I'm excited to see all the new pieces in place, but probably most excited to see Evan Gattis in the near future. He's already a great story and I really think he'll make an impact down the road for us.
Remarkable that Ware is already up and on crutches. Hopefully, he can make a full recovery and find his way back onto the basketball court sometime in the future. The L'ville doctors don't believe its career ending but he sure has a long road ahead of him.
The only way that happens is if London has an awful season and is fired.
The ONLY way.
Or he takes a trip to somewhere like Ole Mi$$ and they lock him in a room with naked sorority girls and give him a blank check. That might change his mind.
The only thing I am concerned with in the lineup is contact. Plenty of pop. Hoping they can string together enough basehits and walks to go along with the long balls.
This.
The Braves could very well lead the league in not only runs and HR's, but they will probably lead by 100+ in strikeouts by the end of the season.
O'Brien is reporting that Teheran is likely being offered, which I hate to hear.
That's the rumor, but nobody knows for sure. Whatever we have to give up, I'm sure its gonna hurt because we're getting 3 years out of Upton. Seattle offered their #1, #3, and #6 prospect along with a young arm they have until 2018 so that'll probably be Arizona's benchmark for a potential deal.
Hokie07, I live Alabama and Auburn football on a daily basis. Chizik only started micro-managing when it was too late to do anything else. I am constantly talking to Auburn fans, both in person and on message boards, and this is the first time I have heard Chizik's name mentioned in reference to offensive play calling. I doubt seriously if that's true. I'm not saying he didn't make suggestions from time to time, but Loeffler ran the offense. However Chizik definitely took control of the defense halfway through the season. That's his forte. But offense has never been Chizik's strong suit. I will say Loeffler had the cards stacked against him from the beginning. Auburn tried to switch from a HUNH spread to a more conventional run-oriented smash mouth offense in 2012, and it failed miserably. He didn't have the players suited for that type offense. But make no mistake, Loeffler had full control of the offense the entire season.
That's cool and all, and I don't doubt you. Just posting what I read on a Rivals...
Here are a couple quotes verbatim:
Loeffler is a solid coach. Don't let our season worry you. Chizik was the problem, not Lefty. Word on our end is that Chizik (a former DC) had his own play call sheet for the Offense and would override alot of Loefflers play calls. Jeff Grimes is an awesome recruiter if you guys hire him. Tough to tell on his coaching ability as his first two years here our OL had started for who years prior to his arrival. We didn't have much success with the guys he recruited and coached up the last two years. We had 5 1000 yard rushers in 4 years as OL coach so he was doing something right.
The last game he was the OC was the Clemson game and he called a great game. By the third game, Chizik, a former DC, had the fricking offensive play call sheet with his fvcking little reading glasses on the sideline. I remember saying to the TV "WTF are you doing with the plays? Youre a former DC!"
Also, I believe Scarbinsky, a local reporter, wrote an article after GC was fired saying the OC used to receive his strategy for the week back from GC with red marks all over it. GC was a meddler that thought he was God's gift to football coaching.
With Kiehl Frazier, Clint Moseley and Jonathan Wallace taking turns at quarterback in 2012, Loeffler's offense at Auburn was 115th in the nation in yardage (305 per game) and 112th in scoring (18.7 per game). Tech just went from bad to worse.
Auburn was 3-9 last season, with a league low 0-8 record in the SEC.
Rumor at Auburn was that Chizik micro-managed, especially when he was on the hot seat. He overruled Loeffler all the time and would call the offensive plays the majority of the time, leaving Loeffler's plan in the dust. I didn't watch a lot of Auburn games, but some fans noted that Chiz always had the offensive play sheet in his hands on the sideline. Chizik is/was a DC, not an OC. That might explain it.
This info is actually from Auburn fans on another board I read. Odd that most of them stick up for Loeffler and everyone else on staff except for Chizik. Take that for what it's worth. I don't expect this guy to work miracles, but I am glad that someone took the initiative to at least give the offense a shot to get better in Blacksburg.
I still remember the incredible run by now-defunct Northfork. Even the "also ran" programs in Southern WV have produced a tremendous roster of athletes who have done well.
Yep, I can't believe I accidentally left them off my list. Northfork should be at the head of that list by a long shot.
My comments were merely about the difference in the quality of Southern WV teams and those in Southwestern Virginia. There are and have been good teams/programs from the NRV and eastward through Virginia on the hardwood including Martinsville, Radford, Hidden Valley, Cave Spring, etc. However, high school basketball in Virginia does not exist westward past Blacksburg.
This.
Not to mention that Southern WV has been always been King when it comes to basketball in the state of West Virginia.
Bluefield, Woodrow Wilson, Wyoming East (Mullens), Westside (Oceana), Tug Valley, Logan. That is basically West Virginia Basketball History right there.
I think you'll see Graham finishing with maybe a record slightly better than .500... I expect Floyd County to destroy them on the 27th, although I'd like to see them have a good showing. Hopefully I'm wrong and you're right, but after seeing them play a couple times, I believe them to be slow and unable to handle the press. Inside game is average at best. Upside is that they have some quality young players coming up.
I have the same opinion of VA basketball, however...not impressed overall.
Graham actually isn't bad for a Single-A team. They are a pretty quick team with decent fundamentals and will go as Colby Hill and Tony Hood go. Bluefield will make just about any team "slow" and Graham won't see that kind of overall ball pressure by any team on their schedule (aside from Round 2 with Bluefield) for the rest of the season.
Absolute worst case, Graham loses 7 or 8 games. Outside of Bluefield and Floyd, they should be able to beat Bland and Grayson. They should win their district. They won't advance any further though, but in their defense, neither will any other team in SWVA.
WVU fans will always hate VT / PITT. It's no different than your hate for UVA. It's a healthy rivalry. No reason why it's any bigger deal than why Steeler fans hate the Cowyboys or why UNC / Duke can't stand each other. VT fans can't stand WVU either. We can all be tame about it and have fun with it, but the "hatred" will always be there.
It's not a "healthy rivalry." Any time violence and excessive harassment is in the picture then it reaches far beyond the definition of "healthy." None of your examples of rivalries have gained the negative notoriety that VT/WVU did. Tech fans point fingers at WVU fans, WVU fans point fingers at VT fans, and it probably is about a 50/50 split in all honesty.
But I will say this: The fact that neither of your biggest rivals (Pitt and VT) want to play you guys if their hand isn't forced in conference match-ups doesn't really help your cause either. IMO, both schools are completely fine without each other and don't need any extra help with revenue, selling out stadiums, etc. Let it rest.
I like the RH bat, the power, and the speed. I just hope fans don't expect too much. Basically he's a .250 hitter with RH power who strikeouts a lot. He's not a savior. He's the compliment to Heyward and Freeman that Dan Uggla hasn't been able to be.
Agreed. A RH version of Heyward is a fair comparison. Neither really hit for a strong average, but both are good defensively and are legit threats for 30/30 seasons. If we can get that kind of production out of Upton then we'll be fine.
FWIW, I think Uggla finally wakes up this year and is productive. He can't get much worse.
Looks like BJ Upton will be playing in the ATL next season. Upton does not bring the same intangibles as Bourn did offensively or defensively, but he is not the step-down I expected.
I'm a huge fan of this deal. It should allow Prado to move back down to 3rd base.
1.) I'm alright with Upton. No way we could get Bourn without severely overpaying. Upton is younger and $3-4 million cheaper.
2.) He's definitely not Bourn, but Upton was only 2 HR's shy of a 30/30 season and he swings a good RH bat which is one of our biggest needs. Even a 25/30 season will make him worth his 5-year $75.25 million contract.
3.) I still think we can get a decent CF like Victorino for cheap. Rumor is that we are trading a SP to Minnesota for Denard Span. Depending on who it is, I wouldn't really mind it.
Just being a realist. I grew up a football fan in KY. I was a student at UK in the Fran Curci era. I saw 10-0-1 and 9-2 under probation for recruiting. I saw a good coach, Jerry Claiborne struggle to have 6-5 teams. I saw Hal Mumme decimate the program by buying, or trying to buy players. (Probation again.)
In the past we have talked on this board about realistic expectations for teams. Realistic expectations for UK are 6-6 or 7-5.
So you don't think that UK fans would rally around football if they got a James Franklin/Vandy-like turnaround?
I've told everyone..UT doesnt have the funds for Gruden or Petrino.
Funds for Gruden? Probably not.
Funds for Petrino? Absolutely. Word going around is that Petrino is going to accept the first coaching position that is offered to him no matter where it is.
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The 2013 Atlanta Braves Thread:
in College and Pro Sports
Posted
Well it all starts today...
I'm excited to see all the new pieces in place, but probably most excited to see Evan Gattis in the near future. He's already a great story and I really think he'll make an impact down the road for us.