There’s always something to nibble on.
- If you’re like me in that you think there’s always room for one more college football game on TV, then this is good news. Even if it is from Fox.
- Speaking of which, the Pac-12 is thinking about how the football fan abhors a vacuum and may be positioning itself to do something about that if there’s no NFL this fall.
- Shakin’ the Southland takes a look at linebacker fundamentals.
- Derek Dooley on player motivation: “What I was surprised at was he wasn’t coming to me and saying, ‘I want the ball.’…I sat there and purposely didn’t give him the ball just to see if he would ever come and he didn’t. Then, I decided we should probably give him the ball.” Okay, fine.
- Zach Dillard updates his medical report on Aaron Murray.
- I’m not sure which part of this story amuses me more, that NC State is trying to enforce its trademarked nickname against a school which was using it at least a decade before the farmers, or that it’s taken State twenty years to get around to doing something about it.
- “Maybe the answer for most of the ills of our sport is to finally give the football and basketball athletes a choice. Have the NFL and NBA spend the money to establish their own farm systems and draft qualified athletes in those sports right out of high school and sign them to minor league contracts. Let the pro scouts put their money where their mouths are and take the pressure off of college sports.” Well, yeah. The trick is how do you convince the pros to do that?
Get The Picture 
Why does the N.C. State mascot wear a sailors hat?
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It’s because they are UNC wannabes.
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It’s kind of an old-school thing in general. See also:
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At first glance, I misread the Wolfpack mascot’s name as “Mr. Muff” instead of “Mr. Wuff”. I was disappointed when I re-read it.
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That may be the last name of NCSU’s female mascot, not sure.
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Let me get this straight: Loyola used the mascot “Wolfpack” first. Both teams then used it for several years with neither one complaining about the other. Loyola stopped athletics for awhile. During that time NC state registered the name as a trademark. Loyola then began athletics again using the same name, “Wolfpack.” NC State did nothing to enforce the trademark for TWENTY YEARS. Now NC State seeks to enforce the trademark. I think that there is a better than 50-50 chance that Loyola may walk away from this with an absolute right to the use of the name and NC State may lose any exclusive right to it. If I were Loyola I would file a counterclaim.
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I know it’s unfair to pick on college reporters, but Dillard is bordering on “Boom goes the dynamite” territory. To wit:
“…the quarterbacks were dressed out in black uniforms to set them apart, presumably protecting them from any contact in drills…” Presumably? Who’s presuming? Conrad Fink just snarled.
“There was a full officiating crew on site for the practice, although without wearing full pads the team will not be running any contact-heavy drills.” What tense are we in Zach?
“A lot of punts were kicked, a lot of punts were caught. If anyone has ever watched special teams work being put in, they would understand the lack of detail in this note.” I would venture to say that someone who thought special teams involved the mentally impaired would still spot the dearth of detail in this note.
“…to guess would simply be speculation.” Check out the big brain on Zach! That’s right, Zach, guessing is indeed speculation. Conrad Fink just ripped out one of his own eyebrows.
“…the alleged upcoming transfer of Logan Gray…” Alleged? Again by whom? Also, a transfer isn’t like a bank heist. “Alleged” is a little strong. And, lastly, don’t you mean “confirmed?” Gray’s transfer left the realm of speculation and entered the domain of known facts some time ago. There goes Fink’s other eyebrow.
“Overall, he looked ready to go. And that is a 20-minute diagnosis of his status.” It’s a good thing Zach’s an MD, as this is twice he hasn’t bothered to get the diagnosis of anyone on the medical staff. Conrad Fink just threw a desk.
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My favorite part was where he included an entire paragraph about the fact that a lot of players worked out on special teams, and that speculating on who will be returning punts would be foolhardy at best… and then proceeded to speculate on who would be returning punts for the entirety of the next paragraph.
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The whole thing would be better served if he simply put it all in twitter syntax.
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As to be expected, it was so bad I couldn’t finish it. My guess is that he has much to learn and is very young, but that would be speculation on my part. Take it for what its worth.
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Agreed. I’m thankful that I didn’t have to do the growing up in public that the Internet medium now mandates of young journalists.
It is worth noting that, while Dillard’s name is on the byline, his copy is the combined work of Dillard and at least one copy editor. The quality control in the R&B’s most visible coverage area is obviously lacking and merits some deeper involvement by a faculty advisor.
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I was a little tongue in cheek in the above statement (stealing as many of his poorly placed phrases as possible), but yes, I think the copy editor is just as much to blame here.
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The Red & Black is a independent newspaper whose day to day operations are run completely by students. The reporters, copy editors, Managing Editor, Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board are all students. Faculty is not involved in the day to day operations.
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As a former staffer, I’m well aware of the R&B’s charter. Might be my memory is hazy, but I recall there were faculty advisors during my time there. Kent Middleton, who still serves on the board, was a professor of mine and currently is a department head at Grady. Grady’s web site also lists R&B publisher and treasurer Harry Montevideo as a “faculty sponsor.”
More to the point, most of the R&B staff are likely students at Grady, where profs pour over paper with their classes. So it seems like things like basic AP style wouldn’t be completely abandoned, regardless of how independent the paper is.
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He sucks .
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Like that FOX may pick up some Big 10/PAC 12 games, hope they are the late night variety (10:00 PM or so). Sometimes there is only one option in that time slot. Also think using Sundays, if they open up, is very smart. There is a theme here, keep working until we have CFB 24/7, 365. Us retired guys have lots of time, don’t need people limiting our pleasure, and want something to look forward to when we go to “the home.” CFB has too many games in too few days, except for bowl season.
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It’s only smart if the NFL stays out until December. Otherwise, they’re going to have some very unhappy fans who will have their weekend plans totally screwed up when the games are moved back from Sunday to Saturday.
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Yeah, no way they stay out all season, if at all. That is why I qualified it with “if Sundays open up”. But you give the typical fan in that area far too credit to think they plan attendance on the Left Coast: they are just skate boarding by and think there is a Grateful Dead concert going on so they drop in to groove. (Except for those Duck fans, they know the Oregon cheerleaders will be there so that goes on the calendar!)
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“Though he seemed to favor the ankle in some of the earlier drills, as is to be expected for any ankle injury…”
This kid really doesn’t know when to let it go, does he?
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At least he acknowledged the existence of both of Murray’s legs and their current connection to his body. Baby steps.
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nWo needs to send some muscle up to Raleigh.
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Looks like I’m the only one who got that.Well played,sir.
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“…how do you convince the pros to do that?”
Step One: Stop recruiting athletes who wouldn’t be accepted through the regular admissions process.
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I don’t get your logic. There are plenty of high school athletes now who don’t go to college.
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Gamers?
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Poor Wolfies always have a chip on their shoulder.
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Vols coach Derek on another of his players. “I sat there and purposely didn’t give him the ball just to see if he would ever come…” He did. Using the two-handed throat-slash move. Then it was clear he would be soon be a team captain.
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Thanks for the link about LB play. I like that CTG put so much time into fundamentals last year. However, I was stunned that he took two weeks working on taking proper angles and tackling form when he had a new defense to install. That tells me that fundamentals were not being taught and reenforced at UGA the way they should have been. That could have been the reason that we saw so many arm tackles and “bumps” in ’08 and ’09. I was not a Willie basher and I know proper fundamentals should have been learned in high school, however, many great athletes get by on athletic ability, size, and speed in high school and are never taught the basics. At least IMO.
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Or get lazy about the fundamentals when their DC and position coach doesn’t seem to care. The lack of proper form in tackling was a subject talked about extensively on this blog during the ’09 season as I recall.
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