Basketball: Brock's Rootes to be augmented?

Of all the weeks to be down the street from the other BU, rather than the one in Ontario wine country.

The new job at Yahoo! Sports Canada, which this weekend includes covering the Memorial Cup in Brandon, Man., precludes pursuing much CIS at present, but it has been crazy the way OUA West coaching rumours have multiplied.

There is talk now (surf through the comment thread down page) about Ken Murray bowing out from the Brock Badgers. Assistant coach Brad Rootes, just two years removed from having the sweet handle at point guard during the Badgers' 2008 national championship season, would take the reins. That was expected to happen eventually, everyone sort of knew Rootes was being groomed as Murray's replacement, but damn that is fast. Some of our commenters are suggesting there was a mutiny. It has happened before in men's basketball.

There is also the Chris Oliver-to-McMaster meme and the Darrell Glenn-to-Windsor meme. Crazy. All this has gone down at a time when I am in transition to a new beat.

Ironically, the biggest sports story going in St. Catharines is a shakeup with the Niagara IceDogs, meaning anything to do with Brock is likely to get back-burned. Brock athletic director Lorne Adams resigned last week as director of athletics, so it's not even clear who would answer the phone if the media called.

Please don't take that a dig. A big apology is owed to the St. Catharines Standard's Bernie Puchalski for not linking earlier to an incisive April 30 feature on Badgers guard Joel Whitty, who suffered a third concussion last season and has this summer to decide whether he'll keep playing basketball.

Meantime, three coaching changes in the OUA West (pending), three in various sports in my own backyard (Ottawa in men's basketball and football, Carleton in men's hockey). It calls to mind the character the late, great Lloyd Bridges played in Airplane! "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue."

A big thanks to our commenters for keeping the fires burning. t's self-serving on this end to tell people to be really sure about what they say in the comments and not be able to go after it full force, but it sounds like there's a story coming out, one way or the other.
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59 comments:

  1. Brad rootes has been sawing at Murray's chair....rootes is a weasel!!!!

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  2. Young Bradley is still immature and misguided; Mr. Rootes on the other hand....

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  3. If this is true I think it is very sad and terrible for Murray. Brock should not allow this no matter what Rootes has done as an athlete. Murray should stay on no matter what.

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  4. Brad Rootes is not qualified to coach nor does he have the experience needed...the fact that he is undercutting Murray speaks volume to his lack of character. If in fact the agreement was for him to take over then a solid 4-5 years as assistant would be necessary. sounds like both of ken's point guards have tried to hang him out to dry...picton now rootes...both of these guys of very inflated opinions of themselves.

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  5. what did picton do? never heard that before....

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  6. OUA basketball keeps getting uglier as the days go on. ...all these rumours.
    If I were a recruit I would wait and see how this all plays out before making any decisions.
    Mac: announce your coach ASAP/ AD give your head a shake and quit trying to poach someone elses coach
    Ottawa: announce your coach ASAP
    Brock: fix the problems ASAP
    Oliver: stay put in Windsor!

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  7. ...Meanwhile, Tommy K just keeps a-rollin along!

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  8. Murray deserves to be at Brock as long as he wants.
    2 time champ enough said.

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  9. Murray blew it this year. He crossed the line with the players and they are what matters. Rootes got swept up in it but basically this was a team rallying against an abusive coach. Rootes did everything and Murray did nothing. He has had his run. It's time to move on and let someone else much younger take over. If not Rootes, then someone else. Those players won't play for Murray, so he should do the right thing and leave.

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  10. I guess you think Mike Krzysewski, Jim Calhoun and Roy Williams should all hang it up too, as they are all older than Ken Murray. Age has nothing to do with being able to coach and only someone under 30 would make such a stupid comment.

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  11. How would you know? Seems Brad is on here causing more crap.
    You mean to tell me that Springer Williams and Didi wouldnt play for Murray?

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  12. wow...this is getting very distasteful and waaay ahead of the game.

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  13. Every player, without exception has gone on record in writing to the Brock administration, stating that if coach Murray is back they will not play.
    Is it any wonder that the A.D. did not want to deal with this situation ?

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  14. If this is true, then its an inside Judas job then. No question. Only the hoped-to- be next coach could possibly orchestrate such a move. Good luck Brad and Mr.Rootes Be careful what you wish for. Success especially instant success is difficult. Such obvious blood on the hands never washes off. Never. This could/will backfire, and your boy will never be hired again. Shortest CIS job ever.

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  15. very amateurish move if true
    let the players walk...
    and let the orchestrator go too..this is a bad move...you do not ever want an institution held up for ransom by goofs like this. ever

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  16. As distasteful as this is for all you posters, the bottom line is that these players are there to play the game. They should not be expected to deal with egos and maniacs on the sidelines and in the locker room. That is what Murray brings to the team. He does not coach, he does not lead, he does not motivate. If he ever did, I have no idea. Is he too old? I don't know that either. All I do know for certain is that the players have all been on teams coached by many others over the years. For them to organize, en masse, like this demonstrates the massive disfunction behind the scenes.
    Has anyone out there ever seen anything like this before? I haven't.

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  17. Brock Observer5/16/2010 8:34 am

    Funny how the supporters for Murray only talk about how bad Rootes is. No comment about what the team did this year? The best group of rookies that looked damn good in November looked like crap in February. That's bad coaching and the misery on that team was obvious. Good for them for taking Murray to task for this instead of just leaving without a word to anyone. Change is in the wind for all these guys and no one should be guaranteed a coaching job just because they've been there for years. Loyalty goes only so far. What about the loyalty Rootes has for the players he recruited? Seems to me he's advocating for them.

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  18. if anyone thinks a group of rookies are going to win in the OUA West or OUA does not understand CIS level sport. Murray may be old school but, if true, Rootes better have a long memory...what goes around comes around.

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  19. Ironic how Mac players supported Raso yet he still got the boot. Brock players want their coach gone and it looks like he's diggin in his heels. If Brock wants to have any kind of a program in place next season, this has to be addressed now. The players do have some power as well. There are a few that can choose to sit out and go elsewhere with no difficulty. The others wouldn't likely be in high demand as most already have their utility players.They will have to choose if any basketball is better than no basketball.

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  20. Brock Observer5/16/2010 9:09 am

    I got it straight from a Brock player. The season was a bust. No one expected a championship but not losing all those games like they did. Rootes did all the work and Murray undermined him and was verbally and physically abusive to the players. Whatever went down, it don't matter except that Murray got no respect and was despised by the team. Rootes recruited the guys and Murray was supposed to be gone. Now Murray wants to hang around to get these players to another CIS chanmpionship. It's not going to happen with him leading. And I don't see Murray leaving on his own. Not with his ego. Jeff Giles, where are you? Your work at McMaster is done. Brock needs you.

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  21. Regardless of whether Murray is a problem it is obvious that this uprising was driven by someone. Players are not going to unanimously going to admin with a "petition". Uprisings are led by someone with an agenda. Always. The only way for Brock to get out of this is to get rid of the agenda driver and set a sunset on Murray's involvement. Then start fresh. You cannot start fresh with a Judas. A coach cannot be colluding with players to gain a personal foothold. He will never be respected because players know they can sway him. And they know what he did and will never trust his motives when things get tough. Soon he'll have to bench one of the serfs and all hell will break out.

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  22. Also heard that regardless of whether Murray is back, there's going to be some players transfer. There is definitely conflicting stories as to what is going on here. Some say that Murray was demeaning towards players and other say that Rootes and his Dad are behind this orchestration of Murray's 'exit'. I'm sure more things will come out but this is not a good situation for either parties involved. As for the players saying they won't play for Murray - are you serious? Get over yourselves!

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  23. Regardless of Ken's issues with the players...he was is at some point going to retire in the near future...ROOTES is not to be trusted!

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  24. From a person close to the team....
    3 players said they wont play for Murray, all were 2nd yr and up.
    All rookies said they would play including CLinton.
    He says Murray will retire but there is no assurance Rootes gets the job. He only 24 and played with 4-5 of the guys on the team.

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  25. How can you expect to win starting three 2nd yr guys and 2 rookies?
    Be realistic.

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  26. Make no mistake that Didi is Brad's boy and he is one of the ringleaders of this coup with Rootes pulling the strings. Didi did not like taking a back seat to Clint this year and things are only going to get worse, especially if Rootes is hired to replace Murray. As soon as Didi feels he is not the man, he will turn on Rootes too. Brad knows this so expect Didi to be the first option if Rootes is coaching. Clint should get out of that mess asap. He would have gone to Mac if Raso hadn't recruited Ryan Christie so if Oliver becomes the Mac coach, Clint should consider his options.

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  27. Sounds like the patients are running the asylum and Rootes is the maddest of them all. If any of this is true it speaks to immaturity of the "coach in waiting".

    I recall a great quote that a third of the team hates you, a third is undecided, and a third loves you. The coach's job is not to turn over the haters, but get the lovers to sway the undecided. Point being, there's always haters - but if one of those is an assistant coach, well there's going to be problems.

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  28. Great point.

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  29. Wouldn't it be ridiculous for them to hand the job to Rootes? I am sure a tonne of successful experienced coaches would want the job!

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  30. yes indeed...ridiculous.

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  31. agree it sounds ridiculous...ir murray steps down and rootes gets the job, good luck to rootes trying to work with the other OUA coaches. If any of this is true about him undermining murray no one will be willing to work with him, including high school coaches. The program will suffer with the tyoe of environment and that type of leadership.

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  32. You don't see the assistant at Syracuse doing that to Boehim!

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  33. Ken Murray is a coward who uses his position of power to intimidate and verbally/physically abuse the players on the team. Rootes has been the true head coach for a number of years, he was the coach on the championship team. Rootes' basketball IQ is ten times what Ken Murray will ever have. For all of you out there coming down on Brad Rootes just wait for the next year when the talent of this young Brock team will flourish when they aren't being misguided by an egotistical maniac.

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  34. Well said. It is clear to anyone who knows basketball that the team is talented and the only thing Murray is doing is holding everyone down. He's awful.

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  35. This is the OUA West where up until the last couple of weeks, every coach has been to the Nationals. Not everyone is Brad Stevens and comes in and takes a hold of the league. There are some pretty damn good coaches with a lot of experience. Yes, Brad has shown he can bring in players to Brock but can he bring in the right players to fit in and gel? That is just as important as the other aspects of the game. Can he mesh all the personalities? Can he put players in the best position to be successful and happy with their role? I guess we'll have to wait and see....

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  36. Of course, the assistants at Syracuse actually earn a good living...like most D1 schools.
    Neither Murray or Rootes comes off looking very good in this affair.
    Rootes has been made to look like a back stabbing, ungrateful little punk,
    while Murray looks like the kind of a guy who might invite that sort of betrayal,
    supposedly abusive and playing team mates against one another.
    If this scenario is true then maybe it is best to clean house.

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  37. I would like to know exactly what Murray did to this team or is it getting blown out of proportion? Whose side of the story are people hearing? A lot can be misconstrued when stories/rumours get passed on. I don't think Murray should be 'let go' because of 1 yr. He has given a lot to the school, athletic program and basketball community.

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  38. I'm tryng to remember how O'Rourke got the Head Coaching position at Guelph, also with not a lot of experience?

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  39. And has successful has O'Rourke been in comparision to the previous coach?

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  40. Let's not lose track of the issues here. Brad from what I've seen has never been anything but a classy, smart, nice guy. Who can blame him for wanting his dream job coaching in his hometown! Murray is a tyrant, and every now and then the people will go at the king. This is clearly what has happened. I say good on the Brock players for standing up for themselves.

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  41. The same thing gets posted about Rootes everytime. Could it be the same person over and over?lol
    Murray is respected around the country. He has a bad crop of kids who are spoiled and selfish. Whether or not Brad is involved i would like to hear Brad story on how "he coached the team" and how Murray is such a bad person.

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  42. If Murray leaves, maybe Brock tries to see if Joe Raso is interested in the job?

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  43. this entire thread feels like a disgruntled player or parent who is making most of the stuff up

    IP and usage can be tracked. it'll be interesting to see if this libel ends up in a lawsuit.

    only morons think that they are actually anonymous on the internet. you aren't.

    if I was murray and rootes, i'd sure think about suing

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  44. No, it's not one person heading the charge. I've heard it from several different sources, fans, parents, players, heck, even heard it from other CIS coaches. There is no secret. There is a big problem at Brock. Whatever side of the fence you are sitting on, it doesn't look good for the program as a whole. I like the option of cleaning house. Maybe a fresh start with an experienced and respected new head taking on the rookie players is the way to go. But loyalties from the players is directed soley towards Brad right now.
    Murray has a long history of this type of behaviour towards players. He has been taken to task for it in the past by admin as well. Unfortunately for him, this year with his having such a large group of rookies at once showed how ill equipped he is to really coach effectively from scratch.
    Can't see this one working itself out.

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  45. Anon 10:17..."A bad crop of players who are spoiled and selfish"
    What a ridiculous claim. They were, for the most part, coached for years by men who taught them how to play the game. Don't you think these players can tell when a coach is a dud? They organized and presented a case, not just whined about it to anyone within earshot. They should be heard and taken seriously.

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  46. As a donor, I'd like to know where the money went. Players report not being given food or money for food for away games. No explanation given. They get on the bus home after a game only to see the girls eat food provided by their coach and his program funds.
    So Coach Murray, please do tell...where is the money? or were the players being punished for lack of success on the court, or was the funding used elsewhere? This is not acceptable and it's not libel, ask any player on that team. All players, on all CIS teams are alloted food or money for purchase. This is likely only one point in a long line of complaints. Perhaps a coach with the ability to successfully fundraise enough funds to feed his players should be sought after for Brock.

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  47. That is not true, there are many schools in the OUA that do not provide meal money anymore. With scholarships becoming more and more of a focus, a lot of schools are allocating their money differently then in past - so that $2500 that used to go to meal money for the season may now be put into scholarships.

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  48. meal money from Brock is no more

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  49. I know next to nothing about the inner workings Brock program. and I suspect very few here do. I periodically like to read the CISblog but I do wonder about the fairness of encouraging comments after posting a speculative and provacative lead post. The comments get passed off as "facts" and I ask is that fair to those directly involved?

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  50. Meal money was promised to the incoming rookies as a perk to committing. It seemed fair enough as most programs do that. But when money is given to the program, one would expect the promised funding to materialize. When it doesn't, an explanation would be good form. To be fair, the players were too intimidated by Murray to approach and inquire so just accepted it as another negative aspect of being on the team. Their mistake. This and other incidents all came to light after the season ended.

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  51. Brock Observer5/17/2010 12:00 pm

    All one had to do was watch a Brock game to see the dynamics. Rootes would be calling out directions to the court, talking to players or pacing on the sidelines. Murray would have his head buried in his hands during the game, only to rise up on occasion to scream like a banshee incoherently at the players. No one could figure it out. It really looked like Murray gave up on the team in disgust.

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  52. Maybe some of those rookies are no where near as good as they think they are, I watched some Brock games and wasn't impressed by any of them. They need to lose the ego and so does the assistant coach from the sounds of it.

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  53. @ From BC: fair point. However, our post stressed there is "talk now ... about" Murray leaving Brock and described the coaching changes as "pending."

    Nothing has been passed off as fact. However, when a site of this scale has comments on a post running into the 100s (where normally we get 3-4 if any), it would be remiss not to comment.

    Some blogs do break news. My attitude is life is too short, I have a full-time job, so it's better to say, "Look, I think there's a story here" and hope that the reporters in a particular market step to, brother or sister.

    This was not done lightly; the number of comments demanded some sort of commentary -- and that's all this, commentary -- on what's happening.

    Again, we've stressed to people (a) don't say anything on here unless you know it happened and (b) don't come to ax-grind.

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  54. sager: Thanks for the reply. I guess that what I'm saying here is the comments are being taken as "fact" and by allowing them to continue then you run the risk of being unfair to those directly involved. It's your blog however. If it was mine I'd freeze it. But for sure if I was a local reporter I'd be asking for interviews from thos involved. I'm sure they are/have. On the slightly positive side its great to see passion around CIS baskets.

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  55. Brock Observer5/17/2010 12:43 pm

    No axe to grind here. I was extremely disappointed to find out about all this turmoil. So it may be best to enlighten potential recruits and those that may advise them. All this coach did was destroy the love of the game for many players. I have that comment directly from a Brock player. There are many disillusioned young men on that team although they bonded and forged strong friendships through all of this. It seemed to have brought them closer together and may keep the team whole next year. All in all, it was a good lesson to be learned for these young men, no matter what transpires in the future for this program. They've learned that things don't always appear as they seem. They should ask the tough questions, don't assume, and even read these blogs because sometimes there is truth.

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  56. Chris Ensing5/17/2010 1:35 pm

    Just something that's bothering me reading all of these comments.

    Everybody who writes on this comment thread thing has the option of putting a name to what they say. Only like four of you do that. If you all have such strong opinions and these great insights to what's going on and this huge amount of knowledge of the situation, why don't you put your name on that shit?

    This is why blogs get bad reps, people say things without having to worry about backing it up. Most of the stuff on here is false and contradicting, and if you're in a position to know these things, then you should be dealing with the situation instead of commenting on it and trying to make your side look better in the press.

    I really hope this stuff gets sorted out, a great team with a great GROUP of coaches who have the pieces to compete for a National Championship.

    And please, please, just take the time to put a name to your comment. I don't get any of this Anonymous.

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  57. Blame the administration for letting this mess get so out of control. If Murray had been approached in the past by admin about his actions, then he should have been on some type of performance evaluation schedule. If he was acting like a fool on the sidelines and Rootes was 'coaching' the team, then the admin should have stepped in right there and done something. That is why they are administrators, to deal with these types of situations so they don't get to this point. And then the AD walks out and leaves everyone else to deal with this. I have no idea what his personal reasons were for leaving, however this not only makes him look bad but the university as a whole.

    To play devils advocate for a moment, I believe the players are getting off a little light. My observation over the last few years is that players have become 'softer'. They seem to need extra 'babying' than players in the past because of the attention they receive at an early age. A coach just can't recruit everyone he thinks should be at his school, some don't fit with others. Someone stated above, you can't have the inmates running the asylum!

    PS. This crap would NEVER happen at Carleton!

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  58. Chris Ensing5/17/2010 1:46 pm

    "Ken Murray is a coward who uses his position of power to intimidate and verbally/physically abuse the players on the team. Rootes has been the true head coach for a number of years, he was the coach on the championship team. Rootes' basketball IQ is ten times what Ken Murray will ever have. For all of you out there coming down on Brad Rootes just wait for the next year when the talent of this young Brock team will flourish when they aren't being misguided by an egotistical maniac."

    And you're a coward who uses his position of anonymity to bad mouth a public figure with out explaining where you get any of your information from. If what you say is the truth, why not stand by it and attach some credibility to your words.

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  59. If any of this speculation from so-called insiders is true, this appears to be a perfect storm; a moody, tyrannical coach, a subversive, ambitious assistant and egotistical, self-centred players. What a soap opera!

    As a long time fan of CIS bball it was clear to me that this was going to be a challenging group to coach; lots of talent with lots of ego, especially with only one ball and back to back rookies of the year. As for Ken Murray, when things weren't going well he often looked like he'd given up, but having said that, his record's not bad. Two National Championships is more than Raso, Oliver, Katz...

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