The Terrell Owens Injury, And Why Drew Rosenhaus Is A Magician
Despite news of Terrell Owens’ ACL injury, his agent Drew Rosenhaus says that TO won’t retire. Instead, he could be ready by opening day of the 2011 season.
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The Terrell Owens Injury, And Why Drew Rosenhaus Is A Magician
Despite news of Terrell Owens’ ACL injury, his agent Drew Rosenhaus says that TO won’t retire. Instead, he could be ready by opening day of the 2011 season. The magician has done it again, folks. Plus: Mexico’s awful fans, beast mode(s), rappers and ballers, and Michael Bay’s ongoing performance art.
Talking Points is a daily series that runs down some of the best stories in sports (and elsewhere). Read the archives here.
We know Terrell Owens tore his ACL sometime this offseason, but beyond that, the details are sketchy. Maybe it happened while he was shooting his reality series for VH1. If so, we’re talking about one of the top ten most hilarious football injuries in the past 25 years.
Or maybe it just happened during his infamous workout sessions in L.A.
Maybe it happened in early June, and he’s expected to be out at least six months. Maybe that means it’s the end of his football career altogether. Or maybe it happened back in April, and TO’s going to be ready to play by the start of the regular season. Wait, what?
Indeed, that’s the word coming Drew Rosenhaus’ camp. As Pro Football Talk notes, Rosenhaus said today, “Terrell Owens will be ready and playing at the start of the season.” Elsewhere, Rosenhaus explained that the injury we heard about last week actually happened this spring, and the rehabilitation process is well underway. Any talk of retirement is “nonsense.”
So what do really know? Drew Rosenhaus is insanely good at what he does. Is he lying through his teeth? Is he full-on delusional? Wouldn’t 90 percent of NFL teams and media want to strangle him for keeping them in the dark like this? The questions provide their own sort of answer. All you need to know about Drew Rosenhaus is that he’s really, really good at his job.
Somehow, over the course of 24 hours, a torn ACL has become a blip on the radar, and instead of talking about TO’s potential legacy this afternoon, everyone’s wondering how soon he can return. That, my friends, is the sign of a possibly-insane-possibly-evil-but-definitely-kickass agent.?
As much as we all love Jerry Maguire–a movie that Rosenahus consulted for–I think we’re overdue for a Wall Street-type movie about seedy sports agents, and the moral gray area they inhabit professionally. You would need a Gordon Gekko-type character for it to really work. And who better than the agent who wrote a memoir called “A Shark Never Sleeps”??
Drew Rosenhaus is too good to make up. With that, let’s get into Talking Points…
Mexican Soccer Fans Sound Pretty Awful. Matt Ufford at With Leather vents his frustrations with writers championing the “American” presence at Saturday’s Gold Cup final, where Mexico fans outnumbered U.S. supporters by 4-to-1.
But the kicker is the e-mail he shares from a reader who went to cheer for America:
When we got to the stadium, my ticket was for a US supporter’s section that was full of Mexican fans, so my friend told the security guard there was no way he would leave me alone to sit, and I was going to sit with the rest of my group.?? As the stadium filled in, we were shocked to see how few US fans were at the game, more shocked that we scored first.? We went nuts in our section and the stadium went silent, same when the second goal was scored.? When Mexico scored their first goal, we were showered with beer cups, half full water and coke bottles.? One US fan had to leave because he was hit with a glass bottle.? Security at the Rose Bowl didn’t care.? Didn’t give a sh*t.
Second goal again we are getting pelted, so eventually, my guy friends would push us to the ground when Mexico would score and stand behind us to protect us from the debris being showered on us.? When the game ended, we all ran to our cars and got the hell out of the stadium.? Again not all the Mexican fans were bad, many of them shook our hands as we exited the stadium and told us better luck next time.
As Ufford notes, “There’s a minefield of racism and xenophobia to navigate here.” So it’s tricky. But I think it’s possible to say that Mexican soccer fans sound like some of the most obnoxious people on earth without incriminating Mexicans as a whole, or turning this into some jingoistic sermon on the evils of immigration.
The Debate Over Sabermetrics Rages On. Over at Grantland today, Jonah Lehrer weighs in on the rise of advanced stats (sabermetrics), and why that can sometimes be misleading:
This is largely the fault of sabermetrics. Although the tool was designed to deal with the independent interactions of pitchers and batters, it’s now being widely applied to team sports, such as football and basketball. The goal of these new equations is to parse the complexity of people playing together, finding ways to measure quarterbacks while disregarding the quality of their offensive line, or assessing a point guard while discounting the poor shooting of his teammates. The underlying assumption is that a team is just the sum of its players, and that the real world works a lot like a fantasy league.
The spirit of the argument makes sense to me, but I’d rather not to elaborate, lest I risk a scathing rebuttal from my friend and colleague, Tomzilla, who went into beast mode picking apart Lehrer’s argument. (You know, as much as anyone can go into “beast mode” championing the value of advanced metrics weighted against context and common sense.)
Speaking Of Beast Mode… That’s Harrison Barnes next year. Consider yourselves warned.
Do You Live In LA? Then Why Haven’t You Bought Tickets Yet? Seriously.
The NBA Lockout Explained In One, Simple Infographic. Via Tom Ziller again:
An Up Close Look At Michael Bay. That would be the Michael Bay who directed Transformers, Pearl Harbor, and a host of other big budget movies that might have killed a little piece of whatever integrity Hollywood has left. But if anyone’s going to apologize for blowing s**t up, it won’t be Michael Bay. Among the quotes from GQ’s Oral History of Transformers (which is hilarious just for existing), these were a few of my favorites from Michael Bay:
“I’m, like, a true American.”?
“This guy called me in from Capitol Records—he was a hard-ass marine, kinda scary in the meeting. He said, “If you can wrap this Donny Osmond video up for $165,000…” Meanwhile, I’m like two weeks out of school. The most I’ve ever spent is $5,000. I ended up getting paid $500. But I got to make my first thing.”
“By week two, Martin [Lawerence] was being a dick to me [on the set of Bad Boys]. And I was like, “What is this attitude?” He didn’t trust the white man. That was the deal.
“He was just a studio flunky. I was literally going to punch him out.”
“I had United States SEALs holding him down because there was a fireball going over the water, and if he came up, he would burn his face off.”
“I don’t change my style for anybody. Pussies do that.”
“Well, it was only two [blonds]. But that was two in a row. Normally I don’t go out with blonds.”
“You gotta stay focused. And you know, the Hitler thing…”
The whole thing’s pretty amazing, but really, Michael Bay is the insane nucleus at the center of it all. If he didn’t make such terrible movies, his insanity might make him kinda admirable, the same way we love Ron Artest and Lenny Dykstra. Maybe it’s all performance art, and Michael Bay’s turned his career and persona into an elaborate satire of Hollywood.
In any case, thanks to Eric Freeman for the tip.
An Epic Rant. You don’t even have to like wrestling to appreciate the way CM Punk went after the WWE last night. In five short minutes, he manages to lay into Vince McMahon, John Cena, The Rock, and wrestling fans, who want his autograph “because you’re too lazy to get a real job.” And THAT is how you leave a job. Shades of Scarface’s exit in Half Baked.
Why Do All Ballers Wanna Be Rappers? In honor of my ode to obscure NBA rap songs from the mid-90s, a 1999 piece from Sports Illustrated on the connection between music and sports. It’s hilarious for its almost surreal 90s-ness, but also kind of enlightening:
It was the phattest hookup in the entertainment industry: Celebrities and bigwigs came from all over the country to witness an annual event featuring some of America’s most gifted and flamboyant athletes and musicians.
The 1998 NBA All-Star Game? Super Bowl XXXIII? Try the East-West Classic, the Negro leagues all-star game staged in Chicago during the ’30s and ’40s. Singer Lena Horne, boxer Joe Louis and slugger Josh Gibson might have shared a table at a smoky club while legendary trumpeter Louis Armstrong blew his lungs out. On game day Muddy Waters and T-Bone Walker might have joined Count Basie and Duke Ellington in marveling at pitcher Satchel Paige. “Part of the motivation for making the all-star team was to get to Chicago for that night with Satchmo and Satch,” says longtime Grateful Dead vocalist and guitarist Bob Weir, who is cowriting and producing a musical about Paige.
Yes, come for the corniness of the Sports Illustrated commentary, but stay for the anecdotes. Whether it’s Lena Horne and Joe Louis, or Larry Bird and Jerry Garcia at a Grateful Dead show that Bill Walton dragged him to, it all paints a vivid picture of a world of completely off limits, unless you’re a superstar. That’s why it remains completely fascinating to the rest of us.
Finally, We End With Dennis Scott. While “researching” for that piece on mid-90s NBA rappers, I came across this video, and it’s might just be my favorite thing I’ve ever found on YouTube.
Krylia Sovetov’s Dismissal Of Alexander Tarkhanov Indicitive Of Short-Term Thinking In Russia
The dismissal of Krylia Sovetov’s manager Alexander Tarkhanov is the seventh managerial sacking in just sixteen rounds of the Russian Premier League season and illustrates a worrying trend of short-termism in Russian soccer.
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Krylia Sovetov’s Dismissal Of Alexander Tarkhanov Indicitive Of Short-Term Thinking In Russia
The dismissal of Krylia Sovetov’s manager Alexander Tarkhanov is the seventh managerial sacking in just sixteen rounds of the Russian Premier League season and illustrates a worrying trend of short-termism in Russian soccer.
Khimki, just outside of Moscow, was founded in 1939, around the base of a railway station that formed part of the linking network between capitals old and new; St Petersburg and Moscow. The city has significance for soccer fans as the imaginatively named Arena Khimki provides a home for both Dinamo Moscow and CSKA Moscow on occasion but there is also relevance found with the plight of the area’s prestigious Khimki Forest.
The forest has recently been subject to an ongoing dispute between the authorities and a grass-roots network of resistance, following the announcement that an $8 billion high speed roadway would cut through through the centre of the forest that links (those two again) Moscow and St Petersburg. The roadway would lead to deforestation but, more importantly for the authorities, the felling of greenery would lead to a substantial decrease in journey time between the two cities. This desire to achieve results fast and a lack of patience at the expense of wider benefit gives us our, albeit tenuous, link with the Russian soccer scene.
The sacking of Krylia Sovetov head coach Alexander Tarkhanov on June 28 brought the managerial chopping board round to its seventh suitor – just sixteen rounds into the Russian Premier League season. That figure, however, discounts Valeriy Karpin, the eight manager to have lost his job, who resigned from his position at Spartak but was then persuaded to stay on following a lack of suitable candidates. ?The desire of the Russian authorities to build a high speed link-up between Moscow and St Petersburg mirrors the lack of patience of Russian club’s directors and owners. The difference being that, in terms of the clubs, its the managers rather than the trees that are being felled in favour of impatience and a wish for immediate results.
This worrying trend illustrates what could become a serious thorn in the side of Russian soccer as the continuous signing and shredding of managerial contracts hampers the development of clubs. This has been seen with the recent torrid form of Lokomotiv Moscow, following the dismissal of Yuri Krasnozhan. The negative effects of this managerial merry-go-round, commonly found in the English Premier League, have also appeared at Lokomotiv’s neighbours Spartak Moscow where the club’s directors failed to attract a wide list of possible candidates – including former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri. Ultimately, they ran back, tails between legs, to the already resigned Valery Karpin.
Whilst the problems and the effects are clear the solutions are not so. The Russian leagues have now closed down for a month-long summer jaunt as the domestic campaign changes from the traditional summer schedule to the winter schedule used in western Europe. This prolonged break should act as welcome relief for managers who may well expect to keep their jobs over the next four weeks. Many of the big movers in the Premier League will be spending the summer acquiring players, with Zenit already bringing in the Italian Domenic Criscito. Crucially, though, the managers that have been trusted to spend such sums must be compensated by directors and owners with the relevant time to shape their squads.
Generally, stability has escaped the Russian Premier League’s clubs in recent years with both Leonid Slutsky and Luciano Spalletti looking likely to walk the plank at one stage or another over the past two seasons. These two managers, after escaping dismissal, now see their sides sitting first and second respectively – a reminder that stability rather than short-termism and impatience offers a more suitable model of how to run a football club.?
On that note, Russian President Dimitri Medvedev reacted to the grass-roots protestors and has called off, at least for now, the creation of the high speed roadway, meaning that the Khimki trees have escaped the felling that many feared. Russia’s managers must also be hoping that the powers at be show a similar degree of patience and do away with the culture of splurging money on players and then sacking the manager when results turn slightly towards the shape of that proverbial fruit. ?It is also interesting to note the nationality of the owner of the English Premier League club most known for hiring and firing in recent years. It appears that short-termism really is in fashion with the Russians, wouldn’t you say, Mr. Abramovich?
Sabine Lisicki And Wildcards At Wimbledon: Three Great, Unexpected Semifinal Runs
Sabine Lisicki became just the third wildcard in Wimbledon history to reach the semifinals or better with her win on Tuesday.
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Sabine Lisicki And Wildcards At Wimbledon: Three Great, Unexpected Semifinal Runs
Sabine Lisicki became just the third wildcard in Wimbledon history to reach the semifinals or better with her win on Tuesday. We take a look back at all three performances.
On Tuesday, Sabine Lisicki advanced to the semifinals of Wimbledon 2011 as a wildcard, an extremely rare feat at the All-England Club. In fact, since the Open Era began in 1968, only two other times has a competitor who needed a wildcard berth to enter Wimbledon been able to make it to the semifinals (or better) of the most prestigious of the grand slams. Lisicki is the third.
Here’s a look at the three wildcards over the last 43 years who have been able to overcome the odds to make it to the last four at the All-England Club.
2001 — Goran Ivanisevic (Croatia) — Champion
It wasn’t until 2001 that a wild card was able to make it late into the second week of Wimbledon. And by the time 2001 came around, big serving Goran Ivanisevic was no stranger to the business end of Wimbledon. The 30-year-old Croatian had made the finals of Wimbledon three times previously, in 1992, 1994, and 1998, losing the first to Andre Agassi and the second two to Pete Sampras. Ivanisevic had also lost in the semifinals twice, in 1990 and 1995. But eleven years after his first run to the semifinals, Ivanisevic’s window of opportunity seemed long closed.
Without a single win in his previous four grand slam appearances (including an embarrassing loss in the first round of qualifying at the Australian Open), Ivanisevic’s ranking had dropped all the way down to No. 125, necessitating a wild card into the 2001 tournament. The All-England Club granted the wild card, which many saw as a a gesture designed to let Ivanisevic bow out of the sport at what had been the site of his biggest successes (and heartbreaks).
But Ivanisevic did not bow quickly. After beating Swedish qualifier Fredrik Jonsson in the first round, Ivanisevic upset No. 20 seed Carlos Moya in the second round. He then knocked off two fellow big servers in the third and fourth rounds, American Andy Roddick (only 18 at the time) and Briton Greg Rusedski.
By the time he reached the quarterfinals, Ivanisevic was the story of the tournament. He had the crowds fully behind him in his quarterfinal victory over No. 4 Marat Safin, and their begrudging respect during his five-set semifinal upset of their favorite son, No. 6 Tim Henman.
Facing two-time grand slam champion No. 3 Patrick Rafter in the final, Ivanisevic was again a heavy underdog. But the two fought each other evenly for hours on end, with rain and darkness pushing the final into Monday, the first time in Wimbledon history that had happened. Ivanisevic finally claimed the first break of the fifth set in the fifteenth game, and served out the championship successfully, beating Rafter 6-3, 3-6. 6-3, 2-6, 9-7 for his first Wimbledon title, winning what many considered the most exciting Wimbledon final of all time.
Ivanisevic did not defend his Wimbledon title the next year, but did receive another wild card into the tournament in 2004. He lost that year in the third round, falling to 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt in straight sets.
2008 — Zheng Jie (China) — Semifinalist
Until Wimbledon 2008, 5′4” Zheng Jie was known more for her success in doubles than in singles. Having won the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2006 in doubles, Zheng’s achievements as part of a pair far outshone anything she (or any other Chinese player, for that matter) had done by themselves in singles.
But at Wimbledon 2008, that all changed.
Zheng, whose ranking had fallen to No. 133 due to ankle injuries, was granted a wild card into the singles draw based on her previous doubles successes in the tournament.
She justified the All-England Club’s generosity quickly, beating No. 30 Dominika Cibulkova (an eventual 2011 Wimbledon quarterfinalist) in the first round. In the second round, Zheng beat another wild card, Englishwoman Elena Baltacha.
But Zheng’s success reached an entirely different stratus in the third round, as she crushed recent French Open champion and world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic 61, 6-4 in the third round (a loss from which some might say that Ivanovic has never fully recovered).
Though a letdown would have been understandable, Zheng marched on, beating No. 15 Agnes Szavay in the fourth round and No. 18 Nicole Vaidisova in the quarterfinals, becoming the first wild card to make the semifinals of the Ladies’ Singles draw.
Zheng’s run was only stopped by No. 6 Serena Williams, who finally eliminated Zheng in an extremely competitive second set tiebreak.
Zheng made her second career grand slam semifinal at the 2010 Australian Open, but has yet to advance past the second round of Wimbledon in the three attempts since her magical run in 2008.
2011 — Sabine Lisicki (Germany) — Semifinalist (or better)
Though only 21-years-old, Sabine Lisicki has had a career’s worth of injuries.
A badly sprained ankle during match point at the 2009 US Open saw her leave that tournament in a wheelchair, and severe cramping at the 2011 French Open saw her carried off the court on a stretcher.
With injuries causing her ranking to be well outside the top 100 at the cutoff date for entries, Lisicki needed a wild card to enter Wimbledon 2011.? The All-England Club came through for her, their decision no doubt influenced by Lisicki’s impressive run at the AEGON Classic in Birmingham two weeks before, which Lisicki won without dropping a set.
That title bumped Lisicki up to No. 62 when Wimbledon 2011 began, but still left her well out of consideration for seeding at Wimbledon.
After easily dispatching Latvian Anastasija Sevastova in the first round, Lisicki drew 2011 French Open champion No. 3 Li Na in the second.? The two battled ferociously for hours, trading monster forehand winners in front of a captivated Centre Court crowd.? But it was Lisicki’s serve that made the difference in the end, with aces coming in at up to 124 MPH saving match points and eventually securing a 3-6, 6-4, 8-6 upset.
It was Lisicki’s second career win over the reigning French Open champion at Wimbledon, having previously upset Svetlana Kuznetsova on her way to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon 2009.?
Lisicki took care of business in each of her next two wins, knocking off Japanese qualifier Misaki Doi (who herself had eliminated the aforementioned Zheng Jie), and Czech Petra Cetkovska to make the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the second time.
And in that quarterfinal Lisicki came up big again, outlasting No. 9 Marion Bartoli 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-1, showing an impressive amount of conditioning for a woman who had been carried off court due to cramping only weeks before.
No. 5 Maria Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon champion, is the only player standing between Lisicki and becoming the first female wild card to make the Wimbledon final.? It won’t be an easy match for Lisicki by any means (especially considering the 6-1, 6-1 drubbing Sharapova put on No. 24 Dominika Cibulkova in their quarterfinal).? But since Lisicki has already won so many matches against steep historical odds, a three-time grand slam champion can’t be much tougher.
Somethin To Groove To: Reliving The NBA’s Best Worst Rappers Of All Time
It’s summer and the NBA’s on the verge of a lockout. Depressed
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Somethin To Groove To: Reliving The NBA’s Best Worst Rappers Of All Time
It’s summer and the NBA’s on the verge of a lockout. Depressed? We’ve got the antidote. Let’s take a look back at a different era, when it was okay for NBA players to embarrass themselves by recording a bunch of terrible, terrible rap music.
The NBA Draft has come and gone and the sports world centers on college baseball, women’s tennis, and a series of labor disputes, and it can only mean one thing — yep, it’s officially summer in the sports world. The dog days. That time of year when sports fans all decide, “Hmm… Maybe I should read a book.”
It’s rough out there. But it’s also an opportunity to shine light on news that would otherwise be irrelevant. For instance, back when the NBA Playoffs were in full swing, when Dallas was battling Kevin Durant and the Thunder and Derrick Rose was going toe to toe with LeBron and the Heat, I discovered a YouTube channel that had me captivated for almost an hour. We couldn’t write about it then, because obviously, the best playoff season in 20 years took precedent.
Now, though? What else do we talk about? College baseball? Wimbledon? The soul crushing realities of collective bargaining in pro sports? No, it’s time to discuss Dana Barros’ hip hop career.
You didn’t think someone named “Dana” could ever be credible rapper, did you? Pfft… That’s like saying you’d need to have actual talent to record a rap song. If you’re an NBA basketball player, some rules just don’t apply. Witness 1994’s “Check It” from Dana Barros:
Mad dough’s what I made when I played,
Crossover? Hell no, Dana B’s paid,
I stay strapped, mad brothers wanna step to this,
My 850 BMW’s hard to miss,
I’m bout to blast like a homicidal psychopath,
… My mentality is loco, want some of this?[Chorus]
I said hold ya head son, it’ll only take a second,
(Check it out now!)
Come onnnn while I wreck it
Obviously this sort of thing could never, ever happen in 2011. If an athlete released a song like this today, it’d make its way around the internet within 24 hours, lead to widescale ridicule, and then probably a suspension because, “I’m bout to blast like a homicidal psychopath”? But that’s why 2011 sucks.
In 2011, athletes are hyper self-aware, to the point where almost everything LeBron James does is calculated for how it’ll play with public perception. We can tell it’s all calculated, though, which is why almost everything LeBron does backfires horribly, and leaves him looking contrived and desperate (at best) or clueless and soulless (at worst). Back in 1994, we didn’t have these problems, and Shaq could release multiple hip hop albums with blinking an eye.
Athletes were just starting to get paid ridiculous amounts of money, but the scrutiny wasn’t nearly as intense, so these overnight millionaires were free to float around without any semblance of self-awareness. This explains pretty everything Deion Sanders did between 1989 and 1997, but more to the point, it helps explain how a collection of C-list NBA stars got together and recorded a hip-hop album together.
The album’s called Basketball’s Best Kept Secret and it includes 90s cult heroes like JR Rider, Chris Mills, Cedric Ceballos, Dennis Scott, and Malik Sealy, along with some bonafide NBA legends like Gary Payton, Shaquille O’Neal, and Jason Kidd. Because really, who could forget Kidd’s lyrical gymnastics on “What The Kidd Did (featuring Money B)”?
J-Kidd from the town,
OOOOO-A-K,
peep game from a newcomer, so they say,
I’m the new Kidd on the block,
but they jock stilllll,
I got skills with the rock.
You may recognize this song because it surfaced during the Western Conference Finals, when everyone collectively responded with, “Wait, Seriously?” to the idea that Jason Kidd ever recorded a rap song. Because, um… It’s Jason Kidd! You’d be hard pressed to find a less likely MC in the entire NBA (mostly because his voice makes him sound like a therapist). Nevertheless, it was the mid-90s, people were taking chances, and he was the new Kidd on the block (GET IT?).
But for my money, Kidd’s high school rival will always be cooler. And of all the players featured on B-Ball’s Best Kept Secret, Gary Payton’s probably the only one that actually carried himself like a hip-hop star. Or at least a hype man. Livin Leeeegal and Larrrrrge:
{chorus, singing}
Livin leeeegal and large,
GP’s the man in charge,
He’s got his gaaaaame on you{verse 1}
Comin up as a youngster, the G had faith,
I always pray to God that I make it one day,
And now my dreams aliiiiive,
My used to tell me that you gotta strive,
to be the best that you can be, to survive,
Now I’m livin legal and larrrrrge,
Got a fat bank account, and a bunch of credit cards,
Makin the opponents bow down on the court,
If you wanna (????) with me, it’s cause I love the sport,
Have the fans yellin for joy, because I’m bounin the ball,
Blowup like Sha’Nay Nay, they call me payday,
The big ball handler, give ya what ya want,
Slam dunk, hit a three, talk a little junk (HUH!),
It’s all good if you feelin inferior,
Cuz I’m superior, much better than the expert,
Me and my crew sticks tight when we step in the club,
You know how it get, when I’m high and it’s riiiiiight
The chorus has a real mid-90s feel, doesn’t it?
Seems like it could have made the New Jack City or Juice soundtracks. And regardless of talent, you have to respect that an NBA All-Star is rapping about having a lot of credit cards and being the big ball handler that gives you what you want (pause?). It’s all good if you feelin inferior.
There’s so much more, too. Like Malik Sealy’s record, “Lost In The Sauce” which is either A.) a grunge rock ode to alcohism, or B.) a sunny, autobiographical success story that urges young fans to avoid getting caught in depression. Go ahead, take a guess. The lyrics:
I dunk it on you from the DOTTT-TED,
If you actin like you want it then you GOTTTT IT,
The crowd deparrrrted, kept playin till the sun goes to next day,
Refuse to leave cause I’m too set in my ways,
But still found time, to bump and grind,
Relax and unwind. But could never be found,
With a woman who ain’t standin on solid ground,
Can you dig it baby? I can’t afford to lose my focus,
I got a bright future ahead of me and many people know this,
Especially the whole crew, from 2000, Valentine Avenue,
It’s been a second, since we all laughed, huh?
Just remember, life ain’t always fun,
Just remember, life ain’t always fun{chorus}
Life’s just one big jumpshot,
You’re either on or you might be off,
So try to maintain, and refrain from the strain,
And don’t get lost in the sauce
Jokes about Eddie aside, Malik Sealy was pretty much the greatest. RIP.
…On the other side of the spectrum, there’s JR Rider’s record, “Funk In The Trunk”, where he raps, “Labeled a villain way before I was a rebel, but now I got my money on some mothaf***in devil.” Gotta admit, I have no idea what it means to have “money on some devil”, but if it makes sense to J.R. Rider, then it’s good with me. After all, do lyrics even matter with a chorus like this?
“IT’S THE FUNK IN YA TRUNK, SLAMMIN HARD LIKE A MONSTER DUNK.”
Somebody needs to put that on a t-shirt for me. JR’s also one of the only players on the album to curse, a chilling reminder that while a lack of self-awareness is all fun and games when it amounts to embarrassing rap music, it would only be a matter of time before JR took things a step too far. (Related: Why didn’t the Jail Blazers ever record an album?)
Speaking of taking things a step too far… We could talk about Dennis Scott’s song on the album (“All Night Party”), but really, not linking to Dennis Scott’s 1997 Camp Meltdown would do a a disservice to everyone. Again, something that would have made the internet explode in 2011:
News anchor: [Scott] was talking with the children from the camp. During that talk, those attending became bewildered when Scott began discussing his own life. Scott told the kids he no longer wanted to be referred to as ‘3D’ and then blasted the media for criticizing him, and for their accusations he’s using drugs, a charge he denies. He told the children not to ask him for his autograph, but rather, to ask him about the rage that exists inside him.
Alright, we’ll be back to Scared Straight with Dennis Scott in just a moment!
[NBA Cares commercial]
Scott then began playing rap music that contained explicit lyrics. Scott compared some of those lyrics to the songs of his own life. Scott then walked around the crowd of children rambling about his own life.
Dennis Scott: “What you talkin about? I live my life the way I want to. For all y’all out there in America, if you scared, say you scared. Cuz I ain’t scared.”
Okay that was Dennis Scott, everyone. Campers, remember to dream big!
But we can’t end on that note. We need something to brighten the mood after that glimpse at the dark side. Something that’ll remind us why the 1990s were so great. Something to make us nod our head.
We need something…
Sumptin To Groove To! Chris Mills, lay it down:
It’s Chris Mills, I come with the real deal,
Life is like a jumpshot. Sometimes it’s not,
Always on the money, just like my days,
Could be rainy or sunny,
It might flip, so watch ya grip,
Just some advice, before ya slip,
So take heed, and try to make the violence cease,
And to my fans, I wanna say much peace.{chorus}
Just a little somethin, to nod your head to,
A funky little groove, that you can move to,
Just a little somethin, to nod your head to,
A funky little groove, that you can move to,Just a little somethin, to nod your head to,
A funky little groove, that you can move to.
Ahhh… So much better. Life is like a jumpshot, but sometimes it’s not, and all things considered, I’m pretty sure Chris Mills just turned in the worst rap song ever and explained the universe at the same time. And yes, that marks at least two NBA rappers that compared life to a jumpshot. Deep, man.
The whole album’s full of this stuff, and you can hear more by digging around on this YouTube channel. Or you can just buy the album on Amazon. And why wouldn’t you? The only thing more entertaining than bad retro music is bad retro music recorded by forgotten NBA stars like Chris Mills and Malik Sealy. It’s like a time capsule to another era, before the internet changed the way we understood NBA players (or taught us that JR Rider and Dennis Scott were insane). We should all make sure this terrible, cringeworthy music last for eternity.
Because, bottom line: It’ll always make you smile.
In other words, it’s the perfect soundtrack to a quiet summer day.
Demise Of Kurt Busch’s Marriage Was Kept Quiet By NASCAR Media Corps
When TNT cut to a shot of Kurt Busch during the national anthem on Sunday, he was standing with a beautiful blonde woman who was not his wife. All of a sudden, dozens of ever-observant NASCAR fans – many of whom are just as interested in the drivers’ off-track lives as they are in their on-track pursuits – lit up Twitter and Facebook
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Demise Of Kurt Busch’s Marriage Was Kept Quiet By NASCAR Media Corps
When TNT cut to a shot of Kurt Busch during the national anthem on Sunday, he was standing with a beautiful blonde woman who was not his wife.
All of a sudden, dozens of ever-observant NASCAR fans – many of whom are just as interested in the drivers’ off-track lives as they are in their on-track pursuits – lit up Twitter and Facebook.
What happened to Eva Busch?
The truth is, those in the NASCAR garage – including all of the media – have known for months that Kurt Busch was no longer with his wife.
But how many stories have been written about it? How many questions has Busch been asked about it?
That would be a grand total of: Zero.
It’s remarkable, if you think about it. The NASCAR media, often derided by those who work in the sport as being too negative, invasive into the drivers’ personal lives and having tabloid tendencies, chose not to report on Busch’s marital issues.
Reporters didn’t coordinate with one another or decide as a group not to address the topic, but individually determined not to go there. And that includes me.
This isn’t the first time this has happened. The demise of Michael Waltrip’s marriage to former wife Buffy was well known among the media – but few words about it ever appeared in print until Waltrip himself addressed the topic in his recent autobiography.
Like many of the NASCAR wives – some of whom have their own Twitter accounts and fan followings – Buffy Waltrip had a high profile in the media and even appeared in television commercials with her then-husband. Despite that very public image, the media didn’t report on the breakup until years later.
In other sports, such a public figure’s divorce would be treated as a news story. If Busch was an NFL star, for example, this would have come out months ago.
Not in NASCAR, though. And the obvious question is: Why not?
I’m not sure, to be honest. After all, I’ve known about Busch’s marital problems, too – and didn’t ask him about it nor write about it until now. And I may have never addressed the topic had Busch not been so public with his new flame by bringing her onto pit road, where the whole NASCAR world – along with the TV cameras – can see what’s happening.
The best explanation I can give is, personally, I don’t have the stomach it takes to dig into someone’s relationship and write a story about it.?Even as fans on Twitter questioned Eva Busch’s absence and the lack of a wedding ring on Kurt Busch’s finger throughout the last few months, I basically turned a blind eye to the story.
I justified it by telling myself, “Well, it doesn’t affect him on the track.” But given Busch’s vitriolic tirades on the team radio this spring – which were widely reported on – perhaps it did. It’s at least a question that could have been asked; it wasn’t, though.
The NASCAR media is, on the whole, a sharp group of people who are skilled at breaking news, writing commentaries and covering every aspect of the sport.
And as many in the industry know, the racing beat corps isn’t afraid of writing the truth – even if it may be harsh at times. So it’s not as if all the writers said to themselves, “Let’s protect Kurt Busch’s personal life.”
The irony to all this is Busch is one of the drivers who most often clashes with the media. Off camera, he’s been known to break away from his public relations face and unleash angry outbursts at reporters.
Busch has even said, repeatedly, that the NASCAR media writes too much “People magazine” material.
Yet when there was some People-worthy news about Busch himself, it was never made public until TNT showed Busch and Patricia Driscoll together on camera.
Some people might view the lack of Busch news until now as reporters failing to do their jobs. Whether that’s the case or not, the lack of coverage in this situation should send a message to those inside NASCAR: The media who covers the sport on a day-to-day basis is not as cutthroat as you think.
In an age when media outlets compete for clicks and when accomplishments can often be measured in page views more than quality writing, the decision not to report on Busch’s personal life says a lot about the mindset of those who cover NASCAR.
André Villas-Boas, Jose Mourinho And False Familiarity
He may not be the new Mourinho — in fact, he definitely isn’t — but the resemblance is making life a little easier for André Villas-Boas and Chelsea. Young, gifted, and Portuguese.
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André Villas-Boas, Jose Mourinho And False Familiarity
He may not be the new Mourinho — in fact, he definitely isn’t — but the resemblance is making life a little easier for André Villas-Boas and Chelsea.
Young, gifted, and Portuguese. It is no wonder that the entire world (by which I mean, the tiny part of the world I flitter about in) was quickly peeved, if not actually vexed, by the persistent comparisons between Chelsea’s newest manager, Andr? Villas-Boas, and Chelsea’s finest manager of the Abramovich years, Jos? Mourinho.
Of course, it’s lazy, but you have to have some sympathy: it’s a comparison simply begging to be made. Youthful, handsome, title-winning, Europe-conquering; both raised at the knee of Bobby Robson, one worked for the other. There is even the suggestion that Villas-Boas shares Mourinho’s pitchside bolshiness – which would be excellent news – though throwing chewing gum at Henk Ten Cate pales alongside Mourinho’s catalogue of flaps, scraps, whines, whinges, gesticulations, mimes, and all-round talent for look-at-me buffoonery.
Sadly for anybody looking for an easy caricature, the comparison breaks down when it comes to the football itself. Mourinho’s (largely-deserved) reputation is as the high priest of anti-football: a man who finds his way to victory through the creative application of footballing destruction, whose teams kick and dive and snark their way to glory. You’re going to score one less than us. This contrasts resoundingly with Villas-Boas who, like a hard-of-hearing Motley Cr?e fan, craves goals, goals, goals. His Porto team bothered the net 73 times in the league this season, which is more than both Mourinho’s title-wining Chelsea sides (72 apiece) and his last Porto team (63), despite Villas-Boas’ sides playing eight games and four games fewer across the respective seasons.
But if the lunge for the easy comparison is due in part to its sheer straightforward juiciness, the other reason is down to Villas-Boas’ relative unfamiliarity, particularly within England. I don’t necessarily mean in an insular way – this is, I hope, no longer the country that gave us the headlines ‘Ars?ne Who?’ and the sadly-but-probably-apocryphal ‘Fog In Channel, Continent Cut Off’ – but in a simple and obvious way: Villas-Boas hasn’t actually done all that much.
A corollary of youth is inexperience, naturally, and also a lack of known detail. Because so much of the actual work of football management takes place out of the public eye, in training sessions and tactical briefings, screaming fits in dank dressing rooms and chitter-chat over post-game bottles of excellent red, it’s the public character of managers that goes a long way to defining them. And with only two years of frontline management, at least half of which was well out of the public eye, Villas-Boas is as close to a mystery appointment as we’re likely to get. The question is “who are you going be?”, and the hoped for answer, from the media at least, is “please be a bit like Jos?. He was cracking copy”.
But, if the parallel is frustrating more informed commentators, it is also having another, more subtle effect. Football feeds on stereotypes; all perceptions begin?from pre-formed ideas. We do not come to our footballers, and managers, behind a veil of ignorance. Consider the power of simply being Brazilian. As Alex Bellos, author of Futebol, writes “The phrase ‘Brazilian footballer’ is like the phrases ‘French chef’ or ‘Tibetan monk’. The nationality expresses an innate authority – whatever the natural ability.” It is the idea of a Brazilian footballer that pleases; it satisfies a simple, circular part of the soul that knows Brazilians are footballers because Brazilians are footballers.
This has a number of consequences. Simon Kuper and Stefan Sysmanski note in Why England Lose that the premium paid on Brazilians skews the market, and quote an agent: “Irrespective of talent, it is very seductive to have a Brazilian in your team”. And this seductive quality is also apparent in the incessant fawning that permeates coverage of the Brazilian national team – who haven’t played samba football for years – and the giddiness that greets the arrival of a Brazilian player, unless it’s a goalkeeper, in which case apprehension reigns. In short, the prejudged understanding of what a player should be shapes the initial responses of the football world. Imagine two playmakers of equal skill being sold by a club; the Brazilian will always fetch more than the Bolivian.
Something similar, if more local, is happening at Chelsea: the inherent appeal of the idea of the appointment is smoothing the path for Villas-Boas, both with the fans and with the media, because it chimes with the folk-knowledge that this is what good Abramovich managerial appointments look like. Add to that his past at Chelsea – which arouses memories of the succession of men that emerged from the Anfield boot-room, long admired as the gold standard for coherent managerial appointments – and it is easy to see why there has been so little of the scepticism that the bald facts of the appointment might be expected to provoke.
Because familiarity quells dissent. What Villas-Boas is in general – a young, dynamic, handsome, modern Portuguese coach – means that attention is deflected from what he is in the specific: a colossal gamble. This – even more so than Mourinho – is an appointment made on the basis of perceived potential rather than known ability. I don’t think it’s too mischievous to suggest that were Chelsea’s new manager, say, a Frenchman with a comparable record in Ligue Un, the appointment might have looked a whole lot stranger, and (in a tribute to Carlo Ancelotti) been greeted with many more raised eyebrows.
This is not to suggest that Villas-Boas will fail; indeed, his lack of experience makes predictions about how he will fare even more futile than usual. Nor is it to suggest that he would not have got the job had he not been a convenient vessel for the memory of Mourinho. (Guus Hiddink aside, the field was remarkably thin.) But Villas-Boas’ job will be to restock an ageing squad while remaining competitive in the Premier League, before ultimately producing a team capable of sustained domestic dominance and a serious tilt at the European Cup, a series of tasks the likes of which he has practically no experience. Behind the twinkly eyes and the comforting parallels – beneath the unthinking drumbeats that herald the return of the king, or at least something a bit like the king?- lies a fascinating and considerable risk.
Bob Bradley Is Not The Problem For The USA
Blaming Bob Bradley is easy, but the United States’ problem is the players themselves, not the man picking the players.
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Bob Bradley Is Not The Problem For The USA
Blaming Bob Bradley is easy, but the United States’ problem is the players themselves, not the man picking the players.
Whenever things go wrong it is easy to point the finger of blame at the manager. This isn’t unique to soccer. It happens in all sports. After all, it’s really hard to overhaul all the players on the team. There are a lot of them and that would take a lot of time to get done, especially in international soccer when the team can’t go out and buy or trade players. It’s tough for fans to accept their team needs a lot of work so the manager gets the blame because that’s just one man and for fans it is much easier on their emotions if they believe “if we just get rid of the manager we can turn this around.”
Enter Bob Bradley, manager of the United States national team. He’s made his share of questionable decisions since taking over as manager on December 6, 2006. He’s never been a manager in Europe and is nowhere close to a big name. His team got knocked out of the World Cup by Ghana, who is good, but isn’t Spain or Argentina or Germany. Now his U.S. team gave up four unanswered goals to lose the Gold Cup final, 4-2, to arch-rivals Mexico.
The calls for Bradley’s ouster, which have been audible since he was hired 1,665 days ago, have only gotten louder since the Americans lost to Mexico in the final. How could this U.S. team that just two years ago looked like it had not just closed the gap on Mexico, but surpassed them, be so inferior to them now? Why isn’t the U.S. capable of dominating inferior opponents? Why isn’t the team getting any better?
All of the above questions are legitimate, but the answers to all of the questions ?have nothing to do with Bradley. The simple fact is that the U.S. doesn’t have enough good players to be as good as fans would like them to be. Combine that with Mexico developing a generation of players that could be their best ever and things do not look good for the Americans.
Bradley has no control over the fact that the U.S has produced one halfway decent centerback since Oguchi Onyewu made his debut in 2004 in Jay DeMerit, who has a history of watching matches from the bench due to injury, a role Onyewu has filled ably himself in the last two years. How many teams win tournaments without a centerback?
Let’s not forget that Bradley has never had a capable striker either. Jozy Altidore? The guy who has scored two club goals since 2008. Charlie Davies was an option for only a handful of matches. Juan Agudelo has played fewer professional matches than he is years old. He did call in Chris Wondolowski, inexplicably snubbing Teal Bunbury, who has scored just eight goals in 39 MLS matches. How bad is the U.S. striker situation? A young Brian Ching might be considered a savior at this point.
No central defenders, no strikers, but Bradley is supposed to beat teams like Mexico? Consider the players at Bradley’s disposal then consider this. He won a Gold Cup. He finished second in the Confederations Cup. He topped CONCACAF World Cup qualifying. He won his group at the World Cup. That’s not too bad.
It’s not as if Bradley is perfect. He is far from it. Ricardo Clark over Maurice Edu against Ghana at the World Cup. Spending the past year trying to figure out a formation and taking until the knockout stages of the Gold Cup to get it done. Calling in Robbie Rogers for the Gold Cup. All poor decisions and even the staunchest of Bradley supporters will admit he makes mistakes. They will admit that he is not the best coach out there, but even that shouldn’t lead to his ouster.
Firing Bradley remains a popular refrain. “He has faults! The U.S. needs a coach more tactically sophisticated who doesn’t play favorites!” Who could the U.S. Soccer Federation get to replace Bradley though?
The reality is that the U.S. job isn’t that attractive. Again, the team has no center backs or strikers. What top coach wants to manage a team with no quality options up top or at the back? You know, a team that also doesn’t have a star player and because of the Gold Cup’s relative insignificance has only one major competition each cycle, the World Cup. A team that has to travel to Central America, where closets serve as locker rooms in the finest of conditions. Coaching a team without great fan support or backing, but has to go out of his way to do interviews and visits with ESPN and the couple other outlets that request things like that just to grow the sport. Doesn’t that sound like a great job for a top coach with options?
If Bradley were fired then USSF President Sunil Gulati would probably flirt with Jurgen Klinsmann again. He’d talk to a few other coaches and all would look at him and say, “you better back a truck full of cash that you don’t have here to get me to take this job.” Out of options, Gulati would look back to the kind of coach that would really like the job. That kind of coach is in MLS and someone like Dominic Kinnear or Jason Kreis. Is either option really better than Bradley?
Even if they are better than Bradley, they will deal with the same issues Bradley has to deal with. The team doesn’t have enough good players. Tactics don’t make marginal defenders good defenders. They don’t make strikers score goals and they don’t reverse more than a decade without a left back.
Nobody is going to confuse Bob Bradley with Guus Hiddink or Vicente del Bosque. He won’t even be confused with an average manager, but it’s a lot easier to argue that he’s done more with the talent available to him than it is that he’s underachieved. Blaming the manager is the easy way out because it’s the quick fix, but the U.S. isn’t in a place to take the easy way out because they don’t have one. They have a roster overhaul on their hands and that’s the case no matter who the manager is.
Urijah Faber: UFC 132 Will Define My MMA Legacy
In this exclusive interview, Urijah Faber opens up about what this weekend’s rematch with Dominick Cruz means for his career, why he’ll be able to defeat the ‘new’ Dominick Cruz and how he envisions the future of his career.
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Urijah Faber: UFC 132 Will Define My MMA Legacy
In this exclusive interview, Urijah Faber opens up about what this weekend’s rematch with Dominick Cruz means for his career, why he’ll be able to defeat the ‘new’ Dominick Cruz and how he envisions the future of his career.
Time is running out for ‘The California Kid’, Urijah Faber, to win and hold a title. Faber faces bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz this weekend at UFC 132 in the main event for Cruz’s belt. But at 32 years of age, it could be now or never for the Sacramento-native. Should he fail in his effort to snatch the title away from Cruz, there’s little guarantee he’ll still be young enough and close enough to his prime to even earn another title shot, much less be as competitive as he’ll be this Saturday.
Much to his credit, Faber is fully aware of the stakes. He recognizes what this fight means for his career and eventual legacy in mixed martial arts. Despite already having won and held a championship title in MMA, Faber knows this rematch with Cruz will tell us more about his accomplishments and standing than any of his previous contests.
In this exclusive interview from MMA Nation on 106.7 The Fan, Faber opens up about what this fight means for his career, his plans for the future and why this fight will define the Urijah Faber legacy.
Full audio and transcription below:
Luke Thomas: With us right now on the McDonald’s Hotline, he is headlining UFC 132, July 2nd at the MGM Grand Garden arena, it will be on Pay Per View and it’s for the UFC bantamweight title. The former WEC featherweight champion of the world joins us, Urijah Faber. Urijah, how are you sir?
Urijah Faber: Doing good. How are you guys??
Luke Thomas: Doing very good. We’re excited to have you on the air. We’re excited to have you back on the show. I want to get your thoughts separately before we get into your fight with Dominick Cruz. Can we talk about Chris Leben on that UFC 132 conference call? Were you surprised by his candor in talking about how he didn’t like fighting sometimes and how he didn’t take Stann seriously? Were you surprised by his admissions?
Urijah Faber: About not taking Stann seriously, is that what you said??
Luke Thomas: Yeah. And then also admitting that sometimes he doesn’t even like fighting.
Urijah Faber: I’ve known Leben from before he was on The Ultimate Fighter show. I went up to Oregon to train with Randy and those guys at Team Quest back in the day and he said it himself that he’s full of issues. I think that’s the best way to describe it. So I’m not surprised by anything that comes out of that guy’s mouth. He’s been through some hard times right before fights and stuff like that. He strikes me as kind of an emotional mess.
Luke Thomas: How do I ask this, do you believe that he’s misunderstood??
Urijah Faber: No, I think he says it exactly how it is. He says it exactly how it is which is the reason why he fights, what he likes about it. Sometimes he gets nervous before it and I feel like he’s a pretty brutally honest guy.?
Luke Thomas: I also want to talk to you about someone else on the card who wasn’t on the call but his absence from the call is alarming, Tito Ortiz, the Huntington Beach Bad Boy. He’s had a career that I think a lot of people would be envious of but this does appear to be the end. Maybe it’s not but it looks like it is. Do you believe that this is the last fight for Tito in the UFC, provided he loses which I think is likely?
Urijah Faber: You know, I don’t know. I know he hasn’t won in a long time. How long has it been since he won?
Luke Thomas: Five years, I think.
Urijah Faber: Couple years, but he’s had some close fights with guys that are still going. He had a close fight with with Machida. He had a very close fight with Griffin. He had some really close fights with some really good guys and I feel like he can win this and keep on going. He can win a close one or lose a close one. I feel like he’s the guy who’s always going to be game. I don’t think he’s ever been finished other than by Chuck, right?
Luke Thomas: Yes, I think that’s right.?
Urijah Faber: So the guy is durable and I think that’s kind of up to him, Dana [White], and Lorenzo [Fertitta]. I don’t know how their relationship is but I’m not the guy to be answering that question, you’d have to ask them.
Luke Thomas: In the last year or so we’ve seen three of the best or at least some of the best the UFC has ever seen, Tito Ortiz appears to be on his way out. Liddell retired and Couture retired. But they both took some bad beatings towards the end of their fighting career. How hard is it to retire at the peak? How difficult is that to plan for? Can you do it? And who in your mind has retired successfully from combat athletics?
Urijah Faber: I would say that “Pretty Boy” Floyd has tried a couple times to retire successfully. Other than that, no. The reason we get into the fight game is the same reason why we stay too long sometimes. It’s because we enjoy it. There’s more than just the winning that’s addictive. It’s the regiment you put yourself through. It’s what you become and what you know. It’s hard to walk away from structure and something you’re so familiar with. I don’t know how many guys who are really retired. De la Hoya’s a guy who’s done an okay job, he probably could have stopped a fight or two away but I think the guys who have the financial standing to do it and have lost the desire are the guys who have retired at the right time.
Luke Thomas: I guess Joe Calzaghe would qualify as well. He went out on a seemingly high note too. Alright, let’s talk about your fight with Dominick Cruz. It’s a rematch. Let me ask you this and I want to be sensitive about it because I know that Joseph Benavidez tried tirelessly to win both of the fights he had with Dominick Cruz. What did Joseph not do, that you can learn from, that you have to do to defeat Dominick Cruz?
Urijah Faber: I would say first and foremost that in the second fight Joseph got the better of the standup. He lost because he was six takedowns to none and when the takedowns happen, it wasn’t anything dominating happening from the takedown from Dominick but Joseph didn’t do anything in retaliation. He didn’t reverse position. He didn’t come close to any submission attempts. I would say the thing that lost him the fight was being taken down and losing points by that front. Other than that, Joseph did a pretty good job but Dominick walking around outside the ring, I’ve been around both of them, is about 10 pounds roughly larger than Joseph and I am also. I think there’s a size different there and Joseph? is really strong and explosive. I think that if he really wanted to, he could make 125 pounds which is completely out of the question for me, it is completely out of the question for Dominick Cruz. I think I have to connect with punches and not get hit by all of his stuff and not get outpointed on the grappling.
Luke Thomas: The UFC recently announced that they would have a Flyweight or 125 pound division, do you think that Joseph Benavidez will make a move down there when they open that up?
Urijah Faber: You know, I think he’d be the number one contender right away or he’d be the guy for the title shot. It shouldn’t be hard for him to not pass that up but Joseph has spent a lot of time putting weight on and to be honest with you, he’s so tough. I think he’s ranked number two or three in the world at 135 pounds so I don’t know if he’d jump down there right away but it would always be an option for him if he decided to.?
Luke Thomas: I want to talk a little bit more about Dominick Cruz’s style. He’s got a really good jab. He moves a lot. He leans over at the waist and he slips punches. Maybe it’s just coincidence but I’ve been watching a lot of highlight reels for him and some of the footage that the UFC has been putting out as their official releases and there seems to be a lot of points where he’ll chase guys down throwing hook after hook on opposite sides, in other words no straight punches whatsoever. Why is it that guys don’t seem to be taking advantage of his aggression in the pocket throwing some really wide hooks?
Urijah Faber: You know, what he does is he throws some straight punches but his body is not right behind it. It’s not like he’s standing and throwing a straight punch. One of his best punches is a straight right that he runs off to the side. It’s a straight punch if you look at the actual punch but his body is way out of the way. So although it looks like it’s a lot of crazy stuff that he’s doing out there, there’s quite a few things that are regimented. He moves the same direction quite a bit. He throws the same combos after jabs. He ends with low kicks. He throws a lot of right hand-right kick combos and does the same motion that he switches to a body shot, a head shot, a low kick. There’s a real method to his madness and I’ve seen a ton of his tapes, I’ve been in the corner when he’s fought, I’ve fought him, so I’m pretty savvy to what he’s doing.
Luke Thomas: Do you believe it’s fair to characterize this fight with Dominick Cruz given what’s at stake, given what it could do for you, that this is a legacy defining fight for you?
Urijah Faber: I think so. I don’t plan on going anywhere win, lose, or draw but I plan on winning and I plan on adding that to my list of accomplishments and going on a run and being a defending champion. Then having super fights after that. Right now my body feels incredible, my technique keeps getting better and better, I’m evolving, and at this new weight I feel great so I’m just excited for the future man. This is the first step in a new direction.
Luke Thomas: This is the third fight for you at Bantamweight. First time around you made the cut and won. Second time around you made the cut and won. But I believe the first time, I think we spoke to you before the Mizugaki fight, and the cut was a bit of a concern. Third time around, how does it feel this time? I mean you haven’t started the official cut for the last amount of weight but how is it different this time from the previous two cuts?
Urijah Faber: The difference is that I know exactly what I weight gets up to. It’s kind of a question, when I get extremely heavy, at the heaviest when I’m trying to put on weight I can get up to 157. When I’m in great shape I sit around at 153.5 to 151 and then I get an idea of what my body goes up to right after weigh ins. You don’t really know about that, how your body is gonna stack the weight back on. Now I know that both times it’s gone right back to the same thing and so I can kind of stay at that weight through all my training and not worry about having to train at a lighter weight because you don’t want to put yourself through abuse at a lighter weight if you’re gonna be fighting at a heavier weight. Now I know where my body goes and where it feels most comfortable and I can just train all the way through at that weight.
Luke Thomas: How scientific do you have to be? Are you so comfortable with the process that you know “on Wednesday out, I have to weight in in 48 hours, I should be at this weight, I can have this much to eat, I can drink this much water”, do you just know that naturally or do you have to make a notebook, measure it, it has to be real precise deadlines…how comfortable are you with that end of the process?
Urijah Faber: Man, in college I was like an anorexic chick just on point. Everything was about my weight. I was making 133 pounds for six months out of the year. I’d go to my practices, I’d eat, and then go for a run afterwards. Having a 24 hour weigh in where you only have to weight in once every couple of months, it’s not too bad but I still obsess about it a little bit. I document how much I weigh in the morning, after lunch, if I’m by a scale I’ll weigh in and write it down to get a gauge and take a peek at it. I’m able to eat pretty much what I want. I stay full, I just don’t overdo it. I’m not trying to actively gain weight anymore like I was at 45. It’s a lot easier.
Luke Thomas: So you’re headlining this fight at UFC 132 on July 2nd. It’s the first time the UFC has allowed a bantamweight fight to headline a major pay per view card. Does it concern you that you have to reach a certain level of pay per view buys, a certain level of success in order to validate having Bantamweights take the top of the bill?
Urijah Faber: That doesn’t concern me. These guys know what they’re doing. I think if you look at a lot of the guys who have been on pay per view cards in main events? and have been big draws, you can look at little gauges like Twitter followers and Facebook followers and how recognizable they are. They have the gauge for that with the pay per view with the WEC so these guys know what they’re doing. I’m not worried about it. I’m just gonna go out there and entertain the fans and get that belt.?
Luke Thomas: You were with the WEC for a long time, I know the position is kind of different, but do you feel like the guys in Strikeforce probably feel like you guys in the WEC used to feel?
Urijah Faber: Probably a little bit. The bottom line is they’re probably stoked first off to be part of the Zuffa team because Zuffa’s incredible as far as how they treat the fighters, the promotion they do, and everything alongside being part of the best organization in the world but are still a little bit like “alright, when are we gonna get the full notoriety?” It’s something that needs to happen for some of these guys. You’re already seeing guys like Mayhem Miller that jumped over and Jake Shields and all these different guys been Strikeforce key guys that they’re saying “alright, let’s just use them over here”. I think they’re ready to make the jump and we’ll see what happens.
Luke Thomas: You seem like a really positive guy, you always seem mostly happy and looking forward to the future. Is there anything that I dunno, keeps you up at night, is a way to describe it but is there anything in your career that you actively worry about??
Urijah Faber: Jeez, not really man. I’m not really good at worrying. I think I get that from my pops. He can be in some really dire straights and be a real optimist so I don’t sweat the petty stuff. On occasion it’s rough for me to sleep because I have a lot of things on my mind so I’ll need to get a little more sleep sometimes. I’m up late because I’ve got a lot of energy and a lot of things on my mind all the time and I’m up early cause I’ve got things to do so that’s the only thing. That’s how I like it, I like to be busy.
Luke Thomas: Okay Urijah, before I let you go, a couple more questions. First of all, who do you like: Wanderlei Silva or Chris Leben? That’s the co-main event on the card you’re competing on. Break that down, it seems like a pick ‘em, flip a coin kind of fight. Who do you like in that one and why?
Urijah Faber: Jeez, that’s gonna be a knockdown, drag out…you know, I think Wanderlei’s been progressing over the years. I think that Stann’s a guy that’s been improving a lot in a short period of time and he was able to outclass Leben. I’m gonna go with Wanderlei in this one. I like his attitude, both of these guys have great attitudes but like he’s a guy that knows how to win and I think it’s kind of playing with fire getting into a knockdown, drag out with Wanderlei. Same thing with Leben but more so with Wanderlei.
Luke Thomas: And then about Bader-Ortiz, do you believe that Tito Ortiz has a chance against Ryan Bader?
Urijah Faber: I believe he does have a chance but I mean which Ortiz shows up. Sometimes the guy trains his butt off and sometimes he’s got other stuff going on. I mean him and Jenna are always tweeting their business out on Twitter and stuff like that. Hopefully he was able to have a good training camp and we get to see Tito of old coming out and wrecking shop but Bader’s been doing a great job at improving. He’s got that wrestling pedigree and he’s had a stable mind over the past couple of years so I’m gonna give him the edge.?
Luke Thomas: Sort of a different kind of question, we had Henry Cejudo on the show not too recently and he talked about making the move to MMA after the 2012 London games which I really hope he does. I saw a video he did with you at I believe your gym if I’m not mistaken. First of all, to what extent have you trained with him and if he did make the move at 125, you’d have to assume he’d be an unbelievable talent to have in mixed martial arts, right?
Urijah Faber: Oh, no doubt. That guy, being a champion is all about the mind and that guy has proven that he’s got what it takes. He also has a real passion for boxing. He wanted to go in and become a boxer because he felt there was a better opportunity for money. The bottom line, that guy would be nails but he’s still got a lot of learning to do. I mean we see all sorts of wrestlers make the jump to Mixed Martial Arts and especially a guy like that, is gonna believe in himself to the utmost. You face another guy like Joseph Benavidez that believes in himself that has the years and the experience and a knack for fighting, he’s gonna have his hands full. So definitely gonna be a force, most likely a champion if he decides to go at it full bore, but not for a while.?
Luke Thomas: Before I let you go, you’ve been on a winning streak, that’s how you got your title shot at Bantamweight in the first place but you are 32. Do you believe that you are still in your physical prime? I know you say you feel great but if you have to look at your performances, being your own worst critic, how do you feel about it? Are you still at peak performance in this stage of your athletic career?
Urijah Faber: I would say for sure. I don’t know the research on the body of a 32 year old but I just turned 32 and I feel the strongest I’ve ever felt…I’m not a party animal. I’ve been fed the best stuff on the planet since the womb because my parents were religious health food nuts and man, I just feel incredible. I don’t know when it’s gonna drop off but I’m at the top of my game.?
Luke Thomas: Well we’re looking forward to it, you’ve got an incredible fight. It’s gonna be July 2nd for the UFC Bantamweight title. It’s not only a rematch, it’s the main event. It’s the first time it’s happened in this kind of way. It’s in Las Vegas, Nevada on pay-per-view starting at 9 pm ET. So Urijah Faber, thank you very much for being on MMA Nation and best of luck to you in your title aspirations.?
Urijah Faber: Thank you, brother. Talk to you later.
Transcription services provided by Matthew Roth.
Bucks Retool With Stephen Jackson, But Are They Any Better?
The Milwaukee Bucks traded for Stephen Jackson in an attempt to cut salary and simultaneously make another playoff push. But does the move improve the team where it most needs improvement? You can say this for Milwaukee Bucks GM John Hammond: he works in broad strokes.
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Bucks Retool With Stephen Jackson, But Are They Any Better?
The Milwaukee Bucks traded for Stephen Jackson in an attempt to cut salary and simultaneously make another playoff push. But does the move improve the team where it most needs improvement?
You can say this for Milwaukee Bucks GM John Hammond: he works in broad strokes. Never content to tinker around the edges, Hammond has executed three major “retoolings” since taking over the Bucks in 2008.
Shortly after he took over, he hired defensive stickler Scott Skiles and sent Mo Williams — the best perimeter player on those Bucks teams but an awful defender — to the Cavaliers in a three-team deal for Luke Ridnour in a salary-busting deal. (A year later, he’d draft Williams’ true replacement: Brandon Jennings.)
In a quest to buoy the offense of a strong young team led by Jennings and Andrew Bogut, Hammond traded a draft pick for John Salmons at the 2010 deadline; months later, he re-signed Salmons (who had been a great scorer down the stretch for Milwaukee) and traded some spare parts for Corey Maggette, an efficient if otherwise limited scorer on an onerous contract. In keeping Salmons and acquiring Maggette, Hammond showed a sense that Bogut’s defense (and contributions on that end from Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Ersan Ilyasova and Carlos Delfino) would be good enough to keep the Bucks in contention; they needed offense to get over the top.
So much for that. Last Thursday, the Bucks agreed to send Salmons to the Kings for Beno Udrih, and traded down nine spots in the first round to facilitate a trade to replace Maggette with Stephen Jackson and Shaun Livingston. Udrih’s definitely an offensive-minded fellow, if only because he’s allergic to defense. Hives are a bad look on the Slovenian beaches, so there’s no sense in risking it for a “steal” or a “stop.” Jackson, on the other hand, fancies himself a wondrous playmaker. He’s average, highly inefficient and just prolific enough to be completely dangerous. He’s a fantastic defender when engaged (which is more often than you’d think). On defense, Jackson is to Maggette what Everest is to the pile of rocks my 1-year-old daughter made in the backyard yesterday. That isn’t meant to overstate Jackson’s impact, more to discount Maggette’s impact on that end.
Lest you think there’s exaggeration here: among the 12 players who registered at least 800 minutes for the ‘10-11 Bucks, Maggette had the dead-worst defensive plus-minus. Milwaukee had one of the best defenses in the NBA, and was almost four points per 100 possessions worse on defense with Maggs on the floor. This is not particularly new: his lack of defensive ability or effort was a constant source of contention between Maggette and Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy, and the forward made an already awful Warriors defense that much worse in ‘09-10. He’s a drain (which makes him an interesting fit in Charlotte, no doubt.)
Salmons just fell off the table in ‘10-11 after solid ‘08-09 and ‘09-10 season. The Kings had traded Salmons to the Bulls during a 17-win season in ‘08-09; the wing was exactly what Chicago needed down the stretch. He wasn’t as good in ‘09-10, but more concerning was his player option for ‘10-11: the Bulls sought to make a run at LeBron James or Dwyane Wade, and needed to be sure space was cleared, so Chicago shipped him up to the Bucks for a pick that became James Johnson, who has since moved on to the Raptors.
But he was just great as the Bucks raced to the ‘10 playoffs, and he was rewarded with a contract many considered ghastly: five years, $39 million. It was more like four years and $33 million because of a partial guarantee that I can’t imagine will survive time, and that makes it now — one year in — a $25 million, three-year contract, and that was apparently not a problem to move for a very solid back-up point guard in Udrih, one who makes a bit above the average salary and, again, plays no defense (hives, you know) but makes lots of plays and shots.
And then there’s Stephen Jackson.
This is where this latest retooling worries me. It saves Milwaukee some cash over the long haul, but the payroll for ‘11-12 is about the same as it would have been; the Bucks can probably flip Livingston (due $3.5 million) to come out ahead in current year cap space. Regardless, Milwaukee will struggle to draw another major piece in free agency, and they need another piece, or else this is going to turn into a Jackson-Jennings shot-jacking competition.
There is no offensive anchor here, no calming influence or reliable maestro. Jackson pretends to be one frequently, but you’ve seen Jack’s decision-making. You’ve seen the types of shots he believes to be good shots. They are generally not good shots. His fearlessness on offense can work … when he’s a piece of a greater puzzle, a peg in a greater plan that relies on the table-setting talents of a better playmaker. In San Antonio, Jackson’s reliability from the corners worked. In Golden State, when he was the secondary playmaker to a locked-in Baron Davis, it worked. In Charlotte? No, absolutely not. The Bobcats‘ offense has been just awful with Jack in town. Milwaukee’s offense isn’t a whole lot different.
This is where you wish Jennings were five years older and, like Chris Paul or Deron Williams, a clear-cut leader of his team. An injury derailed much of Jennings’ ‘10-11 season; Bogut’s slow recovery from his broken arm sunk the team as a whole. Had Jennings had another knockout season last year, he might be in the place the Bucks need him to be: Alpha on offense, clear-cut future of the team. I fear that without those accepted denotations, Jackson will take too large a burden, and be too great an anchor on a team that simply must get more efficient on offense to compete.
Barring a major upset, the Bucks won’t land a post scorer like David West or another high-powered wing like Caron Butler. A target more on the level of Carl Landry (a Wisconsin native) seems more likely; that’d actually be a solid fit, but isn’t a total game-changer. Without such a game-changer, it appears the Bucks will face the same questions they have every season since Hammond and Skiles have taken over: the defense is there, but what about the offense?
By adding Stephen Jackson to the mix, I fear we have our answer, and I fear it won’t be pretty.
2011 Season Preview: Independence, Improvement And The BYU Cougars
BYU has always had an obvious independent streak. In 2011, they commit fully to their independence, striking out on their own with a series of tough, high-visibility road games. They unquestionably improved later in 2010; can they sustain that momentum in trips to Oxford, Austin, Corvallis and Dallas
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2011 Season Preview: Independence, Improvement And The BYU Cougars
BYU has always had an obvious independent streak. In 2011, they commit fully to their independence, striking out on their own with a series of tough, high-visibility road games. They unquestionably improved later in 2010; can they sustain that momentum in trips to Oxford, Austin, Corvallis and Dallas?
NOTE: Confused? Don’t miss the definitions and footnotes at the bottom. And as always, if you don’t like numbers, just skip to the words.
I’ve been to Las Vegas just once, in March 2007, for (what else?) a bachelor party. Because I’m me, and because I have at least one like-minded friend, I spent a couple of hours of that trip at the Thomas & Mack Center, watching Wyoming and Brigham Young University play in the Mountain West Tournament. Who needs another night at the club atop the Rio, or dollar Michelobs at Casino Royale, when you can go watch two basketball teams, to which you have no allegiance, play in an arena that was hopping 20 years earlier?
Anyway, BYU won (they always do), and as we left the arena, we saw a cute, young couple decked in brown and yellow (Wyoming’s gruesome school colors). The cute girl turned to her boyfriend and said, with plaintive sadness, “I hate those motherf*****s.”
This year, there is no more reason for cute girls from Laramie to hate their overlords to the West (at least, not for any reason other than pure principle). BYU, always an outsider even while mostly dominating their conference foes, first in the WAC, then in the Mountain West, has made themselves official outsiders. While everyone else has been plotting out ways to end up with the “haves” in a BCS conference when the Armageddon of conference realignment truly does come down (last summer was just a tease), the Cougars decided they had had enough of conference life (in football, at least). In the absence of a playoff that requires conference membership (and in the absence of the oft-rumored Big 12 invite), BYU decided independence was the way to go.
One has to think the initial fallout has been exactly what BYU hoped for: after years ruled by an egregiously bad Mountain West TV schedule, the Cougars will have their first five games of this season televised by either ESPN or ESPN2, with two more games picked up by The WWL later on. They head to Oxford to take on Ole Miss, then Austin to take on Texas. They jump on up to Corvallis to face Oregon State in mid-October, then butt heads with TCU at Jerry World two weeks later. Throw in home games against Utah and Central Florida, and you’ve got an incredibly interesting, exhausting schedule, complete with quite a few national television appearances.
Now they just have to win some of these games.
2010 Schedule & Results*
| Record: 7-6 | Adj. Record: 8-5 | Final F/+ Rk**: 53 |
|||||
| Date | Opponent | Score | W-L | Adj. Score | Adj. W-L |
| 4-Sep | Washington | 23-17 | W | 25.9 – 27.8 | L |
| 11-Sep | at Air Force | 14-35 | L | 27.7 – 31.0 | L |
| 18-Sep | at Florida State | 10-34 | L | 15.1 – 32.7 | L |
| 25-Sep | Nevada | 13-27 | L | 19.7 – 23.2 | L |
| 1-Oct | at Utah State | 16-31 | L | 13.0 – 37.2 | L |
| 9-Oct | San Diego State | 24-21 | W | 33.1 – 26.3 | W |
| 16-Oct | at TCU | 3-31 | L | 20.3 – 19.1 | W |
| 23-Oct | Wyoming | 25-20 | W | 21.9 – 11.5 | W |
| 6-Nov | UNLV | 55-7 | W | 27.1 – (-5.0) | W |
| 13-Nov | at Colorado State | 49-10 | W | 35.3 – 26.7 | W |
| 20-Nov | New Mexico | 40-7 | W | 31.6 – 26.2 | W |
| 27-Nov | at Utah | 16-17 | L | 19.0 – 7.5 | W |
| 18-Dec | vs UTEP | 52-24 | W | 34.5 – 17.6 | W |
| Category | Offense | Rk | Defense | Rk |
| Points Per Game | 26.2 | 70 | 21.6 | 32 |
| Adj. Points Per Game | 24.9 | 80 | 21.7 | 25 |
It rarely goes as you would expect it to. In your head, the rebuilding process means you throw some young guys into the fire, and after getting overwhelmed for a little while, suddenly the switch gets flipped, and they’re as good as you hoped they would be. It is not usually that clean and linear.
Nobody told that to BYU. The Cougars had to replace quarterback Max Hall, running back Harvey Unga and go-to tight end Dennis Pitta and faced crafting an entirely new identity in 2010. After splitting time with Riley Nelson early on, true freshman quarterback (and blue-chip recruit) Jake Heaps took over when Nelson got hurt in the third game. Freshman receiver Ross Apo was injured after one game and replaced by fellow freshman Cody Hoffman. Youth reigned at the skill positions, and, predictably, things went very, very poorly early on. The Cougars crept by Washington, then lost four in a row; the time is never right for a 1-4 start, but when you’re striking out on your own, leaving your conference and attempting to woo some TV dollars, the timing of this 1-4 (and then 2-5) start was particularly poor.
The timing of BYU’s five-of-six win streak to end the season, then? Like a Roger Federer forehand. Or a James Jamerson bass line. One day, BYU simply stopped being a bad team and started being a good one. They fired their defensive coordinator (a rushed, freaked-out move to me considering how good the defense had been in 2009 … but it evidently worked), sneaked by San Diego State with help from some dubious officiating, took their medicine from an untouchable TCU squad, got by Wyoming, then took off. And it resulted in what was really two or three seasons in one.
First Five Games: Opponents 30.4 Adj. PPG, BYU 20.3 (-10.1)
Next Four Games: BYU 25.6 Adj. PPG, Opopnents 13.0 (+12.6)
Last Four Games: BYU 30.1 Adj. PPG, Opponents 19.5 (+10.6)
For the season, a minus-10.1 Adj. Scoring Margin like what they managed in the first five games would have placed BYU 101st in the country. On the other hand, the plus-11.6 margin of the last eight games would have ranked them 18th. One day, they were a bad football team; the next, they were good.
Offense***
| Category | S&P+ Rk | Success Rt. Rk |
PPP+ Rk | |
| OVERALL | 84 | 73 | 85 | |
| RUSHING | 70 | 60 | 78 | Adj. Line Yards: |
| PASSING | 86 | 82 | 85 | 55 |
| Standard Downs | 83 | 70 | 83 | Adj. Sack Rate: |
| Passing Downs | 76 | 72 | 75 | 30 |
| Redzone | 82 | 80 | 80 |
| Q1 Rk | 82 | 1st Down Rk | 82 |
| Q2 Rk | 64 | 2nd Down Rk | 86 |
| Q3 Rk | 84 | 3rd Down Rk | 43 |
| Q4 Rk | 73 |
Jake Heaps (2,316 yards, 6.0 per pass, 57% completion rate, 15 TD, 9 INT) threw just two passes against Air Force; removing that game from the equation, he played an even 12 games.
Jake Heaps, First Four Games: 93.8 Avg. QB Rating
Jake Heaps, Next Four Games: 107.2 Avg. QB Rating
Jake Heaps, Final Four Games: 166.6 Avg. QB Rating
Opposing defenses got much worse as the season progressed, which accounts for some of the astounding improvement, but not all of it. Heaps took his lumps, then began to look like the blue-chipper he was supposed to become. The emergence of freshman receiver Cody Hoffman (527 yards, 12.5 per catch, 58% catch rate) didn’t hurt.
Cody Hoffman, First Five Games: 13 catches, 142 yards, 1 TD
Cody Hoffman, Next Four Games: 8 catches, 56 yards
Cody Hoffman, Last Five Games: 21 catches, 329 yards, 6 TD
Hoffman caught eight passes for 137 yards and three touchdowns in the New Mexico Bowl versus UTEP, and while I’m the first person to typically tut-tut bowl output, it did nicely punctuate what had been a strong surge for him through November and December.
Looking at the improvement that took place over the season, and seeing that four of Heaps top five targets return, it becomes quite easy to get starry-eyed about BYU’s potential in 2011. Hoffman, McKay Jacobson (410 yards, 11.1 per catch, 58% catch rate), Marcus Mathews (136 yards, 17.0 per catch, 42% catch rate) and tight end Devin Mahina (118 yards, 10.7 per catch, 69% catch rate) form an interesting, if less-than-explosive, unit, though either Mathews or now-redshirt freshman Ross Apo will need to become the big-play threat the Cougars really didn’t have last fall.
One thing is certain: the BYU offensive line is going to be outstanding. They were well-rounded a year ago and particularly good in pass protection, and they return a whopping 119 career starts. All-conference left tackle Matt Reynolds leads the way, but guard Braden Hansen, center Terence Brown and tackle Braden Brown all have at least 26 career starts. A blue-chip quarterback’s development typically goes a lot better when he’s not spending a lot of time getting knocked to the ground, and Heaps has a significant asset in this line.
Other tidbits:
- Wonderfully-named running back J.J. Di Luigi (917 yards, 5.2 per carry, +0.4 Adj. POE, 8 touchdowns; 443 receiving yards, 1 TD) had a solid season in replacing Unga last year. He was decent on the ground, but his value came in his versatility. He had a catch rate of 66% out of the backfield and averaged 34 yards per game through the air. Heaps used his checkdowns well, and Di Luigi benefited from it. Joshua Quezada (505 yards, +2.2 Adj. POE) and Bryan Kariya (537 yards, -7.2 Adj. POE) return in the backfield as well.
- BYU wants to play at a fast pace, but they didn’t do their defense any favors early in the season by simply failing quickly. It probably is not a coincidence that when the offense’s efficiency finally perked up in October and November, their defensive performance stabilized quickly. In all, with ten offensive starters returning this fall, the pace should be beneficial. I’m not sure this offense reaches the steady peak they saw during the Max Hall years, at least not at first, but this will be a good unit.
Defense
| Category | S&P+ Rk | Success Rt. Rk |
PPP+ Rk | |
| OVERALL | 25 | 20 | 27 | |
| RUSHING | 33 | 48 | 33 | Adj. Line Yards: |
| PASSING | 12 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| Standard Downs | 43 | 39 | 48 | Adj. Sack Rate: |
| Passing Downs | 10 | 16 | 7 | 45 |
| Redzone | 27 | 27 | 29 |
| Q1 Rk | 10 | 1st Down Rk | 51 |
| Q2 Rk | 52 | 2nd Down Rk | 5 |
| Q3 Rk | 23 | 3rd Down Rk | 22 |
| Q4 Rk | 53 |
As with the offense, BYU’s biggest defensive strength came up front. Not only did they stand up to the run rather well, but they psyched opponents into passing a bit more than normal … which played right into the hands of a solid secondary. BYU has a huge line, even for a 3-4, and it served them well in 2010.
Despite the loss of an all-conference performer in end Vic So’oto (31.5 tackles, 11.5 TFL/sacks), the line should be a strength again. Big end Eathyn Manumaleuna (6-foot-2, 295; 18.0 tackles, 3.0 TFL/sacks) returns, and tackle Matt Putnam (23.5 tackles, 5.0 TFL/sacks, 7 PBU) moves to the outside to clear the way for Romney Fuga (9.5 tackles, 0.5 TFL/sacks in just four games before a torn ACL) and USC transfer Hebron Fanguapo in the middle. In So’oto, BYU loses a star, but in Fuga, they regain one.
Though the line was an absolute strength, the linebackers held BYU back a bit, which is not good in a 3-4. Despite solid line stats, BYU’s run defense was not particularly efficient, and the unit ranks in the middle of the road overall. They did a decent job of filtering plays to tackling machines Shane Hunter (62.0 tackles) and safety Andrew Rich (86.5), but they could probably stand to make a few more big plays. Hunter and Jadon Wagner (27.5 tackles, 7.0 TFL/sacks) are gone, but six decent options return. Jordan Pendleton’s return from injury (27.5 tackles, 3.5 TFL/sacks in just six games) sould help, and it’s worth watching the development of Kyle Van Noy (29.5 tackles, 7.5 TFL/sacks, 2 FF, 2 PBU), who put together solid stats for a freshman. If healthy, the unit should be pretty solid and experienced, and considering the defense was decent despite the linebackers last year, this is an encouraging sign.
Other tidbits:
- BYU was one of the best in the country at preventing big plays on defense, which clearly speaks well of both the aforementioned “tackling machine” positions and the safeties as a whole. Rich (86.5 tackles, 7.5 TFL/sacks, 5 INT, 3 FF, 8 PBU) was both an incredible safety valve and BYU’s best playmaker, but he’s gone. Free safety Travis Uale (32.5 tackles) returns, but with quite a few redshirt freshmen littering the depth chart here, don’t be surprised if the Cougars’ efficiency stays the same, but the rate at which they give up big plays increases. Two of three primary cornerbacks also depart, with little Corby Eason (5-foot-8, 172 pounds; 21.0 tackles, 5.5 TFL/sacks, 2 FF, 3 PBU) serving as both the most experienced cornerback and a stick of dynamite.
- When head coach Bronco Mendenhall fired Jamie Hill five games into the season, he promoted … himself. Mendenhall was his own D.C. when he first took the BYU job, but he handed the reins to Hill in 2008, then took them back in October. The improvement was both immediate and measurable. As mentioned above, BYU went from allowing 30.4 Adj. PPG in the first five games, to 16.3 in the final eight. Mendenhall seemed to have his defense motivated and well-prepared — BYU’s defense was fantastic in the first and third quarters, then faded a bit as a given half progressed. We’ll see if the energy boost he provided can last for an entire season this fall (if not, then I’ve got to say I’m impressed with the job defensive line coach Steve Kaufusi has done … he gets my nonexistent vote).
BYU’s 2010 Season Set to Music
Because BYU unquestionably got much better later in the season…
“Better by the Pound,” by Funkadelic
“Better Dead Than Lead,” by Ted Leo / Pharmacists
“Better Get Hit in Yo’ Soul,” by Charles Mingus
“Better Living Through Chemistry,” by Queens Of The Stone Age
“A Better Son-Daughter,” by Rilo Kiley
“Better Than Ever,” by Kristin Mooney
“Better Than The Sun,” by Chris Robinson
“Better Version of Me,” by Fiona Apple
“Better Way,” by Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals
“I Feel Better,” by Frightened Rabbit
Fun Stat Nerd Tidbit
Here.
Summary and Projection Factors
Below is a small handful of projection and change factors most pertinent to the Football Outsiders’ preseason projections you will find in this summer’s Football Outsiders Almanac 2011.
| Four-Year F/+ Rk | 35 |
| Five-Year Recruiting Rk | 59 |
| TO Margin/Adj. TO Margin**** | +1 / +4.5 |
| Approx. Ret. Starters (Off. / Def.) | 16 (10, 6) |
| Yds/Pt Margin***** | -1.3 |
It’s worth repeating: BYU played like a Top 25 team over the final two months of the season, and a lot of the reasons why — good offensive line, potentially great defensive line, quarterback who gets his bearings, skill positions with improving depth — will remain reasons for optimism in 2011. If they weren’t suddenly shaky at the safety position, I’d absolutely think of them as a Top 25 team heading into this fall. BYU is suddenly shaky at safety, though one has to wonder if the early opponents on their schedule can take advantage. Ole Miss and Texas were not exactly known for their passing proficiency (or even their offensive proficiency) last year.
With no conference title to chase, it’s easy to begin looking at BYU with the long-focus lens. Heaps, Hoffman and company are super young, and the Cougars have access to a seemingly unlimited supply of quality linemen. That alone is a nice base of talent, though seeing their recruiting rankings above, one quickly comes to understand that the overall base of talent might still need a little work. Enter new recruiting coordinator (and running backs coach) Joe DuPaix, who appears to potentially be looking to expand BYU’s recruiting base beyond its LDS framework. In theory, this makes sense — it’s not like Notre Dame recruits only Catholics — but we’ll see how things take shape in practice. BYU is aiming incredibly high with their move to independence, and a nice season in 2011 could mean good things when combined with extra visibility. I see eight wins as the Cougars’ baseline, though the ceiling gets raised quite a bit if they win a couple of their early, high-visibility matchups before settling in against WAC opponents late. The future could be bright for BYU, but the present has a chance to be pretty good as well.
?
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* For more on the ‘Adj. Score’ and ‘Adj. Record’ measures below, feel free to read this Football Outsiders column. Adj. Score is a look at how a team would have performed in a given week if playing a perfectly average team, with a somewhat average number of breaks and turnovers. The idea for the measure is simple: what if everybody in the country played exactly the same opponent every single week? Who would have done the best? It is an attempt to look at offensive and defensive consistency without getting sidetracked by easy or difficult schedules. And yes, with adjusted score you can allow a negative number of points, which is strangely satisfying.
** F/+ rankings are the official rankings for the college portion of Football Outsiders. They combine my own S&P+ rankings (based on play-by-play data) with Brian Fremeau’s drives-based FEI rankings.
*** What is S&P+? Think of it as an OPS (the “On-Base Plus Slugging” baseball measure) for football. The ‘S’ stands for success rates, a common Football Outsiders efficiency measure that basically serves as on-base percentage. The ‘P’ stands for PPP+, an explosiveness measure that stands for EqPts Per Play. The “+” means it has been adjusted for the level of opponent, obviously a key to any good measure in college football. S&P+ is measured for all non-garbage time plays in a given college football game. Plays are counted within the following criteria: when the score is within 28 points in the first quarter, within 24 points in the second quarter, within 21 points in the third quarter, and within 16 points (i.e. two possession) in the fourth quarter. For more about this measure, visit the main S&P+ page at Football Outsiders.
**** Adj. TO Margin is what a team’s turnover margin would have been if they had recovered exactly 50 percent of all the fumbles that occurred in their games. If there is a huge difference between TO Margin and Adj. TO Margin (in other words, if fumbles and unlucky bounces were the main source of a good/bad TO margin), that suggests that a team’s luck was particularly good or bad and might even out the next season.
*****Phil Steele has long tracked Yards Per Point as a means of looking at teams that were a little too efficient or inefficient the previous season. A positive Yds/Pt Margin means a team’s offense was less efficient than opponents’ offenses, and to the extent that luck was involved, their luck might even out the next year.
MLS Power Rankings, Week 15: New York Red Bulls Crash Out Of Top Tier
FC Dallas moves back into the top tier and by all rights looks like they might be the team to beat in the season’s second half. It has now been almost two full months since the New York Red Bulls have won back-to-back matches.
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MLS Power Rankings, Week 15: New York Red Bulls Crash Out Of Top Tier
FC Dallas moves back into the top tier and by all rights looks like they might be the team to beat in the season’s second half.
It has now been almost two full months since the New York Red Bulls have won back-to-back matches. In fact, they haven’t won two matches during the entire 10-match stretch since April 30. So, maybe they were due to fall out of the top tier of the SB Nation Soccer MLS Power Rankings awhile ago. Either way, they are now and only four of 22 voters consider them real contenders at this point.
Taking their place in the top tier is FC Dallas, who now appears at the top of 14 ballots and is just two points shy of catching Real Salt Lake. The other big movement came at the bottom of the rankings where both Sporting Kansas City and the Chicago Fire climbed out of the basement and into the third tier.
| Playing For The Shield | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
Real Salt Lake
|
89% (59 out of 66 points) |
 |
FC Dallas
|
87% (58 out of 66 points) |
Even down a man and having a midfielder playing in goal, the LA Galaxy found a way to eek out a point this week against the San Jose Earthquakes. Without Landon Donovan, this team did not look as dangerous as they had, but that should be expected. They did manage to go undefeated, though, and still sit atop the standings with Donovan back just in time for a Fourth of July match against the Seattle Sounders.
| Enjoy The Playoffs | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
Seattle Sounders
|
77% (51 out of 66 points) |
 |
New York Red Bulls
|
72% (48 out of 66 points) |
 |
San Jose Earthquakes
|
43% (29 out of 66 points) |
 |
Sporting Kansas City
|
30% (20 out of 66 points) |
 |
Chicago Fire
|
16% (11 out of 66 points) |
Don’t look now, but Sporting Kansas City is just two points out of a playoff spot and still has 19 matches left to play. They aren’t exactly setting the world ablaze, but they have clearly recovered from that awful start. Their win over the Vancouver Whitecaps was their third in four matches and they have not lost in seven.?
| At Least There’s No Relegation | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
Vancouver Whitecaps
|
3% (2 out of 66 points) |