Micah's Read of the Week, Vol. 112
Texas spends $630k on two football recruiting weekends, Your conspiracy theories about Southwest’s boarding policy are wrong, New Yorker Cartoon of the Week, Recipe Corner, and more.
Hello, and welcome to Micah’s Read of the Week.
This is a newsletter filled with things Micah Wiener finds interesting. Check out the archive of previous newsletters here.
Inside the Texas spending blitz that hooked Arch Manning and a No. 2 recruiting class
Ok, so this story got a lot of attention last week. We don’t have enough space in this newsletter to debate the importance placed on football, so we’ll just focus on the weekend in question.
The nation’s No. 1 overall recruit and scion of the Manning family made three unofficial visits to the school in a nine-month span, but when he arrived in Austin the weekend of June 17, it was different.
This was his official visit to Texas, a designation that meant the school could roll out the red carpet for him, using its expansive resources to try to impress the most coveted quarterback recruit in decades. A luxury hotel. An open bar for parents. A smorgasbord of food and nonstop entertainment. Nine recruits, including Manning, received first-class treatment throughout their 48 hours in Austin, all paid for out of the school’s substantial recruiting budget.
According to receipts and expense invoices obtained by The Athletic via open records requests, Texas spent nearly $280,000 for the mid-June weekend.
Friday, June 17
Official visitors stay in the Four Seasons Austin, a five-star hotel that overlooks Lady Bird Lake. When Queen Elizabeth II visited the city in 1991, she stayed at the Four Seasons.
For recruits who built up an appetite traveling to Austin (UT spent more than $21,000 on airfare, car service and other travel expenses), refreshments awaited. Chicken tenders, pizza and greens, a soft pretzel bar and a quesadilla station filled guests’ bellies upon arrival.
In recruits’ rooms, there was enough sugar to make Willy Wonka blush. Customized 6-inch round cakes, with burnt orange and white icing, a Longhorn on the top and “TEXAS” around the side. Personalized cookie cakes. Players’ favorite candies and snacks.
Four-star cornerback Malik Muhammad had two types of Jack Links beef jerky, Skittles, Twix and Trolli gummy worms among his personal bounty. Parents and siblings received similar treatment, because NCAA rules allow schools to provide lodging, meals and entertainment for up to four of a recruits’ family members on official visits.
Ok, so let’s talk about how much this VIP treatment costs. Why? Because it’s fun.
Posh hotels in downtown Austin are pricey compared to their smaller college town counterparts: Texas spent $46,696 on the 34 rooms it booked for recruits, family members and some UT coaches and staffers. That total factors in a group rate of $419 per night for most of the rooms. A reservation search for an individual two-night stay this weekend shows the lowest room rate at $870 per night and most well above $1,000 a night.
The lunch buffet tacked on another $17,319.71. Add in the $1,813.74 spent on the custom cakes and snacks and the Longhorns cleared $65,000 before the recruits stepped foot on campus.
The recruits and their families then went to the stadium to meet coaches, and most importantly, take some Instagram pics.
These shoots have grown in importance in recent years. Texas set up six locations for them: in an entryway to Moncrief, an area near the locker room, the players’ lounge, the barbershop, the tunnel leading to the field and the field itself.
The shoots take time. Bored recruits and family members can quickly kill the vibe of a visit, so Texas used multiple locations simultaneously to keep everyone engaged. Music, played through speakers UT rented, set the mood. DKR has a quality sound system, but when the stands are empty, loud music from it creates an echo. So the staff rented speakers (price tag: $3,359.12) to put on the field to keep the acoustics pleasant.
Why does UT need to rent speakers? Anyway, dinner time.
Following the presentation, recruits and families enjoyed a dinner buffet in a club area on the eighth floor of DKR. The guest list hit triple digits when including visitors, Texas’ full-time coaching staff, spouses, recruiting staff and support staff. The meal, complete with cocktails, beer, wine, flatware rental, a bartender’s fee and an ice sculpture, cost $29,129.40.
While recruits hit the town, coaches, spouses and recruits’ families trekked to the J.W. Marriott for a parent social, where the drinks flowed.
Perched on a rooftop bar, around the corner from a giant pool with an outline of Texas at the bottom, parents and coaches fraternized over a seemingly endless supply of spirits. You name it, they drank it: More than 40 glasses of Tito’s Vodka (which is headquartered in Austin), some Casamigos Blanco tequila and a variety of whiskeys, margaritas and other mixed drinks. Someone even ordered a $70 glass of Johnnie Walker Blue.
Parents appreciated the chance to unwind and speak to each other and coaches in a casual setting.
I bet.
The final receipt length rivaled that of your local CVS. After more than $6,000 worth of liquor, $756 of hors d’oeuvres, a smattering of beer and wine, a 20 percent service charge and a $2,400 rental fee, the pool bar tab came out to $11,880.
What about that late-night craving? Texas has that covered.
As parents and prospects returned to the Four Seasons late, hunger struck and some debated whether to have food delivered via Uber Eats.
No need. A staffer alerted them that another buffet, identical to the one that greeted the prospects after check-in, was set up in the conference room.
“It’s 2 a.m. and they have a full spread, in this room, just full of food,” Pilot said.
As you might imagine, the rest of the weekend sounds pretty good too. Some highlights:
Day 2 began back at the stadium for breakfast at the UT Club (buffet, omelet station, liquor and wine added up to $10,226), followed by standard visit fare: a campus and facility tour, meetings with position coaches, academic meetings at the McCombs School of Business and a rundown of the nutrition and the strength and conditioning programs.
In the afternoon, recruits got in some hacks at TopGolf. Plenty of food and drinks were on hand: three types of fajitas, guacamole and queso, rice, black beans, desserts, beer and liquor. Total tab for 75 guests: $9,497.72.
On Saturday night, the group splurged at III Forks, an upscale steakhouse just a few blocks from the Four Seasons.
Attendees ate enough to get the meat sweats: Forty-six 7-ounce lobsters, 34 bone-in ribeyes, 26 8-ounce filets, 17 New York strips, sea bass, chicken fried lobster, lobster mac and cheese, the list went on.
Chris Pilot ordered the Tomahawk ribeye, which rang up at $135.
“I’ve never had a Tomahawk before, so why not?” he said.
After fees and a $6,000 tip, the III Forks bill totaled $36,900.
While recruits went out again, parents would cap the night at another social at the W Austin hotel. The bill from the Saturday night social totaled $31,628.75.
But first, they boarded a boat for a cruise on Lady Bird Lake.
Through the hour-long cruise — which cost $2,357.50 — recruits’ families enjoyed the Austin skyline and sundaes from Amy’s Ice Cream, with choices of Mexican vanilla, dark chocolate, Oreo, nonfat and nondairy, and toppings ranging from M&Ms, sprinkles and pecans to hot fudge and fresh-cut strawberries.
So, was all that cash money well spent?
The following visit weekend, June 24-26, proved grander even without Manning. Though the itinerary was largely the same, the bigger scale with 14 official visitors left a deeper dent on the recruiting budget, as costs soared to nearly $350,000. The tab for both weekends combined approached $630,000.
The Longhorns got a strong return on the investment. Of the 11 visitors who weren’t committed to Texas before that final June weekend, nine eventually joined the class (three others entered the weekend already committed to Texas). Of the 23 visitors across both weekends, 16 are now Longhorn commits, accounting for 72 percent of Texas’ 2023 recruiting class.
That domino effect, of which Manning was the linchpin, eventually vaulted the Longhorns near the top of the national recruiting rankings. As of Thursday, Texas ranked No. 2 in the 247Sports Composite behind only Alabama.
I think this means they will likely be favorites to beat Kansas at home next year.
Your conspiracy theories about Southwest’s boarding policy are wrong
Is it based on your status? Your party size? A full moon? Experts explain.
We’ve all been there: You set an alarm and check in exactly 24 hours before your flight, only to find yourself relegated to boarding Group C. Southwest is the only major U.S. airline with an open seating policy.
Factors such as whether you use the Southwest app to check in, being a frequent-flier member (other than elite members), the size of your group and purpose of travel are not factored into boarding position assignments, said Laura Swift, a Southwest spokeswoman.
Still, getting into the A group is not just about the time you check in: Boarding assignments on Southwest are determined by a combination of money, timing, status and pure chance.
“It’s surprisingly complicated,” said Brett Snyder, who runs the Cranky Flier consumer air travel blog, noting some aspects of the boarding assignments on Southwest remain a “black box,” even to travel experts.
Here’s why checking in 24 hours before your flight might not get you the boarding position you want — and what you can do to secure an earlier spot.
A1-A15 are guaranteed
The only way to guarantee an early boarding position is to pay. Purchasing or upgrading to a Business Select ticket — Southwest’s most expensive fare class — guarantees an A1-A15 boarding position.
For frequent fliers with the Rapid Rewards Priority or Rapid Rewards Performance Business credit cards, the airline will reimburse up to four Upgraded Boardings purchased with the cards per year.
Keep in mind, though, that being first to board doesn’t guarantee the best seat because Southwest operates “through” flights, meaning passengers from a previous leg might still be on board, and they are allowed to change seats (after flight attendants take a head count).
You can pay to be checked in early
Even if you check in exactly 24 hours ahead, it’s likely you won’t be the first passenger assigned a boarding position. That’s because Southwest offers “EarlyBird” check-in, which automatically reserves a boarding position for the passenger 36 hours ahead of departure for a fee. You’ll still need to check in to get your boarding pass, but your boarding position — probably in the A group — will already be secured.
Gary Leff, who runs the travel blog View From the Wing, recommends that if you’re traveling with others, one person can purchase EarlyBird check-in and save seats for the rest of the party. Southwest does not have a policy against saving seats, though it can spark conflict between passengers.
Seconds matter if you don’t want to pay
Beyond those groups, boarding positions become strictly first come, first served — down to the second you check in.
“As far as we know, when you’re doing regular check-in, it is strictly in order of when you click the button,” Snyder said. “It does matter to the second — you just have to be ahead of everyone else.”
Though he recommends checking in as close to 24 hours out as possible, Snyder said passengers who can check in closer to the flight can occasionally take the boarding position of another passenger who canceled at the last minute.
“Sometimes you can slide in there and get a surprisingly good number that you don’t expect,” he said. “But there’s no way to know that in advance, so always try to check in right at 24 hours.”
Let’s say you catch that A boarding group. How do I get the best seat?
Leff said his top priority is securing an empty middle seat next to him, so he will often check with the gate agent before boarding to see if there will be any empty seats.
If the plane is not full, he skips the empty aisle seats near the front that many passengers want and heads for an aisle seat about two-thirds of the way down the plane.
“Nobody’s necessarily going to try to go all the way to the back looking for a middle — if you get stuck with the middle, you’re probably taking it close to the front,” Leff said.
On a full flight, however, every middle seat will be filled, so Leff said he goes straight for the “infinite legroom” seat, the window seat behind the exit row, which is missing a seat in front of it. Snyder called it Southwest’s “golden seat.”
I recently flew in the “golden seat.” 10/10 would reccomend.
Headline of the Week
Austin housing market calms down enough for young first-time homebuyers
As rent across Texas continues to soar, more young adults are looking into purchasing their first homes. Realtors say right now is the perfect time to buy.
“The market is slower than we have seen in a few years and there’s more inventory, more homes to choose from. So, what this means for a buyer is that they face less competition."
You don't need 20% for a downpayment, and you can get a home below list price right now, something that hasn't been possible since the pandemic started.
Austin realtor Colton Saucier says to always work with a lender and a realtor so the first-time homebuyer can better understand the market as there are deals on the table they don't want to pass up.
“You’ll see homes sitting for 30+ days, sellers are now paying for closing costs again," Saucier said. “There are so many options available to first-time homebuyers. I think a lot of people just don’t know what’s out there.”
Plus, because of tax implications, California buyers aren't incentivized to buy in Texas until January 1. So, now really is the best time to get a deal.
Reach out to me now. Get in the game while inventory is high and competition is low. Visit micahwiener.com to start.
Thanks,
M
New Yorker Cartoon of the Week
Recipe Corner
Redheaded Saint
How about one last end-of-summer cocktail? These would also be very good for a crowd.
1½ oz. blanco tequila
¾ oz. fresh lime juice
½ oz. mezcal
¼ oz. Raspberry Syrup (see recipe)
3 dashes Peychaud’s bitters, divided
1 oz. ginger beer (preferably Barritts)
Lime wheel (for serving)
Combine 1½ oz. blanco tequila, ¾ oz. fresh lime juice, ½ oz. mezcal, ¼ oz. Raspberry Syrup, 2 dashes of Peychaud’s bitters, and ice in a cocktail shaker. Seal and shake until well chilled, approximately 10 seconds.
Add ice to a Collins glass and pour in 1 oz. of ginger beer. Strain tequila mixture through a Hawthorne strainer into prepared glass. Give a gentle stir and garnish with a lime wheel and a dash of Peychaud’s on top.
Greek Chicken Meatballs With Squash
Let’s clean up our act a little this week, ok? Meatballs freeze very well, so a double batch might be good for meal planning purposes.
FOR THE MEATBALLS
Extra-virgin olive oil for greasing the baking sheet
1 pound ground chicken
1/2 cup (about 2 1/2 ounces) crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt (about 2 1/2 ounces), plus more for serving
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped, plus whole leaves, for serving
2 cloves garlic, minced or finely grated
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano, preferably Greek
1/2 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
FOR THE VEGETABLES
3 medium yellow squash (1 1/2 pounds), trimmed and sliced a 1/4-inch thick
1 large leek (about 8 ounces), trimmed, well-rinsed and thinly sliced
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives (about 20 olives), halved
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
FOR THE SALAD
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes (about 8 ounces), halved
1 cucumber (10 ounces), washed and sliced
1/4 cup (a generous 1 ounce) feta cheese, crumbled, plus more as needed
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano, preferably Greek
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Fine sea salt (optional)
Freshly ground black pepper (optional)
Fresh mint or dill, for serving (optional)
Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 450 degrees. Lightly oil a large, rimmed baking sheet.
In a large bowl, combine the chicken, feta, yogurt, mint, garlic, oregano, pepper and allspice. Form the mixture into 16 equal-size meatballs, just under 1 1/2-ounce each, and place in the center of the prepared baking sheet.
In another large bowl, gently toss together the squash, leek, olives and 1 tablespoon of olive oil until everything is coated. Arrange the vegetables around the meatballs and transfer to the oven. Roast for about 20 minutes, or until the meatballs reach an internal temperature of 160 to 165 degrees.
While the meatballs are cooking, in a large serving bowl, combine the tomatoes, cucumber, feta, if using, and red onion. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, oregano and mustard. Pour the dressing over the salad and lightly toss to combine. Taste, and season with salt, pepper and more feta, if needed.
To serve, smear a heaping tablespoon of Greek yogurt on the plate and place the meatballs and squash partially on top of the yogurt. Spoon the salad next to the meatballs and sprinkle the plate with the mint or dill, if using.
Alternatively, you can serve this family-style by arranging the meatballs and squash on a large platter and the salad in a large bowl, and serving them with a small dish of Greek yogurt.
Did Micah practice yoga this weekend?
Yes. 60 minutes Sunday at Searsana in Dripping Springs.
That’s 34 in-person weekend classes in 37 weeks this year.
More Micah
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Email: micahwiener@me.com
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