tigereye58

I’d only consider it for a commuter car at this point. I’ve driven a Tesla quite a bit and it’s an incredible performance vehicle. Just going around town within an hour of my house it’s a great option but you still have to have a gas for longer trips.

Maintenance is minimal. Flush brake fluid every 25k miles and rotate tires every 5-10k

Look at the Rivian SUV though. Also heard the 2027 Toyota Highlander will only be offered in electric. No gas or hybrid. I’ve heard Toyota battery technology is way ahead of others.

I probably wouldn’t buy one until range is 500+ miles on a charge.

That analysis is hot garbage

A family of 4 making 80k, 150k or 400k all spend about the same on health insurance. Same for a family of 4 making 2 million. There’s not a ton of bells and whistles to add. So considering we are a poor state we will definitely pay a higher percentage of our income. We also have a much lower cost of living. Health insurance is a nationwide problem. Our issue as a state is we don’t have as many high wage jobs. Car insurance is a state problem.

Obama screwed up healthcare for the lower middle class class all the way to the elites. Only ones he helped were the adult Medicaid and we are all paying for it.

Almost all High School kids play some level of summer ball. There are TONS of teams to choose from. Most schools across the state partner with a certain org to streamline it. Some small schools band together and partner with an org to help build a roster. The Knights are the most common in Louisiana but Luccini is who Barbe uses. All this means is there will be an option for Mandeville kids to play locally for the Knights. Most of the high level kids will play Knights or another org like Team Louisiana, USA Prime, Canes, WOW Factor to name a few. What it does is takes some of the grunt work off the local HS and all of those orgs have built in relationships with Perfect Game, 2D and PBR to get teams in tournaments. Nothing shady here at all. Every HS in the state has some path for their kids to play summer ball. This just allows more kids to have an option.

Nope. Mainly because there’s not enough diversity. At any of them. ??

Personally I don’t think Jay is hitting the portal as hard this year. He’s being very selective and focused on getting this HS kids to campus. Spend the $ on the 4 year guys. Find a diamond in JUCO ball here and there and a portal guy but finding the 4 year guy is still the way to win.

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I mean these aren't what you used to call 3-4 year guys. That's usually a Gavin Dugas/Travinski/Beloso type guy. Those guys don't hang around.

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I agree with this 100% and I think to an extent this is what was missing this year. The guys that were supposed to stick around didn’t and left a void. I’m not sure how you fix that. Also, the 4 year guys are typically Louisiana guys. They buy into the dream of playing for LSU more than the dream of going pro. I’m sure YOY the state doesn’t have 3-4+ LSU caliber guys but for YOY success we have to have the guys that are developing within the program. I think that’s what Jay was eluding to “developing the power within our system like Jake”. Finding them is the hard part though. I just don’t think turning over the roster 15-20 guys a year is sustainable. He has to get it right every time.

Would love to hear some of the more connected baseball guys opinion on this. I’m around high end high school baseball quite a bit. There are thousands of kids to choose from.

I looked at some of the different schools current rosters and compared them to LSU. It’s clear that evaluating and choosing the right guys at any level is key. LSU seems to be a really big outlier for recruiting any level at a national level. 2026 HS class has 1 Louisiana kid. Most other schools their HS class is much more regionally based. Texas, AtM, Arky etc for the most part are within a neighboring state for HS guys. But LSU seems to reach far and wide. I wonder if this is the miss. I know that with video they can see more but still recruiting a guy from CA limits an ability to see them no matter what. Look at teams like Southern Miss. Lots of LA guys on the roster. Probably 85% HS guys they grow within their system.

With the resources LSU has I get the national reach but we still don’t have the coaches to lay eyes on some of these guys more than 1-2 times. These national events these kids are coming to them but still that’s hard to see them as much as a regional kid. There’s something to be said for a 4 year guy that’s team first vs a 2 year guy that’s me first. For me watching these coaches navigate this portal environment is intriguing. The best evaluators win vs the ones that rely on national services get burned. I’d add that pitching evaluations are even harder. With “handlers” around for so many of these guys summer ball & HS ball is extremely hard to evaluate. Pitch counts are low to ensure success. Aside from the top 60-90 players it seems everything is a crap shoot.

How does Jay rebuild this in such a Wild West environment?

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Probably by SLC LL producing too many players that good kids were being cut by Barbe… so they had to go somewhere. But that point is incorrect because it’s more than just the Big Two in Calcasieu… Sulphur was the #9 seed, Westlake won state, and other schools there are good too

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It’s really just the growth of SWLA is going North into Moss Bluff and Ragley and south which is Barbe still. But it turned SH into a 5A school and South Beau into a 3A school and both are still growing. But SH is one of the smallest 5A schools in the state. Barbe is still a great school but it’s over crowded and land locked. The only reason another school hasn’t been built south of town is Barbe baseball. The golf course in Westlake has helped that school a ton also. And the city invests in the facilities for the school.

But 85-90% of kids go to public schools in SWLA. That’s not the case in the rest of the state. It’s not bc people can’t afford it. Just that our public schools are still really good. St. Louis Catholic is about to build a new campus and it’s the only private school option for baseball now.

But as LSU777 has said. It’s the coaches and commitment to year long development. It’s the culture of the community to own their own development. Barbe created it. Now others are following it also. The formula for winning 5A state used to be 2 quality arms. Now it’s pitching depth. Gotta have 4-5 arms to win 3 games.

Post game Interview

Hats off to Brad Bass. Takes full responsibility for it as a coach and acknowledges that’s the rule.

Watch until the end. He’s the last interview. Great kids at Catholic. Congratulations to them.

We used to use Dramamine patches. Is this still the best option for motion sickness or is there something new that’s better.

Senior skip day all over the state. Most classes are done. Just good kids caught in a bad spot.