SB Nation User Blog: sfatoo

Football team gains over 250lbs of muscle in the summer

sfatoo — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 04:15:04 -0000

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

Here's an interesting post from the WWL. It looks like we need to give our Athletic Performance Coach Mike Linn a big thumbs up for his summer work with the team.

Here are some highlights:

Training time: 12 weeks
"Team": 76 returning players

Team Fat Mass Lost: -111.2 lb
Team Muscle Mass Gained: +254.2 lb
Team Power Clean: +1400 lb
Team Back Squat: +1925 lb
Team Bench Press: +985 lb
Team Vertical jump: +101.5"
Team broad jump: +142.5"
Team Med. Ball power toss: +1087"
Team Pro Agility: -4.86 sec

That's an average of 1.5 lbs lost and 3.3 lbs of muscle gained. With the short summer (just 12 weeks!) and the players summer school academic pressures (in addition to the temptation of lots of free beer), that's pretty impressive.

DE Korey Bosworth: Fat mass - 17 lb, Muscle Mass +22 lb, Broad jump + 8"
....
LB Kyle Bosworth: Fat Mass - 13 lb, Muscle Mass + 15 lb, Power ball toss +42"

Both of the Bosworths lost a total of 30 lbs of fat (the best and second best of the offseason). I'm loving this work ethic we're seeing out of them.

OT Mike Harris: Power Clean +40 lb, Back Squat +70, Vertical jump +6.5", Broad Jump +8", Pro Agility -0.11 sec
C Micah Reed: Fat Mass - 8 lb, Muscle Mass +6 lb, Bench Press +30 lb
OG Nick Ekbatani: Power Clean +30 lb, Back Squat +75 lb, Vertical Jump +2.5"

Nice to see our much-maligned OL bulking up and putting on some muscle.

TB Kahlil Bell: Fat Mass - 8 lb, Muscle Mass + 10 lb, Power clean +40 lb, Back Squat +100 lb, Bench Press + 30 lb, Vertical Jump +3.5"

I think after the start Bell had last year, and the hard work he's put in during the offseason, he's going to have a great season for us.

You can find the full post with a few other players here.

Let's hope all this work off the field pays off in the coming season. I can't wait! Go Bruins!

Inside College Sports' Biggest Money Machine

sfatoo — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 17:49:12 -0000

Bumped from the diaries. GO BRUINS. -N

While reading the journal this morning, I caught an article about Ohio State Athletics. While this normally doesn't have too much to do with UCLA, I felt that there were a few points in this article that hit very close to home, particular in regards to our "situation" with our head football coach. Guys, I know WSJ usually is a per-pay site, but I believe for a week all articles are free to the public, so I'm blockquoting a few points from the article from now. Obviously, feel free to delete if this causes any issues

At $109,382,222 for the current year, Ohio State's athletic budget is the largest in the nation and the biggest in the history of college sports. It allows the school to field 36 varsity teams in everything from baseball and soccer to riflery and synchronized swimming. The school spends about $110,000 on each of its 980 athletes, which is triple the amount the university spends per undergraduate on education.

The budget for this academic year allots $65,000 in private jet time, or roughly 11 hours, to men's basketball coach Thad Matta for recruiting trips over 200 miles -- and a further 15 hours of jet time for the coach's personal travel. A just-completed $19.5 million renovation of the football team's practice facility, funded with a large donation from Limited Brands Chief Executive Leslie Wexner, added a players-only entrance, a lounge that has six flat-panel TVs, three videogame systems and a juice bar. "There's always a race to get up there after practice," says Jake Ballard, a sophomore tight end for the football team that enters this weekend ranked No. 1 in the country.

The men's and women's ice-hockey teams train on a $75,000 hockey treadmill that features a lubricated, ice-like surface that tilts at sharp angles and goes as fast as 16 miles per hour. Men's hockey coach John Markell solicited a donor to buy the equipment, which he says has become a key part of players' workouts. It's a machine most college teams -- and even many National Hockey League clubs -- haven't purchased. "We don't have the space or resources for that," says a spokesman for the Anaheim Ducks, last season's Stanley Cup champions.

Ridiculous. And it's funny to hear commentary about THE Ohio State and education in the same sentence. But I felt this was very interesting:

Ohio State was one of just 19 schools to turn a profit on athletics in 2006, according to data collected by the NCAA. OSU says its athletic department is self-sufficient -- it uses sports revenues to pay for its teams and operations. It doesn't draw from the same budget that's used to fund academic departments. How much the athletic department spends is determined by how much it brings in, not by how much the university decides to give it. A 2005 economic-impact study, commissioned by OSU, estimated that the school's sports program pumps over $100 million a year into the local economy, with more than a third coming from Buckeyes fans' spending on hotels, food, parking and shopping.

$100 million into the local economy and completely self sufficient? I'm sure it helps that they can bring in thugs like Mo Clarett, but that's still a ridiculous amount of money.

The football and men's basketball programs at OSU are the only sports there that turn a profit -- and their revenues support teams other universities have eliminated for lack of funding. "We never want to get into the business of taking opportunities away from students," says Gene Smith, OSU's athletic director.

....

Last season, Ohio State's football program generated about $57 million in revenue. The sum included a $4.75 million payment from the NCAA for advancing to the national championship game and $31.65 million in ticket sales from home games at Ohio State's 105,000-seat stadium. Team expenses, which include nearly $2 million for meals and travel, as well as debt payments to cover stadium renovations, subtracted about $21 million. Still, football supplied nearly $36 million in profit to the athletic department's coffers. The University of Florida, which beat OSU for the national championship in January, made about $34 million on football last year.)

57 million! I'm not sure how the numbers out for our Bruins, but considering that we're not even selling out the most beautiful stadium in college football for a game against Notre Dame (whose fans showed up in droves, by the way), it appears that there's definitely room for growth. And it appears that there's only one man in our way to achieve that growth. And here's another interesting chunk:

A significant chunk of the athletic department's budget is spent in ways that benefit the school's general fund. This year, the athletic department will spend $12 million on scholarships or "Grant-in-Aid" to pay for athletes' tuitions. A few years ago, the department contributed $5 million to help fund renovations to the campus's main library. OSU's sports program is also among the few that pays for all maintenance, security and operating costs at its facilities. (The utilities bill at the football stadium last year: $731,309.) In addition, the athletic department transfers about $1.7 million to the school's academic-support center to pay for tutors and "life skills" workshops for athletes. "I think we're paying somebody $25 an hour to tutor physics," says Mr. Smith.

So that money spent on football to get a great coach and develop a great program is not only self-sufficient, but it also donates money for use in academics?

Now, I'm not saying that we should completely mimic the program that they have going at Ohio State. Obviously, they accept anyone with a pulse that throw or catch or tackle or block and could care less about academic standards. But if I was DG and chancellor Block, I would pay a lot of attention at the money earned through other schools football programs and look at how much money beyond pure salary that we're just wasting on this buffoon masquerading around as our head football coach.

GO BRUINS!

At USC, OJ still a hero

sfatoo — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 20:41:04 -0000

USC's Trojans still don't get it.

So starts a great article at sbsun.com about how the USC Trojan's football team still adores this double-murdering, disgusting criminal. It does put our current situation with the football team in some perspective. I don't have too much commentary to add, but here are a few choice quotes from the article (a great read):

O.J. Simpson stands accused of 10 felonies in Las Vegas, including kidnapping, burglary and assault with a deadly weapon.

All this, 12 years after he beat a double-murder rap in an infamous trial and 10 years after a civil court found him liable for those two murders and ordered him to pay $33.5 million in damages. And one year after he tried to have a book published brazenly entitled, "If I Did It."

None of that matters at USC.

O.J. is still a great Trojan.

You can find proof of that in Heritage Hall, USC's glittering shrine to its athletes. Particularly its football greats.

Including O.J. Simpson.

Walk in the main entrance, you can't miss seven replicas of the Heisman Trophy arranged in an arc.

O.J.'s is second from the left.

Jerseys worn by USC's first five Heisman winners are mounted inside glass cases near the western entrance.

O.J.'s No. 32 is in the northwest corner.

How could these guys still have all that garbage still prominently displayed in their hall of fame?

Carroll did not seem comfortable when asked if Simpson should be treated on par in Heritage Hall with USC's other Heisman winners.

Perhaps it's because Carroll was heavily criticized for allowing Simpson to attend a USC practice before the 2003 Orange Bowl and knows when he might be about to touch the "third rail" of USC athletics.

"I think it's a statement of a time, back in the '60s, when accomplishments were made," Carroll said. "I don't know. I think it's something that is part of the past of this university.

"I don't think what's going on now has a lot to do with it."

Later, he suggested a writer ask some of the other Heisman winners how they felt about having O.J. in their midst.

So we did. One of them is Mike Garrett, USC's athletic director since 1993.

Garrett, who oversees the Heritage Hall collection, was asked if he could envision a time when one of its Heisman winner's trophy and jersey were removed from the room.

"Why?" he said.

Because that person was found guilty of a felony, perhaps?

"We honor people who came through here, in the time they played," Garrett said. "So what you're telling me is that ... if someone did something here and later in life, many years later, something happens ... that means you take it down?

"I mean, I don't know if anyone passes muster on that one because someone can always find something to find reasons to take somebody down."

Ugh... Nothing to add there.

But should he be treated with the same honor and visibility in Heritage Hall as six men who also won Heismans ... but who have yet to be brought up on felony charges? Particularly if he is found guilty of one or more of those charges?

One of those Heisman winners says O.J.'s trophy and jersey aren't going anywhere. That man is Garrett.

"I think some people have lived their lives early on, we honor what they did early on," he said. "What they do later has nothing to do with us and has everything to do with him."

Interesting concept. But not entirely accurate. If one of USC's heroes blew up the World Trade Center or assassinated a president, we doubt his jersey would be in Heritage Hall.

However, you're OK if you beat the criminal side of that double-murder charge and only the civil court nailed you ... and if you've only been accused of 10 felonies. You're good, so far, for glorification in Heritage Hall, the school's sports Holy of Holies.

USC's Trojans? Still don't get it. You wonder if they ever will.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Arron Afflalo's mom must have been terrible at spelling

sfatoo — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 21:15:12 -0000

The Blowtorch has been putting up caricatures of all the NBA rookies and recently put one up of one of our favorite Bruins Arron Afflalo!

Arron Afflalo

Strengths: good midrange game, able to contribute right away, strong defender
Weaknesses: not very athletic, won't be a big scorer, name is spelled way crazy

NBA Comparison (best-case): Shane Battier
NBA Comparison (worst-case): Keith Bogans
NBA Comparison (most likely): Raja Bell

I don't know if I agree with his assessment of Arron's potential (or the spelling of his name, it's not THAT crazy), but it's funny to see him and some other NBA rookies in caricature format.

Here are some other great caricatures of some familiar faces with links to some more commentary.

Aaron Brooks
Fellow Pac-10 Alum Aaron Brooks

Rudy Fernandez
God, this guy is ugly

Nick Young
They missed out on his buck teeth and a picture of Jordan Farmar in the background taking the SATs for him.

Spencer Hawes
Their quote is the best: "Spencer Hawes is tremendously boring looking"

Joakim Noah
Ahh! Children, cover your eyes!

Mike Conley Jr.
Mike Conley is just a happy guy. You know who else is just a happy guy? Joe Namath.

Al Horford
You know, I thought I was the only one that thought Horford had a funky shaped head. Guess I'm not alone anymore!

Oden and Durant

Commence the "Oden looks like he's 50" jokes.

Go Bruins!

The AP Top 25 as Indie Albums

sfatoo — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 20:07:55 -0000

In the tradition of Menelaus' posts comparing UCLA figures to Lord of the Ring characters, Kermit the Blog decided to associate each team in the AP top 25 with a rock album. The results ended up being hilarious. Here are a few picks out of the bunch:

1) USC
The White Stripes "White Blood Cells"
Sure, everyone raves and they might really be that good, but I can't fucking stand them. Hey! we can't stand USC either, by why the White Stripes hate? :-) 4) Texas
The Clash "Cut the Crap"
Mick Jones (Vince Young) has left the band, and you still haven't figured out that things will never again be as good as they once were. 12) California
Elvis Costello "Blood & Chocolate"
People are always going to overlook you. Sorry, that's just the way it is. Ha! 17) UCLA
The Lemonheads "It's a Shame About Ray"
They've been given a pass with mediocrity for far too long. Not sure about the Lemonheads, but I'm sure we all certainly agree that we've been mediocre for far too long. 23) Boise State
Radiohead "The Bends" OR The Killers "Sam's Town"
The first: It might take awhile before everyone truly appreciates how totally awesome what you did really was. The latter: Given what you did last time out, people are bound to think this sucks by comparison.

Former Bruin Kapono signs with Raptors

sfatoo — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 07:19:49 -0000

Jason Kapono was the first player in this year's free agency pool to switch teams and was paid well for it. He picked up a four year, 24 million dollar contract with the Toronto Raptors.

Free-agent sharpshooter Jason Kapono became the first player to commit to switching teams this summer when he reached a quick agreement Sunday to leave the Miami Heat and join the Toronto Raptors for what is believed to be a four-year deal worth roughly $24 million.

Jason was bouncing around the league a bit, but finally put up some good numbers in Miami this past year:

After playing for three teams in his first three pro seasons -- Cleveland, Charlotte and Miami -- Kapono enjoyed a breakout campaign in 2006-07, leading the league in 3-point percentage (.514) and winning the 3-point contest at All-Star Weekend in addition to averaging a career-best 10.9 points for the Heat.

He was actually on pace to set the all-time record for 3pt % at the all-star break, but fell off a bit down the stretch but still ended up leading the league.

Kapono came to the Bruins as an All-American and probably could have left after his first year for guaranteed millions as a lottery pick. Unfortunately for him, he came to UCLA while the old coach (who needs not be named) was wasting talent away and fell to a second round pick after his senior year.

Seems like a great time for former Bruins in the NBA. Afflalo got picked in the first round, Kapono got some job security with Matt Barnes soon to follow. And undoubtedly, with Howland in charge, the good times are just starting for our Bruins in the NBA. Go UCLA!

Proud to call Arron Afflalo a fellow Bruin

sfatoo — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 02:23:53 -0000

From the diaries. I know I am little late to this party, but how about them Bruins. And how about no. 4. ROFLMAO at the morons who came on here after the Cal game deriding AA as just a roll player. Thanks sftatoo for writing up a note which I was thinking about writing. AA is now officially one of my three all time favorite Bruin, who I have had the pleasure to watch either as an alum or a student. Thank you Arron for all that have you done to restore the pride in the greatest basketball program of all time. I know. We are not going to hang any Final 4 banners inside Pauley. So our business is not complete. However, you have officially earned the status of a living Bruin legend in this Bruin's scrapbook. Thank you. Now take care of business Saturday. GO BRUINS. - N

I know that Nestor and others have already posted in regards to their appreciation for our MVP, but I would like to add to that.

Arron had been having a tough couple of weeks since our victory to wrap up the Pac-10 title against Washington State. Although he still was producing and helping our team more than anyone, he was getting some nasty backlash from the MSM. They said he was going through a major slump, and even his draft stock was taking a beating. Idiots like Pucin had no problem jumping in with headlines such as "All's not well with Afflalo".

In all honesty, his slump really wasn't that bad and he was still the most important Bruin. Despite his poor shooting percentage in the Pitt game, he was still our leading scorer and netted an important 10 straight free throws. And that is truly the mark of a great player. Arron understood that his field goals were not falling and rather than pouting or trying to shoot out of his slump, he put the ball on the floor and drove to the basket to get himself to the foul line. He did the same at the end of the Indiana game to lead us to victory.

After all the negative press, Afflalo showed everyone (again) what a great player he was with his giant performance against Kansas. On the biggest stage that UCLA has been on all year, Afflalo threw dagger after dagger into the title hopes of the Jayhawks and shut up each idiot in the press that had no problem putting him down when he had a tough stretch.

What I've seen in his performance this year is a warrior and a man who is willing to do whatever it takes to bring not only himself, but also his peers to perform to the best of their abilities. Quotes like this from a year old Daily Bruin piece about AA have so much more meaning during his phenomenal season:

"He has a good perspective on life," said Afflalo's father, Benjamin Afflalo. "He's a caring person and a good person. I'm more proud of the man he's becoming than (who he has become) as a basketball player. People are starting to notice that and I'm happy to see that."

...

"I think that comes from my life and how I was never given anything or put on a pedestal," Afflalo said. "I feel that everything that I've gotten, I've earned. That keeps me humble. Guys that aren't probably as humble are guys that are given a lot.

"I think if you work for things you understand the value of it all," Afflalo said. "That's my mentality right now.

"If I work hard and do things the right way then I can appreciate it more and then others can take notice."

Arron is not only one of the greatest players to put on a Bruin uniform, but a solid, humble young man. It's impossible not to root for this young man and the rest of our Ben Ball warriors. Now let's go Bruins and let's bring home banner #12!

U-C-L-A FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!

Positive article about Howland & Dixon

sfatoo — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 16:28:37 -0000

Yesterday, Nestor put up a post which described some potentially raw feelings between the Pitt fanbase and Ben Howland. But this AP article by Ken Peters clears the air between the programs quite a bit and shows that there's a lot of good will between the programs and the coaches:

"This is the only game I'll never be pulling for Pitt. I know Jamie pulls for us," Howland said Monday during a conference call. "Win or lose, we're still going to be best friends for life.

"We're just happy we can create some good exposure (for the tournament)."

BFFs? I hope they have the matching pendants! This brought up some interesting news about why the Bruins did not schedule any matchups with the Panthers this year:
The Bruins' coach said they wouldn't have scheduled a non-conference game against each other, so the only way the schools would meet would be in the NCAA tournament. The teams have played only six times, with UCLA winning five but the Panthers taking the most recent game, a 91-79 victory at home in 1992.

Howland also put emphasis on the point that UCLA will not let up against the Panthers with a funny quote here:

"It's the players playing the game. They (the Bruins) have no history with Pitt except they have this fat, bald coach who came out here four years ago," he said.

And who's Meredith Howland rooting for?

Howland's daughter, Meredith, is a student and former cheerleader at Pitt.

Asked who she would be pulling for, Howland said, "If your dad was the coach, who would you pull for? It's an easy answer."

It's a pretty short, but interesting article and an interesting read for all Pitt and UCLA fans. It's great to see that Howland has nothing but respect for Dixon and the Pitt program. I'm looking forward to a great matchup on Thursday against the Panthers.

Go Bruins!

Wildcats set to dress up like clowns for tourney

sfatoo — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 22:03:28 -0000

Lute's kids are at it again. Take a look at the jerseys that the median plan on donning for their first round loss in the Pac-10 tournament:

As always, Deadspin has a few funny things to say about it:

They say the shirts are "10 inches tighter," and boy, are we happy they didn't have these things when Robert Traylor was playing.

By the way, someone's gonna trip on those shorts.

And what's most interesting is the post from the site that got the initial scoop:

Looks like those baggy shorts so popular among college hoops teams may finally be on their way out. Taking their place? Really, really baggy shorts. Starting tomorrow night, four top schools--Arizona, Florida, Ohio State, and Syracuse--will don Nike's System of Dress, a radical new look that brings Raf Simons-style proportion-play to the hard court. Complementing the aforementioned shorts are formfitting jerseys ten inches smaller in the torso, resulting in a second-skin look that's more Bode Miller than Ben Wallace.

Arizona's still being listed as a "top school"? I think they're more along the lines of "previously strong program which now will do anything for a couple of bucks from Nike". I wouldn't be surprised to see Oregon (aka Nike U) sporting something similar considering their "relationship" with Nike.

Trojan cheerleaders at it again...

sfatoo — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 20:52:57 -0000

First, during their defeat against UCLA, one of the bimbo TrOJan cheerleaders cheer for the wrong team!

Yesterday, God's gift to all bimbos FORGETS TO WEAR UNDERWEAR.

Thanks to Deadspin for the link, who's having a lot of fun with it:

One of USC's spritely cheerleaders must have decided that since she was only scheduled to be seated at the bottom of the pyramid, there would be no harm in showing up for a nationally televised game without the protection of any kind of female undergarmets. I can only hope that she steered clear of doing any splits, because we all know how cumbersome it is to remove grass stains from your labia.

The guys at Awful Announcing are having fun with this one as well as the guys over at The M Zone:

Returning from the Rose Bowl, I was feeling pretty bad about the game...until we got emails from Scott of Dallas Sports Powerhouse and KL on TexAgs.com, with the picture of the USC Song Girl above.

Needless to say, I smiled for the first time all day...and haven't stopped.
....
Which begs the question -- How the hell did Scott and KL find it to begin with?! Were they studying shots of the SC song girls like some sort of college football Zapruder film? Apparently some folks are watching the games much differently than we are.

Not that we're complaining, mind you.

Easy-I-Couldn't-Resist-Joke: When did Britney Spears become a Song Girl?

Even after winning the Rose Bowl, the TrOJans can't help but embarrass themselves.