I’ve actually sat down and started writing again. I don’t know how often they’ll be up, especially since outside of the starting lineup things are pretty unsettled. Anyway, the first will appear on Monday morning.
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I’m first.
Two questions: Who is the best starting pitcher of the last 15 years? Clemens? Maddux? Pedro?
If you had one game to win, a do-or-die game, who’s your guy (from the last 15 years – if you can choose him in his prime)?
I’ll go Maddux for the first (the longevity and the sustained period of excellence mean more to me than 2-5 year streaks) and perhaps John Smoltz for the second, with Clemens close behind.
I’d say the best starting pitcher of the past 15 years is Maddux, but the best of the past 20+ is Clemens. (Clemens had a couple rough years in the mid-90s but several insanely great ones in the ’80s.) If I needed one game won, I’d hand the ball to Smoltz, fending Clemens off with a shotgun if need be. The guy has no stones.
And answering Stephen’s post in the last thread, I was in TD too, and just graduated this year–so it’ll be a while till my 25th reunion. But I’m glad we had some continuity there. Was T still the master back in the day?
I’ll take Maddux out of those 3, if for nothing more than the fact that I hate the other 2.
There’s a piece in the Hardball Times Annual (hint, hint) with a system that comes out with Clemens as the best pitcher of all time, Maddux (I believe, I don’t have it in front of me) third.
Who’s second, or do I need to buy to get that nugget?
I don’t remember. Seaver, maybe. I think Glavine is about tenth and Smoltz about twentieth, but don’t hold me to it.
Hmm, Walter Johnson left out in the cold?
I go Clemens, Maddux, Pedro.
In one game, I’d go with either Smoltz or Schilling.
Maddux was 4th, Johnson 3rd, Cy Young 2nd (I believe) and Clemens #1.
Incidently, the book is really quite good. Mac has a nice piece in it on Schurholtz, and they have some awsome batted ball data that gives us interesting info. For example, while Chucky James has an above-average FB% and a below-average GB%, he was able to excel last year because he limited the damage done to him on the line drives he allowed. Also, Frenchy has a very high pop-fly rate. Bleh.
Another Alex R–That rocks! My brother was also in YD (Class of 1987) so the place is special for us.
Master T was in great form in those years. We called him “Funky Bob”. I will never forget him playing an African drum and having us chant a quote from Hegel “to achieve cultural synthesis”.
Trish had just started when I arrived and I still try to stop by and say hi to her when I am back in the U.S.
Does TD still get a large number of football players?
if anyone still wants to buy the hardball times…feel free to use the link on my blog ….(hint hint hint hint hint hint)
Or you could just use mine.
Reitsma era is over…
Mariners Sign Chris Reitsma
According to RotoWorld, the Mariners have signed right-handed reliever Chris Reitsma for $1.35MM with an option for ’08. Not bad for a guy with an 8.68 ERA, eh?
Reitsma had July elbow surgery (not Tommy John) and hopes to be ready for spring. The 29 year-old is yet another groundballing addition to the Mariner pitching staff (they’ve already got grounder-lovers Felix Hernandez, Miguel Batista, and Horacio Ramirez).
Horacio and Reitsma? Won’t that, like, tear a hole in the universe?
Not the universe, just your team’s ERA. >_
Horacio Ramirez, Chris Reitsma and the Mariners are still the front-runners for John Thomson. What is going on up there?
I just saw the Reitsma thing…wow…the M’s are really loading up to make their run in the AL West. If they hit the trifecta and get Thompson, Brian Cashman and Theo Epstein might just scramble!
They should go after Kolb also….Reitsma, Ramirez, Thomson, and Kolb (all ground ballers…) good luck with that
I’d give even odds for Thomson and Reitsma to bounce back with relatively useful performances. Ramirez not so much.
Sam…if you care to make it “interesting”, let me know how much, I am game.
What should we set the ERAs at for this little wager? 😉
I expect Reitsma to be a bargain at that price.
at $2+ mill? C’mon really? The good news for Reitsma is he will now get Starbucks freshest coffee…
I wound up not being able to make the “commercial” which was for Pontiac’s “Game-Changing Play of the Year” which I assume went to Auburn.
I’d rather have Reitsma than Sturtze, who we’ll be paying $1 million.
Question is would you rather have Reitmsa at 1.35M or Sturtze at $1 mil with a chance of making 1.4 due to # of appearances. My answer is option C, Scott Williamson at 900K
Jeremy your suppose to wait until I ask the question! ha
I’d rather have neither.
My answer is D, none of the above… 😉
Yeah, csg, I still can’t figure out why Williamson didn’t get a little more from someone.
Alex R, Reitsma’s deal is for $1.35MM and, like I said, he’ll be a bargain at that price.
I’d rather have Adam Wainwright. Oh, wait.
It’s funny. I’d love to have Wainwright, but I don’t for one second regret the trade for JD Drew.
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/stories/2007/01/05/0105reitsma.html
So, Stu, we are both right….
It’s still too much $. How can an 8.68 compiled ERA be worth above league minimum???
I’d rather have Wainwright too. Seeing what I saw in the post season, I can’t see how the Drew deal was worth it…unless he was still a Brave.
We traded our top pitching prospect, a solid LOOGY in Burger King, and Marquis (who sucks but is durable) for a one year rental.
The deal would’ve been worth it had we extended Drew. It’s not now.
But… but… we got Eli Marrero too!
Exactly…the only way you can make a case for Drew is if he was WS MVP and the Braves had in fact made it to and won the 2004 WS Title. Then, a 1 year rental and giving up a stud like Wainwright is comparable.
What has Wainwright done? He pitched a few scoreless innings of relief in the post season? Big deal, the odds are if you give Lance Cormier a two run lead in the ninth he can get three outs without blowing the lead.
Let’s see what Wainwright does as a starter. I’ll take James to do better.
Strikeouts to end the NLCS and the World Series are pretty impressive. I don’t see Lance Cormier doing that.
When is Dan Kolb going to sign?
ditto, Mac.
The jury is still out on Wainwright, he might make me wish we hadn’t made that trade but not yet. Those were great years we got from Drew and Marrero. Without that deal, we sink into the abyss sooner.
Ray King was lousy for us & I never lost any sleep over Marquis leaving. I also knew there was no chance that Drew would re-sign with ATL, but he’d have plenty of incentive to have a great year, which he did.
I wish we had Wainwright—who basically gave me my one genuine ’06 highlight with his K of Beltran—but I can’t cry too much about the deal.
If the Braves are in the WS next year and Cormier is anywhere near the pitcher’s mound in the 9th inning for the last game, (unless he comes out on the field to celebrate a Braves victory) I will take back any nice thing I’ve ever said about Bobby Cox.
Back to the beginning of the thread, If I had a win-or-go-home game, there is no doubt that I would pick Smoltz. Maddux, in his prime, could sttill get hammered if he didn’t have his pinpoint control, which, I admit, he usually had. Nevertheless, i would o with John
I think Wainwright is probably better than Cormier but I wouldn’t repeat the Drew deal today, even with after-the-fact knowledge.
I don’t have a problem with that deal. Maybe it’ll be bad if Wainwright has a few awsome years down the road or becomes and elite (or at least solid) closer. But for now? We wouldn’t have won that title w/o Drew. He was seriously awsome for us. And it’s not like we didn’t get a few draft picks out of the deal.
Who did we draft with the pick(s) we got for Drew? That can also help in deciding whether or not it was a good deal. To me, Wainright hasn’t done much yet. I know the K’s in the playoffs were huge, but really, Carl Pavano has had a big postseason. Come on…
Burger King was expendable, and Marquis was addition by subtraction. Drew and Marrero both gave us huge years, and like I said, I’d also like to know what we did with the Drew draft pick(s), however that works. I gotta work in the morning and I still have to unpack my stuff since I just moved home, so I don’t feel like looking it up.
Oh, and Jaret Wright had a big 1997 postseason. We all know how his career has turned out…
From what I could dig up, the Braves didn’t get any draft picks from the Dodgers for Drew. Someone prove me wrong please.
I didn’t like Drew when we signed him, appreciated his effort during the rental, and didn’t mind seeing him hit the road. Sure, Adam W. would have been nice to keep, but it’s all water under the bridge now.
ububba, that was a funny story in the last thread. So I guess I should check my BMI statements for Macedonia radio plays, huh? Lol.
Two interesting facts I found while perusing:
1) Joe Paterno passed on the Pittsburgh Steelers coaching job in 1969 when it was given to Chuck Noll, the Steelers’ #2 candidate.
2) The coach before Paterno at Penn State, Rip Engle, died in 1983.
Film alert: Just saw “Letters from Iwo Jima.” Outstanding.
It’s 2:30 or so, subtitled, all in Japanese, but worth it.
Well, if we didn’t get picks, we had the opprotunity to get them, and if we blew that opprotunity, that’s a different story.
… by which I mean to say, it doesn’t effect the quality of the deal; it would be a seperate bad decision not to take the draft picks.
The Braves did not offer arbitration to J.D. Drew, so they got no draft pick compensation.
There we go. The only draft picks for a free-agent signing I saw was Jaret Wright.
By the way, do we have any other crappy players that Seattle might want? They seem to really want our left overs. Perhaps Cormier for Felix Rodriguez?
Cormier has too much Diamondback left in him. How about a “real Brave”… an “original” Brave… I think Fernando Lunar fits that mold nicely. They never specified Atlanta Brave over Mississippi Brave.
Where is Jorge Sosa now? He would be a great fit with HR and CR.
Here’s one thing I actually like about Jim Bowden.
“The Nats would like to retain Tony Armas Jr. and/or Ramon Ortiz. Additionally they’re after Steve Trachsel, Jorge Sosa, and Jerome Williams. Bill Ladson reports that the offers range from a minor league deal (Williams probably) to $3MM.”–mlbtradeshitrumors.com
Obviously, moves like this don’t help a team like the Nats much, but I feel that if I were a GM I would set aside 3-7 million a year for projects and underperforming arms like those. I think its a safe bet none of these guys perform well in 2007, but I think its also a decent bet that, if given a chance, one of those 5 would post a very good ERA in 10-15 injury-replacement starts.
Well, the Nats need at least a few of these guys just so they’ll have enough arms to pitch the innings in a season. Right now they’ve got like nobody.
Here’s something I didn’t know until today… Saltalamacchia was a compensation pick from the Cubs for signing Remlinger. Add a little more to Mike’s legacy.
Trachsel, if he can stay healthy, is a valuable back-of-the-rotation starter; he’ll probably draw two prospects in trade from the Mets in July.
Sosa will probably get a feeler from someone if he goes three starts without embarrassing himself. That 2.55 ERA he put up in 2005 will get him a lot of second chances- look at how long Jose Lima’s stayed employed.
(If we have more than one injury in the rotation, that someone could be Schuerholz, God help us.)
Speaking of compensation picks, didn’t we receive one from the O’s for Baez? I’m pretty sure we did. And he wasn’t offered arbitration. I know Oakland is getting multiple picks for Zito.
I seem to recall Baez had the clause that refused us the ability to offer him arbitration, in which case we get no picks.
I actually wouldn’t mind investing in Trachsel, Mac, although it might kill Joe Simpson.
I’ve been to games at Shea where Mets fans were actually screaming at Trachsel: “Throw the freakin’ ball already!”
Also, there have been Braves/Mets games that I actually decided to pass on because I found out Trachsel was pitching. It’s like he has OCD or something.
My thoughts exactly:
trachsel – Braves Journal
Wow, that was the year when we were still winning the division titles…that seems like a long long time ago….
Mario Danelo, kicker from USC, found dead at the bottom of a cliff. He was only 21.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2722825
But Baez signed with the O’s before the arbitration deadline so we get compensatory picks anyway.
Hot Stove: LaRoche remains hot topic with Pirates … including players
Members of management continue to speak — albeit not publicly — in a fingers-are-crossed tone that a deal still might happen. And the players are no less absorbed, so many of them communicating about it by phone, e-mail or text messages.
The sentiment among several key players is that general manager Dave Littlefield should make a serious push to get LaRoche.
“You can quote me on this,” shortstop Jack Wilson said Thursday from his home in Arizona. “Adam LaRoche is a team-changing player.”
The Braves admire Gonzalez, but they showed he is not enough. They seek a leadoff-hitting second baseman, but the Pirates have no such player, and the new view in Atlanta is that youngster Kelly Johnson might fill that role. The Braves would love a center fielder to replace Andruw Jones someday, but that, too, seems out as the Pirates have little interest in giving up Chris Duffy.
The only answer, it appears, is for the Pirates to trade one of their young starting pitchers: Zach Duke, Ian Snell, Paul Maholm or Tom Gorzelanny. But there again, they have made abundantly clear they have no wish to do so.
So …
The sides still are talking about LaRoche, two Pirates officials confirmed in the past week. As long as that is the case, a deal is not dead.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07007/751907-63.stm
What is so appealing about Chris Duffy? I just don’t see it.
Ububba,
Thanks for the tip about the Iwo Jima movie. I’m a WW II buff and saw “Flags of My Fathers” but was rather disappointed by it. I understand the new movie is better and it certainly has a unique perspective.
As for the pitchers, I love Maddux, but Clemens is probably the best pitcher since WW II. He did have some down years during his prime that Maddux didn’t have, but you have to take a power pitcher over a finesse pitcher when in doubt. And, AAR, I don’t buy it that Clemens has no stones. He had Game 6 won for the Red Sox in ’86 until the bullpen blew it, he outpitched Smoltz in Game 4 in ’99 (granted, the Yankees were already up 3-0) and he has pitched other strong games in the playoffs. Frankly, of those three, I would probably take Pedro in his prime in a big game because, at his best, he was unhittable. Smoltz wuodl be right up there too and probably ahead of Maddux. He might well have ranked above both Maddux and Clemens if he had stayed healthier and had a longer prime.
Sam,
I agree. If we settle on Duffy, I will not be happy. It seems to me that if we wait long enough, they want LaRoche badly enough that they’ll part with one of their young starters.
Paul Maholm, Tom Gorzelanny… Zach Duke, the possibilities are endless. Quality for quality.
MLBtraderumors.com also has a link in which some ex-scout that a guy from the pirates blog knows says that LaRoche is a platton player, noting that he hit just .240 against LHP last year and has traditionally been platooned (never mind that his HR rate was more or less constant accross the split and his OPS vs. lefties was .800).
The guy semi-pans LaRoche, but says he’d take him over Gonzalez if he was in the Pirates’ shoes.
One game that you have to win? Give me Jack Morris.
One game that you have to win? Give me Rob Copenhaver. OK, just kidding…
Chris Mortensen is reporting that the doctors cleared David Pollack to play if his rehab goes well…
I’m happy that he can play again, I just don’t know if it’s worth it.
I certainly wouldn’t risk it if I were in his shoes. I’d take the signing bonus, the insurance money, the beautiful wife, and the best of many job offers he’d get from UGA boosters somewhere.
As a diehard Pollack fan (my top 3 favorite all time Georgia players with Champ and Herschel) I would like to see him retire, enjoy his personal life and get a nice job through his UGA connections in Atlanta and raise a family. Life’s short and while seeing him succeed in the NFL would have been sweet for me, I would rather him have a good life and not risk things by getting out there with a bad neck.
Re: LaRoche
I don’t see why the talks are revived unless the Pirate package Gonzalez with Duffy and a young starting pitcher.
If LaRoche continues to take his ADD medication, and that’s up to him because it seems Major League Baseball will allow him to do this, I definitely think at his age he can contribute the next few years like he did in 2006 which makes him incredibly valuable.
As depressing as 2006 was as a Braves fan, one of the bright spots besides McCann was the surge of LaRoche…because he finally was willing to take his meds.
And while I am not completely sold on Duffy, Mike Gonzalez (who I would love to have, just wish we didn’t have to deal LaRoche at all and would trade Salty straight up) is not enough for LaRoche. The Pirates need to either give up more or stop calling Schuerholz. Again…if Pittsburgh wants Salty for Gonzalez straight, I would do that in a heartbeat…Gonzalez has a great arm.
Yup, if I’m Pollack, I hang ’em up & open David Pollack’s Gwinnett Chevrolet or something. But you never know how much someone loves the game. If he quits now, IMO, he’ll always be ahead. And I know I’m not alone in saying that he’ll always be one of UGA’s most beloved players.
Re: Clemens.
I hate to stick up for him because I honestly believe his late career benefited from steroids. Sorry, I just do. The Piazza incident pretty much confirmed it for me.
Nonetheless, if you’re talking about big games that he’s pitched, I look at the 2000 ALCS game vs. Seattle & the roid-rage WS Game 2 vs. NYM. He was pretty good all the way through the 2001 post-season as well. Never liked him, respected him, but he’s another guy who has an asterisk in my book. If you ignore or refuse to believe the steroid stuff, I think he’s easily No. 1 in the last 20 years.
Marc,
Not sure why you didn’t like “Flags of Our Fathers.” I liked it a great deal. Although the main characters were a bit one-dimensional, I think that was the point. I imagine that some might quibble with the message a bit, but I was fine with it.
That said, “Letters from Iwo Jima” is better. The character development is richer. The look of the film is arrestingly stark. I can’t think of an element that’s lacking here (direction, look, tone, performance). And, like “Flags,” the combat scenes are grim & real.
The only other flick that I really liked that has that “enemy’s perspective” was a recent German film called “Downfall,” which is all about the final days of Hitler & Co. in the bunker. Loved that flick, but again, this one is better.
I actually want to see it again. And considering it’s two-and-a-half hours & in Japanese, that’s saying a lot.
Speaking of movies…I have seen alot of the past couple of weeks.
Blood Diamond(loved it), The Black Dahila, Fearless, Night at the Museum, Jackass 2, Snakes on a Plane, Invincible, American Pie:The Naked Mile, Talladega Nights, The Illusionist, Crank, Employee of the Month, Beer League, Bandidas, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, Little Miss Sunshine, The Covenant, Miami Vice, Pulse, Superman Returns, Clerks 2, You Me and Dupree and ShadowBoxer.
I think that’s about it…obviously I have had alot of time on my hands the past 2 or 3 weeks.
of= in
The best movies I saw in the theaters in 2006 were “The Departed” and “Thank You for Smoking”. I just thought I would add that.
ububba,
I agree 100% about Clemens and can’t stand him. He totally used but he’s one of the greatest pitchers of all time. But give me the all natural studs like Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz, any day.
Jay10,
Clearly, you are not married 😉 I have seen a few of the movies on your list (very few of those) but somehow you didn’t lift Roger Ebert’s “Best of 2006” list, did you? Ha.
Alex R,
Hahahaha, no i’m not married…i’m still a minor…but only for another 5 days… 😀
Jay10,
Dude you got a lot of time on your hands. The past couple weeks I may have seen like 3 movies. The movies I do want to see: Rocky Balboa, Pursuit of Happiness, We Are Marshall, and Casino Royale (again).
Oh and Departed, saw that one too…that and Blood Diamond were my favorite movies of the year.
Rob…thanks for reminding about “Casino Royale”–easily one of the ten best movies of the year IMHO. Daniel Craig turned out to be an excellent Bond.
Thoguh opinions are split, I did like the new “Superman” flick. The only complaint I had about it was thought the new Lois (Kate Bosworth) was terrible. Give me the TV one (Erica Durance on
“Smallville”) anyday.
Pursuit of happiness is well worth seeing Rob.
If you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to catch that one.
Yeah, Pursuit of Happiness and We Are Marshall are the big two I want to see. I may go see one tonight. Rocky Balboa I can go without, considering I haven’t seen all the other ones. I know; I’m young.
I’m 23 years old and I enjoyed Rocky Balboa. It’s a Rocky movie, plain and simple. That’s it.
Well i’ll be 18 in 5 days(and I can’t wait) and i’ve seen the first one and bits and pieces of the other ones…
I was four when Rocky V came out. All the ones before came out before I was born. I don’t see a whole lot of movies that are more than 20 or so years old. Of course, I’m a huge James Bond nut and 14 came out before I was born, but usually I don’t see movies that are very old. Just to show how much of a nut I am, I have For Your Eyes Only on right now (1981).
I thought “We Are Marshall” was great. I’m just barely too young to remember the Marshall plane crash, but the focus is on how they rebuilt the team and their lives. I usually see about 4 or 5 movies a year and this one was worth it. You see a lot of movies that are “Based on a True Stoy”, but this one said it was a true story.
Haven’t seen it yet, but a buddy of mine told me that former UGA kicker Billy Bennett is in “We Are Marshall.”
What does he play? A placekicker, of course.
It even has a reference to Bear Bryant in it and has someone playing a young Bobby Bowden. Bowden is really presented in a positive light.
Well, that was way before the Free Shoes Era.
What exactly was the Free Shoes thing? I remember Gator fans at the time talking about “Free Shoes University (FSU)”, but I was like 8 and just took it at face value. What’s the deal?
“Spurrier infuriated Bowden when he deemed FSU “Free Shoes University” in 1994 after an agent arranged a Foot Locker shopping spree for several Seminoles.”
http://www.alligator.org/edit/issues/99-fall/991119/sports.html
I’ve mostly been watching Hitchcock movies lately. I hate going to theaters.
Just like FSU has the “shoes” thing, UF has the Tank Black scandal from the mid-late 90s. The Foot Locker deal has nothing to do with Bobby Bowden.
For some weird reason, I’m really happy that both New York football teams were eliminated today.
I don’t think that’s weird at all.
Yeah, me neither. 😉
Might already be posted, but Petrino to the Falcons….5yr/24 mil
Wow…first that i’ve heard of that CSG, thanks.
And hiring college coaches always works so well for the pros. According to ESPN, the leading candidate to replace Petrino is that Kragthorpe guy.
Even though I’m a Falcon fan—meaning I don’t really root for another NFL team—I’m just glad that Petrino finally went somewhere.
I’ll only believe that “that Kragthorpe guy” is a real candidate if he denies interest for the Louisville job about 20 times. I thought Petrino just said that he was committed to Louisville for the long term with his 10 yr contract. It seems like we’ve been through something similar with another coach also.
I like Petrino and would have liked him at Bama, but I just don’t see him lasting as a pro coach. I understand that he’s fairly thin-skinned/sensitive to criticism. Personality-wise I would have thought that Saban had a better chance of making it in the pros than Petrino. What do I know though? Like Mac, I can’t think of many college-to-pro coaching success stories.
What Tank Black scandal? Is that a person? I went to school with a guy named Tank (he wasn’t too bright), so it could be possible.
Like Mac, I can’t think of many college-to-pro coaching success stories.
In recent memory… Jimmy Johnson. And. Uhm. Yeah, that’s about it.
I don’t think Petrino is a better coach than Spurrier or Saban and they couldn’t hack it. The Dolphins are reportedly after Pete Carroll. You’d think common sense would take over at some point with these owners.
Yeah, Pursuit of Happiness and We Are Marshall are the big two I want to see.
Those feel like Netflix to me. The best two of the year were clearly Borat and Departed. Can’t pick between them since they are obviously so different.
Mario Danelo, kicker from USC, found dead at the bottom of a cliff. He was only 21.
Yeah, bummer. Seemed like a nice enough kid, wasn’t a great kicker (missed two XPs in the Rose Bowl for example) but no one will remember that now.
Randy Johnson agreed to a 2-yr $26M contract today.
Second the “Casino Royale” endorsements. That was a great movie. I’m buying the DVD as soon as it comes out. I was a Pierce Brosnan fan, so I didn’t think I’d like Daniel Craig, but he was awesome at the part. The plot seemed a tad flaky in parts, but who goes to Bond movies for the plot?
I am in 100% agreement on all points with Jenny. Although some Bond movies have had darn good plots, the point still stands.
Yep, good flicks all, esp. “Borat,” which almost killed me. Health Warning: Don’t eat popcorn during this one.
Although I can only recall a handful of bigtime college coaches who succeeded in the NFL—Paul Brown, Jimmy Johnson, Barry Switzer & Bobby Ross—I’m not willing to write off college guys out of hand. (And do we really count Switzer?)
I think Atlanta has some talent, something neither Spurrier or Saban were particularly blessed with. From all I’ve heard & read, Spurrier underestimated the league & didn’t work hard enough, esp. on the defensive side of the ball. Saban saw nothing but bad times coming & bailed.
Let’s see what Petrino can do. I just hope he doesn’t think Sundays are going to be like playing Cincinnati or Rutgers.
Also, dunno if anyone’s mentioned it, but LSU’s QB is going pro.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2723407
Saban was a very good X’s and O’s coach at the pro level; he turned the Dolphins into top #5 defense last year, and that was HIS defense. His big failure in the NFL was his work as personnel chief. He just didn’t bring in enough talent. As has been mentioned, in college you get 25 first round picks a year. You only have one in the NFL so you best not screw it up.
I’m assuming Petrino doesn’t have full personnel control like Saban did, though. At least I hope he doesn’t.
Petrino has been an NFL offensive coordinator, so he’s not purely a college guy. If Ken Whisenhunt goes to coach college football for a couple of years, will he suddenly become less likely to succeed in the NFL?
The old saw about most college coaches not succeeding in the NFL is a canard, anyway. Not because it isn’t true, necessarily, but because most head coaches don’t succeed in the NFL, period. Why? Because coaching success is measured by wins and losses, which is a zero-sum game every season. And since the coaches that win tend to keep their jobs, there’s a constant churning of failed coaches happening. So it takes relatively few successes, of which ububba mentioned three or four, to disprove the notion.
To draw a baseball analogy (mostly because I can’t find a complete historical record of NFL head coaches), there have been approximately 650 major league managers in history, not including Ted Turner. How many of them managed the relatively modest-sounding achievement of 1000 games managed (or about 7 seasons), and a .500 record? 68. Just over 10%.
To put it another way, Mike Shanahan’s career record is 130-79. How many coaches does it take to go 79-130?
uhh, Bill Walsh was a college coach before transforming the NFL. Mariucci was another who had success. Parcells was a college head coach before going to the pros. George Seifert kind of did, and plenty of others. I don’t think it’s been demonstrated that hiring a guy within the NFL is any more likely to lead to a successful coach than going to the college ranks.
At this point, as a Dolphins fan, I’d take Joe Paterno if it meant we could get back to the playoffs. Its painful to watch a team with such an outstanding defense get clobbered. It reminds me alot of the the Tampa Bay Bucs of the late 90’s, awesome defense but no offense. If Carroll is what it takes, so be it. I’d prefer someone like Whisenhut, who has had success as an O.C. in the NFL. If I remember correctly, Carroll’s numbers in the NFL were so so, were they not?
Ububba,
I thought the combat scenes in Flags of our Fathers were great, but I was turned off by the scenes in the US of the bond drive. The scenes struck me as almost Nurembergesque in a way; I didn’t really get the feeling that this was the U.S. Also, too many stock characters–the evil politician/bureaucrat, etc. And the story about the official (whom I assume was the Sec. of War)coming to Iwo Jima to take home the original flag is crap. I was fine with the message of the movie, but I didn’t think Eastwood told it well.
The best movie I have seen in a long time was “The Good Shepherd.”
As for Spurrier, he thought he could bring in his Florida system and install his mediocre Florida quarterbacks and succeed in the NFL. He didn’t leave backs in to block and the QBs got killed. But I agree that he didn’t really have great talent.
The point about college coaches, IMO, is not that they can’t succeed in the NFL but a lot of them end up preferring college where they have more control. And it’s a mistake to give an NFL coach total control over personnel; it’s a lot more complicated than recruiting 40 or 50 kids. Joe Gibbs is finding out like many others that coaching is different from evaluating personnel.
I don’t give Spurrier all the blame for how the Redskins were with him as coach. Nobody has done well under Dan Snyder, not even Joe Gibbs. I hope Petrino does well, but I don’t understand why coaches want to go to the NFL. College coaching seems to be less demanding of your time, the pay is now just as good, plus, in the south at least, I think colleges are more prestegious. If Spurrier wins the SEC, he will be a lot more popular than any coach of the Panthers that wins 2 Superbowls.
Maybe I’m just married with a mortgage, but when I read Jay’s list of movies he’s seen lately I found myself adding up all those 20 dollar trips to the movies. Holy Crap!!! Do we really need to raise minimum wage? 🙂
As for the LaRoched rumors, can we please just have a trade or will both sides just shut up? Make a decision!!!
Sorry, but I’m not real excited about tonite’s game. I feel like I’ve already seen the best games. That being said, I’d love to see Florida win. I could care less about Florida, but anytime a team wins that no one gives a chance is a good thing.