Bear Down Wildcats

azpenguin wrote:I went to the 2008 NM game and the Lobo fans were actually a fun bunch. I'm a hiker, so I've got some good cold weather gear to bring out (make sure you've got something to keep your head warm or else the rest of you will freeze no matter what.) As for food... sure, I suppose you could hit a casino buffet, but why? Go hit up Laguna Burger out there for a killer green chile cheeseburger, one of the best you'll find anywhere. Stop by the Frontier downtown. There's so much good food out that way and hitting a casino buffet would be a waste.

I'll take all of this into account. On the way there we plan to stop for Chile at a hole-in-the-wall place in Gallup called Jerry's.

Buffets are expensive anyway, we'll look into something in the city.

this is great -- we should start a wiki-style BDWC travel guide with recommended places to see, stay, dine, etc. (and maybe pertinent info about the venue & home fans) as folks from the board travel out for games. would be an excellent resource.

dirtbags wrote:this is great -- we should start a wiki-style BDWC travel guide with recommended places to see, stay, dine, etc. (and maybe pertinent info about the venue & home fans) as folks from the board travel out for games. would be an excellent resource.

viewforum.php?f=33" target="_blank

thank you! i guess i should've ventured outside of the UA sports forums before posting.

dirtbags wrote:thank you! i guess i should've ventured outside of the UA sports forums before posting.

It's a brave new world out there.

I'm going. Wanted to stop by Pie Town on the way there but all the cafe's look like they are closed this time of year. Taking my son on Friday, returning on Sunday. Have a buddy doing the same. Road Trip.

Line down to -10.

UALoco wrote:I'm going. Wanted to stop by Pie Town on the way there but all the cafe's look like they are closed this time of year. Taking my son on Friday, returning on Sunday. Have a buddy doing the same. Road Trip.

woah - pie town sounds awesome. bummer about the seasonal closure.

If anybody is interested the Pac-12 Network just started the 2012 New Mexico Bowl.

I'm wondering why a home town sports reporter would publicly proclaim their next opponent to be terrible and then laugh. They might be terrible, I don't know. Why would they say something that would deliberately incite your next opponent? If I was a NM coach and saw that I'd put it up in the locker room and make my team view it every day. There's a lot of other tactful ways to imply a team isn't so good without just blantantly insulting them.

tgrumpy2 wrote:I'm wondering why a home town sports reporter would publicly proclaim their next opponent to be terrible and then laugh. They might be terrible, I don't know. Why would they say something that would deliberately incite your next opponent? If I was a NM coach and saw that I'd put it up in the locker room and make my team view it every day. There's a lot of other tactful ways to imply a team isn't so good without just blantantly insulting them.

Care to post a link to what you are talking about?

azgreg wrote:

tgrumpy2 wrote:I'm wondering why a home town sports reporter would publicly proclaim their next opponent to be terrible and then laugh. They might be terrible, I don't know. Why would they say something that would deliberately incite your next opponent? If I was a NM coach and saw that I'd put it up in the locker room and make my team view it every day. There's a lot of other tactful ways to imply a team isn't so good without just blantantly insulting them.

Care to post a link to what you are talking about?

http://tucson.com/sports/columnists/han ... 66382.html" target="_blank

I don't put much stock in what pundits say. Now if a member of the team or coaching staff did, then yea, it would be bulletin board worthy.

Does anyone ever put any stock into what greg hansen says?

Fishclamps wrote:Does anyone ever put any stock into what greg hansen says?

Because of a number of reasons I don't any more. He seems to be convinced RR is leaving at the end of next year and he says we aren't going to be any good anyway. Maybe if we go 8-4 or better and RR stays at the end of the year, he should leave.

I don't doubt RR may leave end of next year, but Hansen is the last person I would expect to predict anything correctly.

What was it that Hansen said was 99.9% certainty? Gimino said 0 chance. Guess who was right?

Maybe it was Solomon playing vs. ASU?

Merkin wrote:I don't doubt RR may leave end of next year, but Hansen is the last person I would expect to predict anything correctly.

What was it that Hansen said was 99.9% certainty? Gimino said 0 chance. Guess who was right?

Maybe it was Solomon playing vs. ASU?

Scooby vs. ASU

The only thing I heard in that horrible representation of Tucson was what spewed out of that gerbil lover...we will not be good next year.......yawn

I get it, you like to come across as the bad guy, real doom & gloom journalism. You're a fraud.

Look forward to you kissing Rich Rod's ass after the Cats prove you wrong, yet again you ass pirate!

BTFD

Michael Lev is the new writer for The Tucson Star. Used to cover USC.

Depth chart.

https://admin.xosn.com/pdf9/4259107.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=30700&" target="_blank

azgreg wrote:

Michael Lev is the new writer for The Tucson Star. Used to cover USC.

Great hire by the Star!

Worked at the OC Register had a world class mullet back in the day, but a damn good journalist!

That colon ranger could learn a lot from Michael.......

tgrumpy2 wrote:I'm wondering why a home town sports reporter would publicly proclaim their next opponent to be terrible and then laugh. They might be terrible, I don't know. Why would they say something that would deliberately incite your next opponent? If I was a NM coach and saw that I'd put it up in the locker room and make my team view it every day. There's a lot of other tactful ways to imply a team isn't so good without just blantantly insulting them.

Hansen should stick to written journalism... He does not come off well on video and never has. Not sure whether or not RR will be back past next season, but his logic doesn't make sense. I don't know why he says we'll be no good next year, and if we aren't - where is RR going to leave for? He's not getting an offer that's any better than ntSC, and he is not making any BCS program's A (or B) list unless we have a good 2016.

As for denigrating UNM... Who cares. He's a local reporter that nobody pays attention to, anyway. And Mike Stoops had a couple of good seasons in a row... but unless you are grading on a curve, I would not say he had 3 - and there was only one that might be called 'really' good.

That said, he was dead-on with a few things IMO. I absolutely believe that RR had intended to take the SC job and backed off because they wouldn't give him a big raise. He's also right that while most UofA fans don't care about his failure in Ann Arbor, it is how the rest of the country defines him. And whether UNM is any good or not, losing to them would be an embarrassment.

As for Finley, he effectively filled the role of slurper to Hansen's negativity. "For a coach the caliber of Rich Rod, wouldn't you think SC would pony up more money? They did not offer him ANY more than lil' old Arizona." Ryan, there is a reason he was on the C list to begin with - and lil' old Arizona is paying him the 3rd highest salary in the PAC. For staying in the middle of the pack with one very nice season.

I loved "the kind of recruits you want are not going to visit Tucson" comment... Cuz Tucson sucks so bad? Why is it that elite Hoops players visit and choose to play college ball in Tucson all the time. I guess basketball players like the desert and football players don't?

Ahh... No, it's the fan support. Here we go with the chicken or egg question again. Outside of Eugene, fan support in Tucson will rival any other school in the conference - and will track to the quality of the product.
Someone needs to tell Finley that "it's just business".

Hansen says stupid things, but Finley's attitude that "Tucson is a putrid little FBS town and UA is lucky to have a ROCKSTAR coach like RR" is at least as annoying.

Love me some Harvey......well done as always.

Oh and RR, Just win, it's just business from here on out

I feel like there's some lingering disdain here...

Fishclamps wrote:I feel like there's some lingering disdain here...

Yeah... There is some of that, but probably not as much as you think. And there is plenty of fawning over our elite coach that we should feel lucky to have. Watch the Hansen video and tell me that he did not make some valid points (along with some stupid ones). Or that Finley did not represent the fawning apologist contingent within our fanbase.

RR is not married to us, and that's fine. Not sure why we should feel married to him, either. The fact is that Rich Rod is still damaged goods in the eyes of most fans of college football, and we are viewed as a sub-elite program that has had brushes with greatness in the modern era that were infrequent and fleeting. Let's be real here; we have a marriage of symbiotic convenience - For both parties. He was not going to get a better shot than we gave him, and we are compensating him quite nicely for where his stock currently trades. We were not going to attract a coach with more upside potential without taking on even bigger risks.

We aren't any luckier than he is, and he will be here so long as A) he proves he is worth what we are paying for him and B) no more attractive/ lucrative opportunity surfaces for him. It really is just business, for both him and us.

Nice write-up about our old rivalry.

http://www.azdesertswarm.com/football/2 ... le?ref=yfp" target="_blank

Harvey Specter wrote:

Fishclamps wrote:I feel like there's some lingering disdain here...

Yeah... There is some of that, but probably not as much as you think. And there is plenty of fawning over our elite coach that we should feel lucky to have. Watch the Hansen video and tell me that he did not make some valid points (along with some stupid ones). Or that Finley did not represent the fawning apologist contingent within our fanbase.

RR is not married to us, and that's fine. Not sure why we should feel married to him, either. The fact is that Rich Rod is still damaged goods in the eyes of most fans of college football, and we are viewed as a sub-elite program that has had brushes with greatness in the modern era that were infrequent and fleeting. Let's be real here; we have a marriage of symbiotic convenience - For both parties. He was not going to get a better shot than we gave him, and we are compensating him quite nicely for where his stock currently trades. We were not going to attract a coach with more upside potential without taking on even bigger risks.

We aren't any luckier than he is, and he will be so long as A) he proves he is worth what we are paying for him and B) no more attractive/ lucrative opportunity surfaces for him. It really is just business, for both him and us.

Nice post. I suspect UA, from the fans through GB, was a lot more married to RR before his dalliance with SC. It is now crystal clear RR was never married to UA. It will be interesting to see what turn business takes should RR screw the pooch again next season.

MrMeow wrote:

Harvey Specter wrote:

Fishclamps wrote:I feel like there's some lingering disdain here...

Yeah... There is some of that, but probably not as much as you think. And there is plenty of fawning over our elite coach that we should feel lucky to have. Watch the Hansen video and tell me that he did not make some valid points (along with some stupid ones). Or that Finley did not represent the fawning apologist contingent within our fanbase.

RR is not married to us, and that's fine. Not sure why we should feel married to him, either. The fact is that Rich Rod is still damaged goods in the eyes of most fans of college football, and we are viewed as a sub-elite program that has had brushes with greatness in the modern era that were infrequent and fleeting. Let's be real here; we have a marriage of symbiotic convenience - For both parties. He was not going to get a better shot than we gave him, and we are compensating him quite nicely for where his stock currently trades. We were not going to attract a coach with more upside potential without taking on even bigger risks.

We aren't any luckier than he is, and he will be so long as A) he proves he is worth what we are paying for him and B) no more attractive/ lucrative opportunity surfaces for him. It really is just business, for both him and us.

Nice post. I suspect UA, from the fans through GB, was a lot more married to RR before his dalliance with SC. It is now crystal clear RR was never married to UA. It will be interesting to see what turn business takes should RR screw the pooch again next season.

My "knee-jerk, gut reaction" take:

9+ regular season wins (6+ in P12) = Raise + Extension with a bigger buyout for RR (= vested retention pool) if he bolts

8 wins (5 in P12) = Moderate raise and 1 year extension

7 wins (4 in P12) = No raise, No (or 1 year) extension

6 wins (3 in P12) = Definitely NO raise OR extension... 50/50 on termination (EDIT: That moves to 100% if they lose whatever bottom-of-the-barrel bowl game they play in)

5 wins or less = Termination without prejudice. No debate.

A good start would be to beat UNM and end up 7-6.

A loss at the Gliden bowl would leave the Cats with a losing record, and if he goes 6-7 next year with a healthy Solomon/Wilson then it would be time to move on.

Merkin wrote:A good start would be to beat UNM and end up 7-6.

A loss at the Gliden bowl would leave the Cats with a losing record, and if he goes 6-7 next year with a healthy Solomon/Wilson then it would be time to move on.

Regardless of Saturday, a 6-7 record next year and it is time to move on.

I agree with Harvey with one caveat, I would not extend or give a raise for 9+ wins. He is already getting 6m in retention money so he has earned that. NO ship, no bump.

He set the rules of engagement, get to it RR. Win Saturday and fix that damn defense

Harvey Specter wrote:

Merkin wrote:A good start would be to beat UNM and end up 7-6.

A loss at the Gliden bowl would leave the Cats with a losing record, and if he goes 6-7 next year with a healthy Solomon/Wilson then it would be time to move on.

Regardless of Saturday, a 6-7 record next year and it is time to move on regardless.

True enough, we saw the same downward trend with Tomey and Stoops, and it was time for them.

Lame. That's what we get for losing to Asu and playing in the first bowl of the year, even less time to heal our decimated team.

azgreg wrote:

What is the extend of Wilson Injury? I understand Baker is capable back up for Wilson but if he hasn't practice all day then what is his injury that he suffer.

I think Wilson will need surgery after the year. He has had a really tough year. Hope we see alot of Bradford this Saturday

Surgery for what?

cordera89 wrote:Surgery for what?

Couldn't tell you but the kid can't even practice and had been out almost the whole second half of the year. This appears to be a case of normal healing not making a difference

Has Bradford healed up? He hurt his hand really bad before the USC game.

Last injury report said knee if I remember right so maybe he tore something. His other injuries were ankle and foot which normally don't require surgery.

Very brittle back.

Line down to -8

Reports are ticket sales have gone over 27K.

azgreg wrote:Reports are ticket sales have gone over 27K.

With 24k to new Mexico fans. Going to be a relatively full true road game.

Wilson's injury is a S&C mess up. That's all you're going to hear about it. First it was the knee and then the ankle.

Looks like the weather is going to be good for Saturday. High of 52° and clear.

chiefzona wrote:Wilson's injury is a S&C mess up. That's all you're going to hear about it. First it was the knee and then the ankle.

That's just awful. Awful for Nick, awful for the team, and awful for the S&C program. Would make me think twice if I was a player or parent.

chiefzona wrote:Wilson's injury is a S&C mess up. That's all you're going to hear about it. First it was the knee and then the ankle.

From Lifting improperly or are you saying it was how we are going about things?

azcat49 wrote:

chiefzona wrote:Wilson's injury is a S&C mess up. That's all you're going to hear about it. First it was the knee and then the ankle.

From Lifting improperly or are you saying it was how we are going about things?

Going about things. It's not a good thing. Hopefully, he'll be ready for the early spring practices.