Monday, October 02, 2006

Monday Blogging

Even though it is a Cowboys Monday (scroll down to Cowboys Notes), and Haynesworth talk will dominate the day, there was a huge game in Aggieland on Saturday:


Leach owns Fran


"It turns out pirates can beat soldiers," Leach said in a postgame television interview.

Leach's pass-happy pirates didn't exactly loot and pillage Kyle Field, but the end result left the 85,979 swaying from despair. Tech's Kobey Lewis, Shannon Woods and L.A. Reed locked arms and mimicked Aggies' fans famous rocking.

While the Red Raiders remain a work in progress, an unknown, they at least have a winning conference start. Fran, Fran, the turnaround man, is in Year Four of running in place.

There's an e-mail joke being circulated among Texas fans. It says: Franchione is Italian for Mackovic.

Franchione is now 20-20 at A&M. It doesn't take 20-20 vision to see that Coach Fran's legacy tipped over thanks to Saturday's result.


Without replay, Aggie wins that game …So you got that going for you…which is nice…


Where were those Pac-10 officials when Texas A&M needed them?

Texas Tech got a chance to pull out Saturday's 31-27 victory because of instant replay.

Most in the crowd of 85,979 celebrated when Aggie linebacker Mark Dodge came up with an apparent interception in the closing minutes of play.

However, the tipped pass hit the ground first, which the replay official confirmed. Tech kept possession, eventually winning on Robert Johnson's 37-yard touchdown catch with 26 seconds left.

Had that play happened a few years ago, A&M would have won because college football didn't have replay. And Oklahoma found out three weeks ago in its loss to Oregon that there's no guarantee the replay official is going to see what everyone else sees - which is the same as trying to analyze how A&M lost the Tech game.

The defense is taking the brunt of the blame. The decision for a maximum blitz on the decisive play failed when someone failed to make it maximum, giving quarterback Graham Harrell time to throw a perfect pass.

A&M freshman defensive back Jordan Peterson could have interfered with Johnson. A 15-yard penalty is better than giving up a touchdown.

Peterson had such good coverage though I thought he already was interfering with Johnson.

If that same play unfolds nine more times, I'm betting on eight incompletions, which makes the throw and catch that more remarkable.


Further evaluation from the big game on Saturday


There can be no mistakes when defensing Mike Leach's Red Raiders, and the Aggies learned that the hard way, again. The inability to put pressure on Harrell cost A&M dearly down the stretch.

To the Red Raiders' credit, they did what they do best when they needed it the most. When Tech broke the huddle on their final play from scrimmage, Johnson was going to run a slant. The sophomore Harrell, in just his fifth start, saw Peterson close on Johnson and switched his route to a streak.

"I told the receivers if they press long enough, we're going to hit them," said Leach, who is now 5-2 against A&M.

Meanwhile, Franchione fell to 1-3 against Tech. Rivals or not, it's not the kind of record the Aggies want against the Red Raiders.


Explanations, Anyone? I saw this Saturday and was shocked and amazed. I love all visiting Aggieland, and support 95% of their traditions, but what the heck is this????



Other Stories:

Mushnick raises good stuff


the story broke Tuesday, and, while it's hardly news that the NFL's violent criminal population is on the grow, this one's too ugly to be shorted or ignored. But it has been. Tuesday in a Los Angeles courtroom, Bears CB Ricky Manning, already on probation for a 2003 assault, pleaded no contest to felony assault.

The assault occurred in a Denny's restaurant near UCLA on April 23 at 3 a.m.

According to the victim's claims in the police report obtained by NBCsports.com, Manning, Tyler Ebell and Maurice Jones-Drew - all former UCLA football players - were among a group of customers who began to bully 25-year-old Soroush Sabzi, who was seated alone nearby, working on his laptop.

When Sabzi, a student and Swedish citizen of Persian descent, asked to be left alone, the insults, including, "Are you a faggot?" and "You f - - - ing Jew," continued.

Sabzi, the police report continues, next called out for restaurant management. At that point, Manning approached Sabzi, who was still seated, stood above him and called him a "an ugly f - - - ing Jew" and a "faggot."

When, according to the report, the victim again asked to be left alone, Manning began to slap him. Manning's accomplices joined in. Sabzi was punched to the ground then kicked, leaving "visible injuries to his face, cheek, head and [sic] lost consciousness for approximately 10 seconds."



Stars aquire a guy nobody likes


Ribeiro said he was shocked by the move.

''I'm disappointed and sad at the same time,'' the Montreal native said. ''I didn't expect this now.

''There were rumours last year that I'd be traded, but I didn't think about it this year. I just concentrated on getting ready for the season. I guess Montreal wanted defence and Dallas wanted a centre. It's a great city for me. No winter. No snow. So I'll be happy.''

Ribeiro, 26, is coming off a disappointing 2005-2006 season, during which he scored 51 points and posted a minus-6 rating, down from the 65 points and plus-15 rating he had produced in 2003-2004.



Here is one reason why:



Some guy named Bob Strum was interviewed on Wednesday afternoon by the AP


"It's always something with Terrell. What was alleged this morning was absolutely off the charts. I don't know that there's anything in his track record that compares to this type of thing. I don't feel like everything has added up. I just have a hard time buying the suicide attempt as it was relayed to us at 8 o'clock this morning. Just so many things didn't make sense to me.

For me, with the story, the next step is finding out who's telling the truth, because obviously we have two totally different sides to the story. I feel like I'm operating with 40 percent of the story. I personally want to hear 911 calls and toxicology reports. As far as the Cowboys and Terrell Owens, I anticipate their hope and dream is that it all goes away.

If I know the sports world news cycle, this probably continues until noon on Sunday and if he plays like he plays it could very well go away."

 Bob Strum, midday host, Sports Radio 1310AM The Ticket, Dallas


MLS struggles to SELL tickets, and FC Dallas appears at the bottom


It shows that while the 11-year-old league has made strides in several areas – the construction of soccer-specific stadiums, additional sponsors and investors, new national television contracts with ABC/ESPN and Univision – the cornerstone of any pro sports league may be lagging: the number of people actually buying tickets to view the product. Only one team, the Los Angeles Galaxy, had an average paid attendance above 13,000 last season, and six of the 12 teams were below 10,000.

“No league, including ours, is satisfied with the number of people who see (games),” Abbott said in a telephone interview yesterday, “and we're going to work to increase that number. But it's only one small part of the measurement of the league.”

Other findings from the attendance report:

Nearly 600,000 free tickets were distributed last season, or an average of 3,090 per match. The Columbus Crew and Real Salt Lake each gave out more than 9,000 freebies to a single match, and three other clubs handed out 7,000-plus. In one early-season FC Dallas match against Colorado, 1,259 tickets were sold and 7,347 were comps.
On average, announced attendance was 9 percent higher than the total number of tickets distributed and at some games close to 50 percent higher despite MLS' stated policy of using tickets distributed to determine its announced attendance figures.
The L.A. Galaxy easily outdistanced its MLS brethren in ticket sales last year, with an average paid attendance of 19,940. The next best team was Real Salt Lake at 12,689. FC Dallas was last at 6,634.


High School RB gets 658 yards


Paul McCoy rushed for an apparent national high school-record 658 yards and scored 10 touchdowns Friday.

McCoy, who had 29 carries in Matewan's 64-0 win over Burch, ran for 477 yards just on his touchdown runs, which covered 69, 1, 52, 56, 52, 20, 31, 84, 87 and 25 yards. He also had a 77-yard TD run called back by penalty.

The National Federation of State High School Associations lists the national record as 619 yards, set by Ronney Jenkins of Oxnard, Calif., in 1995. McCoy's yardage will have to be verified before it becomes official.


Anything I missed, my apologies. Jeff Gordon had a horrid run, Liverpool got thumped at Bolton, and other stuff happened.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

First, Merkin, Gay...in that order

Anonymous said...

Gordon had a good run. That is, until his fuel pump gave out 22 laps from the finish.

Anonymous said...

Shouldnt the poor aggies be allowed to compete in the Mountain West conference or the WAC? Why should they have to play with the big boys. Cant we trade them for TCU? As far as the Ags "they are not our rivals" talk goes, i'm sure they can curl up with that night after night over the past 12 years to make them feel better about a program that has SUNK further down than Baylor. I guess Baylor isnt a big game for Aggie anymore either since they cant beat them. F the Aggies. If it looks like a fag and acts like a fag, its a FAG.

Anonymous said...

Chill out MR. Did you have an evil Aggie stepfather or something? An Aggie cut you off on the road today?

Anonymous said...

Nope, just sick of aggie. They get a ton of talent there and have forever and do NOTHING much with it. Tech takes 2nd tier talent and wins. Imagine what Leach could do with all the Aggies blue chippers? Im not sure aggie has a leg to stand on when i mentioned they should play in the mountain west or wac. Tell me that aggie isnt the worst team in the big 12 south, ans hasnt been for the last few years? Just wait until Fran can get his guys in here. HA.

Anonymous said...

Ummm, yeah. They lost by 4, on the last play of the game, to the Almighty Leach, and they're the worst team in the Big 12 and not even worthy of the Mountain West?

Whatever.

Let Baylor beat them again, and let Oklahoma State make hold them under 60 this year, and they can be the worst.

Until then, A&M is what it is. 4th best team in the Big 12 South. Certainly underachieving, but to say they belong in the Mountain West is obviously a bit, trying to draw Aggies offsides. I'm guilty. I'll give up the 5 yards.

Anonymous said...

"Tell me that aggie isnt the worst team in the big 12 south, ans hasnt been for the last few years?"

Yeah, Oklahoma State has been...

Oh wait, you're talking about Texas A&M. They fought hard and almost pulled off the win. Unfortunately, they could not.

Oh I'm glad replay actually did what it was supposed to do on Saturday.

Anonymous said...

Baylor had the game in aggieland won last year, and won at home the year before, so if anything bear and aggie are tied. So tell me, are you willing to bet that aggie wins in waco this year? didnt think so.

Anonymous said...

BTW, have you noticed what Adrian Gonzalez and Chris Young are doing this week that the rest of his teammates from last season are not?

Anonymous said...

I feel bad for Aggie, but if you can't prevent the other team from driving 80 yards in the final 2 minutes, then you don't deserve to win the game.

P.S. I think we should start calling Bob the Merkinator.

Flaco said...

You know Bob...

maybe the stars got someone that no one likes, but they got RID of someone that everyone hates.

Niinima. I hate that guy.

There's talk of moving Lindors to the wing (where he looked great on saturday) and sticking this new spare guy in the middle between lindros and morrow.

interesting.

adding new pieces after this team has supposedly "bonded" in camp.

Anonymous said...

sports bob - please help us get rid of fran. use your sports powers to find us a real coach.

Anonymous said...

it's official..

"It turns out pirates can beat soldiers," Leach said in a postgame television interview.

Andy Douthitt said...

Aggy, Aggy, Aggy, (sigh)

MR-- solid take and respect

but...

Do they get great talent in College Station anymore? Do they have tier 2 talent like Tech? Do they underdevelop their talent?

The answer I believe is no, yes and no.

Right now, nfl-ready players do not play for AtM.

Tech, on the other hand, has a handful of nfl talent on their team. What does that mean?

The glory recruiting years for ATM are over and Fran is playing with Iowa State talent, (good for them). Are you serious? Things are really really bad for Aggy.

Apathy nation-wide is now an aggie trademark. Sad and pitiful.

Say hello to a 4 or 5 loss season Aggy.

Anonymous said...

yeah, McGee can't throw... 8,256 yds and 101 TDs in 2 1/2 years of high school (62% completion rate Sr. Yr with ZERO INTs). Jordan Shipley (UT WR who caught a TD Sat night) is the All Time Texas HS WR in yards and TDs. McGee was his QB in HS. McGee & 3A Burnet lost state 7 on 7 title to 5A SLCarrol their SR Year. Yeah, McGee can't throw...
Coach Fran is ruining this kid.

Anonymous said...

Ah yes, using high school stats to disprove what we see in college.

Don't bogart!

Anonymous said...

The A&M/Tech game was lost in the second quarter.

Johnson makes a freakish play in glue-like coverage on the last play of the game to take the lead that should not have been A&M's to begin with.

Here's an idea: play some defense in the 2nd quarter by not allowing a successful two minute drill, and play some offense in the 2nd half and don't settle for two field goals.

Nevertheless, I still agree with Greggo. He's not a bad coach. I don't know what the hell is going on down there, but he's not a bad coach.

Here's what is gonna happen: after the Aggies get tired of Fran (either this year with less than 8 wins or next year with less than 9), he gets canned. He goes to a school like West Virginia after Rich Rodriguez gets lured for the big money of a big SEC school. And somehow Fran is able to continue the success of the program, something he could never re-start from scratch at A&M.

Anonymous said...

Please God, fire Buck Showalter. You've already granted me One Wish in shipping No-dee-minaa out of Dallas...please ship Buck out next.

Thanks in advance!

Anonymous said...

Take away LT, and Franchione's entire career disappears. Seriously, take away his TCU years and his record in 1-A is 66-62 for a .516 1-A coaching record going into this season. The guy is not equipped to coach at the 1-A level. As a Longhorn fan, I hope the Aggies never realize this. ;)

-JB

Here's how I would rank the Big 12 after this week:

1) Texas
2) OU
3) Nebraska
4) Mizzou
5) Texas Tech
6) Iowa St
7) Baylor
8) Kansas
9) Oklahoma St.
10) Texas A&M
11) Kansas St.
12) Colorado

Anonymous said...

The Fran Resume (blatantly ripped off from TexAgs.com)

20-20 overall record

7-6 vs. Big 12 opponents at Kyle Field

Overall Big 12 record: 10-15

Big 12 South record 5-11

1-9 against Tech, Texas and OU

Lost to every Big 12 team, except for KU/KSU, at least once

Lost to every Big 12 team, except for KU/KSU/Baylor, by at least 20 points

3-13 record on the road

3-13 record vs. Top 25 teams.

2006 – Sophomore Graham Herrell passed for a career high 392 yards after averaging 292 in the first 4 games of the season

2005 – Worst pass defense in the country

2005 - Barrick Nealy passed for 378 yards. He averaged 192 yards passing the rest of the season against I-AA competition.

2005 - Joel Klatt passed for more yards in one quarter than any QB in Colorado history.

2005 - Allan Evridge threw for a career high 357 yards. He averaged 126 ypg in 8 other games that season.

First WR to ever catch 4 TD passes against A&M. (Todd Blythe - 2005)

Worst loss in A&M history. (77-0)

Worst loss to Tech in A&M history. (56-17 in 2005)

Worst bowl loss in our history

First loss ever to Iowa State.

First losing season since 1982 (Sherrill’s first season)

First loss to Baylor since 1985

11 losses of 20 or more points

Before fran the aggies hadn’t lost by 20 or more at home since December 1, 1988 (L to Arkansas 10-30)

Oklahoma state ‘03 (10-38)
Texas ‘03 (15-46)
Iowa State ’05 (14-42)

Anonymous said...

I hate to break up all of the fine discussion about how bad aggy sucks, but it is Texas-OU week! I was leaving Target on Saturday wearing a Texas cap, and my son wearing a jersey and a random OU fan walked by trash talkin'. He walked by talking about how next weekend will be a bad one for me and my kids. Classy. Later I saw him packing his things and kids into a beaten up Kia minivan. I realized that all this guy has to live for is Sooner football. Poor bastard. Go bless college football.

Anonymous said...

Sooner fan will be crying next Sunday morning. I just hope there aren't any controversial calls in the game because if there are, that will of course be the excuse they'll use.

Andy Douthitt said...

OK. I stand corrected about Aggie talent. That is a bad job on the coaching staff then when it comes to maximizing talent.

That is hard to believe, but numbers don't lie. Stoops, Mack, Leach, get the most out of their recruiting classes. wow.

Other than that, I am sooner fan, so I will have some stuff for you about this weekend at a later time.

Anonymous said...

I have absolutely no idea which way this one is going to go. That's probably because Texas is starting a redshirt frosh at QB and OU's defense has been inconsistent to say the least.

We force two turnovers at Oregon to start the fourth. Then, give up about 130 yards on two consecutive drives.

At least Colt McCoy isn't a scrambling QB like Dixon.

Marc Foster said...

Mark Zeigler (SD Union Tribune) loves to bag on bogus attendance numbers around sports, and the MLS in particular. This isn't the first story he's written this year about attendance. He wrote two pieces back in May. (second piece, with a lot of MLS discussion)

Oh yeah, Boomer Sooner!

Marc (FTW Texans Homer Call guy)