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Post by mountaineer501 on Sept 16, 2011 21:01:04 GMT -5
#21 Auburn Tigers at Clemson Tigers----------------Auburn Tigers #18 West Virginia Mountaineers at Maryland Terrapins------- West Virginia Mountaineers Tennessee Volunteers at #16 Florida Gators---------Florida Gators Washington Huskies at #10 Nebraska Cornhuskers------ Nebraska Cornhuskers #24 Texas Longhorns at UCLA Bruins-----------UCLA Bruins #22 Arizona State Sun Devils at Illinois Fighting Illini-------- Arizona State #17 Ohio State Buckeyes at Miami Hurricanes---------Miami #1 Oklahoma Sooners at Florida State Seminoles-------Oklahoma Syracuse Orange at USC Trojans--------- USC #6 Stanford Cardinals at Arizona Wildcats----------Stanford
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Post by mountaineer501 on Sept 10, 2011 7:01:19 GMT -5
No. 16 Mississippi State at Auburn== Auburn Norfolk State at No. 19 West Virginia== West Virginia No. 3 Alabama at No. 23 Penn State== Alabama No. 6 Stanford at Duke== Stanford No. 11 Virginia Tech at East Carolina== Virginia Tech Nevada at No. 13 Oregon ==Oregon North Carolina State at Wake Forest== North Carolina State Southern Miss at Marshall== Southern Miss Cincinnati at Tennessee== Tennessee No. 12 South Carolina at Georgia== South Carolina
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Post by mountaineer501 on Sept 5, 2010 12:05:21 GMT -5
More legal troubles for WVU men's basketball player Joe Mazzulla, who was cited for disorderly conduct and public urination, along with teammate Dalton Pepper.
The two were cited by Morgantown police around 12:30 Sunday morning in downtown Morgantown near the intersection of Reid and Chesnut Streets. Both charges are misdemeanors.
"We are aware of the situation and the matter will be handled internally," WVU head coach Bob Huggins told The Dominion Post in a written statement Monday.
Mazzulla and Pepper have the option of pleading guilty and paying a fine or contesting the citations in Morgantown Municipal Court. A November 1 court date was set for the players if they choose to contest the citations.
This is the third run-in with the law for Mazzulla who was arrested along with teammate Cam Thoroughman at a Pittsburgh Pirates game in 2008 for allegedly taking a swing at an off-duty police officer. Mazzulla was charged with aggravated assault, hindering apprehension and underage drinking, but later pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and public intoxication.
Last year, in April 2009, Mazzulla was charged with domestic battery for an incident at a nightclub in downtown Morgantown. He later pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. The point guard was suspended from the team from April to August for that incident.
Mazzulla is expected to be the starting point guard for the Mountaineers this season after being named the Most Outstanding Player in the East Regional for his 17 points and three assists in WVU's 73-66 win over Kentucky in the Elite Eight.
Pepper was a backup guard during his freshman season last year, averaging 3.1 points per game in 30 games.
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2/26/10
Feb 26, 2010 15:01:50 GMT -5
Post by mountaineer501 on Feb 26, 2010 15:01:50 GMT -5
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Post by mountaineer501 on Feb 23, 2010 21:23:20 GMT -5
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The NCAA is accusing Michigan Wolverines of five potentially major rules violations under coach Rich Rodriguez, who admitted making "mistakes" but will be back for a third try at putting the Wolverines back into the national title hunt.
Incoming athletic director David Brandon disclosed the NCAA conclusions Tuesday, while expressing full support for his coach, who is just 8-16 in two seasons heading the nation's winningest football program.
"Rich Rodriguez is our football coach, and he will be our football coach next year," Brandon said.
Rittenberg: Allegations Addressed How serious are the allegations against the Wolverines? Michigan could be termed a repeat violator of NCAA rules; it's unlikely Michigan gets nailed for this, but it's within the realm of possibility, writes Adam Rittenberg.
In its notice of allegations -- which Michigan received Monday -- the NCAA said Rodriguez "failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance within the football program." He tracked neither what his staff was doing nor whether his players were following NCAA rules, particularly those limiting the time spent on practice and football-related activities, the report said.
It also said the athletics department failed to make sure its football program was complying with NCAA regulations. Brandon said the department "clearly made mistakes," but "there was no charge of loss of institutional control" -- an allegation that in previous cases has led to severe NCAA sanctions for other schools.
An accompanying letter from the NCAA to university President Mary Sue Coleman said Michigan "should understand that all of the alleged violations set forth in the document" are considered to be "potential major violations of NCAA legislation, unless designated as secondary."
Brandon said he wasn't sure he understood "the difference between 'major' and 'minor' and 'secondary' and 'primary.'"
"They spell it out very specifically in their own language," he said.
Another possible problem for Michigan is that it could be subject to the NCAA's "repeat violator rule" because it was sanctioned in 2003 for wrongdoing within the basketball program.
"We will make all necessary changes," Coleman said. "What we will not do is make excuses."
Michigan has 90 days to respond and will appear at an NCAA hearing on infractions in August. The school will see how its internal investigation matches up with the NCAA findings and will consider implementing self-imposed sanctions, a move that could reduce NCAA penalties.
The NCAA said last October that it was looking into the Wolverine program following a report in the Detroit Free Press citing anonymous football players that said Michigan exceeded NCAA limits regarding practices and workouts in 2008 and 2009.
Rodriguez, who signed a six-year deal worth $2.5 million per season, tearfully defended his program just five days before the season-opener, saying he and his staff have followed the rules. He suggested the complaints were an attempt to "tear up" his rebuilding effort following a 3-9 season.
On Tuesday, the coach said if the football staff misinterpreted NCAA rules, "That's on us."
"We're looking at it to see why we misinterpreted and why we made mistakes," he said.
NCAA regulations allow players to spend eight hours a week on mandatory workouts during the offseason. Players told the Free Press they spent two to three times that amount on required workouts, though the NCAA report released Tuesday said players more often exceeded the limit by two hours per week.
The players also said the amount of time they spent on football activities during the season exceeded the weekly limit of 20 hours and often exceeded the daily limit of four hours. They said football staff often watched offseason scrimmages that are supposed to be voluntary.
Near the end of last season, the school released embarrassing details of an internal audit that discovered Rodriguez's team failed to file forms tracking how much time players spent on football during his first season and the following offseason.
The audit noted "a concern" that the football program failed to file monthly forms created by the school to comply with NCAA rules by tracking how much players work out and practice.
The school report did not find issues of noncompliance -- a key issue for NCAA investigators -- but acknowledged the practice logs for football were not available to be reviewed when the audit was conducted. The forms since had been turned in on a timely basis, according to the school.
"My reading of the situation is we had a breakdown of communication," Brandon said Tuesday. "We found we were not being vigilant in the way those [time records] were being filled and managed."
The time record system that the football staff designed "was too cumbersome to manage" and is being changed.
The decision to hold the infractions hearing in August means Michigan will have a distraction just as
the Wolverines are getting set to kick off a new season in their refurbished stadium.
Brandon, who takes over as athletic director on March 8, called Tuesday "a tough day" and said the univeristy was taking "full responsibility for those events that brought us to this point."
"We will dedicate ourselves to learning from this and doing everything we can to prevent it from happening again in the future," said Brandon, the outgoing chairman and CEO of Domino's Pizza.
Rodriguez stumbled to a 3-9 season in his debut at Michigan, the team's first losing season since the late 1960s and his 4-0 Wolverines stumbled down the stretch last season, leading to speculation about his tenure in Ann Arbor.
According to his contract, Rodriguez can be fired for cause if the NCAA, the Big Ten or the school determines he has committed a major violation of NCAA rules or he has intentionally committed any other type of violation of NCAA rules.
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Post by mountaineer501 on Feb 19, 2010 9:48:48 GMT -5
By DAVID JONES, The Patriot-News February 16, 2010, 7:57PM
.If you love college athletics and prefer it over the pros, one of the reasons is probably the atmosphere. And no matter the window dressing applied by the “gameday experience” chieftans who've sprung up all over the college sports marketing landscape, nothing juices a game better than a great band.
Maybe you're not the type to notice bands. But when a great pep band is rocking a college hoop house, I hear it. That happened last week at West Virginia when I covered the Villanova game.
The WVU pep band was awesome. A mere 60 musicians, half the size of a marching band. Yet their sound clapped like thunder through the old WVU Coliseum. They played standards but also stuff you don't hear all the time from college bands.
Jay Drury was a trumpet player on the band when he was a student back in the mid-'90s. For the last six years he's been its director. Unlike at some schools where the basketball pep band is sort of a volunteer collection of stragglers from the higher-profile football marching band, the membership of Drury's pep band is structured and consistent. You're expected to put in the same effort as the football band.
“Our pep band is actually a class; the students get credit for it,” said Drury. “We get together in early October and practice as often as possible before the season starts.
“We do like to play crisp and clean, if you will. The kids take a lot of pride in it.”
Pep band members are expected to know 80 different songs, any one of which Drury can order up during a game without warning, based on what sort of timeout is taken. And they aren't just the same stuff you hear everywhere else. Kool and the Gang's Jungle Boogie gets a complete treatment. And Stevie Wonder's Sir Duke is not your typical fare, nor is it easy to play.
These kids make it sound easy, though. The bass line and rhythmic foundation supplied by the low brass and the percussion just boom and crack out loud. It's the same great framework you'd get out of a power bass and drum combo like John Bonham and John Paul Jones or Keith Moon and John Entwhistle.
You can tell immediately if a band has taken the time to prepare when you walk in an arena.
Drury said his attitude is, if anything is worth doing, it's doing well:
“I think it makes a difference. I think it helps the atmosphere.
“We think we have a good band program overall. And we treat the pep band as just as important as our marching band or any of our other bands.
“We like to have fun and we're there to support the team. But we think we should be doing it the right way, too. It means something. We're not just a ragtag bunch of kids who comes together
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Post by mountaineer501 on Feb 17, 2010 8:14:42 GMT -5
Wed, Feb 17 2010
Schmitt trades gridiron for guitar
By Jim Workman Register-Herald Sports Writer
It’s difficult to shake that image of the bloodied face of Owen Schmitt as he paced the sidelines in Morgantown.
He had either just drilled an opponent with a head-on collision, claiming yet another broken facemask, or bashed his helmet against his own forehead in an attempt to motivate or admonish himself.
Despite that, Schmitt is a head-banger no more.
Not that he’s gone soft since joining the Seattle Seahawks after a successful stint as fullback for the West Virginia Mountaineers.
No, ol’ No. 35 has gone country.
Schmitt will be making an appearance with the Davisson Brothers Band at the Lost Parrot Beach Bar & Grill on Neville Street in Beckley Thursday night. Schmitt is a part-time guitarist and vocalist with the Clarksburg-based group.
The Davisson Brothers Band is described on its Web site as having “a unique style infusing a remarkable blend of country, southern rock and bluegrass to create a distinctive sound.”
So how does Schmitt and his image fit in? And just how does one go from the gridiron to the stage?
“He’s a great guy,” said Donnie Davisson, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist. “He’s one of the best guys I’ve met. He’s a lot of fun. Owen has a lot of energy, and he’s becoming a really good guitar player.
“We were playing a show at the Wisp Ski Resort in Maryland one time,” Davisson recalled. “There he was in the crowd. I kept thinking, ‘I know that guy from somewhere.’ He came up and talked to us after the show and I guess the rest is history.”
“It’s been a blast,” Schmitt said. “Music is something that’s always been a part of my life. The Davisson Brothers are a class act. We’re having a lot of fun.
“I went snowboarding one time, and I happened to catch their show. You can’t put a price tag on what I’ve learned from playing with them.”
The Davisson Brothers Band adds Schmitt to its lineup when scheduling permits.
“We’re kind of West Virginia’s band,” Davisson said. “So a lot of our fans are also Mountaineer fans. They actually play one of our songs, “Big City Hillbilly,” at the Mountaineer games. So it works out well. He will talk to people and sign some autographs before and after the show. He’s a real down-to-earth guy.”
“It has been awesome, to see the fans,” Schmitt said. “I think that everyone respects that I come back to the state. I’m looking to buy a home here. I’ve been a lot of places, but there’s just something special about West Virginia. It just keeps sucking me back in.”
Schmitt has played two seasons with the Seahawks.
“I’m going to be playing for my third coach, so I hope we get it right this time,” he said.
Seattle hired former USC coach Pete Carroll last month.
“He’s proven that he’s a winner,” Schmitt said of Carroll. “I think that he could instill some of that with the Seahawks. It could recharge us with a little of that college atmosphere.”
After 15 years of playing clubs, the Davisson Brothers Band released its self-titled debut CD last March on CharTunes/Yell Records, released in the United States and Canada by E1 Entertainment Distribution.
“You can expect to have a real good time if you come to one of our shows,” Davisson promised.
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Post by mountaineer501 on Feb 3, 2010 16:03:56 GMT -5
I just about forgot!!!!!!!
Colts 35 Saints 27
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Post by mountaineer501 on Feb 2, 2010 14:40:38 GMT -5
West Virginia LB Reed Williams Named BIG EAST Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Courtesy: BIG EAST Conference
Reed Williams ... PROVIDENCE, R.I. – West Virginia University linebacker Reed Williams, an All-BIG EAST performer, two-time ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America selection and a member of the National Football Foundation National Scholar-Athlete Team, has been chosen as the 2009 BIG EAST Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The selection was made by the conference’s Academic Affairs Committee and is presented on the basis of academic credentials and athletic performance.
A graduate student from Moorefield, W.Va., Williams will receive a $2,000 scholarship, which may be applied to graduate or professional studies. The Conference also announced the 106 players who were chosen to the BIG EAST All-Academic Team.
Williams has been a three-year starter at middle linebacker for West Virginia. He was an All-BIG EAST Second Team selection in 2009 after he had 68 tackles, two sacks, six tackles for loss, and seven pass breakups and was chosen as the Mountaineers’ defensive MVP.
Williams, who missed the entire 2008 season with injuries to both shoulders, was the Defensive MVP of the 2007-08 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl after helping the Mountaineers to a 48-28 win against Oklahoma. He was a member of two BIG EAST championship teams, two teams that won BCS bowl games, three New Years Day bowl-winning teams and four bowl-qualifying teams.
In addition to his on-field accolades, Williams earned ESPN The Magazine Academic-All America First Team honors in 2007 and was named to the Second Team in 2009. He was one of 16 national finalists for the 2009 William V. Campbell Trophy as the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame national scholar-athlete of the year. He was named to West Virginia’s Dean’s List in each of his five academic years and is a four-time BIG EAST All-Academic selection.
Williams is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and the Golden Key national honor society. He has volunteered his time in a number of community service endeavors, including the West Virginia Boys and Girls Club, Special Olympics, and a Marion County Division of State Police child advocacy fundraiser.
Williams is the third West Virginia player in the last six years to be chosen as the BIG EAST Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Former Mountaineer offensive tackle Garin Justice won in 2005 and linebacker Jay Henry was the 2006 winner.
The BIG EAST Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year award is one of a number of scholarships presented by the BIG EAST Conference during the 2009-10 academic year. Thirty-two student-athletes (one male and one female from each of the BIG EAST’s 16 member institutions) will receive postgraduate scholarships as the winners of their respective institutions’ Scholar-Athlete Award. The conference also names a male and female BIG EAST Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
The winners of the institutional, football and basketball awards are then eligible for the BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, which provides an additional postgraduate scholarship to one male and one female student-athlete.
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Post by mountaineer501 on Jan 31, 2010 8:48:16 GMT -5
No one wants to start a "feud" and I feel that we on this site can disagree without that happening. I guess good sportsmanship, like many other things, is in the eye of the beholder.
With that said I personally would like fans to be able to bring their younger children to the games, instilling a heritage of attending and cheering for all sports at WVU. When my offspring were young there were places and event that they were not allowed to visit or attend due to the prevailing atmosphere. I would hope that WVU sporting events would not be one of those.
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Post by mountaineer501 on Jan 25, 2010 9:43:18 GMT -5
‘Truck’ a critical part of success for No. 11 West Virginia
By Mickey Furfari For The Register-Herald
MORGANTOWN — Darryl “Truck” Bryant has been one of the most consistent performers for the 11th-ranked West Virginia basketball team (15-3) recently.
The 6-foot-1, 200-pound sophomore guard from Brooklyn, N.Y., is about the smallest player on the squad. But coach Bob Huggins considers Bryant as invaluable to the Mountaineers’ success.
He is the leading playmaker with 61 assists and is averaging 10.7 points per game. He also has 34 rebounds and 13 steals.
“I just want to make plays,” Bryant said. “I don’t mind passing the ball. That’s my main job. While I’m one of the smaller guys, that doesn’t bother me.
“The bigger guys don’t bother me. I give ’em the ball so they can make plays, too.”
Huggins said, “Truck is really valuable to this team. He was our most consistent perimeter shooter the past two weeks or so.
“But he is the guy that has to bring the ball down the floor to put us on offense.
“He has been very, very consistent since we had a couple of heart-to-heart talks. I think his work ethic is so much better. His attention to detail is so much better.”
How did the comparatively small standout get a nickname as “Truck”?
“I got it when I was about 11 years old and I was playing in a basketball game on Coney Island,” Bryant replied. “I was kinda chubby then.
“Some guy with a microphone called me ‘Truck’ and it has stuck with me.
“I was getting a lot of charging fouls then and I assume that was the reason. I don’t even know the guy’s name. But I kinda like it.”
Bryant thinks making plays is his chief contribution to this year’s team. He also mentioned “making shots” and “playing defense” as other strong attributes.
“Yes, I’d say I’m an all-around player,” he added.
Bryant said he loves playing for West Virginia. He believes all is going well since his one-on-one sessions with Huggins.
“I now know what I have to do for this team, and everything is fine,” he continued. “Now we’ve got to get back to winning games.”
Bryant, admittedly more relaxed, attributes his increased production to taking his time and focusing better on what he’s doing.
He started 28 games and played in all 35 contests last year as a true freshman. He averaged 9.8 ppg, shot 39.6 percent from the field, 37.7 from three-point range and 76 percent from the free throw line.
He had 96 assists and averaged playing 25.6 minutes per game.
Bryant earned numerous honors as a prep superstar. He scored a school-record 1,399 career points at St. Raymond’s High.
He was named to the CHSAA first team. He was chosen MVP in the Gatorade Invitational which St. Raymond’s won in Puerto Rico. He also was MVP of a high school challenge event.
Bryant shared in several AAU tournament triumphs, too.
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Post by mountaineer501 on Jan 22, 2010 20:10:24 GMT -5
West Virginia University quarterback Eugene Smith has suffered a broken bone in his foot that will keep him sidelined for six weeks. MetroNews has learned that Smith suffered the injury during a winter workout.
Smith is expected to be at full-strength when the Mountaineers begin spring practice drills on April 6th.
It’s the second time Smith has broken a bone in his foot since arriving at West Virginia last summer. A source tells MetroNews Smith broke a different bone on the same foot.
The true freshman from Miramar, FL. appeared in five games last season throwing for 309 yards while completing 65 percent of his passes. With the graduation of Jarrett Brown, Smith is expected to be the Mountaineers starting quarterback next season.
Smith saw his most extensive action in West Virginia’s 24-7 victory over Marshall when starting quarterback Jarrett Brown was knocked out in the Mountaineers’ first possession. He replaced an injured Brown again against Florida State in the Gator Bowl. He completed 8 of 15 passes for 92 yards against the Seminoles.
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Post by mountaineer501 on Jan 22, 2010 12:34:56 GMT -5
CONCORD, N.C. -- Have at it, boys.
NASCAR is relaxing some of its rules this season, and encouraging drivers to show more aggression and emotion, in large part to answer a growing fan sentiment that the sport had gone stale.
"There's an age old saying that NASCAR, 'If you ain't rubbing, you ain't racing,'" NASCAR president Mike Helton said Thursday. "I think that's what the NASCAR fan, the NASCAR stakeholders all bought into, and all expect."
The first change will be evident when the season opens next month at Daytona International Speedway, where restrictions on bump-drafting will be lifted and horsepower will be increased by the use of the largest restrictor plate since 1989.
NASCAR had been slowly tightening its tolerance on bumping at Daytona and Talladega -- the two biggest and fastest tracks in the series, where the horsepower-sapping restrictor plates are used to control speeds -- and it graduated into an outright ban issued the morning of the November race at Talladega. The edict sucked the drama out of what's typically one of the most exciting races of the year, and was the final straw for many race fans who had grown tired of watered-down racing.
Even some drivers publicly complained, criticism that is usually frowned upon in NASCAR.
"Let us RACE," Denny Hamlin tweeted after the Talladega drivers meeting, later adding, "We signed up to drive our cars. Not be told how to."
He's getting his wish.
"We will put it back in the hands of drivers, and we will say 'Boys, have at it and have a good time,'" vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said Thursday.
The yellow out-of-bounds line that circles the bottom of those two tracks will remain, and Pemberton said the majority of drivers did not want that removed.
Another change coming this year will be an eventual switch from the rear wing to a spoiler on the back of the car, a design change that should both positively affect downforce and the aesthetic look that race fans prefer.
Also on tap is an organizational restructuring. The most prominent shuffle is the promotion of longtime Sprint Cup Series director John Darby into an oversight position, and NASCAR is actively looking for his replacement in a role that is effectively the top cop of the garage.
Darby's successor could be in for a busy year, particularly if drivers answer NASCAR chairman Brian France's call "to mix it up a little bit differently" going forward.
As NASCAR exploded over the 1990s past its small Southern roots into a billion-dollar, corporate-fueled sport, its participants seemed to morph into robotic sponsor shills too frightened to make waves. NASCAR wasn't immune, either, and started policing on-track aggression and off-track emotion.
Intentional on-track retaliation was met with immediate punishment, while transgressions such as shoving a competitor or cursing in a television interview were met with monetary fines and/or points deductions.
Fans were incensed that the rough and tumble sport they once loved had been molded into boring, follow-the-leader racing, and their favorite drivers had become too vanilla. It wasn't until last fall -- when Hamlin waged a monthslong feud with up-and-comer Brad Keselowski, and Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya intentionally wrecked each other in the season finale -- that NASCAR finally saw the lift the emotions and personalities can deliver to the sport.
So France, who in the past has been accused of being out of touch with stock car racing's participants, began a series of offseason meetings with individual teams and drivers to poll opinion on how to re-energize the sport.
All the changes announced Thursday, as well as the promise by France that NASCAR will "loosen it up," came from those meetings.
Still, Helton cautioned it won't be the Wild West.
"It doesn't mean that you get a free pass-out-of-jail card," he said. "But it certainly means that what we are encouraging the competitors ... for their character and their personality, within reason, to be unfolded."
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Post by mountaineer501 on Jan 22, 2010 8:13:29 GMT -5
Colts Saints
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Post by mountaineer501 on Jan 22, 2010 7:48:21 GMT -5
I would hate to see him go. He is a true talent
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