Unverified Voracity On The Ceiling
via reader Brian Hale
Take his and graduate 'em, take yours and graduate 'em. It's not noble to take guys with two good parents and a Catholic-school education and not screw them up. That's one of the things that's always bothered me about Notre Dame's smugness. They've positioned themselves as the nationwide destination for kids who end up at places like Oaks Christian, and when these kids fail to screw up they take pride in it. Michigan, meanwhile, has been more willing to take on potentially troubled kids. Not as willing as some other schools, but willing.
This is always spun as a negative when you get a Feagin situation. When you take kids out of Pahokee or Detroit or Delray Beach who did not go to a good high school and didn't have a stable home life and are just looking for a way out, some of them are not going to overcome their backgrounds. It's tough to do that. It's no accomplishment to graduate Craig Roh. That kid grew up like an enormous, athletic, magnificently-eyebrowed version of me; he's going to graduate no matter where he is. It's a risk to stick out your neck for a talented kid who went to a school with textbooks from 1978 where dropouts are more common than graduates.
The reason I bring it up is an epic article on Pahokee, the home of three current Wolverines, in the Daily. I've been reading the Daily for twelve years now and it's without question the best article to appear in it in that time frame. It wouldn't seem out of place if you threw it up on ESPN.com in one of those fancy presentations they give Wright Thompson. It highlights the environment these guys come from:
He pops in one of the myriad discs. It’s a guerrilla-style video called “Palm Beach County: Gangstas and Thugs.” Local gun-toting gang members flash across the screen, beating each other senseless and shooting AK-47s into the air.
“That’s my cousin; he’s in jail,” he says pointing, to the screen. “Oh, and that kid’s dead. He was 17.”
Trouble in such places is easier to get into than avoid, and honestly working with these kids so that they get out of college and go somewhere else is a calling beyond giving kids who went to Catholic school calculus exams. Michigan has to live up to that charge, of course. In four to six years we'll have Rodriguez's graduation numbers, and in five more we'll have some sense of how the institution has served them. I'll be watching it carefully. I hope—and think—Michigan will do right by them. They are owed that.
No, you can't do that. Apparently ABC never showed the Armando Allen taunting penalty, but the News got a shot of it:
NCAA rulebook on unsportsmanlike conduct:
a. Specifically prohibited acts and conduct include:
1. No player, substitute, coach or other person subject to the rules shall use abusive, threatening or obscene language or gestures, or engage in such acts that provoke ill will or are demeaning to an opponent, to game officials or to the image of the game, including but not limited to:
(b) Taunting, baiting or ridiculing an opponent verbally.
(c) Inciting an opponent or spectators in any other way, such as simulating the firing of a weapon or placing a hand by the ear to request recognition.
Ssssh-ing the student section is an obvious flag that will get called 1000 of 1000 times. It doesn't matter if he said anything or not. Weis being an ass in the postgame (no, seriously, watch his bitchy press conference… what a horror it would be to have such a thoroughly unlikeable person* in charge of your football team):
"Armando was really distraught at the end of the game, because he felt that he got called for a 15-yard penalty for going 'shhhh' when he got to the end zone," Weis said. "Now I guess, technically, that's taunting, but he felt really bad about that and I told him we're all part of this loss and don't put it all on your shoulders."
Indeed, it is "technically" taunting in the way Michigan's pass to Mathews was "technically" a touchdown. Meanwhile on that same play, Clausen was doing a fey little dance that could have drawn another flag. Why must Weis recruit these thugs? Why can't he have nice boys like Greg Mathews, who politely handed the ball to the referee after his gamewinning touchdown?
A note on one of the other ND refereeing complaints: Theo Riddick did touch that kickoff, as was extensively discussed on Sportscenter, so running two seconds off the clock was appropriate. And when Tate caught the ball on the last play of the game and got tackled with one second left, the key distinction to note is that the official timekeeper doesn't stop when he thinks the play is over—not his job—but when the referee signals him to. You can clearly see that the referee signals to stop the clock well after :00 is hit. (Yes, maybe that's a conspiracy too.)
*(dollars to donuts that caused any West Virginia, Michigan State, or Ohio State fan reading it to have a head asplode moment, but… seriously. Watch the video. There is no comparison between that and corny jokes and twang.)
Tempting fate. If Michigan loses the next two weeks you can stick my head in a blender for what I'm about to do.
Let's talk about Michigan State, Michigan's first road game of the season and next opponent against whom the spread will be in the single digits. State lost to Central Michigan in quintessential "Sparty, No!" fashion, but don't let the flukes at the end of the game overshadow the overall theme of the day. A worried The Only Colors explains:
While hanging our heads obviously doesn't do any good, I really have a hard time seeing Saturday's outcome as a fluke. Sure, the events of the final 30 seconds all broke in the Chippewas' favor. But we'd been outplayed by a significant margin for the 59 minutes and 30 seconds that preceded those 30 seconds--outgained by 74 yards and outconverted by 8 first downs. And when it mattered most, we couldn't stop them. Central gained a total of 147 yards to reach the endzone on both of its final two non-onside-kick-commenced drives. We were lucky to be in position to win the game with 30 seconds to go.
Maybe CMU's a top-40 team and this loss isn't quite as bad as it looks right now. But they certainly didn't look like a top-40 team against Arizona a week ago. And you have to beat top 40 teams at home to get to a New Years Day bowl.
That is a strong indication that internet skepticism over a team that was outgained in conference play last year was better founded than the assembled Big Ten Media's assertion that Michigan State was the third-best team in the conference. Not that we needed anyone to tell us that the internet tends to do better research than newspapers. State should get better as Kirk Cousins solidifies his hold on the starting quarterback spot, but after some initial optimism in the comments that post bogs down into pessimism about a ton of things, most prominently the pass rush.
Compounding things for State in their matchup against Michigan: Central Michigan is headed by the Rich Rodriguez coaching tree, also known as Butch Jones, and quarterbacked by Dan LeFevour, a mobile, accurate quarterback that's a more veteran but less hyped version of Tate Forcier. LeFevour was 33 of 46 for 328 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception. The State game now looks very winnable.
The move? Freshman Cameron Gordon's seemingly inevitable move to linebacker may be a fait accompli according to MGoPoster Jaggs:
Was at the ND game this weekend and my dad ran into a guy purporting to be Cam Gordon's dad (I have no reason to doubt it was him). The guy told my dad he was a father of a player on the team etc, and my dad asked him who he said his name which my dad forgot but remembered the guy said #84 a linebacker. A quick search of the program and mgoblue.com shows Gordon as the only #84 so sounds like Gordon.
Quick check shows 86 points, which isn't much, but also that this guy's been registered for eight months. Credibility rating: at least moderate. We're still looking for confirmation and will provide it if/when it comes.
Yeesh. I think this was just an mgolicious link. The numbers say, I don't know, something:
3. Inbound links checked daily. The day before I visited, logs for the Chronicle’s WordPress site reported that it had drawn 277 visitors from a local sports blog, 28 from a local school blog and 23 from annarbor.com, the reincarnated Ann Arbor News.
Probably what it says is that AA.com's traffic is far more dispersed, where this site is basically a single framework with varying content presented.
Etc.: Been struck with a burning desire to have Zoltan's biff immortalized for all time on your wall? Michigan obliges. Bleed Scarlet notes the one-year anniversary of David Foster Wallace's suicide.
My favorite quote from the Failing Irish locker room:
"Their plays happened a lot quicker, a lot faster rate," Irish linebacker Brian Smith said.
"That's something you can't imitate in practice, the speed of the game. That caught us off-guard at first."
Loved that sense of controlled urgency throughout the game. And all that (perfectly within NCAA limits) conditioning paid off.
Cazzie33
Third best in the conference?
I guess they'll have to settle for third best in the state.
That's right, Dude. 100% certain.
5th
Man, I thought I hated Charlie Weis before watching that presser. "I'm not going to blame the officials, but now listen to me piss and moan for 3 minutes and blame the officials without knowing the facts". What a colossal fuckup. It's getting so bad that I don't even want him to stay at ND so I can laugh at them, I just want him gone. Please fire Charlie Weis, preferably out of a very large cannon.
Is this our version of Touchdown Jesus?
Regarding the taunting by ND's #5, a friend who is ND grad told me he feels Weis' teams are not disciplined. My friend is an older guy, and he really thought Weis' era is coming to an end. "That Bush League move helped Michigan and hurt ND", he said. Also he felt that Michigan has surpassed ND in development. He thought Tate was a better QB because he can create on the fly. Clausen is too mechanical my friend thought. Whatever the case, Michigan sent those ninnies home, stewing in their own juices.
Victors Valiant '88
for as much as I HATE Jimmy Clausen, he pretty much tore it up on Saturday. If Notre Dame won, he'd be squarely in the Heisman hunt right now. If he is "mechanical," so is Tom Brady.
Fucking robots.
I love the picture of Forcier because right now that is what people think of him right now. May a Forcier be with you!
www.mgobluetalk.blogspot.com
Brian clearly avoided (at least from what I could tell from skimming his post) the issue of Armando Allen stepping out of bounds. I think this was Weis' biggest beef with the officiating. Now, personally, I think Allen did step out of bounds, but would have liked to see Brian address it.
That being said, Charlie is clearly pissed they lost the game and that's what this boils down to. He knows his job is on the line and that, ultimately, they probably should have won the game.
The ABC broadcast absolutely did show Allen shushing the crowd.
Yep, with the official throwing the flag right next to him as he's doing it.
McDonough saw it too:
"What a call, beautifully executed, Allen brings it in and then gets called for taunting . . .."
EDIT: Screengrab? Screengrab.
I remember last year when I was on here defending RR, Magnus claimed that the RR movement had "officially jumped the shark." This was primarily because I had long been critical of Lloyd-ball, but many felt I was giving RR a free pass....Lloyd never went 3-9 or had M looking so bad, etc. That being said, and while it is only 2 games into the season, and this program has a long way to go before it has the depth to be an annual powerhouse, I do feel somewhat vindicated by the performance of our team thus far. And I know I am not the only one who defended RR...in fact, most of us went out of our way to do so. So now it is time for us to enjoy that bit of loyalty.
One of my predictions/sentiments was that OSU was getting stale and Tressel was becoming a lot like Lloyd (minus losing in the rivalry game of course..This is soon to come and will eventually cost him his job). By that, I mean, Tressel's conservative play calling has cost his team in many prime-time games and slowly it seems the steam has gone out of that program. Most laughed at my commentary...saying, Mich is 3-9 and OSU is competing for a Big Ten championship every year....what the hell are you talking about. Well, my point was that the Tressel era had peaked, and the tide was about to turn. Something new is a stewing in Ann Arbor, while OSU is eating the same old meat and potatoes. Could they still beat us this year...of course, they are more experienced and deeper at most positions. My point was and still is that we were moving in the right direction in spite of the horrible 3-9 year, and the teams that destroyed us (OSU, PSU, ND, etc) were solid, but in neutral, much the way we were in Carr's last 5 years.
BILG
People say we are obnoxious fans. Forget 'em! They wanted to grind the Michigan Nation into the ground. What they have done is awakened an angry sleeping giant!!! Show No Mercy is displayed in the Michigan's locker room. I am on that page with them now. Kick that butt until the next one comes along. "All In For Michigan"!!!
Victors Valiant '88
....David Foster Wallace references sprinkled in with my football.
A while back Brian spun a reference to Neal Stephenson's Anathem into a post. The book had only been out a few weeks and it's 900 pages long. Where did you get the time?? I was seriously impressed.
Both recommended for MGobloggers who like to spell their football with gargantuan novels part hallucination part philosophy text part space thriller where the footnotes have footnotes.
DFW is Brian's personal hero: http://mgoblog.com/content/dfw
Also, just over a year since he passed. RIP.
I agree. Such a nice little surprise to see the DFW shout-out on a sports blog.
So it sounds to me as though the fans that I had the unfortunate experience of sitting next to echo the thoughts of their leader Charlie Weis.
I understand why he is complaining. He probably came into Michigan Stadium expecting a blowout of spectacular proportions so he could show the college football nation that he is a genius and ND is back as an elite team. Well he was stunned and his first thought was probably "blame the officials." He doesn't want to take the slack for losing to rival Michigan. He doesn't want to account for the passes thrown during their last (meaningful) drive.
I bet a good reason for those late passes is because Cissoko was getting burned toasty (please let him not be the next Morgan Trent) and he probably wanted to put another TD on as an exclamation point for how good Jimmy Clausen is this year. Yes he is good and I think they are much improved offensively but seriously? Throwing 2 passes on a key "keep-away" drive was not smart for a coach who was considered a genius during his stay at New England.
ND fans...blame your leader for this less. Do not resort to petty complaining about the ability of the referees.
One of your best.
"Screw you guys. I'm going home." E.C.
...how MSU losing to CMU was "quintessential 'Sparty, No'" fashion. There was no blown 2-touchdown lead in the 4th quarter, no head coach screaming himself apopleptic at halftime, no dishonor guard in the center of the field protecting against a flag-planting, no self-defensive mocking of the opponent's height (or lack thereof) afterwards.
Bottom line is that LeFevour et. al. made plays when they needed to, especially the perfect execution of the onside kick.
You also assume that a) Sparty won't (or can't) make adjustments based on what happened, and b) Sparty won't spend ten times as much effort on preparing for the Michigan game.
A Reasonable Sparty Blog? Yes, it's possible! www.theonlycolors.com
I am pretty sure that jumping offsides when you opponent misses the game-winning FG so they can beat you with another chance from five yards closer is very "Sparty, No!"
Our helmets got wings
What he said. I literally cannot think of a worse play on which to jump offsides. That play is absolute vintage, patented "Sparty NOOOOO!!"
Blogging the once-resurgent Virginia Cavaliers at http://fromoldvirginia.blogspot.com.
Crable going helmet-to-helmet on Troy Smith.
Or the INT return and FG shank in the Toledo game.
Or the Alamo Bowl finish.
Vintage, patented "Wolvie NOOOO!!"
Trust me, for every example of a self-inflicted Michigan disaster you can come up with, there are a half dozen (or more) MSU footgun moments. This is not a comparison you really want to make.
Or one really good gun-to-thigh moment.
Ooo, a game. I got another one. Almost like, "What? We had a 17 point lead but it's dwindling fast, Michigan's onside-kicking, and the ball bounced right off your chest into the hands of an untouched Michigan player? Sparty NOOO!!!"
Blogging the once-resurgent Virginia Cavaliers at http://fromoldvirginia.blogspot.com.
Like "We have MSU beat! Let's facemask Rogers! What? Too many men on the field?!? Wolvie NOOOOO!!!"
SpartanDan is right, man. You might as well give it up. We can call and raise all day, and your pair doesn't beat our four of a kind.
See, it's like this: "We're the favorite against Michigan for the first time against 1968, but we gave Michigan a free touchdown on a roughing-the-kicker call and missed two game-winning field goals inside 40 yards? Sparty NOOOO!!"
Or, y'know, just about every play from 2007. Like blitzing Mallett and making him fumble only to watch Mike Hart run it for a first down? Sparty NOOOO!!
We got lots of 'em. And those are just the ones you pulled off against Michigan, during the game. Haven't even got around to, "Have you lost the team, Coach?" "I don't SPARTY KNOOOWW!!!"
Blogging the once-resurgent Virginia Cavaliers at http://fromoldvirginia.blogspot.com.
The JLS era was especially painful. And there are definitely more losses to choose from.
It could be worse, though. I could cheer for an ACC team like UVA. GROH NOOOO!!!
LOL WUT
Yeah, it really sucks to cheer for a team that's gone 62-52 and is 3-3 in bowl games in this decade (that would be UVA), instead of a team that's gone 55-56 and is 1-3 in bowl games (that would be MSU). Al Groh has three bowl wins in his career. You have to go back to 1990 to find three bowl wins at State, an era which spans five different coaches.
Christ, you're not even better than a middling ACC team. Good try though. Sort of.
Blogging the once-resurgent Virginia Cavaliers at http://fromoldvirginia.blogspot.com.
You're bragging about wins over Minnesota and Pitt? That's ACC-good.
MSU has those, too... even with the coaching incompetence of BW and JLS.
You're 2-4 against Minnesota this decade. That's not....good. UVA is 1-0 against Big Ten teams in bowls; MSU is 0-1 against ACC teams in bowls.
Listen to yourself, man: you're knocking us for two extra wins in bowl games. Bowl games you don't have on your record because you keep going 4-8. Not only that, but your answer to the definitive proof that UVA has been better than MSU over the last twenty years is: "well, we've beaten some of those teams too." Which is a far cry from your initial and false insinuation that MSU's record can somehow stand up to, let alone surpass, UVA's. You're worse than the team you make fun of in a conference you make fun of. It's no wonder a Spartan fan's favorite team is the team that plays Michigan and Michigan State, in that order.
Blogging the once-resurgent Virginia Cavaliers at http://fromoldvirginia.blogspot.com.
That's a whole lotta straw man.
1) Congrats on beating a Big Ten team. Great logic, too. App State is 1-0 at the Big House in the last 15 years. UVA is 0-1 there in the last 15 years.
2) MSU "keeps going 4-8" like UVA "keeps going 5-7". Only in the ACC.
3) I never insinuated that MSU's record is better than UVA's. That would be stupid. I insinuated the ACC sucks, because it does.
4) "It's no wonder a Spartan fan's favorite team is the team that plays Michigan and Michigan State, in that order."
No. That is stupid. I cheer for MSU, my alma mater. I don't bandwagon for other teams that win more. But that's cool, I guess.
It's no wonder UVA fans cheer against Va. Tech first and for UVA after that. [/equally baseless accusation]
Hey, if it floats your boat to suck ass in the Big Ten instead of being respectable in the ACC and comfort yourself that being in a better conference makes you a better team, be my guest.
Blogging the once-resurgent Virginia Cavaliers at http://fromoldvirginia.blogspot.com.
Never mind the fact that you're grasping at straws, more importantly: who in the hell says "Wolvie?"
Rock bottom's where we live
And still we dig these trenches
Realizing that last year was an aberration must be painful...
MAKE PLAYS!
sgtwolverine.com
+1 to you, sir.
A Reasonable Sparty Blog? Yes, it's possible! www.theonlycolors.com
That Valenti rant is embedded into my memory as one of the funniest things I've ever heard, and I'm a fan of revisiting it whenever possible. When you said "LeFevour et. al. made plays", that's the first thought I had. So +1 to you for providing the opportunity!
sgtwolverine.com
The point about Notre Dame admitting all the well-dressed kids from the preppy schools and none of the ghetto kids is well taken, but there's at least a certain point of pride in being the kind of school that's able to be that choosy in the first place. Not in actively discriminating, mind you, just being in the position where you can be that selective.
Oh, and would it surprise anyone if MSU is 1-3 going into our game in three weeks? Because it wouldn't surprise me. Notre Dame is going to blow them out of the water. Wisconsin is not good, but they have to go to Madison and that could be tricky too.
Blogging the once-resurgent Virginia Cavaliers at http://fromoldvirginia.blogspot.com.
...Because I think Wisconsin is going to be this year's surprise (awful) team in the B10.
A Reasonable Sparty Blog? Yes, it's possible! www.theonlycolors.com
Who's to say MSU won't be that team? There's a good chance they'll be 1-2 going into that game.
That would add up to 2-2.
A Reasonable Sparty Blog? Yes, it's possible! www.theonlycolors.com
I agree 100% w/ what Brian said. College football can escape the accusation of being exploitive when you're taking guys who otherwise wouldn't have gone to college and giving them the chance to get an education (albeit one watered down by the time commitment required - at any school - for their sport) and putting them in structured environment where they learn how to contribute to a team, be disciplined, and work hard...I hope U of M football will always be a place where kids who work hard and do the right thing can climb much higher on the ladder of success than they otherwise would have been able to.
On a different note, I want to defend Cissoko a little: Yeah, he got worked some and he shoved the WR and he celebrated after plays went his way. Neither of the latter of those two things was anyway near outside the realm of typical football game behavior. Also, he hung in all day long when a lot of guys would have been mentally broken. He was given a very tough job and he never quit.
"That's horrible"
"Terrible is what it is."
Okay, I watched the video of Weis but I could barely make it through it. He seems to have some sort of sense of entitlement about him. Since ND didn't "get the calls" he thought they should then the refs were bad. He really was acting like an ass. Yes, I understand it was a big loss but you could tell Weis was just bitter. I have trouble letting a big loss go but he might be worse then me. All the ND fans and the UM haters are taking their cue from Weis. Michigan didn't win, the officiating was just bad. What a joke. That being said, it came down to the defense for ND. If they had stopped Tate on that last drive none of that stuff would have mattered. Also, if ND completes one or both of those passes and gets a first down and runs the clock out, then no one would mention the perceived slight by the officials. Again the ND defense could not stop Tate so that is why they lost. I am actually looking forward to the rest of the season. GO BLUE!
they are who we thought they were
they are who we thought they were
was when weis said "i'm not going to complain about [fill in the blank penalty]" but proceeds to outline each and every call which he apparently disagreed with. hey charlie, know what that's called? complaining!
That's what losers do.
not just "douchey" MGoBlog user, but now TRUSTED MGoBlog user
Though he sometimes sounds like a crazy old man these days, Lou Holtz was a pretty class guy as ND's coach (the occassional shot at K-State aside). I respected them even though I disliked them tremendously...I think this year's ND squad is a hell of a team. That offense was a buzz-saw. That said, Weis drags ND down every time he opens his mouth. Anytime you start a sentence with "I'm not making an excuse, but..." you need to stop right there...Whether he's talking about the great schematic advantage he'll have over every opponent or making excuses (while saying he's not making excuses), Weis often seems to do his best coaching in the press and has reduced ND to being a bunch of whiners...I suppose I'd want my son to play for Weis if I wanted him to be arrogant and prone trying to talk his way out of failures after the fact.
"That's horrible"
"Terrible is what it is."
Give the ball immediately to the official or run suicides in practice. It's that simple. And the choice is yours.
From Charleston Gazette, August 1, 2001: http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-8320045_ITM
"It's really a slang [term] that he (RR) came up with and developed," Parsons said. "It's a tempo pace. The quicker the ball is spotted by the official, the quicker the next play can be run.
"It doesn't give the other team a chance to rest. The quick moves catch the other team off guard and you can get more plays in, too."
"Aw God it's so damn hot! Milk was a bad choice."
When Carcajous Attack!
http://whencarcajousattack.blogspot.com/
where he trotted into the endzone with the ball head out in front of him that that wasn't called as a taunting penalty. Anybody know what play I'm talking about? (I think it was in the second half).
***EDIT*** it was this play
"A house divided against itself cannot stand"
There's those hot Domer fangirls again.
These girls were the network's go-to gals all game for ND fan reaction.
"Hey, Michigan just went up by 11. Let's see how the hot chicks are reacting. Awwww, sad hot chicks."
This team is under construction. We thank you for your patience.