Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Week 6

One of Tennessee's state senators is a member of the 'NASCAR party'. Would I make that up?

Listening to announcers talk about Brett Favre is positively nauseating.

"Running into the kicker" is a ridiculous penalty. Football is a full contact sport and players are aggressively trying to block punts in the same way they aggressively go after everything else. Why can't you run into the kicker?!?! Even if we accept that kickers and punters are total wusses and need to be coddled, why is the penalty called on the slightest contact, even when the contact is an attempt to block the kick? Roughing the passer, as imperfect a rule as it is, has a clear definition and purpose. The definition is a late or excessively dangerous(head shots) hit on the quarterback, and the purpose is to protect quarterbacks, since good quarterbacks are fairly rare and the quality of the game goes down substantially when they get injured. Punters and kickers, on the other hand, are treated as practically interchangeable-evidence in the draft and their pay. Running into/roughing the kicker, on the other hand, applies to any hit on the kicker, late or not. Yes, kicking the ball makes the kicker somewhat vulnerable, so some rule needs to protect him, but this is bullshit. And the kickers are diving now too! That is what happened in

Texas v Oklahoma

-Early 4th quarter, a horrible "running into the kicker" penalty gives Oklahoma a first down. Oklahoma's kicker clearly dove...does college or pro football have a "diving" penalty? They go on to score an undeserved touchdown.

-Down 38-35 with 7 minutes left, Oklahoma faced 4th and 2 somewhere near midfield. Coach Bob Stoops sends in the punter! You've dropped 35 on this defense and you don't think you can gain 2 yards?? You've given up 38-you think you're at all likely to get a defensive stop? No! The most likely scenario is you get the ball back down 10 with 3 minutes left and have basically no chance to win. You absolutely cannot afford to forego the opportunity the current drive presents. Boom goes the punt, V writes "game over" in his (imaginary) notebook. Result-Oklahoma gets the ball back down 10 with 3 minutes left, has no chance to win, doesn't.

Clemson @ *note to self: look up who Clemson played*

-Clemson went for it on 4th and 19 with 4 minutes left down by 4. In college, there is no 2-minute warning, so the game is even closer to over than it would be in a pro game-and I always argue that on defense, this is far less time than it appears to be. ESPN's talking heads spent the rest of the game arguing about this "gamble" and the balls it took to go for it. What should take balls is kicking away the game with 4 minutes left and then facing your team and telling them you don't think they're worthy of an opportunity to win. That is all. Result: First down! Coach is a genius!

Dallas @ Arizona

-Romo drops back to the end zone, is twisting and about to be sacked for a safety, loses the ball, touchdown Arizona. Romo stands up, tells his coach to challenge, his arm was going forward. Challenge, call overturned. incomplete pass. The replay shows that Romo's arm was indeed going forward. However, he was so twisted that HE RELEASED THE BALL BACKWARDS! It was a live ball and the touchdown should have stood. Nice job forgetting the rules, refs. Nice job not noticing this either, everyone else. That was a crime against football and I'm really glad Arizona won in the end, even though their coach is a douchebag who wastes our time trying to ice the kicker. But whose isn't?

-Really really clean punt block in overtime. Guy practically took the ball off the punter's foot. And the guy said in the postgame that they weren't even running a punt block play! That's some seriously bad protection...


Pastriots @ SD

-Matt Cassel is inaccurate with the deep ball. The secondary is weak, especially Deltha O'Neal. The linebackers are slow. The right side of the line is manned by bad backups(RG Steven Neal has been out, RT Nick Kaczur got carted off Sunday). A quick nod to how important and underrated a factor avoiding injuries is to a team's success. Still, I expected Belichick to be more prepared than this.

I just took a look at that Palin Newsweek cover. Wow, she looks TERRIBLE! Look at all the flaws in her face! I know I'm splitting hairs here, but she has flaws in her cheek, eyes, forehead, nose, etc. And speaking of split hairs...

IT'S HOCKEY SEASON!!!!!!!!!!!!11111ONEONEONE