CURIOUS INDEX, 8/21/08

It might cause some contentious calls during a game, Orson, but the ban on horse-collaring is long, long overdue. It’s already banned in the NFL and high school, and exoises players to sick and potentially debilitating injuries unnecessarily. I know I’m the only one that harps on this, but Florida lost Jeremy Finch, a promising young safety, last year to injury as a result of a horse collar tackle, and his resulting long stint in rehab was a large reason why he transferred and left Florida with a sophomore and two freshman to cover the safety spot this year.

It is unfair for you to paint Coach Nick Saban in such an unfair light.

/s Uncle Joe Stalin

why, Saban is just a gentle nudging force to his players, always encouraging them in positive warm tones

fingrsss…..contrrrrloooolllled…….byyyyyy……myinnnd forrceeee……cnnnnot…….thhinkkk….clerllly

Saban could have saved a lot of money and just bought books.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0440504708/erichananokiA/

The Flat Houston idea is awesome.

Bigger Control Freek of total operations:

Nick Saban – Year 2, Head Coach of Alabama
Josh Lyman – Season 7, Santos for President campaign.

Discuss

Interesting UVA tidbit at the end of that New Mexico probation link:

Virginia bans signs
Gone are the days when athletes at the University of Virginia could look up at cheering fans and see signs asking, “Hoos your daddy?”

The Charlottesville school, whose students are often called the Wahoos or Hoos, has banned all signs at home games. The new athletic department policy was tucked into an e-mail to students Tuesday: “Beginning this year, signs are not permitted inside athletics facilities. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Among students, the announcement is causing some hoo-pla.

“This was the first that we’ve heard about it,” said student council President Matt Schrimper, 20. “It’s something that caught a lot of students’ eyes.”

if this happens, i volunteer to personally escort houston across the breadth of latin america.

@1

Is there evidence that horse tackling is really any more dangerous than “normal” tackling? Trust me, I am not trying to be a jackass for once, but players get injured all the time from routine plays, so if you see an injury after a horse collar tackle, is it really from it being a horse collar tackle, or just simply the result that tackling, in general, causes injuries. So I wonder if the whole “horse collar tackling is evil” mantra is a knee jerk reaction to misattributed causality.

Granted, do horse collar tackles look nasty? Yeah, but if the WWE has taught us anything, it is that a fantastic chair shot to the head won’t keep Badd Ass Billy Gunn down for long.

What about making the Flat Houston a staple for this site?

Pictures of Flat Houston (or Flat Crazy-As-A-Sack-Of-Rabid-Weasels, if you prefer) doing keg stands and playing grabass at tailgates.

Flat Houston hanging out with the MBA Domers.

It could have potential, no?

Nick Saban is not your new bicycle.

James Madison (former President and reputed author of the 1st Amendment) would be proud of both Nick Saban and Al Groh for their contributions to the advancement of free speech.

The other night I woke up at about 2:30 in the morning, and the first thing I saw when my eyes opened was NICK SABAN, about thisfar from my own face. I just sat there, paralyzed with fear, and the guy didn’t move a muscle for like a minute, I mean I couldn’t even hear him breathing. Finally he said, “I just wanted you to know I could do that, Georgia boy,” and left.

I haven’t slept since.

This is from Jimbo Fisher on T.S. Fay and the Noles’ practice schedule….and we wonder why our college players talk the way they do?

“I’m going to tell you what I’m going to be. I’m going to quit being a coach and be a weather forecaster because you ain’t got to be right on nothing and [you] still get paid.” – Jimbo Fisher

“I look the ball into my soft but strong hands, securing it and then I run to daylight.”

Now what hyper-macho, freakishly athletic, testosterone-riddled, extra-hetero 19 y.o. male is going to repeat that without giggling? Until the brainwashing actually starts to settle in, of course.

alleged unpublished mantra:
“Coach Saban will show me the way to untold NFL riches and fame. Oh, and Coach Saban is tall. Very, very tall.

Damn you Coca Cola!
Tiny Nick Saban trying to sell me Coke would have been frickin Hilarious.

Jimmy Johns joke to follow…

I couldn’t help but notice that one of the assistants in the NM grade scandal is now at Arizona State. It is amazing that Dennis Erickson has attracted so many fine upstanding coaches to help develop boys into men. What was the over/under on ASU getting swept up in an NCAA probe?

Great “Dallas” reference.

Where’s Kristen Shepherd when you need her?

Double standard, anyone?

If Pete Carroll brought in that same group of people to do motivational speaking, you guys would be hanging by his pubes and licking his sack with such force that it would leave him raw.

Meanwhile, Saban does it, and you act like he is filling the back of a truck full of aborted fetuses using a pitchfork.

El Kabong: That’s because Pete would bring in a totally different type of motivational speaker, we think. (NSFW.)

@9:

I’m certainly not claiming to be any sort of expert here on tackling or the human body, but it seems to me that, over the years, that particular style of tackling is strongly correlated with moderate to severe injuries- at least more so than most other types of tackling (except for maybe cut-blocking, right Mr. Tubberville?)

Here’s an excerpt from Wikipedia that summarizes pretty well the understanding I have of the dangers. Of course, it’s a Wiki entry so it obviously comes with a huge grain of sea salt:

“The horse-collar is particularly dangerous due to the awkward position of the player getting tackled, who will often fall backward in a twisting motion with one or both legs trapped under the weight of his body. This is exacerbated if the player’s foot gets caught in the turf and by the additional weight of the defender. Potential injuries include sprains or tears to ligaments in the knees and ankles (including the ACL), and fractures of the tibia and fibula.”

Carroll… Saban… makes no difference.

I say it’s bullshit either way.

#21

Cut blocks are legal and everypne coaches them.

However, only a select few can properly execute a chop block. If you need a demonstration, Chaz Ramsey is ready when you are.

You all scoff, but if Saban wins 10 games this year, these Pacific guys are gonna be rollin’ on 26’s next summer when all your coaches are belong to them

@ 19: Saban isn’t evil, he’s just an asshole. Hence, he’s treated differently than The Humanitarian.

But, if we have to continue to absorb the self-victimization of Bama fans until the Tide actually beat somebody, well, say la vee.

@19, are you sure youve posted on the correct site? Although Saban is a frequent target here, I don’t think any coach/school is treated any better than the other. I mean, farks of Pete Carroll and Matthew Maconoghey (sp) burning one on a magic carpet surely aren’t a sign of respect.

St. Nick has received a lot of publicity this off season, with the Forbes cover and general Alabama media obsession, so he’s going be a more frequent target.

Fortunately for him he’s too short for Chaz Ramsey to position a good chop block.

Schnellengberger thinks the horse collar rule is BS – he uses a similar technique on Mrs. Schnellenberger every Thursday night. He calls it “foreplay”.

And if its good enough for Miss Beverly, then by God its good enough for the NCAA.

i’m a bad man! sometimes i scares myself! somtimes i look in the mirror i wanna kiss myself i’m so pretty!

Outlawing horse collar tackles is absurd. How the hell are you supposed to tackle somebody running in front of you? You grab what you can which is normally the shirt collar or shoulder pads inside. Its football. Put flags on everybody……and you’ll still have injuries.

#17,

For what it’s worth, Stretz was a Koetter hire. He, along with receivers coach Eric Yarber, was one of two staff members retained by Erickson. It should also be noted that no ASU player has gotten as much as a traffic ticket since 2004.

These days I liken Koetter to herpes: just when you think he’s gone, he comes back and it’s more annoying than ever. The biggest concern at ASU regarding this action will be the recruitment of Phoenix product Devon Kennard, who many have listed as the PS#1 DE this year.

Not that I would know what herpes are like.

Seriously.

Speaking of Alabama, check out this monument to their “Tradishun.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP56xXMn4fc

@27

I am still laughing.