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10 September 2009
I give up. I can't do it. I have been trying and trying, but I just can't do it. I have been neglecting work, family, friends and personal hygiene. I haven't slept. I haven't eaten. I've become a shut-in, spending hour after hour after hour pondering this. But still I have yet to reach a conclusion.
Why in the world did the Grizzlies sign Allen Iverson???
The Grizzlies went 24-58 last year. They gave up nearly six more points per game than they scored. They were dead-last in the league in rebounds per game. They were 21st in both field goal percentage and three-point percentage. They were 25th in field goal percentage defense, even lower than the Clippers. Only six teams turned the ball over more last year. They finished 30 games out of first place, and suffered losing three separate losing streaks of at least seven games, including a nice 12-game winless stretch in January.
To combat all of this, the Grizzlies went the most logical and efficient route to improvement....namely signing a surly power forward who cares little about winning, drafting a dangerously raw college center who has had his toughness repeatedly questioned, and finally, signing an undersized shooting guard who has never met a shot he doesn't like and who has a reputation for being...ahem...less than an ideal team player.
Alright!! Can you feel that excitement Grizzlies fans? Ready to snatch up those season ticket packages? Because if the thought of Allen Iverson tutoring OJ Mayo and Mike Conley doesn't give you chills, you may need a new team to follow.
Good grief. There hasn't been a situation more assured of disaster since the Titanic's captain decided to ignore iceberg warnings.
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09 September 2009
The Kentucky football Wildcats started off the season on Saturday with a 42-0 drubbing of Miami Ohio on a "neutral" field in Cincinnati. Things seemed to be on the up-and-up for the Cats, and the fans were enjoying the beating throughout. One question remains from the weekend though. What did we learn about the 2009 team?
In short, not a lot. There were some good takeaways from the game. Mike Hartline looked to be on target going 18 for 27 with 2 TD's and no picks. He looked comfortable in the pocket, but he didn't face pressure all day from the Redhawks' pathetic defensive line. Mike's decision making under pressure has always been pretty good. Last year, in game management mode for most of the season, he showed a good knack for throwing the ball away under pressure. When the defensive pressure steps up against Louisville in two weeks will Mike be able to stand tall in the pocket and find open receivers or will he tend to get happy feet and toss the ball away? UK fans have to hope for the former, but Saturday's game didn't tell a lot about the QB position.
The same goes for the receivers and defense. While I can't recall a lot of dropped passes from the Miami game, Coach Brooks noted that there were a lot of busted routes on the game film. Casual fans can get caught up in the speed, athleticism, and catching ability of a wideout. What really makes a great college receiver is the ability to beat your man running the route that was designed. The quarterback can't get you the ball if he doesn't know where you're going to be. UK's receiving corps needs to improve on this facet of the game in order to give Hartline good targets to throw to as the season progresses.
Defensively, the Cats looked tough on Saturday. The shutout on the scoreboard attests to this, but Brooks also noted a lot of busted coverage in the secondary over the weekend. Louisville has enough skill at quarterback and wide receiver to make UK pay for any broken coverage deep. With two weeks to prepare, look for UK's secondary to be very conscientious of tracking their man and being in position to make a play on the ball.
The performance on Saturday was a great confidence builder for the team and for the fan base, but it shouldn't be dwelled upon in the least. UK needs to get back to work over the next two weeks and address some of the weaknesses that can be counteracted by coaching like route running and coverages. If they can get back to basics and play the game fundamentally the team has plenty of talent to beat Louisville in two weeks and have some success in SEC play. If they don't do the little things that make a decent team good, then they will be looking at a tough rivalry loss heading into a brutal schedule with Auburn and two BCS championship contenders in Alabama and Florida on the docket next.
Image courtesy: www.ukwildcatcountry.com
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09 September 2009
Things just keep getting worse for Oklahoma football. First, the Sooners lose Heisman-trophy winning QB Sam Bradford to a shoulder injury in the first half of their first game. Next, they manage to lose that game as well, dropping a hard-fought contest to BYU and re-opening the "Mid-majors deserve to be in the BCS" conversation.
Finally, it was announced late yesterday that All-American TE Jermaine Gresham will miss the entire season after having surgery to repair torn cartilage in his knee. Gresham was injured during a practice this fall, and while it was initially thought he may only miss a week or two, it now means he'll be watching the season from the sidelines.
Now, the Sooners are faced with the prospects of defending their Big 12 Championship without arguably the best QB and TE combination in the country. Bradford is likely to return in about a month, but it's not likely he'll be able to regain top form in time to knock off Texas and Oklahoma State, while Gresham just hopes to be healed in time to impress NFL scouts next spring.
As a college football fan, you never want to see players injured, All-Americans or not. But what makes this especially disheartening is that both players passed up the lure of NFL dollars to return to school. Both Bradford and Gresham could be cashing six-figure paychecks right now. Instead, they opted to return to dorm rooms, 8 a.m. classes and lecturing professors. Both players did the supposed "right thing" by returning to school, yet now their NFL futures are a little cloudier.
Think NFL scouts might be a little weary of a tight end coming off knee surgery? Or a QB with a dinged-up throwing shoulder? With the way scouts are able to pick apart players' games, these injuries could end up costing Bradford and Gresham, even if they suffer no long-term effects.
This is why it's hard to criticize players who leave early for the NFL. If you had an opportunity to realize a life-long dream, a dream that would make you incredibly wealthy, would you pass it up, especially if you knew that opportunity might not always be there?
So here's hoping for quick recoveries for both players. They likely won't realize their dream of a national title this year, but both players can still hopefully look forward to long, prosperous NFL careers.
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09 September 2009
While there aren't a ton of marquee games this weekend in college football, there are two that are must-see for all fans. Third-ranked USC takes its six running back circus to Columbus for a battle with the #7 Buckeyes. The Trojans' true freshman quarterback Matt Barkley will be tested going into the hostile Horseshoe at 8pm on Saturday night. Ohio State has taken some criticism after being in a very close game against Navy last weekend. I tend to give the Buckeyes a little leniency, seeing as Jim Tressel probably didn't want to show anything to Pete Carroll and his staff. More to the point is that Buckeye players were probably looking past Navy to USC. There is no doubt the Big 10 could use the Buckeyes to play well and win to help its national image, which has been tarnished over the last three or four seasons.
The USC/Ohio State game may have higher rankings, but the biggest game on the schedule this weekend is Notre Dame playing at Michigan. Arguably, this is a matchup of the two most storied programs in all of college football. Even though both teams have hit hard times lately, this game is still as big as it ever was. Storylines and rumors still abound from the matchup. The Wolverines limped to a 3-9 record last year in Rich Rodriguez's first season. On top of that, Michigan is just coming out of a media firestorm where they were accused by players (former and current) of violating the NCAA's hour limit for practicing in a week/day. Michigan's administration started conducting its own investigation after the story came out. For a program that missed a bowl game for the first time in 30+ years last year, this wasn't the kind of publicity it was looking for.
More after the jump.
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07 September 2009
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04 September 2009
Despite the outrageously awful football played last night, we are, in fact, underway. What that means, of course, for those of you that wandered over from our old digs, is that the Scramble rides again. We've got some of the same incredibly hilarious crew back from last year and one sparkling new face (and actual journalist... so don't scare him off).
The returning guest expert panelists and joke-slingers are below. Included are some of my very favorite tweets from each.
Holly Anderson from EDSBS and Yahoo! Sports. She's also the person I stole the phrase "blatant homerism" from and enjoys all things velociraptor and shark. Just don't piss her off. "'You're doing a real disservice to all the women out there who actually are smart about sports.' That's going in my sidebar."
Eric Angevine from damn near every sports publication east of the Mississippi, including StormingTheFloor.net and ESPN The Magazine. Just don't let him try to tell you he accidentally dropped that tumbler of blue shit on himself. It was intentional cocktail homicide. "I know he's an insufferable elitist, but I'd have a beer with the guy."
"The Gentleman" Ashley Burns from the Ashley Burns for Mayor of Orlando in 2012 campaign you've seen on your nightly news. And most Central Florida bars. "I'd like to do something genuinely fun this weekend. Like stab a clown."
And introducing Colin Seiler, the former proprietor of one of my favorite blogs (Signal2Noise) which he unmercifully killed last winter, and member of the original Channel 4 News Team, now tooling around somewhere in the Pacific Northwest working as a real journalist. We're lucky to have him, and if he makes it 3 weeks, he will have bested T. Kyle King's '08 effort. Go easy early, kids. "...finds something appealing about getting a beer with his haircut, even if it is a High Life."
The SD crew will include myself, E, Cohron, and Bru. We will be debuting a little different format this year. While we will be splitting into teams of mortal enemies after week 1 (teams completely chosen by this week's winner), it's every man for himself until then.*
Kige Ramsey was unable to commit this season but asked that I mail him a reminder next summer. I think he thought I was his dentist.
On with the picks, little helmets, one-liners, and Stephen Garcia jokes.
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02 September 2009
Like most some bloggers, I've been involved in many sports over the course of my life. I've been playing basketball for about 20 years now, some form of baseball/softball for more like 23 years, and my golf game resembles something a three year old may do on the links. At any given time you can find the following items in my house: a basketball, basketball shoes, softballs, a softball bat, softball cleats, a set of golf clubs, golf spikes, a tennis racquet, a football, and even a pair of running shoes with the Nike + system. These are pretty standard items found in many "weekend warriors" houses.
This week I was surprised to find that I also have a set of shin guards, goalie gloves, goalie jersey, and two frisbees for disc golf also in my possession. "How did these things come to pass?" you might ask. Well, they're both interesting stories, but not quite as interesting at how miserably I fail at utilizing these tools.
Two weeks ago I had a company picnic and a couple of guys asked if I wanted to play a round of disc golf before we left for the day. Seemed harmless enough. I even parred out on 3 or 4 of the 9 holes we played. The game seemed simple. That was until one of the guys asked me to be his doubles partner in a lunch work league.
How has this turned out? Pathetically to put it gently. After two matches I'm carrying something like an 8 handicap. Yes, in disc golf. Yes, for 9 holes.
More after the jump.
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01 September 2009
But wait...there's more! We've already taken a look at the SEC East, but we're still only halfway there. Today, we look at the West, which figures to be a tight race between Alabama, Ole Miss and LSU.
Like the East, the West has their own dynamic quarterback in Ole Miss' Jevan Snead, dominating defenders like Terrence Cody and Rolando McClain, big play receivers in Julio Jones and Brandon LaFell, big-name coaches like Nick Saban and Les Miles, and even some new coaches hoping to shake things up in Dan Mullen and Gene Chizik.
There's also no shortage of storylines. Can Ole Miss live up to their lofty preseason expectations? Will Alabama suffer a Sugar Bowl hangover? Can LSU play defense this year? Will Chizik turn Auburn's fortunes around?
We won't know the answers to those for a few weeks, but one thing we do know is that this is going to be fun. Here's a closer look at the predicted order of finish in the West.
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02 September 2009
You guys may remember a sort-of awesome weekly sports podcast from 2007 called Super Monday. No? Well they are on iTunes should you decide to subject yourselves to that nonsense 2 years later (I have).
Being that football is a mere 48 hours away, fellow Bloguiners over at In The Bleachers are starting up one of their own. Check it out here. No word yet on the quantity of dick and boob jokes, but let's hope for plenty.
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31 August 2009
It's no secret that the fraternity of UK basketball coaches have been busy during the offseason. Rick Pitino started things off hot this summer with his rumored affair with Karen Sypher. That of course went on a whirlwind tour with charges of extortion, alleged baby-in-the-womb killing, sex in a restaurant, and culminated last week with Pitino's bizarre news conference where he blasted the media for, well, doing their job.
We also had current coach John Calipari being somewhat involved/not involved/solely responsible for Derrick Rose cheating on an entrance exam that qualified him for college. He of course took Cal's Memphis squad to the title game, jumped town for the NBA, and nothing has really resulted from the trip.
Then we have Billy. Oh, Billy. What are we going to do with you? Picked up in Lawrenceburg on charges of DUI, Gillispie had to don an orange jump suit and stand in front of a judge for the third time in his life claiming innocent of driving under the influence of alcohol. Coach Gillispie's two previous charges of DUI don't really give him much of a leg to stand on, and his record at UK may make it tough to dodge this one. I'm guessing he'll lawyer up enough to get this knocked down from DUI to something like a non-moving violation, but it's still yet another chapter in a weird and wacky summer for guys who've stalked (or will stalk) the sidelines for the Big Blue.
All of this action got us thinking, "who will be the next ex-UK coach to get into some kind of wacky shenanigans?" Follow us down the rabbit hole and we'll discuss the possible miscreants.
Stadium Drives on Twitter
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@wesrucker247 RT @GrubbM: Can you drop Full Metal Jacket quotes on Fox Sports South? Announcer just did.
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Bobby Bare Jr can dress however he wants RT @wesrucker247: I laughed at his attire in Knoxville last season. Hilarious.
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Ready for another 8 mile round trip! http://t.co/zTxKrT8X
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We're going streaking! Down by the quad through the gymnasium! Bring your green hat!
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