[Hulk01]

For years, many sports fans have explained their lack of interest in baseball by saying the game takes too long.  But thanks to TV, college football now does, too.  Pitchers take 20 seconds between pitches, but teams often have to take two minutes between plays while they wait for the Lincoln and Subway commercials to end.  No wonder students everywhere head for bars and their big screens.  In those places you get the delightful chaos of screaming fans made even bigger by the echoes of the four walls, plus a much better view of the plays and the commentary that accompanies them.  Football crowds everywhere will keep shrinking.  Football is now a Made For TV event.

I’d hoped this was an omen: In pre-game, Utah’s kicker set up for a 27-yard field goal.  And missed it wide left by at least fifteen feet. 

With 14 minutes left before kickoff, all but 2,000 of the seats were empty.  The players must think they are back in high school.  At a very tiny high school.

He’s not the best player once the clock starts, but Cajuste is the most fun to watch in pre-game.  First, he’s brobdingnagian—a tight end minus an inch in the waist—so you don’t expect a guy that long and broad to be casually one-handing—even one-hand backhanding—throws.  It reminded me of watching Carmello Anthony casually tossing in half-court shots in his pre-games—with his left hand.

I’ve mentioned more than once Bill Walsh’s comments that you sometimes can tell a player just from how we runs on the field.  (Jordan Richards is a favorite case.)  You can watch two of our two graduating nose tackles run on the field and decide, “They’ll never play.”  Parry doesn't move like those two; you can just tell.

Garnett looked much better.

Surprised by how often we did not use one tight end, much less two. 

Perhaps aware of Stanford practice of having just one person play most of the Star Spangled Banner, Utah seemed to have decided to have none of their brobdingnagian band—twice the Stanford band—play at all.  I think they played three songs, which I determined from the fact that the members briefly dropped their instruments to their sides three times while they stood on the field.  (Maybe one of the tunes was a too-literal rendition of The Sounds of Silence.)  The Utah Mutes, I guess.

Nice halftime tribute to Stanford’s newest Nobel Prize winner. “He is Stanford’s third Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry in the last three years,” the announcer boomed.  Given how ineffectually we were playing, I felt like shouting, “Take that, Utes!”

Seeing him in person altered my view of Hogan. I’ve often defended him, and he is a decent fit in a power-play action offense because of his deep ball.  But he’s badly suited to anything horizontal—the West Coast or the four-wide Air Raid and related offenses—because of his slow release and sub-88 mph fastball.  The defenders get to his receivers five yards sooner. Given that, Shaw’s pre Big Game comments about Goff seem almost reflective; “If only Kevin had a quick release.”  Wilson also looked much quicker. and more dangerous for this reason.

It’s still quite a place. After all these years, it still amazes me they admitted me, and thrills me that they taught me. Alma Mater—Dear Mother—indeed.  That seems so apt.

[Hulk01]

For years, many sports fans have explained their lack of interest in baseball by saying the game takes too long.  But thanks to TV, college football now does, too.  Pitchers take 20 seconds between pitches, but teams often have to take two minutes between plays while they wait for the Lincoln and Subway commercials to end.  No wonder students everywhere head for bars and their big screens.  In those places you get the delightful chaos of screaming fans made even bigger by the echoes of the four walls, plus a much better view of the plays and the commentary that accompanies them.  Football crowds everywhere will keep shrinking.  Football is now a Made For TV event.

I’d hoped this was an omen: In pre-game, Utah’s kicker set up for a 27-yard field goal.  And missed it wide left by at least fifteen feet. 

With 14 minutes left before kickoff, all but 2,000 of the seats were empty.  The players must think they are back in high school.  At a very tiny high school.

He’s not the best player once the clock starts, but Cajuste is the most fun to watch in pre-game.  First, he’s brobdingnagian—a tight end minus an inch in the waist—so you don’t expect a guy that long and broad to be casually one-handing—even one-hand backhanding—throws.  It reminded me of watching Carmello Anthony casually tossing in half-court shots in his pre-games—with his left hand.

I’ve mentioned more than once Bill Walsh’s comments that you sometimes can tell a player just from how we runs on the field.  (Jordan Richards is a favorite case.)  You can watch two of our two graduating nose tackles run on the field and decide, “They’ll never play.”  Parry doesn't move like those two; you can just tell.

Garnett looked much better.

Surprised by how often we did not use one tight end, much less two. 

Perhaps aware of Stanford practice of having just one person play most of the Star Spangled Banner, Utah seemed to have decided to have none of their brobdingnagian band—twice the Stanford band—play at all.  I think they played three songs, which I determined from the fact that the members briefly dropped their instruments to their sides three times while they stood on the field.  (Maybe one of the tunes was a too-literal rendition of The Sounds of Silence.)  The Utah Mutes, I guess.

Nice halftime tribute to Stanford’s newest Nobel Prize winner. “He is Stanford’s third Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry in the last three years,” the announcer boomed.  Given how ineffectually we were playing, I felt like shouting, “Take that, Utes!”

Seeing him in person altered my view of Hogan. I’ve often defended him, and he is a decent fit in a power-play action offense because of his deep ball.  But he’s badly suited to anything horizontal—the West Coast or the four-wide Air Raid and related offenses—because of his slow release and sub-88 mph fastball.  The defenders get to his receivers five yards sooner. Given that, Shaw’s pre Big Game comments about Goff seem almost reflective; “If only Kevin had a quick release.”  Wilson also looked much quicker. and more dangerous for this reason.

It’s still quite a place. After all these years, it still amazes me they admitted me, and thrills me that they taught me. Alma Mater—Dear Mother—indeed.  That seems so apt.

[CTcard]

I’ve mentioned more than once Bill Walsh’s comments that you sometimes can tell a player just from how we runs on the field.  (Jordan Richards is a favorite case.)  You can watch our two graduating nose tackles run on the field and decide, “They’ll never play.” Parry

For years, many sports fans have explained their lack of interest in baseball by saying the game takes too long.  ...

Hey Hulk,

It seems like we missed something about our nose guards in favor of a repeat on the baseball comparison. Some cut and paste problems?

[CTcard]

I’ve mentioned more than once Bill Walsh’s comments that you sometimes can tell a player just from how we runs on the field.  (Jordan Richards is a favorite case.)  You can watch our two graduating nose tackles run on the field and decide, “They’ll never play.” Parry

For years, many sports fans have explained their lack of interest in baseball by saying the game takes too long.  ...

Hey Hulk,

It seems like we missed something about our nose guards in favor of a repeat on the baseball comparison. Some cut and paste problems?

[Hulk01]

Can't proofread worth a damn, CT.

In mentioning the two graduating nose tackles, however, I overlooked that we have three;  Two simply don't move like guys who can play; Parry does.  Should also add that he has several passionate fans up here in the tundra, high school classmates who have moved to "the big city" and speak so respectfully of David and all that he did to get into Stanford from eighth grade on. 

[Hulk01]

Can't proofread worth a damn, CT.

In mentioning the two graduating nose tackles, however, I overlooked that we have three;  Two simply don't move like guys who can play; Parry does.  Should also add that he has several passionate fans up here in the tundra, high school classmates who have moved to "the big city" and speak so respectfully of David and all that he did to get into Stanford from eighth grade on. 

[Viking_Guy]

Hulk--

I went with the band to the "Casey Jacobsen sinks the game-winning runner against Duke with Tiger jumping in the background" game at the Oakland Coliseum.  I think at that point it was called the Pete Newell Challenge, and was being sponsored by one of the newfangled VOIP companies.  The game was continually interrupted by commercials, delays, and such, but the band was never allowed to play; they were doing in-arena advertisements for their new products.  They essentially wanted us to play for 10 seconds as TV was coming back from commercial, and at no other point. 

Needless to say, we were a bit frustrated; a bunch of us started singing/humming that "woo-oo, woo-oo-oo" song from "Kill Bill" that was their competitor's (Vonage?) theme song.  And I came up with this:

Remember, it's not a college basketball game.  It's a college-basketball-themed marketing opportunity.

That phrase has become more relevant across all sports, especially with the advent of the Pac-12 net.  Volleyball, if no team calls a timeout, now has an "official" timeout when the first team scores 15.  Basketball now not only has full timeouts after every 4 minutes of clock; the first timeout of the second half is always a full timeout, leading to the NFL-like spectacle when a 30-second is called as the first timeout any time after 4:00 into the second half of two full-timeouts back to back. I saw one instance where it happened and literally no time came off the clock - 30-second called stretched to a full timeout, foul on the inbound play, full timeout.  Now the NCAA soccer tournament, when televised live, often has an "official's timeout" midway through the first and second halves.

I guess the tv revenue is what feeds the beast.  But it becomes a hard trade-off - better access to events on television worse in-person gameday experience.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

Hulk--

I went with the band to the "Casey Jacobsen sinks the game-winning runner against Duke with Tiger jumping in the background" game at the Oakland Coliseum.  I think at that point it was called the Pete Newell Challenge, and was being sponsored by one of the newfangled VOIP companies.  The game was continually interrupted by commercials, delays, and such, but the band was never allowed to play; they were doing in-arena advertisements for their new products.  They essentially wanted us to play for 10 seconds as TV was coming back from commercial, and at no other point. 

Needless to say, we were a bit frustrated; a bunch of us started singing/humming that "woo-oo, woo-oo-oo" song from "Kill Bill" that was their competitor's (Vonage?) theme song.  And I came up with this:

Remember, it's not a college basketball game.  It's a college-basketball-themed marketing opportunity.

That phrase has become more relevant across all sports, especially with the advent of the Pac-12 net.  Volleyball, if no team calls a timeout, now has an "official" timeout when the first team scores 15.  Basketball now not only has full timeouts after every 4 minutes of clock; the first timeout of the second half is always a full timeout, leading to the NFL-like spectacle when a 30-second is called as the first timeout any time after 4:00 into the second half of two full-timeouts back to back. I saw one instance where it happened and literally no time came off the clock - 30-second called stretched to a full timeout, foul on the inbound play, full timeout.  Now the NCAA soccer tournament, when televised live, often has an "official's timeout" midway through the first and second halves.

I guess the tv revenue is what feeds the beast.  But it becomes a hard trade-off - better access to events on television worse in-person gameday experience.

VG

[CTcard]

  Should also add that he has several passionate fans up here in the tundra, high school classmates who have moved to "the big city" and speak so respectfully of David and all that he did to get into Stanford from eighth grade on.

I laugh at the "tundra" comment.

I grew up in Winnipeg. Trips across the border to Minneapolis were a chance to visit the big-city in the tropics.

[CTcard]

  Should also add that he has several passionate fans up here in the tundra, high school classmates who have moved to "the big city" and speak so respectfully of David and all that he did to get into Stanford from eighth grade on.

I laugh at the "tundra" comment.

I grew up in Winnipeg. Trips across the border to Minneapolis were a chance to visit the big-city in the tropics.

[martyup]

Hey VG, are you Tony Beets?

[martyup]

Hey VG, are you Tony Beets?

[Viking_Guy]

Marty--

Not familiar with the name.  Was he a band guy?

VG

[Viking_Guy]

Marty--

Not familiar with the name.  Was he a band guy?

VG

[martyup]

Marty--

Not familiar with the name.  Was he a band guy?

VG

He's one of the gold miners from the reality TV show "Gold Rush".  His nickname is "the Viking."

[martyup]

Marty--

Not familiar with the name.  Was he a band guy?

VG

He's one of the gold miners from the reality TV show "Gold Rush".  His nickname is "the Viking."