Tough time in Tempe
posted by LW, Sunday, June 07, 2009
The Tigers had all-everything pitcher Mike Leake on the ropes, but pitching and defense ended up costing them in a 7-4 loss.
According to this story from Paul Strelow, there's no panic in these Tigers.
Just last week, of course, they had to win three consecutive games in two days to advance from their regional.
“We’re going to take the exact same approach,” said Chris Epps, who went 2-for-5 with three RBIs. “We’re going to go at it.”
The Tigers are by no means out of this thing, not with stud lefty Chris Dwyer taking the mound for tonight's 10 p.m. game.
Just writing "10 p.m." made me tired.
The desert-bound Strelow also has a story on the friendship between Jack Leggett and Arizona State coach Pat Murphy.
Leggett and Arizona State coach Pat Murphy have known each other since the mid-’90s, when Leggett took over the Tigers and Murphy served as an assistant at Notre Dame. Clemson faced Arizona State on Saturday night in the first game of a best-of-three Super Regional.
Murphy said the two met through former Tigers assistant Tim Corbin and were among a pack of five or so coaches who hung out together on the recruiting trail.
As one Murphy story goes, the members of the group once served patrons at the restaurant in which they were eating.
“Jack thinks I’m off-the-wall nuts,” Murphy said. “I think he squeezes it a little too tight.”
Leggett got a chuckle from the quote, insisting he would have chosen to describe Murphy as “brazen” instead.
Just like that, Florida State's season is over.
And Virginia comes from behind in Oxford.
It's always refreshing when a coach throws away the platitudes and speaks candidly about a topic, and Tony Franklin does that and more in this look back at his brief tenure at Auburn.
Franklin, now the offensive coordinator at Middle Tennessee, doesn't hold back.
"I've been here a few months now and I don't think I've been recognized once," said Franklin, who was hired as the Blue Raiders' offensive coordinator in February. "I can go out and have a beer somewhere and not worry about winding up on the Internet the next day.
"I don't have to worry about all the crap you face in the SEC with its ridiculous, nit-picky rules and regulations on everything you do. I'm a guy who likes to walk down the street and not have to worry all the time about people watching me, waiting on me to screw up. I have that here."
And more...
"It was the most unusual place I've ever been," Franklin said of the Auburn program. "No one liked anybody else. There was this deep distrust of everybody. The coaches didn't trust the administration, the administration didn't trust each other or the coaches. It was very strange and very unnerving. You would walk down the halls and there would be tension you could just feel."
And more...
"No one would speak to you or even look at you. The coaches were all paranoid and didn't trust anyone in the administration. They all felt like the administration was out to get them and they stressed out over everything that happened. "
And more...
That's all they do is pray -- and talk about praying and religion," Franklin said. "It's a constant thing with them, and it's just overwhelming at times. A lot of people use religion as a crutch, and I think that's the case there. Every word coming out of their mouths is something about religion, and most of it is just a joke.
"I don't want to come off as anti-religion or that I'm not a Christian, but the best people in the world -- the ones who do truly great things -- they just do good things for people. You don't know most of the time if they're Muslim or Christian or anything else, because they never talk about it. But it was constant with them, and it was uncomfortable sometimes. When you talk about your religion so much, it comes off as fake or phony. That's the way I think of several of those people (at Auburn) as fake.
Wow.
Interesting roundtable discussions at Rivals:
What's more exciting, the NCAA Tournament or NBA playoffs?
And what college football program most closely mirrors GM?
George O'Leary makes too much sense with his criticism of the recent decision to make coaches' votes private.
Matt Hayes of The Sporting News predicts the most improved teams in 2009, and N.C. State makes the list.
LW
For questions or comments on this blog entry, please visit The West Zone message board.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
Man, what a huge momentum swing Clemson would've caused with a win last night.
The Tigers had all-everything pitcher Mike Leake on the ropes, but pitching and defense ended up costing them in a 7-4 loss.
According to this story from Paul Strelow, there's no panic in these Tigers.
Just last week, of course, they had to win three consecutive games in two days to advance from their regional.
“We’re going to take the exact same approach,” said Chris Epps, who went 2-for-5 with three RBIs. “We’re going to go at it.”
The Tigers are by no means out of this thing, not with stud lefty Chris Dwyer taking the mound for tonight's 10 p.m. game.
Just writing "10 p.m." made me tired.
The desert-bound Strelow also has a story on the friendship between Jack Leggett and Arizona State coach Pat Murphy.
Leggett and Arizona State coach Pat Murphy have known each other since the mid-’90s, when Leggett took over the Tigers and Murphy served as an assistant at Notre Dame. Clemson faced Arizona State on Saturday night in the first game of a best-of-three Super Regional.
Murphy said the two met through former Tigers assistant Tim Corbin and were among a pack of five or so coaches who hung out together on the recruiting trail.
As one Murphy story goes, the members of the group once served patrons at the restaurant in which they were eating.
“Jack thinks I’m off-the-wall nuts,” Murphy said. “I think he squeezes it a little too tight.”
Leggett got a chuckle from the quote, insisting he would have chosen to describe Murphy as “brazen” instead.
Just like that, Florida State's season is over.
And Virginia comes from behind in Oxford.
It's always refreshing when a coach throws away the platitudes and speaks candidly about a topic, and Tony Franklin does that and more in this look back at his brief tenure at Auburn.
Franklin, now the offensive coordinator at Middle Tennessee, doesn't hold back.
"I've been here a few months now and I don't think I've been recognized once," said Franklin, who was hired as the Blue Raiders' offensive coordinator in February. "I can go out and have a beer somewhere and not worry about winding up on the Internet the next day.
"I don't have to worry about all the crap you face in the SEC with its ridiculous, nit-picky rules and regulations on everything you do. I'm a guy who likes to walk down the street and not have to worry all the time about people watching me, waiting on me to screw up. I have that here."
And more...
"It was the most unusual place I've ever been," Franklin said of the Auburn program. "No one liked anybody else. There was this deep distrust of everybody. The coaches didn't trust the administration, the administration didn't trust each other or the coaches. It was very strange and very unnerving. You would walk down the halls and there would be tension you could just feel."
And more...
"No one would speak to you or even look at you. The coaches were all paranoid and didn't trust anyone in the administration. They all felt like the administration was out to get them and they stressed out over everything that happened. "
And more...
That's all they do is pray -- and talk about praying and religion," Franklin said. "It's a constant thing with them, and it's just overwhelming at times. A lot of people use religion as a crutch, and I think that's the case there. Every word coming out of their mouths is something about religion, and most of it is just a joke.
"I don't want to come off as anti-religion or that I'm not a Christian, but the best people in the world -- the ones who do truly great things -- they just do good things for people. You don't know most of the time if they're Muslim or Christian or anything else, because they never talk about it. But it was constant with them, and it was uncomfortable sometimes. When you talk about your religion so much, it comes off as fake or phony. That's the way I think of several of those people (at Auburn) as fake.
Wow.
Interesting roundtable discussions at Rivals:
What's more exciting, the NCAA Tournament or NBA playoffs?
And what college football program most closely mirrors GM?
George O'Leary makes too much sense with his criticism of the recent decision to make coaches' votes private.
Matt Hayes of The Sporting News predicts the most improved teams in 2009, and N.C. State makes the list.
LW
For questions or comments on this blog entry, please visit The West Zone message board.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
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