Friday, July 17, 2009

Who would want to kill BurritoBlogging?

Jealous husbands, outraged chefs, outraged tailors, the list is endless.

That's one of my favorite lines in any Bond movie. It's hard to make the case for Roger Moore over Sean Connery, but Moore's interactions with M were priceless. His facial expressions worked nicely when Bernard Lee was lighting into him.

You know how a certain play, good or bad, sticks in your head and you constantly think of it for months after it happens? Iniesta's strike at Stamford Bridge is like that for me. I get up to use the bathroom at the office and as I'm walking, I have the mental image of the Barca fans singing wildly as a distraught Chelsea fan from the Subcontinent cries behind Guardiola. Derek Rae's line about Chelsea almost being able to feel the spring sunshine of Rome was perfect. If you see me walking down the street with a silly smirk on my face, you now know why. Sports can be pretty cool sometimes.

This Mets lineup is, uh, underwhelming. I know it's hard to replace three stars, but shouldn't a team this rich have a modicum of depth, either from the farm system or the open market. Way to go, Omar! Oh, and the injuries don't explain the lousy starting pitching.

Is 14 now to the Braves what 7 is to Manchester United? I overstate a little, but first Julio Franco defies the aging process and now Martin Prado has turned into Rogers Hornby.

I really need to think through my ideas on the spread offense. Is it a talent-equalizer or is it simply a better way to skin a cat? Or maybe both? And how would I compare it to the Paul Johnson offense? Jesse and I had a lengthy debate in the comments to my coach rankings on that topic. Speaking of that post, lists are cheap and easy, but they sure stimulate discussion.

Is there anything better than sticking the knife into the Mets? If the Phriggin' Phils would be so kind as to lose a game so we can have a faint dream of October, that would be most kind.

I had a hard time coming up with Mandel mockery last season. His thinking was clearer and more logical, which was bad news for one of my favorite features. If the last mailbag was any indication, this season is going to be full of juicy, low-hanging fruit.

I'll admit it: 6-0 leads against New York teams at home give me the willies. F***ing Wohlers and his fat slider. I may be small, but I never forget.

2 comments:

Jesse said...

W/R/T the Spread:

Haha, good to see you are still milling over our conversation. Since it's related, I'll continue it here. Maybe using the term derived wasn't the correct thing to do. I didn't mean to imply that RR designed his system directly from PJ's. My intended point was that, from what I remember from reading and following PJ for many many years, was that Meyer and I thought RR both picked up large portions from PJ's system indirectly from coaches in common. I specifically remember one article that traced Meyer's coaching links back to PJ at Ga Southern, but this was a few years ago when people were claiming that Meyer's sytem couldn't possibly work at a BSC school and that it was a talent-equalizer at Utah. Amazingly the same things people are saying about PJ's system now (and have been for years).

All of that really is irrelevant though. What is more important is that the current form of the "Spread" is simply the flexbone spread run from the shotgun position instead of under center. Both Meyer's and PJ's system are all about reading the defense to choose which "option" will provide the biggest return on each play. They are both designed to create vertical lanes (for either passing or running, depending on the talent available to you) by "spreading" the defense horizontally. Both systems are designed to take advantage of your most talented players. If you have a better OL and better RB's, then you run more, if you have great WR's and speed, then maybe you pass more. And, like most things, the better the input, the better the output.

So, my overall point was simply that the current spread systems are just a variation from the more traditional flexbone spread systems. Well, and also that I would think Johnson's success should put him at least above RR and maybe a few more on your list, but it's your list, so I'm cool with that.

One last thing, here's a link to some good info regarding PJ's system. This is simply one article, so feel free to wade through the site if you really want to learn more about his system.

http://thebirddog.wordpress.com/2007/07/30/five-myths-of-paul-johnsons-offense/

Jesse said...

W/R/T the Mets and Braves:

Am I the only that takes great pleasure in watching the Mets continually blow it as they spend more and more money each year? They make me laugh. Watching the Braves work them over this weekend was so nice, and slightly bittersweet. Sweet in that it's always good to see them beat the Mets and to see them somewhat resembling the Braves of old. Bitter in that I'm not sure they can keep it up long enough to overtake the Phillies by the end of the season for the East.