Falcons need THE DOYT to rock!

This weekend, BGSU takes on the fellas from Boise State at 7 pm under the lights of Doyt Perry Stadium. The BGSU family MUST come out in full go Falcon mode to help create a raucus environment. Boise State is sure to be used to it, but they aren’t on the smurf turf so things will be different.

Can the Falcon secondary hold firm?
Can the Falcon D give Boise State enough different looks?
Can the Falcon O control the ball enough to beat up the Broncos?

We’ll find out.

Ay Ziggy Zoomba!

Go Falcons

Cowboys Staduim

Looks pretty legit tonight on Sunday Night Football.

So far DeMarcus Ware is eating people alive, and Eli is struggling.

Where’s my punt off the HD?

Put up or shut up Irish

Ok fellas, Sparty has owned you at home. Like, beat you in six straight games at home. They even put a flag at midfield a few years back like a moon landing. The last Irish coach to beat Michigan State at home was Lou Holtz in 1993.

The Irish offense is sure to light it up, but it’s the Irish defense that will need to show up. They’ve been getting gashed against the running game. It’s time to sit and the head of the table and blow some people up.

Time to get the momentum going Charlie Weis.

First thoughts on week 1 for the Irish

Well if all it took was a billboard, then someone get me the phone number for Lamar advertising.  It’s true though, the 2009 version of the Fighting Irish came out ready to play.  A huge difference from Domer teams in the past.  Coach Charlie Weisshowed off his teams  depth, new attitude, and explosiveness.So, what a better time to be critical and get some ideas down.

Offense-Lot’s of weapons.  Jimmy Clausen looked like he’s got complete control of the offense.  He hardly had any pressure on him all day and was able to step into and deliver some very clean footballs.  His best throw resulted in a touchdown to Kyle Rudolph in the first half on a 3 and 9.  He hit the 6 foot 6 TE high and outside, only where he could get it.  I mean that guy hit 9 out of 10  in the first half.

The O-line seemed was able to grind some meat and run the football.  Which they’ll need for their next few Big Ten opponents.  I saw several occasions when Sam Young was fired up, finishing blocks and telling people about it.  This is the kind of attitude people have wanted in a Notre Dame Football team for a long time.  We’ve wanted that “it,” we’ve wanted that swagger. Today, they had it.

The wide receivers and running backs showed that they can and will make big plays.  Golden Tate and Michael Floyd made their case for being one of the best receiver tandems in the country.  This will surely get better, as teams roll coverages  toward Floyd, Tate will get one-on-one coverage more often. The best part is, the Irish have about 5 viable targets for Clausen at that position, so he’ll be able to spread it around.

Defense-There is a small concern for me here.  The defense gave up 153 yards rushing at a 5.3 yard per carry clip.  That’s not gonna get it done against Michigan’s spread option, USC’s power attack, or even Navy’s triple option.  At times the defensive line got a little manhandled.  Vai Taua had close to 120 yards rushing himself.  Particularly Ethan Johnson, who usually can hold his own.  A few times he was caught on roller skates or giving up leverage.  The Irish will have to get some additonal depth at the front four in order to keep fresh and make plays.  Sean Cynwar did see some playing time late. Johnson, Williams and Cynwar would be a nice lineup to rotate in and out.

The secondary did a good job, picking off  Colin Kaepernicktwice and keeping the clamps on him.  Kyle McCarthy led the way with an INT and several tackles.  The defensive backfield is the most exciting position for me at NotreDame right now.  They are easily 7 deep on guys that can step in and play.  It’s that kind of depth and athleticism that will allow ND to shape up tons of different schemes, coverages, and blitzes in John Tuneta’sscheme.  It’s that same depth that can get them to double digit wins, or at least close.

Best of all with this win is that Weiss got to play some of his highly touted Freshmen and Sophomore talent.  Dayne Crist was the signal caller for most of the 4th period.  Shaquelle Evans, Theo Riddick, Zeke Motta, Jamoris Slaughter,Deion Walker, Manti Te’o, and Kapron Lewis-Moore all saw extended time.  Good news for the Irish faithful.  That time is so valuable as the season goes on.  That is the kind of time that helps get big plays in tight games when the money is on the line.

Overall the Irish took a nice step forward in week one.  They have a first class opponent in Michigan next week, who is cominf off a thrashing of Western Michigan.  Its shaping up to be another great week for college football.

This doesn’t look too bad…

I’m not going to say anything, but I just want to let this marinate…

Michigan

Oh Rich Rod!!! I’m sure this is something that TONS of teams are doing and just not getting caught. The only thing that can cure all the issues in Ann Arbor is W’s…and lots of them.

Their first test, the MAC’s best signal caller in Tim Hiller. If Mr. Hiller and the Bronco’s get hot, could get ugly for the boys in Blue.

Kentucky Fans…

Are you worried yet? John Calipari just had his second team put under investigation and penalized. Sorry Memphis and UMass. Is your great program next? Or is it all about winning?

I guess we’ll find out in a few years.

He’s Baaack…In the Fletch Returns to Glory

The Return! It’s been a very long time since I graced these hallowed pages. To start I want to once again congratulate my brother and friend, Jon, and his wife on the birth of their beautiful baby girl. (Thank God she looks like Sara). As a new father of a five-month old baby boy, I know that Jon and Sara are about to experience one of the greatest joys in life. Maddie is lucky to have such a great dad and I know that he will be great. P.S….Nap when you can, because she doesn’t care about your schedule AT ALL.

 Now on to the world of sports…as a devoted and sometimes ultra-critical fan of the Cleveland Indians I thought it would be wrong of me to not comment on the state of the team. WHAT THE HELL?!? I am a realistic fan, most of the time. I understand that there are times when a player is out-pricing themselves for their team, i.e. CC Sabathia. There was no way the Indians were going to be able to compete in the salary the Yankees were offering. He was going to get his 25 million and that was far too high a price for 99% of the league. However, when you hold a $9 million option on a Cy Young winner who has been the only positive in a terrible pitching staff, it’s hard to fathom the desperation shown by this front office to move him. First, they made the deal before it needed be done. If it was absolutely essential to move Cliff Lee, why not wait it out and make the Phillies sweat? They weren’t going to get Roy Halliday, because the Jays weren’t really that devoted to trading him. Yes, Roy Halliday is the best pitcher in the league and demands a huge price tag if traded, but unless the Phillies offered the prospects the Jays asked for, he wasn’t going anywhere. He wasn’t going to the Yankees or Red Sox, because…they are all in the same division and you just don’t do that. So, if you know (as the Genius Shaprio should have) that you hold the biggest pitching name on the block, make Philly overpay! They were desperate to add an arm and they weren’t going to give away talent for Jarrod Washburn or Ian Snell. Not getting JA Happ or Drabek in this deal was appalling.

Second, trading Victor when he was also sitting on a very reasonable option after this year was the dumbest move I have ever seen. The man cried for Pete’s sake! He wanted to stay here, because he was committed to this team. He liked playing here. He very well could have given us a hometown discount! But, then again, that would assume Mr. Dolan has any desire to spend his money. Granted, I think Justin Masterson is a good pitcher that will step into our rotation and pitch well. He’s a young talented kid who may develop into an ace. Notice I said MAY. What gets me the most with all this is the audacity of the front office to allude to this “cost cutting” as necessary because Dolan is worried about the gate receipts. GATE? If you want people to fill your “Insurance Sales Named Baseball Field” you have to put talent on it! I love going to JACOB’S FIELD to watch games in the summer. I was so excited to take Max (that’s my boy) to a game later this year for his first Tribe game, but I’ll be damned if I spend major league ticket prices and concessions to watch a field full of guys I’ve never heard of. Outside of Grady, Asdrubal and Jhonny…this is a minor league team. I’d rather spend half the money to see the Aeroes or Clippers or the Scrappers here in my backyard. If he wants more ticket sales, invest in the product. Cleveland isn’t Los Angeles. These people have limited income, work extremely hard for it and are hesitant to thrown money at such a poor product. The fans are there, Mr. Dolan. Witness the Cavaliers. Dan Gilbert is throwing around his Quicken Loans money likes its Monopoly money, and for it his team was one of the top grossing teams in the NBA. People pay to see LaBron, Shaq and 66 wins. People stay home to watch Tomo Ohka pitch a crappy game so they can turn it off in the 4th inning. This front office needs to be overhauled, the coach (who is the dumbest baseball mind in the game) and the owner needs to realize he has to spend to succeed and if he isn’t willing to do that, sell the team to someone who is. You can say all you want about the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers, but they spend more than anyone does else does, and make more than anyone else. Just think, two years ago we were one game away from the World Series.

2 quick minutes on why the Cavs need Jemario Moon

This guy can jump out of the gym. His athleticism and “length” would be really nice in the Cavs line up.

Transformers-Revenge Of The Fallen

Just another kick butt Transformers movie.  I decided that I’d hook up with some buddies at our local movie theatre and see the highly anticipated Tranformers Revenge of the Fallen  flick.  Boy was I glad I did.

ROTF is wall to wall action.  It is visually stunning with all of the CG that Michael Bay put into each shot with the Autobots and the Decepticons.  From the main character Sam Witwicky’s house, to his college dorm, to Shanghai, China, Bay’s ability to set up a shot really shined in this film.  Many reviews that I have read talked about how crappy the overall piece is, and I think they are mistaken.  Here are a few things that really impressed me about ROTF:

-The Autobot characters are bigger and badder then ever.  Bay introduced several newbies that payed homage to the Transformers cartoons of old, but had a new spin to them.  My favorite new character was Sideswipe, who was the new Corvette Stingray(Wow by the way).  Swipe had attitude and speed, but unfortunately, we didn’t get enough of him.  You could tell a little bit that merch sales might have had a say in who’s rolls were the biggest, because we saw a lot of Bumblee and Optimus.  Bay also brings to life Arcee, the three female motorcycle Autobots.  There is a nice chase scene with Sideswipe and Arcee chasing a Decepticon in China, that has the girls of Arcee riding on one wheel peppering their enemy with machine gun fire.  You gotta love that.  There is also the Twins that provide some nice slapstick humor, but get plunged into action Autobot style toward the end of the movie.  I think that I would have liked to hear a little bit more from the new and old Autobots.  Ratchet and Ironhide play big rolls, but there isn’t as much talking from them.

-The Decepticons are bigger and badder then ever.  I’ll say this, the Decepticons dole out some serious ass beatings to the humans.  The give equal the amount of punishment to the Autobots, including one extremely well placed sword blow.  I think the coolest blast from the past is Ravage, the Decepticon dog.  Ravage helps set traps and do recon and is 100% mean.  It was cool to see Bay’s interpretation of him.  Devastator makes an appearance, and just watching him get assembled was awesome.    It was almost to fast in the movie, but it was a real production.    Megatron does his thing, but has several funny lines insulting Starscream, just as he does in the cartoon.  As for The Fallen, well he hammer’s people.

-As for the storyline, its not nearly as bad as everyone says it is.  I think Bay pulls it together nicely, but gives the people what they want. Ultimately, the robots are on display, and his ability to have them shape change and battle are what people go to see.  If your going to see this movie for anything else but that, you might be let down.  The plot fits the action perfectly, but its not as robust as your typical movie drama.  He does give both human and robots some classic lines, with more humor then the first movie.Michael Bay has never been a guy that is gonna give you a Goodfella’s type script, but he’s going to massage the script to the action and make it fit. I believe that he accomplishes this nicely.

So why go and see Transformers Revenge Of The Fallen?  Wall to wall action, stunning visuals and special effects.  Megan Fox and Shia Labeouf don’t hurt either.  Go and see the movie to plug into your youth and remember what an awesome cartoon Transformers was.  I fits nicely next to the first movie and definitely out does its action. Just go because, well, it’s more then meets the eye…

Roll out!