Remember when...

Remember when Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace dealt Pau Gasol to the Lakers for some stuff that one time? Remember how Memphis said this trade was about saving the franchise money, but a lot of teams were still upset about it and the NBA said everything was on the up-and-up?

I do!

That's why I found it odd that the Grizzlies have now signed power forward Zach Randolph.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Wallace “We are pleased to acquire a player of Zach Randolph’s caliber,” Wallace said. “Zach is one of the best low-post scorers in the league and a force on the boards as well. He will also bring much-needed experience to the team.”

Wow, it must be nice for a franchise like Memphis to get such an experienced player, someone who is a great low-post scorer and rebounder. And at $16 million per year? What a steal!

Wait, what's that, you say? The Grizzlies had an All-Star low-post scorer and rebounder a couple of years ago? And he made $16 million per year, too? And this All-Star low-post scorer didn't have mental problems like Randolph does?

Well, now, that's just weird. I don't know quite what to make of it.

Well, didn't see that coming

Photo from photo.byu.edu

BYU 14, Oklahoma 13.

Wow.

If someone had told me BYU would score 14 points and turn the ball over four times in this game and win, I'd have laughed.

If someone had told me BYU's defense would force three fumbles on Oklahoma and recover two of them, I'd have been skeptical.

If someone had told me Oklahoma would get into the endzone once all night, I'd have rolled my eyes.

But something happened between 2008 and 2009: BYU found a defense, and a dang good one.

And the entire defense gets the game ball for last night's game, in my opinion. The defensive line was more than Oklahoma's offensive line could handle, BYU linebackers had free shots on the quarterback all night and the safeties and corners played better than I expected them to in a million years.

This was the deciding factor in the game, not Max Hall, as I had predicted on Friday. In short, Max was Max. One great drive and a lot of inconsistency. A throw to a wide-open McKay Jacobsen resulted in a decent gain instead of a touchdown, as would have been the case if Hall had an arm. Two terrible decisions resulted in two picks. No part of his game surprised me.

Max is fine, and I'm not calling for his backup to start or anything, but he is clearly in the category of Brandon Doman rather than Steve Sarkisian. Which is fine. He's a gamer who can find a way to win, provided the defense helps him out. Can't win if the team depends solely on his arm.

I have to wonder what the outcome would have been if Bradford hadn't been knocked out for the second half. He completed 71% of his passes for 96 yards and a touchdown on only 14 throws. I imagine that if he'd been allowed to sling the ball more frequently in the second half that he'd have done some major damage, but we'll never know.

The way BYU's defense was able to blitz like crazy and still not allow the big play was amazing. Oklahoma's longest play from scrimmage was 18 yards last night, a major testament to BYU defenders wrapping up and knowing their assignments.

A corner I was impressed with was #7, junior Brian Logan. I was shocked when I found out he's only 5'6"; the kid made some huge plays and I look forward to watching him all season.

So there you have it. A shocking win, a shocking defensive effort and a great outcome for BYU. It's a long season, but if the Cougars can run the table, great things can happen.

Enough procrastinating

I've put this off long enough. Here is my take on the BYU-Oklahoma game:

The biggest single factor in this game is Max Hall. I know what I'm getting out of Bradford. I know what I'm getting out of our defense to some extent. The same goes for Oklahoma's defense. But I have no idea what to expect from Max.

I admit his performances against TCU and Utah last season caused me to look very hard at the guy... how can someone who throws for so many yards and so many touchdowns and so few interceptions have such an epic meltdown against the two biggest opponents he faced in 2008?

I've decided that 2008 Max Hall did not have the tools he needed to succeed against those teams. Hall's arm strength, decision making and accuracy were not good. "But!" you say. "He passed for 3,957 yards last season! He was 19th in the nation for total offense!"

This is true. But I've gone back and watched a few games from the 2008 season. Hall was bailed out by Dennis Pitta and Austin Collie an awful lot. These guys are for real, and have legit NFL-caliber talent. If Hall threw behind Pitta in the endzone, he adjusted to the ball and made a spectacular catch. If Hall lobbed a duck at Collie, he went to the ball and beat the corner for it.

Hall's lack of arm strength is most apparent. John Beck's arm strength was never in question; as a sophomore, he was launching bombs to Todd Watkins and Collie (who had beaten the coverage) and placing the ball directly in their hands as they ran at full speed. How many of those plays have we seen from Hall? I honestly cannot think of any.

Therefore, most of the long touchdown passes we see from him are the result of YAC. Collie makes a great grab on the sideline 20 yards past the line of scrimmage and beats his guy to the endzone.

I believe opposing defenses know about Hall's lack of arm strength and play their guys up. Against teams like CSU or San Diego State, this is not a problem. Hall is fairly accurate within 10-15 yards or so, and the aforementioned Pitta and Collie can make grabs even in double coverage. Add dumping the ball off the Unga in there and you can rack up tons of yards against mediocre defenses.

But the TCU's and Utah's of the world have athletes. They have great defensive coordinators. They know Hall's tendencies and work hard at taking away the easy throws. Result? Interceptions by the shovelful and Hall is utterly ineffective.

Beck faced this scenario against TCU in 2006. The Horned Frogs took away the easy passes and dared Beck to make the tough ones: across the field to a receiver just in bounds, or in a quickly closing window between two corners and a linebacker. Beck came to play and made the throws. 2008 Hall couldn't do that, and the results were clear.

Now, John Beck was not 2006 John Beck his entire career. He had to evolve as a player through learning defenses, developing rapport with his receivers and practicing his tail off. He struggled a lot his sophomore and junior years, but at the end of 2006, I'd rank Beck up there with any of the BYU greats that have come through Provo. He was a machine, and thoroughly dismantled every opponent he came up against in the last nine games he played as a college quarterback. It got boring to watch because of how easily he was able to move the ball on teams like Oregon or Utah... not to mention Air Force or Wyoming.

So I hold out hope that Max has improved a lot this offseason. I hope he's realized his flaws and worked hard to improve. Because if not, this game will be an embarrassment. I have no illusions that BYU's defense will be able to shut down Bradford. That guy is nails, but I believe BYU's defense will be able to hold him in check... ie. Oklahoma won't score a touchdown on their every possession.

That leaves open a very small window where a BYU offense that is absolutely on fire can take advantage. And that kind of offense needs a quarterback who is performing on another level of awesome. Awesome like Detmer vs. Miami in 1990 or Sarkisian vs. Texas A&M in 1996. Stuff of legends.

If Hall can be the man, I give BYU a shot at winning this game with an old WAC score of 56-52 or something else ridiculous. If Hall is completely ineffectual, BYU gets blown out.

To me, it's that simple.

It's a tough opening game for your 2009 season, but the potential is there for an historic year, the kind we'll tell our kids about.

So Go Cougars!

Dear Craig Bolerjack

This is what a circus shot looks like. Study hard.

Healthcare reform and town halls

As a follow-up to this post, can we clear some stuff up?

Some of the many criticisms of town-hall goers I have read and heard over the last few days:

1. Protestors are interrupting and shutting down senators and others attempting to speak.

My reaction: Bad form. Using your right to free speech to impeded the rights of another is not okay.

2. Protestors and mindless drones, parroting what talk radio pundits feed them and acting only because Rush told them to.

My reaction: This is a tough one. Are there people who are easily influenced by high-profile individuals? You bet. Are there people upset only because the radio told them to be? Yep. But are there people who honestly disagree with what is going on and want to make their voices heard? Yes. I think this argument is used because for people who lean left, it's less scary than believing that there are a lot of people who really are against the direction we're going with healthcare.

3. Glenn Beck and others of his ilk are instructing their drones on how to interrupt and shout down those in opposition to them at town hall meetings.

My reaction: I have yet to find a link that shows this, and considering it was either on TV or on the radio, there has to be a digital record of it somewhere. Until I find some proof, I'm chalking this up to fabrication. I have heard Beck encourage people to attend these meetings and make their voices heard, but he has not advocated for violence or other unproductive methods for doing so.

4. The protestors at town hall meetings are "un-American."

My reaction: Were these people out of the country for the last eight years? Bush's presidency generated quite a bit of protest from the left, and no one from the Washington Post decried them as un-American then.

This is the typical "party out of office is unhappy and mounts protests" thing we see after every power shift in Washington. Liberals did it then, conservatives are doing it now, and if a conservative wins the 2012 election, the liberals will get their protesting kits out of their closets and return to the streets.

If you support the healthcare reform intiatives and are unhappy with the acts of these protestors, get out and counteract them. Attend the town hall meetings and make your voice heard. Paint your own posters. Legally and respectfully show that there are people who are okay with what President Obama and Speaker Pelosi are doing here.

Because as it stands, only those questioning this reform are getting the coverage.

Countdown to college football

It's now less than a month until BYU kicks off its 2009 season with a game against the mighty Oklahoma Sooners.

BYU fans are understandably pessimistic about the Cougars' chances against Heisman winner Sam Bradford and company; the Sooners are ranked fifth in both preseason polls and came off a very impressive 12-2 season in 2008, with losses only to Texas and Florida. Not much shame in that, especially when your offense averaged over 50 points per game.

And while preseason polls are far from iron-clad in accuracy, in this case I think Oklahoma's is fully justified. Nine returning starters plus Bradford's arm should be more than enough to beat the Cougars fairly easily. Defensively, especially, the team should give Hall and company a challenge.

After Texas lit up OU’s defense in a 45-35 classic, the Sooners played strong defense save for one game, OSU. The Cowboys scored at 50 percent efficiency (touchdowns plus half the field goals, divided by possessions) in their 61-41 Bedlam loss, a game that said much more about the State offense than it did the OU defense.

The Sooners otherwise shut down some really good offenses. Missouri’s efficiency was 30 percent; Tech’s was 23 percent. In the Big Bowl, Florida’s was 39 percent.

In today’s football, anything in the 30s is solid. Thirty percent and below is dominant defense, 40 percent and above usually will get you beat.

OU’s defense allowed above 30 percent only thrice all season.

Sounds promising. And then we have the fact that BYU's defense is nothing to write home about, and really hasn't been since 2004.

But have no fear! The last time BYU played Oklahoma was in the 1994 Copper Bowl. The Cougars won the game handily, thrashing the Sooners 31-6 behind the quarterback John Walsh.

Here are the highlights.

And here's another, more extensive highlight reel.

So in short, there's nothing to fear about the guys driving the wagon. They'll bleed like everyone else.

I'll get into what I expect from BYU on Friday.

Until then, enjoy this Sports Illustrated article on the 1984 National Championship team.

Opposition to Obamacare mounting

As the markedly right-wing blog Hot Air put it, "If anyone questioned why Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi wanted to get a health-care reform bill passed before the August recess, the following videos will explain it clearly."

In three town-hall meetings with Democratic denizens of Capitol Hill, crowds reacted angrily to a government takeover of health care. In the first, Rep. Keith Ellison moves through the crowd in his very liberal district taking comments — but not answering any of his constituents’ questions (via Janet at SCSU Scholars):

http://hotair.com/archives/2009/08/03/three-videos-show-why-obamacare-is-in-trouble/

The point here is not to prove that Obama's proposed plans are good or bad. The point is that there is a lot of opposition to the idea across the country, even in states and Congressional districts that generally follow liberal thought.