Just because UCLA had a bye, it doesn’t mean the levy is dry
And when the levee breaks…
Here we are, just SITTING on all this GOLD, with no Bruin win or trojan loss to celebrate. So, since we don’t really need an excuse, this “post” is ALL about sharing the files that are burning the (not-so-)proverbial hole in our hard drive.
But WITH further ado —
With no Bruin or trojan game to watch, and with no O.J. trial or Bushgate Hearing to follow, we got to watch a shipload of OTHER TEAMS playing College Football. And there are two glaring observations that MUST be made (just in case there are more people like Josh out there who ALSO “read the articles.”):
1) The Referees still haven’t mastered Instant Replay;
and
2) 85% of Head Coaches made stupid decisions at some point during their games.
12 straight hours of Football on 3 simultaneous screens means that all the games blend together in our memory, so we’ll talk in MOSTLY general, not specific terms here. The Refs missed SEVERAL calls, including a handful that should have been overturned but weren’t, and a few that should have been reviewed, but weren’t. Oklahoma had a late TD disallowed that looked good on first glance, and it was just one of many calls that had the Announcers stumped. A Cincinnati TD during their comeback attempt was also disallowed, incorrectly, according to the Announcers.
In the midst of a very troubling year and a half for Referees in all Sports, but especially Pac-10 Football Replay Refs, former Pac-10 Head of Officiating — ex-trojan Verle Sorgen — made a total ASS out of himself, while trying to excuse one of his buddies’ screw-ups. After that horrible, horrible call that almost cost the Oregon State Beavers a game against Washington — a call that was blatantly wrong but never reviewed — Sorgen told the Media: The call wasn’t egregious, unless you’re an Oregon State fan.
What a complete tool, and a PERFECT example of the trojan mentality. Nothing matters, as long as it doesn’t effect you, yourself. Sorgen, even though he was already “relieved of his duties” last year, got Officially reprimanded by his former employers, as his legendary deficiencies have now actually outlived his tenure, which was immortalized by that Oregon/Oklahoma debacle last year.
And speaking of debacles, let’s talk about Coaching. How about letting the clock tick down to nothing, while sitting on two timeouts, which you then use to try to ice the Kicker? That was the genius at Nevada, who allowed Hawaii to remain unbeaten despite missing their Heisman candidate. That was just ONE of the dozens of obvious f-ups made by various Coaches – including well-respected ones – throughout the weekend.
In addition to the horrible play-calling and time-management, there were also several teams that came out flat and undisciplined in major games, like Michigan, whose Receivers dropped a half-dozen passes – not because of the rain, but because they quite visibly took their eyes off the ball, looking at where they were going to run, or at who was about to hit them.
The point is, that EVERY SINGLE fan of every single losing team has a legitimate gripe today about the idiotic Coach who cost their team a game. Maybe Oklahoma’s Stoopes and Oregon’s Belotti will get passes, because they lost their starting QB’s to injury. Too bad not ALL Coaches are given that same benefit of the doubt. And GO AHEAD and compliment Ty Willingham because Washington won without Jake Locker, but if you do, make sure that you realize that it was the Genius from the North Jeff Tedford who brought an uninspired and totally-collapsing team into Seattle to get whooped.
And one other quick note: How about that Jordan Farmar? Some idiots thought that he couldn’t handle the rigors of being an NBA Point Guard, and others thought that he wouldn’t even MAKE the Lakers’ roster this year after they drafted another highly-touted Point Guard. But if the night before last is any indication, Farmar has found a home… in Phil Jackson’s heart. Farmar was the key ingredient in the Lakers’ 2nd half surge that crushed the Detroit Pistons. Detroit was missing two Starters, and had to play Arron Afflalo and other reserves more than they’d like to, but they still made a game of it, and Farmar’s sequence with two Steals and a subsequent three-pointer went a long way towards putting the Lakers over the top.
And speaking of over the top, here are 7 more photos from the ASU game, and the CBE Classic, because when it comes to “hot,” these girls are over-the-top.
Comments
10 responses to “BYE, BYE, MISS AMERICAN PIE”
I would be interested in your opinion about the Streeter article in which our coach (whose name I cannot bring myself to write) stated that he was being treated unfairly because of his race. Frankly, it seems to me to be an act of desperation on his part, and it’s patently insulting to me. I am a critic of the alleged coach for a host of reasons, none of which have to do with his skin color. Yet he calls me a racist because I think he has performed poorly.
Anyway, there’s my take. I am interested in yours.
yaayy i’m glad you posted on farmar. hasn’t he been AMAZING?! he has hops! the question i have is how come he never dunked while at UCLA?
Dear Fox —
That article was ten minutes of our life that we’ll never get back. Most people who actually follow the games realize WHY there is displeasure amongst fans. Most fans would be upset with the results, regardless of who was at the helm. The only place where Racism enters is when complaining fans completely discount the effects of the injury epidemic that has struck Westwood. There HAS to be a reason why some “fans” continue to blame KD for mistakes made by fourth-stringers.
You may love all people, but to deny the existence of thousands of total Racists in this City is just like ignoring all the key injuries when analyzing the Bruins’ season.
Nic pics T-H. Got to love our lady Bruins!
You’re right about losing unrecoverable minutes about that stupid article. This will be my last discussion of it. I am confident that there are racists everywhere and racists of every skin color. My guess (zero data, zero analysis) is that there are fewer racists at UCLA simply because it has been my experience that as intelligence increases, racism decreases. (It’s hard to think skin color matters when you give any thought to it.) The UCLA community and extended community probably has a higher average intelligence level than a city of equal size in some other part of the country, so I’m guessing that racism exists at a lower level.
Another guess is that some of the other Black coaches (Coach Croom, for example) have a much tougher time of it than does Coach Toledo’s Successor. My criticism of CTS has had nothing to do with his race, and I can’t seriously think that anyone who cares enough to post on a blog would bother if he or she were a racist. (Frankly, it’s doubtful that a racist would know how to connect to the internet, but I digress.)
You have identified one area where you believe racism enters the picture. You said “The only place where Racism enters is when complaining fans completely discount the effets of the injury epidemic that has struck Westwood. There HAS to be a reason why some ‘fans’ continue to blame KD for mistakes made by fourth-stringers.” I challenge you to back up that allegation. Obviously you cannot know the hearts of people by what they write, but sometimes you can make a deduction from what has been written. For example, because I categorically reject the notion that people who “discount the effects of the injury epidemic” are racists, I deduce from your writing that you are grasping at a straw to protect the coach. That may or may not be correct, but it is a fair deduction (obviously in my opinion) based on your writing.
In fact, there are reasons which I believe may be attributed to the coaching staff for these injuries. I have heard (no first hand knowledge, of course) that the weight training is “unscientific” which if true would obviously affect strength and conditioning, and which could cause or exacerbate injuries. I have witnessed horrible offensive line play, which allows the defense to tee-off on our quarterbacks. I have witnessed unimaginative play calling which also makes our players targets. (The best example of this was when Michigan played justsc last year. Every pass – EVERY pass – was on a seven step drop. In passing situations, the trOJan ends simply ran to a spot seven steps behind the quarterback and met each other and him there.) That sort of play calling invites injury, and it is in evidence time and time again during our games.
But every team has injuries. and adjustments are made. Brennan went out of the Hawaii game, but his replacement did well. (I acknowledge the opposite side – Dixon went out for Oregon, and his replacement was horrible.) Good recruiting should be enough to provide an effective bench. Our most effective quarterback in recent years was not even deemed good enough to keep the position until circumstances no longer allowed him to be ignored. And not to put too fine a point on it, we once had a FIFTH string quarterback named John Barnes who had a pretty good game against justsc a few years ago.
I disagree with your premise that discounting injuries equates to racism. I also diagree with your premise that inuries automatically qualifies the coach for an exemption from criticism.
But I’m glad I got this off my chest. Thank you for letting me rant.
You are once again trying too hard to analyze our comments. We specifically use words like “completely” in “completely discount,” just to prevent the kind of feedback that you have just delivered. Just like you allow for Dixon, you need to allow for Olson/Cowan/Markey/Bell/Everett/Pitre etc. We are NOT saying that the injuries give the staff a COMPLETE free pass, but it MUST factor in to any discussion. If you can’t see that, then you are either mentally deficient, or you have an agenda, i.e. Racism.
As for your “reasons” for the injuries, that’s absolutely ridiculous, and further asinine insinuations will not even be approved for posting here. The Bruins have a well-respected strength & conditioning program, and it should not be smeared by b.s. accusations out of left field.
If you have any more to add, as you persevere with your agenda, please take it to one of the sites where it’s appreciated. We RESPECT YOUR OPINION, and are not arguing with your conclusions, just your methodology. We are not going to waste people’s time here with any more of your rants. But don’t be mad — Out of respect and decency, we did not edit or delete THIS (your most recent) post, and we “let you rant,” as you say. But we’d like to think that enough is enough. Okay?
I can completely agree with only one thing you said – enough is enough. Too much energy is being expended on a subject that will never get resolved to anyone’s satisfaction.
There remains a subject on which Bruins will always see eye to eye – and our troops demonstrated it against MSU. I believe Bill Walton’s quote is the best I’ve heard in years: “Order has been restored in the Universe.” That is a great line.
I can completely agree with only one thing you said – enough is enough. Too much energy is being expended on a subject that will never get resolved to anyone’s satisfaction.
There remains a subject on which Bruins will always see eye to eye – and our troops demonstrated it against MSU. I believe Bill Walton’s quote is the best I’ve heard in years: “Order has been restored in the Universe.” That is a great line.
P.S. I just re-read your response. Your conclusion is that I have an agenda or am a racist? That is a monumental non-sequitur, and is the last refuge of the coward – name calling. Attack my analysis any way you want or any way you can. But name calling has no place in debate.
Note: The following response was written before the “PS” was added to the ABOVE post. The “PS” in the following response was then added after, to clear up what could only be an unfortunate misunderstanding.
Dear Fox —
Thank you for not fighting us on this one. We are not really disagreeing as much as you think. It is just a matter of degrees, i.e. we think SOME slack should be given for injuries, and it’s not like you think that NO slack should be given, just NOT AS MUCH as we’re giving. That’s an okay situation — Just disagreeing on the AMOUNT or extent of something. And we still insist that only a Psychopath would not allow ANYTHING for the extenuating circumstances. Turning a blind eye to something so crucial indicates an agenda, which COULD be Racism, or it could be something else, but it’s definitely NOT logical. As far as blaming the injuries on the Coach, that’s a whole different issue, and obviously one which we also disagree on. But as you seem to respect: We just prefer to move on to less-volatile subject matter.
Thanks again,
–T-H
P.S. (Added, after Fox’ “P.S.” was read): No, no, no. We are specifically NOT calling you ANYTHING. We said if you gave absolutely no slack for injuries, then you might have an agenda. You, however, do not fall in that category. You DO allow for the injury problem – just not as much as we do. Do you understand? You RECOGNIZE injuries as a factor, but not ENOUGH of a factor to save his job. A Racist would NOT recognize the injuries AT ALL as an excuse. They would DENY them altogether, or blame KD for them. You did not do that. You QUESTIONED the possibility of his adding to the problem, but you didn’t come out and say, as a Racist would, that KD flat out is the undisputed cause of the epidemic. You took an acceptable, inquisitive tone about that subject (although your allegations about the Conditioning Program were disturbing, and not the kind of thing we’re looking for here).
Do you see the distinction that we’re making? Again, it’s a matter of degrees, and HOW you phrase things, and the attitude that you take. You do NOT qualify per our Racist Detector! Okay?
Besides, if we thought that you were a Racist, we would either NOT post your stuff, or we would call you out in NO UNCERTAIN terms. After all, it is OUR website, to do with what we please. But since we totally do NOT have that opinion, you have been allowed to thrive here, completely un-edited. Okay? Are we okay? Please respond, because being called cowards sucks, unless you agree that it was just a misinterpretation.
greatings…
agree…