Author Archives: ASimPerson

There Goes Another Piece of My Childhood

I was perusing my RSS feed for Dr. Saturday, whom you may know better as the Sunday Morning Quarterback, and I noticed two interesting articles.

He’s written extensively about Georgia Tech’s new offense, which I find great of course because he’s a lot better at this than I am. And he wrote about it again yesterday, adding onto the AJC’s coverage in the Sunday edition. But that’s not what I’m here to discuss.

I saw the news first on EDSBS, but the good doctor summed it up best, I think:

It won’t mean much for the rest of the country, but for anyone in the South who came of age during the last 20 years, the grainy, potato chip-and-blue jeans-sponsored “SEC Game of the Week” brought to you by Raycom Sports, nee Lincoln Financial Sports, nee Jefferson Pilot Sports, was one of the cultural signifiers that brought you closer to your fellow rednecks-in-arms, and, on certain days when the weather was right, the potbellied turkey hunter within yourself. Essentially, it was a full-fledged Jeff Foxworthy joke: “You might be a redneck if you can accurately quote the Yella Fella.”

Basically, if you grew up in any state that had a SEC school you got the so-called Jefferson Pilot SEC “Game of the Week”. That is in quotes not because it is the title of the show but because it was usually the bottom-of-the-barrel matchup available in the conference that weekend. In other words, you had to be the kind of person that enjoyed watching Mississippi versus Vanderbilt at 11 in the morning (Central Time, yo) to really derive enjoyment out of this network.

And I did. I enjoyed the fact all the men involved in talking on air were named “Dave”, and they kept this intact when the original Dave Color Guy left for health reasons after 2006. I enjoyed the fact that I could probably do their jobs better than any of them, that they often were confused about the rules of the game despite covering it for a living, and that the coverage was probably shot using cameras as old as I am.

“So wait,” you say, “the production values were terrible and the announcers were incompetent. And it all happened before noon, which is early by any definition for a Saturday. Oh, and the games oftentimes were terrible. What was so great about it?”

Well, Dr. Saturday hit several of the high points (including Vandy upsetting UGA two years ago), but he left out this gem that contains in a nutshell everything this JP/Raycom was about:

This has everything. The quality you see there is about as good as it was when it was first broadcast. They flash the wrong final score as the LSU WR runs into the end zone. Dave Neal explains to us that not only did LSU win “the game”, they won “the football game”, thus clarifying it for those of us who thought we were watching a cricket match. And, of course, the only reason they’re there at all is because it was LSU versus Kentucky, a game LSU was probably favored to win by at least 3 or 4 touchdowns. In a way, that was the great thing about JP Sports – it was crap 90% of the time, but as they say, there’s a reason they play the games, and 10% of the time those of us who woke up early enough got to see why.

Edit: Orson urges you to write in and Save the Daves.

The Top Ten OOC Schedules in College Football

You may recall our overview this past spring of the top, by conference, OOC schedules in football this year. You may also remember I promised a top 10 roundup and some more research.

I tried the latter and got discouraged, thus putting off the former. So now to hastily make up for it, here’s a completely subjective top 10. Well, let me first define what I mean by top 10 – unlike the previous roundups that had a modicum of objectivity, this is pretty much “What inter-sectional games am I looking forward to the most?” So while Baylor has a reasonably tough schedule, I don’t particularly care that Baylor is playing a hard schedule because they’re Baylor. So this is pretty much a round of what power teams have a decent schedule this year.

10. Texas (FAU, @UTEP, Arkansas, Rice): Coming in at #10 is a schedule that hasn’t excited anyone in Austin for probably 30 years, but darnit I just find the idea of 3 SWC rematches interesting. Also, I ran out of other idea, as evidenced by…
9. Big Ten Pick’em (Michigan State (@Cal, EMU, FAU, ND) and Purdue (N. Colorado, Oregon, @ND, CMU)): On their own, neither schedule excites me. But these were rated by us to be the 2 most difficult schedules in the Big Ten, and you can see why – in addition to both playing Notre Dame, the also play decent Pac-10 teams. While not as exciting as the intersectional matchups we’ll see later, this is still interesting.
8. California (Michigan St, @Maryland, Colorado St.): Cal does some traveling of its own as they venture out to College Park, and as mentioned above they also play Michigan State.
7. Clemson (Alabama, The Citadel, SC State, S. Carolina): The first and last games almost make up for the two in the middle. Almost.
6. Miami (Charleston Southern, @UF, @TAMU, UCF): Miami renews its rivalry with Florida this year, which always warms my heart. They also play the second leg of their series with Texas A&M, this time in College Station. I rated this the ACC’s most difficult schedule, and I can’t say I regret it.
5. UCLA (Fresno St., Tennessee, @BYU): Interesting non-BCS opponents (both of whom should be decent this year, especially BYU) and an interesting SEC opponent combine to make an interesting schedule.
4. West Virginia (Villanova, Auburn, @Marshall, @Colorado, @ECU): While Colorado doesn’t get me particularly excited, the combination of them with a game with Auburn does, though the latter alone would also suffice. While ECU isn’t very good, the fact that it’s a road game is intriguing.
3. Florida (Hawaii, Miami (FL), The Citadel, @FSU): I rated this as the toughest schedule in the SEC but I’m putting it behind UGA. Why? On a subjective basis, I believe Miami, UF, and FSU should all play each other every year anyway. Hawaii probably won’t be very good this year, as well.
2. Georgia (Georgia Southern, CMU, @Arizona St., Georgia Tech): The main reason I rated this ahead of Florida is because, as much as I hate to give them credit for anything, going to Arizona State is really outside their comfort zone and gives them a good intersectional matchup. For a team trying to make a BCS run, this kind of schedule will help.
1. Southern Cal (@Virginia, Ohio State, Notre Dame): This is, by far, the best OOC schedule in the nation. For starters, provided UGA goes all the way (and I certainly hope they don’t), the Ohio State-USC game is essentially play-in game for the BCS title. Hell, it happens early enough in the season that if a bunch of other teams tumble the two could even produce a rematch in the title game. USC should beat UVA and ND by several touchdowns, but they could’ve just as easily scheduled San Diego State or something.

That’s it for now, for more subjective crap, tune in no later than Thursday this coming week as I give you my first preview of what will be on TV this weekend.

Skip Caray Dies at 68

I wrote the below over on a different forum, but I think it sums things up well. Various tributes are over the AJC but I’m too lazy to link them right now.

A truly unfortunate day.

I grew up listening to Skip as I’m sure many did. After moving to the West Coast last year I’ve heard much less of him, of course. The real Skip Caray lived on radio, where his irreverent humor kept me entertained on those Sunday afternoon drives to or from Atlanta.

“He will be missed”, indeed.

I hope SportSouth does an appropriate tribute for him, even though he never worked for them. I’ll miss it since I’m actually going to the Braves-Giants game tomorrow, but still.

Also blatantly stolen from whoever the AJC stole it from is this MP3 of Sid Bream’s mad dash to win the 1992 NLCS. This is my earliest baseball and Braves related memory.

College Football Rule Changes and You

Sure, I’m a few months late on this but I think the hoopla has died down quite a bit and I want to talk about football. Plus this will help prepare for the inevitable onslaught a month-and-a-half from now of people asking, “What the hell is up with the play clock?”

Due to the length of some of the new rules, I won’t copy and paste the exact rule, but you can download yourself a copy of the 2008 NCAA Rule Book from their website. I’d encourage you to do so – I find it’s helpful to have handy on your desktop during the season. Page numbers listed below reflect the page numbers in the PDF, not in the document (just subtract one to get the “real” page number).

  • Rule 1-4-9-d (page 39) has been changed to reflect that all referees will be required to have microphones starting in the 2010 season. The microphone must also be controlled by the referee and should be the “lapel-type” (this is the most common one anyway).
  • Rule 1-4-9-g (page 39) has been added mostly likely due to the whole Spygate debacle thing, as it prohibits recording opposing teams’ signals.
  • The chop block rule (2-3-3, page 44) has been simplified to read that any combination of high-low or low-high blocks anywhere on the field is a chop block. Previously, amongst other things adjacent linemen could engage in such blocks.
  • Rule 3-2-2-h (page 68) has been deleted as part of the slew of clock changes. Last year, this was a new rule that provided for the play clock to be 15 seconds coming out of TV timeouts.
  • Rule 3-2-2-i has been deleted. Last year it provided for the clock being reset to its original state after an inadvertent whistle.
  • Rule 3-2-4 has been extensively changed to reflect the new timing rules borrowed from the NFL. Rule 3-2-4-b provides for the new 40-second clock that begins as soon as the previous play is blown dead. It has two other sub-parts. The first part states that if the 40-second count is interrupted for some reason, the referee should reset the play clock to 40-seconds. The second states that if the ball is not ready for play after 20 seconds, the referee shall stop the clock. After the ball is ready for play, the play clock will restart at 25-seconds, and the game clock shall resume ticking if that was the result of a previous down. Rule 3-2-4-c provides a list of situations in which the 25-second clock should be used. Essentially, the 25-second clock should be used if: there was a penalty on the previous down, a timeout (any kind) was called, measurement, change of possession, after any kick, after any score (i.e., for tries), the start of each team’s series in over time, after instant replay reviews, and any other administrative stoppage. Rule 3-2-4-d is the rule that states that if one play clock is inoperable, both should be turned off and has been updated to reflect that it no longer the 25-second clock.
  • Rule 3-2-5-a-12 (page 70) is also important. It provides for that when a runner, fumble, or lateral goes out of bounds the clock shall continue running on the ready for play, unless this occurs in the last two minutes of the half. (And even then, if there is an illegal forward pass designed to conserve time (i.e., intentional grounding) or a fumble that has gone forward and then out-of-bounds the clock will continue to run.) A new part, 3-2-5-a-13 has also been added to reinforce 3-2-4-b’s statement about what happens when the referee inadvertently stops the play clock.
  • Rule 6-2-1 (page 89) provides for what happens when a kickoff goes out-of-bounds. Last year, the kick off line was moved to the 30 yard line but teams still got the the ball on their own 35 if they accepted the penalty. This year, the penalty for a kickoff out-of-bounds is a penalty of 30 yards from the kickoff restraining line, i.e., the 40 yard line.
  • Rule 9-1-2-p (page 119) makes horse-collar tackles illegal, except on runners between the tackles and quarterbacks in the pocket.
  • Rule 9-1-2-q has been changed to remove the incidental facemask foul. Plays that were previously under the incidental facemask foul are no longer penalties. If the facemask or other part of the helmet is “twisted, turned, or pulled” then it is a 15-yard foul. When in doubt, it is a foul.
  • Rule 9-1-3 (page 120) replaces several rules governing hitting players with the crown of the helmet (a.k.a. “spearing”) and targeting a defenseless player. There are several situations in which a player is defined as defenseless, thought it is ultimately a judgment call. These are the examples listed: a QB after a handoff or option play who ceases participation, a kicker in the act of kicking, a passer who has not had enough time to get back into the play, a receiver who is focusing on the ball or has given up on the play, the kick receiver who is concentrating on the ball or has just caught it, players that have relaxed after the ball is dead, and players who are obviously out of the play. The penalty for this foul is a 15-yard personal foul, with possible ejection for egregious violations.
  • Rule 9-1-6 (page 122) adds enforcement for sideline warnings this year. The penalty for a sideline warning is 5 yards on the first and second infractions, and 15 yards thereafter.
  • Rule 12-3-1-a (page 145) is the first of many rule changes regarding replay this year. This change describes the situations in which field goals can be reviewed (remember the debacle last year?). Essentially, the FG can be reviewed to see if the ball was above or below the crossbar and if the ball was inside the uprights, so as long as the ball did not cross above the uprights.
  • Rule 12-3-3-a (page 146) gets a note removed about how a play was not reviewable if the runner was ruled down, because of the next section.
  • Rules 12-3-3-b and -c are new. (b) basically says that if a runner is ruled down, but he actually fumbled before becoming down and the ball is immediately recovered before any official signals the play dead then the play can be reviewed. There can be no advance if the ruling on the field of down-by-rule is overturned. (c) says that it can be reviewed whether a player went out-of-bounds or into the end zone.
  • Rule 12-3-3-h adds the statement that the replay official may correct an “egregious” game-clock error.
  • Rule 12-3-4 (page 147) states that no other plays other than the ones listed are reviewable. This year, an exception has been added for plays that are in the judgment of the replay official to be “egregious errors,” however, fouls that are not reviewable are still, well, not reviewable. (Only three fouls are essentially reviewable: illegal forward pass, number of players participating, and whether a punter is across the line of scrimmage when the ball is kicked.)
  • Rule 12-5-1-b-1 (page 148) changes the rules regarding the head coach’s challenge, adding a provision that a coach gets, essentially, a “bonus” challenge if his first is successful.

Braves at the Break: Part II

We finish our roundup with an examination of the pitchers, which I’ve divided into appropriate categories. Enjoy.

The Infirmary
All players in this section are on the Disabled List as of July 16.
Tom Glavine (SP)
As BP noted when discussing (ugh) Lance Cormier, the Braves did not resign Glavine for “his vivid memories of the Civil War.” He made 12 starts before being shut down over a month ago, going 2-3 (5 QS) with a 4.85 ERA. He wasn’t exactly lighting up the world, but he is better than some of his replacements. At the time, it is unknown if he will return for this season, and there are rumors that he was planning on retiring after this season.

John Smoltz (SP)
Smoltz is also mentioned in those retirement rumors. He had massive damage in his shoulder that required surgery and is out for the year. Statistically, he was wonderful in his first 4 starts: 3-1, 0.78 ERA, .179 batting average against, 495 OPS against. His 5th start on April 27th went poorly: 4 IP, 4 ER and a loss. He went on the DL after this with shoulder pain and was shut down for the rest of May. He attempted to make another come back as a reliever, being brought in to close against the Marlins on June 2nd. He was one out away from getting the save but blew when on a single to left. (The Braves managed to salvage the game, tying in the 9th and winning in the 10th.) The next day, Smoltz woke up and the pain in his shoulder was too much – had surgery a week or two later and was shut down for the season.
I’d said to anyone who’d listen at the beginning of the year that Smoltz’s arm is like that ex-police car in the original Blues Brothers movie – it’s just waiting to fall completely apart. I think Smoltz wants to pitch again, but it may ultimately be time for him to end his career.

Mike Hampton (SP)
Many are looking, for some reason, to Hampton to solve the Braves’ pitching issues. (Note: the Braves largely don’t have pitching issues – they have some bullpen issues, but it’s safe to say that with the 2nd best ERA in the National League the Braves are not hurting for pitching – they are hurting for an outfield bat of some sort.) At any rate, he almost got back to the bigs earlier in the year but was scratched from his start with yet another injury. He started last night in the minors but was scratched after two innings. He was hoping to come back after the break, but who knows if that will ever happen at this point.

Rafael Soriano (RP)
The closer coming into the season, but has been something of an enigma injury-wise. He’s got issues with his elbow, but repeated examinations have failed to find any actual damage. His appearances have been shakey, but he did garner 2 saves before having to go back to the DL again. No one knows when he will be able to return.

Peter Moylan (RP)
The loss of Moylan is probably bigger than the loss of any other Braves pitcher, excepting Smoltz. He’s the kind of set-up man most teams drool over – super reliable, doesn’t let inherited runners score, and doesn’t let very many runners on (1.06 WHIP last year, .208 average against). The Braves continued to use him in this fashion and he even picked up his first save of the year in his last appearance on April 11. The next morning his elbow hurt and within a week he was out for the year.

Manny Acosta (RP)
This is one guy I don’t particularly mind being on the DL. I have very little tolerance for bad relief pitchers (ask me about Chris Reitsma sometime … actually, on second thought, don’t—unless you want to be covered in spittle and bile). He was actually relatively good in April and May, with an ERA of 1.30 in 27 and 2/3 IP (with a .198 average against). Then the wheels came off. From May 31 to June 6, he made 4 appearances and couldn’t do anything right. He ended up with 7 hits, 7 earned runs, 3 homers and a .583 average against in 2 IP. He got the loss 3 times in that stretch and in the game he didn’t lose he did blow the save. Since then, he hasn’t been as bad (13 and 2/3 IP, .265 average, 6 earned runs, but an alarming 10 walks to only 3 strikeouts), but those totals aren’t great, or really even very good either. I don’t really remember why he’s on the DL, but again I don’t exactly miss him.

Too Early To Tell
Julian Tavarez (RP)
I guess signing this guy is just the cool thing to do in baseball right now, or he really just wanted to go on the Braves history tour (his prior stops this season being Boston and Milwaukee). He made his only appearance July 8th in Los Angeles, allowing 2 walks, 2 hits, and a run in a third of an inning. The trigger was quickly pulled, but for the time being he’s still with the team.

Charlie Morton (SP)
Morton hasn’t pitched that badly, but he hasn’t been great either. He’s had two really bad games, but outside of that pitched relatively well in his other 4 starts and has gotten to 2-2 for his efforts. He’s the Braves’ 5th starter for the time being and this probably won’t change unless Glavine or Hampton come back.

Vladimir Nunez (RP)
I don’t have anything to say about this guy really. He made an appearance July 7 and got the Dodgers 1-2-3 in the 8th. He’s been made the last couple of seasons, for what that’s worth.

Jeff Ridgway (RP)
Same here. He made 4 appearances in June, pitched okay in a couple and badly in the other two, including a blown save on June 19. He hasn’t made an appearance since then and was optioned to Richmond on June 21.

Phil Stockman (RP)
This guy’s been up and down from Richmond a few times this year and last. The big Aussie righty throws hard but lacks control and has been unable to break into the regular bullpen rotation, appearing mostly in mop up duty. His stats aren’t bad: 7 and 1/3 IP, 9 K, 4 walks, and a couple hits, no runs, and a great looking .087 average against. Guess Bobby Cox just doesn’t like him, as he was sent down to Richmond on June 18th.

Mike Gonzalez (RP)
Made his first appearance of the year on June 18, where he got a save against the Rangers. Basically the Braves’ closer now, though they haven’t had much to close as of late. He’s pitched 10 and 2/3 innings and has the kind of stats you like from a late inning guy: 6 hits and no walks (0.56 WHIP), 16 K and a .153 average against, though the 2 homers are worrying. Nonetheless, he seems healthy and made two consecutive appearances going into the break.

The Bad
Chuck James (SP)
Started off the year on the DL and went downhill from there. He made 6 starts, and allowed less than 4 earned runs only once. After a bad start on May 15 in Philadelphia he was optioned to Richmond to get his head on straight, and I haven’t heard any talk of him coming back any time soon.

Chris Resop (RP)
A 1.4 WHIP is not very good. Resop made a lot of appearances in April and May (16) and allowed 16 hits, 10 walks, and 12 runs. He was designated for assignment in late May and hasn’t been heard from since.

Blaine Boyer (RP)
I think Bobby Cox has been a pretty good manager over the years, but one thing that drives me crazy is how he sometimes gets attached to relievers. (Again, if you like hearing angry rants, ask me about Chris Reitsma sometime.) His path is pretty Acosta like, actually. He started off the year strong, and through June 4 he had a sub-1.00 WHIP and a .205 average against. Then he blew a save on June 6th and in 18 and 1/3 IP since then has a 4.91 ERA, 10 runs, and a .284 average against. He’s been a little better in over the past week, but that’s not saying much.

Jo-Jo Reyes (SP)
Jo-Jo is one of the handful of pitching enigmas on this team. On June 29, he pitched 7 innings in Toronto and only allowed a run and the Braves ended up losing 6-3. The start before, he went 2 and a third innings and allowed 4 runs. He hasn’t been great, but he’s probably not quite as bad as his record, either. Would probably be the 5th starter if the rest of the rotation were healthy.

The Decent
Will Ohman (RP)
As much as I like to use his last name for the bad pun lamenting his entering the game, he’s actually been pretty good. He’s also currently the only lefty in the bullpen (besides Mike Gonzales), and he’s good against them (.141 average against with 21 strikeouts). Except for a June 20th disaster against Seattle, he’s been pretty good as a setup guy as well and has made many appearances to that effect (as opposed to a situational guy).

Jeff Bennett (RP)
Long reliever from the pen and has also made 3 starts this year, though let’s just not talk about those. He’s been mostly decent from the pen but hasn’t seen action since surrendering a couple of runs a couple weeks ago.

Buddy Carlyle (RP)
Mercifully not starting anymore and is also a long reliever. Hasn’t had any major implosions so far this year – which is something you generally want when you’re coming into the game in such situations. In 29 innings he’s allowed 5 runs and no homers and might start seeing more work in the second half.

The Good
Tim Hudson (SP)
Hudson has been very good this year and deserves a lot better than 9-7. He has only what I would call two bad starts on the year. In 7 quality starts that resulted in losses or no decisions he pitched 47 and 1/3 innings, allowing 16 runs for a 3.04 ERA. The Braves scored more than 2 runs only twice in those 7 starts – converting the losses into wins over that span gets him to 12-4 before we even start talking about the no decisions. On the year, he’s 8th in the NL with a 3.13 ERA, right behind…

Jair Jurrjens (SP)
Part of the Edgar Renteria trade with the Tigers, Jair has been better than expected, to say the least. He’s got a 3.00 ERA and a 9-4 record, and has only 3 bad starts. (He escaped with two no decisions and a win, though.) The feather in his cap so far is the 8 inning gem he pitched in Toronto, where he allowed 3 hits and a walk.

Jorge Campillo (SP)
Jorge’s been a pretty pleasant surprise this year. He got drafted into starting duty for a double header and May and has done reasonably well for himself since then. He’s been slightly shakier on occasion, as he loves his big 12-to-6 curveball that he can sometimes leaves up in the strike zone. Considering the circumstances, there’s little room to complain, though.

Conclusion
Well, this wraps out our look at the Braves through their first 95 games. I realize the look at the pitchers was somewhat less analytical, but we’ve been through a lot of them this year and I wanted to get this done before the second half actually started. Overall, I’ll stick to what I said for the hitters – the Braves have scored a lot of runs, but they lack luck with their horrendous one-run records dating back to late last year. This can be attributed to several factors – shaky end-of-the-game solutions in the bullpen or shaky late-game hitting, but it does make one wonder when, exactly, the whole thing stop being attributed to merely luck.

Anyway, I’ll be back soon with my final thoughts on college football schedules, most likely a couple weeks before the season starts. Later.