Unverified Voracity Goes Back To The Well

I'm not one of those conspiracy theorists, I'm one of THOSE conspiracy theorists.

Weis also went to Bon Jovi a few weeks ago (also at wrigley field) and was invited by Pujols to sit in his private box at the home run derby. But you already knew that if you follow him on Twitter. Why are you so preoccupied with the Elton John/Billy Joel concert, is it just because it fit a joke you wanted to make?

Embedding the whole game video from WolverineHistorian makes an even better case for Woodson. Remember, this is a game between two top-5 teams, a week or two before the deadline to vote, on exclusive national TV like every UM-OSU game. By the time you get to the 3:45 mark it's completely clear why he won.

this is a further testament why I hate Peyton Manning. Not that he has anything to do with the "wah wah wah jobbed wah" sentiment that endures 12 years later...Just associations that occur in my mind...

See? "I'm not one of those conspiracy theorists" is a phrase that always means its opposite. There should be a word for that.

I believe you're referring to paralipsis

Women are particularly good at paralipsis, e.g. "I'm sure I don't need to remind you to call that guy about my car..."

It's used to gloss over the obvious rhetorical problem (in our case, the fact that he will sound like a conspiracy theorist, or in the other case, the fact that she's fucking nagging me again).

It's very similar to occupatio, except occupatio just states the counter-point, whereas paralipsis is, as you put it, a false statement, meant by its inclusion to be taken for true, given in the introduction to the real point. They serve the same purpose.

In my memory of '97, Woodson was the best athlete on the field in every game he played in. The same could not be said of Manning.

and nobody cares, does it make a sound?

See? "I'm not one of those conspiracy theorists" is a phrase that always means its opposite. There should be a word for that.

I thought this was really interesting considering the recruiting meme that Rodriguez QBs are just runners who don't develop as passsers.

"At Tulane, the offense had the zone-read elements but Rodriguez and Tommy Bowden still considered themselves kind of pass-first guys; Shaun King threw for 3,495 yards and 38 touchdowns... Indeed, no less a passing guru than Norm Chow visited Rodriguez..."

GMFBNE

"I always told Will Perry and Bruce Madej, our sports informaton directors, "Don't you ever promote any single player above the others, because we're not doing that here." It's not that I didn't want our guys to become All-Americans or win the Heisman, but if they won those things I wanted it to be solely because they earned it on the field, not in the PR department."

-Bo

I have no affiliation at all w/ Smartfootball but I want to recommend it to everyone. You can learn more about the intricacies of offense systems from reading one post on that site than you'll get in two years of watching games on ABC and ESPN.

Re: Manning, I understand Tennesse's fans' frustration. He was their golden boy and he put up big numbers... Woodson's 1997 season reminded me a little of a game I once was lucky enough to watch live between the San Antonio Spurs (w/ Rodman on the team) and the Magic (w/ Shaq and Penny). Rodman probably had six points in that game but he absolutely dominated it, including shoving Shaq out of the way so he could grab the game-winning put-back. If you didn't see the game you might have had a hard time understanding how a guy who scored so little could so own a game...Woodson similarly owned the field in 1997 even if, as primarily a CB, he didn't do it in the conventional way Heisman voters usually look for, i.e., big passing or running stats. It's hard to imagine seeing a guy be so impactful from the CB position ever again.

To his credit, Manning never complained about not winning the Heisman, and I'm not sure he would argue much about Woodson winning it. Against Florida and Nebraska that year, Manning was roughed up and his team lost a combined 75-37, and the games were not even that close. Woodson played huge in the most memorable games of that season (the interception against MSU, the OSU game, his pick of Ryan Leaf in the Rose Bowl), and the voters (for one of the few times in recent memory) realized that the preseason hype should not be treated as a coronation. Woodson was the best player in college that year, and Manning should go down as one of the best runner-ups in history. That said, I think the Heisman has been cheapened by the fact that guys like Manning were left off, while names like Bradford, Tebow, and Dayne are memorialized in plaques at the Downtown Athletics Club.

As for Smartfootball - great site. Fun to read if you want to stretch out your brain a bit.

As someone who was born in Lubbock, TX, the home to Texas Tech, it is NOT a box surrounded by dirt and I take offense to that.

It is a box surrounded by dirt that occasionally swirls in dust storms, gets in your eyes, and is a bitch to get out. Damn skippy.

deeply, truly, movingly beautiful

and now i have 3 points

After asking if we were from Australia upon hearing our yankee accents, I was immediately accosted by Vols when we visited their stadium last fall. Truthfully, I may have invited abuse by virtue of the number 2 Michigan jersey I was wearing. By the way, this particular visit was the 17th year of our annual college football trek to a college football venue and Knoxville ranks near the bottom for me.

Kind of like how Tom Osborne might have been given the Coaches' Poll Title as a retirement gift, or that Phil Fulmer voted Michigan down out of retaliation for Woodson winning the Heisman over Manning? No way, such crazy talk.

On a lighter note, how is it that Keith Jackson is able to just perfectly capture as well as help define every moment he provides commentary on?

"Good byyeeee! HELLOOOOO Heisman!"
"Touchdown--No flags!"
"He's going for the cornerrrrr--he's got it! Vince. Young. Scores."

God bless you, Keith Jackson.

Brian, you summed it up well. Manning deserved a lot of praise for his entire career, including 1997. He just had the misfortune of lining up against Woodson on the ballot. By any just definition of the Heisman, Woodson is the obvious winner. The only ones that would apply to Manning instead: Senior, QB/RB/WR.

I had a friend who was not much of a football fan who told me the day he won the award, "Woodson only won because of one play." He was of course referring to the punt return against OSU. But anyone who watched the whole season realized his impact - that he was the anchor on one of the most dominant defenses we've seen, and he was able to be that anchor from the cornerback(!) position. He made mutiple highlight reel plays in every big game, including the greatest interception any of us will ever see. By all measures, he was the most outstanding player of the year. But I wonder about my friend's comment, and if in The South, they hold the same ignorant view of the situation. One superb punt return does not a Heisman make. We all know that said punt return is the candle atop the icing (all those other spectacular plays) on the cake (anchoring a historic defense) that was his season. But our southern counterparts are missing the substance.

I think the main idea is that a comparison is not necessary. It's an education of exactly what Woodson pulled off to the naysayers. Or there's also fuck it, Dude, let's go bowling.

This is a job for Wolverine Historian, no?

The plural of 'chad' is 'chad'

was all over the Manning/Woodson debate yesterday. I almost never listen, and dislike his show intensely, but he made a lot of the same points Brian did, and in a fashion that really made sense.

NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!!

In the past few months, I have had to spend a considerable amount of time in the Tri-Cities area of NE Tennessee, most recently last week. Last Monday I was watching TV in my hotel room and flipping around when I saw some local sports show talking about the upcoming Vol season. They went on to discuss Eric Berry and his potential for winning the Heisman this year. It was at this time that one of the guys on the panel says "wouldn't it be great if he won this year by beating out Michigan's QB...too bad they don't have one". It really caught me off guard, as I couldn't figure out the beef until the next night when I was having a beer at a local watering hole, and I got into a discussion with a Vol fan and he explained the whole theory of Manning being "Robbed".

All that having been said, I still don't mind the Vols as much as some other SEC programs...they just need to get over a trophy given out 12 years ago.