Today is exactly eleven years after Tampa native Gary Godsey threw a TD pass that landed 30 feet in front of me. It landed in the waiting hands of a Jacket WR with 8 seconds left and he barely got one foot down to give them the victory. Clemson was 8-0 then and has not been 8-0 until this year.
Someone commented, “Will Boyd look like crap early like Va. Tech and Maryland?” So I thought, but that is the only two road games. Surely he has looked good early in other road games. Then my friend stated, “Clemson has only played two road games and quit calling me Shirley.” This is a concern. This very young team is still not battle tested on the road. Granted at Georgia Tech is not a rough environment (at least not on the field, because the rest of Atlanta is one giant cesspool) and will probably be half full of Clemson fans, but it isn’t the friendly confines of Death Valley.
Both teams average over 40 points a game. Over anyone? I think I saw it was in the 60s. Wow. Still tempting when it is that high. Sounded to me from the little I watched of Ga Tech vs. Miami that Miami said screw reading and reacting, we are going to just fire our LBs and blow up the line. You would think that would force more stops while also giving up big plays, but it didn’t. It just forced more stops. I don’t think the Tigers will do this. I think we will see the same tentative, do I hit the QB or the RB stuttering from our Def. Ends and LBs. When in doubt hit the hell out of the QB. An option guy should get hit 20-25 times a game. That will wear on him and then he will start pitching every time. Hopefully I am wrong and Clemson will crush him, a lot. Actually I think I will count how many times he gets hit. If it is over 20 Clemson will win.
No clue on this one. I always hate the Ga Tech game. I feel like we have had more talent than them for the last two decades, but they usually play smarter and more disciplined.
Clemson 38 Tech 31
Tangent #1
The NCAA now will give $2000 to full scholarship athletes to pay for incidentals. These incidentals include laundry, going out to movies and the ever essential for the growing athlete: pot, beer and strippers. As I said before the really poor players already get a $5,500 govt. check from your hard earned tax dollars. That’s right. The Pell grant doesn’t care if you already have a full scholarship, they will still cut you a $5,500 check as long as your parents make less than 40 Gs! So now those kids will have $7,500 in walking around money. They will be one of the richest people on most college campuses. I know I never had $7,500 to spend.
Who actually benefits will be the ones from middle to low income households who do not qualify for the Pell grant. But these kids are getting a free education and for 18 years their parents had to pay to feed them, clothe them, etc.. Now all the kid really needs is like 50 bucks a month and you can’t come up with that. You have no tuition, no room, no board to pay for and you can’t come up with $50 a month. Please.
These kids walk around like the school owes them something just because they can catch a football or dunk a basketball. Yes, it probably stinks that the school and the NCAA is making a ton of money off of you, but that money gets spent on non-revenue sports at the school level and the lower Divisions at the NCAA level. I’m not going to pretend there isn’t waste and fraud in the NCAA, but that is not a reason to now pay players. They are already paid with the opportunity to earn a free degree. A degree studies show is worth on the average of a million dollars in earning potential over one’s lifetime.
Tangent #2
So I got some random email about some house bill called "Student Non-Discrimination Act," and if it gets passed the email claims:
"In fact, it will set them up to ram through their entire perverted vision for a homosexual America."
I guess they don't see the humor (or maybe they did) in using the term "ram through." Whether you agree with your classrooms being pro-gay or not is this really something that should or can be enforced at the federal level?
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Heisman and Pres. Candidates - THE BOYD/PAUL TICKET
So Tahj is now 4th in a lot of Heisman talk. If he keeps his numbers at this same pace and Clemson finds a way to go 13-0 then all he would need to have happen is Stanford to get beat once or twice, Bama get beat once and somehow hope either Boise loses or their QB slows down his sick pace. Basically what I am saying is all their numbers are so similar it will go to whomever leaves their team to an undefeated regular season.
The Tigers lead the nation in snaps. When I heard that one of Chad Morris' biggest goals was to have 80 snaps a game I thought that is not nearly as important as other stats. But, you can't have a lot of snaps without sustaining drives and you also need to actually run a "hurry-up" no-huddle offense. Since the departure of Rich Rodriguez the Tigers have always ran a no-huddle, but rarely a "hurry-up." Nothing was more frustrating over the last decade than watching the Clemson offense manage to get a little momentum (rare enough) going and rush to the line and then turn to the sideline while their lineman sit there wasting energy in a 3-point stance and then run an awful play. So now I understand the snap goal. Do you really think Chad is just this brilliant at halftime. Maybe he is a little, but more than that is these defenses are dead tired in the 2nd half. Research says the first thing to go for an athlete when fatigued is not speed or strength, but the brain. Defenses break down when they are tired, because they struggle to make the quick decisions needed. Thus the domination of the Tigers in the 2nd half.
What worries me is if Ga Tech can sustain drives then the Tigers will not wear down the Tech defense like they have other teams. This is the big game. If the Tigers can get to the bye week and lick their wounds they should be ready for the last three.
And time for a tangent:
Saw a great article about Dems registering as Rep. to vote for Ron Paul. They are a little pissed that Obama lied and said he would get troops out of Iraq immediately. And since Ron is the ONLY Republican candidate to pull them out of Iraq and Afghanistan and cut "Imperial" spending, he is the only choice in either party if you are anti-war.
Dr. Ron is finally saying he will not cut any money to "defense," but cut money to mantaining our empire. We will be safer if we weren't overextended. It's like basketball. If you run a full court press, you will create some turnovers (kill terrorists), but you will also give up some easy baskets (attacks on your soil). The best way to protect your basket is to get as many players in the paint or troops on your home soil. There are 10 terrorists from a country the US has a base in for every one who is from a country we are not in. There are whole books on this "blowback" principle. They don't hate us as much because of our "Western" ways, they hate us because we won't mind our own business.
Anyway, the blue republican aricle has some really good paragraphs http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robin-koerner/blue-republicans-an-idea-_b_897405.html
"As we were all having our "I'm right, you're wrong" Democratic and Republican arguments, the powers that be made themselves more powerful, and while we were arguing, we have lost most of the rights that we weren't arguing about because we took them for granted.
It is as if we have suddenly looked up from an argument at the kitchen table over which sofa we should buy for the living room, only to find out that the house has been foreclosed on and we're homeless. Sure, the issues we were arguing over were important -- but they were not the most important, nor are they now the most urgent.
As I have written elsewhere, America has been brought to its knees by a Left that has empowered the state and a Right that has subsidized big business."
Brilliant. That is why Ron Paul is actually a third party candidate. There is no difference between Obama and the other Republican knuckeheads. 9-9-9 only talks about a new way of collecting taxes, but doesn't talk about spending. Great, another beuracracy to collect your national sales tax and I'm sure every business in the country will be so on top of getting every dime to Washington. Changing the way you bring in revenue without talking about cuts is like a family in debt deciding they will change from Discover to Mastercard to pay for everything.
Everyone should quit worrying about can Ron Paul win. Someone told me all that matters is beating Obama. I used to think that, but all other of these candidates would change nothing. Any vote for them is a vote for future bankrupcy, endless war and possibley the end of the great experiment known as America. As I got older I started to really like the ideas Republicans said. That the government (especially at the federal level) is inneficient and unproductive and that people should be empowered and not enabled by the welfare state. But Republicans are in bed with big business and especially the military/govt/industrial complex. I now would never call myself a Republican. I am a conservative and until more people like Ron Paul are in the Republican party then I will stay away. I think Ron would love to run under another party, but he knows the better thing for our country is to try and push more people in his direction.
So there is very little difference between the two parties and if you are Democrat leaning, fine, stay that way. But for this one election see if you like what the old man stands for. He stands for everything Ben Franklin, GW and Thomas Jefferson does. There is a reason those men feared so much power in one place and tried to spread it around to the states. That reason is the mess we are in now.
The Tigers lead the nation in snaps. When I heard that one of Chad Morris' biggest goals was to have 80 snaps a game I thought that is not nearly as important as other stats. But, you can't have a lot of snaps without sustaining drives and you also need to actually run a "hurry-up" no-huddle offense. Since the departure of Rich Rodriguez the Tigers have always ran a no-huddle, but rarely a "hurry-up." Nothing was more frustrating over the last decade than watching the Clemson offense manage to get a little momentum (rare enough) going and rush to the line and then turn to the sideline while their lineman sit there wasting energy in a 3-point stance and then run an awful play. So now I understand the snap goal. Do you really think Chad is just this brilliant at halftime. Maybe he is a little, but more than that is these defenses are dead tired in the 2nd half. Research says the first thing to go for an athlete when fatigued is not speed or strength, but the brain. Defenses break down when they are tired, because they struggle to make the quick decisions needed. Thus the domination of the Tigers in the 2nd half.
What worries me is if Ga Tech can sustain drives then the Tigers will not wear down the Tech defense like they have other teams. This is the big game. If the Tigers can get to the bye week and lick their wounds they should be ready for the last three.
And time for a tangent:
Saw a great article about Dems registering as Rep. to vote for Ron Paul. They are a little pissed that Obama lied and said he would get troops out of Iraq immediately. And since Ron is the ONLY Republican candidate to pull them out of Iraq and Afghanistan and cut "Imperial" spending, he is the only choice in either party if you are anti-war.
Dr. Ron is finally saying he will not cut any money to "defense," but cut money to mantaining our empire. We will be safer if we weren't overextended. It's like basketball. If you run a full court press, you will create some turnovers (kill terrorists), but you will also give up some easy baskets (attacks on your soil). The best way to protect your basket is to get as many players in the paint or troops on your home soil. There are 10 terrorists from a country the US has a base in for every one who is from a country we are not in. There are whole books on this "blowback" principle. They don't hate us as much because of our "Western" ways, they hate us because we won't mind our own business.
Anyway, the blue republican aricle has some really good paragraphs http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robin-koerner/blue-republicans-an-idea-_b_897405.html
"As we were all having our "I'm right, you're wrong" Democratic and Republican arguments, the powers that be made themselves more powerful, and while we were arguing, we have lost most of the rights that we weren't arguing about because we took them for granted.
It is as if we have suddenly looked up from an argument at the kitchen table over which sofa we should buy for the living room, only to find out that the house has been foreclosed on and we're homeless. Sure, the issues we were arguing over were important -- but they were not the most important, nor are they now the most urgent.
As I have written elsewhere, America has been brought to its knees by a Left that has empowered the state and a Right that has subsidized big business."
Brilliant. That is why Ron Paul is actually a third party candidate. There is no difference between Obama and the other Republican knuckeheads. 9-9-9 only talks about a new way of collecting taxes, but doesn't talk about spending. Great, another beuracracy to collect your national sales tax and I'm sure every business in the country will be so on top of getting every dime to Washington. Changing the way you bring in revenue without talking about cuts is like a family in debt deciding they will change from Discover to Mastercard to pay for everything.
Everyone should quit worrying about can Ron Paul win. Someone told me all that matters is beating Obama. I used to think that, but all other of these candidates would change nothing. Any vote for them is a vote for future bankrupcy, endless war and possibley the end of the great experiment known as America. As I got older I started to really like the ideas Republicans said. That the government (especially at the federal level) is inneficient and unproductive and that people should be empowered and not enabled by the welfare state. But Republicans are in bed with big business and especially the military/govt/industrial complex. I now would never call myself a Republican. I am a conservative and until more people like Ron Paul are in the Republican party then I will stay away. I think Ron would love to run under another party, but he knows the better thing for our country is to try and push more people in his direction.
So there is very little difference between the two parties and if you are Democrat leaning, fine, stay that way. But for this one election see if you like what the old man stands for. He stands for everything Ben Franklin, GW and Thomas Jefferson does. There is a reason those men feared so much power in one place and tried to spread it around to the states. That reason is the mess we are in now.
Monday, October 24, 2011
The "Death" is back
So for most of the last 20 years the home field of Clemson might have been referred to as "The Valley." Now it is starting to return to the glory days of the eighties when Clemson only lost about three home games in the whole decade and it was DEATH Valley. In the 90s three losses in a year was not impossible. Not only are the Tigers back to beating teams at home, Clemson is annihilating them. It might be too quick to change mindsets, but it is nice sitting in that stadium and not expecting the other shoe to drop. I kept saying to the person next to me that even though everyone is predicting (including me) a close game, shouldn't we just beat the crap out of this team. I had said something like 55 to 10 at the tailgate. Well, if the Clemson secondary would quit giving up those huge plays and if Spencer Benton was in there to crack skulls on the kick off it would have been 55 to 10. Dabo has changed the culture on the team in one short year and also with the fan base. Fans have grown to expect great half time adjustments or just that the fast paced offense will wear down the defense. Whatever it is, most of the 79,000 in attendance are believing and most importantly the 85 scholarship athletes are believing. "Honk, Honk! Either get on the Dabo band wagon or get out of the way, because I am driving it again!" For those wondering, I didn't just start driving the original wagon, but have up upgraded to a nicer model.
I love that we were recruiting a big time Off. Tackle from NC and decided to bring him down for the UNC game. His last four choices were UNC, NC St, USC and Clemson. Based on his other three choices I question if you even want a kid considering those waste lands, but I do love that Dabo and Jeff Scott said, "Okay, you are considering UNC. How 'bout you come down Oct. 22nd. We will get you some booze and women and you can watch us beat the ever loving crap out of UNC." Just kidding Dabo would never use booze and women to recruit. By the end of the game, the young man was coming to Clemson. There is something in those hills. If you can just get a kid on campus they can feel it. Of course there is a lot more in those hills when you have 59 on the scoreboard in the 3rd quarter!
A few questions to consider:
Does anyone else feel like buying ACC Championship tickets is the ultimate kiss of death?
Does anyone wonder why Terry Don hasn't already offered Chad a boat load of money to stay? (I hate to jump on that band wagon after only 8 games, but holy crap this offense has been scary good.)
Does Steele just watch the Miami/Ga Tech film on loop or does he take the Clemson plane down to South Beach and beg their DC for advice?
Is there any uglier color than Carolina Blue? (Remember that Chad Morris, when they offer you the head job here in two months. Stay at Clemson and help build something special or head to Chapel Hell and be Roy Williams little b$%ch?)
Is it my fault I forget sun screen when it is 30 degrees when you start tailgating?
Can you really not talk about Tahj Boyd for Heisman at this point? (We will see. I heard Ron Paul called Tahj to discuss the heart ache that comes from the media ignoring you when you are a deserving candidate.) Oops, did I just slip Ron Paul into this Blog.
How many times will I have to type Dabo on here before this Blog's spell check realizes it's not an accident I am typing the letters Dabo?
Any of the answers to these questions would be greatly appreciated on the comments below. These are very pressing matters folks!!
I love that we were recruiting a big time Off. Tackle from NC and decided to bring him down for the UNC game. His last four choices were UNC, NC St, USC and Clemson. Based on his other three choices I question if you even want a kid considering those waste lands, but I do love that Dabo and Jeff Scott said, "Okay, you are considering UNC. How 'bout you come down Oct. 22nd. We will get you some booze and women and you can watch us beat the ever loving crap out of UNC." Just kidding Dabo would never use booze and women to recruit. By the end of the game, the young man was coming to Clemson. There is something in those hills. If you can just get a kid on campus they can feel it. Of course there is a lot more in those hills when you have 59 on the scoreboard in the 3rd quarter!
A few questions to consider:
Does anyone else feel like buying ACC Championship tickets is the ultimate kiss of death?
Does anyone wonder why Terry Don hasn't already offered Chad a boat load of money to stay? (I hate to jump on that band wagon after only 8 games, but holy crap this offense has been scary good.)
Does Steele just watch the Miami/Ga Tech film on loop or does he take the Clemson plane down to South Beach and beg their DC for advice?
Is there any uglier color than Carolina Blue? (Remember that Chad Morris, when they offer you the head job here in two months. Stay at Clemson and help build something special or head to Chapel Hell and be Roy Williams little b$%ch?)
Is it my fault I forget sun screen when it is 30 degrees when you start tailgating?
Can you really not talk about Tahj Boyd for Heisman at this point? (We will see. I heard Ron Paul called Tahj to discuss the heart ache that comes from the media ignoring you when you are a deserving candidate.) Oops, did I just slip Ron Paul into this Blog.
How many times will I have to type Dabo on here before this Blog's spell check realizes it's not an accident I am typing the letters Dabo?
Any of the answers to these questions would be greatly appreciated on the comments below. These are very pressing matters folks!!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
UNC Preview
Our first full length stop clock exhibition was Wednesday. It went pretty well. As a junior college we did pretty well to hang around with a four year school. I love when refs come over and they are kind of too into the moment and a little adrenaline is going and they talk to our head coach and say things like, “What you got to do is know that when you say it, then we gotta roll with it. I hear you and that is the end of it. No need to harp on it cause we are gonna roll.” “Huh?” says our coach, “I wasn’t even yelling at you about anything.” Then later in the game another one says, “Coach that is enough.” Again coach says I wasn’t even talking to you. Reply: “It’s a package deal. Package deal.”
On the way up was even more interesting. I can’t stand modern rap, but I figured instead of eight black players in anguish as Toby Keith sings about patriotism it is better that only one white person is appalled by songs centered solely on drugs, murdering and quickies. The first song had a great line: “She so cool she gives ___ with her shades on.” I’ll let you fill in the blank and it wasn’t gifts if that was your first guess. Next song had the chorus, “I aint lookin for love, I just want a quickie. I don’t want no hickey, I just want a quickie.” Those are words to live by. I put something similar in my wedding vows. Not to be outdone by the wonderful wisdom of: “I’m out there gettin it, so of course I’m spendin it.” I wanted to reach through the radio and tell him to buy some silver! We mock rappers sometimes for their ridiculous expenditures, but right now with the inevitable crash of the dollar the smartest thing to do is probably to buy gold chains.
As for Clemson, last week was a crazy roller coaster ride. The Tiger defense is by no means good, even though Brian Griese kept saying, “Wow, Maryland is torching this very good Clemson defense.” What they are is opportunistic and have made enough plays to allow a great offense to win games. Yes, they were very good at Virginia Tech and for a half against Auburn, but I would say the defense is average to above average. That said, I expect them to hold UNC in the twenties. Maybe they won’t. Again, I’m not in the prediction business especially this season. Of course it could always be your trap game with Georgia Tech a week away. Who knows? Clemson could win by 40 or lose.
Plyler had a great blog on Wed. Every year, ESPN in an effort to self promote a college playoff they would make a ton of money off of, claims the world is caving in. This will be such an injustice to Clemson and Stanford if all 8 teams go undefeated. Plyler showed that in the last nine seasons 79 teams were undefeated after Week 7, yet only 23 went into the bowl games undefeated. And only Auburn went undefeated out of a BCS automatic qualifier conference and still denied a title shot. Did you know Boise has had an undefeated regular season four of the last seven years? I am surprised the entire state of Idaho hasn’t petitioned Congress to help them get a play off.
I wouldn’t mind the top four playing a quick playoff, but the thought of eight or 16 just doesn’t do it for me. How awesome is the Bama-LSU game going to be? How about the Okl.-OSU game? Neither of those games would matter nearly as much if eight got in. College football is the only sport left with a regular season that matters. Clemson probably doesn’t go undefeated, but every game on their 12/13 game schedule is a national championship semifinal game. Any loss and they are out. That is what makes it great. A college football playoff would be great, but what we have now is pretty darn good. I think four would be good because I hate the idea of an undefeated team being left out. Any one loss team has no beef because they should not have lost. Hopefully Clemson can eclipse mine and Vegas' season win total by only Week 8.
Clemson 34
UNC 23
On the way up was even more interesting. I can’t stand modern rap, but I figured instead of eight black players in anguish as Toby Keith sings about patriotism it is better that only one white person is appalled by songs centered solely on drugs, murdering and quickies. The first song had a great line: “She so cool she gives ___ with her shades on.” I’ll let you fill in the blank and it wasn’t gifts if that was your first guess. Next song had the chorus, “I aint lookin for love, I just want a quickie. I don’t want no hickey, I just want a quickie.” Those are words to live by. I put something similar in my wedding vows. Not to be outdone by the wonderful wisdom of: “I’m out there gettin it, so of course I’m spendin it.” I wanted to reach through the radio and tell him to buy some silver! We mock rappers sometimes for their ridiculous expenditures, but right now with the inevitable crash of the dollar the smartest thing to do is probably to buy gold chains.
As for Clemson, last week was a crazy roller coaster ride. The Tiger defense is by no means good, even though Brian Griese kept saying, “Wow, Maryland is torching this very good Clemson defense.” What they are is opportunistic and have made enough plays to allow a great offense to win games. Yes, they were very good at Virginia Tech and for a half against Auburn, but I would say the defense is average to above average. That said, I expect them to hold UNC in the twenties. Maybe they won’t. Again, I’m not in the prediction business especially this season. Of course it could always be your trap game with Georgia Tech a week away. Who knows? Clemson could win by 40 or lose.
Plyler had a great blog on Wed. Every year, ESPN in an effort to self promote a college playoff they would make a ton of money off of, claims the world is caving in. This will be such an injustice to Clemson and Stanford if all 8 teams go undefeated. Plyler showed that in the last nine seasons 79 teams were undefeated after Week 7, yet only 23 went into the bowl games undefeated. And only Auburn went undefeated out of a BCS automatic qualifier conference and still denied a title shot. Did you know Boise has had an undefeated regular season four of the last seven years? I am surprised the entire state of Idaho hasn’t petitioned Congress to help them get a play off.
I wouldn’t mind the top four playing a quick playoff, but the thought of eight or 16 just doesn’t do it for me. How awesome is the Bama-LSU game going to be? How about the Okl.-OSU game? Neither of those games would matter nearly as much if eight got in. College football is the only sport left with a regular season that matters. Clemson probably doesn’t go undefeated, but every game on their 12/13 game schedule is a national championship semifinal game. Any loss and they are out. That is what makes it great. A college football playoff would be great, but what we have now is pretty darn good. I think four would be good because I hate the idea of an undefeated team being left out. Any one loss team has no beef because they should not have lost. Hopefully Clemson can eclipse mine and Vegas' season win total by only Week 8.
Clemson 34
UNC 23
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Ronnie
All right. So I will try and keep this short and not preach. Our debt is out of control. Anybody with a 5th grade math education and an internet hook-up can tell that. It is 14.7 trillion and going up 4 billion a day. No candidate for the Republican primary is talking about any real cuts except one, Ron Paul. Some talk about vauge cuts over the next ten years, but in ten years the dollar will be about as valuable as Stephen Garcia's draft stock. Some of the candidates even talk of a war with Iran. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have, most importantly, cost us over 6,000 soldier's lives and over 32,000 wounded. The cost financially is already at least 2.3 trillion and probably at least another trillion over the next 50 years caring for our wounded veterans. A war with Iran would cost at least as much in human lives and financially. Anyone who suggests that is a good plan of action is dilusional or in bed with defense contractors and probably both.
I know I sound like a hippie in the 60s but these wars aren't wars of defense. If some country showed up on our shores and attacked us I would be all for fighting them until the last one was dead. But, the fighting over there only creates more terrorists. Sept. 11th was awful and revenge was on everyone's mind. But every attacker but one was from Saudi Arabia, so we attack Iraq and Afghanistan? The reason they were from Saudi is because terrorists are ten times more likely to be from a country where the US has a military presence. They hate us over there! Does that justify Sept. 11th? No. But it tells you that after the attack people like Bin Laden were hoping we would attack and help his recruitment. We did and it has.
You may not agree with the fact that leaving the Middle East would actually make us safer. You may think they will always hate us no matter what we do (even though in the early part of this century the US was well respected in the region). But, look some stuff up for yourselves. Don't just let the media tell us it's the only way. Besides whether you agree with the war or not, we can't afford it. This is the best and only way to make quick spending cuts that would not hurt anyone and even save a few lives.
Today is a big day for Ron Paul. He is being ignored by the media, because he is the only person for real change and change scares the rich folks bank rolling TV channels. So today he is trying a grass roots movement to collect so much money he cannot be ignored. If you like/love Ron Paul (and truly feel he is the only hope for our struggling country) then please give him money. If you don't know anything about him go to his website: www.ronpaul2012.com. Search his name on you tube. Watch the Jon Stewart interview. It is hilarious. His views may seem shocking at first, because we have gone so far down the wrong road that correct principles seem foreign and crazy. His principles are the same as guys named Washington, Jefferson, Franklin and Madison. He isn't crazy. Crazy is this massive debt. But, please don't let me decide for you. Don't let the media decide for you. Don't let anyone convince you he can't win. Cain is rocketing up and he stands for nothing really. People are dying for an intelligent, principled leader who will do what is best for our country. Not what's best for his cronies, his pocket book or his political party.
I know I sound like a hippie in the 60s but these wars aren't wars of defense. If some country showed up on our shores and attacked us I would be all for fighting them until the last one was dead. But, the fighting over there only creates more terrorists. Sept. 11th was awful and revenge was on everyone's mind. But every attacker but one was from Saudi Arabia, so we attack Iraq and Afghanistan? The reason they were from Saudi is because terrorists are ten times more likely to be from a country where the US has a military presence. They hate us over there! Does that justify Sept. 11th? No. But it tells you that after the attack people like Bin Laden were hoping we would attack and help his recruitment. We did and it has.
You may not agree with the fact that leaving the Middle East would actually make us safer. You may think they will always hate us no matter what we do (even though in the early part of this century the US was well respected in the region). But, look some stuff up for yourselves. Don't just let the media tell us it's the only way. Besides whether you agree with the war or not, we can't afford it. This is the best and only way to make quick spending cuts that would not hurt anyone and even save a few lives.
Today is a big day for Ron Paul. He is being ignored by the media, because he is the only person for real change and change scares the rich folks bank rolling TV channels. So today he is trying a grass roots movement to collect so much money he cannot be ignored. If you like/love Ron Paul (and truly feel he is the only hope for our struggling country) then please give him money. If you don't know anything about him go to his website: www.ronpaul2012.com. Search his name on you tube. Watch the Jon Stewart interview. It is hilarious. His views may seem shocking at first, because we have gone so far down the wrong road that correct principles seem foreign and crazy. His principles are the same as guys named Washington, Jefferson, Franklin and Madison. He isn't crazy. Crazy is this massive debt. But, please don't let me decide for you. Don't let the media decide for you. Don't let anyone convince you he can't win. Cain is rocketing up and he stands for nothing really. People are dying for an intelligent, principled leader who will do what is best for our country. Not what's best for his cronies, his pocket book or his political party.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Maryland review
Again, Saturday showed why I don't spend much time predicting. I doubt anyone would have predicted 100 points would be put on the board. When Maryland plays Clemson in basketball there probably won't be that many points on the board. At halftime I still felt secure about the Tigers ability to come back. Then when the Tigers went down 38 to 24 late in the 3rd I didn't think we would stop them enough to make a come back. Wasn't too worried about the offense, but the D gave no inkling of getting a stop. But they made enough. Within nine minutes the Tigers went from down 11 with the ball on their own 30 to up 4. Then they added two more touchdowns in the next seven minutes. Pretty explosive bunch.
Somebody made a comment that Sammy had a great game when you forget about his kick return to the 30. I sure as heck didn't forget about that. With a team that looked totally unready to play and a defense playing awful AND a QB looking terrible I remember that kick return very well. If Tahj had to start that drive on his own 20 he may have continued to pee all over himself, but with the great field position he was able to loosen up a little and Clemson was able to score using mostly Ellington. The kick return was bigger than the one he housed in the second half. In the second half the Tigers probably score either way.
As much as Chad Morris seems to be a brilliant OC, it was still frustrating early on in the game. After the first drive of 10 rushes for 90 yards and only one pass for five yards, he starts the second drive with an ugly Boyd incompletion and a 22 yard run by Ellington. What would you do next? Three straight incompletions. Maryland's d line was awful. Run it down their throat. Next drive: 4 yard run followed by pick 6. I had no faith in Tahj at that point, but he came back and looked great in the second half.
Tigernet gives us these little tidbits:
*This was the second greatest comeback in Clemson history and just the second time in history that the Tigers have overcome an 18-point or more deficit. Clemson overcame a 28-0 deficit to defeat Virginia 29-28 in Charlottesville on Oct. 10, 1992.
*Clemson also overcame a 14-point deficit against Auburn. This 2011 team is the only team in Clemson history to overcome two deficits of 14 points or more in a season.
Very resillient bunch. Had to overcome early turnovers. The defense not showing up. Sadly, that effort against a better opponent would have ended in a butt whipping. Being a second half team is good, but you can't just play awful for a half. Hopefully, the Tigers put two halves together against UNC.
Somebody made a comment that Sammy had a great game when you forget about his kick return to the 30. I sure as heck didn't forget about that. With a team that looked totally unready to play and a defense playing awful AND a QB looking terrible I remember that kick return very well. If Tahj had to start that drive on his own 20 he may have continued to pee all over himself, but with the great field position he was able to loosen up a little and Clemson was able to score using mostly Ellington. The kick return was bigger than the one he housed in the second half. In the second half the Tigers probably score either way.
As much as Chad Morris seems to be a brilliant OC, it was still frustrating early on in the game. After the first drive of 10 rushes for 90 yards and only one pass for five yards, he starts the second drive with an ugly Boyd incompletion and a 22 yard run by Ellington. What would you do next? Three straight incompletions. Maryland's d line was awful. Run it down their throat. Next drive: 4 yard run followed by pick 6. I had no faith in Tahj at that point, but he came back and looked great in the second half.
Tigernet gives us these little tidbits:
*This was the second greatest comeback in Clemson history and just the second time in history that the Tigers have overcome an 18-point or more deficit. Clemson overcame a 28-0 deficit to defeat Virginia 29-28 in Charlottesville on Oct. 10, 1992.
*Clemson also overcame a 14-point deficit against Auburn. This 2011 team is the only team in Clemson history to overcome two deficits of 14 points or more in a season.
Very resillient bunch. Had to overcome early turnovers. The defense not showing up. Sadly, that effort against a better opponent would have ended in a butt whipping. Being a second half team is good, but you can't just play awful for a half. Hopefully, the Tigers put two halves together against UNC.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Sophomore slump and Maryland preview
What is the deal with a Sophomore slump? It makes no sense. Usually a player makes his biggest jump in production from his freshman to his sophomore year. They adjust to the speed of the game, they get in the weight room and they have more familiarity with their coaches, teammates and the system. So freshman with average years can come back and be good to great their sophomore year. You might not see much improvement after the sophomore year, but there is a big jump after the freshman year. This is the reason the red-shirt is such an effective tool for mid-major basketball programs. They realize you get very little out of most true freshman, so they red-shirt almost all of them and then do damage in March with a ton of fourth year juniors or fifth year seniors.
But for some reason when a player has a great freshman year, there is a significant amount of players who take a dump on themselves their sophomore year.
Two examples of each case are the QBs at Clemson and Maryland. Holy crap, has Tahj Boyd improved from his freshman year (all be it a red-shirt freshman year). This, after a freshman year where even in his limited action he looked very inaccurate and confused. Plus, you would like to hope if he was this good last year in practice he would have unseated Kyle Parker (another soph slump guy).
Maryland had Freshman Danny O'Brien at QB last year and threw for over 200 yards per game and 22 TDs with eight picks. This year he is throwing for less than 150 yards per game, only four TDs and already has six interceptions through six games. He may not even get the start Sat. in favor of fellow Soph. C.J. Brown. Two programs going in totally different directions mainly because of the play of the QB.
Of course there is always more factors to consider. Is Tahj that much better or is it mostly due to Chad Morris' system? Would anybody look great throwing to NFL WR Sammy Watkins, NFL possibility Nuke Hopkins and NFL TE Dwayne Allen? Did he just work his butt off in the summer? Was he pretty good last year, but just didn't get a chance to settle in (I don't think this one is true)? Is there film on O'Brien now, so defenses know his tendencies? Is the new OC at Maryland much more a Napier and the old one more like a Morris? Did the fear of Ralph Friedgen eating him for a halftime snack help motivate O'Brien to greatness? These are all questions very difficult to answer.
What I do know is Maryland is a dangerous place. Playing at night will help. The crowd will be slightly louder, but that is much less of a fear than the Tigers sleep walking through a day game. I've been to Byrd, crowd noise will only be a factor on a few 3rd downs. Weather isn't too much of a factor. Low 60s but very windy. It is a misconception that wind effects a throwing team. Wind effects the crappier QB. A guy who throws a tight spiral is not effected very much by the wind (I should know, I was an Intramural Quarterback, haha). Look at Jim Kelly and Brett Favre. They were amazing in bad conditions because they threw tight spiral lasers. Hopefully Jim Kelly's son (heading to Clemson) will do the same. Anyway, Tigers will be in more of a fight than fans would like and hopefully Tahj isn't jumpy with his new hip injury. (BTW - he was not wearing a hip pad when he got injured! WTF - why weren't you wearing a hip pad? Apparently, all Dabo kept saying over and over was "Why the hell aren't you wearing a hip pad?") Tigers will hopefully prevail to move to 7 dash 0.
Clemson 30
Maryland 20
But for some reason when a player has a great freshman year, there is a significant amount of players who take a dump on themselves their sophomore year.
Two examples of each case are the QBs at Clemson and Maryland. Holy crap, has Tahj Boyd improved from his freshman year (all be it a red-shirt freshman year). This, after a freshman year where even in his limited action he looked very inaccurate and confused. Plus, you would like to hope if he was this good last year in practice he would have unseated Kyle Parker (another soph slump guy).
Maryland had Freshman Danny O'Brien at QB last year and threw for over 200 yards per game and 22 TDs with eight picks. This year he is throwing for less than 150 yards per game, only four TDs and already has six interceptions through six games. He may not even get the start Sat. in favor of fellow Soph. C.J. Brown. Two programs going in totally different directions mainly because of the play of the QB.
Of course there is always more factors to consider. Is Tahj that much better or is it mostly due to Chad Morris' system? Would anybody look great throwing to NFL WR Sammy Watkins, NFL possibility Nuke Hopkins and NFL TE Dwayne Allen? Did he just work his butt off in the summer? Was he pretty good last year, but just didn't get a chance to settle in (I don't think this one is true)? Is there film on O'Brien now, so defenses know his tendencies? Is the new OC at Maryland much more a Napier and the old one more like a Morris? Did the fear of Ralph Friedgen eating him for a halftime snack help motivate O'Brien to greatness? These are all questions very difficult to answer.
What I do know is Maryland is a dangerous place. Playing at night will help. The crowd will be slightly louder, but that is much less of a fear than the Tigers sleep walking through a day game. I've been to Byrd, crowd noise will only be a factor on a few 3rd downs. Weather isn't too much of a factor. Low 60s but very windy. It is a misconception that wind effects a throwing team. Wind effects the crappier QB. A guy who throws a tight spiral is not effected very much by the wind (I should know, I was an Intramural Quarterback, haha). Look at Jim Kelly and Brett Favre. They were amazing in bad conditions because they threw tight spiral lasers. Hopefully Jim Kelly's son (heading to Clemson) will do the same. Anyway, Tigers will be in more of a fight than fans would like and hopefully Tahj isn't jumpy with his new hip injury. (BTW - he was not wearing a hip pad when he got injured! WTF - why weren't you wearing a hip pad? Apparently, all Dabo kept saying over and over was "Why the hell aren't you wearing a hip pad?") Tigers will hopefully prevail to move to 7 dash 0.
Clemson 30
Maryland 20
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