High Noon with Rich Rodriguez and the Arizona Football Staff
I'm not entirely sure what to think of this promotional Youtube video for Arizona football, but I think it is hilarious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RQZRpTvp-E8#!
In before the Section 1 takeover.
30 seconds. Blow something up because my attention span is too short to watch a bunch of old dudes, in slow motion, doing . . . nothing. Oh, and add some bewbs, Amber Heard would be a good start.
I think they should have slowed down the transitions a little more. You know, build up the edge.
You raise me up.
Those who are not familiar with Tucson may not know that Old Tucson is a historic area just outside of the city where many old westerns were produced. So the video has an element of loyalty/locale that many people here might miss. As an alumnus, I found it kind of boring. It needed more plot and action. I suppose this will be played on the jumbotron on opening day or something.
Well, "historic area" in the sense that Old Tucson was originally constructed in 1939 as a movie set. Some famous movies were shot there ("Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" in 1957 and "Cimarron" in 1959).
(The "real" O.K. Corral is in Tombstone, AZ, which is about 90 miles east of Tucson.)
Old Tucson is set very near the Saguaro National Park, which is just strikingly beautiful in a Sonoran Desert sort of way. Want to see Saguaro cactus? There are lots of them in the park.
It's going to be an interesting year for U of A football. If progress year-over-year is made, then I think there'll be more around here who start taking an interest. But after years of ho-hum football, it's going to take a year or two of really good football to regain the allegiance of the fans around here.
Needs more Johnny Ringo. Meanwhile it looks like the old gang is having fun in the desert.
Good times.
That video was largely devoid of action.
Also, if I'm Arizona's PR department, I don't know that I like the idea of putting all the coaches out there smoking, drinking, and playing cards. Not exactly a wholesome look.
Also, I must have missed this several months ago, but Tony Gibson is no longer on Arizona's staff. WTF? I thought he and Rodriguez were boys. It looks like Gibson is back coaching the safeties at WVU.
not wholesome? What would Don Draper say?
Don's busy, but the rest of us at Sterling Cooper think it's not appropriate for women and children, but very tame for us grown men.
I mean, the NCAA fines coaches who use chewing tobacco on the sideline, so this video seems a bit strange in that respect...
http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/ot-tony-gibson-us-tour-continues
Gibson left right before NSD, flipping two Arizona commits in the process.
Hm. I guess I had forgotten. Thanks for jogging my memory.
The best decision they made in the making of this video was disabling the comments.
At first, the idea of D1 football coaches doing such a thing cracked me up. As did RR in costume. But then...it just....kept...........going....................
I thought it was hilarious, though I agree it does show how unfit RR was for Michigan. I personally don't think that fact reflects 100% well on Michigan, but I get that there are reasonable differences of opinion on this.
Two other things: I'm really surprised they were allowed to use tobacco. Not appalled, just surprised. Second, David Lockwood (@1:56) is a serious badass.
No, it's not. At the end of the 2007 season, RR was one of the hottest young names in college football, coming within a Pat White hand injury against Pitt of ending up in the national championship game. If you'd asked 100 college football experts who the 10 best coaches were at that time, RR would have been on virtually everybody's list.
It may seem obvious now that he wasn't going to be successful in Ann Arbor, but hindsight is 20/20.
Everyone always says that now, but I remember plenty of people being pretty skeptical at the time, myself included. I'm not saying I expected 3-9 or anything like that (or that anyone else predicted the floor dropping out quite as far as it did.) But I sort of expected a period of adjustment and a couple medicore seasons leading up to a run of 9 or 10 win seasons that always left us just short. And really, that was a moderate prediction compared to a lot of other fans.
I mean, doesn't anyone remember all the anger over our transition to a new style of offense? All the people that said it'd never work in the Big 10? There's a reason the RR bandwagoners still say he was never given a chance, and it's because a significant number of UM fans just plain hated the idea of running the spread from day one.
Maybe most of those critics were just stodgy old-timers that hated change, as opposed to having rational arguments against hiring Rodriguez. But this whole "No one could have possibly seen any of this coming!" defense of the hire is at best forgetful and at worst a case of revisionism. Yeah, there were a lot of people that loved the choice and thought Rodriguez was going to "dominate the slow, old-fashioned Big 10." But not all of us felt that way.
How come everything I have read says he was Michigan's 4th (at best) choice?
Behind
- Les Miles
- Kirk Ferentz
- Greg Schiano
and then tell us that Ferentz and Schiano would have been more highly regarded across the country than RR at the end of 2007.
...that the quality of the promotional videos don't necessarily equate to quality of football. Case in point:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVENWl8uBeg
(Warning: While totally SFW, it will make you cringe)
in the Rose Bowl since joining the league (recent additions Colorado and Utah excluded).
Frankly, I like Arizona's future chances under Rodriguez and Co. (including Casteel).
Come to think of it, the PAC-12 is already the island of misfit, outlaw coaches: Rich Rodriguez, Lane Kiffin, Mike Leach, Todd Graham and Sonny Dykes. Such a commercial ad doesn't really surprise me at all, and somehow it actually fits Arizona, PAC-12, the Tombstone/death meme, and with it a new era of offensive "gunslinging" that has taken over the league (again).
This video is a perfect example of why he just was not the right fit for our program. Initially I thought he would be best served by landing down south somewhere, but it looks like AZ is going to be a good fit for him.
Gotta give it to the guy, he finally found a place that embraces doing weird shit like this.
Hash Bash is totally NORML to me
He should be thankful he's at a school with minimal expectations for its football program, minimal to zero tradition, and only sees football as a way to pass the time until basketball starts.
Maybe they can start hunting opponents in the wilderness like the Golden Gopher promo that was posted here last week.
There has to be a Lane Kiffin doppelganger lying in the weeds out West.
Great idea, but replace the killer gopher with Sam McGuffie. I know he only played one year for Rodriguez and never at Arizona and isn't even in college anymore, but somehow it just seems right to me.
I'm guessing the 2 guys tossed out of the saloon were thrown out for suggesting they take up defensive positions in the upcoming gun fight.
By Josh Groban.
Gunfight at the OK Corral or Blazing Saddles.
to "strap it up". Now all they need is a little more tape on those wrists and some air in those hats.
Already notified the NCAA.
/s
Also, did anyone realize Richrod finally got rid of Gibson? It's about time man. About time.
Bill Karalewich looks like he was born to play a gunfighter in spaghetti westerns. Some of the other guys, Matt Caponi in particular, not so much.
The video had better production value than I would have thought, but more plot or action would have made it much better. To win the Rose, all you need to do is hang around a saloon? That makes no sense. (And is pretty boring.)
This video should allow Zona fans to rest assured that the right men are on the job.
They should have let him show his emotional range. Of course, he's done Josh Groban before, but maybe Whitney Houston's Bodyguard song?
This video makes me appreciate the Michigan tradition even more. If everything went extremely well and Arizona got just what they wanted, they would become the next Oregon with a gimmicky offense, a torrent of ever changing uniforms and all the authenticity of a pop tart.
Sometime I get frustrated by the wine and cheese crowd at Michigan, but if they are keeping us from these kind of shenanigans, I am fine with that. Rooting for a program with roots and gravitas is so much more fun than supporting a school that is always desperately trying to keep up with the joneses.
This is Michigan fergodsakes.