SB Nation User Blog: Stuck in the Plains

From an unexpected Pen...pardon the introspection

Stuck in the Plains — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 03:38:53 -0000

I grew up in Appalachia and the Deep South...in the 80's and 90's. Not exactly hockey country. My family was dirt poor, and it wasn't until I was in high school that I even had this whole "cable" bit. At that time, ESPN (still a fledgling, but growing, network) was the only inspiration for hockey I had. UHA had a good club, but besides ESPN that was my only exposure to the sport. So, I played football, basketball, baseball, and adored hockey from afar.

My little brother and I fell in love with the late '80s Pens. Our first, and only team (ok, we did cheat in the '96 Cup). But, since that day to this, has been the Pens. Through the would-be dynasty of the early 90's, to the retirement of Super Mario, to the passing of the torch to Jagr, to the birth of the Caps rivalry, to the season-that-could-have-been in 99, to the historically bad early 00's teams...I have been there.

Tonight. I raised my cup, as the youngest captain ever raised his Cup. I raised my head high for (shudders) Bill Guerin's great work tonight, for (shudders) Gonchar's goal in Game 3, for Talbot's hard fought lasers that MADE our victory possible tonight.

This Finals was, much like my allegiance, improbable.

Talbot, Gonchar, Scuderi, Letang, Andre-Fluery, Orpik, Satan. If you asked any Pens fan "what are your chances of winning the Cup if those are your stars?", they would have said,"insert explitive"....like I did.

But, as improbable as my allegiance...firmly in football country (Roll Tide!!!)...the improbable was manifest, and heart beat talent 4 times out of 7.

As improbable as it was, to see me bang my fists on the table for seven nights in Omaha, it happened. To see me weep openly for a bereft franchise saved a decade ago by Sir Mario's return, and again five years ago by his benefactory...it happened!!!

And, all I can say, through the beer-foggery is "Go Pens!"

I am convinced that some people breathe methane

Stuck in the Plains — Wed, 27 May 2009 17:13:12 -0000

This is a Fan Prediction of the SEC from TSN:

I keep playing this drum until it actually comes true...This is the deepest SEC in History and to top it off, I have a feeling that the longest losing streaks in SEC History Kentucky's Florida and Tennessee Droughts and Vanderbilt's Florida Drought WILL BE HISTORY!
At least the Vandy Bowl Drought is History because the only other school ahead of Vandy is Temple.

SEC East
1 VANDERBILT
2 Kentucky
3 Tennessee
4 Florida
5 Georgia
6 South Carolina
SEC West
1 Alabama
2 Ole Miss
3 Mississippi State
4 Arkansas
5 LSU
6 Auburn

IowaHeel's SEC Title Prediction
Vanderbilt over Alabama 31-30

Ummm. Wow. Just Wow.

NCAA '09 anyone?

Stuck in the Plains — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:14:51 -0000

So '10 will be out soon (i'm sure), and we're in the dead midst of crappy offseason, so we should amuse ourselves. I've always wanted to do this online EA Sports thing, and would be glad to school any takers (look at my NCAA BB bracket for the fruition of such bold pronouncements!).

Anyway, anyone online and up for a game sometime? And, if so, how the $%^& do you do it? I've got a PS2 btw (yes, cheap, I know, but i'm riding over 120K of student loans!)

Now in Omaha

Stuck in the Plains — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 19:09:40 -0000

Whoot. Long trip; lotta' packing; new job with a Fortune 500 and a lot of adjustment, etc, but I am now in Omaha. Great city. Tons to do; good restaurants, great shopping, football-obsessed. I don't know if anyone is around these parts, but if so, shoot me an email or yell loudly in my general direction. Also, if anyone is coming up for the CWS let me know, and we'll grab drinks (obviously Alabama won't be in said CWS, but...).

Take care & Roll TIde!

Completely off-topic

Stuck in the Plains — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 23:22:50 -0000

But, has anyone really taken a look at the site stats for RBR lately? Jeez, off the charts:

2,000,000 + site visits
Almost 4 million page visits
3000 + visitors a day
6000 + page visits a day
about 200 visitors an hour
Has an estimated value of $482,271

Don't know why I wanted to share that, other than just to thank Nico, Todd, OTS (and now Kleph and Pete) for their hard work, as well as the contributions of others.

Contracts: the curious case of Cap'n Leach

Stuck in the Plains — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 13:41:29 -0000

ed.- bumped from the fanposts

Did anyone else see this?* Leach's contract renewal with TTU is one of the more bizarre stories of the young offseason. I swear, the TTU administration is trying to run off the Dread Pirate Leach. Here's the skinny:

As the weekend approached, both sides were closing in on a 5 year, $12.7 mill agreement. Getting to this point was a miracle of negotiation because Leach wanted no buyout clause in the agreement should he go elsewhere. This is a standard provision in some of his Big 12 rivals' contracts, including Mack Brown, Mark Mangino, Bob Stoops and Bruce Snyder. TTU wouldn't budge on not including a buyout (pretty smart since Leach is growing restless), nor would Leach bugde on signing one including a buyout. However, both sides got together and established a sliding scale of annually decreasing buyout amounts. Each side would pay the exact same amount, depending on whether he was fired and bought out, or quit and had to pay TTU. The problem with this arrangement (as Leach rightly points out), is that he is left to bear the burden of risk in this, while the university is relatively well-insulated from loss. Think of it like your social security taxes, with the buyout costing exactly 7.65%: If I make $106,800, I am taxed 7.65% on the full amount (Leach); if the university makes $5 million, they are taxed 7.65% up to the first $106,800. He was right, this was a bad deal for Leach, but nevertheless he was ready to sign on the dotted line.

Enter some uber-smug University counsel, who add these provisions to the agreement:

• That if he is fired, his contract is only guaranteed for 12 percent. Texas coach Mack Brown, Oklahoma's Bob Stoops, Kansas State's Bill Snyder and Kansas' Mark Mangino are all guaranteed for 100 percent, while the league average is 55 percent. Leach's current contract puts his guaranteed portion at 40 percent.

• Leach's current buyout, which is $500,000, would increase to $1.5 million (Brown, Stoops, Snyder and Mangino do not have buyouts.)

• Leach would have to receive permission from Texas Tech to speak with another school or risk owing Tech $1.5 million.

• All of the money from his personal speaking properties, whether he makes an appearance or authors a book on his life in Wyoming, would go to Tech.

Just a couple of observations. The first is that the guaranteed amount for Mark Mangino is 100%, league average (which included Chizik!!) was 55%. Tech is guaranteeing 12% of his contract. The second is a clause which is the result of the now-infamous B.C. kerfuffle with Jagodinski, where BC fired a coach just for looking around, and doing a little market comparison (a ploy in coaching as old as the contract). This clause essentially gives TTU the power to decide what school Leach can interview with without being fired; this, therefore, makes any meaningful job search/contract renegotion tactic a huge risk, and a risk borne by Leach (remember, he is only guaranteed at 12%).** The final one, and the one that gets my gall is the forfeiture clause: This 11th hour screw-job requirement states that irrespective of how Leach earns money, about his own life, and on his own time, it would nevertheless go to TTU. All "personal properties" would include, as the authors note, speaking engagements and book deals. I thought of a few more: symposia, honoria, potentially recordings (he's a huge music fan), coaching clinics, etc.

The long and short of this is that the University and Leach have rapidly developed bad blood, and, just like a divorce gone sour, the middlemen (negotiators, lawyers, etc) have also started to take this personally...the end result is that Leach will be somewhere next year, at a different university that appreciates him a bit more ($) and isn't quite so punitive in its efforts to retain him. Business is business, and in Leach's case, has gotten personal...to the detriment of that team, the university and Leach himself.

* I know this isn't about Alabama, but it involves Leach, who lost to Ole Miss, who we beat, yet who beat Florida, who beat us, so it's tangential. Not to mention, Leach was on Auburn's shortlist,but they hired Chizik, who was at Iowa State who was a team we beat, and one that Leach regularly beat...so, work with me: It's the off-season.

** This isn't quite as bad as it seems: Many professions include a non-competition clause in their contracts; they are pretty standard in corporate contracts, law and medicine. As an interesting side project, if anyone has a contract like this, and is not those three professions, shoot me an email. The problem with this clause isn't that it bars future employment, it's that it decides who Leach could try to find a job with, be it a conference foe or Orchard Park High School. It gives the university a carte blanche veto over any position, anywhere (yes, Leach would have a pretty good lawsuit, I'd guess).

Kiffykins: The gift that keeps giving

Stuck in the Plains — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 22:57:02 -0000

From the good folks over at Third Saturday in Blogtober, it appears that UT's boy is in trouble again, for another recruiting infraction.

The reaction is pretty funny:

Kiffin has an obligation to know the rules, and he even bragged to Spurrier about only missing one question on his recruiting test. (&$@!!!) Then he comes out and accuses Urban Meyer of a mythical recruiting violation while breaking the SEC code of ethics in the process, gets two secondary violations for kids on campus, and now this? I mean, I’ve been behind Lane from the beginning, but he’s really making it hard to defend him.

Ghost and I agree that we want him to just be quiet and coach football. PLEASE QUIT TALKING, CLK. Even then, is that enough? Is the guy just going to pop off and say something stupid when the season starts? He can’t exactly just keep his mouth shut forever, so I don’t know that this is a problem that will go away...So, Coach Kiffin, get your act together and get a clue. We’ve put our faith in you, and you need to start showing us that you deserve it.

LSU Loses Recruiting Coordinator...

Stuck in the Plains — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 12:11:14 -0000

I have absolutely no idea what prompted this, but LSU Asst Josh Henderson has abruptly left for Mizzou of all places. According to SI, at LSU Henderson was the TE's coach, and was the recruiting coordinator. At Mizzou, he will be assistant offensive line coach. What's more, he held the recruiting coordinator position in Baton Rouge since 2005.

Does anyone have any scurillous speculation? I'e got my own entirely unsubstantiated theory that involves Randle, Benton and pulled schollies. Because, face it, how are you going to try to get your guys into HS locker rooms, with how that sorry affair turned out? How do you sell your head guy, and his subordinates, as trustworth?

Again, that is is entirely unsubstantiated, and is just me imposing ethics and honor on the LSU coaching staff from without.

Thinking about starting a Midwest/Great Plains Booster Club

Stuck in the Plains — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:44:23 -0000

As it stands now, there are no Alumni or Booster Clubs in Iowa, North or South Dakota, or even (surprisingly) Minneapolis/St. Paul. There is one in Kansas City and in Omaha, but the Nebraska Chapter isn't active. So that's about it.

Given the lack of organizations (esp in Iowa and Minn.) I was thinking about cranking one up; maybe alternate gamedays, etc between the Twin Cities/Omaha/Des Moines?

I'm not sure how many folks are out this way (I know one of our members from SD is currently in Iraq), or how many people would be interested in doing so, but if you (or loved ones similarly exiled in the flyover) would be interested, please shoot me an email. I'll probably establish it as a Booster Club, because as we know not every die hard is an alum (and vice-versa!). Thanks guys.

Now, for no particular reason, a kitten picture:

via icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com

Saban's NSD Press Conference

Stuck in the Plains — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:33:18 -0000

Saban's NSD Press Conference

For some reason this won't embed. Via