Thank you so much for sharing. It is very cool to hear about how something as ultimately meaningless as sports could make a real difference in helping you deal with and get through something so difficult, and I'm sure sharing this will also help someone else who is going through something similar.
This game had heavy Rutgers game last year vibes to me, with some key differences, but a lot of analogous issues.
In the Rutgers game, defensively we had trouble stopping the option when Mullings came in, and in this game, we had trouble stopping the pass at times due to a lack of pass rush and stopping the run at times most likely due to devoting a few too many resources to coverage.
Offensively, we stubbornly ran into stacked boxes in the Rutgers game, while in this game, we stubbornly decided to try and push the ball down the field when the short to intermediate range was more ripe for the picking.
Both games came at roughly the same time of year, and I think Maryland is a much better team, so while the game felt frustrating at times and may have highlighted some potential issues to watch out for moving forward, overall just happy to have the win, and don't think the frustrating feeling of the game is something to dwell on too much this early in the year.
I disagree with the sentiment that Gard's grab was respectful and it was Gard's intent to thoughtfully discuss the issue; I think the Twitter, floor level video shows this a little better. Coach Howard was looking like he was clearly trying to walk well away after making his comment, and Gard literally moved himself from a decent amount away to directly in front and close to Howard to block his path. At this point, in my opinion, you have to take into account Howard most likely felt trapped, in that it would have been tough to disengage from the situation with out engaging with Gard in some way, shape or form, and that this would likely trigger Coach Howard's fight or flight response, and make it tougher for him to think clearly and make the right decision (and I think Gard knew or at least had a general feel that he would be taking it up a notch by blocking Howard's path). It still does not excuse his actions, especially since he was well away from the situation when he threw the slap, but I think Gard blocking him instead of tugging on his sleeve made it way harder for him to be able to respond to the situation with a clear head.
Great work as always Alex! It's been awesome to see how spot on in your scouting you've been all year once the games are actually played. One small note; I think you are misinterpreting the original intent of the basketball on grass or MANBALL section; from what I remember, it was originally supposed to denote whether or not a team runs outside zone or power as their compliment to inside zone, not what their formations or personnel are (I believe it pokes fun at a quote Brady Hoke made back when he wasn't yet coach expressing his displeasure at how much outside zone Rich Rodriguez ran).
I swear, I noticed the chair thing and excitedly pointed it out to my wife. Inexplicably, everytime I would get a little nervous, I would look up and see them pumping that chair, and my worry would melt away, and I would say, "look babe, the chair, we're going to be ok!!!".
I am now considering ways to bring a chair into the Big Ten Championship Game; I feel like I could get away with a cardboard cutout, right? As silly as it is, I kind of hope it becomes our thing now; it being kind of silly and spontaneous and not making sense makes it cooler to me then some contrived turnover chain or something similar.
Are you sure it was Coach Hoke's first year? I don't really remember there being an open tryout during coach Hoke's first year. I do think there might have been one in winter 2012, but in my mind thats Coach Hoke's 2nd year (I don't mean to be a jerk, I'm just curious if I know you)
I tried out the fall of my sophomore year (Coach Rod's 2nd year), made the team as a defensive lineman, and stayed on the team until I graduated and got my M ring during Coach Hoke's first year. The try outs are pretty basic as some people have mentioned, mostly just some position specific and agility work. They didn't do the sprint thing at the end of mine. Instead, for weeding out, they just saw if you could survive both practice and Friday morning non travel team lifts.
You can only have 105 players attend fall camp, but I don't believe there is any other limit as to the number of players. Any player not in fall camp simply starts practice when the year begins.
I'm pretty surprised we haven't at least seen a sarcastic CC: Lloyd Carr thread yet, or maybe even a serious one. Count me as someone who thinks it would be pretty crazy, but Bill Snyder did do it at about the same age.
I'm sorry, but it seems to me people here are being awfully harsh. There seemed to me that a fairly large majority of Minnesota's runs were completely stuffed for very little, so it confuses me to hear people talk about how soft our d-line was in this game. I did see the aforementioned lack of pass rush, but usually the term "soft" is reserved for poor play vs the run.
There was a girl on my high school jv football team, and this was my sophmore year of high school, so fall of 2005, and this was actually in northern VA (this was included in case your screename also indicates where you wen to high school, to show that it happened in your area around the same time you went to high school.) She wasn't very good and didnt really play, but she was definitely allowed on the team.
I will say this, regardless of what braylon addressed this, after watching his brother's film, I for one came away pretty darn impressed, more impressed than when I watched some other runningbacks highlights that were supposed to be pretty good.
Not sure whether Michael Scarn did his list only for scholarship guys or guys that are on the team for the spring or something, but my own roster search turned up an interesting one: http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/schwab_alex00.html
I think you're being a little hard on Godin's effort probably, playing both sides of the ball is super tiring, you can't really blame him for conserving his energy a little bit.
There can only be 105 kids in camp, and Isiah wasn't inviited to camp. Him not being there doesn't mean anything about whether he decided to leave or not.
I am confused by your post. The first 2 obviously are taking shots at Morgan Trent and how you think he was always out of postion, but the 3rd pick is him with the ball, so he either made a play, or was returning a kick, but I fail to see how that one matches the intention of the first 2 pics. And the last one, while not great technique, he does still appear to be actually making the tackle, so are you trying to trash him or show that he had flashes of brilliance or something? Please elaborate.
I for one find it slightly distasteful for you to seemingly look down on him for having never played a down. He was on a big time college football team, and competed with the gets that actually played every single day, and went through the same workouts. He deserves to be proud of his accomplishments and "show everyone his ring" if he would like to. (Not saying he wasn't a duesche or whatever, obviously never knew him like you did, just defending his right to be slightly boastful and proud of his accomplishment of simlpy being on the team at Miami.)
I mean the whole thread is talking about how players in the NBA (a very predominantly black league) are stupid and don't give a crap, and extolling the NHL, for at least partly how hard the players try (a predominantly white league). So whether or not you think this is true, you might not be able to call it straight up racism, but you definitely cannot deny that maybe in some of these numerous posts saying pretty much the EXACT same thing that there are some racial undertones behind these setiments, which I definitely feel qualifies Ihartbraylon to use the not very harsh term of subtle racism, since it means just that, that the racism is not super obvious.
While I understand and agree with you about how we shouln't feel bad about him getting fired as a result of how much money he makes, you should maybe take into consideration feeling bad for all of the people that will get fired with him, that don't make nearly as much, such as all of the small time assistants and strength coaches. Granted, it is coaching and they do go into understanding its a tough profession where job security is fluid, but the whole argument of them getting paid so much you don't feel bad for them doesn't fly there, and they got just as little of a chance to show what they could do as Rich Rod.
All of the players tried them on one week in practice, to see if they would be ok to wear in a game, but none of them liked them because they were too tight and alot of guys had trouble breathing.
Recent Comments
Thank you so much for sharing. It is very cool to hear about how something as ultimately meaningless as sports could make a real difference in helping you deal with and get through something so difficult, and I'm sure sharing this will also help someone else who is going through something similar.
This game had heavy Rutgers game last year vibes to me, with some key differences, but a lot of analogous issues.
In the Rutgers game, defensively we had trouble stopping the option when Mullings came in, and in this game, we had trouble stopping the pass at times due to a lack of pass rush and stopping the run at times most likely due to devoting a few too many resources to coverage.
Offensively, we stubbornly ran into stacked boxes in the Rutgers game, while in this game, we stubbornly decided to try and push the ball down the field when the short to intermediate range was more ripe for the picking.
Both games came at roughly the same time of year, and I think Maryland is a much better team, so while the game felt frustrating at times and may have highlighted some potential issues to watch out for moving forward, overall just happy to have the win, and don't think the frustrating feeling of the game is something to dwell on too much this early in the year.
I disagree with the sentiment that Gard's grab was respectful and it was Gard's intent to thoughtfully discuss the issue; I think the Twitter, floor level video shows this a little better. Coach Howard was looking like he was clearly trying to walk well away after making his comment, and Gard literally moved himself from a decent amount away to directly in front and close to Howard to block his path. At this point, in my opinion, you have to take into account Howard most likely felt trapped, in that it would have been tough to disengage from the situation with out engaging with Gard in some way, shape or form, and that this would likely trigger Coach Howard's fight or flight response, and make it tougher for him to think clearly and make the right decision (and I think Gard knew or at least had a general feel that he would be taking it up a notch by blocking Howard's path). It still does not excuse his actions, especially since he was well away from the situation when he threw the slap, but I think Gard blocking him instead of tugging on his sleeve made it way harder for him to be able to respond to the situation with a clear head.
Could someone educate me on what "bring in Thomas Mars" means?
Great work as always Alex! It's been awesome to see how spot on in your scouting you've been all year once the games are actually played. One small note; I think you are misinterpreting the original intent of the basketball on grass or MANBALL section; from what I remember, it was originally supposed to denote whether or not a team runs outside zone or power as their compliment to inside zone, not what their formations or personnel are (I believe it pokes fun at a quote Brady Hoke made back when he wasn't yet coach expressing his displeasure at how much outside zone Rich Rodriguez ran).
9 PM tonight
I swear, I noticed the chair thing and excitedly pointed it out to my wife. Inexplicably, everytime I would get a little nervous, I would look up and see them pumping that chair, and my worry would melt away, and I would say, "look babe, the chair, we're going to be ok!!!".
I am now considering ways to bring a chair into the Big Ten Championship Game; I feel like I could get away with a cardboard cutout, right? As silly as it is, I kind of hope it becomes our thing now; it being kind of silly and spontaneous and not making sense makes it cooler to me then some contrived turnover chain or something similar.
I think he may have been trying to stay the naked bootlegs need to stop, (especially on short yardage), which I wholeheartedly agree with.
I'm sorry, but it seems to me people here are being awfully harsh. There seemed to me that a fairly large majority of Minnesota's runs were completely stuffed for very little, so it confuses me to hear people talk about how soft our d-line was in this game. I did see the aforementioned lack of pass rush, but usually the term "soft" is reserved for poor play vs the run.
If this was previously mentioned I failed to see it, but Manning was also the offensive grad assistant the in Coach Hoke's first year.
Don't mean to burst your bubble there bud, but RichRod called a few meetings with just the defense too.
Gettem Land Sharks!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swsEvb2yytU
Glanda is actually a redshirt junior for this coming year.
Also, I believe there was like a Sportscenter special on like 3 girls playing on one team, and also, Holley Mangold.
There was a girl on my high school jv football team, and this was my sophmore year of high school, so fall of 2005, and this was actually in northern VA (this was included in case your screename also indicates where you wen to high school, to show that it happened in your area around the same time you went to high school.) She wasn't very good and didnt really play, but she was definitely allowed on the team.
I've also heard that Mike Williams is planning on going to EMU.
There is a NCAA mandated limit of kids you can have in fall camp, which happens to be 105.
I will say this, regardless of what braylon addressed this, after watching his brother's film, I for one came away pretty darn impressed, more impressed than when I watched some other runningbacks highlights that were supposed to be pretty good.
Not sure whether Michael Scarn did his list only for scholarship guys or guys that are on the team for the spring or something, but my own roster search turned up an interesting one: http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/schwab_alex00.html
martini, shaken not stirred. Also, about to have hot chocolate spiked with butterscotch schnaups.
Jelani Jenkins
yeah, little Romeo ended up playing basketball as a walk-on at USC
Humiliating them in front of their peers? Exactly how do you think this was done?
This statement is more accurate when it comes to hockey, IMO.
I think you're being a little hard on Godin's effort probably, playing both sides of the ball is super tiring, you can't really blame him for conserving his energy a little bit.
i here the center david mossman has been having trouble with his snaps...
This is not true.
Scout team players are still listed on the roster.
There can only be 105 kids in camp, and Isiah wasn't inviited to camp. Him not being there doesn't mean anything about whether he decided to leave or not.
I am confused by your post. The first 2 obviously are taking shots at Morgan Trent and how you think he was always out of postion, but the 3rd pick is him with the ball, so he either made a play, or was returning a kick, but I fail to see how that one matches the intention of the first 2 pics. And the last one, while not great technique, he does still appear to be actually making the tackle, so are you trying to trash him or show that he had flashes of brilliance or something? Please elaborate.
I for one find it slightly distasteful for you to seemingly look down on him for having never played a down. He was on a big time college football team, and competed with the gets that actually played every single day, and went through the same workouts. He deserves to be proud of his accomplishments and "show everyone his ring" if he would like to. (Not saying he wasn't a duesche or whatever, obviously never knew him like you did, just defending his right to be slightly boastful and proud of his accomplishment of simlpy being on the team at Miami.)
I mean the whole thread is talking about how players in the NBA (a very predominantly black league) are stupid and don't give a crap, and extolling the NHL, for at least partly how hard the players try (a predominantly white league). So whether or not you think this is true, you might not be able to call it straight up racism, but you definitely cannot deny that maybe in some of these numerous posts saying pretty much the EXACT same thing that there are some racial undertones behind these setiments, which I definitely feel qualifies Ihartbraylon to use the not very harsh term of subtle racism, since it means just that, that the racism is not super obvious.
the players report for fall camp on august 7th
damn it, didnt embed, here are the links:
While I understand and agree with you about how we shouln't feel bad about him getting fired as a result of how much money he makes, you should maybe take into consideration feeling bad for all of the people that will get fired with him, that don't make nearly as much, such as all of the small time assistants and strength coaches. Granted, it is coaching and they do go into understanding its a tough profession where job security is fluid, but the whole argument of them getting paid so much you don't feel bad for them doesn't fly there, and they got just as little of a chance to show what they could do as Rich Rod.
could you please explain your avatar?
All of the players tried them on one week in practice, to see if they would be ok to wear in a game, but none of them liked them because they were too tight and alot of guys had trouble breathing.