Leading Off
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The Hunt for Asia’s El Chapo. Via Reuters:
He is Asia’s most-wanted man. He is protected by a guard of Thai kickboxers. He flies by private jet. And, police say, he once lost $66 million in a single night at a Macau casino.
Tse Chi Lop, a Canadian national born in China, is suspected of leading a vast multinational drug trafficking syndicate formed out of an alliance of five of Asia’s triad groups, according to law enforcement officials. Its members call it simply “The Company.” Police, in a nod to one of Tse’s nicknames, have dubbed it Sam Gor, Cantonese for “Brother Number Three.”
The syndicate, law enforcers believe, is funneling tonnes of methamphetamine, heroin and ketamine to at least a dozen countries from Japan in North Asia to New Zealand in the South Pacific. But meth – a highly addictive drug with devastating physical and mental effects on long-term users – is its main business, they say.
In what it calls a conservative estimate, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) puts the Sam Gor syndicate’s meth revenue in 2018 at $8 billion a year, but says it could be as high as $17.7 billion. The UN agency estimates that the cartel, which often conceals its drugs in packets of tea, has a 40% to 70% share of the wholesale regional meth market that has expanded at least fourfold in the past five years.
Athletic Directors on Name, Image, and Likeness. Via AthleticDirectorU, 97 of 344 athletic directors answered questions concerning their thoughts on the new name, image, and likeness legislation in California (and other states have passed or will pass similar legislation) and the responses are interesting, the first question is if AD’s are in favor of student-athletes having the opportunity to be compensated for name, image, and likeness and it’s 46.9% “no” and 43.8% “yes”. The fact that essentially half of all AD’s don’t want it mean that these AD’s still maybe aren’t living in reality.
Texas Tech Volleyball
❗PINK OUT❗
Break out your pink and come support us as we take on Kansas this Wednesday! 👆
🔴#WreckEm⚫️ pic.twitter.com/gAimASogFS
— Texas Tech Volleyball (@TexasTechVB) October 14, 2019
.@caitlindugan_ picked up the first @Big12Conference award of her career! 🤩
🔴#WreckEm⚫️ pic.twitter.com/4UgnCALGle
— Texas Tech Volleyball (@TexasTechVB) October 14, 2019
Texas Tech Soccer
A hot one today left us with some good 📸 as we push our point total to 1️⃣1️⃣.
🔴#WreckEm⚫️https://t.co/1nZs9BIX9e
— Texas Tech Soccer (@TexasTechSoccer) October 14, 2019
Texas Tech Softball
🚨🚨🚨
Want to be the voice of the Red Raider softball team? Click on the link ⬇️ for more details!
🔴#WreckEm⚫️https://t.co/iNP75IIj0j
— Texas Tech Softball (@TexasTechSB) October 14, 2019
Lady Raider Basketball
Ready to make some noise 💪
🔴#M2M | #WreckEm⚫️ pic.twitter.com/jsB4xZDQvY
— Lady Raider WBB (@LadyRaiderWBB) October 14, 2019
Texas Tech Basketball
National preseason praise.
🔴#4To1 | #WreckEm⚫️ pic.twitter.com/SJqq5JRtnc
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) October 14, 2019
Big 12 Preview. NBC Sports’ Travis Hines has a preview of the Big 12, including preseason power rankings, all-Big 12 teams, etc. It’s a good read to get you ready for the season which is about a month away. Hines doesn’t think that Texas Tech is going anywhere:
2. TEXAS TECH ISN’T GOING ANYWHERE
We all came to appreciate just how great Texas Tech was last year, but it’s worth revisiting how they got there. Remember back to the spring of 2018. That’s when Chris Beard and Keenan Evans being a badass and Zhaire Smith turning into a top-20 NBA draft pick as the Red Raiders made the Elite Eight. Those two then left, along with Zach Smith and Justin Gray. Those are massive losses to endure, and, yet, somehow, Texas Tech got even better. Seconds away from a national title better. Pretty insane.So despite another spring of heavy losses, including top-10 pick Jarrett Culver, the prevailing wisdom is not only will Beard’s team be a Big 12 contender again, they’re a preseason top-10 team. Doubt them at your own peril after what they pulled off last year. Graduate transfers Chris Clarke and TJ Holyfield are probably going to be the keys to how far Texas Tech can go in replicating last year’s success.
If you’d like this in podcast form, you can NBC Sports’ Rob Dauster talk about each of the teams.
Texas Tech Football
Game Time for Texas Tech vs. Kansas.
Under the lights in Lawrence.
🔴#WreckEm⚫️ pic.twitter.com/eSTuFNfZDZ
— Texas Tech Football (@TexasTechFB) October 14, 2019
Old Man Yells at Clouds.
Nothing more current society of not taking responsibility for something by spending 2-3 days bitching about a call/calls out of 180-200 plays or getting on Twitter and taking a shot at the opposing program or releasing a statement to appease a fan base that insults an opponent.
— David Smoak (@DavidSmoak) October 14, 2019
Smoak is a radio guy who used to work in East Texas and is now in Waco doing the radio thing and feels that Texas Tech fans upset about a call that the Big 12 admitted was wrong is some sort of reflection of today’s current society. I should mention that every time that Art Briles opens his mouth, Smoak and or his son or at his radio station runs to get quotes from Briles so yeah, you make your own judgement about Smoak just covering the news. I don’t know if this is the definition of “irony” but someone associated with the Baylor program and “not taking responsibility”. Meanwhile, Des Moines Register’s Randy Peterson (he’s sort of the Don Williams of Iowa State sports) laments that the refs should be held acccountable, something that I’m not sure that Smoak understands what that means:
What college football needs in the best interests of transparency are answers. Officials must be available to undergo the same post-game scrutiny as the coaches and players of games they officiate. They should be available to answer our questions, too.
Put the lead ref on the postgame podium, just like the players. Athletes do it. Refs should, too.
Matt’s on Matt’s. The Oklahoman’s Berry Tramel writes about how Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell said yesterday that he has a lot of respect for Texas Tech head coach Matt Wells:
“I have a lot of respect for Matt, coming into the conference, watching what he did at Utah State,” Campbell said. “Their kids play really hard. Defensively, they run to the football. They obviously have a veteran defense coming back, then putting a really good scheme around it. You can tell the culture’s growing and the kids believe in coach Wells.”