1992 Cowboys-49ers NFC Championship

Went to Best Buy earlier this evening. They had the 1992 Cowboys-49ers NFC Championship Game Recap playing on HD TV. The format showed each play, usually twice, interspersed with retrospective commentary from the participants. Ended up watching for about 45 minutes.

HD TV is noticeably superior to regular TV. Emmitt Smith had a jagged cut on his arm, and it felt like I could reach out and touch the blood.

This was a fun uniform game. Against the Red and Gold 49ers, the Cowboys pants have never looked so blue. The field was wonderfully muddy and wet, with globs of turf shearing up everywhere. The uniforms were wet and muddy and grass-stained and ripped. HD TV showed this beautifully.

It's easy to forget how powerful the 49ers were going into this game. All through the game, through body language and facial expression, the 49ers showed they thought they were the superior team. Their defensive front seven was rugged and aggressive and talented. This was a frenetic and viciously contested game. The 49ers scored with 4:22 remaining in the 4th, drawing within 4. Both Young and Rice stated at this point, they fully believed they would win. The Cowboys would be stopped; the mighty West Coast Offense would win the game.

It was then that Alvin Harper caught his slant. Alvin Harper sucks. After the catch and run, he raised his arms in a method intended to celebrate himself-- not his team's accomplishment. Aikman comes on the screen and says he saw the coverage as he broke the huddle for that play. He knew Irvin would have gotten across the CB's face against the coverage, but he was nervous about Harper doing so. On the replay, presnap, you can see Aikman actually hand motion to Harper to get across the CB's face. Aikman said he decided to trust Harper, but remained concerned. Thank goodness Harper made the play. Harper had more talent than Irvin. But Irvin is going to the Hall of Fame, and Harper had an average career.

Again and again, on crucial downs, Aikman threw the slant to Irvin. I saw three of them, and I didn't watch the whole game. Irvin was wearing Eric Davis like a fur coat at a drug trial, but he caught all three slants. Any other WR would've been covered. With Aikman's accuracy and Irvin's size, the plays were successful.

Irvin also caught a skinny post for 20 yards, going down inside the 5 yard line. This pattern is straight for about 12 yards, then slants at a shallow 25 Degree angle. Again, the coverage was excellent, and Aikman gunned the ball exactly into a small opening. Irvin made an aggressive striding move for the ball, catching it in the classic index fingers and thumbs triangle, 12 inches in front of his chest. As he began to tuck it he was violently double hit and whipsawed between Mervin Hanks and Davis: Bam/Bam. Irvin never even got a foot on the ground after the catch. Irvin, as best I recall, was insta-spun 270 degrees-- his butt drill-bitted itself into the turf, exploring for oil under Candlestick. He tipped over at the end of his spin. From a prone position, Irvin flipped the ball to the ref and popped back to the huddle, a Weeblo that wobbled but didn't stay down. Watching, I realized I never doubted that Irvin would catch the pass. He was so big and tough. He knew he would take whatever Hanks and Davis had and still make the catch. It was almost routine for him. For anyone today, the catch would be praised to high heaven. I doubt Randy Moss, for instance, would've made this typical Irvin catch. What am I saying? Moss wouldn't even have run the pattern.

Both Aikman and Young took 3 and 5 step drops, not 7. There was not much blitzing-- compared to today. Twice, on crucial 3rd and longs, Aikman dropped 5 steps, hesitated, and dumped to Emmitt Smith-- once for 15 yards and a first down, once for about 12 yards and a touchdown. It's shocking that the 49ers would ignore Smith, who began both plays as a blocker. Smith was at the height of his greatness in this game: running, blocking, receiving, protecting the ball. He was such a pleasure to watch. He could do one thing about as good as anyone: he could make a defender miss within a very small space. He did it twice while I watched. Once, Emmitt had about 12 inches of space on either side. A normal runner would've been dead. Somehow, Emmitt "Ole'd" the defender and went through that little space.

Leon Lett was a monster in this game. Thomas Everett was all grit and guile. Without a salary cap, this team would have won who knows how many Super Bowls. Even when the 49ers beat them in that great Championship Game in 1994, the Cowboys had already suffered significant Salary Cap losses: Ken Norton was playing for the 49ers, defensive Linemen were gone, Kevin Gogan was gone. This 1992 Cowboys team was impossibly deep and impossibly young. That's why they would've run off an incredible streak of Super Bowls. My opinion, anyway. Shared by a lot of others.

It still amazes that rookies Kevin Smith and Larry Brown stood up against Rice and John Taylor. Course they had some help. Still...

Aikman and Smith protected the ball. Young and Ricky Waters turned it over. That was the difference in the game. Without the turnovers, these teams might of played dead even. To me, protecting the ball is an attribute of great players. It's not an accident.

Anyway, it was an enjoyable 45 minutes of viewing. The winning touchdown was scored by a golden oldie: Kelvin Martin! Number 83. Worming the ball juuust atop the Goal Line with an ankle high shimmy. That was a great game.

The Wookie Defense

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Johnnie Cochran made a court appearance in a famous Southpark episode. He was losing his case. So, in his closing argument, Cochran pulled out his secret weapon: the "Wookie Defense." When plaintiff's attorney saw the "Wookie Defense" coming, he buried his head in his hands.

Cochran unrolled a huge picture of Chewbaka. I'll get some details wrong, but this is close what he said:

"Ladies and gentlemen of the supposed jury, this...is Chewbaka. Chewbaka is a Wookie from the planet Enduron. But Chewbaka lives with a bunch of Ewoks on the planet Endor. Why would an 8' tall Wookie live with a bunch of Ewoks on a different planet? Does that make sense?

That does not make sense. Ladies and gentlemen of the supposed jury, does it make sense that Chewbaka would live on Endor?

It does not make sense!

This case does not make sense!

How can my client be guilty if Chewbaka is livin on Endor with a bunch of Ewoks? It does not make sense! If Chewbaka lives on Endor you must acquit! Thank you."

Of course, Cochran won an acquittal, countersued, and won millions of dollars from Chef. Chef decided to gigolo himself out to raise funds to pay the lawsuit. The children tried to raise funds by selling baked goods to Chef's old music industry friends, and we learned that Chef inspired Meat Loaf to ditch his previous performing name: Cous Cous. But that's another story.

TCU-Houston

A first hand account from the Houston office:

Attended the TCU – Houston match last night.

· Do you know how long it takes to score 117 points? The most ever in a U of H game, breaking the record of 116 set in the 1989 Houston romp of SMU (95-21).

· Hobbs reminds me of some old Cowboys running back that I can’t remember, but Merrill reminds me of Emmett Smith. 204 very impressive yards.

· The whole game was sort of like overtime, if you didn’t score a touchdown on a possession then it was considered a failure.

· The TCU defense only stopped the Houston offense once from early in the 2Q to the end of the game. This and the Houston unforced fumble in the 4Q were the difference in the game.

· Houston was down 15 pts with 6 minutes to play. They had 4th and 10 from their own ~35. They punted. Sounds like a reasonable move, but it was a big screw up by the Houston coaching staff. They had a better chance of making 4th and 10 than their defense stopping TCU.

· Drop back passers and running (only) quarterbacks are soon to be extinct in the NCAA. Reggie McNeal gets a lot of press at A&M, but there are a dozen other quarterbacks in the south alone that can run and pass as good or better. Houston’s offense is to spread four wide outs to the four corners on every play. The running play is a designed quarterback scramble. Houston quarterback had 114 yards. Most of them on what I believe were designed quarterback draws/scrambles.

· Stupid rule – quarterbacks can intentionally ground when outside the tackles. College rules favor the offense. No matter how good your defense is, you can’t win consistently without a powerful offense.

· I’m not too sure about TCU being the best team in Texas. I think a TCU – Tech match would end up 84 – 72 with Tech on top. I suspect UT’s size would squash TCU, but I’d still like to see the game. They say that Texas is too much flash and not enough substance. When it comes to flash, TCU could certainly hold their own against the Horns.

· Second Runner-up Best Karen Comment: “Why do all the Frog fans make rabbit hand puppets whenever they kick-off?”

· First Runner-up Best Karen Comment: As the Frog and Cougar mascots are fake fighting on the sideline - “They're both nearly extinct and really don’t want to be hurting each other.”

· Best Karen Comment: “Who let the Frogs out?.....Who!? Who!? Who!? Who!? Who!?

Can’t wait to see the BCS rankings.

Jeff


Greg's comments:

1) if the Frog fans make rabbit hand puppets on every kickoff, they must have carpal tunnel by now.

2) its an interesting situation when a RB(Hobbs) gains 100 yards and its not that impressive of a performance.

Thanks for the first hand account!!

TCU 62 - Houston 55

There was no overtime. This was the closest thing to touch football that I've ever seen.

In the previous 5 games, TCU had given up 61 total points. TCU was allowing an average of 278 Total Yards per game going in. Houston had 685 yards total offense in the game.

TCU lost their veteran safety 3 weeks ago. He was arguably their best defender, and he ran the coverages in the secondary. TCU's secondary was completely confused against Houston, and allowed receivers to run free all day.

Houston completed only 17 passes- for 442 yards! Houston averaged 26 yards per completion! I've never heard of anything like that in any game.

TCU's starting QB did not suit up. The backup QB threw 17 of 27 for 375 and 4 TD's, 0 Int's, plus 10 rushes for 66 yards.

TCU Redshirt freshman Robert Merrill rushed for 204 yards. TCU sophomore Lonta Hobbs rushed for 102 yards (shades of the Pony Express!).

TCU rushed for 407 yards, and passed for 375 yards, setting a school record of 782 total yards in the game.

The Houston QB threw for 442 yards and rushed for 114 yards.

Houston had a receiver catch 6 for 232 with 2 TD's.

TCU had a receiver catch 6 for 171 with 2 TD's, then add a rushing TD for his 3rd TD of the game. This kid went to high school in Houston, so this was a memorable day for him.

Both teams combined for 63 first downs.

The combined point total of 117 is a Conference USA record.

There were no defensive touchdowns in the game.

I'm hoping Jeff and Karen saw this game from the end zone!

Kill Bill

"This my finest sword. If in your journey you should encounter God, God will be cut."

This is exuberant moviemaking!

It is waaay bloody. Samurai Swords and Bushido Honor Code run all through the movie. The combination consistently leads to blood and death.

You forgive the blood because the movie is a modern fable/cartoon. It is Japanese Anime come to life. A realistic fable wouldn't be as much fun- and, come to think of it, wouldn't even be a fable!

The movie is all about action. Roger Ebert: "The movie is all storytelling and no story." He means it as a compliment.

More Ebert: "Quentin Tarantino is so effortlessly and brilliantly in command of his technique that he reminds me of a virtuoso violinist racing through 'Flight of the Bumble Bee.'" http://www.suntimes.com/index/ebert1.html

Another reviewer says the movie "is for the 15 year old boy in all of us."

The movie is for the 7 year old boy in me, because that's when I was introduced to the "Green Hornet" TV show, and the Green Hornet's trusty sidekick "Kato"(Bruce Lee). Since that age, I have never doubted that one exceptional martial artist could dispense with 6 or 12 or 20 sequentially attacking opponents. If you doubt this premise, or the premise that one's opponents naturally attack in sequence instead of en masse, then this is not the movie for you.

I am not an expert, but I noticed nodding homages to:

Chop Socky (of course)

Star Wars- with an overt nod to Yoda and Luke, and even "The Force"

Blaxploitation

Pulp Fiction

Dressed to Kill, which itself was an homage to Psycho

Smokey and the Bandit


The Amazing Bob

Just saw an adrenaline-fueled pregame skirmish be thwarted by Texas and OU coaches, who charged headlong into the middle of the gestating riot and forced their respective players back to their areas.

Watching Bob Stoops scream and shove and gesticulate at his charges, I was reminded of nothing so much as a lion tamer at the circus- a Siegfeld and Roy fighting back the big cats, armed only with hubris and self-assured body language.

All Stoops was missing was a whip and a chair: "Watch the Amazing Bob place his head inside the Defensive Tackle's mouth! Let's give him a hand! Now watch the Amazing Bob call for a fake punt on 4th and 8!"



Tiger Stadium

Just watched LSU come onto the field at Tiger Stadium for the Florida game. Every college team coming onto the field is a good moment, but LSU has raised it to an art.

When the Tigers come out of their locker room, a video feed goes out to 100,000 fans, who jump to their feet and begin to build the din of noise. On video, the fans watch the players walk down a short ramp and touch a tasteful "Win" sign as they squeeze through ancient double doors and assimilate under a goal post. The sign is the only touch of moderation in this stadium at this moment.

The LSU band has formed thick parallel columns on the hash marks, walling an alley from the goal line to the 25 yard line. Each column is a full 5 yards of thickness, and is dense with horn players and flautist packed in a tight formation. The columns are imposing. They convey power and strength.

The fans are fueled with alcohol and adrenaline. They are screaming for their heroes. And now the heroes start through the columns, not wildly and out of control, but slowly, like a composed and formidable lava mass that spreads when it exits mouth of the columns, devouring the earth before it. And now the band blasts the familiar and exuberant notes as noise in the stadium crescendos into a louder roar- like that of a jumbo jet approaching and passing directly over your head. Scowling tiger roars can be dimly heard over the stadium loudspeakers. It is quite wonderful, and worth the price of admission.

"White man's math" and "the mathematics of exclusion"

Jay Nordlinger at National Review Online:

Verbal tests are constantly accused of racial bias, but how about math tests? The Thernstroms wonder how those can be biased.

Ah, but reason has little place in this realm. The president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics - no less - said - get this - "Traditional mathematics is the mathematics of exclusion." There you have it.

I know a man - a math prof - who, years ago, spent a sabbatical in South Africa. Someone there told him, "We don't believe the white man's math."