first
Magic? Really?
Flip Saunders fired:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/ne...tory?
id=3423956
Really strange coincidence; I haven't played magic since oh, 1996? And yesterday for some reason or another I spent an hour reading articles about M:TG on wikipedia and elsewhere.
rr is a level 32 ice mage with red wizard capabilities, unlimited mana, and health regeneration.
Good point, although I think that experience against a certain type of offense (including your own in practice) might matter more than personnel choices. Teams already put in their bigger guys on running downs and their faster guys on passing downs.
Between the Magic talk and the kinda sorta implying that scheme is more important than players, I fear GSimms might have a coronary reading this post.
I am a dyed in the wool geek that eats Star Wars, drinks Watchmen and frakin' breathes Battlestar Gallactica. That paragraph about Magic was too much, even for me.
Now who wants to play some Marvel Overpower?
The spread is dead, long live the bubble screen.
bgh--- last spring when i was grabbing a coffee at ERC in an attempt to exponentially increase my concentration levels (which adderal had already skyrocketed) i saw a group of 30 somethings, about 6 or 7 of them playing magic, the gathering. honestly, it was one of the few moments i've had in my life where i was truly speechless. it was so awesome and pathetic all at once.
They should rename Magic as following:
Magic: The Gathering of Lifelong Virgins.
or
Magic: The gathering of People who Paid to lose their Virginity.
or
Magic: Are You Fucking Kidding me?
No disrespect to Brian, he has succeded in spite of Magic.
See?
The video game place that opened in the old Sake Bomb building features large gatherings of very nerdy fellows huddled around table tops quite often. I went in to rent some games once and it was kind of scary.
Would it be possible for Michigan, with all of its recruiting depth to supplement a pure athletic running back with a bowling ball type back? that way if we play a defense that is shutting us down in space, we could at least try to pound away for 3 yards at a time and maybe force them to crowd the box more?
now that i think about that time at ERC there were a few long-haired wayward freaks at the table.. was that you brian?
I dont know, you should email that suggestion to Rich Rodriguez. Be sure to put "Basic Football Concepts- Do You Know Them?" in the subject line.
Also tell him to recruit a DE and attach a copy of the Big Ten schedule.
dex, did you ever try buying at that sake bombs? now that was a JOKE
Man, do we need a commit....
are any of y'all in a2 now?
i was just crusing the magic website to check out some stuff and i noticed some pretty spectactular columnists. my favorite is the ferret:
http://www.wizards.com/
default.a...thor=TheFerrett
when are the banners from the banner contest going to be posted?
...most important of all he lives in the Cleveland metropolitan area.
So that escort services and ComicCons may better target their potential clients.
i like how there's an open-ended invitation to stop by on tuesday nights foor some magic action. truly, this man is committed to the gathering lifestyle.
Bubble meet Burst.
I never had to buy at Sake's since I always knew people over 21, but I do remember when they delivered kegs and would just drop it off at our house, no questions asked. I was shocked when they got shut down, it seemed like such a safe way to run a business.
sake bombs, blue front, campus corner, all great. but none of them compared to sgt. peppers. i lived next door to them for 2 years and have to say they were the best neighbors i could've asked for
You're such a geek, Brian. But don't go changin'.
I second a rush on the banner contest. I want to crush the current PB&J one with a bat. (Not Hart, just the phrase thingy).
did any of you submit banners?
"I dont know, you should email that suggestion to Rich Rodriguez. Be sure to put "Basic Football Concepts- Do You Know Them?" in the subject line."
God you are a phenomenal prick, and I have man-crush on you for it.
(wink wink big boy)
I wonder if one of the reasons our DL/OL recruiting has been thin so far is that your average 280-300lb HS lineman never really does much sustained running, and so has no desire to do the amount of running that RR and Barwis demand. Instead, they consider other programs that aren't so physically demanding.
Firing Saunders is the right move. Your average wimpy, ineffectual 8th grade social studies teacher has a more commanding presence.
speechless...
nerd alert!
My banner entry was Calvin pissing on an OSU logo
@ Don - I think the more likely reason (just my opinion) is that OL/DL at WVU under Rich Rod is an unknown commodity. Every scatback/slot dude and mobile QB in the country is falling all over themselves to visit UM. If UM shows an attacking, sack heavy defense, more DLs will come along. OL is a tougher nut to crack, but that should follow if some guys start showing on All-Big Ten Teams.
I had a totally wimpy, ineffectual 8th grade social studies teacher and the comparison is apt. The mongrel students totally ran that class. If you don't think the players on the Pistons roster respect Michael Curry (a former player and NBAPA rep) more than Flip, then you're crazy. Not saying he's best available hire, just that he'd carry more influence in the locker room initially. If he sucks as a coach, all bets are off.
dex, I think that the banner on your site is pretty freakin cool. You (or whoever the creator is) should submit something to Brian. (So long as it doesn't involve Calvin).
My banner entry was Calvin pissing on an OSU logo
dex | Homepage | 06.03.08 - 2:25 pm | #
hahah thats so hick. which means, of course, that it would resonate with osu fans.
Three yards and a cloud of dust: Ohio State, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Iowa
Three yards and a cloud of dust is a complement to the 2007 Iowa offense.
did anyone see the tie Flip was wearing in game 6? yikes. that might have been the real reason Joe D decided to can Flip.
@medals
A reader sent me that - it is pretty badass.
Also, I generally like Flip. He was into other Detroit sports and seemed like a decent human being. It's too bad that Minnesota didn't wait a year to fire Monson. Not too bad for Gopher fans necessarily (Tubby's good, obvs), but it would have been a nice landing pad for Flip.
Screaming A. Smith is saying that Michael Curry is the guy - I can only hope that Curry is a better coach than player. Man he sucked as a player.
One thing that bothered me about Flip is how he would talk to the guys like they were 5th graders. Like in the Philly series, he asked them if they were "having fun yet?" Why doesn't he just cut to the chase and hand out the orange slivers, you know?
I liked Flip as a guy and thought he was a decent enough coach. I'm sort of sad to see him leave the organization.
I think it would be a gigantic mistaketo place all the burden of the team's (relative) failures over the past few years on Flip. I think when it came down to it, as a team, they jsut weren't good enough.
In the country, the spread may be reaching saturation. I believe, and there is supporting data such as the conference analysis by SMQ, that the Big Ten is behind the times. Sure, half the league is running some type of spread but it is the bad half. Michigan just switched. PSU, I’ll believe it when I see it. Illinois is the only good team of the bunch and they only got good recently—because of the spread. The teams to beat (and scheme for) are/were still in Neanderthal land. Not to ignore the obvious point that how you run your offense is completely separate from how you run your defense. Good Big Ten teams have not yet been hurt (that much) by other Big Ten teams spreading them out with water bugs. The worm has not yet turned but I suspect repeated championship humiliations has alerted Tressel to the worm. I would take OSU and MSU’s offensive ‘successes’ from last season with a grain of salt. The Big Ten sucked. Was MSU that good? I don’t think so. OSU out talented everyone and got a Michigan that was a shelf of its potential self. I believe RR will bring about the paradigm shift that sees the domination of the spread in the Big Ten. After that we can worry about the reshifting paradigm.
I'm an Advanced D and D man myself. M:TG is for new wave losers.
what is "magic"?
Seriously. Like some kind of D&D thingie, 'cept different?
@BGH
I've had the same thoughts (that they just weren't good enough). I think the legitimate window for them closed in Game 7 at San Antonio. After that, by virtue of playing in a bad Eastern Conference and being a pretty ballsy team they continued to win and overachieve but the public just kind of assumed they were still good enough to win a title.
Flip Saunders was a good dude but an average coach at best. However, he can't be blamed for the Pistons' recent playoff exits. The players are more to blame. They didn't display the consistency of a championship-caliber team the last three years, as seen in inexplicable losses to Philly this season and to Cleveland last year. Myabe that has something to do with the motivation the coach dishes out, but come on now, the core of this team had been to two previous Finals and won a title. They should be plenty motivated already.
I'm inviting some pals over to play pogs if anyone is in. My slammer is pure steel.
Wait, I take part of my statement back. Flip Saunders is to blame for the Game 1 loss to Philly. I just remembered that he left the starters on the bench for almost the entire third quarter with the 'Stons up by 10 or 12 points. Philly made a comeback and, of course, won the game.
anyone know if rivals ranks hockey recruits?
Riiiiiiiiiiip
PSU, I’ll believe it when I see it.
That's what I like about Rich Rod's spread (sounds slightly perverted). He's recruiting guys that fit his system, not mix and matching schemes from year to year as convenient based on personnel. This worked somewhat with Troy Smith and Michael Robinson, but then coming back to Boeckman and Morelli was fairly ugly. Fortunately for OSU, they had Beanie Wells, a fairly stout defense and a piss poor Big Ten to help. Now OSU is eventually going to go back to spread again with Pryor and PSU might as well.
I guess all I'm saying is like my teams to have a philosophy and to be built to that philosophy. Even during Lloyd's years, I like that he at least had a consistent philosophy. Execution was certainly lacking.
Also, philosophy.
The spread option is at this time what the west coast offense was in the 80s as was the bone in the 60s-70s in the Big 12. Football will always evolve. The one thing for sure right now is there are no good spread option teams trying to move away from it.....no one has figured out how to consistently stop it when atheletes on the field are even close talent wise. Speed can make up for a lack of football skills which is why the lower tier teams in many conferences have gone to the spread. Speed coupled with good coaching can be lethal. That being said speed on the edges is everything in today's college football.....we need some southern DEs please NOW.
As long as we are the best spread option team out there I dont care if everyone runs it :P
I missed the pun. Lil help?
"Michigan Hockey Summers" (even though summer doesn't start until 6/20).
I submitted a banner. Not happy with it, but I submitted one.
I dont know, you should email that suggestion to Rich Rodriguez. Be sure to put "Basic Football Concepts- Do You Know Them?" in the subject line.
Also tell him to recruit a DE and attach a copy of the Big Ten schedule.
dex | Homepage | 06.03.08 - 1:47 pm | #
I laughed for five minutes.
every once in awhile god sends me a message saying that i am having absolutely no influence on the lives of people i come in contact with....
this post is that message... sigh,
i have failed, and i appologize to those that have tried to encouraged me.....
I knew you'd be disappointed.
Don't sweat it, Brian. I spent most of my high school years shooting hoops and going to rock clubs. You prolly still got more girls than I did.
Guys, when it comes to analyzing the spread, you have to think in terms of just how much, yet how little, the paradigm shift is.
There are three reasons the Spread is here to stay, and at the college level won;t go away anytime soon.
1) College football coaches hate passing. They hate that much decision making taken away from them. The spread is just the "new" option. The passes are shorter, quicker, and therefore leave less time for audibles and protection at the line and forcing throws into coverage.
B) College defenses don't evolve as fast as they do in the NFL. College defenses still rely more on athleticism and speed, not terribly sophisticated schemes that not even John Hagen can teach a kid in just four short 12 minute sessions.
III)You can make up for deficiencies easier. Your offesnive line doesn't have to be all 6'8 340 lbs behemoths who need a lunch break in the huddle. And you can hide the less accomplished blockers.
D) It confuses young defenses. You got a mix of freshies, sophs, juniors, and a few seniors, and they just don't have the experience needed to know where they need to be or to recgnize.
5) Afleets everywhere on offense. If you git yerself one a dem "mobayall" quaterbacks who kin ruuun, all he needs is a little seem. Same for you little speedy midgets.
6) More plays if you play RR's style of 100% hustle all the time. That will make a difference with the new clock rules.
7) THe "Kicker": RR and staff will get their type of afleets, which means the shit he recrooted at WVU will look like, well, shit compared to what he'll be putting on the field at Michigan (in theory).
So guys: Don't believe what you read about the spread losing its edge. It has only just begun to gain it.
And don't worry, I just made all this shit up, so if I'm wrong, that's too bad.
I know its a painful memory, but does any remember the opening game last season? You know--the one against the Division 1-AA team from a small town in North Carolina that ran the spread offense?
If you have an athletic quarterback who can run and throw, its going to be very hard for a lot of defenses to really stop a spread attack.
Also, given the number of different offenses employed in college football, its going to be difficult for teams to match up personnel wise on defense with a spread offense. Do you have enough good DBs? Are the d-linemen fast enough to pursue? How fast can your LBs run? Very few teams will have all the personnel packages necessary to take on spread, passing spread and conventional offenses they'll encounter through the season.
A good coach should be able to scheme towards a defense's shortcomings when running a spread. I suspect Rodriguez and staff will be able to do just that--and it should work well against most teams. Only the elite clubs probably have enough personnel to run all the defensive packages they'll need to do really, really well.
Isn't a possible advantage for Michigan if they can players with size & speed?
On a more geeky note, Phil Steele's College Football Preview is out. Once you get past the scarlet & gray undetone, it's a terrific information source.
Ahhh Magic:The Gathering.... That dumb geek game I played back in the day helped me out! I got a 1580 on the SAT and I attribute the perfect vocabulary section to seeing most of the words that I was unfamiliar with, on a magic card, remembering that that card did, and inferring the definition of the word.
@beantownblue
I'm in the Ann Arbor area.
As i have mentioned before- we shall find out exactly how good a coach RR and his staff are by what succeeds the Spread. By the time M has a QB to run the Spread the way RR wants to, they won't be taking anyone by surprise or benefitting from the confusion that unfamiliarity brings. The 'decided schematic advantage' will no longer exist.
In addition, there is the question of how a defense which faces the Spread in practice- and presumably recruited and designed to stop the Spread- will handle Power football, etc. (We may recall that Bo decided to pretty much copy tOSU's offense when he came in, so that the defense would be oompletely familiar with it).
Defenses will be developed to slow or stop the Spread. The real question is...what comes next?
Holdup a minute there. Brian, you are forgetting that Tressel and Dantonio are spread guys. Tressel ran the spread with Troy Smith and will do so again with T. Pryor. Dantonio will probably run the spread too. It isn't a crazy new notion to have the qb run the option, Bo did that with several of his quarterbacks (Jim Harbaugh and Rick Leach). Not I'm not saying Bo ran the spread or anything. But the idea of a running qb isn't new, and isn't new at Michigan.
Here is my point. I think there is too much emphasis on scheme here. My problem with Warrior Poet Lloyd Carr was that he didn't maximize his advantage over his opponents. Teams like Northwestern last year had terrible passing defense, so of course we ran the ball against them. Look at the way OSU creamed them and Michigan squeaked by. Or look at the OSU game. Grampa Boeckman couldn't throw. Why didn't we stuff the run? We couldn't run the ball, and couldn't give our qb enough time in the pocket. Why not run the 2 minute drill? We did it before, with those desperate 4th quarter comebacks (remember the last Rose Bowl? No, best not to think of that). But we didn't maximize our skills against a beatable opponent.
Anyways, what I like about RichRod is that he maximizes the talent he has. Your qb can't handle the deep balls, but can do really short passes and can run? Build an offens around that. Have a defense that can't stop Oklahoma? Then don't give up the ball, even if it means going for it on 4th down.
Dantonio and Tressel are spread guys? What? I don't think Dantonio has ever run the spread as his base formation, and while Tressel did with Troy Smith, more often he's run the I.
Commenting by HaloScan
