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Practice Notes 4/8

By
angry
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46

These notes were taken by AfghanBeav, who attended practice today. I wouldn't post observations from just anyone; I trust this guy's opinions based on a year of following his posts.

I was going to edit the writing to make it pretty, but screw it, there's good insight as-is, which is all that matters.

Special Teams

P Hekker: Nuff Said.

K Romaine: Kicked the ball well, deep and high several out of the back of the endzone. Only made 2/5 FG outside 30 yards.

Coverage: Looked alright, no tackling so it's hard to tell.

Return game: Looked good Poyer and Wheaton are still really good. Both made shifty moves.

Offense

QB Vaz(1st string) Does not look comfortable in the pocket. Gets happy feet quickly. Overthrew a ball right to the Safety.

Mannion(2nd string) GREAT footwork, good release, good arm strength, REALLY needs to work on the Center exchange (4 fumbles, only QB to fumble the exchange) IMO look for Mannion to become second string, with a little more time i bet he pushes Katz next year.

Lomax(3rd String) Looked Decent, tbh i was focusing more on other spots when he was in.

RB

Jovan Stevenson(1st) Running with more power than he did as freshman, drug Cam Collins about 5 yards on a run. Hits holes quickly, good vision, decent shifty moves, but is not Quizz

Ryan McCants(2nd) Big strong runner, hits holes hard but with his eyes closed. Has a decent first move, but can lower his shoulders and move piles (should have turned into a LB 3 years ago)

Malcome Marable(3rd) Looks good, he is quick hits holes well and can get the edge. Needs to get stronger, was getting taken down by contact and not tackles.

Terron Ward(4th) Looks like our next workhorse, shifty (but not as quick as Quizz was) and he is strong enough to break tackles. I like him.

IMO we look good at RB not great. Any of our 4 are not quizz but i think we are in good hands, we will get some production out of them.

WR

Wheaton(1st) looked great fast, good off the line moves. Still our fly sweep guy with James out.

Gwatchem(2nd) Looks promising he has decent speed. TALL looked good on endzone fade routes nice soft hands

Darrell "glass jaw" Catchings (3rd) I wish he could stay healthy, he actually looked good today, burned Poyer and Hardin a few times deep.

O-Line

Looked decent today, did not give up any big sacks.  Did not impress me in the run game either though. Darryl Jackson was playing LG today and looked good. Phillip looked good, settling in a RT well. Overall our line looks about average (better than last year).

TE

The tight ends did not get much work receiving today, but looked good in the blocking drills. They were handling our DEs nicely in the 1v1 drills.

DEFENSE

D-Line Looked Decent today, our Oline is not over power so it is really hard to get a feel for who is better. Did not give up alot up the middle.

LB  

MUCH faster to the edge this year, Cam Collins and Mike Doctor are MONSTERS did not see any plays by the MLB that stood out. The Unga brother looks like he may win the starting spot he was trying his best to lead the D making calls to shift the D around.

CB 

Poyer played well, got burned deep once by Catchings but Vaz overthrew him by about 10 yards. 

Hardin looked decent but still has the same problems as last year. If our coaches pull their heads out, Sean Martin should be starting over him.  He looks great had a pick6 and is FAST.

Safeties

Lance Mitchell looked good, good run support had a nice pick on a ball overthrown by Vaz. Did not see any other plays that stood out great or bad from the safeties.

Baseball: Arizona State @ Oregon State

By
angry
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190

Here's a breakdown of my projected pitching matchups for the weekend.

Date Opponent Pitchers Time (PT)
04/08 Arizona State Sam Gaviglio (5-1. 1.05) vs Brady Rodgers (4-1) 5:35 p.m.
04/09 Arizona State Josh Osich (4-0. 3.00) vs Kramer Champlin (4-1) 1:05 p.m.
04/10 Arizona State Ben Wetzler(4-1, 4.15) vs Jake Barrett (3-2) 1:05 p.m.

Some numbers…

Team stats (Batting):

ASU: .324, 14, 154 .401/.466

OSU: .271, 12, 170, .387/.378

Team era favors OSU (2.66 vs 3.01). However, in-conference ASU has pitched to a 1.50 era, while OSU is at 4.50. Both teams are poor fielders @ .973 and .976, with ASU having the slight edge.

The new bats seem to be affecting ASU, as they only have 14hrs. This was a neutralizing force versus Arizona, and could be the Beaver's best friend this season.

Obviously the big blow is losing our two best mashers in Susac and Rodriguez. Their loss takes some air out of the series, and while I left the Arizona series impressed with OSU's fight and chemistry, I'm not yet a buyer. Arizona State takes two of three.

New Marketing Slogan

By
angry
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120

"One Nation Under Orange"

You cannot make this stuff up, folks!

What's next?

"Give us this day our daily Beaver"?

One interesting question raised by the ad: is it showcasing OSU's conservative nature, or in doing so is it actually blasphemous and hence liberal? The ad feels aimless, so I'm probably giving them too much credit by even posing that question.

Oh, and to be fair and positive, they did get one thing right: marketing the throwback uniforms. We should build upon that image. At least it's an identity, one that counterbalances the Ducks very well. As always with OSU, baby steps…

Baseball: Oregon State @ Arizona

By
angry
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137

Probable starters for the weekend have not been released, but my hunch is the matchups will look like this:

Date Opponent Pitchers Time (PT)
04/01 Arizona Sam Gaviglio (5-0, 0.39) vs  Kurt Heyer (4-0, 1.33) 6:00 p.m.
04/02 Arizona Josh Osich (3-0, 2.74) vs Kyle Simon (5-1, 2.25) 1:00 p.m.
04/03 Arizona Ben Wetzler (3-1, 4.08) vs Tyler Hale (3-1, 2.70) 12:00 p.m.

Oregon State and Arizona have one common opponent (LBSU), and both squads took two of three. Arizona won in more convincing fashion outscoring the Dirtbags 18-3 (versus the Beavs more modest 15-7). Those numbers may seem meaningless since "a win is a win", but actually I think they provide good insight.

Arizona's wins have been slightly more routine, and they have beaten Rice and Arizona State. Right now, especially at home, you have to give them the edge in this series. That's a given. But my fear is that the Beavs will be swept. I'll tell you why: too much lies on Sam Gaviglio winning game 1.

If that doesn't happen, they will have to rely on Osich or Wetzler (or Nygren, *gasp*) to salvage a game. Do you have confidence in that happening? Maybe versus Hartford…I just don't see it happening versus good teams. Osich and Wetzler/Nygren are throwers who dig themselves into trouble. If the Beavs score in the 1st, they'll give back two in the 2nd. These guys just have that feel to them. Of the group, Wetzler has the most promise, but he's too green to win a meaningful game on the road.

So, my prediction is this: if Sam wins game 1, the Beavs take 1 of 2. If Sam loses game 1, the Beavs will get swept.

As far as whether Gaviglio will win the opening contest…God…tough call. I see a really tight game. The difference might be the amount of pressure on Sam to win that game…he could crack. The Wildcats have better mashers, too, in Joey Rickard (.481, 1, 18) and Cole Frenzel (.411, 1, 27) and have 41 steals as a team. Andrew Susac has been a mess behind the dish with 5 passed balls. In a close game, the combination of Arizona speed with a bad Oregon State battery could matter. Oh, and I forgot to mention: one of our best mashers, Jake Rodriguez, will likely miss the series with a fractured wrist.

Brace yourselves for the worst.

Why I Hate Larry Scott

By
angry
-
60

I had a eureka moment last night. It happened right before I passed out. You know, in that hazy state where you're dreaming of something bizarre…like Larry Scott, but also aware enough to realize it and think, "Fuck, why am I dreaming of Larry Scott!?" Smart scientists have labeled this phenomenon "lucid dreaming".

Anyway, in this woozy state I saw Larry Scott circa 1980-something. He was in a Lamborghini, wearing Ray-Bans, feathering his hair with a pocket comb, snorting a line of coke in the bathroom, and trading corporate junk bonds with Michael Milken.

I knew how that story ended, so like a good lucid dreamer I pulled a Michael J Fox and hopped in my DeLorean, fast-forwarding a decade to see what Mr. Scott would be up to.

What did I see? It was 1991 and Scott was now in Seattle, donned in flannel, Doc Martin's, and horned-rimmed glasses. He was hanging outside The Vogue with a cigarette dangling from his lip, and raving to someone who looked like David Geffen about a great new band led by a pretty yet grizzled moribund frontman. "David, he is perfect. You need to sign him. We can go to MTV with this guy and pitch the idea of Buzz Clips and 120 minutes of alternative rock!"…

I lived through that. It was cool and all at the time, but I know that story ends with a deranged, money-hungry chick, a shotgun to said rocker's head, and my trading in Chuck Taylor's for some business loafers. So, I fast-forwarded another decade.

It's 2000.

I'm working at Lucent Technologies and one morning walk in to find my co-workers in a craze. Overnight, our company stock shot from $10 a share to $65. "This is GRRRRREAT!!" I yelp, like Tony the Tiger. And there is Larry Scott, our CEO, explaining to us that at his discretion, the Lucent board of directors went ahead and split with the Baby Bells and became it's own entity, entitling it to an IPO.

I know how that story ends, too. I invest my paltry $5000 of savings into the great, new stock; four months later the dot.com bubble bursts, and I'm left holding a piece of paper worth a half-cent. Scott jokes, "A penny for your thoughts, Angry?", and I have to admit to him since I don't even own that much, I could use the money. He flips me a coin…and I give him the longest, most drawn out "Fuck you" humanly possible. I look down at the coin: it's a half-cent piece.

Another decade goes by. It's 2010. There, again, is Larry Scott. This time he's standing before Congress with Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson. In a Dr. Evil voice, he's pleading with a white-haired congressman from the Great Plains that unless the taxpayers fork over one hundred bazillion dollars (!) to Paulson, the U.S. economy will crash. The septuagenarian, borderline senile at this point in his career, buys into the fear tactics, signs the dotted line, and forks over the money. I know how this story ends, too. The recession turns into a depression, the only thing fending off that label being more propaganda and a government, headed by a promiser much like Larry Scott, that decides it doesn't want to count the long-term unemployed, seasonal workers, the homeless, etc in their economic figures.

In short, Larry Scott is "THAT GUY".

The hot shot chameleon who has pedigree and the charisma to match. The guy with big ideas who charms his way into the good graces of the influential, convinces them that some horrible idea is genius, and ten years down the line everyone's left shaking their head (or blowing it off).

So, when in my lucid state, I shift to modern times and see Larry Scott demanding the highest TV contract in college sports, I see Mike Milken, Hank Paulson, David Geffen, I-Village.com, and the IPO all at his side, all amassed into this one moment.

I wake up. I decide to write a blog about my night. A few hundred people read it. Some, who lived through these times, chuckle…but many don't understand. Most just close the page, muttering "Angry's lost it". They are just glad to be a part of the promised payday. Some respond with justifications longer than Martin Luther's scroll.

It's all good. I ate oatmeal for breakfast. I'm ready for the fight.

Look, I'm at the point in my life where it's impossible to pull one over on me. Have you seen the (wonderful horror) movie called "Death Proof"? Well, I am SCAM PROOF, and my scumbag radar is going haywire when pointed it in the direction of Walnut Creek, California.

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