Dad of one, Husband of one (3x), LAX Coach, Dog Trainer, Hunter, Gator Fan, Biggest smart-alec you know.....proud parent of a Russian kid and a German dog
Chattanooga, TN
Joined March 2009
- Tweets4.2K
- Following3K
- Followers563
- Likes13K
The Duke of Rossville retweeted
Just waking up from a 4hr much needed nap, I found Cuban food in Chattanooga & they have a cigar humidor inside, this is absolutely amazing & I’m so happy 😀
The Duke of Rossville retweeted
Every GOP strategist, consultant, and candidate should be forced to participate in a role-playing exercise this morning.
Your name is Bob. You’re a 49-year-old blue-collar worker in Ohio. You’ve always struggled to make ends meet. The good jobs were all shipped to China and the few remaining pay a pittance wage, undercut by endless illegal labor.
You’re a 3x Trump voter because you believed he would finally make America great again.
You put your son through Ohio State. He graduated cum laude in computer science. You couldn’t have been prouder. After months searching, he landed an entry-level job at Microsoft. Beneath his qualifications, but a good start for a smart kid.
Then he got laid off. That same month, Microsoft applied for 150,000 more H-1B visas because it can’t find qualified Americans.
Your son has spent six months back in his childhood bedroom, sending hundreds of applications without landing an interview.
On TV, Trump boasts about the greatest economy in history and how many women and minorities are finding jobs.
You decide a father-son steak night might cheer him up.
Gas is $4.50 a gallon. Filling your truck costs over $100. At Kroger, ribeyes are $30/lb. You settle for hamburger, even though 70/30 ground beef still costs $10+.
At checkout, a fat black woman is screaming at the cashier because her EBT will only cover most of the filet mignon and lobster in her cart.
You think to yourself how the Iran war has made everything expensive, but at least we’re stopping their nuclear bomb. You weren’t even sure where Iran was before you googled it after we first bombed them in March.
After dinner, you take your son to the county fair. Half the people aren’t speaking English. Virtually none of the crowd looks like you. You’re forced to leave early after a “teen takeover” turns violent. A foreign born judge pledges none of them will go to jail.
Back home, you turn on the TV. Vivek Ramaswamy is lecturing the crowd about American mediocrity and why Ohio needs more foreign talent.
Your son grows upset. You change the channel.
Now a Republican surrogate, the daughter of a governor or wife of an elderly billionaire, explains that young White men are the REAL welfare queens. They’d rather play videogames in their parents’ basements than work.
Your son says nothing. He just goes back to his childhood bedroom. You turn off the TV.
Then your neighbor starts blasting reggaeton and cracking open Modelos. He brought his cousin’s family from Mexico to help with all the minority-business contracts his construction firm keeps winning. Tonight they’re celebrating his nephew’s birth, the family’s first birthright American citizen.
You sit alone in your living room.
You worked hard, paid taxes, obeyed the law, and raised your son to do everything right. You voted Republican again and again because you believed somebody in Washington would finally fight for you.
Instead, your wages are stagnant. Groceries are unaffordable. Your community is unrecognizable. Your country is fighting another foreign war.
And upstairs, the son you sacrificed everything for is lying awake in the bedroom he slept in at twelve, wondering what the heck he’s even supposed to do with his life now.
Every time you turn on the TV, the Republicans you elected are either congratulating themselves or explaining why you and your son are the problem.
For ten years, they told you America’s future depended on your vote. Now you aren’t even sure America has a future worth defending.
The Republican Party needs to answer one simple question this morning:
You’ve spent a decade demanding Bob’s loyalty. You’ve given him stagnant wages, unaffordable groceries, another foreign war, and a son who did everything right but can’t find work.
And when they complain, you call them lazy, entitled, and racist.
What possible reason have you given Bob and his son to vote Republican? Do you honestly think you deserve their vote?
The Duke of Rossville retweeted
🚨 HOLY SMOKES. Gov. Ron DeSantis just BLEW UP and went on an America first RAMPAGE on national TV
"I saw NO INDICATION that Republican senators were interested in doing conservative change! WHY haven't we done immigration, SHUT OFF H1B visas?! WHY haven't we CODIFIED Trump's immigration executive orders?! Why haven't we STRIPPED jurisdiction from the federal courts over deportation cases?! There's SO MANY THINGS we COULD HAVE DONE."
"THEY DIDN'T EVEN ATTEMPT IT."
"They say, 'oh, if only we needed 50 votes we would've done it!' YOU DON'T HAVE 50 VOTES. You NEVER SHOWED you'd do conservative things, even with 50 votes! [RE: filibuster]...I NEVER saw an indication that they'd do it."
"This midterm was a rebuke of the president and Congress...BUT, a LOT of our voters stayed home because they were FRUSTRATED with the LACK of productivity from Republicans in the House and Senate."
A fire was just lit under this man.
Honestly have not seen him get that fired up in a LONG time
We definitely deserved better from our Senate. Now, we need to repair and win in 2028, or Democrats are destroying America!
The Duke of Rossville retweeted
Governor DeSantis BLASTS Kristi Noem for bungling mass deportations and turning it into a shit show for her own glory.
DeSantis BLASTS Congressmen like Byron Donalds for making millions on the stock market.
DeSantis BLASTS Alina Habba for getting a $10 million government contract and securing a presidential pardon for her boyfriend.
“If the people in office don't display some civic virtue about public service as a sacrifice. It's not to use the public office for private gain.
I declined the pension in Congress. I declined the health care. I didn't trade the stocks.
And I believe in congressional term limits. I mean, imagine if you went to the American people and actually tried to get that done. That's not right or left. That's something that a lot of people realize.. These guys work for themselves. They should be working for you.”
The Duke of Rossville retweeted
One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was merely OK, in other states it was downright amazing, and in no state was it catastrophic. There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team: our people were showing up.
So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we're going to shock the world? "No," he told me. "We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us."
Well, that looks prophetic now. Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026.
There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true.
But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone.
Another pollster—one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were:
1) End the war
2) Focus on cost of living/inflation
3) Put America First
4) Change our relationship to Israel
Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results. While many spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos Duffy for calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it turns out her political advice was sound. (She’s also a great person.)
In the next few months, there's going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear any number of establishment politicians say the solution to our woes is amnesty. I'm open to the idea that we should change enforcement—by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you.
The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.
If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest.
But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.
I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.
The Duke of Rossville retweeted
Kurt Warner reveals why he was still stocking cereal shelves for five-fifty an hour three years after the NFL cut him, and the four-word question a Wheaties box asked him at 3 a.m:
It is the most specific breakdown of turning humiliation into fuel you will ever hear:
1. Moments you don't choose
Most people think a Hall of Fame career gets built by talent lining up with timing. Warner opened his induction speech by naming the part nobody controls.
"We don't all get to choose the nature of our moments... And we don't all get to choose the substance of our moments."
He didn't ask for the version of his career that included a grocery store apron. He got it anyway. That's the starting point, not the excuse.
2. The dream you had is not the dream you get
Warner didn't grow up wanting to be a quarterback. He wanted to be a receiver, and that dream died in a specific moment he still remembers in detail.
"You see, my dream to play in the NFL didn't start at the QB position. It began wanting to be the next great wide receiver — the next Steve Largent, or Charlie Joyner, or Lynn Swann." When that door closed, he said, "Now I cannot confirm or deny if tears were shed that day. But unquestionably, my dreams of playing in the NFL had been crushed."
The position that made him a Hall of Famer wasn't the one he picked for himself.
3. Show up even when nobody is watching
There was no highlight reel during the grocery store years. Just a schedule that would break most people's spirit.
"Working nights stocking shelves, taking care of our kids during the day, working out in the afternoon to stay ready, sleeping when I could and waking up and doing it all over again."
No cameras. No scouts. Just the repetition of a man refusing to let a stalled dream become a dead one.
4. The question a cereal box asked him at 3 a.m.
He didn't get a locker room speech to keep him going. He got a box of Wheaties.
"I was stocking the cereal aisle, opened up a case of Wheaties and on the box was one of the men with a seat behind me: Dan Marino." Night after night that box stared back at him until it asked the only question that mattered: "Are you going to spend your life stocking someone else's cereal boxes? Or are you going to step out and make sure someone else is stocking yours?"
That's the line every stalled dream eventually has to answer.
5. Change your course before life forces you to
Warner didn't wait for a savior. He made a decision.
"If I wanted different results, I needed to change my course. Because trust me, no NFL scout comes running into Aisle 7 at 3 a.m. looking for their next QB."
Nobody was coming to rescue the plan. He had to move it himself.
6. Let your family's need become your fuel
The lowest point wasn't in a stadium. It was on the shoulder of a highway.
"There I sat on the side of the road with my family freezing and no money to my name." Digging through seat cushions for coins, he kept thinking one thing: "my kids deserve so much better than this."
Shame can crush a man. It can also become the exact weight that moves him.
7. Call it your worst day and let it turn into your best one
Warner walked into what he thought was his final NFL tryout and it went as badly as it could go.
"I showed up at Rams Park early with bells on. Then I proceeded to have the worst workout of my life." He was so certain it was over that "I called Brenda from the hallway of the facility and told her I blew it. I blew my last chance at the NFL." A few days later the phone rang anyway. "I'd get a call from the Rams offering me a contract."
He was the worst judge of his own workout that day. Somebody else saw something he couldn't.
8. Thank the person who saw your value when you couldn't
Warner didn't credit talent for that contract. He credited a man who took a chance on him.
"One man's junk, another man's treasure." Then, directly to him: "Al, thanks for calling back, for dusting me off and for uncovering my value. Thanks for being my someone."
Everyone climbing back from the bottom needs one person willing to dust them off. Warner never forgot who his was.
9. Sometimes the job comes down to someone else's gut call
Even after the contract, his spot wasn't guaranteed. It came down to a coin flip made by one man's instincts.
"1998, the night before final cuts, and the biggest question was who would be the Rams third-string quarterback. So Dick Vermeil polled his entire staff on which of us to keep. The votes were split down the middle. So the decision would be left to the instincts of the head man."
He had put in the work to be ready if the coin landed his way. That's the only part he could control.
10. You don't choose the moment, you choose what you do with it
Warner closed the loop on his own opening line, and it's the whole speech in a single idea.
"But what we all do get to choose, is what we do with those moments." Standing on that stage, he said it plainly: "I believe I stand here tonight because of what I did with the moments I was given."
Warner's story isn't really about football. It's about a man who got handed a grocery store apron instead of a playbook and decided that wasn't the end of the story, just a chapter he had to work through with his head down and his family on his shoulders. That's the same math that governs anyone rebuilding after a setback that wasn't their choosing. You don't get to pick the moment you're dropped into. You get to decide what you do inside it, one shift, one rep, one phone call at a time, until somebody finally sees what you already knew was there.
I write one story like this every week for veterans and anyone rebuilding. Get it here:
substack.com/@bjganem
A veteran, a dog, a mission.
The Duke of Rossville retweeted
A simple physics principle can explain why it can be so difficult repairing a culture when you inherit a new team or program.
Here's how it works:
Imagine you just had a tough conversation, maybe with a player, a colleague, or your spouse.
The conversation ends and you try to carry on with the rest of your day, but can’t seem to get over it.
Your body is still tense. You become quieter. You find yourself purposefully distancing yourself from others and your patience is thinner than usual.
The difficult conversation is over, but your body didn’t get the memo.
This experience is a version of what physicists call hysteresis. Hysteresis is a concept that describes how a system’s current state is shaped not just by what’s happening now, but by what happened before.
In essence, the system has a memory and residue remains even after the original cause is gone.
Another way to look at it is like walking on wet sand at the beach. The wave rolls in and recedes, but your footprint is still faintly there. The tide has moved on, yet the imprint remains. That’s hysteresis.
Now I’m not a physics expert to say the least (it was my worst grade over the course of my high school years!), but I think this concept matters a lot more to us than we may realize.
As human beings, many of our reactions, habits, and behaviors aren’t responses to the present moment, they’re echoes of the past.
For example, when you take over a team or organization, you don’t just inherit the personnel and systems, you inherit memory of what came before.
This includes potential scars from past leadership. Broken trust. Experiences that taught people to protect themselves. Lax standards.
That’s why repairing culture and relationships often takes longer than expected. You’re not just building something new, you’re helping people release something old.
So coaches ask yourself: What “footprints” from the past could still be shaping how my players are showing up today?
The Duke of Rossville retweeted
The end is the best.
This guy sums up what I hear from practically every person I know. Perfectly.
The Duke of Rossville retweeted
This is what it's all about 🥹
Marcus Spears gets emotional reacting to his son's, Marcus Spears Jr., arrival ahead of Chicago State vs. Texas ❤️
The Duke of Rossville retweeted
Gators in all blue this weekend vs Oklahoma. Blue helmets with Gators script.
🔵🔵🔵
7:45 kickoff with Urban Meyer being inducted into the Ring of Honor.
The Duke of Rossville retweeted
7 scouting takeaways from Florida-Miami:
1) Thomas Haugh was the best player on the floor.
His feel without the ball is outstanding. He cuts at the right time, attacks decisively, moves it quickly, finds offensive rebounds and consistently makes fast decisions.
The 3-ball was falling too. I have a late first-round grade on him.
2) I think box-score analysis undersells Haugh.
He doesn’t have one overwhelming statistical strength, but the off-ball value, motor and processing speed all show up possession after possession.
He also defended really well against a very athletic Miami team. If he can hit corner 3s in the NBA, I think the rest of the package translates well enough to produce positive rotation value.
3) Rueben Chinyelu might be the best defender in college basketball.
Florida trusted him to pick up guards coming downhill, and he had Shelton Henderson in an absolute torture chamber.
Even while defending away from the rim so often, he still finished with 11 defensive rebounds and 3 blocks.
4) The offense with Chinyelu is going to be limited.
He’s mostly a play finisher and will probably be a negative offensive player in the NBA.
But he’s so strong, mobile and long defensively that I still think he gets on the floor.
5) Boogie Fland played a really good all-around game.
Very unselfish, excellent passer, quick decisions and elite point-of-attack defense.
He made life miserable for Miami’s guards. The big question is still whether he can score efficiently enough, because I like pretty much everything else.
6) Acaden Lewis was easily Miami’s best player.
He was the only guy consistently creating offense for himself, getting to the rim and the midrange.
The passing wasn’t great in this one, and the NBA swing skill is obvious: can he take and make enough 3s?
7) Shelton Henderson had a rough game.
Too much forced offense at the rim, not enough change of pace, reckless decisions and Chinyelu swallowed him up.
The NBA tools are still there, but the skill level and feel need refinement.
Caleb Gaskins mostly blended into the action, while Somto Cyril finished well but didn’t make enough of a defensive impact.
The Duke of Rossville retweeted
Long post worth the read. I have a close friend who flies private jets. He flew Lear 60 for over 15 years and now flies a Gulfstream. This is a copy and paste of his response to me asking him if he thought Ice was the issue.
“We always fly in ridiculous cold temperatures.”
“Usually you get the bad ice when the temperatures are like 0 to negative 20. Believe it or not, there's a point where it gets too cold for ice. At negative 40, you pretty much can't get ice. Besides that, the airplane is equipped with hot wings and hot tail.”
“I flew the Lear 60 for like 15 years. It's a no joke airplane and probably the most dangerous airplane I've ever flown. It has a super critical wing. The airflow has to be perfect. When it gets into rough air and turbulence, it will easily stall. It has stalled on me at 41,000 feet just because we got into some turbulence. (On the way to Palm Beach as a matter of fact. ) we recovered and got her flying again around 30,000 ft. Scary
But here's the problem. This airplane has a terrible coffin corner. (At high altitudes) what that means is, you fly in a really narrow window where if you lose 20 knots, it stalls. And if you gain 20 knots, it goes into overspeed. The air goes supersonic over the wing and it goes into a high speed stall, or worse, a Mach tuck.
So if you stall, the normal recovery is to push the yoke forward to lower the nose and gain air speed again. At low altitude, you can push really hard and recover quickly. But in the 60... if you push hard, it will gain air speed and go into a high speed stall, it doesn't take much. It's very sensitive. The 60 has super short wings that don't make much lift. So then you high speed stall, and the computer is yelling at you... OVERSPEED! So then you pull back and enter a low speed stall. And you go back and forth trying to keep it in the air speed window.
This whole thing is pretty scary. And you should recover basically by using your finger tips using super small corrections. You can't over do it. If you try to muscle the recovery, she gets mad and will become unrecoverable. If she enters a mach tuck. You're done.”
“I taught the Lear 60 to other pilots and mentored them. I told them... this airplane has a soul and it's trying to kill you. Do not ever try to top the weather. Don't go over a thunderstorm. Go around it. If it means a half hour longer, then do it. Going over the thunderstorm will go into turbulence that you might not recover from.
These pilots went right over a thunderstorm. I think it stalled which caused them to drop down into the thunderstorm and ended up in mach tuck. They picked up so much speed that it ripped off the horizontal stabilizer. At that point... chuck Yeager can't fix it.
These same pilots did something similar a couple months ago. ATC got mad at them. They poked the bear one too many times.
This is not a beginner airplane. The Gulfstream would never do this. It has HUGE margins of error and won't stall like that. But then again... it's got HUGE wings. It's a pussy cat.
The Gulfstream is like driving a 4 wheeler. The Lear 60 is like riding a uni cycle.”
The Duke of Rossville retweeted
Dolphins QB Daunte Culpepper has been listed as doubtful on this weeks injury report.
Things are not going well for the Dolphins in year 2 of the Nick Saban era as Miami is off to a 1-6 start and travel to face the undefeated Chicago Bears on Sunday.
The Duke of Rossville retweeted
Highly recommend taking four minutes of your day and listening to this speech by Ernie Johnson
The Duke of Rossville retweeted
The next pro lacrosse league? An AI generated scam? A PLL G-League? I dug into the newly launched Alpha Lacrosse League to try and make sense of it all. Fair warning, this is a very long read.
sticksinlacrosse.com/post/th…
