Meltdown at asu site

[Irish27]

Looks like they are are sick of Tracy Smith and want a new coach. Guess the UofA getting to the championship series in Johnson's first year is not setting well with their fans. This year's asu team is not that good and the fans have had it.
http://www.scout.com/college/arizona-st ... cysmithnow" target="_blank

Here are some hilarious quotes from their game thread today.

Re: UCLA (12-12, 5-3) @ ASU (12-13, 2-6) Game #3 Thread (12:3...
2:55 PM spayNnueterallCATS wrote:
Somewhere in Tuscum right now, Brandon Higelin is smiling. Makes me sick to my stomach. #FloodRA&BocchiInbox
Andy Lopez left Jay Johnson some talent and JJ took it and made it even better and filled in the gaps with JC kids. Smith took a team with good pitchers and solid position players his first year and did nothing to improve it and actually regressed some of it.
bluesundevil wrote:
Maybe we should take a page out of the Rats' playbook (with the hiring of ASU alum Greg Byrne) and try to hire Jay Johnson. I doubt he would take the job if offered, but this ASU fan wouldn't be complaining if that happened. Dude can flat out coach (especially hitting).

spayNnueterallCATS wrote:
If UofA keeps winning and stays ranked top 10 then Skip better turn his twitter off because not only will angry ASU fans tweet him in disgust but UA fans will start trolling him.

[prh]

Some funny stuff over there. Some pretty good discussion around their coaching situation/history too, to be fair. Also found this gem

We are building something special in men's hoops

[Chicat]

Some funny stuff over there. Some pretty good discussion around their coaching situation/history too, to be fair. Also found this gem

We are building something special in men's hoops

"Special" like the Special Olympics?

[ASUHATER!]

They're melting down again.

[zonagrad]

They're melting down again.

Beat Down on ASU baseball. A banner year for ASU's three major sports teams: under .500 and no bowl in football + thrashed by your rival. Swept in basketball by rival and sub .500 record and obviously no post-season. Sub .500 record in baseball and getting thrashed by rival. How much more money does ASU pay its coaches???

[EVCat]

This is going to be a great Spring/Summer season for us.

ASU's troubles are their own must see TV, but our baseball team, minus that blip in Corvallis (where we were very much competitive with them but couldn't catch a break...a walk off passed ball scores from 2nd? Cmon), the girls and dudes are ripping it up.

Women are 37-1 with a loss to #1 FSU. This has to be the year we break through and get back to OKC.

Men are 21-7, and just evened out the sweep at Corvallis with a sweep of USC. We have some pen issues that I think will shake out with time as we have young arms. But we have the starters to go 3 or 4 deep. And the hitting. And the pressure...example: Vs USC, I was sitting with a friend and pointed out to him that Boyd was up with 2 outs and a runner on, so normally you wouldn't bunt, but USC had their 3B on baseline depth. That was the threat. Boyd swung away, and that 3B drifted back to normal depth. And...Boyd laid down a bunt single. I love this ball. I was a Dodgers fan growing up but loved watching the Cardinals of the 80's. Watching us is like watching the Cardinals of the 80's. Except our Jack Clarks hit for average.

[JMarkJohns]

Some funny stuff over there. Some pretty good discussion around their coaching situation/history too, to be fair. Also found this gem

We are building something special in men's hoops

"Special" like the Special Olympics?

In their defense, being almost good enough to be considered for the NIT is pretty special. If they can replicate that special success next year, the world will be their pearl-less oyster!

[ChooChooCat]

This is going to be a great Spring/Summer season for us.

ASU's troubles are their own must see TV, but our baseball team, minus that blip in Corvallis (where we were very much competitive with them but couldn't catch a break...a walk off passed ball scores from 2nd? Cmon), the girls and dudes are ripping it up.

Women are 37-1 with a loss to #1 FSU. This has to be the year we break through and get back to OKC.

Men are 21-7, and just evened out the sweep at Corvallis with a sweep of USC. We have some pen issues that I think will shake out with time as we have young arms. But we have the starters to go 3 or 4 deep. And the hitting. And the pressure...example: Vs USC, I was sitting with a friend and pointed out to him that Boyd was up with 2 outs and a runner on, so normally you wouldn't bunt, but USC had their 3B on baseline depth. That was the threat. Boyd swung away, and that 3B drifted back to normal depth. And...Boyd laid down a bunt single. I love this ball. I was a Dodgers fan growing up but loved watching the Cardinals of the 80's. Watching us is like watching the Cardinals of the 80's. Except our Jack Clarks hit for average.

In general this team certainly missed having Louis Boyd namely during the Beavers series.

[EVCat]

Looks like they are are sick of Tracy Smith and want a new coach. Guess the UofA getting to the championship series in Johnson's first year is not setting well with their fans. This year's asu team is not that good and the fans have had it.
http://www.scout.com/college/arizona-st ... cysmithnow" target="_blank

Here are some hilarious quotes from their game thread today.

Re: UCLA (12-12, 5-3) @ ASU (12-13, 2-6) Game #3 Thread (12:3...
2:55 PM spayNnueterallCATS wrote:
Somewhere in Tuscum right now, Brandon Higelin is smiling. Makes me sick to my stomach. #FloodRA&BocchiInbox
Andy Lopez left Jay Johnson some talent and JJ took it and made it even better and filled in the gaps with JC kids. Smith took a team with good pitchers and solid position players his first year and did nothing to improve it and actually regressed some of it.
bluesundevil wrote:
Maybe we should take a page out of the Rats' playbook (with the hiring of ASU alum Greg Byrne) and try to hire Jay Johnson. I doubt he would take the job if offered, but this ASU fan wouldn't be complaining if that happened. Dude can flat out coach (especially hitting).

spayNnueterallCATS wrote:
If UofA keeps winning and stays ranked top 10 then Skip better turn his twitter off because not only will angry ASU fans tweet him in disgust but UA fans will start trolling him.

It's amazing...if there is one thing ASU fan knows how to do when it comes to baseball, it is cause divides in its fanbase over coaches. I have never seen a program be more territorial about their favorite coach, or least favorite coach. The Winkles people hated the Brock people. The Brock people hated the Murphy people. They all hated Esmay. They really aren't able to tell that THEY are actually a large part of the problem. They have never supported a coach off the bat...they actively look to destroy their coaches until they win, undercutting them all the way up to a title (which, of course, they haven't had since Brock).

Their analysis is also amazing. One guy says Esmay failed because he played his kids too much and that lost the team. C'mon. Even if that was a factor, it was not the overriding factor in the success or failure of the Esmay Sun Devils. It is excuse making and also that simplest of analysis...find one factor that sounds reasonable when said out loud and hammer it home despite no actual evidence to support. Now, this guy...he comes in from having competed at his alma mater in Miami and then turning Indiana into a national contender. Not easy to do. He comes in off a firing for performance, not an ascending coach leaving, so he has to put some stuff together in the face of failure...and goes 18-12 in conference and 3rd in the PAC. Now, he has one season of recruiting, and really, his full year of recruiting hasn't even hit campus...and these fools want to run him off because their armchair analysis has his decisions as equal to an inebriated co-ed or whatever.

ASU doesn't necessarily have a coaching problem...that is yet to be seen. But their baseball program has, and has had for years, a culture problem. Their culture is to hate whomever is there, and it has been a tradition since the 70s.

[Main Event]

From the game thread

Uofa football, basketball, and baseball will sweep Asu this year.

How hard Asu has fallen, and falling to uofa is a joke. I get basketball, since that is what uofa is, and will always be...... but when Asu football can't beat the worst uofa team in the history of their program, and suddenly with a two year coach uofa is a baseball powerhouse and Asu no longer exists..... this is like a nightmare. I mean the best part of Asu sports this year was hoping and praying uofa basketball would lose unexpectedly in the NCAA basketball tournament. Luckily that happened!! That was the best part of Asu this year was uofa losing. Sad sad sad state of affairs at Asu right now folks.

[azgreg]

[EVCat]

From the State Press...do they even try at the J School in Tempe, or downtown, or Maryvale or whereverthehell it is? I mean, the Cronkite is actually a pretty good school for what it does, but this is actually the beginning of an article in a newspaper produced by people older than 7

In a mid-week showdown, ASU baseball took on No. 8 Arizona Tuesday evening in Tucson. The Sun Devils (12-15, 2-7 Pac-12) eventually fell to the Wildcats (21-7, 5-4 Pac-12) 11-2.

Since this was a mid-week game, it didn't count in the Pac-12 standings.


This is how you might write an email, not a lede.

[EVCat]

Jeez...it gets worse

After a 5-4 win over UCLA on Saturday, it appeared the Sun Devils had turned the corner on their season. However, between ASU's series finale game against UCLA on Sunday and Tuesday's matchup with Arizona, the Sun Devils allowed 28 runs against them.

Never mind the silly content. "However....the Sun Devils allowed 28 runs against them." You mean instead of the Sun Devils allowing 28 runs against the Pope or the Coca Cola corporation? I mean, who else would the Sun Devils have allowed 28 runs against? The "...against them" is rather extraneous.

[Irish27]

http://www.scout.com/college/arizona-st ... ping-point" target="_blank

[Irish27]

http://www.cronkitesports.com/asu-baseb ... from-team/" target="_blank

[Irish27]

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/c ... 308620001/" target="_blank

[SirClinks]

Sounds like a total dumpster fire.

[Merkin]

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/c ... 308620001/

When you can't hit your weight...


Lillard started in 21 of his 37 games this season, hitting .202. He also played Friday as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning.

Willeford, a transfer in his first season at ASU, played in 19 games with 14 starts, hitting .186. He has been out due to a hamstring injury.

[azgreg]

Sounds like a total dumpster fire.