RE: Jovan Swann is better than you think! -
BobK - 08-23-2019
Brother and I had the electric football game in the 50s. We developed our own baseball game
RE: Jovan Swann is better than you think! -
SamuelMcF - 08-23-2019
(08-23-2019, 02:02 AM)akiddoc Wrote: Buncom was not healthy at any time during his Stanford career, and in fact retired from football after last year for medical reasons. It's amazing he played at all.
Agreed. Total warrior, but knowing that you could see it on film. Kind of like knowing Love wasn't 100%, and Holder was playing on 1.5 good legs.
RE: Jovan Swann is better than you think! -
donkey687 - 08-23-2019
(08-23-2019, 10:22 AM)SamuelMcF Wrote: (08-23-2019, 02:02 AM)akiddoc Wrote: Buncom was not healthy at any time during his Stanford career, and in fact retired from football after last year for medical reasons. It's amazing he played at all.
Agreed. Total warrior, but knowing that you could see it on film. Kind of like knowing Love wasn't 100%, and Holder was playing on 1.5 good legs.
When we had 4 potential starting defensive 5th year seniors retire from football (Buncom, Jackson, Barton and Edwards) and not return this season, it certainly dealt a blow to our returning starter calculation and preseason prognostications, but the replacements for those 4 could all be better. Those guys were pretty banged up or tired of playing football so bring on the younger and potentially more talented replacements. None of those 4 would have been considered above average Pac12 starters and the guys that we have replacing all could be down the road.
RE: Jovan Swann is better than you think! -
Brickcity - 08-23-2019
(08-23-2019, 10:33 AM)donkey687 Wrote: (08-23-2019, 10:22 AM)SamuelMcF Wrote: (08-23-2019, 02:02 AM)akiddoc Wrote: Buncom was not healthy at any time during his Stanford career, and in fact retired from football after last year for medical reasons. It's amazing he played at all.
Agreed. Total warrior, but knowing that you could see it on film. Kind of like knowing Love wasn't 100%, and Holder was playing on 1.5 good legs.
When we had 4 potential starting defensive 5th year seniors retire from football (Buncom, Jackson, Barton and Edwards) and not return this season, it certainly dealt a blow to our returning starter calculation and preseason prognostications, but the replacements for those 4 could all be better. Those guys were pretty banged up or tired of playing football so bring on the younger and potentially more talented replacements. None of those 4 would have been considered above average Pac12 starters and the guys that we have replacing all could be down the road.
Excellent point. I predict our safety tandem will be better this year - probably not even close given Buncom's struggles. Big improvement from Jackson to this year's starter. Barton may have been a better player than his replacement this year during the early part of the year - Barton was solid - but by later in the year, our top three MLBs should all have surpassed him - at least in terms of big plays.
RE: Jovan Swann is better than you think! -
Hank 91 - 08-23-2019
I know some people complain about thread drift, but here we've got in-depth analysis of both the Stanford defense and the history of fifty-year-old vibrating electric football games. Where else in the world, I ask, can you find a thread like that? Only on the CardBoard, my friends, only on the CardBoard. Just another reason why I love this place.
RE: Jovan Swann is better than you think! -
SamuelMcF - 08-23-2019
(08-23-2019, 11:06 AM)Brickcity Wrote: (08-23-2019, 10:33 AM)donkey687 Wrote: When we had 4 potential starting defensive 5th year seniors retire from football (Buncom, Jackson, Barton and Edwards) and not return this season, it certainly dealt a blow to our returning starter calculation and preseason prognostications, but the replacements for those 4 could all be better. Those guys were pretty banged up or tired of playing football so bring on the younger and potentially more talented replacements. None of those 4 would have been considered above average Pac12 starters and the guys that we have replacing all could be down the road.
Excellent point. I predict our safety tandem will be better this year - probably not even close given Buncom's struggles. Big improvement from Jackson to this year's starter. Barton may have been a better player than his replacement this year during the early part of the year - Barton was solid - but by later in the year, our top three MLBs should all have surpassed him - at least in terms of big plays.
I would've considered Barton a slightly-above-average Pac12 starter, but agreed known quantity. Solid against the run, pretty fast, high motor, liability in coverage. And pretty small for an ILB (225ish) - was easily swallowed up by blocks if a guard got to the second level, and a non-factor when blitzing if a guard got to him. Reminded me a lot of Ben Burr-Kirven...except UW's monster DL actually commanded double-teams and kept BBK clean.
Will there be growing pains for our presumed top 3 ILBs? For sure. But they are bigger (Robinson the lightest at 236, both RS frosh 240+) and - from what we've heard and seen at camp - VERY athletic. Excited to see how they develop through the season, and I think the future is bright at the position, especially if Robinson comes back for his 5th year.
RE: Jovan Swann is better than you think! -
donkey687 - 08-23-2019
(08-23-2019, 01:24 PM)SamuelMcF Wrote: (08-23-2019, 11:06 AM)Brickcity Wrote: (08-23-2019, 10:33 AM)donkey687 Wrote: When we had 4 potential starting defensive 5th year seniors retire from football (Buncom, Jackson, Barton and Edwards) and not return this season, it certainly dealt a blow to our returning starter calculation and preseason prognostications, but the replacements for those 4 could all be better. Those guys were pretty banged up or tired of playing football so bring on the younger and potentially more talented replacements. None of those 4 would have been considered above average Pac12 starters and the guys that we have replacing all could be down the road.
Excellent point. I predict our safety tandem will be better this year - probably not even close given Buncom's struggles. Big improvement from Jackson to this year's starter. Barton may have been a better player than his replacement this year during the early part of the year - Barton was solid - but by later in the year, our top three MLBs should all have surpassed him - at least in terms of big plays.
I would've considered Barton a slightly-above-average Pac12 starter, but agreed known quantity. Solid against the run, pretty fast, high motor, liability in coverage. And pretty small for an ILB (225ish) - was easily swallowed up by blocks if a guard got to the second level, and a non-factor when blitzing if a guard got to him. Reminded me a lot of Ben Burr-Kirven...except UW's monster DL actually commanded double-teams and kept BBK clean.
Will there be growing pains for our presumed top 3 ILBs? For sure. But they are bigger (Robinson the lightest at 236, both RS frosh 240+) and - from what we've heard and seen at camp - VERY athletic. Excited to see how they develop through the season, and I think the future is bright at the position, especially if Robinson comes back for his 5th year.
Yes, an argument could be made for Barton being an above average starter. It is probably pretty close. There were 14 linebackers who were named All Pac 12 or honorable mention as Linebackers. Okereke was one of them. Barton was not. Barton had a lot of tackles (92, second most on the team), but not as many as some of our past tackling machines like Blake Martinez had in a season at the same position (141 tackles).
RE: Jovan Swann is better than you think! -
pefloresjr - 08-24-2019
Had the electric football game but it never really worked. The spring loaded kicker with the little felt ball was fun though!
Everything changed in the 70s when they came out with Talking Monday Night Football. It came with about a dozen little plastic records that had general types of plays like short pass or outside run. On the other side of the record were six defenses, blitz, prevent, etc. After my brother picked the offensive play, I would pick the defense and we would push the record into the player and hear an announcer give the outcome. Randomly after the play, the announcer would sometimes say "Penalty" and we would have to put the penalty record in to see what that call was. It was super fun and we wore those records out. There were plastic markers that showed down and distance that slid along the sideline and there was a scoreboard that had plastic wheels that you could rotate to show the score and other stats.
PS. I think the defense will be better this year but it is the time of year when hope springs eternal.
Cheers,
Pete F.
RE: Jovan Swann is better than you think! -
OutsiderFan - 08-25-2019
(08-24-2019, 05:02 PM)pefloresjr Wrote: Had the electric football game but it never really worked. The spring loaded kicker with the little felt ball was fun though!
Everything changed in the 70s when they came out with Talking Monday Night Football. It came with about a dozen little plastic records that had general types of plays like short pass or outside run. On the other side of the record were six defenses, blitz, prevent, etc. After my brother picked the offensive play, I would pick the defense and we would push the record into the player and hear an announcer give the outcome. Randomly after the play, the announcer would sometimes say "Penalty" and we would have to put the penalty record in to see what that call was. It was super fun and we wore those records out. There were plastic markers that showed down and distance that slid along the sideline and there was a scoreboard that had plastic wheels that you could rotate to show the score and other stats.
THIS was the greatest game ever made (relative to available technology when created). A neighborhood friend had it and we played many, many times.
RE: Jovan Swann is better than you think! -
French Rage - 08-25-2019
(08-24-2019, 05:02 PM)pefloresjr Wrote: Had the electric football game but it never really worked. The spring loaded kicker with the little felt ball was fun though!
Everything changed in the 70s when they came out with Talking Monday Night Football. It came with about a dozen little plastic records that had general types of plays like short pass or outside run. On the other side of the record were six defenses, blitz, prevent, etc. After my brother picked the offensive play, I would pick the defense and we would push the record into the player and hear an announcer give the outcome. Randomly after the play, the announcer would sometimes say "Penalty" and we would have to put the penalty record in to see what that call was. It was super fun and we wore those records out. There were plastic markers that showed down and distance that slid along the sideline and there was a scoreboard that had plastic wheels that you could rotate to show the score and other stats.
PS. I think the defense will be better this year but it is the time of year when hope springs eternal.
Cheers,
Pete F.
I have never heard of this (born in 1983), but that is awesome!
RE: Jovan Swann is better than you think! -
martyup - 08-26-2019
My 60s electric football game had a dial that would control the amplitude of the vibrations. You could turn it up so high that all of the players would jitter so hard they would fall down. The trick was to get the vibration set to the perfect level so the players moved forward without falling down. It took far longer to set up a play than to execute it. Imagine bowling where you had to reset your own pins. It became boring very quickly. Also, that little felt football was always falling out of the runner's arm.
RE: Jovan Swann is better than you think! -
qwerty49 - 08-26-2019
(08-26-2019, 07:43 AM)martyup Wrote: Also, that little felt football was always falling out of the runner's arm.
I think the rules said that was a fumble and the first player to touch it, recovered it. I remember if the two little clear plastic "tapes" on the bottom of each player got bent the wrong way, the player would move backwards, sideways, or not at all.
RE: Jovan Swann is better than you think! -
martyup - 08-26-2019
(08-26-2019, 09:15 AM)qwerty49 Wrote: (08-26-2019, 07:43 AM)martyup Wrote: Also, that little felt football was always falling out of the runner's arm.
I think the rules said that was a fumble and the first player to touch it, recovered it. I remember if the two little clear plastic "tapes" on the bottom of each player got bent the wrong way, the player would move backwards, sideways, or not at all.
Or, they would just spin in circles. Sometimes two players would lock arms and do-si-do for the entire play.
SORRY JOVAN, WE ARE REALLY EXCITED ABOUT YOUR UPCOMING SEASON, BUT LIKE MOTHS TO A FLAME WE CANNOT RESIST THREAD DRIFT.
RE: Jovan Swann is better than you think! -
winflop - 08-26-2019
(08-23-2019, 10:22 AM)SamuelMcF Wrote: (08-23-2019, 02:02 AM)akiddoc Wrote: Buncom was not healthy at any time during his Stanford career, and in fact retired from football after last year for medical reasons. It's amazing he played at all.
Agreed. Total warrior, but knowing that you could see it on film. Kind of like knowing Love wasn't 100%, and Holder was playing on 1.5 good legs.
Agree as well, but Antoine did not have that excuse. He was as poor as Buncom last year. I really hope he's improved - a lot - especially as a run-stopper.