Saturday morning (very early) I am heading with my MPA class to the International City/County Management Association’s Annual Conference. I’m really excited about meeting lots of fellow KUCIMATs and learning lots. This is my first professional conference of any kind, so this will be a new experience for me.
The Annual Conference is in Richmond, Virginia this year. You can follow the happenings on the ICMA 2008 Annual Conference blog (run on WordPress!).
I should be finishing a paper right now, but this quote is priceless. The quote is buried in this post by the Ledger-Enquirer’s David Hale (his blog is amazing, by the way).
Hale discusses Jon Fabris, Georgia defensive ends coach (and special teams coach, I believe), who once coached in the PAC-10 conference. The significance here is that Georgia plays a PAC-10 team this weekend, Arizona State.
Hale asks Coach Fabris about the differences between the Southeastern Conference and the PAC-10, and Fabris talks about the fan base:
“It’s more of an entertainment thing, people like to go to the games to be entertained,” Fabris said. “Some places it’s like, we like football in the fall, we like basketball in the winter. Here, it’s like, we like fall football and winter recruiting and spring football and spring recruiting.”
I absolutely love that last sentence - “Here, it’s like, we like fall football and winter recruiting and spring football and spring recruiting.” Everything is about football, and it’s completely true.
And I should add that I mean no disrespect to my KU brethren, but in Kansas it seems football is something to pass the time during the basketball off-season (also see the last post on KU’s quarterback, who even the press don’t recognize on the street).
PS - I also love Coach Martinez (the defensive coordinator) and how he answered media questions after a bit of a breakdown in the defense last weekend:
Q: Richt mentioned that Rudy Carpenter’s completion percentage is higher when teams blitz.
A: That could be true.Q: What concerns presented themselves on South Carolina’s last two possessions? The majority of their yards came on their last two drives?
A: The last three series.Q: On the TV, I think Danielson was saying the safety was responsible as well.
A: Could have.Q: If you look at it, it looks like it might be Ramarcus (Brown) for people that don’t know what the safety’s responsibility is on that play.
A: It wasn’t him.Q: Will there be any personnel moves?
A: There could be.
Ha! Show the enemy nothing!
This is pretty funny:
Anyways, in the Lawrence-Journal World this week, a reporter by the name of Robert Riley took to the streets to ask Lawrencians about Kansas’ loss to South Florida. While wandering Lawrence’s main drag, Massachusetts St., he ran into a 5-foot-11 male student from Austin, Tx. who is a junior majoring in Economics. The student happened to be waiting for some friends outside a store, so he very kindly obliged to answer any of Riley’s questions.
As the LJ World’s Tom Keegan wrote in a column today, here is how the conversation went:
Riley: “Has the KU football team’s recent loss shaken your faith in the team?”
Student: “I sure hope not.”
Riley: “Why’s that?”
Student: “I’m on the team.”
Riley: “What position do you play?”
Student: “I’m the quarterback.”
I snapped this Saturday night off of my porch, just after the rain stopped. And after my crazy Friday evening spent avoiding a tornado at Cabela’s (that’s an experience).
Possibly to atone for their collosal failure, ESPN will have a feature on Georgia running back Knowshon Moreno on College GameDay this Saturday. This news comes straight from Georgia Coach Mark Richt’s new blog.
Richt says that the segment should appear between 10am and 11am Eastern. Hopefully someone will put this up on YouTube, since I won’t be able to watch it (MPA activity Saturday morning).
Speaking of Coach Richt’s new blog, it looks horrible. But it does have an RSS feed (RSS explained here) if you wish to subscribe in Google Reader or by email. It’s real easy to subscribe by email, so anyone can stay up-to-date on Coach Richt.
I think I’m going to volunteer to put Coach Richt’s site up on a WordPress install and maintain it. Blogging works so much better with WordPress.
This evening I updated all of my WordPress-running sites (including ChrisMLindsey.com) to WordPress version 2.6.2. Let me know if you see anything awry with the site. And if you run a site (or sites) on WordPress, makes sure to update. I can’t wait for WordPress 2.7!
I just received a little tip. The issue of ESPN not showing the Knowshow Moreno “Hurdle” clip made the Yahoo homepage front and center:
Click on the image or here for the full size. The link on the Yahoo homepage goes to this article by Rivals.
Admit it, it is an amazing clip. Knowshon Moreno hurdles a defender. And ESPN didn’t show the clip, and still hasn’t to my knowledge.
The problem is, ESPN should have shown the clip. One, it was of the #2 ranked Georgia Bulldogs on a day when the #1 (USC) didn’t play. Two, it was of someone that ESPN analysts have listed as a potential Heisman candidate. Three, it was awesome. It was the kind of clip that sports people drool over. It was the biggest play of the game.
Someone asked Mark Richt about this today (reported by David Hale):
Anyway, having said all of that, Richt was asked what he thought about Knowshon’s hurdle not making it onto “SportsCenter.” Here’s what he said:
“I think they missed the boat or didn’t do their homework or whatever. I don’t know how they couldn’t have noticed that. It’s going to make our highlights for a long time.”
At that point, an ESPN reporter chimed in to say that FOX controlled the broadcast for the game and did not send that highlight to ESPN as part of their satellite package.
Then, not surprisingly, a FOX reporter said ESPN could easily have gotten the highlight if they wanted it.
So Richt’s conclusion: “I guess they’re both under the bus, then.”
I’ve had it out for ESPN since the end of last season. They decided Georgia shouldn’t be in the title game and that Hawaii would dominate Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. Remember how that one turned out? I know that ESPN doesn’t decide who should be in the title game, but the analysts said it should be Ohio State against LSU, and that was all that people heard for a week. And the voters voted that way.
ESPN (and the media, in general) decides too much, especially in college football. It is time for a revolution.
Note: AJC has Richt’s comments as well.
Knowshon, you rock.
And ESPN didn’t show any of it. I watched a good bit of Sports Center last night, and they showed two plays from the game, neither of which included this hurdling. Here’s what David Hale of the Ledger-Enquirer had to say about this bias:
It’s hard to explain, however, how the No. 2 team in the country got a five second highlight that didn’t include one of the best players in the country hurdling a defender. Or running for a 50+ yard touchdown. Or either of his other two touchdowns.
Georgia football Coach Mark Richt and his wife Katharyn interviewed at their house recently:
And some other college football notes.
Even though Will Muschamp is bloody, he’s just copying Erk Russell (bloody here).
Jesse Palmer, you can’t talk football when you are wearing a pink shirt and your tie is way too short.
And last, why does College GameDay like Florida so much? Notice that GameDay has been at Williams College (once) as many times as they have been at Georgia.
PS - I’m tailgating for the KU game today.
