Any guesses what these numbers are?- Your 7/8/08 OPEN THREAD

Are they in any particular order?

Not the 8th.

No- no particular order to them.

I'd bet those are rankings some part of our offense over the past 44 years. Either passing, scoring, rushing, or total offense.

No, but it does have to do with an offense. Not rankings though. See you all tomorrow!

My guess would be it represents UM's most recent scores against a particular opponent.

The test scores of Ohio State football players?

I looks like something along the lines of the longest runs from scrimmage by year. I know that I'm wrong, because I know that Woolfolk went for 92 against Wisconsin, and there is no number that high on the list.

going to guess these numbers represent numerical values of some kind. Yay! I win!

Is it the number of times I have masturbated each day in the past two months?

Scores of Rich Rods teams at West fuck'n Vagina?

Takes a big man to fess up to that 79 year old. Then again, 79 is the new 60.

Did you get killed by an albino monk and are trying to tell us something? Sorry, that book sucked.

and its not rankings. I don't see a single number under twenty. so Ahm uh, gonna guess that they're plays from scrimmage of over twenty yards. I know we didn't have that many, and I know we didn't give up that many, and I don't see mario's 90 yarder. So I'm guessing it's West Virginia's TD's of over 20 yards in the last year? 2 years? (I've been watching those games...yes I have nothing better to do during the summer except work :-( )

Those have to be touchdown runs of 20 yards or longer by WVU over the past 3 or 4 years.  The second set of numbers could be run by WVU from before Slaton/White.

or just runs?

I think those are ND's actual recruiting rankings. You know, once their players hit the field and the original rankings are adjusted to remove the Tom Lemming bias. But, I guess all your guesses could be true to. Looking forward to see what ninja football has in store for us.

I dont' think that they're necessarily scoring plays, just plays over 20 yards.

All good guesses, but first I'd just like to say that someone posted this on the Scout boards this morning:

Antonio Bass: I know it has been said that his athletic career is over...........Does he still get to stay at UM on scholarship and get his degree? Totally serious, I shit you not.

As for the numbers- Dex, only you know the answer to that one, and thank God for that. MRG, that was the first thing I thought someone would say- nice work. But again, not correct.

Anyway, all good guesse- looks like Blue Seoul got it right. The answer is the per game long carries/receptions for WV last year over 20 yards. For instance, the first 10 numbers (38,26,22,27,64,50,50,35,21,42)are Pat White's long run for each game in which he had a run over 20 yards. The next 6 numbers are Slaton's, then Devine's, then The Beer Truck's, etc. etc. For those who didn't count, there are FIFTY-THREE plays over 20 yards, and only one over 20 per game per player would make it on the list. For instance, in game one White's long was 38. Meaning if he also ran for 32, 27 and 23 they aren't included on the list.

So I'm curious- other than the HOLY SHIT WE'RE GONNA BE A MACHINE (eventually) factor, do you think this could actually change the culture of Michigan Stadium? When you think about it- the loudest that place gets is when someone breaks a big run or long pass, which has happened maybe once or twice a game in the Lloyd era. Otherwise it's been "Oh hey, look- another zone left for 3 yards. Can someone please take this pencil out of my eye?" My thinking is big plays will beget more crowd noise, and more excitement, which will in turn feed on itself. I mean, the loud people will always be loud and the quiet people will always be quiet, but the average fan might not have to sit through mind numbing boredom anymore, and might actually, you know- make some noise.

 Let me know what you think- I just did that in a stream of conciousness kinda way but it's been rattling around my head for the weekend.

in my opinion are two things: big offensive plays (as outlined by Ninja) and shut-down defense which features big hits (particularly on the QB). I think that our coaching staff and offensive recruiting practices will highlight both of these aspects. Along the big offensive play angle, it seems that the general view that our offense will sputter this year will be somewhat offset by the greater potential for the homerun. A missed tackle here or there and these electron slot-types have the potential to turn a two yard quick out in to 6 points. I do fear an increase in three and outs, though.

Dan L, RR teams at WVU could run with anyone. I am not about to argue that. They were well schooled in his offense and led by an experienced QB. And I'm not implying that our offense of 2007 was any great shakes. It sucked for long stretches of the season. But one thing that experienced player provide is greater consistency play to play and game to game. We lack that and as such we are going to have growing pains. A poor read on an option read results in a very quick loss of three or four. That will basically kill a drive. Combine that with a complete loss of experience along the o-line, and we will have some really ugly moments that result in aborted drives. in the medium term, we will be far better served by RR's approach to offense than the typical DeBord approach (exclusing ND 2006 and Cap 1 Bowl 2008). The short term (first 6-9 games of 2008) will be a little dicey.

@Daniel: In all fairness we might not have the personnel to avg. 6.3 yards a carry. I hope we do- but you never know. I've been trying to put a damper on my optimism lately, as for months I was pounding the "This was an awesome hire and we're gonna be unstoppable soon" drum, and now that everyone's jumping on that bandwagon it's scaring the holy hell out of me.

Oh, and since this is technically an open thread, I saw Hancock and Wanted this weekend. Both weren't bad. Not great, but I expected them to be sheer popcorn movies and for the most part they were. Plus Angelina Jolie and Charlize Theron, you can't really go wrong there.

will play all the freshmen this year. NO REDSHIRT FOR YOU! Maybe he'll pull a weis, maybe he's PLANNING on going 3-9 this year so we can win the national championship next year. it's all just part of the plan. Because what kind of silly coach would want to win games NOW, the ones on the schedule THIS YEAR, when they could set all kinds of historically bad records and then go 12-1 the next year?!?! It's much better to lose to USC by a field goal, get a 10 year extension, and then 'Return to glory' NEXT YEAR! Because there's always a 'next year'. BWAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!@$!!!!!HOOOOOOHEEEHAHAHAHAHAH1!1H1H41HAHAOHOOO HOHOHAHAHAHAHHahahahfhhahae3bwahahahahah!!!124 p.s. The infiltration scene at the end of 'Wanted' was the best, 100% pure columbian awesome 10 minutes of death and violence ever committed to film.

That scene was pretty badass. Didn't really care for the very end "what have you done" thing, too much like Jumper with the narrator, but still a good movie. Hancock is good, there are a few plot points that don't make much sense, but they're small, and the overall story/comedy interspersed throughout make up for it.

DanL, DeBord with this roster of inexperienced offensive linemen would have been Weis-esque. I think that is something that everyone would agree with.

A big Fuck You goes to the earth and the water cycle in particular today, unless these storms pass by and cease by 5 PM. I need to golf or I'm going to bash my girlfriends cats in the head with a six iron.

Oh sure Dex, you'll be able to golf, you'll just have to do it from a dinghy.

Change 18 months to forever and you've got my sentiments exactly. After all, pregnancy is a waste of a perfectly good vagina.

But if I don't have a kid, I won't have a chance to go all Marinovich on him and sculpt a future Michigan placekicker, thereby ensuring me a lifetime of G-List Michigan sports fame. Also, where is Jay today? I would have paid 10,000 dollars to watch that game with him yesterday. Is it possible Nate finally made his head explode?

Repeatedly hitting her in the stomach with a steel chair in the middle of the night is a good enough substitute for the pill, I think.

Dex, if you adopt you can put the kids through a specific set of tests to determine their aptitude, thereby saving the vagina AND having a better set of odds the kid won't turn out like you. And by not like you I mean having more than a snowball's chance in hell of actually becoming an athlete. I'd also just like to say Hi to all the people who are aghast at the idea we would even joke about such things. Hi people! I hear they now have stick removal surgery for those of you interested. And ps- we're not joking. Only you can stop forest fires, and the waste of a vagina.

Who's Jay? Also, dex, you promised part  2 of the Grady saga today. Where the hell is it? Thanks.

I guess since today is really 7-8 we just keep going with this one? Jay is a poster from HaloScan who has a burning desire to violently murder Nate Robertson. Part 2 of the Grady saga is in the works - I spent my lunch break writing for the liberation army site yesterday so hopefully today I can squeeze it in.

Oops, it took me an entire day to realize I had the incorrect date up. For being one of the most intelligent MFer's I know (and humble, too!) sometimes Ninja = not so bright.