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Saturday October 7th, 2006
12:56amRandom Baseball Tidbits
First and foremost I need to announce that baseball legend, Buck O'Neil, passed away last night at the age of 94. I have always felt that O'Neil has yet to get the attention that he deserves as one of the games greatest ambassadors. I have also been absolutely sickened to my core that Buck has not yet been enshrined in Cooperstown. This is an infinitely more tragic matter than Pete Rose's absence.
Buck on May 13, 2002When I was on my second major baseball road trip in the late spring of 2002, our first stop was in Kansas City. We got to the stadium about 6 hours before the parking lot gates opened and were literally the first people in the gates to the stadium. We were watching batting practice and all of a sudden this elderly man came out of the dugout. The kid next to yelled at him for a baseball. The gentleman slowly walked up the steps of the dugout and out onto the beautiful green field at Kaufmann Stadium. He picked up a ball that was lying next to the batting cage, walked back over to the dugout and tossed it to the kid.
It was Buck O'Neil, a man who had dedicated his life to the game, and he did his part that afternoon keeping the game of baseball in the hearts of our youth.
He chatted with the fans, there were only about 8 of us, and flashed his famous smile around the park. We were later talking to one of the ushers and she told us that he came out to the ballpark almost every day. He was 90 years old at the time.
The baseball world just lost a great man.
....
It's tough to transition after that but I also wanted to mention the postseason. The Oakland A's just finished up a sweep of the Twins putting themselves into the ALCS for the first time in five tries under the Billy Beane tenure. I was really excited because they're my favorite AL team and really the only team in the postseason that I have a rooting interest in.
Speaking of Billy Beane, I need to mention that he deserves an award for Best Off-season Pickup in Frank Thomas. The Big Hurt was badmouthed and bashed by the White Sox organization as a washed up clubhouse cancer. The future HOFer signed with the A's for $500K and went on to hit 39 HRs and drive in 114 runs with a .270/.381/.545 line. He also single handedly won G1 of the series with the Twins with two big HRs. Isn't it funny that we haven't heard a word from Ozzie Guillen's big mouth since mid-summer? Big props to both the A's and the Big Hurt.
Also last night, Kenny Rogers went out and simply dominated the Yanks in G3 of their series to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead in the series. All we've heard in the media is "Who can stop this Yankee lineup?" and "This is the greatest lineup in the history of baseball". Well, they've scored a total of 3 runs in their last 18 innings. Go Tigers.
12:01amBlogPoll Round Table V2.4
I went back and looked at some of my answers to previous round table discussions and I'll be honest....I have essentially sucked at my predictions this season.
I guess they're not as bad as I thought but they're still not great.
- BlogPoll 2.2: I picked FSU as a MNC contender? They've dropped two games since then.
- BlogPoll 2.3: I mentioned TCU in the surprise contenders (although I selected LSU as my official pick). TCU has dropped their last two games.
- BlogPoll 2.3: I mentioned Michigan as the next big team to fall. They then went out and rolled Notre Dame. I could still be right though because they still have Iowa, MSU (today), Penn State, & tOSU on their schedule.
This new Roundtable is brought to us by Crosscyed (an ISU blog) so let's see what I can butcher this time....
BlogPoll Roundtable 2.4Q1. We're about halfway through the season at this point. Have you gotten a gauge on your team's chances this year to make noise in conference play, or is the team still a total freaking mystery?
A1. At this stage in the season, regardless of what you might hear, things are still up in the air. I would say that it is not likely that we end up making noise in the Big 12 but we certainly play enough of the top teams that an upset here or there would rock the boat. We still have 4 remaining ranked opponents on our schedule (texas, OU, Mizzou, & Nebraska). Our non-conference schedule was weak but our Big 12 schedule more than makes up for that. Five of our eight Big 12 games are against current Top 25 teams.
Q2. Many of the bigger conferences such as the Big 12 and the Big 10 use a rotating schedule to determine conference games each year. What are your feelings on the current system used in your conference? Does a rotating schedule work? Has your team always caught a break?
A2. I don't mind it so much. I like getting to play schools like Nebraska & KSU (when they were good). However, playing in the Big 12 South we have it MUCH worse than those in the North because texas, OU, and tech are on our schedule every single year and then we get to play a team like Nebraska. The Northern teams get to beat up on each other a sprinkling of texas, OU, and tt.
I don't think we ever catch a break. Our Novembers are always rough which leaves fans with a foul taste in their mouths going into the off-season.
2003 #1 OU MU #6 tu 2004 #2 OU #25 tt #5 tu 2005 #16 tt OU #2 tu 2006 #14 OU #22 NEB #7 tu
Q3. In an effort to get to know more about college football, both nationally and regionally, what have you done to expand your college football horizons? Have you caught yourself watching games from other conferences, or taking an interest in games that show up on ESPNU or Fox Sports?
A3. With this weekend being the first that I haven't actually traveled to attended one of our games I can say that I have had difficulty getting time to watch other national games this season. I did a much better job with this last season.
If I'm home and there is a ranked team or another of our opponents on TV I certainly watch it but I'm just simply not home very often on Saturdays. I do like ESPN's Thursday night games but I have class until 8:30pm and I don't get home until ~9:45pm so I only get to catch bits of the 4th quarter. I have also taken advantage of ESPN Classic's Instant Replay on Sunday mornings of that week's best game.
Q4. What would you change about the current exposure your team gets, either on the radio, television, print, or on the internet?
A4. I would make it better. The only time we get mentioned is when they're talking about coaches on the hot seat. We're better than that. Our defense was literally one of the worst in the nation last season and we've improved quantum leaps on that front. Our offense features one of the most potent rushing attacks in the nation.
Q5. During last Saturday's game against I-AA Northern Iowa, Iowa State trailed 21-7 at the half. The Cyclone Marching Band played a variety of songs from animated shows, including selections from South Park titled "Blame Canada" and "What Would Brian Boitano Do?" Needless to say, the Cyclones outscored the Panthers 21-6 in the second half. If you had to pick one song for your favorite team to rally to, what would it be? Because we all know what they did for the 2005 White Sox, Journey and "Don't Stop Believing" are not to be considered.
A5. Well, the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band would sound awfully silly playing something like that. If it was just "a" band playing "a" song I must say I liked hearing Tennessee's band playing the Gladiator theme when we played them in the Cotton Bowl. I love that song and it gets me all jacked up.
Friday October 6th, 2006
12:01amAggie Football Preview: Kansas
Fran will be gathering up the troops for what will be our first game in hostile territory this season as we head to Kansas to play the Jayhawks (3-2, 0-1) tomorrow for their Homecoming game. Is it just me or does it seem like we always draw opponent's Homecoming games?
The Fighting Manginos have defeated Northwestern State, La-Monroe, and South Florida while dropping games to Toledo (in 2OT) and Nebraska (last weekend in OT). This is a team that worries me a bit. They've won 9 in a row at home while we've dropped 13 of our 17 games away from Kyle Field over the last 3 1/2 seasons.
Here is how KU faired last weekend against Nebraska and overall on the season.
@Neb Avg/Game ========== ========== PassO.... 405 yds 245.6 (29) RushO.... 169 yds 161.0 (43) TotO.... 574 yds 406.6 (27) ScorO.... 32 pts 29.2 (38) PassD.... 395 yds 264.2 (112) RushD.... 116 yds 88.6 (24) TotD.... 511 yds 352.8 (84) ScorD.... 39 pts 24.2 (76)They've moved the ball pretty well overall and simply torched Nebraska's Black Shirt defense through the air last weekend. Their starting QB, Kerry Meier (brother of KSU QB Dylan Meier), has missed the last two games with an arm injury and his status for this weekend is still unknown. He was cleared medically to play. Filling in behind center is RS-F Adam Barmann. Barmann is 52-of-89 (58%) for 678 yards and 2 TDs with 3 INTs in his two starts filling in for Meier.
Their top targets have been Brian Murph (25 receptions for 303 yards and 2 TDs) and Dexton Fields (21 receptions for 241 yards and 2 TDs). Murph is also their punt returner and on his 5 returns this season he has a freakish 21.8 yards per return. That number is skewed heavily from a 70 yard return (he is averaging 9.8 on his other 4 returns).
Their running game is led by RS senior Jon Cornish who is having a sensational season. In five games the Canadian has 582 yards on 113 carries (5.2 ypc) with 3 TDs. Meier is second on the team in rushing with 39 carries for 146 yards (3.7 ypc) and a team high 4 TDs. Shutting down the running game is going to be important for our defense.
On the other side of the ball Kansas is having to replace a lot of talent. They lost LBers Nick Reed, Kevin Kane, & Banks Floodman and DE Charleton Keith who finished 1-2-3-4 in tackles on the squad last season. Keith finished second on the squad with 9 sacks behind also departed LBer Brandon Perkins who had 10 sacks. That was a salty group of senior defenders.
This year, again, they are led by their LBing corps of Mike Rivera, Eric Washington (out with a concussion), & Joe Mortensen who are 1-2-3 in tackles. Their DL is made up of 3 seniors and a junior, although the depth there is all underclassmen. Their secondary is fairly young with 5 of the 8 players on their 2-deep being underclassmen. The stat sheet further up on the page reflects that as they are 112th in the nation in pass defense.
I must admit that I am glad to see that the Jayhawks have gone back to the traditional royal blue jerseys as opposed to the Navy ones they wore a couple of years ago. I noticed that they have switched from Nike to Adidas and I think it might have something to do with the loss they had to take financially in order to outfit Mangino. Zing.
Kickoff is at 11am on FSN. It will be followed on ABC by the Red River Shootout at 2:30pm and LSU v. Florida on CBS at 2:30pm. PIP will be in use at my house.
B.T.H.O. Kansas! WHOOP!
Wednesday October 4th, 2006
12:01amtech Stuns Ags in 4th Q, 31-27
Talk about a kick to the stomach. With just over half of a minute remaining in the game tech threw almost a perfect pass up into the end zone and somehow Robert Johnson came down with it.
I don't think you could have had better coverage than what Peterson had. It was simply a great play.
Of course it shouldn't have come down to that. On our preceding possession we couldn't put the ball in the end zone and had to settle for a FG that gave us a 3 point lead. tech called a timeout before we got the FG unit on the field and I told my buddy Zach that we would need more than 3 points if we were going to win the game. I've seen tech's 2 minute drill before and I knew that they would be able to score with 2:12 remaining in the game.
What kills me is that after a poor first half (297 yards given up), our defense had held them to a mere 56 yards of offense in the second half prior to that final drive. They went 80 yards and scored.
One of the main reasons we held them to so few second half yards was because we were owning the time of possession. They had the ball for 8:53 in the second half and were only able to run 22 offensive plays (and 1:46 and 8 plays of that were on that final drive).
This was probably McGee's least impressive game I've seen. Everyone except the three or four who finish the season in NY for the Heisman Ceremony is going to have a game or two that they don't have their "A" game. Two or three times he threw right into the defender's hands but only one was picked. There were also numerous times when he had time to throw the ball but flushed himself out of the pocket a little too soon and either threw the ball away or ran for a yard or two. It turns out that he suffered a concussion early in the game. I don't know what kind of effect that had on his performance. He was running the option very well in the fourth quarter so it wasn't messing with that part of his game.
Jorvorskie had another nice afternoon picking up 77 yards on 12 carries (6.4 ypc) and his 11th TD of the year. He had a great 22 yard carry where he stiff armed a guy, then spun out of a tackle, then flat out bowled over a third defender. It was greatness.
Courtney Lewis made his first appearance since the first quarter of the Citadel game and had a solid afternoon even though he didn't seem to have his normal burst. Chris Alexander was worked into the offense for the second straight week with 4 carries for 29 yards (7.2 ypc) and a TD. I like Fran getting him into the action.
The offense was completely non-existent in the first quarter, again, which is something we have to put an end to. I was happy to see that we had two very long TD marches, one was 80 yards and the other was 99 yards. Those two drives took a total of 13:18 off the clock.
The big play of the game was probably Kerry Franks's 98 yard kickoff return in the first quarter. He just ran it right back up the middle and juked out the kicker. Kerry has been phenomenal on special teams. He has blocked a punt and has a 36.75 average on his 8 returns, which is good for #3 in the country.
Thinking back on the game yesterday I realized that the new clock rules had an impact on the final result. tech kicked off following their final TD with 26 seconds left on the clock. With the new rules the now clock starts as soon as the ball is kicked, as opposed to when it is first touched by the returning team. The clock also restarts as soon as the official sets the ball on the change of possession. With one timeout remaining we were only able to run two plays, an incomplete pass and a 44 yard pass to Schroeder, before the clock ran out. Under the old rules it would certainly be realistic that we could have had more than 2 snaps with 26 seconds on the clock.
It wasn't the reason we lost, but it is another example of why the new clock rules are disliked by every coach I've heard talking about it.
We need to get the offense jumpstarted earlier in the game and we need to continue to improve defensively. We've got our first true road game on the schedule this weekend.
Tuesday October 3rd, 2006
12:01amNO MORE DUSTY!
Yesterday was a glorious day as the Cubs chose not to renew Dusty Baker's contract for 2007.
Following a rather impressive 2003 season in which we won the division title for the first time in 14 seasons we pretty much sucked during the remainder of Dusty's reign bottoming out this season with a 66-96 record.
Yeah, the only teams in the entire major leagues worse than the Cubs were the Royals and the Devil Rays. That is not good company to keep, especially when your payroll is $12M more than both of those team's combined payrolls.
To be completely honest, I'm not sure I watched a single Cubs game since mid-August. It was that bad.
I've waited a loooong time for this day and I am even more excited about it because Florida is very unlikely to keep former Cub backstop, Joe Girardi, who managed a $14M payroll into a pennant race through the last month of the season. That $14M payroll was $20M lower than the second lowest payroll in baseball.
Come back Joe. Please.My boy, Matt Murton, finished the season with a team high .297 batting average and a team high .365 OBP. Juan Pierre, after starting unbelievably slow, finished the season with 202 hits and a .292 average.
The postseason starts this afternoon with Oakland at Minnesota (12pm on ESPN), StL at SD (3pm ESPN), and Detroit at NYY (7pm FOX). Go A's.
That's all I've got today. Class is crazy right now so I'll try to get a tech recap up, although I really don't want to relive any of that again in order to write it all up. I've already got my notes typed up so worst case scenario I'll just throw those up in bullet form.