIFORIA...for some golf and then a swim.

Annika Sorenstam of Sweden hits her tee shot on the 15th green during the final round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills Country Club on April 6, 2008 in Rancho Mirage, California.


Lorena Ochoa of Mexico leads the traditional rush to the water beside the 18th green after the final round of the Nabisco, the LPGA's first major.

Below, Ochoa celebrates amongst close family members and friends in the water beside the 18th green.





Hey, you gotta do, what you gotta do...

(Photos by David Cannon/Getty Images and Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

PICTURE OF THE DAY 2

NICE STICK…Is she really little or is that driver really big?

Suzann Pettersen, of Norway, watches her tee shot on 10th hole during the final round of the LPGA's Kraft Nabisco Championship golf tournament in Rancho Mirage, Calif., Sunday, April 6, 2008.

(AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

PICTURE OF THE DAY 3

COLORFUL, AND FAST…Carl Edwards, driver of the #99 Aflac Ford, and Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet, race side by side during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 6, 2008 in Fort Worth, Texas.

Man, we can't get away from that damn annoying AFLAC duck...

(Photo by John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR)

PICTURE OF THE DAY 4

WORST TO FIRST...Somehow, the Washington Capitals went from last and out of the NHL playoff marathon to first (and in the playoffs) with a win on the final night of the regular season.

Here, the Capitals' Sergei Fedorov, left, of Russia celebrates his goal with Matt Cooke (24) during the second period.

The NHL playoff start the moment One Shining Moment ends and finish just 12 minutes before the MLB All-Star Game. Only the NBA playoffs and Castro's presidency of Cuba last longer.


(AP Photo/Nick Wass)

PICTURE OF THE DAY 5

WHY DIDN’T WE THINK OF THIS…? A golf course at a vineyard.

Aron Price of Australia walks to the next tee from the 13th green during the final round of the 2008 Livermore Valley Wine Country Championship on April 06, 2008 at the Wente Vineyard in Livermore, California.


(Photo By Kent Horner/ Getty Images)

Sunday, April 6, 2008

KANSAS 84, NORTH CAROLINA 66

SAN ANTONIO (AP) -What Roy Williams needed was a comeback for the ages. What he got was a disappointing dose of payback - a chance to see what it feels like when Kansas breaks his heart.

The Jayhawks left their old coach in the dust Saturday night, getting 25 points and seven rebounds from Brandon Rush to stave off a ferocious comeback by North Carolina for an 84-66 victory in the national semifinals.

Trailing 40-12 late in the first half, Tyler Hansbrough, Wayne Ellington and the Tar Heels made a valiant rally, getting to within five points with nine minutes left, but ran out of steam in their effort to pull off the biggest Final Four comeback ever.

"I've never been so embarrassed in my life," said Tar Heel guard Marcus Ginyard.

Now, the Jayhawks will play Memphis, an earlier 78-63 winner over UCLA, in Monday's title game.

Kansas moved within a win of its first national championship since 1988, the year before Williams began his storied 15-year tenure in Lawrence - one that ended when he jilted Kansas for his alma mater.

Hansbrough had 17 points and nine rebounds for North Carolina (36-3) - a typically gutsy effort - but his next move will be to decide whether to come back for his senior season.

Darnell Jackson #32 of the Kansas Jayhawks covers Wayne Ellington #22 of the North Carolina Tar Heels during the National Semifinal game of the NCAA Men's Final Four at the Alamodome on April 5, 2008 in San Antonio, Texas. The Jayhawks defeated the Tar Heels 84-66. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

MEMPHIS 78, UCLA 63

SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- As hard as it is to imagine, Memphis keeps getting better just when it matters the most.

The Tigers claimed their piece of history Saturday, beating UCLA 78-63 in the NCAA men's semifinals to become at 38-1 the winningest team ever in a single season. Now they have a chance to do what the other 37-win teams -- Duke, Illinois and UNLV -- couldn't do: cap it off with a national championship.

All season, this Memphis team from lightly regarded Conference USA played along with Calipari's us-against-the-world theme. Now, the Tigers need only one more victory for their first championship.

UCLA star Kevin Love put on his own show at practice Friday, hitting a full-court shot. He managed just 12 points -- and missed both open 3-pointers -- as the Bruins (35-4) again fell short in their third straight Final Four appearance.

Star freshman Derrick Rose wasn't content to merely make shots, he wanted to stamp this Final Four as his own with a series of show-stoppers that became an NBA audition.

Rose put up lefty floaters and righty scoops, often changing hands in mid-air, and threw one try over his shoulder. He was in perpetual motion -- once, he caught a pass in traffic, stutter-stepped just long enough to look his defender in the eye, and then sped past him for an easy but showy layup.

Rose finished with 25 points and nine rebounds and a bunch of eye-opening moves that won't show up in the final box.

He also hit 11 of 12 free throws. For a team supposedly vulnerable from the foul line, the Tigers did great in making 20 of 23.

(Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

40 TO 12

That’s hard to overcome. Giving up an 18-0 run to a #1 seeded team in the National Semi-final in the first half, and another 13-0 in the second half is simply impossible to overcome.

The Jayhawks started the game shooting 16 of 24 (66%) and their ability to score easily kept the Tar Heels from jump starting their up-tempo transition game. Carolina looked slow and out of focus.

The Heels never recovered. Even though Billy Packer declared the game over with 7:32 left in the first half (a point which will further aggravate Carolina fans who are convinced Packer hates all things Heel), UNC pulled to within four in the second half. They were down but five when a Green three pointer rimmed out. In retrospect, that may have been the final blow for the Tar Heels.

The Jayhawks went on another 30 to 9 run to finish the game and waltz into the Final Monday night.

Ultimately, the Heels defense let them down. An Achilles of sorts all season, Carolina simply couldn’t generate the intensity they needed to slow down the high flying Jayhawks. The key to the transition game is making the other team miss and getting the rebound. Carolina owned the largest rebound differential in the country and that’s a big part of the formula that led to 37 wins.
In the first half, Kansas didn’t miss much and when they did miss, they out-rebounded the Heels. On the other hand, Kansas’ defense was as stingy as it’s been all year.

Part of this equation is Carolina’s lack of size. It’s easy to forget as their flying up and down the court that the starting lineup of Ginyard, Thompson and Hansbrough measures 6-5, 6-8 and 6-9. While Hansbrough is the largest, he’s not a defensive stalwart, and that’s not an accident.

While he would never be confused for Bill Russell, Hansbrough had 23 blocked shots as a freshman, but only 14 this season. We surmise that’s not a coincidence. Knowing how critical Hansbrough’s offense was to the Tar Heels success, we believe Ol’ Roy and boys taught him to play position defense and to stay out of foul trouble. The system works until the offense goes cold against a red hot Kansas team that many pick to win it all…


Lost in the shuffle of a great 37 win season that included regular season and ACC Tournament championships, was how different this team is from the squad that won in 2005. That team had FOUR first round NBA draft picks. This team has two – Hansbrough and Lawson. Ellington will be drafted if he leaves, but we don’t think he’s first round material…yet.

One of those four NBAers was a kid named Marvin Williams. Williams had “length” (the new overused buzz word for commentators and coaches alike) which simply means he was extremely athletic and played “bigger” than he actually was. Sound familiar?

Can you say Brendan Wright? Another front court player with length, the 6’9” Wright played like he was much bigger. He blocked 65 shots last year, and his defensive presence in the middle was sorely missed in 2008.

If everybody stays in Chapel Hill, which is unlikely at best, the Heels will need to cultivate a stronger inside presence to make it all the way to the 2009 championship game. It will have to come from Hansbrough, Thompson or Stepheson or new kid Tyler Zeller (6’10”, 215) who will need to bulk up a bit.


Finally, some folks will wonder why Williams didn’t use more timeouts during the 40 to 12 onslaught. Give Williams credit for a variety of things including consistency. That’s not what he does…Ol’ Roy lets ‘em play, and he saves his timeouts for end-half/game situations.

He doesn’t believe in stopping the game. He has said before that the players know exactly what is going on and exactly what they need to do, and stopping the game makes them question that and lose confidence.

Like most things Carolina blue, most nights that works.

But not last night.

(Photos by AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images, Streeter Lecka/Getty Images, and AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

WHAT NEXT?

ESPN - SAN ANTONIO - North Carolina's season had just ended when the questions began about the futures of underclassmen Tyler Hansbrough, Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson.

Hansbrough, who won several national player of the year awards this week, was in no mood to talk about entering the NBA draft instead of returning for his senior season Saturday night after the Tar Heels lost 84-66 to Kansas in the national semifinals.

"I'm not even thinking about that right now," said Hansbrough, his voice low and hushed in the locker room.

Ellington, a 6-foot-4 sophomore, and Lawson, a 5-11 sophomore, also said they hadn't thought about making the leap to the NBA. But Ellington did say he planned to talk about his options with his parents.

LSU: SORRY, YOU’RE DOOMED

Duke A.D. Joe Alleva most have some friends in high places in the low country.

Alleva is leaving Duke to become LSU's athletic director.

Alleva will replace Skip Bertman, who is retiring in June.

Evidently the folks at LSU haven’t noticed how horrifically bad the Blue Devils football program is, the decline of the hoops program or the debacle associated with how Alleva’s and his institution handled an imaginary sex scandal.

However, the 54-year-old Alleva has led Duke's 26 sports programs since 1998 and received a contract extension last year. Under his leadership, the Blue Devils teams won six national championships and 44 Atlantic Coast Conference titles.

He did recently hired David Cutcliffe as football coach. Most think that either 1) that’s a great hire or 2) Cutcliffe has completely lost his mind.

LSU practices for the NCAA Women's Final Four basketball game Saturday, April 5, 2008, in Tampa, Fla. LSU plays Tennessee in a national semifinal tonight. Based on hiring Alleva, they’ll lose for sure.(AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

PICTURE OF THE DAY

THE ANTI-ROY CROWD PARTIES...Kansas basketball fans take to the streets of downtown Lawrence, Kan., Saturday, April 5, 2008. Kansas beat North Carolina in a semifinal game in the NCAA basketball tournament.

(AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

PICTURE OF THE DAY 2

END OF THE ROAD...North Carolina head coach Roy Williams reaches for Surry Wood (24) in the locker room after they lost 84-66 to Kansas in the semifinals game at the college basketball Final Four Saturday, April 5, 2008, in San Antonio.

Wood and Quentin Thomas are the only seniors on the Tar Heels.


(AP Photo/Eric Gay)

PICTURE OF THE DAY 3

NO PLACE LIKE DOME...? Not really. The last time UNC played at the Alamodome they lost to underdog Utah.

Here Darrell Arthur #00 of the Kansas Jayhawks and Deon Thompson #21 of the North Carolina Tar Heels reach for the tip-off to start the first half during the National Semifinal.

(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

PICTURE OF THE DAY 4

A PICTURE…really is worth 1,000 words. Alfred Aboya #12 of the UCLA Bruins sits on the bench late in the second half against the Memphis Tigers during the National Semifinal game of the NCAA Men's Final Four at the Alamodome on April 5, 2008 in San Antonio, Texas.

(Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

PICTURE OF THE DAY 5

ACC CONNECTIONS...Both head coaches enter the NCAA final as former assistants to Larry Brown who has both North Carolina and Kansas connections.

(Photos by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images and Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

Saturday, April 5, 2008

JACK BAUER LOOKS UP TO TYLER HANSBROUGH


With props to StateFansNation and The Onion:

(Double click the picture and the captions are easier to read.)

The Final Four is almost here. Which means a lot of things…and this year it means that the world will have the ‘pleasure’ of watching the most amazing college basketball player in history!

With Rick Morrissey leading the charge in this fantastic article, we FINALLY have some other folks in the media willing to highlight some of the insanity around the world’s love affair with the previously unassailable Hopsandwalk.

Analysts for my network, CBS, portray Hansbrough as a crime-fighting special-forces soldier. He’s Batman Hansbrough. The only thing missing during some broadcasts of his games is the waving of the American flag and the singing of the Star Spangled Banner.

+ Tyler Hansbrough: He pulls cats out of trees.
+ Tyler Hansbrough defeated the Houston Rockets.
+ Tyler Hansbrough doesn’t do HGH. He is HGH.
+ Amy Winehouse is addicted to Tyler Hansbrough.
+ Brett Favre has a Tyler Hansbrough poster on his bedroom wall.
+ Tyler Hansbrough’s toenail clippings are for sale on the Chinese black market.
+ Superman wears Tyler Hansbrough pajamas.

We would like to add:
+ When someone asked Tyler Hansbrough if he was afraid of Kevin Love, he replied "What does 'afraid' mean?"
+ If Tyler Hansbrough had been a Spartan the movie would have been called "1".
+ On Tyler Hansbrough's Tax Returns, he has to claim the entire Tar Heel Nation as his dependents.
+ On the seventh day Tyler Hansbrough said, "I'll take it from here."
+ When life gave Tyler Hansbrough lemons, he used them to beat Duke. Tyler Hansbrough freaking hates lemonade.

HANSBROUGH: MORE HARDWARE

Tyler Hansbrough had a very busy Friday morning on the biggest weekend of his young basketball career.

The North Carolina junior forward was selected The Associated Press' college basketball player of the year, an honor that came less than an hour after he was presented the Oscar Robertson Trophy by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association as their player of the year.

The ceremonies were a couple of blocks apart, and the 6-foot-9 Hansbrough, his coach and parents made the short walk.

"I know people don't believe this stuff, but he's just a kid, a regular kid," Tar Heels coach Roy

Williams said when the group arrived for the AP's presentation. "We're walking over for him to get another player of the year award and practice for the Final Four is in less than an hour. I tell him that it's going to be close for him to change clothes and get ready when he just stopped and said 'What about eating?' He's doing all this and he's still just a kid, a great kid who happens to be a darn good basketball player."

Tyler Hansbrough #50 of the North Carolina Tar Heels shoots the ball during practice for the NCAA Men's Final Four at the Alamodome on April 4, 2008 in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

DUKE PLAYER WINS GAME

Duke's DeMarcus Nelson scored 21 points to help the National team beat the American team 106-100 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches college All-Star game Friday.

Nelson finished 6-for-12 from the field to go with five rebounds in 26 minutes to earn MVP honors. Xavier's Josh Duncan added 16 points off the bench for the National team, while Vanderbilt's Shan Foster had 15 points with four 3-pointers.

Houston's Robert McKiver had 20 points and five 3s to lead the American team, which shot 41 percent. Georgia's Sundiata Gaines added 18 points and eight rebounds.

(AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

PSYCHO-T'S NEXT CAREER?

The boys over at Bruin Roar had a little fun photoshopping Tyler in a post called "Hansbrough After Basketball."





































































PICTURE(S) OF THE DAY

FLASHBACK 1957...This is the team that vanquished Kansas and Wilt Chamberlain in triple OT.

We couldn't find a ticket from 1957, but this one from 1959 was pretty cool.

PICTURE(S) OF THE DAY 2

FLASHBACK 1982...

(All photos courtesy of Tar Heel Times)

PICTURE(S) OF THE DAY 3

FLASHBACK 1993...






PICTURE(S) OF THE DAY 4

FLASHBACK 2005...We're glad we didn't have to clean up the mess.







PICTURE OF THE DAY 5

STYLIN…King Rice, Pete Chilcutt and Rick Fox.

(Photo courtesy of Tar Heel Times)

Friday, April 4, 2008

MEMPHIS POINT GUARD SUSPENDED

Backup point guard Andre Allen missed only two games the last three seasons for the Memphis Tigers. Now he might miss the two most important.

Allen was suspended for a violation coach John Calipari said he couldn’t reveal because of privacy rules. Allen did not travel to San Antonio for the Final Four, counting him out for the national semifinal against UCLA on Saturday and the title game Monday night should Memphis (37-1) get that far.

“Sometimes these guys do stupid things at inopportune times,” Calipari said. “He has.”

Rumor has it that Allen went to the gym following Memphis’ win over Texas and promptly made 100 free throws in a row. This incensed Calipari, who has been insisting all year that inconsistent free throw shooting would ever catch up to his high octane team.

“I really had no choice,” said Calipari, “I love the kid, but rules is rules, and we actually have a couple.”

Allen scored only one basket the last five games and averaged just 3.3 points, 2.1 assists and 1.2 rebounds over 14.1 minutes per game this season. So his absence is likely to affect intangibles more than Xs and Os.
(Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

* items in italics may not be true. Take that, Mr. Duke Illustrated Blacklist Committee members!

UNC, UCLA AND KANSAS: NO SUSPENSIONS

Amazingly, some 36 hours before the most important college basketball game nobody from the Tar Heels, Bruins or Jayhawks did anything stupid enough to get them tossed off the squad.

This includes UNC’s three-time All-American, and (according to Wikipedia) Naismith Award winner Tyler Hansbrough who went to practice and played ping pong with injured point guard Bobby Frasor. Bruin superfrosh Kevin Love sat by the pool and listened to his uncle’s old band, The Beach Boys; and Kansas’ leading scorer Brandon Rush just hung around in Kansas doing…well…whatever it is they do out in Kansas.

(However, while the crack research staff at T.A.H. couldn’t turn up any chicanery/tom foolery by the other three Final Four participants, they did manage to find [to the delight of our Hokie friends] this picture of Kansas’ football coach Mark Mangino’s underwear.)

All three coaches agreed that the the lack of inappropriate behavior and/or comments that led to no suspensions would not be a distraction for any of the teams.

* items in italics may not be true. YEAH! Mr. Duke Illustrated Blacklist Committee members, how about them apples?!?!

BUCKEYES WIN NIT

Well, Ohio State can’t win the BCS Championship or the NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball National Championship, but they can beat UMass to win the NIT 92-85.

A year removed from a loss in the national championship game, the Buckeyes have a trophy to carry home—even if it’s not the one they had wanted.

Jamar Butler had 19 points and eight assists in his final college game, which culminated with the kind of raucous victory celebration inside Madison Square Garden that he couldn’t have last year in Atlanta.

The Buckeyes lost to Florida in the Final Four, and a snub by the NCAA selection committee kept them from playing for another trip there. They rebounded to dominate each of their four opponents on the way to New York, then had enough to withstand every UMass run.

“This is what happens when you put an NCAA tournament team in the NIT,” Butler yelled, surrounded by his teamates Thursday night. “Write that down and send that to the committee.”

Blah, blah, blah...

Ohio State's Kosta Koufos holds up the most outstanding player award after Ohio State beat Massachusetts 92-85 in the final of the NIT basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York, Thursday, April 3, 2008. Koufos scored 23 points. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams)

NATIONALS NO LONGER UNDEFEATED

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Jesus Colome walked Jayson Werth to force in Jimmy Rollins with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning, giving the Phillies an 8-7 victory over the Washington Nationals on Thursday.

Ouch.

Washington Nationals closing pitcher Jesus Colome walks off the field after walking in Philadelphia Phillies' Jimmy Rollins for the game-winning run in the 10th inning of a baseball game Thursday, April 3, 2008, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

PICTURE(S) OF THE DAY

SO LONG...Kentucky basketball manager Bill Keightley, who was with the Wildcats for 48 seasons, died Monday in Cincinnati of internal bleeding caused by a previously undiagnosed tumor on his spine. He was 81.

Keightley's tenure reached back to the Adolph Rupp era and continued through Joe B. Hall, Eddie Sutton, Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith and current Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie.

Louisville coach, and former Kentucky coach Rick Pitino pauses while speaking at a memorial service.

The seat which was occupied for many years by former Kentucky basketball equipment manager Bill Keightley is adorned with a blue ribbon prior to a memorial service for him in Lexington, Ky., Thursday, April 3, 2008.

(AP Photos/Ed Reinke)

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April 18, 2007

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