SB Nation User Blog: DC Trojan

Winston Justice breaks it down for you

DC Trojan — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:33:44 -0000

I'm indebted for California Golden Blogs' Shadwhand for this gem on Igglesblog:

Intrepid readers may have caught the bit in Winston Justice's weekly column in the Daily News about how the Eagles offensive linemen prepare for each week's opponent. Apparently, as part of that preparation, each of the linemen has to give a presentation to the rest of the group:

Part of our daily schedule includes 4 hours of meetings with position coach, Juan Castillo. Each day, we go over our practice film, game film and our opponent's defensive game film. Even in football you don't get away from studying and making presentations. Every week, coach Castillo has each lineman stand-up and give a presentation on the man they are up against on Sunday.

Sounds intriguing, right? Well, in the wake of that revelation, an unnamed source inside the organization leaked one of these presentations to IgglesBlog.

To save you the hassle of following links and the all-too familiar experience (for me anyway) of opening Powerpoint, the title slide is below, and the rest are after the jump.

UPDATE III (Weis apologizes): Charlie Weis takes the high road on the way out of town

DC Trojan — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 06:24:59 -0000

I'm not a huge fan of the kinds of scrum that attend accusations of not otherwise illegal, off-field shenanigans for sporting figures. But since this is going to be approximately everywhere on the internet, we might as well address it here as well.

Rivals / Yahoo Sports published the first part of an interview between writers for Irishillustrated.com and Charlie Weis now that he's been fired as Notre Dame's head coach. In the course of some back and forth about his presentation in the media and perceptions about him in the community, Weis came out with the following:

Q: Is it frustrating to you Pete Carroll, for example, portrayed in one way…
CW: Let me ask you this question: You guys know about things that go on in different places. Was I living with a grad student in Malibu, or was I living with my wife in my house? You could bet that if I were living with a grad student here in South Bend, it would be national news. He’s doing it in Malibu and it’s not national news. What’s the difference? I don’t understand. Why is it okay for one guy to do things like that, but for me, I’m scrutinized when I swear. I’m sorry for swearing; absolve my sins.

I don't really know what to make of this. I really don't.

Let's start with Pete Carroll, because I have less to say about him: if this were true, that would be really disappointing. I don't feel the need to look at Carroll like he's a role model, and his marriage is fundamentally the business of him and his wife. But he's a prominent representative - really, the most prominent representative - of the university, as well as the figurehead of a lot of charitable work. For the good of those two things that could otherwise be damaged by a public backlash, I hope that this accusation is unfounded. No doubt we'll find out.

As for Charlie Weis... this is just petty. The sight of a man attempting to demonstrate his probity by taking a swipe at a competitor is sad, really.

Perhaps the internal justification for Weis was that he was the recipient of absurd levels of abuse relative to his actual job failings? (Absolutely it was absurd). Was he insulted unfairly? (Yes, he certainly was.) Was it out of line to criticize his family as a proxy for him? (Hell yes, people should be ashamed of themselves.)

I'll go further: Charlie Weis did a lot of good things while he was at Notre Dame. He showed kindness to families (such as that opening play against Washington a couple of seasons ago), he does a lot of charity work, and his players plainly have a lot of respect for him.Anyone who could go into SC's locker room after what turned out to be his signature moral victory in 2005 is someone who can demonstrate praiseworthy behavior.

Why then so much disrespect for Weis in the press and the broader community? I suspect because he couldn't conceal his underlying belief that he was smarter than his coaching peers, and because he acted like a self-righteous ass towards people outside the program. It's no surprise then that he didn't get personal respect from people who might have had respect for him as a professional. All behavior counts, at some level. It might count more if you're not "fun," but that's life.

After five years of I-get-no-respect treatment (so far as Weis is concerned), Weis appears to have undertaken some kind of emotional catharsis by making a snide allegation about one peer who thwarted him every time. Weis also goes in the article about his friendship with Bill Belichik, a man not without accusations of infidelity in recent years. I assume that the search for Weis applying his strict moral standard in public to Belichik would be a fruitless one.

So this swipe at Carroll is understandable perhaps, but it's the action of a small man, and smacks of hypocrisy. If the relevant criteria for Weis to criticize infidelity are win / loss records and personal friendship, it doesn't really do a lot other than reinforce the negative opinions that other people had of you, no matter how much you claim they are false.

- - -

UPDATE I (Paragon) 7:00am EST:

Here is a little more from CFT...(It would appear that some have some journalistic standards...)

Since he's in the market for a new job, maybe Charlie Weis should work here at CFT's "Latest News & Rumors."

He certainly has some juicy stuff on his mind.

Apparently too juicy, as censors seem to be hard at work.

On Saturday, the former Notre Dame head coach sat down with five reporters for his first interview since being fired on Nov. 30.

Tim Prister of IrishIllustrated.com was one of the writers on hand and reported more than others, including what appears to clearly be a vicious personal attack aimed at USC head coach Pete Carroll, whom Weis went winless against in five meetings.

Toward the end of meandering discussion about how Weis is perceived and who he feels he really is, a follow-up question brought up Carroll's name.

Weis seemingly cut off the question and had a few of his own when he said:

"Let me ask you this question: You guys know about things that go on in different places. Was I living with a grad student in Malibu, or was I living with my wife in my house? You could bet that if I were living with a grad student here in South Bend, it would be national news. He's doing it in Malibu and it's not national news. What's the difference? I don't understand. Why is it okay for one guy to do things like that, but for me, I'm scrutinized when I swear. I'm sorry for swearing; absolve my sins."

As of 2:55 a.m. ET, Prister's Weis Q&A, including the segment above is still posted at Rivals.com (pictured below).
However, the TMZ-esque talk is apparently too hot for IrishIllustrated.com. The quotes about Carroll are not currently included in what we assume was the original version of Prister's report.
We've got a feeling that this is far from over. Stay tuned.

So, Weis said it in front of five journalists and the only one who ran with it was Irish Illustrated? Figures..

Weis is horrible person for bring this up.

This is far from over...

- - -

UPDATE II (Paragon) 8:20am EST:

Pete Carroll denies the allegation...

USC Coach Pete Carroll said statements about him that were attributed to former Notre Dame Coach Charlie Weis on an Internet site were “untrue” and “irresponsible.”

[...]

Carroll said in a telephone interview that he was apprised of the report by Tim Tessalone, USC’s sports information director.

“It’s untrue, it’s irresponsible and it’s incredible he’d be talking about me like that,” Carroll said of Weis.

Weis is such a clown!

- - -

UPDATE III (Paragon) 1:40pm EST:

Weis claims the quotes were "taken out of context"...

Former Notre Dame Coach Charlie Weis said today that comments he made about USC Coach Pete Carroll in an interview published by an Internet website were taken “totally out of context.”

[...]

Early this morning, Weis contacted The Times and said he was having a “totally subjective” conversation with several reporters that was an aside to the formal interview. During that conversation, Weis said, he was speaking about Internet rumors and how they adversely affect the lives of coaches and their families.

“In no way was I trying to take a shot at Pete,” Weis said in a phone message. “What we were talking about was how the rumor mill can affect people’s lives. When I was asked a specific question like that, I responded like, 'This is the same crap that I’m talking about.' You start saying things like this and one thing, this guy does this and I do that and all of a sudden the Internet takes it all over the place.

"So, in no way was I trying to take a shot at Pete. I feel if I offended Pete, I will run Pete down and apologize. ... In no way do I have any idea what’s going on in anyone’s life other than the fact that rumors on the Internet can affect coaches' lives in a very, very negative fashion.”

Later, in a telephone interview, Weis said, “In no way would I be disrespectful to that guy,” and “All I know is that he kicked the crap out of me five times.”

Weis said he had left a message for Carroll.

Prister declined to comment.

Out of context or not Weis should know better...especially with a shill like Pritser. Right, the guy who writes for a Notre Dame skewed fan site is going to be objective over something like that.

Maybe he was trying to use or make up some sort of parallel but the last thing you should do is use your biggest rivals coach as that example. I am sure that ND fans were eating this up. Weis' family has always been treated fairly since he was at ND so I am very surprised that he would even go down this road...I mean why take the chance.

More will come out...just wait.

Following Arash Markazi on Twitter

DC Trojan — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:56:18 -0000

In the immediate aftermath of the UCLA game I saw some comments about the final TD from Arash Markazi on Twitter and decided to follow him.

Last night, he posted this:

I decided to be a jackass and replied:

Much to my surprise, I got a response:

And, to be honest, I felt bad - I had assumed that Markazi was still having a go at USC, and he wasn't... so I apologized:

I didn't give Mr Arkazi any further thought until I saw a tweet from him about a Dan Shanoff blog post about the new ESPN LA, which included this nugget from Shanoff:

If ESPN really wanted to go big in LA -- really capture the glitz and the scene and the convergence of sports and Hollywood -- I'd go poach Arash Markazi from SI.com.

That seemed an odd thing to post for Mr Markazi, which might explain why the tweet is no longer there (but see lower left corner of the image):

Still, I can hardly blame Markazi - if I'd been plugging away for Sports Illustrated online, I'd be pretty interested in a job with ESPN. Hell, I can only dream of getting paid to write. But I bet that he didn't think that at the time, but instead skimmed the article, tweeted the link, and then realized from a PR standpoint what he'd done.

Happens to the best of us.

US gets decent draw for South Africa 2010

DC Trojan — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:33:58 -0000

The US got a decent draw today for the World Cup: they play England, Algeria, and Slovenia, which means they've got a pretty good chance of getting out of the initial group play round, unlike 2006.

Full groups list after the jump:

A South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France

B Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece

C England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia

D Germany, Australia, Ghana, Serbia

E Netherlands, Japan, Cameroon, Denmark

F Italy, New Zealand, Paraguay, Slovakia

G Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal

H Spain, Honduras, Chile, Switzerland

Congratulations to the Oregon Ducks!

DC Trojan — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 06:29:14 -0000

That was an interesting game, and I don't mean that in the sense of "damning by faint praise." The speed with which Oregon can mix up the play-calling on offense and get a quick score, and the gradual build on defense, really made for an interesting game against an Oregon State team that was motivated but couldn't get touchdowns when they appeared to have Oregon on the ropes.

I was struck at the number of times that the commentators remarked on Oregon not getting to Canfield, because it looked to me like the Oregon defense was getting progressively closer... until they cracked it with excellent timing towards the end of the game. Canfield never saw them coming on the first sack.

This has the potential to be a heck of a Rose Bowl between Oregon and Ohio State. The sheer breadth of the offense for Oregon, and the familiarity of playing against the spread should weigh in Oregon's favor. They're also tougher than a Big 10 team will give them credit for - I was struck tonight at the number of Oregon State players who were just getting beaten up, and they're no shrinking blossoms.

I'll be tuned in on New Year's Day to see the madness unfold!

Color me exasperated

DC Trojan — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:27:08 -0000

I'm not going to lie for a second here: I was laughing when Williams shot into the endzone Saturday night. But even at the time it looked like a jackass call, and I doubt it will prove to be worth anything except for tweaking Neuheisel. And in the grand scheme of things, it is symptomatic of a season that has left me more exasperated than anything else with this program.

Put it another way, what did we get out of that touchdown? It didn't change the poor play on offense, where until the last drive the big gains looked like they came from Damian Williams and "USC bounce" on punts. It didn't change the fact that the defense was showing signs of life but racking up penalties like they were 50% off and going fast. Or, indeed, that the defense was killing the Bruins on trick plays but getting bamboozled by the basics.

What it did achieve was giving the players a chance to jump around on the sideline like they had just won the Rose Bowl in a thrilling 35 point come-from-behind effort... as opposed to having snuck in a quick dick-punch to a team they'd already consigned to a .500 record and the possibility of being bowl-eligible but eventually bowl-less.

It didn't exactly bolster any moral high ground about Harbaugh going for two, either. (At least Carroll had said, repeatedly, after the Stanford game that Stanford was free to do what they wanted and it was on SC to stop them.)

Generally speaking I try to not be a finger-wagging moralist about college football. As long as the team is staying out of trouble off the field, that's enough for me in the world of pretense and hypocrisy of college football. However, if you're going to run a team on phrases like "always compete" and "no excuses," then it seems to me that you should be able to recognize when you've just put an unnecessary touchdown on a mediocre team, and that maybe a bunch of woofing and taunting just shows that you're not that good either. Time was, just leaving the starters in the game was enough to run up the score - and in a socially sanctioned fashion.

Again, don't get me wrong: if Neuheisel wanted to extend the game, then the Bruins probably should have been paying more attention on defense. And it was the Bruins who lost their shit and charged across the field, so they get no sympathy points for getting their feelings hurt. This isn't really about the end of the game - it's a question of whether anyone even recognizes that the team fixed one problem for one game.

It didn't seem like this minor detail had escaped anyone's notice ~~last~~ Saturday night who was watching the game and posting here, nor of friends of mine who were watching the game offline. I am exasperated about having to ask if any of the game's participants in Cardinal and Gold grasped that same thing, and of seeing them substitute piddly shit for actual progress.

I'm in for next week against Arizona, but I'm damned if I can work out what this team is likely to do or even is capable of doing.

ESPN Video about Jake Olsen

DC Trojan — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:01:34 -0000

ESPN Video about Jake Olsen

Jake Olsen is a 12 year old fan of the Trojans who just lost his eyesight after years of fighting cancer. He's been visiting with the team all season, but tonight will be the first game since the operation in which his eye had to be removed.

I can't find a way to put this without sounding trite: this kid shows the team and anyone else who cares to listen what courage looks like. I sincerely hope that the team means what they say about taking inspiration from him and go out and beat the Bruins.

Fight On Jake!

Change of Pace: USC Rushing Yards & Featured Backs, 2001 - 2009

DC Trojan — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:07:50 -0000

I don't know about you, dear readers, but I've had just about as much as I care to read about epochal shifts, historic beatdowns, and the like.

Shit, it's so bad Plaschke almost wrote a couple of paragraphs with more than two sentences yesterday. That's baaaaaaaaaaaad.

So. As we've been hashing over the offensive lacunae of this season, there's been some speculation that part of the problem is the "Running Back by Committee" approach to life. I decided to put together the stats for 2001 - 2009 (to date), to see if they told us anything. The graph is after the jump...

The challenge was trying to figure out how to display this - so what I did was to pick the backs per a given year that had combined to gain roughly around 60% of the net positive rushing yards and break out their contribution relative to the rest of the team. Generally that means we're specifying 2 - 3 backs per season:

(click to see this in a larger size)

What I took away from this was the following:

It's almost pointless to draw conclusions because 2004 and more so 2005 are such outlier seasons
Having more than two featured backs isn't an issue if you're breaking in new backs
The real issue season-to-season is continuity - generally when you see a back run for another season, with the exception of LenDale White taking one for Reggie Bush's Heisman chances, he increases his yardage
However, the last several seasons don't show a lot of continuity except for Joe McKnight
The last couple of years do show an emphasis on two or three backs, but not consistently the same ones were producing from year to year
Consequently, year to year the lack of continuity is not working for the team for overall production number, whereas the distributions don't bear out a view at the season-level of personnel rotation making that big a difference beyond prior years
While that doesn't mean that running back by committee is actually working in-game, that's a different kettle of fish to prepare and represent.

Thoughts and reactions?

What happened: Stanford hung 55 points on the Trojans, one-upping the 47 Oregon scored two weeks...

DC Trojan — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:13:08 -0000

What happened: Stanford hung 55 points on the Trojans, one-upping the 47 Oregon scored two weeks ago in Eugene. "To be a senior and leave a legacy like this," Trojans safety Taylor Mays told reporters in Los Angeles, "it's sickening."
What's next? Put out the APB for Southern Cal's defensive prowess and swagger? Actually, a deep breath will do the trick. USC didn't start a single senior in its front seven; let's trust Pete Carroll to have that group better in 2010.

Dave Curtis of the Sporting News does his best to be nice to USC after yesterday's pummeling.

Here's your bright spot for the day...

DC Trojan — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:44:49 -0000

Bumped - This is far more important than any win or loss ...P

From an AP Wire story:

Although Stafon Johnson only spoke seven words, they were loaded with meaning and hope. Repeating the last words spoken to him by his late grandfather, the Southern California tailback said, "God has a plan. Run, Stafon, run."

Johnson already can speak in a soft, raspy voice less than three months after a weight bar crushed his throat in a potentially fatal weight room accident. He briefly demonstrated his remarkable recovery Saturday before the Trojans' game against Stanford.

"Just the whisper, it was a big thing," said Kim Mallory, Johnson's mother. "I wasn't expecting any type of sound for a while. It's overwhelming."

Johnson also has regained the ability to swallow and eat solid food, an improbably quick achievement after several operations on his neck, according to the doctors who have supervised his recovery since the late-September accident in the USC weight room.

Johnson was ambivalent about playing again, and that's more than fair enough... but I'm delighted that he's recovering so quickly.