It's been interesting to watch the world of blogging evolve. From the Geocities and Tripod, to the Drudge Report getting the President of the United States in trouble, to the launch of Blogger, the creation of Xanga, and the conquest of the internet by MySpace, blogs have, in their short history, been a lot of things to a lot of people. To some, they've been the source of news and opinion that the mainstream media wouldn't address. To others, they've been irresponsible rumor mills, muckrakers working for free but without the oversight of an editor -- or a conscience. But most of all, they've represented the true realization of First Amendment rights for thousands and thousands of Americans (and, of course, people the world over ... but who aren't governed by a Bill of Rights, per se). Erstwhile journalist A. J. Liebling famously quipped that "freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." Well, now any schmuck who can dial into the vast series of tubes that is the Internets has one. And buddy, you'd better watch it.
One of the innovations that bloggers have created for themselves is the Blog Carnival. With a carnival, one blogger is chosen out of the whole universe of bloggers who covers a certain area of subject matter to compile an extensive post with numerous links to various bloggers' opinions on that topic. Hundreds of carnivals exist and are updated at regular intervals: the Catholic Carnival collects thoughts about Catholicism; the Carnival of Comedy brings you TEH FUNNY; and the Carnival of Frugality is of interest to complete and total tightasses.
I was surprised to see that there is no Carnival of College Football. But there is now. Factum est!
A carnival is a great thing. It exposes your work to those who might not otherwise see it. It gives you a chance to evaluate your posts and decide what you did well. It spreads traffic around to numerous posters, allowing you to develop a following. And if you wind up hosting a carnival, it drives a LOT of traffic your way for at least a week.
So, let's give it a go! Although I'll be publicizing this idea on the BlogPoll, this venture is completely independent of that; this way, more people can participate. I'm going to make submissions due on Wednesday, just like BlogPoll votes, because let's face it; (1) most of us can only memorize one deadline anyway, and (2) every true college football fan starts getting really antsy in earnest for the weekend on Thursday, what with ESPN broadcasting a weekly Thursday night tilt and the rest of the slate not far behind.
So, the first Carnival of College Football will be hosted here on Wednesday night, September 6 (or early on Thursday 9/7). Let's see if the idea takes (I'm confident that it will) and let's enjoy the discussion!
UPDATE: The ever astute Brian points out that I have failed to include my email address. Indeed, it's on this blog somewhere (in my Blogger profile) but it needs to be more clearly displayed. Anyhoo, that address is badgertracker@gmail.com, so send your brilliance to that address. If you have no brilliance to speak of, I do need to improve the size of my genitals (seriously, ask anyone I've cornered after half a dozen Jagerbombs) so feel free to send along any offers of mir@c1e pi11s you might have come across.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Justify my thug - preseason picks
Since we, the blogpollers, have until Wednesday morning to submit our final ballots, we actually get to think about how we're voting. And, best of all, we can interact with other voters and the nonvoters who read our sites and have our opinions swayed, not relying on anecdotal evidence for our opinions but on people who actually paid attention to games we didn't watch! It's pretty brilliant.
Anyway, I'm hoping to become a little more disciplined in what I post here and when. One of the things I really want to do is to make sure that my Blogpoll ballot indicates what I think about the current week's rankings, with my readers' opinions taken into account. As such, I intend to post my weekly ballot some time on Monday, surf the college blogosphere on Monday and Tuesday to get other opinions while reading the comments here and any emails I might receive, and submit a polished ballot to the poll at large on Wednesday. Of course, the part of this equation that's missing is YOU. So, be sure to come around and tell me what I'm doing wrong! And right, if that's your thing.
So, here's the reasoning behind my preseason poll. Hope you like it.
1. Auburn
2. LSU
It's a universal truth that the SEC is the most irritating conference in football. Heavy on the football and light on the college, it's the conference that made cheating famous. With only Vanderbilt and, to an extent, Florida to prop up its academic reputation, this is a conference that lacks class and that I loathe like no other. But most of all, I just can't stand their SOUTHERN SPEED!!! Every December and January, the SEC is supposed to tear apart the plodding brontosauri of the Big Ten teams who come down south to play the unhealthy number of bowl matchups that the two conferences share. And every year, the two conferences seem to go .500 in these bowls. Last year, Florida's SOUTHERN SPEED beat Iowa. But the hapless Badgers, the sacrificial victims for those viciously speedy Auburn Tigers, somehow pulled out a two-touchdown victory, taking a knee at the Auburn 3 with the clock running down. Nothing ever changes. In 2004, Iowa beat LSU. Minnesota beat Alabama. The Badgers, as I remember it, didn't play in a bowl game.
But you get the point. It has been empirically proven in the past that the SEC is the most irritating conference in the land (data not shown) and this year college football is bound to annoy me. We have a new coach, a shaky secondary, and a brilliant quarterback -- who will be running for his life as his inexperienced offensive line breaks down in front of him and his inexperienced wide receivers can't shake their defenders.
So, there's your #1 and #2 teams: at the top because I'm destined to be personally picked on by the college football deities.
3. Ohio State
My real number one pick, the Big Ten's token SEC team returns Troy Smith, Ted Ginn, and a bunch of other well-compensated neanderthals. Are you concerned about their defense? Don't be; Diamond Jim Tressel will plug in the best linebacking corps and secondary that money can buy. The Buckeyes will average 30 points a game and will stomp opposing offenses with a better-than-advertised defense.
4. Texas
Everyone seems to like Texas, and I guess I don't have much trouble buying that. Their QB will not be Vince Young, which is unfortunate for them, but they return a lot of talented dudes and they're flush with recruits from the most football-heavy state in the union. They'll be in the conversation late into November.
5. Southern Cal
See my note on Texas, replace quarterback and Vince Young with your choice of positions and Matt Leinart/Reggie Bush/LenDale White, refrigerate two hours, serve with fresh guacamole.
6. Notre Dame
I really hate having them this high, but they're the best of the non-contenders. It will be enjoyable to demote them when consecutive losses to Georgia Tech, Michigan, Michigan State, and Penn State cause Charlie Weis to wake up in a pool of his own ambergris.
7. West Virginia
In the interest of not having to repeat "I really hate having them this high," just prepend that statement to every team's summary until we get down to, say, #12. I would like to note that this high ranking does not reflect the fact that the Mountaineers' schedule is easier than an Ole Miss cheerleader (or the diction of her admissions essay). Rather, it stems from the absolute embarrassment that West Virginia put on Georgia during the 2006 Sugar Bowl. (The careful reader will note that this pretty much invalidates my pick of Auburn as a #1 team, but work with me). Their superstar tandem of White and Slaton will punish numerous subpar Big East defenses, and might just trounce some real teams before the season's over, too.
8. Miami (Florida)
Going out on a limb here and invoking the law of averages. After their 40-3 loss at the hands of LSU, the 'Canes will redeem themselves. This is possibly the flimsiest logic you'll see in this whole past. Possibly.
9. Iowa
Maybe it's my Badger bias, but I will not be calling Kirk Ferentz a genius, nor will I be calling Drew Tate a superstar. They just don't deserve those appellations. However, they do return a solid team, and they will challenge for the Big Ten crown.
10. Oklahoma
Losing Rhett Bomar is not as big a deal as it seems. The fact that he was able to throw ten picks and only ten touchdown passes and still the Sooners wound up with a 7-4 season and a bowl win over Oregon should tell you all you need to know about just how much of a placeholder QB this guy was. They won't do much worse than him, and they might actually make great strides without him there.
11. Georgia
They got smoked by WVU, but they almost won the game. After finding themselves in a 28-0 hole, the Dawgs lost by a mere three points. Joe Tereshinski III should be a fine leader, although no team ever wants to lose a Shockley.
12. Florida State
They're always pretty good, right?
13. Arizona State
My PAC-10 sleeper. Probably should be ranked lower given the fact that the the inmates may be running the asylum. Their defense will just plain suck, but their offense will light up everyone they face. I expect them to outscore almost everyone they face.
14. Penn State
This pick comes down to two questions: how good is Morelli, and will there be a sophomore slump? If the answers are "pretty darn good" and "not much of one, anyway," look out Big Ten.
15. Louisville
Brohm and Bush are impressive, no doubt. And Bobby Petrino is a sharp guy. But do you think they'd win head-to-head against Penn State? Or USC? Or LSU? If you answered "yes" to any of those questions, you need to take a week and just leave Kentucky, since the fumes from a certain baseball bat factory might be compromising your neurological health.
16. Nebraska
Last year's march toward adequacy will continue, and the giant that is Nebraska will awaken. Soon enough, everyone will be really annoyed with them again.
17. Michigan
Raise your hand if you honestly expect them to stay down. (OK, that's enough, you can put your hand down Enlightened Spartan. We see you.)
18. Cal
Moving solidly into guessing territory here. I know nothing of the Golden Bears except what others tell me.
19. Michigan State
If you keep saying, "This Will Be the Year!" every year, eventually you'll be right. Well, Spartan fans, This Will Be the Year! They'll rely on a PAC-10 caliber defense and JUCO transfers aplenty, but Drew Stanton will be the spark that ignites the dyn-o-mite Spartan offense. I am going to watch as many Spartan games as I can this year because I just love John L. Smith. I especially love that he's not my team's coach.
20. Florida
The Legend will not be satisfied with this low ranking. I expect them to climb. NB however that Chris Leak sucks.
21. Arkansas
I don't read Phil Steele, but lots of Blogpollers do, and they ranked Arkansas. They fit in with my "SEC exists to irritate the living hell out of me" theme, too, so I'll run with it.
22. Wisconsin
Hey, look, someone ranked the Badgers!
23. Georgia Tech
24. Tennessee
25. South Carolina
Well, I ranked the Badgers, and I still have three spots to go. Since I utterly refuse to include mid-major teams that don't need to be ranked, I decided to go for some middling southern teams. Sorry Northern Illinois, Fresno State, and UTEP. (Actually, I think the inclusion of Georgia Tech was based on the glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, they'll have what it takes to beat the Irish. Either justification works, though.)
So, that's the list. Enjoy, use the comments box to hammer me, and expect massive seismic activity here next week, after the teams above actually, you know, play.
Anyway, I'm hoping to become a little more disciplined in what I post here and when. One of the things I really want to do is to make sure that my Blogpoll ballot indicates what I think about the current week's rankings, with my readers' opinions taken into account. As such, I intend to post my weekly ballot some time on Monday, surf the college blogosphere on Monday and Tuesday to get other opinions while reading the comments here and any emails I might receive, and submit a polished ballot to the poll at large on Wednesday. Of course, the part of this equation that's missing is YOU. So, be sure to come around and tell me what I'm doing wrong! And right, if that's your thing.
So, here's the reasoning behind my preseason poll. Hope you like it.
1. Auburn
2. LSU
It's a universal truth that the SEC is the most irritating conference in football. Heavy on the football and light on the college, it's the conference that made cheating famous. With only Vanderbilt and, to an extent, Florida to prop up its academic reputation, this is a conference that lacks class and that I loathe like no other. But most of all, I just can't stand their SOUTHERN SPEED!!! Every December and January, the SEC is supposed to tear apart the plodding brontosauri of the Big Ten teams who come down south to play the unhealthy number of bowl matchups that the two conferences share. And every year, the two conferences seem to go .500 in these bowls. Last year, Florida's SOUTHERN SPEED beat Iowa. But the hapless Badgers, the sacrificial victims for those viciously speedy Auburn Tigers, somehow pulled out a two-touchdown victory, taking a knee at the Auburn 3 with the clock running down. Nothing ever changes. In 2004, Iowa beat LSU. Minnesota beat Alabama. The Badgers, as I remember it, didn't play in a bowl game.
But you get the point. It has been empirically proven in the past that the SEC is the most irritating conference in the land (data not shown) and this year college football is bound to annoy me. We have a new coach, a shaky secondary, and a brilliant quarterback -- who will be running for his life as his inexperienced offensive line breaks down in front of him and his inexperienced wide receivers can't shake their defenders.
So, there's your #1 and #2 teams: at the top because I'm destined to be personally picked on by the college football deities.
3. Ohio State
My real number one pick, the Big Ten's token SEC team returns Troy Smith, Ted Ginn, and a bunch of other well-compensated neanderthals. Are you concerned about their defense? Don't be; Diamond Jim Tressel will plug in the best linebacking corps and secondary that money can buy. The Buckeyes will average 30 points a game and will stomp opposing offenses with a better-than-advertised defense.
4. Texas
Everyone seems to like Texas, and I guess I don't have much trouble buying that. Their QB will not be Vince Young, which is unfortunate for them, but they return a lot of talented dudes and they're flush with recruits from the most football-heavy state in the union. They'll be in the conversation late into November.
5. Southern Cal
See my note on Texas, replace quarterback and Vince Young with your choice of positions and Matt Leinart/Reggie Bush/LenDale White, refrigerate two hours, serve with fresh guacamole.
6. Notre Dame
I really hate having them this high, but they're the best of the non-contenders. It will be enjoyable to demote them when consecutive losses to Georgia Tech, Michigan, Michigan State, and Penn State cause Charlie Weis to wake up in a pool of his own ambergris.
7. West Virginia
In the interest of not having to repeat "I really hate having them this high," just prepend that statement to every team's summary until we get down to, say, #12. I would like to note that this high ranking does not reflect the fact that the Mountaineers' schedule is easier than an Ole Miss cheerleader (or the diction of her admissions essay). Rather, it stems from the absolute embarrassment that West Virginia put on Georgia during the 2006 Sugar Bowl. (The careful reader will note that this pretty much invalidates my pick of Auburn as a #1 team, but work with me). Their superstar tandem of White and Slaton will punish numerous subpar Big East defenses, and might just trounce some real teams before the season's over, too.
8. Miami (Florida)
Going out on a limb here and invoking the law of averages. After their 40-3 loss at the hands of LSU, the 'Canes will redeem themselves. This is possibly the flimsiest logic you'll see in this whole past. Possibly.
9. Iowa
Maybe it's my Badger bias, but I will not be calling Kirk Ferentz a genius, nor will I be calling Drew Tate a superstar. They just don't deserve those appellations. However, they do return a solid team, and they will challenge for the Big Ten crown.
10. Oklahoma
Losing Rhett Bomar is not as big a deal as it seems. The fact that he was able to throw ten picks and only ten touchdown passes and still the Sooners wound up with a 7-4 season and a bowl win over Oregon should tell you all you need to know about just how much of a placeholder QB this guy was. They won't do much worse than him, and they might actually make great strides without him there.
11. Georgia
They got smoked by WVU, but they almost won the game. After finding themselves in a 28-0 hole, the Dawgs lost by a mere three points. Joe Tereshinski III should be a fine leader, although no team ever wants to lose a Shockley.
12. Florida State
They're always pretty good, right?
13. Arizona State
My PAC-10 sleeper. Probably should be ranked lower given the fact that the the inmates may be running the asylum. Their defense will just plain suck, but their offense will light up everyone they face. I expect them to outscore almost everyone they face.
14. Penn State
This pick comes down to two questions: how good is Morelli, and will there be a sophomore slump? If the answers are "pretty darn good" and "not much of one, anyway," look out Big Ten.
15. Louisville
Brohm and Bush are impressive, no doubt. And Bobby Petrino is a sharp guy. But do you think they'd win head-to-head against Penn State? Or USC? Or LSU? If you answered "yes" to any of those questions, you need to take a week and just leave Kentucky, since the fumes from a certain baseball bat factory might be compromising your neurological health.
16. Nebraska
Last year's march toward adequacy will continue, and the giant that is Nebraska will awaken. Soon enough, everyone will be really annoyed with them again.
17. Michigan
Raise your hand if you honestly expect them to stay down. (OK, that's enough, you can put your hand down Enlightened Spartan. We see you.)
18. Cal
Moving solidly into guessing territory here. I know nothing of the Golden Bears except what others tell me.
19. Michigan State
If you keep saying, "This Will Be the Year!" every year, eventually you'll be right. Well, Spartan fans, This Will Be the Year! They'll rely on a PAC-10 caliber defense and JUCO transfers aplenty, but Drew Stanton will be the spark that ignites the dyn-o-mite Spartan offense. I am going to watch as many Spartan games as I can this year because I just love John L. Smith. I especially love that he's not my team's coach.
20. Florida
The Legend will not be satisfied with this low ranking. I expect them to climb. NB however that Chris Leak sucks.
21. Arkansas
I don't read Phil Steele, but lots of Blogpollers do, and they ranked Arkansas. They fit in with my "SEC exists to irritate the living hell out of me" theme, too, so I'll run with it.
22. Wisconsin
Hey, look, someone ranked the Badgers!
23. Georgia Tech
24. Tennessee
25. South Carolina
Well, I ranked the Badgers, and I still have three spots to go. Since I utterly refuse to include mid-major teams that don't need to be ranked, I decided to go for some middling southern teams. Sorry Northern Illinois, Fresno State, and UTEP. (Actually, I think the inclusion of Georgia Tech was based on the glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, they'll have what it takes to beat the Irish. Either justification works, though.)
So, that's the list. Enjoy, use the comments box to hammer me, and expect massive seismic activity here next week, after the teams above actually, you know, play.
Picking on the Pack - an occasional feature
I never cared much for the NFL. Sure, it's nice to have a day of football to watch and flip through the day after the main event concludes, but honestly, what's the point? I'm a Badger, so I like the Badgers. I've never been a Packer, so what's my investment in them?
Well, the little lady sat me down one day and explained to me that I am a Packer fan. So I guess I am. Am I whipped? Maybe. Am I marrying into season tickets at Lambeau? Damn right. GO PACK GO! So, whenever I see a Packer game, I might just offer comment on it. Read and learn.
Anyway, the game last night was over before it started. Dr. Favre entered the operating room and called for 500 CC's of suck ... stat! After a ridiculous fumble and a tip-drill interception that led to ten points, Favre came out firing ... straight off the fingertips of the Bengals' defensive backs. However, he redeemed himself somewhat by throwing a touchdown pass after driving 73 yards, and he started the second half by getting the Pack within field goal range. These things, however, provide little consolation to a team that's fallen behind 31-0. And indeed, that was the margin of victory; although the Packers did score 17 points, the Bengals made sure that their effort could in no way be interpreted as respectable, answering with 17 of their own for a final score of 48-17.
Of course, Favre does not bear the sole responsibility for the loss. The defense played atrociously, most notably $10 million dollar man Charles Woodson. T. J. Hoshahahahafzadeh was consistently beating Chuck, making him look like lost out there. All in all, an ugly experience.
After last week's 38-10 win over the Falcons, Nicole commented that the Packers had used up all the points allotted for the first three games. She didn't go far enough; the Packers, in the course of one game, spent every favorable bounce that they'd see during the course of the season.
It's going to be a long season, Packer fans. A win a month might be asking too much.
Well, the little lady sat me down one day and explained to me that I am a Packer fan. So I guess I am. Am I whipped? Maybe. Am I marrying into season tickets at Lambeau? Damn right. GO PACK GO! So, whenever I see a Packer game, I might just offer comment on it. Read and learn.
Anyway, the game last night was over before it started. Dr. Favre entered the operating room and called for 500 CC's of suck ... stat! After a ridiculous fumble and a tip-drill interception that led to ten points, Favre came out firing ... straight off the fingertips of the Bengals' defensive backs. However, he redeemed himself somewhat by throwing a touchdown pass after driving 73 yards, and he started the second half by getting the Pack within field goal range. These things, however, provide little consolation to a team that's fallen behind 31-0. And indeed, that was the margin of victory; although the Packers did score 17 points, the Bengals made sure that their effort could in no way be interpreted as respectable, answering with 17 of their own for a final score of 48-17.
Of course, Favre does not bear the sole responsibility for the loss. The defense played atrociously, most notably $10 million dollar man Charles Woodson. T. J. Hoshahahahafzadeh was consistently beating Chuck, making him look like lost out there. All in all, an ugly experience.
After last week's 38-10 win over the Falcons, Nicole commented that the Packers had used up all the points allotted for the first three games. She didn't go far enough; the Packers, in the course of one game, spent every favorable bounce that they'd see during the course of the season.
It's going to be a long season, Packer fans. A win a month might be asking too much.
Monday, August 28, 2006
Sifting through transcripts
As gameday approaches, we've been inundated with information. Today, Coach Bielema held a press conference and benevolent Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel sportswriter Jeff Potrykus hosted a chat. The Badger Tracker has helpfully distilled the grain that is these long documents into a delicious, whiskey-like post, aged in oaken barrels for your maximum intoxication. Here's what you needs to know:
- Pabulum in questions 1 through 4: Stocco will start if healthy; the defense is better than it was last year; Pressley and Randle El will redshirt if that's what it comes down to; the coaching staff will perform well together on gameday. Did you expect different answers? This isn't John L. Smith.
- Zach Hampton is a sooper athlete and can be plugged into any situation. (The depth chart currently shows Hampton splitting kickoff return duty with Jarvis Minton and handling punt returns. He'll be fun to watch.)
- Bielema plans to be as hands-off as humanly possible when it comes to calling offensive and defensive plays. It'll be interesting to see how much of the play-by-play stuff he gets involved with as the season progresses, especially on the defensive side of things.
- Coach feels pressure to perform, and tries to keep the burden on himself instead of on the players. Good.
- The door is open for Jamathan Lyle to return to the program, should he decide to come back. CB Lyle went home to Boulder, CO last week for reasons that remain unknown. Best Internets guess is homesickness, but nobody knows for certain. The recruitnik-fearing portion of my soul figures it's best not to bother the poor kid and just accept him when and if he arrives back in Madison.
- Bielema blames himself for the poor defensive showing during the Bowling Green game last year, saying he prepared the team too much for BGSU in particular. "With an opening game, you can concentrate too much on an opponent instead of getting your own team right," says he. That sort of thing seems to have occurred this year, too, but to a lesser extent.
- Mid-major power Marshall came into Kansas State when Bielema was on the staff there and knocked the preseason top-five team off their pedestal, so Bielema knows the importance of not looking past one of these MAC squads. However, he dodged the question "Would you ever play a MAC school in their stadium?" citing the complex nature of scheduling. All in all, an interesting exchange to end the press conference.
- With no standout WR on the team, the expectation is that the ball will be spread around, especially to the TEs and RBs. (Fortunately, Stocco is experienced and wise enough to be able to do this. His eyes and brain will be the most important body parts on the field when the Badgers have the ball.)
- WRs Harris and Anderson should not be expected to perform like Penn State's freshmen did last year. (I'm not willing to exclude that possibility, though. OSU, Penn State, and Michigan have all plugged in exceptional talent at numerous positions with true freshmen. Who's to say one of our guys isn't the 2006 Mario Manningham or Derrick Williams?)
- The D-line should be good but it's too early to peg them as OMG!!!BESTEVAR!!! The O-line will probably stumble at times during the first three games but should come together nicely for the Big Ten season.
- It will be an absolute shock if Stocco doesn't play this Saturday. (My thoughts exactly.)
- Lance Kendricks being injured doesn't help the WR position much. He's expected to remain outside the top 5 on the depth chart and might just redshirt. (I figured he'd be an immediate-impact type of guy, but then again, I know almost nothing.)
- Auburn shouldn't probably be ranked in the top ten. (Well, there goes my credibility.)
- Badgers should finish 5-3 in the Big Ten. Anything worse than 4-4 would be a huge disappointment. Purdue and Penn State are the swing games.
- The 2006 Badgers could be the 2004 Badgers with a better offense, from the standpoint that the defense will carry the team. (I disagree here. If the defense this year is even vaguely reminiscent of the 2004 defense before the East Lansing meltdown I will wet myself due alternately to joy and surprise. This team will be offense-first, and that might not be a good thing till halfway through the season.)
- Of the recent Badger quarterbacks, Stocco appears to be #2, behind Bollinger, neck-and-neck with Bevell, and ahead of Sorgi and Samuel. Evridge could be what this team needs to challenge for a title in 2007 if everyone stays healthy. Potrykus, almost definitely tongue-in-cheek, opines that the Badgers will play for the national title against USC in January of 2008. (My preliminary opinion is that if we're really this talented, the 2007 Big Ten title comes down to the Badgers versus Michigan's Henne-Hart combo, with Penn State possibly figuring in the mix as a darkhorse. This is, of course, insanely, irresponsibly premature ... but I also feel that with Evridge at the helm, it would be foolish to overlook the Badgers as a national title contender.)
- P.J. Hill is the clear number one running back. In case you didn't know.
- BGSU should be a pushover with 20 true and redshirt freshmen in their two-deep. A loss to the Falcons will mean a long, long season for Badger fans.
Ay, You're Gonna Lose
Actual content comes later this afternoon and/or tonight. Stay tuned!
Until then, why not drink in the song the Bowling Green Falcons will sing on the field if they beat the Badgers (which will, of course, require a bus accident or something):
Compared to that, the monotonal UW dirge "Varsity" seems like a paragon of genius.
Until tonight - U RAH RAH!
Until then, why not drink in the song the Bowling Green Falcons will sing on the field if they beat the Badgers (which will, of course, require a bus accident or something):
Compared to that, the monotonal UW dirge "Varsity" seems like a paragon of genius.
Until tonight - U RAH RAH!
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Linkfest 8/27/06: cleaning house before the season starts
It's coming! The season is just six days away! If you were born with polydactyly, you can count the days on one creepy, disfigured hand! But for the rest of us, we'll have to wait till tomorrow morning.
If you've been living under a rock and/or relying upon this fine site for your news about Badger sports, we've lost Marcus Randle El for the season. This is bad, as Randle El was the most game-tested member of our receiving corps, but experience isn't everything; hopefully one of the freshman will stand up and be serviceable. Well, two of the freshmen, I guess; it's safe to say the Badgers were counting on one of them to contribute before the injury bug bit. The people who know stuff say that DB Zach Hampton is due to take over as punt returner with Randle El sidelined. Again, the bottom line is that we ought not to panic. I mean, it's not like we lost Stocco or anything.
Which brings us to the QB situation: somewhat surprisingly, Tyler Donovan appears to be the guy. That is, if Stocco's not ready to go ... which he could be. This news has taken a few people by surprise; the vibe before seemed to be that Dustin Sherer was looking solid in practice. It certainly wouldn't hurt to have three capable quarterbacks by the time the season started.
Egad! Material aplenty in the Journal-Sentinel, including this:
That's a spicy meatball! Anyhow, if you'd rather read than look at a silly manipulated photo of Coach B, the Badger Tracker's favorite Wisconsin sportswriter, Jeff Potrykus, has a beefy feature article about the season. It's accompanied by the five questions the Badgers must answer this year, a nice game-by-game rundown of the whole season, and some fluff about how awesome the Big Ten is (WARNING: QUOTES LOU HOLTZ). And speaking of Potrykus, he's gonna get his chat on with Internets fans tomorrow, Monday the 28th, at 7 pm. If you want to submit a question, do so here. Potrykus writes well, doesn't engage in incendiary behavior or hopeless homerism, and actually treats readers and especially anonymous online personalities as if they were intelligent, respectable people. So go and shoot your mouth off, and if Potrykus thinks your question is intelligent, you might just get an answer tomorrow.
Miscellany: Some Badgers have new numbers. The basketball team went 5-0 in Italy (national championship trophy should be arriving from Milan any day now). And who recruited Jimmy Stallons? From what I can gather from the Detroit Free Press, Lake Mendota. Here's hoping that Jimmy considers algae a marinade.
If you've been living under a rock and/or relying upon this fine site for your news about Badger sports, we've lost Marcus Randle El for the season. This is bad, as Randle El was the most game-tested member of our receiving corps, but experience isn't everything; hopefully one of the freshman will stand up and be serviceable. Well, two of the freshmen, I guess; it's safe to say the Badgers were counting on one of them to contribute before the injury bug bit. The people who know stuff say that DB Zach Hampton is due to take over as punt returner with Randle El sidelined. Again, the bottom line is that we ought not to panic. I mean, it's not like we lost Stocco or anything.
Which brings us to the QB situation: somewhat surprisingly, Tyler Donovan appears to be the guy. That is, if Stocco's not ready to go ... which he could be. This news has taken a few people by surprise; the vibe before seemed to be that Dustin Sherer was looking solid in practice. It certainly wouldn't hurt to have three capable quarterbacks by the time the season started.
Egad! Material aplenty in the Journal-Sentinel, including this:
That's a spicy meatball! Anyhow, if you'd rather read than look at a silly manipulated photo of Coach B, the Badger Tracker's favorite Wisconsin sportswriter, Jeff Potrykus, has a beefy feature article about the season. It's accompanied by the five questions the Badgers must answer this year, a nice game-by-game rundown of the whole season, and some fluff about how awesome the Big Ten is (WARNING: QUOTES LOU HOLTZ). And speaking of Potrykus, he's gonna get his chat on with Internets fans tomorrow, Monday the 28th, at 7 pm. If you want to submit a question, do so here. Potrykus writes well, doesn't engage in incendiary behavior or hopeless homerism, and actually treats readers and especially anonymous online personalities as if they were intelligent, respectable people. So go and shoot your mouth off, and if Potrykus thinks your question is intelligent, you might just get an answer tomorrow.
Miscellany: Some Badgers have new numbers. The basketball team went 5-0 in Italy (national championship trophy should be arriving from Milan any day now). And who recruited Jimmy Stallons? From what I can gather from the Detroit Free Press, Lake Mendota. Here's hoping that Jimmy considers algae a marinade.
Saturday, August 26, 2006
One week till the season begins ...
... and things are NOT in order at this estimable blog. Will be back in just a little while with some substance, but here are some fun facts to ponder in the meantime:
- Notre Dame has been mentioned as a favorite for the national championship this year. They have the definition of a "storied program" -- piles of victories, national titles, and Heisman trophies that make most schools boil over with envy. On January 1, 1994, when they defeated Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl, this was the same day that the Badgers beat UCLA in the Rose Bowl. Since then, Notre Dame has had 0 bowl wins and 0 Heisman winners. Wisconsin, on the other hand, has produced one Heisman winner and won 7 bowl games.
- The University of Michigan has been to the Rose Bowl 19 times in its history, including seven trips since 1989. Since then, they've gone 3-4 in the big game. The Badgers have been to three Rose Bowls since 1994 ... and they won them all.
- In the last thirteen seasons, the Wisconsin Badgers have won 3 Big Ten football titles, 1 outright. In that span, the Iowa Hawkeyes and Minnesota Golden Gophers have combined for 2 shared titles.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
BlogPoll Roundtable, Week 1
The first official roundtable of the 2006 season has been posted, and it's up to me to provide the correct answers to the House Rock Built's queries. With no further ado:
1. What's the biggest ripoff in this preseason poll? Either pick a team that's offensively over or underrated, or you can rag on a particular voter's bad pick (hey, we're all adults here, we can handle it).
Look no further than the BlogPoll's number eleven team, the Louisville Cardinals! WHAT?! Yeah, Brohm's good. We know. We've been hearing it ceaselessly, and no doubt we'll all be sick of hearing it as the season wears on and even more sick of it from February through April, when the Mock Drafts reign supreme. But the guy is coming off of surgery, and the offensive line that protected him has departed. They'll rack up a ton of points and double-digit wins, but that will happen against a bunch of impotent nobodies. They might even make a BCS bowl, but only because the contracts were signed before all the big boys defected, leaving the Big East look like the MAC Senior. I'd like to single out Tomahawk Nation and Rakes of Mallow for special excoriation, as the proprietors of these two sites ranked the Cards #3. Must be some sort of cry for help.
2. What shold a preseason poll measure? Specifically, should it be a predictor of end-of-season standing (meaning that a team's schedule should be taken into account when determining a ranking), or should it merely be a barometer of talent/hype/expectations?
One of the reason people love sports -- and college football in particular -- is because of the possibility of wacky upsets. They happen every week. One pesky team defies expectations and knocks off the powerhouse. Maybe it's on a last-second field goal. Maybe they come out of the gate firing, shellacking the hapless favorite who only then realize that it was a mistake to look past these should-be chumps. As such, I don't feel that a preseason poll should be an prediction of how the teams will finish at the end of the season. I also think it's important to filter out the hype.
A preseason poll should answer the following question: "Who do you think is the best team right now?" You answer that, and then answer the question: "OK, if team number 1 was out of the picture, who would be the best team remaining?" And so forth. When you rank your teams, you should expect team #1 to beat #2 and #3 and #4 and so on. You should expect #18 to beat #19. #19 to beat #20.
This is why we drop teams when they lose. Coming off a loss, chances are they're not the best team right now. They need to regroup. They need to decide whether to stick with their strategy or manipulate it. If they manipulate it, how much do they change? And what do they change? And to what degree? Sunday through Friday (in most cases for most teams) are a chess match. You lose, and you're no longer the best team. Someone else is. The question is, can you become the best team again?
3. What is your biggest stretch in your preseason ballot? That is to say, which team has the best chance of making you look like an idiot for overrating them?
I believe I may have overrated the fine lads of Arizona State. At #13, their ranking isn't so high as to be unreasonable, but after Dirk Koetter went from "this is my starter" to "go ahead and transfer" in under 24 hours, well ... let's just say I'm not comfortable with that ranking anymore.
Still, I think they're bound to be the surprise team out of the PAC-10, and a BCS berth isn't unreasonable if USc slips and Cal proves to suck as much as I think they will.
4. What do you see as the biggest flaw in the polling system (both wire service and blogpolling)? Is polling an integral part of the great game of college football, or is it an outdated system that needs to be replaced? If you say the latter, enlighten us with your new plan.
Polling is great. It's an activity that combines results and opinions, the two concepts that make sports worth watching year in and year out. With that in mind, to think that any one person would ever know enough to truly rank the top 25 teams out of 117 in an accurate and unbiased fashion is preposterous. Every pollster relies in very large part on the opinions of other people, so no ranking is truly one's own. If you consider that the average college football fan knows a lot about his team, and quite a bit about his conference (or, in the case of Notre Dame fans, not much about either), plus a fair amount about the marquee teams of the day, that still leaves him with a good five to ten teams about which he has very little knowledge to round out a field of 25. So that's the shortcoming of polling; nobody's knowledge is complete enough to really do it well.
5. You're Scott Bakula, and you have the opportunity to "Quantum Leap" back in time and change any single moment in your team's history. It can be a play on the field, a hiring decision, or your school's founders deciding to build the campus in Northern Indiana, of all godforsaken places. What do you do?
Fortunately, my school's not in northern Indiana, so I'm not saddled with that downer. But I'll tell you what I'd change: the result of the 1998 Michigan game. The Badgers lost 27-10 in Ann Arbor, Ron Dayne was held to a measly 53 yards, and the loss put the lone blemish on the Badgers' amazing Rose Bowl season. A win there would've kept the Badgers in national title conversation and would've been a signal moment for the team and its fans. So, I don't know how to improve that scenario by simply changing "a moment." Maybe I'd have stayed up all night knocking on Tom Brady's window so he couldn't sleep or something. Or maybe I would've given Ron Dayne some of those pills truckers take. Who knows.
1. What's the biggest ripoff in this preseason poll? Either pick a team that's offensively over or underrated, or you can rag on a particular voter's bad pick (hey, we're all adults here, we can handle it).
Look no further than the BlogPoll's number eleven team, the Louisville Cardinals! WHAT?! Yeah, Brohm's good. We know. We've been hearing it ceaselessly, and no doubt we'll all be sick of hearing it as the season wears on and even more sick of it from February through April, when the Mock Drafts reign supreme. But the guy is coming off of surgery, and the offensive line that protected him has departed. They'll rack up a ton of points and double-digit wins, but that will happen against a bunch of impotent nobodies. They might even make a BCS bowl, but only because the contracts were signed before all the big boys defected, leaving the Big East look like the MAC Senior. I'd like to single out Tomahawk Nation and Rakes of Mallow for special excoriation, as the proprietors of these two sites ranked the Cards #3. Must be some sort of cry for help.
2. What shold a preseason poll measure? Specifically, should it be a predictor of end-of-season standing (meaning that a team's schedule should be taken into account when determining a ranking), or should it merely be a barometer of talent/hype/expectations?
One of the reason people love sports -- and college football in particular -- is because of the possibility of wacky upsets. They happen every week. One pesky team defies expectations and knocks off the powerhouse. Maybe it's on a last-second field goal. Maybe they come out of the gate firing, shellacking the hapless favorite who only then realize that it was a mistake to look past these should-be chumps. As such, I don't feel that a preseason poll should be an prediction of how the teams will finish at the end of the season. I also think it's important to filter out the hype.
A preseason poll should answer the following question: "Who do you think is the best team right now?" You answer that, and then answer the question: "OK, if team number 1 was out of the picture, who would be the best team remaining?" And so forth. When you rank your teams, you should expect team #1 to beat #2 and #3 and #4 and so on. You should expect #18 to beat #19. #19 to beat #20.
This is why we drop teams when they lose. Coming off a loss, chances are they're not the best team right now. They need to regroup. They need to decide whether to stick with their strategy or manipulate it. If they manipulate it, how much do they change? And what do they change? And to what degree? Sunday through Friday (in most cases for most teams) are a chess match. You lose, and you're no longer the best team. Someone else is. The question is, can you become the best team again?
3. What is your biggest stretch in your preseason ballot? That is to say, which team has the best chance of making you look like an idiot for overrating them?
I believe I may have overrated the fine lads of Arizona State. At #13, their ranking isn't so high as to be unreasonable, but after Dirk Koetter went from "this is my starter" to "go ahead and transfer" in under 24 hours, well ... let's just say I'm not comfortable with that ranking anymore.
Still, I think they're bound to be the surprise team out of the PAC-10, and a BCS berth isn't unreasonable if USc slips and Cal proves to suck as much as I think they will.
4. What do you see as the biggest flaw in the polling system (both wire service and blogpolling)? Is polling an integral part of the great game of college football, or is it an outdated system that needs to be replaced? If you say the latter, enlighten us with your new plan.
Polling is great. It's an activity that combines results and opinions, the two concepts that make sports worth watching year in and year out. With that in mind, to think that any one person would ever know enough to truly rank the top 25 teams out of 117 in an accurate and unbiased fashion is preposterous. Every pollster relies in very large part on the opinions of other people, so no ranking is truly one's own. If you consider that the average college football fan knows a lot about his team, and quite a bit about his conference (or, in the case of Notre Dame fans, not much about either), plus a fair amount about the marquee teams of the day, that still leaves him with a good five to ten teams about which he has very little knowledge to round out a field of 25. So that's the shortcoming of polling; nobody's knowledge is complete enough to really do it well.
5. You're Scott Bakula, and you have the opportunity to "Quantum Leap" back in time and change any single moment in your team's history. It can be a play on the field, a hiring decision, or your school's founders deciding to build the campus in Northern Indiana, of all godforsaken places. What do you do?
Fortunately, my school's not in northern Indiana, so I'm not saddled with that downer. But I'll tell you what I'd change: the result of the 1998 Michigan game. The Badgers lost 27-10 in Ann Arbor, Ron Dayne was held to a measly 53 yards, and the loss put the lone blemish on the Badgers' amazing Rose Bowl season. A win there would've kept the Badgers in national title conversation and would've been a signal moment for the team and its fans. So, I don't know how to improve that scenario by simply changing "a moment." Maybe I'd have stayed up all night knocking on Tom Brady's window so he couldn't sleep or something. Or maybe I would've given Ron Dayne some of those pills truckers take. Who knows.
Monday, August 21, 2006
In Limbo
I continue to be buffetted by the harsh mistress that is gainful employment, and as such I haven't had much time for updates. So I figured I'd give you some short takes on the major topics of the day, with an eye toward justifying my picks for the BlogPoll rankings tomorrow and getting this train right back up on the track on Saturday.
- John Stocco is hurt, but improving every day. The way I see it, as long as Stocco is healthy for the San Diego State game, the Badgers will be fine. If Omar Jacobs hadn't left Bowling Green for the NFL's, er, greener pastures, I'd be panicking right now. However, I don't expect BGSU to pose much of a challenge to the Badgers, and Donovan or Sherer should be perfectly capable of piloting the team through that game and the next. Actually, scratch that; Coach Bielema could start Joe Thomas at quarterback for the Western Illinois game and the Badgers would still win by three or four dozen points. Incidentally, the only reason I feel that Stocco has to come back for the SDSU game (BGSU? SDSU? That's weird, especially when one considers that Bowling Green and San Diego are not actual states) is because it would be nice to have him on the field against some DI-A competition before he has to run the gauntlet in Ann Arbor. Bottom line: Sorgi got through this, and Stocco's better than Sorgi was. He picked a good time to get injured.
- An injury that could severely wound the Badgers, though, is the one that fullback Chris Pressley suffered at this morning's practice. Looks like he's done for the year. Although backup Bill Rentmeester is certainly capable of fulfilling the role of starting fullback effectively, Pressley figured to be a standout at the position. Bielema was down on his work ethic, sure, but losing the guy who can squat an absolutely freakish 770 pounds is bad news, regardless of the coach's enthusiasm.
- Hey, we picked up a quarterback. He seems to have had a good year at Kansas State and appears to have left because the offense they're installing there didn't fit his style of play, so those are two positives. Plus he chose UW over TCU and Oregon State, and while that would seem to be a no-brainer, it does show some intelligence. So, welcome aboard, Allan Evridge.
- A lot of freshmen are expected to jump right in and play this year. Don't freak out. Every year, freshmen step up and make huge contributions. It's up to the coaching staff to identify the guys who will be four-year starters for the Badgers. One of them figures to be Xavier Harris, upon whom the Wisconsin State Journal has already embarrassingly dropped the "X Factor" moniker. (The article, though, is actually quite good, and includes the always-amusing anecdote about the young Southern kid who comes to Madison for a recruiting visit and winds up seeing snow for the first time in his life. So read it!)
- Fox Sports just got a little more jowly: Barry Alvarez is going to serve as a color commentator. Just remember, Barry: first and foremost, you're AD at UW.
- The running back situation appears to be emerging; power back P.J. Hill first, fifth-year senior Dywon Rowan second. Expect this to be an extremely fluid situation until one guy climbs to the top of the pile midway through the season. The possibility of Rowan taking over at FB at times further complicates matters. BONUS: the Hill article contains the dreaded "very unique" construction, which, in the Badger Tracker's universe, would carry a mandatory death sentence for first-time offenders.
- Finally, the Princeton Review shoots itself in the foot, naming Texas the nation's #1 party school. Somehow, UW fell behind Penn State and West Virginia. WVU I can see, since they started a lot of stuff on fire last year, and Texas sure has had a lot of reasons to party in the past year (who wouldn't want their athletic programs right now?) But Penn State? Note to the Princeton Review: that's not drunkenness; it's insanity. Seriously. Check it out.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Stupid BlogPoll picks, preseason edition
Well, here goes. Will be back to defend my picks later. Tear me a new one or pat me on the back in the comments box.
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Auburn |  25 |
| 2 | Louisiana State | 24 |
| 3 | Ohio State | 23 |
| 4 | Texas | 22 |
| 5 | Southern Cal | 21 |
| 6 | Notre Dame | 20 |
| 7 | West Virginia | 19 |
| 8 | Miami (Florida) | 18 |
| 9 | Iowa | 17 |
| 10 | Oklahoma | 16 |
| 11 | Georgia | 15 |
| 12 | Florida State | 14 |
| 13 | Arizona State | 13 |
| 14 | Penn State | 12 |
| 15 | Louisville | 11 |
| 16 | Nebraska | 10 |
| 17 | Michigan | 9 |
| 18 | Cal | 8 |
| 19 | Michigan State | 7 |
| 20 | Florida | 6 |
| 21 | Arkansas | 5 |
| 22 | Wisconsin | 4 |
| 23 | Georgia Tech | 3 |
| 24 | Tennessee | 2 |
| 25 | South Carolina | 1 |
Dropped Out:
Uggh
Weeks of backlog to address, no time to do it.
I will say that Stocco's surgery doesn't worry me. Based on how Sorgi recovered from a similar procedure, I'd expect him to be back in action before the Michigan game, which is the first real action UW will see this season thanks to Omar Jacobs leaving Bowling Green for, er, greener pastures. Even though Sherer and Donovan allegedly had a lousy day at practice, they only needs to beat a lackluster Bowling Green squad, D-IAA Western Illinois, and possibly San Diego State. That's not a tall order; indeed, I imagine that UW's number 2 defense is a tougher match for our QBs than anything those three teams will put on the field. Hell, the defense will probably score most of our points anyway.
The good news is that it appears that the Badgers have landed a couple of freshman stars, notably Xavier Harris. Sherer and Donovan will need sure-handed targets if they're going to succeed, and Harris appears to be exactly that.
In other news, former Kansas State quarterback Allan Evridge visited Madison yesterday and is thinking about transferring here. He seems to have been a solid performer, and a quarterback controversy next season may be just what the Badgers need to spark them to success.
I will say that Stocco's surgery doesn't worry me. Based on how Sorgi recovered from a similar procedure, I'd expect him to be back in action before the Michigan game, which is the first real action UW will see this season thanks to Omar Jacobs leaving Bowling Green for, er, greener pastures. Even though Sherer and Donovan allegedly had a lousy day at practice, they only needs to beat a lackluster Bowling Green squad, D-IAA Western Illinois, and possibly San Diego State. That's not a tall order; indeed, I imagine that UW's number 2 defense is a tougher match for our QBs than anything those three teams will put on the field. Hell, the defense will probably score most of our points anyway.
The good news is that it appears that the Badgers have landed a couple of freshman stars, notably Xavier Harris. Sherer and Donovan will need sure-handed targets if they're going to succeed, and Harris appears to be exactly that.
In other news, former Kansas State quarterback Allan Evridge visited Madison yesterday and is thinking about transferring here. He seems to have been a solid performer, and a quarterback controversy next season may be just what the Badgers need to spark them to success.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Real life
is being rudely intrusive lately. If there's no update tomorrow, there won't be one till Monday.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Michigan gets Molk
Four-star offensive lineman David Molk, who seemed to be choosing between Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin, has chosen to enroll as a Wolverine next fall. Molk, who was listed at #14 in the most recent edition of the Midwest Hot 100, was the object of much drooling for Badger recruitniks ... but alas, he will not be joining us. Another reason why this is too bad: he had a 3.0 GPA and a 25 ACT, meaning that he appears to be a shoo-in to qualify academically year in and year out -- and his attraction to UM's highly-rated business school might not be a simple regurgitation of his parents' desires.
Another reason to hate the offseason
Check out the stories on the front page of ESPN.com's college football section (click the image to enlarge it):
That's a downer. Other than the death of Paul Eells, we get only stories about athletes not living up to expectations. Arrests at Tennessee and Miami. Impropriety and special treatment at Oklahoma. A dude who's already in jail being charged with a baker's dozen ADDITIONAL crimes. Low academic achievement across the board.
Thankfully, this is the time of year when the mainstream publications start to publish the previews with gusto and highlight the positive sides of our favorite athletes. But the national media like ESPN only really have time for the big stories -- and without games to talk about, those stories are invariably the negative ones.
iBlog for Cookies has more.
UPDATE: Mike at Hail to the Lion was thinking the same thing.
That's a downer. Other than the death of Paul Eells, we get only stories about athletes not living up to expectations. Arrests at Tennessee and Miami. Impropriety and special treatment at Oklahoma. A dude who's already in jail being charged with a baker's dozen ADDITIONAL crimes. Low academic achievement across the board.
Thankfully, this is the time of year when the mainstream publications start to publish the previews with gusto and highlight the positive sides of our favorite athletes. But the national media like ESPN only really have time for the big stories -- and without games to talk about, those stories are invariably the negative ones.
iBlog for Cookies has more.
UPDATE: Mike at Hail to the Lion was thinking the same thing.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Tremendous Badger football linkfest here!
Take a couple days off, allow the Big Ten media days to begin, and what do you get? Backlog! Lots of stuff to address ...
First is the non-platitude stuff, which is to say, actual news. The Badgers picked up a verbal commitment from Milwaukee Riverside offensive lineman Brandon Brooks. Of some concern is the fact that the only other school that seemed to know of his existence was Boston College. However, this may have resulted from the fact that he didn't attend many camps.
Get to know Bret Bielema! He's young! And funny! And he wants to play tough out-of-conference opponents in the future! And he has small-town roots! And he's surprising! And he learned life lessons on the farm!
So, how many games will his team win?
As expected, the Badgers will rely on the contributions of three freshman receivers: Xavier Harris, Isaac Anderson, and Lance Kendricks.
The Wisconsin State Journal is previewing the Badgers position by position. See what they have to say about the quarterbacks, tight ends (more here), and linebackers.
The media have picked Ohio State to be conference champions. Way to go out on a limb.
And finally, some tidbits on moving some freshmen around.
First is the non-platitude stuff, which is to say, actual news. The Badgers picked up a verbal commitment from Milwaukee Riverside offensive lineman Brandon Brooks. Of some concern is the fact that the only other school that seemed to know of his existence was Boston College. However, this may have resulted from the fact that he didn't attend many camps.
Get to know Bret Bielema! He's young! And funny! And he wants to play tough out-of-conference opponents in the future! And he has small-town roots! And he's surprising! And he learned life lessons on the farm!
So, how many games will his team win?
As expected, the Badgers will rely on the contributions of three freshman receivers: Xavier Harris, Isaac Anderson, and Lance Kendricks.
The Wisconsin State Journal is previewing the Badgers position by position. See what they have to say about the quarterbacks, tight ends (more here), and linebackers.
The media have picked Ohio State to be conference champions. Way to go out on a limb.
And finally, some tidbits on moving some freshmen around.
Friday, July 28, 2006
Feature Foto Friday
In what may become a feature of this humble Badger sports blog, I present a picture of campus for your edification.
A dramatic view of Vilas Hall from Lake Street. The building has suddenly found itself the sole occupant of the block bounded by Lake Street, University Avenue, Park Street, and Johnson Street with the demolition of University Square mall. The old mall, which was home to Paesan's restaurant, was torn down to make way for an eleven-story behemoth of a building, which will serve a staggering array of functions. It will contain 350 apartments, over 400 parking spaces, and a quarter million square feet worth of university territory. The whole thing, amazingly, is expected to be completed in just about two years.
A dramatic view of Vilas Hall from Lake Street. The building has suddenly found itself the sole occupant of the block bounded by Lake Street, University Avenue, Park Street, and Johnson Street with the demolition of University Square mall. The old mall, which was home to Paesan's restaurant, was torn down to make way for an eleven-story behemoth of a building, which will serve a staggering array of functions. It will contain 350 apartments, over 400 parking spaces, and a quarter million square feet worth of university territory. The whole thing, amazingly, is expected to be completed in just about two years.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Journey- Separate Ways
Journey made the world a better place when they released their video for "Separate Ways." Whether you love the hilariously awkward "appearance" of the band's instruments in the opening sequence, the "sliding" effect of the various members as they belt out the chorus, or the inexplicable scenes of Jonathon Cain banging out notes on a keyboard that appears to be fixed to a wall for some reason, it's hard to watch this video without being impressed or violently convulsing with laughter.
So go on and watch. You know you want to.
Journey made the world a better place when they released their video for "Separate Ways." Whether you love the hilariously awkward "appearance" of the band's instruments in the opening sequence, the "sliding" effect of the various members as they belt out the chorus, or the inexplicable scenes of Jonathon Cain banging out notes on a keyboard that appears to be fixed to a wall for some reason, it's hard to watch this video without being impressed or violently convulsing with laughter.
So go on and watch. You know you want to.
The All American Football League - set up for failure?
Various media sources are running stories on the nascent All American Football League. It's a professional league that is setting up shop in various college towns and creating opportunities for players who don't go to the NFL to make $100K/year playing the game they love. College towns thought to be in the mix (or confirmed) for franchises include NC State, Florida, Tennessee, and Purdue. Officials affiliated with Kentucky, Nebraska, and UCLA have been instrumental in forming the league, so those might be candidate schools as well.
The season will likely run 14 weeks and focus on making kids who played at the host college and that college's conference into professionals. The players must hold diplomas in order to play the game in an interesting pro-academic twist.
The league has obviously thought this idea through and has quite a few things in its favor. It's going to pay far more than the Arena League and play on actual 100-yard fields, giving players with talent more incentive to sign with the AAFL than the Arena League. It's going to run from April to June, meaning that it's in competition with exactly zero other football leagues. It's setting up shop in football-hungry towns. I'm definitely looking forward to the formation of this league.
However, there are several enormous roadblocks to success that come to mind as I, the casual fan, consider the idea:
The season will likely run 14 weeks and focus on making kids who played at the host college and that college's conference into professionals. The players must hold diplomas in order to play the game in an interesting pro-academic twist.
The league has obviously thought this idea through and has quite a few things in its favor. It's going to pay far more than the Arena League and play on actual 100-yard fields, giving players with talent more incentive to sign with the AAFL than the Arena League. It's going to run from April to June, meaning that it's in competition with exactly zero other football leagues. It's setting up shop in football-hungry towns. I'm definitely looking forward to the formation of this league.
However, there are several enormous roadblocks to success that come to mind as I, the casual fan, consider the idea:
- Ticket cost is the first one. All the releases cite a $30 price per ticket. Are you kidding me? At best, it's audacious to consider selling people $30 tickets without any concept of how the game's going to play out. I was thinking $10 would be a nice ceiling for the first season. You can't take a family of four to a game you know nothing about at $30 per person, plus parking, concessions, and souvenirs.
- Access to beer could be a problem. Like all low-level professional and amateur sporting events, beer is the fuel that drives fandom. Everyone enjoys going to Warner Park to watch the Mallards, our beloved college summer league baseball team, many due to the fact that $2 pints of stellar Great Dane beer are cold and ready to drink. Most college stadiums, to my knowledge, forbid the sale and consumption of alcohol on their premises. Would the rules change for the AAFL?
- The traveling nature of the college football fan plays into this. They don't pack in over 100,000 at Neyland because the entire population of Knoxville shows up every Saturday; people come from all over, making pilgrimages to see their favorite team. Again, without knowing what's going on with the team, nobody's going to put 200 miles each way on their preferred vehicle to attend a sporting event. The spectators at first will be curious locals.
- Currently, there's no TV deal for this league. Not only is TV an important source of revenue, but it's crucial in building the fan base. If this league doesn't get on TV quickly, it tanks.
- Who wants to tailgate in June? It's way too hot. Tailgating isn't necessary, of course, but it helps change football Saturday or Sunday from a simple pastime to a culture-changing phenomenon.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Will have should update
The Journal-Sentinel's Jeff Potrykus checks in with an injury update replete with commentary from Coach Bielema. Bottom line: every injured player is expected to be available to start practicing: Shaughnessy, Thomas, Monty, and Cooper are all ready to go. Excellent.
The article does include two quotes from the coach that may not actually mean much, but I'll read into in the way that only a blogger-outsider can really do. One is bad, one is good.
Let's start with the bad: apparently, the disciplinary action that will be taken with regard to Joe Monty's driving (or scooting, as it were) while intoxicated is probably going to "involve [his] place on the depth chart to open the season."
OK. The kid had a huge medical situation because of his actions, including a stitch count that made the triple digits, and all of that physical pain probably taught him a valuable lesson -- not to mention the court dates, the hundreds of dollars of fines, and the notoriety in the local media. So, this is a case that could go either way. However, my heart leapt when Bielema took over the position of head coach and almost immediately kicked Booker Stanley to the curb. "Finally," thought I, "we may be shedding the image of Camp Randall as a minimum-security prison where football is occasionally played! Lo, Coach Bielema is a real disciplinarian!"
Keeping Monty out of the lineup during the Bowling Green game would do much to solidify this image, and it's the approach I favor. Indeed, the fact that this was yet another booze-drenched episode on a campus where alcohol problems are already beyond epidemic levels only serves to strengthen the cry that an example be made. (And yes, I realize that every D-IA campus that isn't named for a guy who had four dozen wives has similar issues, but if you don't recognize that Wisconsin is particularly egregious in this regard, then you should consider have a high-speed internet connection piped under the rock under which you've been living). However, this situation was full of life lessons for Mr. Monty, and it may be that no further punishment is necessary. At least he got a sweet "ME POUND LITTLE MAN" feature photo of himself out of the whole ordeal, complete with Incoherent Refrigerator Magnet Poetry subheader:
Egad.
Speaking of Mr. Potrykus, he has started a thread worth monitoring over at the BadgerNation/BadgerManiac forum. He'll be reporting from Badgers camp in this space starting August 7. He's also doing informal Q+A in that thread, giving an especially intriguing answer to the question "Does this team remind you of the 2004 team, and if so, why?" Click over to read more!
Let's finish strong with some bullets:
The article does include two quotes from the coach that may not actually mean much, but I'll read into in the way that only a blogger-outsider can really do. One is bad, one is good.
Let's start with the bad: apparently, the disciplinary action that will be taken with regard to Joe Monty's driving (or scooting, as it were) while intoxicated is probably going to "involve [his] place on the depth chart to open the season."
OK. The kid had a huge medical situation because of his actions, including a stitch count that made the triple digits, and all of that physical pain probably taught him a valuable lesson -- not to mention the court dates, the hundreds of dollars of fines, and the notoriety in the local media. So, this is a case that could go either way. However, my heart leapt when Bielema took over the position of head coach and almost immediately kicked Booker Stanley to the curb. "Finally," thought I, "we may be shedding the image of Camp Randall as a minimum-security prison where football is occasionally played! Lo, Coach Bielema is a real disciplinarian!"
Keeping Monty out of the lineup during the Bowling Green game would do much to solidify this image, and it's the approach I favor. Indeed, the fact that this was yet another booze-drenched episode on a campus where alcohol problems are already beyond epidemic levels only serves to strengthen the cry that an example be made. (And yes, I realize that every D-IA campus that isn't named for a guy who had four dozen wives has similar issues, but if you don't recognize that Wisconsin is particularly egregious in this regard, then you should consider have a high-speed internet connection piped under the rock under which you've been living). However, this situation was full of life lessons for Mr. Monty, and it may be that no further punishment is necessary. At least he got a sweet "ME POUND LITTLE MAN" feature photo of himself out of the whole ordeal, complete with Incoherent Refrigerator Magnet Poetry subheader:
Egad.
Speaking of Mr. Potrykus, he has started a thread worth monitoring over at the BadgerNation/BadgerManiac forum. He'll be reporting from Badgers camp in this space starting August 7. He's also doing informal Q+A in that thread, giving an especially intriguing answer to the question "Does this team remind you of the 2004 team, and if so, why?" Click over to read more!
Let's finish strong with some bullets:
- Some UW football players took time out of their weekend to visit with Children's Hospital patients and their families. Very nice, guys!
- The Racine Journal-Times's sports section is basking in their newfound relevance, for they are the paper physically closest to star running back John Clay's house. And damned if they're not going out of their way to remind us of that. "It's been something being Johnny Clay these past eight months," they gush. Well, it's been something to be a Racine-based high school football beat writer, too!
Monday, July 24, 2006
Every year, it's harder to get into UW-Madison
The Journal-Sentinel ran a nice lengthy piece on the annual dogfight for admissions to UW-Madison. It highlights the fact that year after year, the average UW enrollee is smarter (good!), but that tuition keeps going up (bad!). It's tougher for in-state applicants to get in (bad!) because more out-of-state applicants are being accepted, largely because they pay triple the tuition (good!) Plus, the article gives a spicy and satisfying rehash of the fact that UW-Milwaukee was set up as a second-class university. Brad Vogel was crucified this spring for pointing out this truth, both in the Herald and on his blog. So, it's nice to see the big ol' Milwaukee paper bringing this to light.
Of special interest to the large number of University of Michigan bloggers who read (or at least have linked to) this site is this passage:
Of special interest to the large number of University of Michigan bloggers who read (or at least have linked to) this site is this passage:
The UW System administration saw UW-Milwaukee, with its doctoral status, large size and urban setting, as a place to address the needs of students rejected by UW-Madison. It envisioned turning UW-Milwaukee into a Wisconsin version of Michigan State University or the University of Illinois at Chicago.Feeding time, gentlemen!
Go Badgers and beware killer elephants
Courtesy of Dave Heller's blog at the Journal-Sentinel, we've got linkage: the SportsNetwork's ranking of Big Ten teams to win the BCS Championship compared to how reasonable a bet those teams really are. They like Michigan at 14-1, then Iowa at 50-1, and in third place they have Ohio State at 11-2. The Badgers are given 100-1 odds, and SportsNetwork thinks even that's a bad bet:
On to the bullet points:
Wisconsin's offense will struggle with only three returning starters, but its defense will show tons of improvement, especially on the line where they allowed 4.6 yards per rush. The Badgers have the easiest Big Ten schedule, as they face four of the worst teams in the conference, with three of those games coming at home. Still, 100-1 is way too low as they could even lose at home in week three to San Diego State.About that final sentence: WTF?!? A possible loss to San Diego State? At Camp Randall? I've already been labeled "cynical" by some bloggers, but apparently the ol' SportsNetwork will consider me a downright homer when I say that there is NO WAY the Badgers lose that game.
On to the bullet points:
- CSTV has tagged the UW-Penn State game the second biggest "game to watch" during Week 10 of the college football season. As soon as the sophomore slumps start to set in at West Virginia, this game should become number one. Plus, no game that includes Louisville should ever be given Game of the Week Status. Puh-leez.
- When you have an article about a football team and declare that the Sum is Greater than the Parts in the headline, the next season is sure to be full of surprises. "Wow, another blowout loss! But the sum of this team is so, so much greater than the parts! How can this be?" Enjoy the Packers' season, Mr. Wilde.
- Finally, although it's upsetting that the Henry Vilas Zoo no longer has an elephant exhibit, it's probably better that they jettisoned the angry "on the spot" human killer elephant when they did. To be specific, before it got angry and killed a human on the spot.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Basketball OOC schedule is out
Here's the release ... it's being hilariously oversold. Six teams the Badgers will play out of conference will have made the NCAA tournament last year!!! You'd think that Duke and Syracuse were visiting the Kohl Center based on that. But no: we get such notables as Pacific, Winthrop, and Gardner-Webb.
That's fine by me. Don't kill yourself in the OOC when the Big Ten is always a dogfight. It's not worth it. But don't sell it as the Toughest Opponents Evar!! either.
If only the football team could say as much about their OOC opponents.
That's fine by me. Don't kill yourself in the OOC when the Big Ten is always a dogfight. It's not worth it. But don't sell it as the Toughest Opponents Evar!! either.
If only the football team could say as much about their OOC opponents.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Booker Stanley - Guilty on 4 of 7 counts
From NBC15 in Madison:
Quick math says that the maximum sentence possible for these convictions comes in at just over 50 years.
Good luck, Booker ... so long as you've learned your lesson.
The verdict is in for former Badger football star Booker Stanley, on trial for beating, choking and sexually assaulting his ex-girlfriend last December.
Stanley is found guilty tonight on three felony counts - second degree sexual assault, second degree reckless endangerment, and bail jumping.
He was also found guilty on one misdemeanor charge of battery.
Because of the felony conviction, Stanley's bail has been revoked.
A pre-sentencing investigation will be conducted and sentencing should take place in about 45 days.
Quick math says that the maximum sentence possible for these convictions comes in at just over 50 years.
Good luck, Booker ... so long as you've learned your lesson.
Booker Stanley Thug Activity Update
Yesterday, Booker Stanley had his day in court yet again. This time around he was accused of beating his girlfriend. The incident is supposed to have happened last December, about eight months after his previous brush with the law. Former Badger Brian Calhoun testified at the trial, redundantly acknowledging Stanley's reputation for honesty and truthfulness. Which of those two virtues caused this kid's face to look the way it did is still in question (warning: not for the squeamish.)
I have no tolerance for incidents like this. This guy gets all expenses paid to a top-tier university and spends his time playing a game he loves and becoming a hero to the entire campus, and he shows his gratitude by pummeling his fellow students? Let the bum go. He's a disgrace.
A stupid list has crept its way from CFN to FoxSports.com: the Top 100 Heisman candidates for 2006. Has there EVER been a reason to compile a list of 20 Heisman candidates before a season, let alone 100? Doubtful. Has any sane person cared about who might win the Heisman before the month of November? Unlikely. Am I sinking to their level of stupidity by linking the article? Possibly. For what it's worth, the only Badger appearing on the list is QB John Stocco, and he checks in at #69.
If you're a self-loating Western Illinois Leathernecks fan, you should be aware that you can still get tickets to what shall almost definitely become known as the Massacre at Camp Randall (non-Temple edition). Come up to Wisconsin and smell our dairy air. Enjoy the hospitality of our cordial alumni, who only become that way after pupating from the obnoxious, drunken undergraduate student larvae that hatch from the dormitories every September. Prepare to be regaled with clever four-letter taunts and watch your step lest you plunge ankle-deep into somebody else's pre-game burrito -- all without most of the people in attendance even having known about your school's existence prior to gameday. Only $35 and this can be yours!
I have no tolerance for incidents like this. This guy gets all expenses paid to a top-tier university and spends his time playing a game he loves and becoming a hero to the entire campus, and he shows his gratitude by pummeling his fellow students? Let the bum go. He's a disgrace.
A stupid list has crept its way from CFN to FoxSports.com: the Top 100 Heisman candidates for 2006. Has there EVER been a reason to compile a list of 20 Heisman candidates before a season, let alone 100? Doubtful. Has any sane person cared about who might win the Heisman before the month of November? Unlikely. Am I sinking to their level of stupidity by linking the article? Possibly. For what it's worth, the only Badger appearing on the list is QB John Stocco, and he checks in at #69.
If you're a self-loating Western Illinois Leathernecks fan, you should be aware that you can still get tickets to what shall almost definitely become known as the Massacre at Camp Randall (non-Temple edition). Come up to Wisconsin and smell our dairy air. Enjoy the hospitality of our cordial alumni, who only become that way after pupating from the obnoxious, drunken undergraduate student larvae that hatch from the dormitories every September. Prepare to be regaled with clever four-letter taunts and watch your step lest you plunge ankle-deep into somebody else's pre-game burrito -- all without most of the people in attendance even having known about your school's existence prior to gameday. Only $35 and this can be yours!
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Recruiting Johnny Clay
Apparently, the exceptional Racine tailback has decided which schools will be allowed to woo him:
* Wisconsin
* Iowa
* Ohio State
* Illinois
* Tennessee
* Nebraska
Evidently Mr. Clay favors two types of schools: those in the Big Ten, and those that are coached by patently unlikable men who won't let ethics get in the way of building a winner. Heck, one of those schools combines both attributes!
If the Badgers don't get Mr. Clay, I hope he goes to Illinois. The conference is more fun when the Illini are a factor, especially since those Illini fans are so darn entertaining when they expect to win but wind up losing. Clay would be a great guy around whom to build a program.
* Wisconsin
* Iowa
* Ohio State
* Illinois
* Tennessee
* Nebraska
Evidently Mr. Clay favors two types of schools: those in the Big Ten, and those that are coached by patently unlikable men who won't let ethics get in the way of building a winner. Heck, one of those schools combines both attributes!
If the Badgers don't get Mr. Clay, I hope he goes to Illinois. The conference is more fun when the Illini are a factor, especially since those Illini fans are so darn entertaining when they expect to win but wind up losing. Clay would be a great guy around whom to build a program.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Adventures in Link-Begging, Volume 1
In an effort to look more respectable to such internet luminaries as Google and Technorati, I've been going down the list of blogs I've liked and have linked and, when an email address is clearly listed, begging for a reciprocal link. I've gotten through all the Big Ten blogs and will be going down the blogs in the right margin there. So far I've gotten a few neat responses, mostly from Michigan fans. Is this because the men of Michigan are just that much more gentlemanly than the other bloggers, or is it because there are like fifty billion Wolverine blogs out there? No matter.
In other (actual?) news, the Big Ten has a cyclopean situation on its hands: a ref has been fired for only having one eye. Zounds! I'd be interested in seeing which games this guy officiated.
CFN continues its worst-to-first ranking of all 119 D-IA football teams, and whaddya know: more Badger opponents have appeared. Bowling Green is #99 under the amazingly euphemistic headline "Probably Rebuilding." The SDSU Aztecs check in at #71 as a "Dangerous Sleeper," where they're described as "hardly a complete enough team to win the Mountain West title." Inspiring! And just to note how hilarious the "Dangerous Sleeper" designation is: the Fighting Illini are in there at #77.
For those who are hurting for actual Wisconsin sports news, I'll close with this article about the World Championship Cheese Curd Throwing Contest that took place in Colby last weekend. Thanks to Jib for this post at the Badger Blog Alliance.
- First and foremost, thank-yous go out to non-Michigan fan, non-male CuteSports, the fine folks at group blog the M Zone, and His Eminence over at mgoblog for main-page linkage and general well-wishes.
- Special recognition goes to Michigan Against the World, which boasts
a hilarious photojournal highlighting the author's trip to Madison for the UW-UM game last season.
[R]egarding the QB from Michigan, not sure if you know this but Michigan State picked up a VERY early commitment (months and months ago) from a very highly regarded QB named Keith Nichol. He's a top 100 rated, Elite 11 QB. I'm not sure that they would have been interested in another QB this year. I don't follow MSU recruiting, so I can't say, but I have to imagine that landing Nichol so early changed their thought process some.Good to know. Like I said, Stallons is smart; the only worse fate for a capable quarterback than attending Michigan State is being a capable quarterback and warming the bench at Michigan State.
In other (actual?) news, the Big Ten has a cyclopean situation on its hands: a ref has been fired for only having one eye. Zounds! I'd be interested in seeing which games this guy officiated.
CFN continues its worst-to-first ranking of all 119 D-IA football teams, and whaddya know: more Badger opponents have appeared. Bowling Green is #99 under the amazingly euphemistic headline "Probably Rebuilding." The SDSU Aztecs check in at #71 as a "Dangerous Sleeper," where they're described as "hardly a complete enough team to win the Mountain West title." Inspiring! And just to note how hilarious the "Dangerous Sleeper" designation is: the Fighting Illini are in there at #77.
For those who are hurting for actual Wisconsin sports news, I'll close with this article about the World Championship Cheese Curd Throwing Contest that took place in Colby last weekend. Thanks to Jib for this post at the Badger Blog Alliance.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Incoming lineman Carimi gets hurt
Apparently twisted his ankle during the all-star game on Saturday. Between the injury and the fact that the game took place on a day where the high temperature was in the mid-90's, you can see why so many people just hate these high school all-star games. There's no need to put our precious recruits in jeopardy.
Meanwhile, CFN has previewed the Buffalo Bulls, and it is ugly. They've been ranked #117 out of 119 in Division I-A. Fortunately that's not the easiest game the Badgers have this year; D-IAA Western Illinois takes that honor. And that team managed to place exactly zero players on the "Top 25 D-IAA Players to Watch" list.
But hey, those tickets will cost you the same amount of money as the Penn State game. If you want to be a Badger, come along with me.
Meanwhile, CFN has previewed the Buffalo Bulls, and it is ugly. They've been ranked #117 out of 119 in Division I-A. Fortunately that's not the easiest game the Badgers have this year; D-IAA Western Illinois takes that honor. And that team managed to place exactly zero players on the "Top 25 D-IAA Players to Watch" list.
But hey, those tickets will cost you the same amount of money as the Penn State game. If you want to be a Badger, come along with me.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
UW picks up QB commit
As I've said before, I'm no recruiting junkie. Even if I was, though, there's not much chance I would've known a lot about the newest Badger: Macomb, Michigan's James Stallons. According to offensive coordinator Paul Chryst, Stallon's the next Jim Sorgi. What I take that to mean is that he's got limited mobility but is the epitome of the term "pocket passer" -- he's confident and accurate and an above-average deep-ball thrower. Fine by me. That definitely works. Hopefully the next commit will be the Evans to Stallon's Sorgi. Plus, he's smart. How do we know? The key quote comes from the Milwuakee Journal-Sentinel article:
Good man, Jimmy.Stallons committed to UW without bothering to wait for a possible offer from nearby Michigan State
In other news: we get a brief couple of paragraphs on incoming super-WR Lance Kendricks from the State Journal, two post-mortems on the Pavelski defection, and for the people who like a little variety in their sporting interests, a feature article on the Wisconsin Wolves, Madison's new women's professional football team.
Friday, July 14, 2006
Friday links salmagundi
Articles about incoming recruits abound! In anticipation of tomorrow's Wisconsin Football Coaches Association All-Star game, the Wisconsin State Journal has profiled two Badgers who are likely to redshirt this year: defensive end (or possible tight end) Kirk DeCremer and offensive lineman of the future Gabe Carimi. Note the headline of Carimi's article; he also brings a tremendous intensity to the team, he has that blue-collar work ethic, and he'll be an immediate impact player when he hits the gridiron.
In hockey news, the San Jose Sharks have made Joe Pavelski an offer he couldn't (or at least didn't) refuse. The other shoe is scheduled to drop at a 2 pm press conference at the Kohl Center this afternoon. Possibly next on the chopping block is Jack Skille. The fact that his future lies with the Blackhawks might inspire him to stay with the Badgers for another year, but at this point, it seems that jumping ship is the popular thing to do. Skille does seem to be sincerely and thoughtfully considering both options.
Zounds! The estimable mgoblog has posted a comprehensive Badger preview, and it's well worth a read. Most of the assessments are spot on (or, at least, I agree with them); this year's Badgers are tough to put a finger on. We've got a good quarterback and an offensive line that can protect him, but does he have anyone to throw to? Is there anyone who can take a handoff and run? The defensive line is solid, but if they don't snuff a play in the backfield or sack the quarterback, how much pain and suffering is the patchwork secondary going to endure? Or does our brilliant, young, defense-minded coach have a solution to these problems that we, the fans, didn't foresee? He IS brilliant, right? I'm loath to say either way, personally; I'll expound upon my Bielema-related hopes and fears in later postings.
Oh, and the CapTimes has "revealed" the Blue Moon's burger secret, if you're interested. Knew you were.
In hockey news, the San Jose Sharks have made Joe Pavelski an offer he couldn't (or at least didn't) refuse. The other shoe is scheduled to drop at a 2 pm press conference at the Kohl Center this afternoon. Possibly next on the chopping block is Jack Skille. The fact that his future lies with the Blackhawks might inspire him to stay with the Badgers for another year, but at this point, it seems that jumping ship is the popular thing to do. Skille does seem to be sincerely and thoughtfully considering both options.
Zounds! The estimable mgoblog has posted a comprehensive Badger preview, and it's well worth a read. Most of the assessments are spot on (or, at least, I agree with them); this year's Badgers are tough to put a finger on. We've got a good quarterback and an offensive line that can protect him, but does he have anyone to throw to? Is there anyone who can take a handoff and run? The defensive line is solid, but if they don't snuff a play in the backfield or sack the quarterback, how much pain and suffering is the patchwork secondary going to endure? Or does our brilliant, young, defense-minded coach have a solution to these problems that we, the fans, didn't foresee? He IS brilliant, right? I'm loath to say either way, personally; I'll expound upon my Bielema-related hopes and fears in later postings.
Oh, and the CapTimes has "revealed" the Blue Moon's burger secret, if you're interested. Knew you were.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Thursday link salmagundi
Even though it's been up for a while, the CFN Wisconsin preview hasn't yet been linked here. Their prediction: rosier than I'm letting myself believe. 10-2 and a conference title? That would be nice. As I'm sure astute readers have come to realize, I'm not sold on Bielema yet, and I think the team loses a game or two because of our tyro coach.
Speaking of the coach, here's a fine little piece from the CapTimes: Bielema on Fitzgerald. This is a neat look at how the paths of the two youngest head coaches in Division I-A have crossed. One gets the impression that Fitzgerald would have been a great addition to the Badgers' coaching staff. It's going to be interesting to see how the Northwestern game plays out this year -- both coaches are young, energetic, and defense-minded, and the Wildcats have managed to win three of the last five matchups against Wisconsin, even though the Badgers have been consistently more talented year in and year out and have posted higher win totals every season since 2000.
Defensive end Matt Shaughnessy has been named to the Hendricks Award watch list. Hopefully he's healthy and turns in an award-winning performance this season. Oddly, he's still listed as second in his position on the depth chart.
UWBadgers.com has named the women's hockey title the #3 greatest sports moment of 2005-6. You know you had a good year as a department when a national championship comes in third place.
Speaking of the coach, here's a fine little piece from the CapTimes: Bielema on Fitzgerald. This is a neat look at how the paths of the two youngest head coaches in Division I-A have crossed. One gets the impression that Fitzgerald would have been a great addition to the Badgers' coaching staff. It's going to be interesting to see how the Northwestern game plays out this year -- both coaches are young, energetic, and defense-minded, and the Wildcats have managed to win three of the last five matchups against Wisconsin, even though the Badgers have been consistently more talented year in and year out and have posted higher win totals every season since 2000.
Defensive end Matt Shaughnessy has been named to the Hendricks Award watch list. Hopefully he's healthy and turns in an award-winning performance this season. Oddly, he's still listed as second in his position on the depth chart.
UWBadgers.com has named the women's hockey title the #3 greatest sports moment of 2005-6. You know you had a good year as a department when a national championship comes in third place.
Badger football loses two players
One pinprick, one stab wound.
The players in question are LB Jammar Crane and WR recruit Daven Jones. The CapTimes says it all in their headline: Badgers lose linebacker, highly regarded receiver. Crane was a redshirt sophomore who was thought to be best suited as a weakside linebacker, coming in third on the depth chart behind fellow sophomore Jonathon Casillas and the injured Ryan Flasch. It seems that this was not what Crane had in mind when he chose UW and he is now exploring his options elsewhere. Best of luck; he'll get plenty of playing time wherever he goes, no doubt. It's sad that what will probably turn out to be a second-string gig at a Big Ten school isn't good enough for him, but there may be other factors in play. One can't be certain of anything when the head coach has no track record to follow.
The other, more pressing loss comes from the WR corps: recruit Daven Jones won't be showing up this fall. Coach Bielema didn't provide a reason, but that ever-present bugaboo, academics, is rumored to be the reason, as he "previously reported a 2.8 grade-point average and a 14 on his ACT."
Study up! WR is the position at which the Badgers can least afford to sustain a loss, and being without a player who was supposed to make an immediate impact further weakens the Badger offense. If a more-than-serviceable running back doesn't emerge from the Hill/Rowan/Walker triumvirate, this season could get ugly fast for the Badger offense. Until then, though, it looks like the fine folks at Camp Randall won't have to worry about preparing for Daven Jones' locker. (HAR!)
The players in question are LB Jammar Crane and WR recruit Daven Jones. The CapTimes says it all in their headline: Badgers lose linebacker, highly regarded receiver. Crane was a redshirt sophomore who was thought to be best suited as a weakside linebacker, coming in third on the depth chart behind fellow sophomore Jonathon Casillas and the injured Ryan Flasch. It seems that this was not what Crane had in mind when he chose UW and he is now exploring his options elsewhere. Best of luck; he'll get plenty of playing time wherever he goes, no doubt. It's sad that what will probably turn out to be a second-string gig at a Big Ten school isn't good enough for him, but there may be other factors in play. One can't be certain of anything when the head coach has no track record to follow.
The other, more pressing loss comes from the WR corps: recruit Daven Jones won't be showing up this fall. Coach Bielema didn't provide a reason, but that ever-present bugaboo, academics, is rumored to be the reason, as he "previously reported a 2.8 grade-point average and a 14 on his ACT."
Study up! WR is the position at which the Badgers can least afford to sustain a loss, and being without a player who was supposed to make an immediate impact further weakens the Badger offense. If a more-than-serviceable running back doesn't emerge from the Hill/Rowan/Walker triumvirate, this season could get ugly fast for the Badger offense. Until then, though, it looks like the fine folks at Camp Randall won't have to worry about preparing for Daven Jones' locker. (HAR!)
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Saturday link salmagundi
Trouble for hockey: rumors that center Joe Pavelski is close to going pro have surfaced in the mainstream media. Pavelski was the top points producer for the Badgers last season and accounted for 23 goals (to team leader Robbie Earl's total of 24). The article notes that Pavelski's departure would mean that the Badgers will have lost their top five scorers. Will the Badgers repeat as national champs? At this point it's looking more likely that Barry Alvarez will sprout an afro.
Good news for hockey: Brian Elliott, by all accounts, will return. Bonus: the bottom third of the article is recruiting speculation, for those who enjoy that sort of thing.
Cleveland rocks: the football game "at" Bowling Green, originally announced as a 1 pm kickoff, has been moved to prime time. The 7 pm (Eastern) start means that Badger fans traveling to Cleveland will have a few extra hours to fuel up for the game. Odds are that they'll take advantage of that.
If you don't have football tickets yet, you can buy some on July 17. That's when the remaining unsold tickets will be made available to the public. However, those purchasing tickets will either have to be (a) very excited about seeing that Badgers take on the Buffalo Bulls in mid-November, or (b) willing to travel to exotic locales like Bloomington or West Lafayette.
Tough ticket? Yessir! Maybe after all this success, UW will finally think about expanding and renovating Camp Randall. Oh wait.
UW Football has a new official t-shirt -- and it's terrible. This year features a changing-of-the-guard motif with departing coach Barry Alvarez on one side of the famous Camp Randall arch, and new chief Baron Sengir on the other. Trite, tacky, and worst of all - red on white. It's not tough to see that last year's design was superior in every way.
Convert third and long: put a +1/+1 counter on Coach Sengir
Finally, NCAA basketball tournament action will return to Wisconsin in 2010 at the Bradley Center. Hopefully UW draws their #1 seed and gets to play close to home.
Good news for hockey: Brian Elliott, by all accounts, will return. Bonus: the bottom third of the article is recruiting speculation, for those who enjoy that sort of thing.
Cleveland rocks: the football game "at" Bowling Green, originally announced as a 1 pm kickoff, has been moved to prime time. The 7 pm (Eastern) start means that Badger fans traveling to Cleveland will have a few extra hours to fuel up for the game. Odds are that they'll take advantage of that.
If you don't have football tickets yet, you can buy some on July 17. That's when the remaining unsold tickets will be made available to the public. However, those purchasing tickets will either have to be (a) very excited about seeing that Badgers take on the Buffalo Bulls in mid-November, or (b) willing to travel to exotic locales like Bloomington or West Lafayette.
Tough ticket? Yessir! Maybe after all this success, UW will finally think about expanding and renovating Camp Randall. Oh wait.
UW Football has a new official t-shirt -- and it's terrible. This year features a changing-of-the-guard motif with departing coach Barry Alvarez on one side of the famous Camp Randall arch, and new chief Baron Sengir on the other. Trite, tacky, and worst of all - red on white. It's not tough to see that last year's design was superior in every way.
Convert third and long: put a +1/+1 counter on Coach SengirFriday, July 07, 2006
Thursday, July 06, 2006
More Badger baseball
Andy Baggot has big ideas for Wisconsin baseball - use the Big Ten Channel money to pay for it. An interesting idea for sure, and one that is made attractive in the last couple lines of the piece:
Would fans turn out to watch baseball on the UW campus in the very early spring? Or would they hold out for warm weather and the Mallards - especially with that delicious Great Dane beer on tap? Does UW even *need* to attract fans to the baseball diamond?
Lots of stuff to consider here. I just hope that Athletic Director Alvarez *is* considering it.
Just like that, UW becomes the first Division I school to restore a men's sport it previously dropped.
Just like that, Alvarez has a final triumphant chapter for his autobiography.
Interesting. The question that keeps nagging at me, though, is this: can Madison support UW baseball AND the Madison Mallards? There's not much overlap between the two seasons (a necessity, give that the Northwoods League is populated with college players), and the UW campus and the Mallards' home field at Warner Park are far enough apart that they might just attract two separate groups of fans.
Would fans turn out to watch baseball on the UW campus in the very early spring? Or would they hold out for warm weather and the Mallards - especially with that delicious Great Dane beer on tap? Does UW even *need* to attract fans to the baseball diamond?
Lots of stuff to consider here. I just hope that Athletic Director Alvarez *is* considering it.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Old dude jumps high
The Badger State Games always seem to generate their share of heartfelt news stories, but none have interested me as much as the story of an 80-year-old high-jumper who just broke the record for high-jumping in his age category. Kudos to this guy for clearing 4 feet, 1.6 inches -- a height I don't think I ever could've hit.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Replying to the Roundtable
So, I'm not a Blogpoller -- but I'm striving to be one, and I'm starving for material in the parched Sahara of the offseason, so I thought I'd make myself at home and answer the questions posed by the sports guru of Duluth, Mr. Bruce Ciskie:
Which preseason college football magazine is your favorite?
You know, I read my first CFB magazine EVER on Sunday. The fiancee was wandering around one of the stores we went to that night and I halfheartedly picked up the Sporting News preview. It turned out that they didn't have much to say that I didn't already know. I guess I shouldn't paint all of these publications with a broad brush, but I have to imagine that they're all pretty much the same. I'm not sold on Phil Steele, either, despite the praise some blogger bestow upon him; to me, an in-depth preview of Florida International doesn't say "thorough," it says "waste of time." Why even read it? If you didn't already know they were going to suck, Steele's mag would probably tell you -- and if you did, you weren't going to care anyway.
What team is being supremely overrated in the preseason rankings?
Hmm. Can I pick "Almost Everyone?" We've got a preseason Top Ten this year, but there are not ten teams that should be regarded as "top." This year, we don't have a USC or a Texas, and the games will actually matter. It should be fun to see the extent to which the rankings fluctuate.
I'll go with the West Virginia Mountaineers as my pick. They return supposed sophomore sensations Pat White at QB and Steve Slaton at RB -- but not so fast, my friend! Certainly their effort against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl was impressive, but that was an aberration; Slaton rushed for over 200 yards against the Dawgs but was held to 71 yards against UConn and 86 by South Florida. It's not a stretch to say that this guy's consistency has not yet been established. In the case of White, well, when he played he generally threw on the order of 10 passes per game, and he was generally picked off at least once. Sure, he can run, and that might be all West Virginia needs him to do; if they weren't in the Big East Conference and if Eastern Washington didn't represent one third of their out-of-conference schedule, I'd boldly posit that someone would eventually figure White out. Either way, lightning will not strike twice in Morgantown. Even with double-digit wins, this team won't crack the Top Ten if the pollsters are smart.
Plus, a team that feels it has to spy on Marshall can't possibly excel.
From a Big Ten perspective, I think Iowa and Penn State are getting too much credit. Drew Tate has never done anything to impress me, and no amount of massaging by Ivan Maisel is going to change that. As for the Nittany Lions, the loss of Michael Robinson will be crushing, and no number of "Super Sophs" is going to change that. Period.
Turn the tables. Who is underrated?
Good question. At the risk of looking stupid, I'm going to go to the Big Ten and pick on Michigan State. Yes, the Spartans generally drop a couple of games every season in an insanely horrifying fashion (the botched FG against Ohio State and the baffling 49-14 loss at home to Northwestern come to mind from 2005), but do you really fail to rank a team that has Drew Stanton at the helm? He's got people to throw to and if a running back emerges (Jehuu Caulcrick, anyone?) this team won't need a defense. MSU won't win the Big Ten, but they're definitely Top 5 material -- maybe even Top 3.
Which conference will be the best in 2006?
Who won't it be: the Big East, of course, the Big Ten, and the Big XII. Each of those conferences will have one zero- or one-loss team by virtue of the weakness of the rest of the conference, and then a whole bunch of nobodies.
That leaves the ACC, the SEC, and the PAC-10. I think Florida State and Miami are going to come through like they used to and propel their conference to the top. The Canes are going to have to get used to a new offensive scheme, which will likely cost them their season opener against the Noles, but once they're locked in, they've got talent at every position. And FSU will have nowhere to go but up after last year. Mix in a good year from Clemson, UNC, or Georgia Tech, and you have a conference to be reckoned with.
Which "non-BCS" conference will be the best in 2006?
Where's TCU playing this year? OK, but seriously, who cares? Do you really expect the national champion to come from a non-BCS conference? Do you expect a win by a non-BCS conference team over a semi-competent major conference team to be characterized as anything other than an upset?
I love the mid-majors, don't get me wrong; they give a lot of people a lot of reasons to cheer, and every now and again they pop out a LaDainian Tomlinson, which is excellent. But I only have so many free hours a week, and damned if I'm going to spend them learning about Air Force's offensive line or SMU's new defensive scheme.
Which non-BCS conference team will have the best season?
Notre Dame's not in a conference, right?
Let's get your first read on this one...who will win the H*i*m*n? Oh, by the way, players whose last names begin with the letter "Q" are ineligible.
Then that makes this question irrelevant. If Notre Dame has 2 or fewer losses at the end of the season, Quinn will be given the award, whether he deserves it or not. This year is going to induce vomit if you hate the Fighting Irish -- mark it down.
Which preseason college football magazine is your favorite?
You know, I read my first CFB magazine EVER on Sunday. The fiancee was wandering around one of the stores we went to that night and I halfheartedly picked up the Sporting News preview. It turned out that they didn't have much to say that I didn't already know. I guess I shouldn't paint all of these publications with a broad brush, but I have to imagine that they're all pretty much the same. I'm not sold on Phil Steele, either, despite the praise some blogger bestow upon him; to me, an in-depth preview of Florida International doesn't say "thorough," it says "waste of time." Why even read it? If you didn't already know they were going to suck, Steele's mag would probably tell you -- and if you did, you weren't going to care anyway.
What team is being supremely overrated in the preseason rankings?
Hmm. Can I pick "Almost Everyone?" We've got a preseason Top Ten this year, but there are not ten teams that should be regarded as "top." This year, we don't have a USC or a Texas, and the games will actually matter. It should be fun to see the extent to which the rankings fluctuate.
I'll go with the West Virginia Mountaineers as my pick. They return supposed sophomore sensations Pat White at QB and Steve Slaton at RB -- but not so fast, my friend! Certainly their effort against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl was impressive, but that was an aberration; Slaton rushed for over 200 yards against the Dawgs but was held to 71 yards against UConn and 86 by South Florida. It's not a stretch to say that this guy's consistency has not yet been established. In the case of White, well, when he played he generally threw on the order of 10 passes per game, and he was generally picked off at least once. Sure, he can run, and that might be all West Virginia needs him to do; if they weren't in the Big East Conference and if Eastern Washington didn't represent one third of their out-of-conference schedule, I'd boldly posit that someone would eventually figure White out. Either way, lightning will not strike twice in Morgantown. Even with double-digit wins, this team won't crack the Top Ten if the pollsters are smart.
Plus, a team that feels it has to spy on Marshall can't possibly excel.
From a Big Ten perspective, I think Iowa and Penn State are getting too much credit. Drew Tate has never done anything to impress me, and no amount of massaging by Ivan Maisel is going to change that. As for the Nittany Lions, the loss of Michael Robinson will be crushing, and no number of "Super Sophs" is going to change that. Period.
Turn the tables. Who is underrated?
Good question. At the risk of looking stupid, I'm going to go to the Big Ten and pick on Michigan State. Yes, the Spartans generally drop a couple of games every season in an insanely horrifying fashion (the botched FG against Ohio State and the baffling 49-14 loss at home to Northwestern come to mind from 2005), but do you really fail to rank a team that has Drew Stanton at the helm? He's got people to throw to and if a running back emerges (Jehuu Caulcrick, anyone?) this team won't need a defense. MSU won't win the Big Ten, but they're definitely Top 5 material -- maybe even Top 3.
Which conference will be the best in 2006?
Who won't it be: the Big East, of course, the Big Ten, and the Big XII. Each of those conferences will have one zero- or one-loss team by virtue of the weakness of the rest of the conference, and then a whole bunch of nobodies.
That leaves the ACC, the SEC, and the PAC-10. I think Florida State and Miami are going to come through like they used to and propel their conference to the top. The Canes are going to have to get used to a new offensive scheme, which will likely cost them their season opener against the Noles, but once they're locked in, they've got talent at every position. And FSU will have nowhere to go but up after last year. Mix in a good year from Clemson, UNC, or Georgia Tech, and you have a conference to be reckoned with.
Which "non-BCS" conference will be the best in 2006?
Where's TCU playing this year? OK, but seriously, who cares? Do you really expect the national champion to come from a non-BCS conference? Do you expect a win by a non-BCS conference team over a semi-competent major conference team to be characterized as anything other than an upset?
I love the mid-majors, don't get me wrong; they give a lot of people a lot of reasons to cheer, and every now and again they pop out a LaDainian Tomlinson, which is excellent. But I only have so many free hours a week, and damned if I'm going to spend them learning about Air Force's offensive line or SMU's new defensive scheme.
Which non-BCS conference team will have the best season?
Notre Dame's not in a conference, right?
Let's get your first read on this one...who will win the H*i*m*n? Oh, by the way, players whose last names begin with the letter "Q" are ineligible.
Then that makes this question irrelevant. If Notre Dame has 2 or fewer losses at the end of the season, Quinn will be given the award, whether he deserves it or not. This year is going to induce vomit if you hate the Fighting Irish -- mark it down.
Monday, June 19, 2006
The summer wears on ...
... and the non-news keeps trickling in:
- the Western Illinois and San Diego State games (rolls eyes) will be 2:30 pm starts
- John Stocco has been named to the Maxwell Award watch list
- the UW men's basketball team achieved a collective 3.2 GPA last semester
- and finally, some non-news about revamping the football media guide to be less statistics-oriented and function as more of a recruiting tool. Useful for the hundred or so of us who w0uld be considered viable UW recruits, but not so much for the other thousands who use it. Actually, the most interesting part of this article is the snippet that says that UW is looking to parlay its successful hosting of this year's Frozen Four into a bid to host regional action in the 2010-2011 NCAA basketball tournament. Worked out well in 2002, after all. Having the tournament in town is always an asset.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Hockey updates
The Badgers have released their 2006-7 schedule, and it looks like there will be no rest for the defending national champions. They kick off the season with a pair of games against Northern Michigan at Green Bay, then play a couple of tough WCHA foes before hosting the team they beat for the national championship, Boston College, at the Kohl Center in the last weekend of October. Then they take off for Alaska, play series against Denver and at Minnesota, and host NCAA tournament teams Michigan and Michigan State in the College Hockey Showcase. All in all, it should be a good season for Badger Hockey enthusiasts, as long as the team is able to play at the high level it achieved last year.
Not that this should temper any of that, but it looks like the hockey boosters organization, the Blue Line Club, is going to be losing its watering hole at the Kohl Center. While that does suck, the success of the university's student-athletes should be the primary concern, and it's great that UW is taking that to heart.
Finally, the Journal-Sentinel has a feature article on women's hockey, which is timely since the Badgers won the women's hockey title as well last year. Maybe this will become Wisconsin's niche sport, like women's soccer at UNC or basketball at Tennessee and UConn.
For all the Wisconsin hockey information you crave, be sure to check out Wisconsin Hockey and Hockey in Wisconsin.
Not that this should temper any of that, but it looks like the hockey boosters organization, the Blue Line Club, is going to be losing its watering hole at the Kohl Center. While that does suck, the success of the university's student-athletes should be the primary concern, and it's great that UW is taking that to heart.
Finally, the Journal-Sentinel has a feature article on women's hockey, which is timely since the Badgers won the women's hockey title as well last year. Maybe this will become Wisconsin's niche sport, like women's soccer at UNC or basketball at Tennessee and UConn.
For all the Wisconsin hockey information you crave, be sure to check out Wisconsin Hockey and Hockey in Wisconsin.
UW to donors: thanks for the cash, here's your nothing
The CapTimes has an article today about how UW is trying to stop people from continuing to support Badger football: UW gets cash, fan gets zip. It appears that a man was under the impression that, in exchange for his $550 donation to the Badger Fund, he would be guaranteed the opportunity to purchase football tickets. Not so much; it turns out that there are only so many season tickets to go around, and that the more you donate to the Badger Fund, the better your chances of being able to buy a set become. Of course, this year, 99% of fans renewed their tickets, meaning that those who weren't donating far more than $500 (try closer to $2000, the article implies) weren't going to find themselves in that remaining 1% of people receiving the opportunity to purchase tickets.
The radio commercials that the Athletic Department ran did seem deceptive to me. A $500 donation would give me the "opportunity to request" season tickets. Hmmm. $500 for an opportunity for a request? No thanks.
But at the end of the day, all you've done is make a donation -- a gift. Not a purchase. So, the money isn't refundable, and you get nothing in return. Gift wasn't big enough? Make sure you go bigger next year! Thanks for playing!
This is the sort of thing that's going to cost UW if the program goes south. Who's going to make the annual $500 "donations" to watch a 3-8 team? Or even a 6-6 team? The Badgers are winners ... for now. So they can do this to fans ... for now. The day that they can't isn't so far off, though.
The radio commercials that the Athletic Department ran did seem deceptive to me. A $500 donation would give me the "opportunity to request" season tickets. Hmmm. $500 for an opportunity for a request? No thanks.
But at the end of the day, all you've done is make a donation -- a gift. Not a purchase. So, the money isn't refundable, and you get nothing in return. Gift wasn't big enough? Make sure you go bigger next year! Thanks for playing!
This is the sort of thing that's going to cost UW if the program goes south. Who's going to make the annual $500 "donations" to watch a 3-8 team? Or even a 6-6 team? The Badgers are winners ... for now. So they can do this to fans ... for now. The day that they can't isn't so far off, though.
Friday, June 02, 2006
New instant replay rules
Instant replay has done so much to improve football in the NFL. The burden of calling the replay is on the coach of the team whose team stands to gain an advantage through a reversed call, and there are well-defined rules about what can be challenged, when a challenge can be made, and what happens in the case of a failed challenge.
But in the college game, it's been a dismal failure. Sure, some bad calls have been reversed, and that has been a blessing. The NCAA let the Big Ten experiment with its own form of replay in 2004, and opened it up to the rest of D-IA the following year. By allowing each conference to set the rules that would govern its team's games, the NCAA effectively made its member conferences into guinea pigs. They hedged their bets and hoped that one of the conferences would come up with a replay system that could be adopted as the national standard. At the very least, the best parts of the forms of replay that were out there could be cobbled together Frankenstein-style, leading to a system that would satisfy coaches, players, officials, and fans.
I bring this up because Mike Lucas has an article about changes to the replay system approved Tuesday by the NCAA. He details one of the lowest moments in replay history -- the 2005 Alamo Bowl featuring Michigan and Nebraska. The officials for that game were provided by the Sun Belt Conference, and it was clear from the get-go that the referees were not prepared to call the game. Time and time again, the speed and intensity of two major-conference powers (albeit on down years) was too much for them, as they missed calls. The fact they were overseeing a game that included an instant replay system when their own conference hadn't adopted one was just an added insult to the Huskers and the Wolverines; when controversy reared its head, the blissfully ignorant officiating crew allowed the game to continue until Lloyd Carr frantically burned a timeout.
Now the NCAA has implemented a "coach's challenge" rule, a watered-down version of the Mountain West Conference's rules. (And you thought the only good thing to come out of the MWC was Alex Smith.) The new recommendation is to allow coaches a single challenge each game. If the challenge fails, the team loses a timeout; if it succeeds, well, it succeeds. End of story.
This seems destined to failure. Coaches will use their challenges, of this there can be no doubt. However, there's no incentive to burn that challenge in the first quarter (or, even, the first half!) Should a coach use the challenge on a third-down catch that might not have been out of bounds at the opponents' 25-yard line, resulting in a first down, or should he take the field goal and save the challenge for other matters? Should he EVER use a challenge on, say, a catch where it looks like an opposing player might have gone out of the back of the end zone on a play that was called a touchdown, or should it be squirreled away for his own team's final drive? While one challenge is better than none at all, it certainly isn't enough to serve as the basis for an entire replay system.
That said, is this even a challenge-driven replay system? The articles I've read don't say one way or another. Will we still have the Big Ten-style referee-driven system, where an official can stop play at any time for a video review? In this case, will the officials expect a coach to use his challenge before they stop the game on his team's behalf "for free?" Will the officials continue to start calling the game as tentatively as they have been, calling loose balls fumbles until the video replay shows them otherwise? Furthermore, will the video system be the same division-wide, or will it still be dependent on the cameras that the TV network brings? Will coaches be at a disadvantage when their game isn't televised, forcing them to save their challenge flag for times when they know the limited number of cameras couldn't possibly have missed the call they're disputing?
Giving authority to both the coaches and the officials in a replay system seems like a terrible idea. If that's really what the NCAA is doing, we're going to see a few outraged coaches this season.
But in the college game, it's been a dismal failure. Sure, some bad calls have been reversed, and that has been a blessing. The NCAA let the Big Ten experiment with its own form of replay in 2004, and opened it up to the rest of D-IA the following year. By allowing each conference to set the rules that would govern its team's games, the NCAA effectively made its member conferences into guinea pigs. They hedged their bets and hoped that one of the conferences would come up with a replay system that could be adopted as the national standard. At the very least, the best parts of the forms of replay that were out there could be cobbled together Frankenstein-style, leading to a system that would satisfy coaches, players, officials, and fans.
I bring this up because Mike Lucas has an article about changes to the replay system approved Tuesday by the NCAA. He details one of the lowest moments in replay history -- the 2005 Alamo Bowl featuring Michigan and Nebraska. The officials for that game were provided by the Sun Belt Conference, and it was clear from the get-go that the referees were not prepared to call the game. Time and time again, the speed and intensity of two major-conference powers (albeit on down years) was too much for them, as they missed calls. The fact they were overseeing a game that included an instant replay system when their own conference hadn't adopted one was just an added insult to the Huskers and the Wolverines; when controversy reared its head, the blissfully ignorant officiating crew allowed the game to continue until Lloyd Carr frantically burned a timeout.
Now the NCAA has implemented a "coach's challenge" rule, a watered-down version of the Mountain West Conference's rules. (And you thought the only good thing to come out of the MWC was Alex Smith.) The new recommendation is to allow coaches a single challenge each game. If the challenge fails, the team loses a timeout; if it succeeds, well, it succeeds. End of story.
This seems destined to failure. Coaches will use their challenges, of this there can be no doubt. However, there's no incentive to burn that challenge in the first quarter (or, even, the first half!) Should a coach use the challenge on a third-down catch that might not have been out of bounds at the opponents' 25-yard line, resulting in a first down, or should he take the field goal and save the challenge for other matters? Should he EVER use a challenge on, say, a catch where it looks like an opposing player might have gone out of the back of the end zone on a play that was called a touchdown, or should it be squirreled away for his own team's final drive? While one challenge is better than none at all, it certainly isn't enough to serve as the basis for an entire replay system.
That said, is this even a challenge-driven replay system? The articles I've read don't say one way or another. Will we still have the Big Ten-style referee-driven system, where an official can stop play at any time for a video review? In this case, will the officials expect a coach to use his challenge before they stop the game on his team's behalf "for free?" Will the officials continue to start calling the game as tentatively as they have been, calling loose balls fumbles until the video replay shows them otherwise? Furthermore, will the video system be the same division-wide, or will it still be dependent on the cameras that the TV network brings? Will coaches be at a disadvantage when their game isn't televised, forcing them to save their challenge flag for times when they know the limited number of cameras couldn't possibly have missed the call they're disputing?
Giving authority to both the coaches and the officials in a replay system seems like a terrible idea. If that's really what the NCAA is doing, we're going to see a few outraged coaches this season.
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