Member for

14 years 7 months
Points
144.00

Recent Comments

Date Title Body
Youth/inexperience --- can…

Youth/inexperience --- can rule those out for Hawkins.

I thought he was pushed out?…

double post

I thought he was pushed out?…

I thought he was pushed out? Or both parties were sick of each other. I didn't think he had a choice to stay.

Posting a random link…

Posting a random link without context to what that link is is not very helpful.

The euro-step travel call? I…

The euro-step travel call? I don't know why it isn't a travel but nobody has called it a travel in 5 years.

Obviously not true. Peer…

Obviously not true. Peer pressure on sports teams is a massive thing.

Crazy take... can the…

Crazy take... can the comments section focus on the game and not our personal takes on the risk exposure when none of us have enough information?

Darian DeVries? Young guy…

Darian DeVries? Young guy. Head coach (for 1 year). From Midwest. Good tactician.

Yes until he signs the…

Yes until he signs the contract. And then from that day forward he was at fault for failing to report.

I think ethically not reporting abuse should get you fired regardless of whether you were not contractually obligated but once he signed the contract he was in contractual violation from there on out when he didn't report what he knew. Right?

Maybe Toronto is a panic and will take Blake

If I'm the Pistons I at least see how off the rails they just went.

Agreed

It looks like Brown responded by slanting the whole line and left Hudson as the backside edge guy. He could attack at will on any play away from him and since the d-line often delayed Minnesota's RB, Hudson could sweep in for a TFL.

Also, he was the optioned guy on the run option, Minnesota's O-line left him unblocked, but Minnesota's QB and RB seemed not to be reading him and looking at Bush or McCray. 

Belgium

Being a Chelsea fan, about 1/2 the team is or was Chelsea property. This way I can keep weep when I see KDB and Lukaku dominate.

My Favorites

I'm a podcast junkie so here goes...

For sports (beside MGoBlog) I love Football Weekly which is a mostly English soccer podcast. Their intros especially are pun-tastic. I also love the Lowe Post. All my NBA news comes from Zach Lowe. His connections and hunches are amazing and make him the "it" guy for basketball news and analysis.

My go to DC politics & policy (split 50/50 between news and DC policy talk) is Vox's The Weeds podcast. Amazingly educated group that are also funny. Vox is my go to news source right now and this podcast is part of the reason why. In fact I'm listening to an episode right now.

StartUp -- A guy that starts a podcast company (leaving Planet Money and NPR) documents that process via podcast. It becomes his companies 1st show. 

Containers - A small 10/12 episode show on how container ships changed the world. Amazing how one change can impact so many different fields and regions in the world.

Reply All is a great show. Looks at tech but in a human interactive way. Last episode their founder's (StartUp's protagonist) phone was hacked and he found himself paying for Uber rides in Russia despite being in NYC. They then track how it happened and try and play detective. If you want a good show of theirs to try out I recommend Episode #53 "In The Desert". A couple buys a new house and it's being listed by Apple as the site of where numerous stolen cell phones are. They obviously are freaked out and ask a host of the show to solve the problem.

For history I love Revolutions. As the name implies, it tells the stories of different revolutions. English civil war is season 1, then American, French, etc. Currently as part of a fundraiser, when you donate to his show you can vote on which revolution to cover next. Cool idea. Great show.

Serial is a classic. Season 1 changed podcasting. Season 2 kinda sucked. But season 1 was game changing.

Song Exploder -- artists break down how they made a song. Cool names like Angel Olsen, Grimes, Mitski, Clipping and even the Bojack Horseman theme song take part.

I have more suggestions but this seems like more than enough for now.

Sports for a non-sports site?

Not all sites are doing badly. Vox just had a Q&A on their podcast about Vox and said they're making more money than they ever thought they would. I could see her end up at a place like that. Looking for sports related news not necessarily sports news but yeah there are places for talented people to go.

 

She could write a book or something too. 

I agree with much of what you

I agree with much of what you said. The one thing I think helping Detroit is Gores and Gilbert. They have the money that MLS really needs it's owners to have. Being a DC United fan I see the issues having a "poor" owner puts on the team. DC need a new stadium and need a USL team but can't afford to do both so they keep losing local talent they could develop with a 2nd team. I think MLS because of some issues in the past (Chivas, Tampa Bay, etc.) are still terrified of teams closing and really value owners with big money.  These two not only have that but they have run spors franchises successfully (Gores less so but he really bailed out a franchise that was starting to spiral around the drain). That gives these two credibility and Detroit is a sports city that outperforms it's size (look at Tiger attendence numbers).  It seems like such a good match and opportunity and I think MLS is going to really push this through as quickly as possible.

Mascot Name

Nain Rouge? Seems like it'd be cool. Can go for a Cavalier color scheme. Should name the stadium something like the Ward or some other prison punny name. Probably will be called Quicken Loans Field.

This team could be amazing between Gores and Gilbert's money. Use the Michigan Bucks as the USL affiliate for youth players. DSC could have a huge youth devlopement map. Everything in MI + northern Ohio + some of Ontario could be used to claim and devlop home grown players.

 

 

Tony Bennett

Chances aren't great of getting him but he is from the midwest originally and UVA as a university is a mess right now. Maybe? My next 4 in order would be Chris Mack (Xavier), Chris Holtmann (Butler), Archie Miller (Dayton) and then Gregg Marshall (Wichita State).

 

Personally I want Nate Leaman

Young (mid 40's), midwest born and raised and most importantly what he's done at Union then Providence is amazing. Providence should not be winning Hockey East. Union went from bad to ECAC leaders under his watch and are now bottom tier of the ECAC since he left. 

Possible to transfer

Not saying this is the case, but would it be possible to grad transfer a 6th year?

 

Say Johnson can get into a WMU grad program. Would he be allowed to play there next year?

Some Good Options

There are some good coaches out there for schools. I don't think there's this real dearth of options.

Tom Herman (HC - Houston), Larry Fedora (HC - UNC), Brent Venables (DC - Clemson), Willie Taggart (HC - USF), Charlie Strong (soon to be ex-HC - Texas), Pat Narduzzi (HC - Pitt), Matt Rhule (HC - Temple), PJ Fleck (HC - Western Michigan). Dave Aranda (DC - LSU), Lane Kiffin (OC - Alabama), Bob Stitt (HC - Montana), Blake Anderson (HC - Arkansas St.), Chris Klieman (HC - North Dakota St.) all could move this winter. If I'm Purdue I'd ask about Stitt and Kleiman. Both have made due with limited talents and both could appeal to the types of recruits Purdue would get.

 

Aranada would be a great get if there's an unexpected Big Ten opening at say Penn St (if they collapse down the road) or Illinois (if Lovie decides he's not a college guy). But all in all there are some good names on that list. There might only be 1 elite known quantity but there are a couple of elite coordinators too and a bunch of intriguing other options out there. It's just about matching that to the school so you get a good fit. 

 

He'd be a good fit

Colorado School of Mines was another high education school where many recruits won't qualify so you won't have a Gary Anderson situation. He'll have low expectaitons and be able to run weird plays and schemes.

Blitz

I know the QB released the ball quickly so a blitz wouldn't have got home but....

If Thomas has the outside gap for a run (well it'd be an alley if there was a WR out to the left), why not blitz? If Colorado runs outside the tackle he'd be there. If they run away from the tackle, he'd kill any cutbacks immediately and possibly track down the RB sooner. If it's a pass he either gets to the QB or forces the RB to pick him up. If a WR from the right runs across the whole field to his zone then 1) it's a long play and the rush may get to the QB or 2) Clark is sitting behind Thomas anyway. The only issue I could see is if the RB runs past you to your zone but then you can turn and follow. 

It seems to me, if you're the outside contain and have no TE/WR to your side of the field, you should also blitz with the idea of run contain being the first goal. 

Thanks.

Yeah I agree

I think the redshirts to be are done for the year. I think in any case, come B10 there are fewer opportunities to run them out there ideally. Sure Rutgers and Maryland are terrible but we still aren't going to play 80 players those games. Those games seem more suited to the backups getting more minutes. Next year starter types.

Yeah that will be the interesting list to see...

I bet at the end of the year the redshirt list will be much bigger than the current list. Peters, Davis, Walker, Eubanks, Spanellis, Kemp, Uche, Gil, EMB, Mettelus, and Nordin all seem likely to end up redshirting. I think they wanted to give a handful of these guys a little taste of college football and that's why they played. 

 

The questionable list would probably include Crawford, N. Johnson, and McKeon. McKeon seems college ready and has a low ceiling so there is little real cost to playing him. Crawford and Johnson are both talented enough but not really needed as of now. With that said next year's possible WR could be elite so they can maybe eat the cost of a 5th year for that minimal benefit of playing them this year. 

 

I don't know. We should create a new burned redshirt watch list now that B10 season has started.

Short Term vs Long Term

If this helps us marginally this year some might be okay with it. I just hate when you have seniors that finally start to click and would have been very good with a 5th year.

 

Just think about Taco, Gedeon, Dymonte Thomas, Hill and Stribling. How nice would it be if they were coming back next year? Sure this assumes they wouldn't enter the draft but how many of these had meaningful contributions as freshmen? Would it be anywhere near what a 5th year would do?

 

 

56-7

We have to give up a touchdown, right?

Adidas does not stand for that

Adidas a German company wouldn't use the word soccer. It's an urban myth that makes no sense. The founder was Adolph Dassler. Adi was his nickname and in combination with his last name you get Adidas.

 

Edited: Sorry for being the 4th response.

Different Standards?

I think it's fair to have different standards for different things. NC is a US state and the NBA should be able to hold them to a higher standard. I don't see why we can't add some complexity to real life. Ideally, China would be a beacon for freedom and democratization. They aren't. Can I be disappointed with them? Sure. But can't I also ask more from a State that's been a part of a democracy since 1789 (or 1868)? 

 

 

 

Double Post

So important I wrote it twice

 

 

T-Shirt Idea

You know when you were in elementary school and all the kids drew a picture and they made it a class shirt? Can we please make a shirt like that but with the wolverine drawings and the name below?

 

I think it'd be hilarious.

I DVR sports

Can start a football game around halftime and can catch up by the end of the 4th quarter. Same with hockey. Hate ads and how they kill the flow of games. If I can catch up to the live stream by the end of a game AND save 90 minutes, that's worth the anxiety of missing a kickoff.

BPL is fine

There is a non-English team in the league so calling it the EPL is kinda weird.

There's a remote chance Cardiff come up again so EPL/BPL who cares?

Two years ago they should have won the league

Don't know how they are on the rise now. I love Klopp but Liverpool have 2 elite players and one of them is always injured. I think Liverpool won't likely finish any higher next season with Chelsea returning to form.

It wasn't like he didn't deserve being fired

His off-field antics definitely justified his firing.

He's also a racist

Kind of kills the underdog story when you're caught on tape using racial slurs. This isn't a guy to root for.

They are unpaid

They get benefits but no salary therefore they are unpaid labor.

So what? That's just a single factor.

So more injuries today means pitch counts don't work? Limiting pitch counts would be flawed only if high pitch counts were the sole causation of injuries. Today pitchers might be pitching heavier work loads earlier in life (like pre-teen years) and that shows up in injuries down the road. They could also be throwing harder every pitch. If you have to pitch 9 innings in two days you aren't going to be throwing hard late into the game so it'd be dumb to throw 95+ in the 7th, 8th, 9th inning like you see some starters do. Pitchers might throw more sliders/curves that torque the arm differently making it more likely to be injured. Pittchers might be stronger (to throw faster) and that means they put more wear and tear on the shoulder when they go against their arm strength by rotating the shoulder (slurves do this). You are fighting against a stronger resistance force than less players that didn't do weights 20-30 years ago. Also, Tommy John used to a much more serious surgery so more players may have been steered away from surgery to things like physical therapy.

 

All in all, pitch counts might be limiting injuries but other factors are overwhelming the benefit pitch count limits bring.

Can they just starting giving technicals for it?

Call it taunting or some other name. Just get it out of the game. It's so overused and so stupid. If you do it once a game that's fine but Sparty does it 15 times a half.

Or maybe this offer just was extended to him

And he had no idea that it was a possibility at signing day? Signing day was the 3rd and this is two weeks later. Maybe Dallas just decided on him this week?

Not flimsy

Johnson HOPES he'll make it in after a prep year. He still might not.

Murphy might have decided not to wait for the spring to sign a LOI. He might want to know where he's going now.

I think putting sports into a larger context is okay

I think this podcast does a good job of showing the effects of sports into the world we live in, including yes politics and social issues.

 

To me that makes this post okay.

Onwenu

Does anyone else see Larry Warford when they look at Onwenu? Both are big guards that still have nimble feet and can move and pull.

Can you imagine pulling him? I feel bad for the LB or S that rushes down and find themselves staring at a 330 guard who's hauling ass.

Start impeachment proceedings for Jim Delany

Then kick out Rutgers for cause. 

What about Norm Bazin?

What he did at UMass Lowell is amazing. His first three years there he went to the NCAA tourney which is amazing considering they had won 5 games (and lost 24) the year before he was hired

Drew Sharp may indeed write the exact same article tomorrow.

Like literally the same article.

Pride and Prejudice (remake)

I read this book in AP English and we recieved extra points for seeing the movie and writing a paper on the differences between the book and the movie. I made a date night thinking the movie would suck for me but my gf would like it because it was girly or whatever (High School logic). However, I liked it a lot. I'm a huge Keira Knightly fan so maybe that's why but I liked the movie.

Who's coaching the defense?

Is it Billy Powers? If this defense was average we'd be an elite team this year. The scoring is insane. I'm not too worried when we're down a couple of goals and have more than 5 minutes left on the clock.

Can't go down 11-0

That's just unacceptable in a big game. I don't know how a team can come out so flat so often. After that though, the game looked good. I liked all the back door cutting. We need to do that more often if teams are going to extend their defense to the 3 point line.

College Baseball?

College baseball is the EXACT opposite though. Nobody in the B1G cares about college baseball but it's a huge thing in the SEC. The pre-season NCAA rankings have Florida (#1), Vandy (#3), Texas A&M (#5), LSU (#7), Miss St (#11), and Arkansas (#25). The B1G has one team (Michigan, #24). There's also only 1 PAC-12 team (UCLA, #10). 

The College World Series is on ESPN non-stop in the spring for a reason. 

Not so fast...

Have you seen Rutgers or the B1G West recently?