AD’s year in review

Posted on December 30, 2011 by AD

Thanks for dropping by this week and checking out our year-in-review posts, interspersed with our usual coverage, and thanks to Brendan for a great idea.

Top Sports Moments of 2011

The scoreboard in left field.

If you’re looking for an official or objective list of the top stories of the year, I suggest you go elsewhere. What I like about our year-in-review features is that we’ve written about the stories, albums, and events that were most interesting or important to us, and, as will be immediately obvious, I’m going to follow suit.

1. Detroit Tigers playoff push

The Tigers obviously didn’t make it as far as they did in 2006, but this year was like that year in that Detroit beat the Yankees along the way. What was different about 2011, for me, was that I was a) living in Michigan, and b) writing and tweeting for a sports blog during much of the season. Both of these things measurably enhanced my experience of and connection to this year’s team, its successes, personalities, and volatility. It also was the first time in a few years that I was able to attend a game. I spilled much digital ink on this team in these virtual pages, and the posts are easy enough to find so I’ll spare you any detailed recap, except to say that, a few months later, I am able to appreciate the way the wheels came off as a suitable ending to a dramatic (by Detroit standards) season.

2. Vanderbilt’s football season

I didn’t put the Lions’ season on my list under the rationale that it still is ongoing, so this selection is cheating a little bit, but the college football regular season is over, so I’m running with it. I’ll hit on some of the high points in my Liberty Bowl preview that will go up later today, but first-year head coach James Franklin appears to have changed the culture at Vandy even faster than Jim Schwartz has in Detroit, tripling the win total with essentially the same players. As successful as he was on the field (I’ll always maintain that they were three plays away from a 9-3 record), Franklin may be even more successful on the recruiting trail. He already nabbed a Virginia quarterback recruit away from Virginia Tech, and he took a five-star QB recruit to the wire against LSU and Notre Dame. Next year looks even more promising, when Warren Norman is scheduled to return to the backfield alongside 2011 success stories Zac Stacy and starting QB Jordan Rodgers. 2012 will look even better if the Commodores can win the Liberty Bowl and finish this year 7-6.

3. Misbehaving College Coaches

This was a great year for teams I like– Spartans, Commodores, Tigers, Lions, and Red Wings– and it was a great year for sports writing, with the launch of Grantland, OutKick the Coverage, and The Classical, but like Magalan felt compelled to remark upon the marathon record-setter, I feel compelled to mention the names Jerry Sandusky, Jim Tressel, and Bruce Pearl. Sandusky is in a terrible league of his own, and I already have written here about Tressel and Pearl. Sparing the hand-wringing, defending, and analyzing, what I’ll say in the context of the posture of this post is that it is a welcome development that the NCAA is punishing coaches individually for the violations they commit or otherwise oversee. I hope the days of slippery escape artists like John Calipari, Pete Carroll, and Lane Kiffin are over.

Top Albums of 2011

Creating this list was a bit more difficult, not because I don’t like or know about music, but because I’m not quite as hip-to-the-modern-scene as many of my co-writers here. (See, for example, my punt on Amy Winehouse earlier.) Resort to a list of 2011 releases from a trusted source, something I suspect a lot of people writing bits like this do, was unavailing. That list jogged my memory on one album, Gregg Allman’s Low Country Blues, that Bdoyk actually tipped me off to initially. It didn’t make my list though, even though I had to cheat a little as you’ll see, because I didn’t think it was anything special. I liked it, but I don’t think it deserves to be one of the three best albums of 2011, even if I can’t come up with three.

1. Revelator – Tedeschi Trucks Band

This was an easy number one choice for me. I wrote a full review of the album back in September, and I don’t feel the need to supplement it now, except to add that it was the first record I played on my turntable after recently setting up my new stereo system.

2. June 3, 2011, Pine Knob – Phish

This is a concert, not an album, but I was in attendance, and it was a perfect concert night. Put attendance together with recording (free sample streaming), and I’m calling it an album. I went with a good friend, with whom I’ve seen the band once before, and everything went as smoothly as could be. The weather was perfect, the band was playing at a level they hadn’t reached in years. and it was my first visit to this historic outdoor Michigan venue. It definitely was the best I had ever seen them, and we had the feeling during the show that something special was going on, which made it all the more neat and enjoyable. Because amateur blogging about a Phish show registers somewhere between talking to another person about your fantasy minor league baseball team and a rambling monologue at a loud bar about that “drug trip” you had “back in high school,” I’ll close this by quoting bona fide Phish blogger Mr. Miner (the second Mr. Miner— I held that username as a prior legal nonconforming use on phishows.com), who wrote shortly afterwards that:

Sometimes a show—just one set—can launch thousands of dreams, taking the audience on a voyage so cosmic and coherent; so spectacular and superb that people will look back on it for years to come. Odysseys like the second set of Detroit’s Friday night exclamation reach the very core essence of Phish—four musicians pushing the boundaries of musical possibilities while taking 15,000 fans with them into the depths of the universe. With playing so together and inspirational, Phish opened yet another door last night, inviting us further into the future. And more than ever, the future is now.

…You get the idea.

3. Fall – Root Glen

As I suggested above, I didn’t hear a lot of 2011’s new releases, but I definitely heard this one. One of two releases by this relatively new band from New Jersey, I also wrote a full review of this EP last month. What I’ll add in this retrospective is that it is cool to listen to something for the first time and immediately recognize that it represents an important step up for a band you already liked. Before Fall, Root Glen had been successful at capturing their live sound in the studio, and this was great. After all, it was their live performances that gave them a following in the first place. But a lot of bands play live and just noodle and jam without much focus or commitment, and Fall is evidence of a group redoubling its effort to put forth an even higher quality of music they always had in them.

Thanks for reading us in 2011, and be sure to stick around for much more in the New Year.

Busy Monday

Posted on November 28, 2011 by AD

It was a busy weekend, really, and mostly because it was twice as long as most ordinary weekends. Plenty of football, including another Lions Thanksgiving day defeat at the hands of the Packers, injuries, and Ndamukong Suh (more on him later), a dominant performance by LSU over then-number 3 Arkansas that left Razorbacks head coach Bobby Petrino less than happy with the Tigers’ Les Miles (Clay Travis (who else?) has the video here), Michigan State rolling over Northwestern in a classic trap game, Michigan beating Ohio State for the first time since 2003 (more on that exciting game later), and Vanderbilt destroying Wake Forest to finish the regular season with a bowl-eligible 6-6 record, tripling their win total from last year and besting their win total of the last two seasons combined. In an era when a new coach routinely gets three or four years to “get his guys in” before he has to show success, Vanderbilt’s James Franklin turned a 2-10 team into a 6-6 team in one year, playing in the toughest conference in America, and he’s mad because they were a couple plays away from being 9-3. The Commodores’ loss to UT still stings, but the Vols’ defeat at the hands of lifeless Kentucky will keep the Big Orange out of a bowl this year, and that definitely is a silver lining for Vandy fans.

In Sunday NFL action, I have to mention Tim Tebow, who continued his improbable winning ways, and the Indianapolis Colts, who continued their extremely probable losing ways.

Two pieces of basketball news sure to be disappointing to large segments of the population: first, throwback UNLV took down top-ranked UNC in decisive fashion at the Las Vegas Invitational on Saturday, and the NBA is back, games to start piously on Christmas Day (link to the entirety of Grantland.com pending) (UPDATE: here it is.). (More seriously, the situation in Syracuse seems to have entered a new phase.)

In hockey, the Red Wings took down the pesky Predators and the Capitals fired their coach 22 games into the season.

Oh, and despite their loss in Ann Arbor, Buckeye hearts are aflutter with news of the hiring of Urban Meyer as OSU’s next head football coach. (More on that later, too.)

Moonshine hangover: What happened at the end of Vandy/UT last night?

Posted on November 20, 2011 by AD

I found the ending to Vanderbilt’s overtime loss to Tennessee last night confusing, and not for the reason you might suspect; it really was confusing. The Vols won the overtime coin toss and elected to go on defense first. On that first possession, a Jordan Rodgers pass was caught, the receiver fumbled the ball, and a Tennessee defender scooped it up (note that it may have been a strip or an interception– the whole thing is a muddled mass of murkey malarkey) and ran it back for a touchdown, thereby ending the game. An official had whistled the play dead, however, because he believed the Vol defender’s knee was down when he recovered the fumble. Although Tennessee only would have needed to kick a field goal to win, Vandy was not given the opportunity to defend that kick attempt. The Commodores had blocked one earlier (negated by penalty), and their defense had been responsible for most of their points on the night. Despite ESPNU’s consistently undesirable camera angles throughout the broadcast, television replays unequivocally demonstrated that the defender’s knee never touched the ground, which makes this all the more confusing, because those TV replays also unequivocally demonstrated that the play nevertheless had been whistled dead. There was an official review of the play, and the head official stated the scope of the review as whether the play had been whistled dead, not whether the defender’s knee was down. Anybody watching knew that Vandy won the former review, but lost the latter. Except that they didn’t.

VSL‘s Bobby O’Shea did some good work on this late into the night last night. He first reported on the immediate reaction of the former head of officiating for the NFL, Mike Pereria:

The referee said there was “no signal” and “no whistle” and hence, the replay assistant allowed the touchdown. Here’s the problem…. There was a whistle and there was a signal. What you really have here is an inadvertant whistle and unfortunately, it appears … that the official who blew the whistle and pointed to the ground did not step up and admit his mistake. It’s clear on video.

About and hour later, he reported a statement from the SEC’s Coordinator of Officials, Steve Shaw:

On the last play of the Vanderbilt-Tennessee game, in overtime, the Tennessee defender intercepted the pass, his knee did not touch the ground and he returned the interception for a touchdown. During the play, the head linesman incorrectly ruled that the Tennessee player’s knee was down when he intercepted the pass by blowing his whistle and giving the dead ball signal. The play was reviewed as if there was no whistle on the field and as a result, overturned the incorrect ruling. By rule, if there was a whistle blown, the play is not reviewable.

But, no harm, no foul? O’Shea lodges many criticisms of the handling of this outcome, all of them valid, but if the right thing happened, does Vanderbilt really have a leg to stand on here? I think so, because, as someone else pointed out, whistles blowing a play dead affect the players playing on the field in the moment. I didn’t stick around long enough to see enough replays to know whether Vandy defenders let up and otherwise could have caught the UT defender who recovered the ball, but that isn’t the sort of secondary judgment call replay officials should be making, and it’s why the on-field official likely correctly stated the scope of review as whether whistles blew the play dead. If the play had been blown dead, even if erroneously, we don’t get to imagine what would have happened had that erroneous whistle not been blown, even if that’s what it looks like we got here. That’s why the rule, as Shaw stated, is that a play is not reviewable if the whistle was blown, as it plainly was in this case.

Big Ole weekend rundown: The rest

Posted on November 18, 2011 by AD

I don’t know why I keep making it sound like this Nebraska-Michigan game is the most massive tilt ever. It should be fun, but still. The game between these two new conference-mates needs a name, like the Corn Bowl, but it isn’t quite deserving of that just yet. Maybe the Toddler Bowl will work for now. (“My extra hatred for you is only semi-rational and based on the fact that, nearly fifteen years ago, we had to share something that I wanted all for myself because I hate sharing!”) This game will capture my attention because I will be there watching it, but in case you aren’t similarly piqued, here are three other things for you to keep track of this weekend:

Vanderbilt vs. Tennessee: While Michigan and Ohio State no longer have their annual meeting this week, the ‘Dores and Vols are keeping steady on. What will be different this year when these two meet in Knoxville? For one thing, Vandy will be the favored team. Vegas is giving them a point on the road in the SEC, which is really something. UT is 0-6 in the conference, but they’ve cooked up hope of winning this one the only way they could: by pretending star QB Tyler Bray can make it back from a hand injury to play in this game. Vandy isn’t much better on paper– just 2-5 in the conference– but they were two missed plays from being 4-3, and they’ve done better than Tennessee against all common opponents. Vanderbilt must win in Knoxville this week or in Winston-Salem next week to be bowl eligible. The Vols, meanwhile, must win this game and their next one (against Kentucky) to be bowl-eligible and avoid a losing season. They also have to win this game to avoid being brought face-to-face with the undeniable recognition that they’re really bad. They’re going to lose, though, and everyone who’s been paying attention will be both glad and unsurprised. (For what the win can mean for the Commodores, read Bobby O’Shea’s post today at Vanderbilt Sports Line.) 7:00 pm, ESPNU
Carolina vs. Detroit: The Cam Newton Roadshow rolls through the Motor City this weekend, and the Lions’ defenders are licking their chops, which is good, because the Lions’ offenders (that doesn’t quite work, does it?) are licking their wounds. With impressive statistical output that has failed to translate into wins, Newton has been a sort of inverse Tebow this season, and I don’t see this game as the one where the Panthers really put things together. On the other hand, Detroit has been looking less and less stable, successful, and inspiring the closer they get to their Thanksgiving Day meeting with the Packers. The Thanksgiving game is simultaneously a point of intense pride and an albatross for Detroit, and I’m worried that, as more cracks begin to show in their new-look image and play this year, doubt creeps in with the capability of reverting to the old, bag-on-the-head team we’re used to. Hanson kicks the Lions to an uncomfortable win in this one. 1:00 pm, FOX
NASCAR Championship: It’s too tough to encapsulate an entire season (the longest in all of professional sports) into a quick hit here, but when this Sunday’s race at Homestead is over, NASCAR will have its first champion not named Jimmie Johnson in five years. Instead, it’s down to two drivers: Tony Stewart, who won the championship in 2002 and 2005– the last year before #48 went on his dominant streak– and Carl Edwards, the back-flipper who’s never won it all. Edwards holds an extremely narrow lead of only three points heading into this final race, which should make things very exciting. 3:00 pm, ESPN

Enjoy!

Nashville recap: Georgia escapes, 33-28

Posted on October 17, 2011 by AD

I made it into town on Friday night in time for a ceremonial pregame dinner at Music City’s finest anti-internet fried chicken establishment and a chance meeting with Taylor Hicks, and I was up the next morning to watch the early games (11:00 am Central) at Nashville’s newest sports bar. After victories by our party’s favored teams, Michigan State and South Carolina, we made our way to our usual tailgate spot, the sunny, low-70s weather being perfect for the activity.

Like most of Vanderbilt’s conference foes, Georgia is on the winning side of a lopsided record that stretches back to 1893. Saturday’s game followed suit, omitting the adjectives. Georgia won, but not handily (much to commodawg’s chagrin), as Vanderbilt missed three game-winning opportunities in the final seconds. Milking a five-point lead, the Dawgs tried to run out the clock, but defense and Vandy’s use of its two remaining timeouts forced a Georgia punt that Vanderbilt blocked. With nothing between them and the endzone but a loose ball, the Vanderbilt defenders were unable to scoop it up and run it in, falling on the bouncing ball instead. With eight seconds left in the game, QB Jordan Rodgers took two strikes at the endzone from about twenty-five yards out, but the Commodores were unable to convert.

Our seats were good for watching the game, but they didn’t allow us to gain any particular insights on the postgame scuffle between Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin and a Georgia assistant coach or the alleged dirty play on Georgia’s part that may have instigated it. Keep reading…

ALDLAND’s rivalry weekend

Posted on October 14, 2011 by AD

While this Saturday features a full slate of college games, Sunday will see the Lions and Packers each try to push their records to 6-0 against the 49ers and Rams, respectively, and the conclusion of the ALCS, ALDLAND is highlighting two of the college games for special attention.

First up is the noon o’clock (Eastern) meeting between Michigan and Michigan State in East Lansing. State has taken the last three games in the series, but this year feels like a tipping point. MSU is the better team, but its stock is falling right now, while the undefeated Wolverines’ stock seems to be rising weekly. The question is, where on the relative spectrum will these two teams be when they face off on Saturday? Michigan may be rolling right now, but it’s a home game for the Spartans, who have had two weeks to get ready for this one. Of course, with a team that has had discipline problems even under coach Mark Dantonio, that extra time off could cut either way.

The featured night game is in Nashville, where Georgia (4-2 (3-1)) will take on Vanderbilt (3-2 (1-2)), and commodawg and I will be in attendance. The obvious subtext, to readers of this site, will be the conflicting allegiances of the two writers. There is a less obvious game within a game going on here too, however. While we aren’t quite talking about The Inner Game of Tennis, the future trajectories of these two programs also are at stake, to some degree, on Saturday night.

The reason is recruiting. Vandy has made inroads in Georgia in recent years, and first-year coach James Franklin has been putting in a lot of effort there so far in his short tenure. The university has been encouraging fans to show up early (contrary to current tradition) because a large number of recruits are scheduled to be at the game for their official visit. From Stanimal at Vanderbilt Sports Line:

If there has ever been a more important weekend in Vanderbilt history in terms of recruiting, this is it. Unlike previous years, Coach Franklin has made a committment to competing with the rest of the SEC and the nation as a whole for top-shelf talent. He is not afraid to go after anyone, and he and his staff have worked very, very hard to get these kids interested in Vanderbilt. In no other state is this more apparent than in Georgia, where CJF has made massive in-roads in one of the best high school football states in the country. For a lot of these kids visiting this weekend (and we are talking some very high-level prospects), they are deciding whether to wear their black with Bulldog red or Commodore gold. This does NOT need to be a free recruiting visit for Mark Richt and his crew. It needs to be a show that this University and its fan base is behind Coach Franklin, his players, his staff, and this team.

His full call to action is available here. What effect this will have on our tailgating plans is not yet clear. As usual, readers can expect coverage of the game and the weekend here and on twitter and flickr.

Occupy Herbstreit

Posted on October 13, 2011 by AD

ALDLAND generally tries to stay above (ok, below) current political issues, but it’s tough to not notice that there’s a lot going on out there right now. The Occupy Wall Street rallies are the story of the political moment, it seems, and while it is alternatively difficult and easy to understand what they’re all about, it feels like the whole mess of it flies ~~under the radar~~above the head of the common sports fan.

Luckily for sports fans, though, they now have an opportunity to participate in Occupy Wall Street even if they don’t understand it, don’t want to understand it, don’t agree with it, or just don’t want to leave their house, thanks to a new blog called Occupy Herbstreit:
Subtitled “A Lost Gameday Fan Occupies Wall Street,” the blog collects photos of people (so far it appears to be the same person) with signs that blend the vernacular of the Wall Street protesters and the subject matter of a college sports fan. See the rest of the pictures here.

Report on college athletic director pay

Posted on October 6, 2011 by AD

USA Today reports:

Following the lead of the $5 million football coach, athletics directors may be next to hit the college sports salary jackpot.

ADs average about $450,000 at the NCAA’s top-tier schools, according to a USA TODAY analysis, rivaling the pay of many university presidents. But at least five ADs make more than $1 million, and since August 2010, at least 10 public schools have given their AD’s pay raises of $75,000 or more.

USA Today’s cover story on the topic is here. The paper also provided a breakdown of the top 120 schools’ ADs. The top ten, ranked in descending order by total pay:

School	Athletics Director	Conf.	University pay	Other pay	Total pay	Max Bonus


Vanderbilt	David Williams	SEC	$2,560,505	$0	$2,560,505	$0
Florida	Jeremy Foley	SEC	$1,545,250	$0	$1,545,250	$50,000
Louisville	Tom Jurich	Big East	$1,422,204	$5,500	$1,427,704	$344,000
Texas	DeLoss Dodds	Big 12	$1,093,391	$2,365	$1,095,756	$125,000
Ohio State	Gene Smith	Big Ten	$1,074,546	$0	$1,074,546	$250,000
Wisconsin	Barry Alvarez	Big Ten	$1,000,000	$40,800	$1,040,800	$0
Oklahoma	Joe Castiglione	Big 12	$975,000	$0	$975,000	$510,000
Notre Dame	Jack Swarbrick	Indep.	$932,232	$0	$932,232	$0
Duke	Kevin White	ACC	$908,659	$0	$908,659	$0
Tennessee	Dave Hart Jr.	SEC	$750,000	$0	$750,000	$0

(HT: @AndrewBrink)

Jim Leyland’s ALDS Game 5 lineup

Posted on October 6, 2011 by AD

When a reader told me he’d seen Tigers’ manager Jim Leyland wearing a suit on TBS last night, I knew something was awry. Earlier in the day, ESPN Insider, Vanderbilt graduate, and Vermonster Buster Olney reported that Justin Verlander would not start Game 5 against the Yankees in New York, and that Don Kelly would start at third, with Magglio Ordonez in right field.

I’ve only ever seen Leyland in a baseball uniform, includng hat, or some other Belichickian attire like a windbreaker pullover or hooded sweatshirt, so to see him dressed as pictured above somewhat shocks my brain.

Less shocking, but still surprising, were Leyland’s starting lineup choices. That Verlander would not start was expected. In the playoffs, you have to be able to count on your number two starter in a must-win game, and Doug Fister is more than competent to handle that task. I’m still scratching my head over the Kelly/Ordonez decision, though, and I’m trying to figure out which came first. Both mostly play right field. Ordonez has been an offensive power in the past, but he generally has cooled off in the last year or two. Kelly usually is described as a defensive replacement, meaning that he does not hit especially well, although he has been making good contact in this series.

Leyland had been working a similar pairing at third base with the recently acquired Wilson Betemit and longtime Tiger Brandon Inge. Like the Kelly/Ordonez pairing, one (Betemit) is the better hitter and the other (Inge) the defensive replacement. Also like Kelly/Ordonez, Betemit’s bat has cooled off in this series, while Inge’s has heated up.

In a vacuum, Leyland’s decision to start Kelly and Ordonez is not necessarily strange, but when examined together with the consequence of that decision– both Betemit and Inge on the bench– I have a hard time understanding it. Which is why I, unlike Leyland, wear a suit most of the time and don’t manage a baseball team. Still, I hope the Tigers aren’t getting away from what got them to this point.

Ultimate Underdog (via Sports Illustrated)

Posted on September 14, 2011 by AD

For Vanderbilt, playing in the nation’s toughest conference is a losing proposition. But the only team in the SEC that everyone can love is 2–0, thanks to a new coach who has turned a blind eye to the past.

For fans, Saban is like a fiftysomething Justin Bieber. It does not seem to bother anybody that he is a reluctant guest of honor. “I think you all know that this is one of my favorite days of the year,” Saban tells reporters sarcastically.

Appearing before the media alongside Saban and the three Tide players, almost for bookkeeping purposes, are the representatives for the Vanderbilt Commodores. They have a new coach, 39-year-old James Franklin, but the same old story. They have finished with a losing record in 27 of the last 28 years. They have not had a winning conference mark since 1982.

Even at a gathering of its conference brothers, Vanderbilt football is an orphan. Forget luring fans to Media Days. Vanderbilt barely draws any media to Media Days. Of the 1,050 credentialed reporters, fewer than 10 are there to cover Vanderbilt.

And yet: This appears to be Franklin’s favorite day of the year. He says, “I believe whoever I meet, they’re a Vanderbilt fan. And if they’re not, by the time we get done talking, they are.” He looks out at a ballroom of skeptical media members and sees opportunity in every seat. … Read More

(via Sports Illustrated)

(HT: @rmccost)

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