FOOTBALL

Lincoln Riley Thinks The Defense Is Close

Lincoln Riley talked about the USC defense today and what it needs to do to improve:

“We haven’t played well the last two games,” he said. “We need to play better. There’s not, when I watch this, I don’t see, you know, one thing that we can’t do well, and I don’t see one thing that is killing us other than, you know when I’ve talked about how efficient we’ve been on third downs and some of the red-zone defense.

“We don’t necessarily need any level of the defense to make this massive jump. We just need each level to play a little bit better. We need to complement one another more.”

And what did he have to say about Gary Patterson? “There’s no one more dedicated to getting it better.”

  • USC basketball had NBA scouts watch practice today. Freshman forward Christian Collins is still out with a foot injury.

139 thoughts on “Lincoln Riley Thinks The Defense Is Close”

  3. As Billy Martin (and he would know as no slouch on questionable character) famously remarked about Reggie Jackson and George Steinbrenner as to whether they were liars: “One was born and the other convicted.”

    Miley Coyote is even worse than Gomer – almost (almost) felt sorry for the latter, but Miley is sleazy and knows that he is just leaching $ from the program until they finally, someday, terminate him.

    The defense is little different than prior years. A little more life. A little more athleticism. A little more occasional playmaking. But overall, an “F” to use our Host’s preferred mode of evaluating.

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    1. True per Martin but he dragged that ‘buddy’ pitching coach, Art Fowler with him, to every mgr. gig he got – MN, OAK, NYY just like Scoiscia did (solo mgr gig LAA) with Mickey Hatcher.
      Most memorable moment in Martin’s jagged torn career is that fight he got into with Ed Wihtson and the follow-up match up in that Arlington, TX topless bar claim of 3 unknown men jumpoing him.
      The way he ‘passed on’ was bizarre a year later ….drifting off a berm in the snow up next to Binghampton, NY.

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    2. Let me quibble with you a little bit. Lincoln is not saying things he knows aren’t true. He believes what he’s saying. And, to tell the truth, what he’s saying is not wrong: we are “Close.”

      The Problem? We shouldn’t be ‘close.’ We should have arrived.

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      2. Nope, not close. By USC standards, miles away from where the program should be. And he clearly doesn’t believe what he says – Gomer didn’t know what he was saying, but Miley does, and he’s as facetious as all grifter coaches are, more cut out for being on the staff of a politician.

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      3. I would put it differently. Lincoln’s fanatically —almost irrationally –committed to his own way of doing things. I recall Barry Switzer saying that his response to all the criticism he got early on was, “I’m not gonna bend, I’m not gonna doubt myself or the way I do things. As a matter of fact, if I’m gonna get fired, I’m gonna get fired doing things I believe in.”

        #LincolnBestBet:IgnoreTheCritics..

        #GetTheTeamToBuyInto”UsAgainstTheWorld,,,

        #AndBeatOhioState

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      4. Barry Spitzer started his career with a 35-1-2 record and two national championships. Miley Coyote isn’t in the same plane of existence with Barry. Barry did what he said. Riley says what he thinks will buy him another 5 minutes of air.

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      5. Or maybe he’s just not as good a head coach as Barry —- maybe he didn’t set out to deceive everybody.

        #[IsThisOneOfThoseAgreeToDisagreeSituations,James]?

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      7. MG-As always, on the rare occasions where our reasonable minds may diverge as to an issue, I have nothing but total respect for you … that said, I have nothing but total disdain for Miley Coyote … comparing Miley to Barry Switzer is like comparing Hackett to John McKay … I wouldn’t like him, but would at least be far more tolerant if he could just once, for one fleeting moment, be accountable … unlike Gomer, he is competent to stand trial, so to speak …

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      8. KAM: MG, when Riley Coyote showed up 5 years ago he promised “USC would be competing for championships right away”.

        DON: He lied. He knew he was throwing out red meat for the rah rahs.

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  4. Martin was a total drunken psychopathic piece of work … but a talented manager (who unfortunately drug Fowler as you note, so that the two of them could leave a pile of rotator cuff and elbow injuries – like rubble after an earthquake – wherever they went, most notably with the A’s, who went from the 13-0 pitching ace-laden built for a long run with Ricky Henderson, Tony Aramas, et al, to a one strike year wonder).

    I remember his famous first firing by Steinbrenner in 1978, the rehirings (as was made fun of in Lite commercials – young’ns, look them up!), his benching Jackson in Game 5 of the ALCS in Kansas City, and removing him from the regular season game earlier in the season (for which Reggie could have annihilated him).

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  8. The lack of accountability from Lil’ Lord Riley is breathtaking. SC sits 15th (out of 18) in yds allowed per game, and he says “we need to play a little bit better”??

    By comparison, Chesney’s Gutties sitting at 3rd for fewest yds allowed per game, and he sounds like they lost after every game with all the improvements he says they need. Well we got Ducks at Eugene with them having a week off to prep, yikes.

    #AnyAdviceWolfman?

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      1. Pull a “Wag The Dog” on them and hire a replacement television crew that spoofs a national championship game broadcast.
      2. Wear Ohio State or Alabama uniforms (or, come to think of it, Okie State cowpoke duds … the Pickens family might even bankroll it just to stick it to the Nike ugly wings).
      3. Hire Taco Jen and Miley Coyote to quickly pull the game off your schedule.

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      2. MG – If only I was willing to delve into political sarcasm as could be related to this game and CB’s quandary! But I find all “sides” equally despicable. Just think of the craziness and cast of characters we could have from across the spectrum! From UCLA abandoning California the week of the game for Austin, Texas (being Bel Air taxed on the way out and the Ducks trembling at the thought of a big game against a national power), to behind the scenes string pullers staging a propaganda blitz about too many “Thems” (think of Pink Floyd’s “Us and Them”) existing within proximity of Autzen (to cover for new surveys revealing that vast pockets of oil and natural gas lie under Eugene so they must liberate the area for peace and freedom) … and on and on … but we won’t do that!

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      3. Good Q looked it up Ducks by 12.5. I ‘d gladly take the Gutties to beat the spread. Line is high if you ask me.

        #BucketNeedsNewShoes(AndSocks)

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      5. KAM: The last time UCLA won at Eugene was in 2004.

        DON: They couldn’t even beat the Ducks in Eugene with Brett Huntley, getting blown out 42-14 in 2013.

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  9. DON: –The betting line on Oregon-ucla is the Ducks by nearly 2-touchdowns. Sounds about right

    KAM: Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon has become the Ducks’ favorite hangout. From this high perch they drown foes

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    1. KAM: Tom Cruise’s Global Warming Propaganda Digger About to Lose $100+ Million. Here’s a movie designed in a Woke Lab to hit the sweet spot of critics… Evil white men. Evil businessmen. Oil bad. Global Warming/Climate Change is real (it’s not).

      DON: All of this propaganda delivered by Hollywood’s biggest movie star.

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      2. Paging Al Gore! Put that polar bear in a lock box and report! It’s only a matter of time before the King of Climate hustlers comes out of the woodwork. Ughh…

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  10. DON: –Oh, and we would be remiss if not saying a word on Wiley. His getting fired is remindful of the ‘Ton-o-Hel’ 7-years reign with every year fans screaming, “Do away with him’

    KAM: Wiley is crafty– he weaseled his way into that “Can’t turn it down” SC Buyout Contract. He’s holding aces against the Trojans deuces

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    1. KAM: Toxic, bitter former President who spent eight years dividing this nation is wondering how the nation got so toxic, divided, and bitter.

      Barack Obama: “I don’t understand how we got so toxic and just so divided and so bitter.”

      DON: He is upset that I defeated him for his 4th term as president. Everyone know he was running things behind Senile Joe.

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  11. KAM: If the Republicans win the election you are going to pay every taxpayer $5000 each?

    DON: That’s right, it’s in the vicinity of a trillion-dollars, but the money will weave its way back into the economy and get good numbers

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    1. KAM: GOODER AND HARDER, LA: Maoist D E M Nithya Raman takes double-digit lead over Castro-ite D E M USC alum Karen Bass in new LA mayor’s race prediction.

      DON: Polymarket traders gave Raman about a 58% chance of winning the election, compared with roughly 42% for Bass, which is a gap of about 16 percentage points, according to results on the site Monday morning.

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  12. Imaginary Wiley: ‘Don’t they know it’s not about the money, it’s my reputation. An ‘SC failure’ I’ll be labeled. I’m too young to retire

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    1. KAM: Schmucky Schumer says R e p u b l i c a n s would Steal the Midterms Elections… He said: “Two things could have us to lose. One, they steal the election. The second thing is money. They have obscene amounts of money.”

      DON:“OBSCENE” IS JUST ANOTHER WORD FOR “MORE THAN WE HAVE.

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  13. KAM: Well then, all Wiles needs to do to regain his reputation is win games

    DON: Yeah, starting with Washington tomorrow; the Huskies have beaten SC 3 times in a row

    KAM: Can you imagine the Trojan outcry if Wiley loses this one?

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    1. KAM: ‘I’m not confident she knows what she is doing’: Pramila Jayapal questioned socialist Seattle mayor’s competence during mass shooting response.

      DON: WHEN YOU’RE A SOCIALIST WHO’S LOST JAYAPAL…

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  14. KAM: Wiley said that the Sunday morning after the Saturday Oregon beating was understandably downcast at first, but by Sunday evening the team had forgotten about the Oregon game as it readyed for Washington

    DON: Both SC and Washington have average defenses at best, so scoring will be at will

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  15. KAM: I’m suddenly interested in ucla football, mildly. The ‘Little Bears’ have a Knight who should be crowned one and a quarterback who is redeeming himself, so they can score

    DON: But so can the Ducks. Even with a 2nd-Stringer

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  16. KAM: You know the SC players are dying to get to the Washington game to wash away Oregon’s bad taste. One week is too long

    DON: Maybe SC learned from Oregon what it takes to win games

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  17. LR is delusional, after one bad game you might be able to say- “we are almost there, a couple of plays we tighten up on blah blah- the same LR rhetoric we’ve heard since he came here. But after 4 games- we’ve had one good defensive effort against a poor team. Other than that- the D is lost. It doesn’t help that LR doesn’t even know what Defense is, nor does he know evidently how to call plays to manage the game better.

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  20. KAM: Can’t you just see Wolf scrambling about looking for material for his Friday Edition

    DON: And don’t forget the girls’ pictures, it’s not Friday without the girls

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  25. easy, boys, word on the street is Wolfman had to go outta town briefly, close as we can piece it together a cheerleader was involved.

    #AlsoABottleOfJackAndOnePlanB

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      2. c’mon now, few have the receipts the wolfman can provide; scores of photos of him surrounded by turned on cheerleaders…he’s like the Tom Jones of beat writers!!! even James Bond delayed a few missions to meet with a curious young ingenue!!

        #LikeMothsToTheFlame

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    2. Bond: “You are a beautiful girl, P u s s y.”

      #TheOnlyImmortalLineWrittenInThe1960’s

      #ThankYou,IanFleming

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      2. …and she sez, “dreaming of what?! as if I didn’t know!!”

        #”TakeMeToHeaven,James!”

        #”Okay”

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  26. now I’m concerned – need an APB on Wolfman – maybe he’s staking out Taco Lita for a “wolf in the woods” surprise interview with Cookie Cohen

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  28. KAM: But as Scott would say, “The show must go on.” So you said that if Democrats control the U.S. it will lose about $5-Trillion a year for the next 10-years.

    DON: Those are rough figures of course

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      1. you Nattering Nabobs of Negativism are forgetting that the last prez to balance the budget was Slick Willie every year of his first term!! !! Bush II and the Big Peedo did most of the damage. Clinto and Obummer added 34.5 million jobs to economy, Bush I, Bush II and Big Peedo added a total of 1.3 million combined!

        #AsJackTorranceSaysInTheShining:”CheckItOut!!!GoCheckItOut!!!”

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      2. Liked Bill — even liked Hillary UNTIL she sent Lannie Davis over to check out purchase of oil fields in Libya …and laughed on camera when she heard Gahdafi [sp?] was knife raped to death…

        #…EvenPutinWasShockedAtThatOne

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      3. Ahhh, that sexy cackle of hers, Julia Roberts reportedly copied it for the big screen.

        #PrettyWomen

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    2. KAM: Hitlery C l i n t o n spent Friday doing what H i t l e r y Clinton does best when the news cycle forgets about her: hunting for a reason to remind everyone she is still mad about 2016. 

      DON: What a Sore Loserman!

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      2. Charlie — I know you can only see the “good” side of Hillary’s involvement in Benghazi —but you owe it to yourself to read the eyewitness reports of her going back and forth when she heard of the attack on the embassy –“We don’t want uniformed officers in on the rescue”, “no, wait…the rescue team must be in American uniforms”…. “no wait…. they shouldn’t be in uniform!” …..this went on for the 2 hours in which our ambassador and staff were being slaughtered and, then, paraded around the streets as corpses….

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  29. DON: But enough of this drivel, let’s turn to sports. Finally a game where SC can wash away all of its Oregon sins

    KAM: I hope the team got over the Ducks sooner than some fans did

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    1. believe it or not, i’m pulling for the trOJies to win (most of their games) until they meet up with the Gutties (although they have a hellacious road to hoe) with some luck we meet as top 10 contenders playing for a playoff spot. Now that would be a crazy game and some serious smack talking fuel for one side!!!

      #CaliforniaDreamin’

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  30. KAM: If SC can get by Washington today then going to Big Bad Penn St is not looking so bad now, Trojans might even be slight favorites

    DON: What footballers must go through– even the so-called “easy” games will kick you around for a few hours

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    1. You said it yourself, John—- the star and rankings systems undervalue the real difference between players —the truth is the differences are small —and a team ranked 50th can beat a team in the so called Top Ten [if certain factors —like motivation and everybody being healthy—are in play]….

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      1. Right, MG, these college football players were the very best in high school. Some are better than others, but they all know how to play the game

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  31. I just watched Desmon’s hit on Moore again—-Dante would have been SO much better off if he didn’t slide….. if he just got tackled like Sam or Caleb did many, many times….

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    1. KAM: Correction, USC would have been SO much better off if Dante Moore didn’t slide and get his head smashed…Oregon was going nowhere under Dante’s weak passing game.

      DON: Raiola was the difference. He exploited our corners and we couldn’t stop the deep ball, which opened up the running game. If that cement head Stephens doesn’t spear Moore, we win in a blow out and Game Day would have been here today for our Homecoming.

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      1. I agree [but your valid point wasn’t clear to me until AFTER Moore went out— it just turned out Desmon’s Big Play ended up killing us]…

        #AndHisWeirdAszBehaviorAfterwardTaintedOurBrand

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    2. In other words he relied on the honor of his opponent not cracking him whilst he put himself in a vulnerable, unprotected position that is protected by the rules and the players’ code of ethics. i guess the new unwritten rule in the Big10 is don’t fair catch or slide agin’ SC cause they will go for the head and then dance and mug on the sidelines for the rest of the game.

      #IGotReciepts

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      1. Believe it or not, I totally hear you on this one, Charlie. I’ve just seen so many QB’s get phucked sliding that I think, on balance, it may be better to just take the hit that you’re prepare for.

        #Plus…MaybeSkinnyQB’sShouldn’tTakeOff&Run

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  32. KAM: “Car-54, Where are You’ comes to mind. Scott usually changes the subject about as fast as a woman in a dress shop

    DON: Now if I said that guess what they would call me?

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  33. DON: SC’s Playoff chances are on thin ice– figuring the Trojans lose another game to either Ohio St or Indiana, SC has to run the table

    KAM: I say forget the Playoffs, are not Ohio St and Indiana quite enough?

    DON: You forgot ucla

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    1. If we win the games you mentioned it would be USC’s best season since the Rose Bowl in January 2017…

      #ActuallyBetterThanThat

      P. S.

      Maybe Scott should post photos of Stephania Sandrelli and Bridget Bardot in his “Pick The Score” column…..

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  34. DON: The Problem with the Playoffs is that every one of the 12 qualifying colleges will lose its last game, except for one champion

    KAM: It’s the last loss that sticks with you I’d presume. At least the non-qualifiers can win their last game and finish in a positive state

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  35. btw, No one can say the defense is “close” when we don’t have all 11 players FACING SCRIMMAGE in 1 outta 3 plays….

    #LinebackersTurnedAroundScreamingAtDBacks….

    #…AsBallBeingSnapped

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      2. We goofed on this one, my friend —that 2,447 number is for all the offensive yards USC has racked up this season —and it puts us at 17th in the nation as an offense…..

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    2. KAM: Let’s compare this years defense to The Wild Bunch defense in Sacred ’69.

      DON: USC’s defense gave up 2,591 total yards in the entire 1969 season. The Trojans finished 10–0–1 and allowed 128 points overall.

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      3. …that makes us 75th in the nation in defense…

        [which is okay if we can score lots more points in the 4th quarter than we did against Oregon]….

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      5. MG – Not taking into account that if USC scores 28 against a quality opponent that average will go out the window as they will consistently find a way to give up more (and cook the books with results against rummy opponents … and even that hasn’t worked this year 3 out of 4 times).

        Gabby – Wild Bunch defense was phenomenal (the ’67 version were no slouches either) … but the ’78-’80 defenses may have actually been the best/most talented in USC history (along with Pete’s personally coached with Coach O 2004 Patterson/Cody/BKU/Lofa/et al squad). 1978 beating of Alabama in Birmingham, 1979 shutting down LSU in Baton Rouge, 1979 and 80 Rose Bowls, 1980 near shutout of Notre Dame … Lott/Smith/Browner/Banks/Johnson/Gray-Elison/stout DL w/depth … those defenses were hard as nails and rose to the occasion over and over …

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      6. “Rose to the occasion over and over!” — what I would do to see our defense do that in ONE big game this year (!)…

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  39. DON: SC is playing winnable games with Washington and Penn St, so they could improve to 6-1 and then have 2-weeks to prepare for a Wisconsin trip and return home for Ohio St

    KAM: And then they have 2-weeks to prepare for Indiana, so the schedule works out for them in that regard

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  40. as an aside to all the mentions of “AI” i now use it often, but mostly to confirm facts i know or partly know…and AI has been flat ass WRONG at least 7-8 times. when i correct it, it just says “oh your right i missed that one” when i accuse it of being worthless, it always soft soaps me by saying “i understand your frustration” or “i’ll pass this to my programmers.” this tech is FAR away from being trusted to handle serious applications like the Tech Fanboys are dreaming up. INCLUDING running our National Defense (incl missiles).

    #NowThat’sScary

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    1. You have to press A. I. —the first response may be off….but if you cross examine it [as I hope the Pentagon does], you’ll wind up getting straight answers….

      #[We’veHadSomeBigFightsOver”Transcendence”]

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      1. The fact you have to correct it is insane! What other applications would we give so much slack to? How bout if your bank says you got $14 in your account and then says oh yeah it’s X amount?? Map Quest is about as reliable as AI is currently.

        #(Shivering)

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