Video-gate: is this for real?

Okay, I've had a little time to get away today-- the family and I all went down to my mom and dad's house in Murfreesboro for a little early celebration of my Dad's birthday.
The weather's cooler and it's really enjoyable to be outside these days, so we had a great afternoon out in the back yard, eating some pizza and some really good carrot cake (courtesy of my lovely, talented sister)...

So now I'm back home, watching the last few minutes of the New England-San Diego ballgame-- the Sunday Night Football matchup this week-- and of course, all the talk is about the Belichick Videotape scandal. I mean, there are some people who are really coming down on the Pats and Belichick. There's clearly some kind of Patriots-dynasty back-lash at work here. People are sick of the Patriots success (still hard to believe for those of us who remember all too clearly the decades of futility the Pats suffered through before 2001) and are seeming to revel in this recent fall from grace. More than that-- they're venomous, calling for the Commissioner to take draft picks, impose fines, and to suspend Belichick for as long as a year. I even heard one caller to a local show propose that the Pats should lose two home games next year.

All this seems to go a bit far.

I've not really had a chance to talk about this-- and I'm sure this will reflect poorly on my character to someone-- but I've got to wonder:
What's all the big deal about?

Okay, so now before anyone starts screaming at me-- you support cheating? Balco! Balco!-- let me explain a little.

1) if coaches don't assume that they're being watched, why do they cover their mouths with their play sheets? Heck, even coaches up in the box have been known to hide their mouths while they're talking.
2) if they don't assume they're being watched or that the opposing team is trying to steal their signals, then why do they have three or four different guys sending in the signals to the defense?

With all that subterfuge on the field, I guess I just assumed that teams were probably filming each other like crazy. At a minimum, I would have figured there'd be a few lipreader 'staff' stationed in the press box, armed with high-powered binoculars trained on various members of the opposing team coaching staff.

I mean, why not?

Week 3 Reflection

There's not much to say. No point in talking about the Michigan game. No sense in going over the tape. There's not one thing to be learned from it.
Coach, I think it's time for some Batting Practice

Bizarro World

This is hard to believe, but today I find myself rooting for Ohio State (against Willingham's Huskies) and Nebraska (against the Trojans)..

Inevitability

I guess this was inevitable-- Demetrius Jones enrolls at Northern Illinois
I truly do feel badly for this kid. With the state of our offensive line in the early going this season, he really never had a shot.
And now with Clausen seemingly entrenched in the QB spot (and with Dayne Crist on the way next year), it's just not a good time to be a third string QB at ND...

Cupcake Watch: Week 3

Her Loyal Sons has got it covered here..

Can you even call it a mixed metaphor?

Charles Woodson says "When the ship is sinking, you've just got to keep playing."

My, they do mint them some scholars at Michigan..

Something to keep in mind this week..

Week 2: Penn State

Just back from a brief weekend trip to Louisville to visit some old friends from college. Pretty wiped out tonight-- don't really have it in me to stay out of bed much longer, but just had to bring myself to review some of the Tivo 'film' of the ND-PSU game from yesterday.
Sometime during the first half of the game, while we were all at dinner at our friends house up inKentucky and I'd lost all track of what time it was-- I wasn't planning on tracking the game at all during the day yesterday and just enjoy the visit-- I got a text message from a guy I work with. It just said "Go Irish! I can't believe I just said that."
Now that I'm watching the game, I can see what he was talking about. Through much of the first half, the Irish look.. well.. they look okay. Not great. Not particularly powerful. The offense is clearly waaay behind the defense. But they look okay. Clausen is throwing and running with some confidence. Armando Allen is still fast-- though he's having some trouble with his footing. And the defense is playing with some intensity.
Of course, I know what happens. Promising as the offense may look, they still can't put together an extended drive. They go three-and-out ALL THE TIME... and that saps the intensity from the defense.. and pretty soon they can't staunch the onslaught any longer.

But hey.. the Walls interception looked good. The forced fumble on the ensuing PSU possession was a good sign as well.

O-line needs to get straightened out and fast. So many false starts. Discipline. Chemistry.

Okay.. I can't take any more. I'm going to bed.

Georgia Tech Reflections

Week 1 of the new Irish footbal season didn't go so well.
And yet, I don't feel so badly about the loss.

Going down 33-3 to Georgia Tech should sting... not that it doesn't. It'll sting more on Tuesday when I go into the office and face my Ga. Tech Alum boss.

But here are a few observations on the game.
1) Offensive line looks pretty bad. From my admittedly uneducated perspective, the Tech D-line looked at times like it was just pouring into the pocket.
2) Demetrius Jones didn't have a chance. As the running QB, he seemed like the logical choice, given the expected weakness of the o-line. But he just couldn't get settled back there. He put the ball on the ground a few times, got flushed and out of control repeatedly and didn't seem to be able to put anything together. At first he was able to get to he corner pretty quickly and make some yards.. but once Tech adjusted, it was all over for him.
3) Evan Sharpley looked pretty good at first. Pretty good zip on the ball in the first few series, and he was getting rid of the ball quickly-- at first. But again, once Tech adjusted, he got into trouble and started getting sacked.
4) Travis Thomas just looked slow. Period.
5) Armando Allen needs to start. He's F-A-S-T.
6) Jimmy Clausen didn't look like a freshman. He may not have been playing against the 1st-line Tech D. I don't care. He looked poised. And his arm appeared to be just fine.

With Armando Allen, John Carlson, and Jimmy Clausen, if they can put it all together this season, we could have some interesting games. But it's going to be tough to be an Irish fan this season. It's going to be some hard going. But the future certainly looks bright!

CupCake Watch, Week 1:
USC takes on Idaho.
Ohio State beats up on Youngstown State.
Penn State tunes it up against Florida International.
Michigan takes on Appalachian State... and loses. Oops!