Home Football Riley Pretending to be Modern (again)

Riley Pretending to be Modern (again)

203

This is funny.

So while at Oregon State, a few miles from the Ducks and watching them kill him ever year, he never thought to take inspiration from that offense. Now at Nebraska, he does?

Just shows how complacent he’d become. Now that fans have demands (not just expectations), there’s a fire under his ass, and he’s suddenly open to ideas.

Also hilarious is this:

“We just have to be really careful in what we select to do. And then, like I said, we’ve got to practice it like crazy so it becomes our identity. That’s what you’re always looking for.”

Always looking for that identity, Mike. How about this for your identity: a guy who is a chameleon, poseur, changing only to meet expectations of the job and nothing more…oh, and not knowing how to utilize players or timeouts. There’s your identity, buddy.

From a guy who emailed me this article:

I love how he is actually willing to change when someone puts their foot up his ass and he knows his job is in the balance if he doesn’t perform.

Precisely. Well said. Riley is the worst.

203 COMMENTS

  1. Forget a figurative foot up his ass. It might literally be his ass if he bombs there given how intense and nutty some husker fans are.

    <3 Nebraska

  2. if it isn’t already apparent, it will become so that he “got by” (= to mediocre performance) through a combination of low expectations of the program when he took over, which astonishingly lasted even through and beyond the Erickson years, the dynamic of which meant that he could sneak up on a few poorly prepared teams every year (read: Willingham, Doba, and a succession of coaches at Cal) and steal enough wins against Bellotti and Carroll to make it “seem” as if he had things going his way. As soon as Riley went from being, arguably, a top 25% percentile coach in conference to certifiably a bottom 25% coaching talent his goose was cooked. The question that remains then, is how does he actually stack up against Big 10 coaching. We know vis a vis Meyer, Dantonio and Harbaugh, but they’re all in the other division.

  3. He got stale here, a change of scenery was good for him. I’d say we have to blame BDC for that awful contract he gave him that extended just for getting bowl games. It sucks for us that we really might see the old hungry Riley when there’s a fire lit under his ass. This is the precise reason that unless a coach has dominated and deserves it (Saban, Dantonio, Meyer, Miles) you don’t give him a never ending contract. Hell, even at those schools they still apply pressure.

    We should just worry about OSU and how we can improve as a fanbase and what we can contribute to have more success. Did you guys ever come up with a solid list of gameday improvements?

    • Agree. Some coaches are driven to excell and win no matter their cotract situations. Riley was a cruiser — do enough to secure his situation and then just cruise. We are well rid of him no matter what now happens, either here or at NU.

      Gameday suggestion — use a chainsaw on a dummy dressed in the opposing uniform, with gushing blood and dismemberment….. Kids would love it….Everybody’s kids would want to go to the games just for that….

  4. Sorry if cut and paste from the Oregonian is frowned upon but this is the MAJOR change to me and what was needed:
    2. Cornerback Larry Scott mentioned he recently threw up during a summer workout for the first time. Borderline “TMI” details aside, Andersen said he was pleased with the progress with the element he identified as the biggest priority for the Beavers following spring practice.

    “Are we where we need to be? Not a chance,” Andersen said. “But we understood we needed to get stronger. We worked to get stronger and we made it important to get stronger, so we did. We got remarkably stronger…

    “I realize the way we push these kids comes with some high risk, but we had to do it. But they’ll get it. It doesn’t change overnight, but they’re getting stronger. They look different, if you look at them physically. If you’ve got a picture of this team, each one of them individually, back on Jan. 4 and took a picture of them today, they’d look remarkably different.”

    When asked to compare and contrast these workouts with ones in the past, running back Storm Woods noted that Bryan Miller’s program primarily focused on Olympic lifts, while Evan Simon’s had a lot of lower-body sled work (trust me, I know) and “hit everything.”

    “You really have to take his workouts a day at a time,” Woods said, “because if you don’t, that’s where I pass out. They were definitely tougher … I just think he made us bigger, stronger, faster quicker.”

  5. I’m starting to wonder if Mike is ever going to return my calls. I helped many of his players get on the right track. I aided in getting most of them to toe the line, walk the straight and narrow, and begin pulling their own weight.

    Dude still owes me some cash! Let alone all the hoops ive had to just through with Kyle, and still haven’t got a dime. I was due an immediate bonus when he became eligible.

    My bank account is starting to look like 50-cent’s!

  6. We just had media day, and camp is a couple days away. This topic is as mediocre as it was when it was mediocre here. Only now we can ignore it if we want to do so.

    Just thank Shawn Eichhorst. Maybe set up one of those fund-it pages for when the guy gets run out of Lincoln out on a rail, but thank him nonetheless. And be done with it.

    I think we’ll have enough of a roller coaster ride in the next five months that we won’t need any schadenfreude to fill in the boring segments. We can save them and link them all for Christmas… and a bunch of giggles.

    Yes… another Riley puffer that I will not read. Let me guess:
    Riley says he wants to change with the times. Only he’s probably hedging and will only commit to a play or two here or there… like the fly sweep. He probably says he wants to run for a certain amount of yardage. And, of course, there’s always the “finding of the identity” with this guy.

    Yay!

      • Media days are always boring. But it’s a signal that the season is coming.

        Riley isn’t going to do anything but Riley. I’m not amused because I’ve heard it all before, several times, in varying degrees or pieces or the whole of it over the years. I’m just tired of it.

        • I find it funny he’s tricking those poor bastards at Nebraska with the same rhetoric. The media spin? “He’s a nice guy, and he’s open to change!” Boy, have we heard all that before…that’s not funny? I find it hilarious. Dark comedy. Morbid comedy.

          • You guys should probably stop reading the blog, because I am going to be following any and all funny Riley moments this year, and maybe beyond.

            We have moved on, but we’re still going to laugh at Riley. It’s too funny to ignore.

          • Amen to that Angry. In fact, I think AB nation has the obligation to monitor the Riley narrative at Nebraska, because vindication of the critique hangs in the balance.

          • That’s exactly right.
            I don’t want to spend a lot of time on him, but if he’s being hilarious or failing, sure. Even if he does well at Nebraska it raising questions. So he’s relevant like it or not.

          • So if he fails it’s because he sucked all along. If he succeeds then he’s an asshole because he didn’t meet your expectations at Oregon State?

            You’re starting to hedge your arguments again so you align yourself to a can’t lose situation.

          • no, if he succeeds it means he’s an asshole who was just cruising because he had a guaranteed contract and they couldn’t fire him without paying him a shitload of $$$ to buy him out. You really should try reading and following along

          • If he fails, he continues his cruise that he was set in, here.

            If he wins some, he is not a success because he has inherited talent he didnt have to recruit, at a site easier to recruit to.

            If he wins big, then he changed from his OSU cruise mode and found new energy…..energy he refused to find here. Refused it such that he jumped ship rather than try to find it here.

            If Riley wins the NC its still good that he moved on, because in latter years he wasnt shit here. Of course the media is too effing dumb to not harp on it if he does succeed at NU. ….ignoring the fact that he BAILED on us, twice. Clearly he didnt actually think well of OSU, despite his phoney rhetoric.

          • Maybe someone should keep track then make a video montage for Christmas. It can have all of Riley’s coachspeak interlaced with post game aphorisms. The montage can gather together some clusters of the same Rileyisms, as if in a loop but clearly from different points in time.

            That’s how it runs in my head when I think of our past coach. But at least then I’ll have a different color uni in my mind.

          • I enjoyed Riley’s coach speak more than Andersens. I read Andersens statements at media day and they went something like this:

            “Happy to be here. We got a roster full of football players. We are working hard. We have some tremendous athletes who are working hard. Working hard to get stronger and getting ready to play football. We have some young men on the team. They need to work hard this fall. They need to get ready to play football”

            That’s not exactly what Andersen said, but it was one simple cliche sentence after another.

            I get that you guys don’t like Riley and mabye think he is stupid, but for fucks sake, Andersen isn’t an upgrade.

          • Andersen referring to the WR position: “They’ve made some big?time plays in this league, big?time moments that have really helped the team move forward in games. Now the challenge for them is to make those plays and also make the consistent plays throughout a game, catch them all, make the plays that need to be made, and we’ll lean heavily on them.”

            I think my 60 year old mother could have delivered that statement.

          • Within what context? If it’s within your narrow scope of just these words and your family members talking about football, then your argument is valid. I believe this quote is within the context of the WRs not only building on last year, but eliminating mistakes that contribute to losses, as is also expected of any unit on the field… as was also said. It’s a part of the culture being instilled, that consistent effort and hard work minimize mistakes and increase focus and efficiency. A lot of that presser had to do with team-building and the success shown in areas off the field. He’s being hesitantly optimistic that those off-field successes will translate to on-field successes.

            We have yet to see what his post game pressers will look like for us. But a sample of them at past posts belies more of the same direct, uncluttered reasoning.

          • First of all, I did read his transcript. I know you posted it because that’s where I found it. It was one simple coach cliche after another.

            Second, your statement would be a much more valuable thing to hear from the coach on the most hyped press conference he does all year. I can form my own opinion on our position groups and what they need to do. His statements about receivers needing to catch the ball and step up and make plays is no different than any other reviewer group goal in the country.

            Regardless, I used that as an example of the simplicity of his statements. At least Riley tried to give the media and the fans a bit more insight into what they’re thinking.

          • Every coach speaks coachspeak. That’s shop to them. How they say it and what numbers they apply to it are what I’m looking for. The repetition within GA’s speak tells me he’s a teacher and that he applies the same direct sincerity to that craft. I can hear a framework based on setting incremental goals in many facets, not just football. And I can look at stats from his teams and find all the numbers to support the growth and learning they achieved, numbers he’s telling me to look for with our team.

            GA is able to answer all the fluff and still have time to spare. I’m not in any way used to that at OSU… not remotely.

          • Naaah, it’s too entertaining to quit reading. Even though I piss you off sometimes I still enjoy this site and find you pretty knowledgeable about Beaver sports. About the only sport I’m even halfway good at discussing is basketball. And that’s weird ’cause I played football and baseball when in school.

            What would I do without you? Keeps things interesting, eh?

            At least I don’t attack you like that shit for brains buttbutter…

          • I’ve never adhered to the “move on” cliche, it sounds like your breaking up with your girlfriend. It’s as fun as shit to still read about Riley and wonder how it’s going to all shake out at Nebraska. I’m with you Angry, I’ll be front and center rooting on BYU in a few weeks.

          • It’s not that. It’s that I prioritize my football intake starting with my team and branch off to future opponents, dreaming of better than reality for those match-ups. Then, if I’m lucky, I start crunching numbers and calculating bowl scenarios and such.

            During all that we have visits and recruiting stuff going on for hoops as well as football. Then the early signing period rolls in, followed by hoops starting up (both men and women now). My thoughts turn to expectations and hope and wanting all that to mesh with what ends up on the floor for those teams.

            And the kids are back in school and doing their sports and activities. Those easily take priority over the Riley melodrama. The lawn has to mowed. There will likely be some nice sunsets this fall that I’ll have to sit and watch. Playing in the mountains… going to the coast multiple times… stopping in October for my annual clipping of my toe-nails. The weekly showers and remembering to brush my teeth once a month. Pretending to do something resembling work once in a while. All these things interest me and/or are more important in my life than NU football.

            If I’m paying attention to NU football, then it’s not a good year. I’m sure there will be *smh* moments involving them. But that’s about as much effort as I’m willing to give them right now.

    • Nice work. As far as I can tell, OSU doesn’t really have any fans that create this type of stuff, but pretty much every other fan base does. As much as a picture shouldn’t make a difference in where a kid chooses to go to school, it does help increase exposure for the program when they retweet it or use it as their profile pic.

      Hope you also realize you’ve opened a can of worms and now every athlete who sees you do this will want one of their own, even if they have no interest in OSU. Good luck keeping up with the requests!

  7. The irony of your post is that as Beaver fans, you all resisted the thought that what the Oregon Ducks were doing was somehow better than Riley’s “pro-style” offense (which for the record, his version DIDN’T work in the pros, but that’s another story)

    It’s not just the Beavers new and old coaches copying the trend though. The zone read and the spread option is college football now. Look at any offense from Washington to Florida and you’ll see variations of what Dennis Dixon was doing to Michigan 8 years ago.

    Not to mention the uniform craze started by the Ducks. People sat back pointing and laughing at the Ducks 15 years ago, but now every team has several options for alternate unis.

    I just see some pretty thick irony in seeing a fan base who has always prided itself on being the “anti-Duck” now welcoming a poor-mans version of their offense and 16 new uniform combos with such open arms. And to top it off, even the former traditionalist coach is lauding the effectiveness and superiority of what the Ducks do scheme wise.

    If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em?

      • Nobody? Really? Not one person on this site liked Riley or his offense? Nobody here was/is a fan of or defended use of a “pro style” vs spread option scheme?

        Nobody on this site ever questioned the Duck offense or Chip Kelly or uniforms? Everybody here just universally accepts that whatever Oregon does is THE way to go?

        Is that what you’re saying?

        • I like wins. I couldn’t care less if it’s pro, spread, or marshmallow butternut foo bunnies. Just freaking beat the FCS teams please.

          Clearly there are advantages and disadvantages to all styles and as fans we’ll want to praise the advantages of whatever style the coach is running provided it’s working.

          I still think there are too many uniforms, but the athletes like it, so whatever..

        • If they liked it, they didn’t say it. All I heard were complaints about it and how the Beavs should change…we also well documented how Riley’s offense was way too complex and he should run a college offense

          • I actually liked the offense. The problem was the play calling and a total lack of adaptation with slants and other quick hitting pass plays. Pass plays that took 2 days to develop put too much pressure on the line to hold blocks.

          • Well that’s why the offense sucked. It was asking college walk-ons to execute difficult (nfl style) passing plays. And then the playbook for QBs…

            It was just not a good offense. Boise St ran something similar but much more stripped down and effective. Check out this article: http://smartfootball.com/gameplanning/breaking-down-boise-how-the-broncos-use-leverage-numbers-and-grass-to-gash-the-opposition

            A lot of deception, “maximizing” match ups, which I harped on all the time here, etc.Riley just knew one thing and forced it down players’ throats.

          • But that’s the coaching, not the system. Riley could have stripped his playbook down and done just fine. Individual plays are complex. There are 22 players on a field at one time. That’s why they practice them. But practicing less plays and developing more wrinkles within those plays is easier for a non-professional to understand and execute.

            But even a stripped down system can be ineffective if the same plays are called in the same situations and the players execute them exactly the same every time. Maybe if the QB would go through reads one and two twice instead of 1-2-3-checkdown, maybe the coach might look smart for once.

          • I’ve always enjoyed watching Boise St on offense. To me, THAT is a fun offense to watch. I can’t imagine they are any different under Harsin than they were with Chris Petersen. If the mutts give Petersen 4 years or so to get the ship sailing in Seattle I think they’ll do fine. They may take a step back this year but they will get better going forward. That was a great hire by the leg humpers

        • The offense doesn’t really matter. The play-calling means more. And playing a proper D is the most important. The pro style is just fine as a whole. It’s only when the play-calls become predictable that it becomes less than just fine. The same lack of ingenuity in play-calling in a read option would lead to the same results. Correction, it does lead to the same results on many levels… except on the pro level, where read option will be killed within a couple years.

          • AAAAAnnnnd…. the unis are stupid beyond stupid. The Mausoleum is a poorly executed venue built for twice its value… on our credit… only because our state’s legislature was not convinced by the numbers that, in hindsight, were more than just wrong… but they were strong-armed into signing off on not only it, but side-stepping state law in order to let someone overspend on it. And then there’s the big black Minecraft thingy that blocks the view of Autzen from the west… and the weird tic-tac-toe thing going on between that black thingy and what used to be a place where people could tailgate.

            And it has come at a cost to the overall academic value of a University of Oregon degree. It is now second fiddle to Oregon State University in this state. Oh… and it is not now, nor has it ever been the flagship university in Oregon. There is no such designation in this state, and anyone who uses it is being dishonest.

          • The bazillion uniform combinations is just beyond stupid. Nothing like claiming EVERY color to be your school color. And the pink uni’s allegedly used to raise awareness and money for breast cancer research is just another method of attention whoring. And as someone who lost his wife to breast cancer it downright is a slap in the face and pisses me off. Write the fucking check instead of making it about you. Beyond ridiculous. University of Oregon, being an attention whoring, LOOK AT ME! bunch of pathetic, low life, scumbag, win at all costs university since………………well as long as I can remember

          • didn’t bother to click the link since I saw the word “redacted” in it. Maybe they should just change their name to the University of Redacted

          • and the from the negative votes one can tell there’s swoosh trolls here. Or those that hate me. Take your pick. My point still stands.

          • good point about the D, Jack. Offensives can go into slumps, not hit all cylinders, etc. But there is NO reason for a Defense to slump; it’s either maintaining effort, or it isn’t, and in the late Riley era effort was commonly MIA.

        • I never had an issue with the pro style offense duck turd. Still don’t. I think most of the vitriol came from the vanilla play calling, lack of run/pass balance (too pass heavy), empty backfield and qb in the shotgun on 3rd and 3, constant stupid penalties, false starts, plays being called in late, etc, etc etc. And that is JUST the offense. Do you get it now??? Or should I type slower? Go back to educk. No one here will stroke your ego. Or anything else

        • I’ll only speak for myself. I was never partial to Riley’s offensive scheme. Wasn’t for it, wasn’t against it. It was what it was. That said, you can check the archive on this point: I said the Mannion era was a competitive dead-end. All that yardage–meaningless. Riley got the crazy idea after Quizz left that if getting a QB and couple wide-outs into the NFL was as important as winning games, and as soon as he developed that outlook and virtually abandoned the run game, everything went south, literally as well as figuratively. I’m also on record as saying the Chip Kelly was a genius, and his savviest move was NOT running up the score on Riley when he had a couple chances to do so. Riley had beaten Bellotti so he got no such slack there.

    • For “coach D-bag” trying to flex nuts like the Ducks invented the forward pass. Pop quiz dickhead, who invented the spread?

      • Pretty sure it’s the guy who’s 2-1 against the quackers in his last three games. Or is that just “zone read” which gets confused with spread a lot since they always go together?

        • Pop Warner for the option (read) part. Lombardi for the zone part. RichRod for dropping the chocolate in the peanut butter and tasting it.

          The spread (the passing part of the offense) was Dutch Meyer.

          • I like to think of Tiger Ellison as a pioneer of early spread concepts with the beginnings of the run and shoot. Later June Jones, Mouse Davis, etc…

          • But what we all know is that Chip Kelly isn’t even in the discussion. If you want to credit a modern guy for it it’s Rich Rodriquez. But the origins go way back. We had a post about this a while ago.

          • In the original idea of this non sequitur, I think he was conflating system and culture with actual coaching ability. Is Kelly a good football coach? Very much so. Do we want that at OSU? Yes. Did we want a coach who had the same failings Kelly had if it meant the same level of coaching and wins was maintained? No. But we want a coach who can maintain at least effort and competitive drive and can keep his team in position to catch lightning in a bottle every four or five years.

          • I would have taken Kelly, though, even if he was flawed. Everyone is flawed. Even St. Riley was flawed (the whole rape thing)…ideally you want good coach and morals, but I don’t think it’s possible. I’m sure GA has warts that will be exposed as we go through the next five years.

          • Knowing what I know now, I would never hire Kelly. Kansas and SMU should never have hired Larry Brown.

            But knowing who they are as people makes it easy to separate all that and who they are as a coach.

  8. Matt gets another shot, this time with the Tigers, via baseball Twitter: .@mattboyd31 to make his @tigers debut in a start against Kansas City on Wednesday. #gobeavs pic.twitter.com/Yhik81EX8T

  9. LOL. Can they predict the probability of a delay of game penalty coming out of a time out?
    • Nebraska’s new embrace of advanced analytics might change play-calling, particularly on fourth down.

  10. Wait wasn’t it the most glorious, innovative college team to NOT win a national title? I thought they invented everything cool? “big sister” only became relevant once they started cheating and whoring themselves to their ugly ass pimp p. Knight. Fuck these d*ck trolls

    • That’s a tiny pimple on Phil Knight’s wallet. I’m still trying to figure out how Dana Altman recruits a rapist and doesn’t know anything about it? In the real world Altman would be starting his first season as coach of Chadron St.

      • Right minded people at UO are asking the same. But Nikegon shrugs them off. And now they have, “We signed a confidentiality agreement, so don’t ask us, a public institution with a mandate to be transparent, to be transparent.”

        I hear the confidentiality agreement has the shape of Dana Altman’s head on the outside and the dimensions of a basketball court on the inside. So it has some contorted sense of importance for those looking at it… in a marketing sense. I hear it can also change colors according to temperature and mood. So there’s that.

      • You’re correct. He just got a generic middle of the road 3* rating last week. Just like a couple if the other previously commits, he got rated shortly after committing to OSU, but they all got the exact same grade. The standard OSU commit grade. Must be a 3*, right?

        Exactly the reason class rankings are so worthless right now. If he had committed to USC, UCLA or Oregon, he’d get the generic 4* ranking.

        • That is so dumb. I mean I don’t disagree with the rating, I’d probably have him low 3-star, too, but they are in the business of ranking guys…to do it right after the commitment is so lazy.

          It helps OSU’s ranking, though. Top 35 here we come.

          • I know he’s committed to the Beavs but just think if he gets an offer from a USC, Quacker-high, etc, his rating will probably rise…All without anything having changed on the field.

    • We want the other Jordan (Ford) too. Down to OSU, St. Mary’s and UCSB? If size is his only knock, then he’s way way way underrated. He’s one of the best shooters in his class, and he can see the floor in transition better than most kids I’ve seen on the D1 level… on both ends. Now I’m wondering who is visiting on Sep. 4. We know McLaughlin is one. I’m thinking Kone is another. Ford, a swing and another big would be an awesome class if signed early. Yoeli Childs and Ben Kone would be a monster interior core with the incoming 2015 bigs and all the shooters coming to town.

      It’s amazing what beating expectations plus one great class can do for a program.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0eiAhgBb4U

      • Childs already took us out of contention. His final 5 is Auburn, Boise State, BYU, Vanderbilt, and Princeton. http://www.scout.com/college/basketball/recruiting/story/1569245-yoeli-childs-cuts-list-to-five-schools?s=260

        Another Tinkle target, Anfernee Mclemore out of Suwanee, GA committed to Auburn recently. I think Pearl and Tinkle go after some similar guys. Hopefully we can get the same success as Pearl got on Rocky Top. A couple of other names we hopefully hear from are Tim Harrison, a swingman out of San Diego, and Brendan Bailey, another Utah kid.

        • I figured Kone is the primary target for that spot, and Childs would be redundant. Ford and McLaughlin would make an awesome tandem in the back court. I think Bailey will go elsewhere. But that’s based on him being committed during the time our coaches would have evaluated him. Harrison is more of a step-out 4 than a swing. He’d be more than viable in a pick and pop. Look for Justin Moore also. He has size and ability enough to be transformed into a combo 2/3.

    • News (rumor right now) like this for a kid who was suspended for a year beginning at this time last year usually means it’s something that is out of the coaches’ hands in terms of discipline.

  11. Well, so far, the big O hasn’t pulled this comment,

    BTW, Songy’s situation was being discussed as early as 0837 over at angrybeavs.com.

    No beat reporters there, no press passes. Just several fans paying attention.

        • We have a Mamma Machado amongst us.

          I’m not going to pay you $10 per month to get information 30 minutes before an average fan. #badbusinessmodel

          • You’re right! It was totally unethical of her to wait to get official confirmation from OSU. Dan Rathers thinks she was completely unprofessional…

          • It’s not hard to pick up the phone and give the athletic office a call. Heck, the sports editor at the OSU STUDENT paper did it.

          • Hey Angry, I hear there’s gonna be job opening for the Beaver Beat in the Oregonian.
            You should think about applying. It’s your best shot at getting that media credential you want…

          • You have the best media site? I was not aware of this! No wonder you were outraged after being denied a media credential.

            The delusion continues…

        • Never heard that before. You must have got it from the blitz handbook, circa ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz………………

        • Anybody who spends any amount of time reading both sites knows this is untrue. Occasionally news hits blitz first, occasionally it hits this site features first, and other times it’s simultaneous. Both sites have uncredited “insiders” who help out with news, often the same ones too.

          No need to insult one site vs the other. Both do their own things in their own ways and sometimes the paths will cross. Just the nature of the business when everybody is interested in the same topic. Either way, the more eyes on OSU athletics, the better.

  12. Songy revealed in an exclusive interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive in April that he had failed three drug tests prior to the 2014 season, leading to the season-long suspension.

    So, dude prefers the chronic over playing football. Zero sympathy here

  13. Season tickets just arrived… in a big beaver canvas flag! Did anyone know this was coming or have I been under a rock?
    Call it gimmicky but I was grinning widely as I frantically opened it thinking, no way… really?! COOL!

  14. Whether Songy smoking that gange or him not completing behavioral therapy, I’m not surprised either way. Dude is a lunatic. It’s good on the football field, but outside of it nahhhhh.

        • Looks like it’s an award coming from a non-profit group set up to recognize poly contributions in football. There’s a hall of fame too, although “and contributors” sounds like the exception for non-poly people to be allowed also. Agree it seems contrary to what is taught about racial equality to then have an award based on race.

          http://www.polynesianfootballhof.org/about/halloffame

          • I’m really sick of this crap. By acknowledging any race or ethnicity via this isolationism (only Polys can win blah blah) we perpetuate all the social/racial problems. As far as I’m concerned, the people behind that award are some of the biggest racists out there. Yet they will be glorified (just like Lyle M was for his disgustingly racist tweet).

            Make awards that any race can win, and let the best player win it. These aren’t five year olds babies; these are men who should be able to handle it if someone better than them, of a different race/ethnicity, wins. If you’re Poly and upset about losing awards then create better youth football leagues in Polynesia so you have better players who can win awards. Fuck this.

          • Lyle’s tweet wasn’t racist. It was just ohana, a fine thing even when taken out of context and juxtaposed against the unspoken Puritanical you seem to think it’s attacking (it’s not, btw).

            But this one looks like someone (a Niner and father of one of our own) creating something in order to hitch a ride on the Mariota rising star. It’s more likely an icon thing for younger Polys, who disproportionately find themselves in the struggle between their own culture and the colonialism of our neo-manifest destiny. I’m a little disappointed it’s reserved for football only. Any Poly HoF without Duke, Eddie Aikau or Anona Napoleon is just fluff.

          • Why not?

            I’m not gonna read the rules, because I don’t care enough to do so. I’ll try to manufacture some kind of insolent rage later.

          • Why not

            I don’t claim to be a Poly expert, but from what I know they have DNA ties to ASIA. It would be like calling the white guys walking around Australia Maoris or the Whites in America Native Americans. Nope. Even if a black or white is born in Tonga that doesn’t make them a Poly.

            It is just a stupid award. I agree since it was invented last year it looks like it’s hitching onto the Mariota bandwagon. But it has some political (correctness/minority) undertones to it as well. How about this novel concept: the best player gets the award regardless of race, ethnicity, etc?

            With Lyle M, we heard this idea that the Poly’s were “celebrating their culture”. Apparently being huge ethnic snobs, possibly racists, is part of their culture? It is an embarrassment. Go win the awards for best player, Polys. Go win that. Then you get the respect you want. I mean Mariota won the Heisman — there you earned respect and awareness that Poly players can be great (anyone who watches the game knows this anyway). Now with this BS trophy you create for your ethnicity. If my ethnicity did that I’d be all over them, too, because it is embarrassing and pathetic behavior.

          • You’re going down a weird rabbit hole here.

            It’s something not borne of any of my insecurities, so I don’t see any reason for me to be insecure about it. I won’t understand the overt racism or abject poverty that culture still suffers to this day. But I know enough about it that this one thing set up at a place called the Polynesian Cultural Center does not concern me unless I choose to make it my concern… for apparently the same reasons it doesn’t affect my life in any way. Or, more likely, I find myself at the location in question, and I decide to go look at it. At that point I would look at it and grade it in terms of how informative it is. Those are the reasons and extent to which I care.

            I, for one, would enjoy a world where everyone was as kind to each other and to outsiders as the Polynesian culture is. They look you in the eye when they tell the truth, and they value family above all. That’s good stuff in my book. If there are (good… knock on wood) football players from other cultures or heritages who feel this is what they’re all about because of who they are and where they come from, then they’ll come and enjoy the same thing. It doesn’t matter what it’s called. A smile is universal.

            Besides, I’m sure there’s a place somewhere, sometime where a couple G’pa Bubbas thought the exact same thing and made a white person’s HoF. I care about that one just as much.

          • It’s not a rabbit hole. Make awards anyone can win and let the best players win them.

            Anything beyond that has ulterior motives.

          • Now, if you were saying this was a small tool used in the formation of the Mormons’ expected revenue stream and future recruiting when Polys turn away from rugby union and start playing football en masse, and you can prove they take federal dollars for that purpose, then you spark my interest. I draw a hard line between church and state. There are many things in the social contract that adhere to many religions. There are some that don’t adhere to any religion. It doesn’t matter. Only the law matters, and this is not one of those laws that needs to be changed for my, your or anyone’s benefit.

            Let’s see… BYUH takes federal money, therefore, they can’t impose their religious beliefs upon the PCC and the people who visit it?

            I told you I’d manufacture some kind of rage earlier.

  15. Anybody know who will replace Conner at the O? Really hope they dont stick one of the vets alongside Gina. Would much rather seem them go for somebody young and hungry like they did with Conner and Gina the past few years. Could you imagine getting stuck with Goe or Fentress? Luck o the beavs….

  16. Matt Boyd with a much better outing yesterday and picks up his first MLB win. Pitched 7 innings, scattered 7 hits and only gave up 1 run. 2 Ks and didn’t walk anybody.

  17. Terron Ward is making an impression with the Falcons. With Freeman and Coleman both off the field with hamstring injuries, Ward could make the rooster. That is if his own hamstring can hold up for a while.

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