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Posts of the Week
Each week, we will highlight a few entertaining
and/or informative posts from the previous week. Please keep in
mind that it is hard to keep track/prioritize all posts so we
would welcome input from all Booties. You can make a "Bootie
Selection" post as a response to any post that you deem
worthy or you can email a link (to the nominated post) to me at lars@thebootleg.com.
Below are the posts that made this week's list:
Poster: Gerald McGowin
Subject: All Darrin, all the time
Date: 9/24/01
1951 is a little far back even for me.
I would always say some play by Darrin. The one in the Big game
at Berkeley in the flat on the left side going south when he
caught that ball and blew past the bears who ran into each other
and fell down in a heap, mentioned by others, was great.
But I guess my favorite was in the Bluebonnet bowl. They played
the game on New Year's Eve and we had a large group over to our
house to watch it. Georgia destroyed us in the first half, 20-0
if I recall. We had dinner planned for halftime and it was glum.
Then early in the third quarter we threw a pass to Darrin over
the middle only about 3-4 yards past the line of scrimmage. All
of the Georgia DBs were much further downfield and had a shot at
him. He just turned it on and out ran each of them to ignite us
to victory. Seems like I remember a Margerum touchdown and Gordy
Ceresigno (sp) and Robby Chapman making big plays. We won 24-23,
I think.
For those of you who liked the Elway-Margerum pass against SC,
there was an even longer one in Eugene to Darrin. John ran around
forever and Darrin was standing in the endzone with no one closer
than 20 yards from him.
I also fondly recall a run he made around right end late in the
game at Stanford against UCLA for a TD where he went 1 on 1 in
turn with the outside backer, the DB and the safety and none of
them laid a hand on him. Great punt return for a td against San
Jose, too.
Plunkett to Vataha for 94 yards against Wazzoo to set the all
time NCAA record for total offense was sweet. The fake punt in
the Rose Bowl to beat Michigan was another favorite. Greg Sampson
running down their big back from behind, grabbing him by the
shoulder pads with one hand and throwing him down was another
highlight of that game.
Lynch and the Bus was the best defensive play in the last 25
years.
Poster: irishguru
Subject: Re: nice to see at least one former player
Date: 9/25/01
You bet, I can't stand $C students and alumni for the most
part. I can think of about 3 or 4 that I've met that I actually
like. Their players are a bunch of hired guns that for the most
part don't belong in college. I don't hate them, I feel sorry for
them for the most part outside of your occasional Tony Boselli,
Jeremy Hogue or John Allred, who are all really good guys. Sadly,
Troy is in many ways the epitome of the exploitation of college
athletes. Their aging and arrogant alumni who long for the glory
of yesteryear keep bringing in athletes who have no academic
credentials and criminal records to try and restore the winning
tradition of days gone by. No scruples, no taste, no regard for
how poorly these players reflect on their school. Yet despite
bending and breaking the rules and stooping to such low levels
they still haven't won anything significant in eons. The fact
that Stanford's alumni base and university administration is so
steadfast in it's desire to win both in the classroom and on the
field while maintaining a high level of admissions standards is
quite admirable. It's what college sports is supposed to be all
about; academic achievement and athletic excellence.
I don't think any of us live in a dream world, we know that there
are quite a few Stanford athletes who don't have the same high
test scores as their peers, but at the same time they bring a
more well-rounded resume to the table. Admissions does a great
job of making sure that they belong at Stanford and that they can
do well. 95% of the time they are right on the money. At $C,
you've got a lot of athletes who don't even belong at junior
college, let alone a major university that is trying to convince
everyone that it's on the same academic level as Stanford is....
So for their students and alumni to sit there so arrogantly and
play that stupid song over and over again, giving the victory
sign and adhere to their ridiculous traditions, clinging to the
notion of their national championship years, while at the same
time having the audacity to now attempt to put themselves in our
league academically, it really turns my stomach. Oh well, I'll
feel much better after we make it 3 in a row at around 6:30 PST
Saturday.
Poster: ME-97
Subject: Randoms on U$C/Oregon
Date: 9/26/01
I taped the game and had the chance to watch it on Monday.
Several items jumped out at me, some of which have been discussed
in part here.
* $C's defensive speed is real, and it should change the way we
run the ball on Saturday. Relative to the ASU game, I expect more
carries for KC, and more success. BA is fast, and should be
underestimated, but I just don't see him beating $C's defenders
outside as easily as he did against ASU. Still, our OL shouldn't
have terrible problems opening holes for KC or BA, and we could
break some good/big runs between the tackles.
* I don't believe that $C's coverage is as threatening as was
relayed by LW from the Oregon posters. UO's receivers and TEs
(namely Peele) got open plenty. Harrington just didn't beat them.
* Speaking of Peele, I'm more worried about him than Maurice
Morris for when we go to Eugene.
* As for $C's running game, McCullough is having major problems
getting or finding holes. This bellies two facts: his OL has
serious problems, and he may truly be a sprinter playing football
(not a "football player who can fly" as he was quoted
by Fox Sports). He showed little to nothing in finding openings
or a knack to reverse field. This doesn't negate is gamebreaking
potential, as was seen on his TD reception, but it tells me that
the number of those opportunities should be very few.
* $C climbed back from the dead on two plays - both for TDs. One
(to KK) was as bad a case of blown coverage as you can find in
football, and could have been run the distance by John Robinson.
The other was a dump-off to McCullough that he broke long when
Oregon tacklers miffed and missed badly. I watched those replays
several times and firmly believe Oregon gave those touchdowns up
- $C burned nobody. To SM's credit, he couldn't be caught after
he got through the defense, and that is where he's dangerous...
but he should never have gotten there.
* The one offensive play that night by $C that impressed me was
the bomb down the left sideline to KK in the 4th quarter go-ahead
drive. That was beautiful. The *can* do that to us, and the throw
and catch was practically indefensible. However, this play is an
incredible rarity in Chow's offense to date this season, while
Koettner has it as a staple in his gambling offense. I'm not
judging which one will win games, but there is a clear
distinction between what the two teams are doing with their
athletes.
* Carson Palmer makes a lot of bad decisions. This could very
likely play out as the real "X factor" in deciding this
coming Saturday's outcome.
* Oregon, for all their hype and hoopla, really earned most of
their field position on special teams. They must have approached
300 yards on returns in that game, though some got called back on
penalties. That sends two messages to me: 1) Stanford is looking
at a team where we might have a special teams advantage where we
can really hurt them. 2) Oregon and Harrington's success was
standing on the shoulders of the special teams Saturday night.
Hence they won with some very shoddy numbers from Joey.
* Speaking of Harrington, I heard about his great comeback drive
before I watched the tape, and had that focus as I watched the
4th quarter. But before I got to that final minute of the game, I
was really struck by his blown performances prior. He twice had
his team with starting field position *in $C territory* in that
quarter, and got nothing. The first time, he actually lost 7
yards on a 3-and-out. The second time, he advanced a little but
was left with a missed FG. Neither time did he do a damned thing
with veritable gifts handed to him. For him to make that final
drive against a baby-soft prevent D was far less impressive in
that context.
* Anyone notice that Belotti changed back and forth with his
kickers? Curious.
ME-97
ps: On KC's touchdown run Saturday, did anyone notice the
blocking? He took a hit at the goal line and went in, but he had
space completely cleared for him on the right side. I was
seriously impressed. Quaccia, Schindler and Kwame all got great
pushes, and Nacho and Wright both stuffed their men. Casey laid a
great block outside that neutralized one of the DBs. Textbook
stuff, from what I saw. And blockers never get enough damned
credit for an excellent job like that.
Poster: Emeritus
Subject: A harbinger of victory
Date: 9/26/01
I can keep quiet no longer, fellow Cardinalmaniacs! With the
USC game looming, it must be made known that history may be on
our side this weekend in Los Angeles!
Sometime about the middle of the 4th Century A.D., one Quintus
Smyrnaeus ("Quintas of Smyrna") wrote "The Fall of
Troy" in Greek. The Cardinal's red-hot "Pigskin
Playmaker" Luke Powell attended "Smyrna" High
School and hails from the town of "Smyrna", TN.
Coincidence................ or fate?
The way I read it, Troy is destined to fall!
Ok, so since you are now warmed up for a little history of Asia
Minor..... so, this dude Priam, the King of Troy at the time, was
the son of Laomedon and brother to both Tithonus and Hesione. The
booze-swilling, maroon and gold polyester pants-wearing old
geezer, who would eventually be butchered by Neoptolemus or offed
by Achilles or something like that, was also the father of a
"shepard prince" named Paris. "Paris" was
your classic tennis sweater-wearing USC pretty boy. His unusual
dual profession was not surprising since as we all know, most SC
guys tend to get involved with sheep at an early age. As fate
would have it, it was this very same arrogant, good-looking
Paris, a super rich guy's son who hadn't accomplished a whole lot
on his own (in other words, a typical SC frat boy), who started
the whole Trojan war fracas by stealing Menelaus' scrumptious
song girl Helen (also a typical slimy SC move). Of course all
this stuff did give Homer and Virgil some pretty good writing
material. [Note: "Priam" was also the name of a high
profile failure in the computer industry, another Trojan effort
gone bad].
Jumping ahead to the famous Trojan Horse deal since I know
Bootboarders don't have all day to surf in today's
economy.....So, at first the confident, but cautious Trojans were
not sure whether to bring the famous "giant horse"
inside the walls of Troy. The huge horse was said to be an
offering to the goddess Minerva. However, they eventually dragged
it inside because the prophet "Calchas" had told them
that if the Trojans took possession of it, they would assuredly
triumph over the Greeks. Game over. Enough said.
Moral of the story? Never, ever, ever trust anyone with a name
like "Cal-chas", for Fasani's sake!
Troy: beware of Cardinal(s) bearing gifts!
Go Cardinal!