Long time No blog. It's been slow but I haven't had much to pontificate on so I haven't typed anything. Now felt like a fun thing to try and it'll be a short movie review.
Spoiler Free... Well I won't talk about direct plot twists and such. Mostly vague stuff.
If you want to avoid even vague stuff stop here. If you keep reading its your own fault if I ruin your Last Jedi experience.
3
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1
A long time a... you know the rest.
I'm writing this roughly 30 minuets after watching SWTLJ so you're getting a gut reaction to it.
The movie drops you in pretty quickly like star wars tends to do. Lots of pew pew pew and stuff blowing up. In fact the whole thing is another mirror of Empire. It didn't follow the same plot but there are so many parallels you almost knew what was coming next.
It didn't stop with with Empire references either. It also included much of Return of the Jedi. I'm not talking about it was kind of like but different. Rian Johnson plagiarized huge chunks of dialog from the original trilogy and especially ROTJ. I really felt like I was re-watching the old stuff again like episode 7.
There was some really good special effects but there was a part early in the movie where the CG was poorly done and unnecessary to the plot and really had me scratching my head. Its really in how it compared to how it worked in the past episodes and even in the EU. Read Heir to the Jedi and you'll quickly see a major discontinuity with how the force works and in other books to know that it doesn't fit.
I am also disappointed in the treatment of other characters and am left to wonder why they took the direction they did with the creation of some characters. Luke Skywalker got it right in the movie trailer when he said, "This is not going to go the way you think."
The whole saga feels rushed now. Character development in episodes 1-6 was nicely paced you watched the characters grow from a-z while seeing them go through b,c,d,e,f,g and so on to z. Episodes 7 and especially 8 have taken the most of the alphabet out of story. That leaves you feeling cheated.
Overall on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being epic I'd give the movie a 6. Good action but lacking in good character development. Hopefully they can find a better balance in episode 9.
Friday, December 15, 2017
Monday, October 23, 2017
Work work work
The most sure fire way to build a championship program is work. Not the 9 to 5 punch the clock kind of work. I'm talking about the twelve to fourteen hour a day 7 days a week hard labor work. The kind of work where you work your ass off so hard you have no ass left to work.
Today's football team is built on talent and not effort. I mean this equally between national and Nebraska. Everybody is worried about the next 5 star blue chip that they let the important work behind the flash falter.
What is the work you ask? It's everything weight room, conditioning, film room, play book study and the list goes on. Nobody rewards players for the effort they put into those places. Instead fans and coaches alike want to reward the stars that are handed out by rivals and scout. This is ruining all sports but in particular college football.
I would track the number of times a player worked out in the weigh and conditioningt rooms and base my first game week depth chart off of that. Give the players that put in the blood sweat and tears the first shot. If they lose a spot becaus of skill or knowledge of plays and are easily beat for their spot that's ok. They won't be, but that's the base line I would set.
That kind of competition will force the blue chips to work or fade. No football player worth his salt would allow themself to be beaten out by someone who they believe lesser than their own inflated opinion of themselves. That competition will also breathe hope of playing time into those that would otherwise have no reason to push.
It seems obvious that the fire built through this type of reward system is completely lacking. Do I think it's too late for this type of system to save the what's left of the season? Yes. Is it too late to implement? Absolutely not.
Something drastic needs to change with Nebraska's plan because whatever it is isn't working. Relying on blue chip talent alone is folly. Building on 5 star talent in a highly competitive environment is how Championship teams are built.
Go Big Red!
Today's football team is built on talent and not effort. I mean this equally between national and Nebraska. Everybody is worried about the next 5 star blue chip that they let the important work behind the flash falter.
What is the work you ask? It's everything weight room, conditioning, film room, play book study and the list goes on. Nobody rewards players for the effort they put into those places. Instead fans and coaches alike want to reward the stars that are handed out by rivals and scout. This is ruining all sports but in particular college football.
I would track the number of times a player worked out in the weigh and conditioningt rooms and base my first game week depth chart off of that. Give the players that put in the blood sweat and tears the first shot. If they lose a spot becaus of skill or knowledge of plays and are easily beat for their spot that's ok. They won't be, but that's the base line I would set.
That kind of competition will force the blue chips to work or fade. No football player worth his salt would allow themself to be beaten out by someone who they believe lesser than their own inflated opinion of themselves. That competition will also breathe hope of playing time into those that would otherwise have no reason to push.
It seems obvious that the fire built through this type of reward system is completely lacking. Do I think it's too late for this type of system to save the what's left of the season? Yes. Is it too late to implement? Absolutely not.
Something drastic needs to change with Nebraska's plan because whatever it is isn't working. Relying on blue chip talent alone is folly. Building on 5 star talent in a highly competitive environment is how Championship teams are built.
Go Big Red!
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Stability
A common theme for keeping Mike Riley is "stability." They say that if you're constantly firing coaches your program will come off as unstable. They're right, well at least about the second part.
Let look at the stability of the Mike Riley era so far. "You can't have stability if you are constantly firing coaches." Year one, fires all of Bo's staff except one, defense backs coach Charlton Warren. Not much to complain about here as bringing in a new staff is common. Little known was how everybody in the football offices were also replaced. The once believed lifers were also removed. (Thanks Shawn.) It is also worth pointing out that those people also serve at the leasure of the football coach so what can you say, stability right?
Year two he fires his D line coach who was an expert D line coach who was unable to teach his players how to fight their way out of a wet paper bag and couldn't recruit anybody. Rightfully fired.
Then the next year we fired some more people in this super stable football department and hired some more people to replace them.
Here's my question. What is so stable about Mike Riley's football program that you use stability as a reason to give him another year?
Go Big Red
Let look at the stability of the Mike Riley era so far. "You can't have stability if you are constantly firing coaches." Year one, fires all of Bo's staff except one, defense backs coach Charlton Warren. Not much to complain about here as bringing in a new staff is common. Little known was how everybody in the football offices were also replaced. The once believed lifers were also removed. (Thanks Shawn.) It is also worth pointing out that those people also serve at the leasure of the football coach so what can you say, stability right?
Year two he fires his D line coach who was an expert D line coach who was unable to teach his players how to fight their way out of a wet paper bag and couldn't recruit anybody. Rightfully fired.
Then the next year we fired some more people in this super stable football department and hired some more people to replace them.
Here's my question. What is so stable about Mike Riley's football program that you use stability as a reason to give him another year?
Go Big Red
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Romance is dead in Nebraska
In a recent super scientific poll posted on twitter it was found that romance is dead in Nebraska. Over 130 people participated in a poll asking what their plans for Friday would be. 14% of respondents would be attending High school football games while a staggering 80% of respondents said that they would be watching the Nebraska Illinois football game.
For those of you who are not inclined to addition those figures show that 94% of respondents would rather watch football than go have a lovely evening with their significant other. Yes, 5% did say they would do the "Netflix and Chill" but there is no romance in watching old reruns of the Office and going off to bed.
More disturbing is only 1% of the 146 would be going to dinner and a movie. When you do the math that comes to one and a half people. How sad. Somebody is eating alone except for maybe the company of an imaginary friend.
Yes my friends, this a truly dark time in Nebraska. Nobody wants to be romantic anymore. Football still rules the day in "The Good Life."
For those of you who are not inclined to addition those figures show that 94% of respondents would rather watch football than go have a lovely evening with their significant other. Yes, 5% did say they would do the "Netflix and Chill" but there is no romance in watching old reruns of the Office and going off to bed.
More disturbing is only 1% of the 146 would be going to dinner and a movie. When you do the math that comes to one and a half people. How sad. Somebody is eating alone except for maybe the company of an imaginary friend.
Yes my friends, this a truly dark time in Nebraska. Nobody wants to be romantic anymore. Football still rules the day in "The Good Life."
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Why Eichorst was fired.
Because he's a ginger... NO NOT BECAUSE OF THAT!
The saying, "The simplest explanation is useually the correct one." I have it.
All athletics at Nebraska with the exception of volleyball and track have noticeably declined on his watch. He didn't care enough about the programs that matter to Nebraska. Let's examine the programs Nebraska wants to be competitive in..
Football. Low hanging fruit here but in year 5 of Shawn we're losing the games that don't matter. With Shawn gone I think that'll change unless Mike Riley totally packs it in and I don't think he'd do that.
Men's Basketball. Seriously what the heck happened here? Tim Miles comes in and takes the program into March Madness! Shawn Eichorst arrives and back into the shit tube it goes. Probably not a big deal if it wasn't for the investment of that kick ass practice facility. Not to mention that beautiful arena down town is occupied by two sub-par basketball programs.
That brings me to Women's basketball. We fired Connie Yori because she was a tough coach going through a tough stretch in her life. So what did he do? Hired a new coach that took the program back to the dredges of obscurity.
Baseball. Granted some of its problems can and may be traced to the move to the Big Ten but that can't be the whole story can it? Our climate bodes well for baseball and our northish direction didn't stop us from making the CWS before.
The other sports listed being abject failures points to one common point, the AD. The higher ups made the right call at the right time. If we want to be competitive in these sports we need an AD with a vision capable of seeing it through. Eichorst is too green for a program the size of Nebraska. Nebraska needs a proven leader, maybe not somebody from a sports background, but who can handle big picture programs. Being great at football isn't good enough for Nebraska anymore.
I want Dave Rimington. There I said it.
The saying, "The simplest explanation is useually the correct one." I have it.
All athletics at Nebraska with the exception of volleyball and track have noticeably declined on his watch. He didn't care enough about the programs that matter to Nebraska. Let's examine the programs Nebraska wants to be competitive in..
Football. Low hanging fruit here but in year 5 of Shawn we're losing the games that don't matter. With Shawn gone I think that'll change unless Mike Riley totally packs it in and I don't think he'd do that.
Men's Basketball. Seriously what the heck happened here? Tim Miles comes in and takes the program into March Madness! Shawn Eichorst arrives and back into the shit tube it goes. Probably not a big deal if it wasn't for the investment of that kick ass practice facility. Not to mention that beautiful arena down town is occupied by two sub-par basketball programs.
That brings me to Women's basketball. We fired Connie Yori because she was a tough coach going through a tough stretch in her life. So what did he do? Hired a new coach that took the program back to the dredges of obscurity.
Baseball. Granted some of its problems can and may be traced to the move to the Big Ten but that can't be the whole story can it? Our climate bodes well for baseball and our northish direction didn't stop us from making the CWS before.
The other sports listed being abject failures points to one common point, the AD. The higher ups made the right call at the right time. If we want to be competitive in these sports we need an AD with a vision capable of seeing it through. Eichorst is too green for a program the size of Nebraska. Nebraska needs a proven leader, maybe not somebody from a sports background, but who can handle big picture programs. Being great at football isn't good enough for Nebraska anymore.
I want Dave Rimington. There I said it.
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
When the time comes.
Hard hitting in depth Husker Football analysisis are fantastic. You're still not going to find that here!
In the midst of the Frost Warnings this afternoon I tweeted that Scott Frost would be my 3 or 4 guy in a coaching search. Simply put Frost doesn't have enough seasoning. But for me he's good enough to be considered for the position.
To answer the question from@KingJHip, "if Frost is number 4 who are the others?" I present my top 4.
4. Scott Frost Former Husker QB National Champion on field kicker of defender's ass' and shot put thrower.
3. Turner Gill Barry Switzer's biggest miss. One third of the formidable Triplets. Current head coach at Liberty University. Got an unfair shot at perennial loser KU. I think he needs that big time chance. Besides this is my list so shove it.
2. Chip Kelly. He is instant credibility for the program. He turned Oregon into what it is today. With him there is no doubt our program will have an identity, something NU desperately needs.
D
R
U
M
R
O
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L
1. Mark Richt. Take him from Miami in the same manner as we did the national championship from them in '94. Big recruiting ties in the south east. His brand of physical football will resonate in Lincoln. Here is a coach that can win with the resources NU can provide. Move over Suburban Meyer, James Lardball and Whoever the coach is at Penn State.
In the midst of the Frost Warnings this afternoon I tweeted that Scott Frost would be my 3 or 4 guy in a coaching search. Simply put Frost doesn't have enough seasoning. But for me he's good enough to be considered for the position.
To answer the question from
Conference Shedule Prediction
This is how I foresee the rest of the season going based on what has happened.
Rutgers NU W
Illinois NU W
Wisconsin NU L
OSU NU L
Purdue NU Could go either way L
Directional NU 50/50 L The nerds always play well here
Minnesota NU L
Penn State NU L
Iowa NU L
Confidence and optimism in the big red is at an all time low. But unless the coaches change what they're doing we will not feel guilty about hunting during the games.
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