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senna
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Football in America
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Sep 23 07:29 UTC 2000 |
Love it, hate it, can't avoid it. Football is an inescapable facet of
American culture. From almost every high school in every town to the best
developed sports franchises on the planet, football dominates the American
landscape every fall. And, hey, there are some decent local teams, too. :)
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| 220 responses total. |
gelinas
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response 1 of 220:
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Sep 23 07:33 UTC 2000 |
Looking forward to tomorrow night's game.
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senna
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response 2 of 220:
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Sep 23 07:34 UTC 2000 |
Two of the biggest games in the country involve UM and MSU this weekend.
Surprising Notre Dame invades Spartan Stadium at 3:30 in possibly the best
game of the day. Intellectually, I think that the Spartans have the better
team, and they should be able to cue up being TJ Duckett and put away the
Irish. However, Notre Dame has won twice and gone to overtime with the top
team in the country so far with no explicable reason. They'll at least find
a way to keep it close.
Michigan-Illinois gets on the run at 7:30 on ESPN. It's hard to tell who will
pull this one out. A lot depends on Anthony Thomas' confidence on the
Memorial Stadium astroturf. Past visits to artificially surfaced stadiums
have yielded less than spectacular results for Thomas, but if he can continue
his terrific form, we're in good shape.
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senna
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response 3 of 220:
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Sep 23 07:34 UTC 2000 |
Joe slipped in. So am I :)
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bdh3
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response 4 of 220:
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Sep 23 09:15 UTC 2000 |
'footbal'? I mean come on! American 'football' is to the real sport of
'footbal' aka 'soccer' what 'rap' music is to something that actually
is. A primitive simulation of a real game.
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gelinas
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response 5 of 220:
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Sep 23 09:16 UTC 2000 |
It's still fun to watch.
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bdh3
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response 6 of 220:
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Sep 23 09:21 UTC 2000 |
Come on. American 'football' is an industry where steroid abusing
robots go up against one another to move a silly shaped 'ball' where as
'soccer' - the true 'football' is where actual skill and strategy are
important and matter.
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mary
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response 7 of 220:
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Sep 23 13:34 UTC 2000 |
Football is one of the best uses for testosterone I can imagine.
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danr
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response 8 of 220:
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Sep 23 19:12 UTC 2000 |
<danr tries to figure out from that last response whether or not mary likes
football.>
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gelinas
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response 9 of 220:
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Sep 24 02:56 UTC 2000 |
This is not a good game. Navarre had trouble, and the officials did too.
And I don't much like the new rule allowing intentional grounding.
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ea
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response 10 of 220:
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Sep 24 03:45 UTC 2000 |
I don't like the excessive celebration rule. Larry Foote turned toward
HIS OWN BENCH, and NODDED. That was all he did. But somehow, the ref
seemed to think that that was a violation that merited 15 yards plus a
first down. Those refs were truly very very bad.
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senna
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response 11 of 220:
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Sep 24 03:50 UTC 2000 |
Actually, that was the Syracuse bench. I still think it was a bit harsh, but
we fought through it. We got really lucky today. It makes up for a lot of
the bad luck we've had earlier, but it's lucky nonetheless. Henson lit a fire
under the entire team. Any questions I've had about him are all but answered.
If he can sustain this all year... oh my, the points we'll score.
Mary understands one of the best points of football. And I wonder how much
beady really understand about futbol. :)
Yet another big day of upsets. And South Carolina is 4-0. This is turning
into a good year.
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gelinas
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response 12 of 220:
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Sep 24 03:52 UTC 2000 |
Syracuse had a bench in Champaign? Neat.
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ea
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response 13 of 220:
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Sep 24 04:00 UTC 2000 |
UM doesn't play Syracuse this year, thankfully.
Syracuse got beat 34-17 by East Carolina. This is not Troy Nunes' year.
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sno
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response 14 of 220:
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Sep 24 12:06 UTC 2000 |
Some thoughts about the Michigan vs. Illinois game...
It appears to me that Michigan has some serious coaching problems. For
example, how do you not train your kicker to take a safety when the snap
is so badly handled in your own end zone? The moment Epstein got his
hands on the ball, he should have collapsed into a fetal position. Also,
while it was GREAT that the defense, and especially Foote, sniffed out
the end-around play in the fourth quarter, Foote made a serious mistake.
Michigan has been the recipient of favorable calls against their
opponent when that opponent made an excessive display toward the fans.
If I recall, Plaxico Burress was flagged for excessive celebration
in Michigan's end zone last year. A player just DOES NOT turn to the
crowd to display their satisfaction. That's FREEKING taunting.
Celebrate with your teammates. Always. Every member of the team
should get a warning that they will be pulled from the game if they
don't learn from Foote's example.
Navarre is going to be one very fine collegiate quarterback someday.
Just not now. Against lesser teams like Rice and Bowling Green his
weaknesses were not so damning. Fortunately, his ability is
excellent, so he can learn to look-off potential receivers rather than
telegraph his every pass. It was mostly his own fault for having to
make very tough passes into major coverage. When he attempted to
redirect his gaze, his timing to is primary (and only) receiver was
way off. Just hope that Henson doesn't get hurt before Navarre
matures. If Henson stays healthy, Michigan has an excellent future at
quarterback for four years.
This defense looks like it may be in deep doo-doo. The defensive
backs were clueless this game. Yes, the Illini sophomore quarterback
plays like a senior. The defense was very lucky. Illinois could pass
at will. All they had to do was catch the ball. This could have been
a slaughter. At least the Michigan defense shut down the Illini run
in the second half.
Fumbles... oh, my god. Did Michigan walk away from three major flubs
by the officials or what? The first major Illinois fumble should have
been a downed ball. In what world does a helmet and a ball touching
the ground at the same time NOT constitute the completion of a play.
It was a fantastic picture of the Illini player, having been flipped
by a great stick, literally touching the ball down on the ground while
standing on his head. When the ball popped loose, it was called a
fumble and Michigan recovered. BAH!
The A. Train clearly fumbled inside the ten yard line on that scoring
drive. Perhaps we had the benefit of TV replay, and perhaps that
would have been a fumble easily missed at any time. In any case, it
certainly should have been a fumble and turn-over.
Finally, the second major Illinois fumble in the fourth quarter; the
player is on the ground, on his back, getting the ball speared out of
his arms by a hit that was driving the player into the ground. The
man was down. The ball comes out. Michigan recovers. They run out
the clock.
This does not bode well for Michigan Football and the fans this year.
We thought we had a top ten team, but perhaps not. I expect at least
one more major loss this season... maybe two. If the coaching staff
fixes some of these problems, we might, just might get through the Big
Ten season with the Championship. However, someone on the staff has
forgotten to train these men in proper procedure in tight situations.
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bdh3
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response 15 of 220:
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Sep 24 14:26 UTC 2000 |
I bet they get to say "Yo, XX wassup?" and the coach huddles in fear...
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albaugh
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response 16 of 220:
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Sep 24 21:49 UTC 2000 |
sno, take a chill pill, and lose the "does not bode well" hysteria. As far
as the fumbles go, the first one is certainly debatable, as it is possible
that the helmet did touch the ground before the ball came out of control of
the player's hands. That wasn't the worst part of that play, however: Replay
showed clearly that the player recovered the ball himself before Michigan came
up with it (i.e. by ripping it out during the pileup). However, that play
was 3rd and long, and came up short of the 1st down, so Michigan would have
gotten the ball anyway, just not there (plus there was an illegal block on
Illinois to boot, which Michigan would have refused).
Thomas did clearly lose control of the ball (due to a hard secondary hit)
before his knee was down, and so it should have been a fumble and a live ball
(which an Illinois player did recover, but after the whistle).
The 3rd fumble was clearly a fumble, the player was not down, and the Michigan
player knocked it out with a hard helmet or shoulder pad hit. If you didn't
see that from the replay, you were already asleep.
Yes, the honeymoon is over for Navarre, as this was the 2nd game against a
real opponent that he couldn't get it done. What a shame that Henson couldn't
play at UCLA, he would have made the difference (of course, UCLA lost its
first string quarterback, too). Epstein continues to struggle, and the stupid
wrong-footed punt from the end zone is inexcusable: You take the safety, and
keep Illinois behind in the score.
Now that Northwestern has softened up Wisconsin, look for a strong Michigan
performance back home in Ann Arbor.
MSU should thank its lucky stars that Notre Dame can't figure out how to
tackle on 4th and 10 with the game on the line.
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senna
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response 17 of 220:
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Sep 25 04:21 UTC 2000 |
Or stay on its feet. I dont' see many coaching problems this year. The team
actually looks noticeably better coached than last year. The running game
is working well, the play selection is good, and the game plan only needs
execution to work. I'm actually kind of annoyed that Carr doesn't get
mentioned in the same breath as the other premier coaches in college football,
but I think I can deal with a little anonymity to sneak up on people.
The Lions won! Surprise, surprise. After blowing a 14 point lead on the road
to Chicago, you figure it's going to be another one of *those* games. Yet
we won. That alone really demonstrates something that's been missing in past
seasons. (Another thing that's been missing in *those* games has typically
been Charlie Batch... coincidence?)
Best stories? The Jets incredible comeback against the Bucs (Keyshawn
Johnson: 1 catch for 1 yard) and the San Francisco-Dallas "turf war" in which
Terrell Owwens attempted to claim the Star in the center of the Cowboys' field
for himself. Emmitt Smith responded by running to it after a touchdown of
his own and reclaiming it. Owens would have answered had he not been hit by
a Dallas Player (whose name escapes meA) just as he was arriving at midfield
after another touchdown.
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gelinas
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response 18 of 220:
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Sep 25 04:39 UTC 2000 |
Why didn't that first exhibition draw a "celebration" penalty? Or did it,
and the highlight films not show the aftermath?
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ric
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response 19 of 220:
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Sep 25 13:13 UTC 2000 |
That celebration penality was pure bullshit. The fumble calls were bad (at
least, the Thomas fumble was obviously bad)
Of course, Michigan probably wouldn't have been in that situation at all had
Henson *STARTED* the game.
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senna
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response 20 of 220:
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Sep 25 17:26 UTC 2000 |
Precisely. I'm trying not to dwell on that, though.
The Terrell Owens exhibition, you mean? Celebration rules are substantially
different in the NFL.
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jep
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response 21 of 220:
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Sep 25 20:07 UTC 2000 |
I can't believe Michigan was awarded the win on Saturday. The
officiating was very bad on two of the last three turnover calls at the
end of the game.
I don't understand having an "excessive celebration" rule in college
football. These are college kids. Why are they held to tighter
standards than professional football players? It doesn't make sense to
me.
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senna
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response 22 of 220:
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Sep 26 05:16 UTC 2000 |
Indianapolis just blew away Jacksonville in the second half. Not bad
entertainment.
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sno
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response 23 of 220:
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Sep 26 13:24 UTC 2000 |
When I reviewed the 3rd fumble on Michigan Replay, it was clearly a fumble.
Illinois lost the ball legitmately, and to the benefit of the Wolverines.
I'm glad that Michigan won the game. I'm not so sure they deserved it.
If the staff takes this game as a coaching tool, perhaps Michigan will
survive the Big Ten and be champs this year. Otherwise, we'll see them
on an alternate Bowl game on New Years day. The only way we won't
is if they really muck up, or they somehow contend for National Champs.
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krj
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response 24 of 220:
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Sep 26 16:04 UTC 2000 |
On the Michigan QB situation: I believe I read in the A2 News that
the doctors had recommended that Henson play no more than one half
in last Saturday's game. So it's no surprise that he didn't start.
I'm not up on the details of his broken foot, but it wouldn't
surprise me if Navarre starts next week as well, just to burn some
time off the clock.
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