Saturday Commits

[whosiskid]

Haven't been posting OR reading much lately. Moved from Atlanta (after living there for two horrible years, after 32 wonderful years in Chicago) back home to Little Rock a month ago and I've been working like a mad man to get my house into shape.

I have read that most gurus expect Agim to commit to Arkansas on Saturday along with possibly one basketball prospect (McGriff) and one to two more football prospects.

Given that I've not been reading much lately, anyone know who those other potential FB commits are? I know it it too early in the process to get some great running back news, but I was hoping maybe Isaiah Graham.

Can anyone enlighten me?

[The problem in moving in is that I've TWICE lost my billfold. And organizing my books is a chore. I have just under 8,000 books, but only enough shelf space for about 6,500, so I have to box up a huge number. So I've despaired at the task and instead have been trying to get my Diablo III characters up to around 500 Paragon and finish The Last of Us on Grounded mode [man, that is hard, hard, hard - just had to jump back to Bill's Town from the Sniper area of the Pittsburgh suburbs, because I figure I wasted 7 or 8 bullets at the high school that might have made a difference later, plus I broke 2 or 3 arrows - on Grounded mode your two best friends in the world are arrows and bricks, both of which can preserve the very small number of bullets you get in the game. Point is, gaming is a distraction from unpleasant tasks. Also replayed Uncharted 2 and 3, most of Bioshock Infinite, and watched SCORPION Season 1 in a day and a half - could have boxed a lot of books during that time.]

[presidenthog]

just look up devin white and pray for his services.

[jjdlc]

I've heard several recruiting guys say the same thing, but as of yet, outside of Agim, I haven't heard any actual names mentioned.  If any of them actually do have any real inside info, they are playing it extremely close to their vest, going to have to just wait and see I guess.  RD did quote McGriff as saying committing was a possibility, but RD also said not to expect it.

[PorkRinds]

Is there a list of visitors for the game?

[ARtillahog]

Pennamon will probably flip this weekend or soon, and that's all I have.  So Agim and Pennamon(maybe) this weekend along with some Bball recruit I know nothing about.

Edit:  Just a suggestion, get rid of/donate some books and lay off the vidjeya games until the move is complete.  Then read more recruiting stuff bc you're usually on top of all of this stuff.

[Pig in the Pokey]

Haven't been posting OR reading much lately. Moved from Atlanta (after living there for two horrible years, after 32 wonderful years in Chicago) back home to Little Rock a month ago and I've been working like a mad man to get my house into shape.

I have read that most gurus expect Agim to commit to Arkansas on Saturday along with possibly one basketball prospect (McGriff) and one to two more football prospects.

Given that I've not been reading much lately, anyone know who those other potential FB commits are? I know it it too early in the process to get some great running back news, but I was hoping maybe Isaiah Graham.

Can anyone enlighten me?

[The problem in moving in is that I've TWICE lost my billfold. And organizing my books is a chore. I have just under 8,000 books, but only enough shelf space for about 6,500, so I have to box up a huge number. So I've despaired at the task and instead have been trying to get my Diablo III characters up to around 500 Paragon and finish The Last of Us on Grounded mode [man, that is hard, hard, hard - just had to jump back to Bill's Town from the Sniper area of the Pittsburgh suburbs, because I figure I wasted 7 or 8 bullets at the high school that might have made a difference later, plus I broke 2 or 3 arrows - on Grounded mode your two best friends in the world are arrows and bricks, both of which can preserve the very small number of bullets you get in the game. Point is, gaming is a distraction from unpleasant tasks. Also replayed Uncharted 2 and 3, most of Bioshock Infinite, and watched SCORPION Season 1 in a day and a half - could have boxed a lot of books during that time.]

i am laughing so hard at this post, Brother! welcome back.

[whosiskid]

Edit:  Just a suggestion, get rid of/donate some books and lay off the vidjeya games until the move is complete.  Then read more recruiting stuff bc you're usually on top of all of this stuff.

I already did! Gave away about 300 books in Atlanta but more than that would be cutting into my soul. I spent a huge amount of time deciding what books I'm going to buy, and most of them are academic in nature. Mainly philosophy, economics, and political philosophy, as well as most of the major classics of Western lit. I honestly don't own much fluff. Just boxing up books hurts a lot, let alone giving them away.

Anyway, that would be awesome about Pennamon. Like his versatility. Not a feature back, but - like Hammond - one of those X-factor type players. We've lacked that kind of player likely. I think Joe Adams was the last, which is one reason he is remembered so fondly (though when I read about the measurement of his hands at the pro combine I knew he wasn't going to be a pro - he had hands smaller than anyone in the NFL, while Jarius Wright, despite being shorter, had large hands). Pennamon and Hammond would make the team a lot more dangerous. Though I still think Devin White is a must-get. Getting Pennamon would really increase White's interest, I would think, since he would make the running game more flexible but wouldn't take many carries from White. Pennamon would be more of a change of pace back. I could imagine White and RW3 getting 20 to 30 carries a game and Pennamon 10 to 15, along with some pass plays and possible kick off return duty.

The need for someone like Pennamon highlights how weak the core of the team was when Petrino left. We've had to give almost all scholarships to players likely to form the backbone of the team. "Wrinkle" players have been shunted to the side. And the few who might have contributed, like Jojo Robinson, have had trouble adjusting to being in college. I think maybe Jojo may have turned a corner, but it still highlights how few players we've had who can play a more specific role we've had. I think we'll get more and more players like Pennamon and Hammond in the future. Or to use another metaphor, we've mainly had to recruit "thunder" type players, to the detriment of adding the "lightning." I think that is about to change.

[Music City Hog]

Pennamon is flipping this weekend?

[Huds_HawgTide]

No clue

[ARtillahog]

Pennamon is flipping this weekend?

According to the inferred comments that Otis took from CBB on the radio show last night.  Otis even changed his crystal ball prediction(I know its not a science but I think Otis thinks its a real crystal ball).

CBB referenced a Clay Jennings RB recruit who is an SEC commit.  Said they call the recruit and highlighted what the pros of being a RB at Arkansas could mean for his future.  And then Otis ran with it.

[Dominicanhog]

Haven't been posting OR reading much lately. Moved from Atlanta (after living there for two horrible years, after 32 wonderful years in Chicago) back home to Little Rock a month ago and I've been working like a mad man to get my house into shape.

didn't you say you lived near the lake in 3000's block ?  My 12 years there were awesome as well, great city...

[Music City Hog]

According to the inferred comments that Otis took from CBB on the radio show last night.  Otis even changed his crystal ball prediction(I know its not a science but I think Otis thinks its a real crystal ball).

CBB referenced a Clay Jennings RB recruit who is an SEC commit.  Said they call the recruit and highlighted what the pros of being a RB at Arkansas could mean for his future.  And then Otis ran with it.

Just read his comments.  He said we will get two commits tomorrow and the second is not Pennamon.  He thinks that will happen down the line somewhere. 

[ARtillahog]

Just read his comments.  He said we will get two commits tomorrow and the second is not Pennamon.  He thinks that will happen down the line somewhere.

Same here, just read some of his comments.  I was coming back to say I misspoke.

[Bubba's Bruisers]

So who's the 2nd commit, I wonder.  Hopefully White or an OL or LB.

[outlawhogeywells]

I still have not stopped laughing with the commit above that Otis ran

[Music City Hog]

So who's the 2nd commit, I wonder.  Hopefully White or an OL or LB.

White recently said he won't announce til NSD.

[zane]

Saw where we picked up a crystal ball pick for Carmouche by a Non-Arkansas writer (A&M I think)

[Huds_HawgTide]

No one has actually said we will have multiple on saturday...they specualted to next cpl weeks

[Music City Hog]

No one has actually said we will have multiple on saturday...they specualted to next cpl weeks

Otis and Danny both said they expect two tomorrow. 

[Huds_HawgTide]

Well then i stand corrected...then i guess we dont have long to wait...dont be dissappointed seeing how 18 yr olds change their minds worse then women if they hold off longer

[Scott7703]

Otis and Danny both said they expect two tomorrow. 

Who do you think the second will be MCH?

[redeye]

Welcome home Dr. Who!  I used to be the same way with books, until I ran out of room, and I didn't have nearly as many as you have.  Most of mine were academic in nature also, but computers and the internet have made many of them less valuable.  I finally got to the point where I hate books, but I still won't get rid of them all.

I've also been curious about these upcoming commits we keep hearing about.  I've heard speculation on Graham being one, but he's visiting in a couple of weeks and that seems like a better time for him.  Haven't seen anything that added up with Carmouche, either.  Pennamon would be awesome, so I hope he is one of them.  I could have been succinct and just said that I don't know.

Same here, just read some of his comments.  I was coming back to say I misspoke.

I'm glad you did.

[Music City Hog]

Who do you think the second will be MCH?

I wish I knew! 

An A&M recruiting guy made a crystal ball prediction for Carmouche to Arkansas this morning so I'll go with him.

[Bubba's Bruisers]

I was thinking Graham or Carmouche.

[jgphillips3]

I wish I knew! 

An A&M recruiting guy made a crystal ball prediction for Carmouche to Arkansas this morning so I'll go with him.

Carmouche to the Hogs...I like the sound of that.  If we get Agim tomorrow and either Pennamon to flip or Carmouche to commit, tomorrow will be a most excellent day indeed.

[Scott7703]

I wish I knew! 

An A&M recruiting guy made a crystal ball prediction for Carmouche to Arkansas this morning so I'll go with him.

He's my pick to but the whole secretive act being put on makes me think it could be someone bigger.

[HogHomer]

I was thinking Graham or Carmouche.

These are two that are most likely.
It could also be the 2017 Texas DE that is close with Agim. No sources just spitballing.

[Pig in the Pokey]

Pennamon is flipping this weekend?

would be funny to flip another ole pi$$ RB.

[JackJohnson]

According to the inferred comments that Otis took from CBB on the radio show last night.  Otis even changed his crystal ball prediction(I know its not a science but I think Otis thinks its a real crystal ball).

CBB referenced a Clay Jennings RB recruit who is an SEC commit.  Said they call the recruit and highlighted what the pros of being a RB at Arkansas could mean for his future.  And then Otis ran with it.

Didn't hear anything about any of this until I read ur post.  Here are my thoughts FWIW:

It's not Pennemon.  We have been on him for a long time.  If CBB and company JUST NOW are telling him about all of these positives about playing at Ark then that would be an utter recruiting failure of epic proportions to have not done it a really long time ago like when he was on our campus this summer and explain why he committed to OM over us and I know they are not incompetent recruiters.  Not saying he won't possibly flip to us at a later date though...

However CBB recently started following Rakeem Boyd on twitter- who doesn't have a known offer as of right now and just committed to A&M and is a Jennings recruit. So it would make sense that he would just now be hearing about this recruiting pitch if we have just now entered the picture for him and are actively recruiting him

A couple things on this though.  1- I am glad to see us actively targeting more RBs as White and Whaley are currently long shots.  2- why have we not been actively recruiting more RBs is a big mystery.  We planned on taking 2-3 per CBB so it would have been nice to not be so late to the party when there is so few uncommitted major RB targets left right now

[TM Hog]

I don't understand why running backs aren't falling all over themselves to play in this offense. It's perfect for stud running backs. Just don't get it. Plus a little exposure to Jerry Jones and the Cowboys can't hurt.

[Music City Hog]

I don't understand why running backs aren't falling all over themselves to play in this offense. It's perfect for stud running backs. Just don't get it. Plus a little exposure to Jerry Jones and the Cowboys can't hurt.

Because high school kids often care about imagine, sexiness, reputation,that they can say "I'm going to Bama", etc

We love the Razorbacks so we are biased, but Arkansas isn't "sexy".  Many of the big time kids wanna go to the prom with the prettiest girl.  They don't think through what may actually be the best situation for them.  They just wanna be a part of the in crowd.

[Paul]

would be funny to flip another ole pi$$ RB.
[/quote. Like we did RWIII last year

[MissippHog]

.......A couple things on this though.  1- I am glad to see us actively targeting more RBs as White and Whaley are currently long shots.  2- why have we not been actively recruiting more RBs is a big mystery.

I don't necessarily think that's the case.  Just look at the number of players that have pledged to us over the past couple of years that weren't on anyone's radar.  I just think this staff plays it close to the vest and doesn't leak all of the info out on who they are recruiting.

[OneTuskOverTheLine™]

just look up devin white and pray for his services.

Oh dear sweet baby Jesus.!!

[OneTuskOverTheLine™]

Because high school kids often care about imagine, sexiness, reputation,that they can say "I'm going to Bama", etc

We love the Razorbacks so we are biased, but Arkansas isn't "sexy".  Many of the big time kids wanna go to the prom with the prettiest girl.  They don't think through what may actually be the best situation for them.  They just wanna be a part of the in crowd.

Ok........

[RazorWhacker]

I don't understand why running backs aren't falling all over themselves to play in this offense. It's perfect for stud running backs. Just don't get it. Plus a little exposure to Jerry Jones and the Cowboys can't hurt.

We don't really know that they aren't. Maybe they are, but waiting til NSD to say so.

Just because somebody on a message board says White and Whaley are long shots doesn't mean they're long shots.

[Oklahawg]

Because high school kids often care about imagine, sexiness, reputation,that they can say "I'm going to Bama", etc

We love the Razorbacks so we are biased, but Arkansas isn't "sexy".  Many of the big time kids wanna go to the prom with the prettiest girl.  They don't think through what may actually be the best situation for them.  They just wanna be a part of the in crowd.

Fair point.

CBB certainly looks to find kids who will move past this mindset (as so many will not until they are 5th team at a school and regret it).

[redeye]

Didn't hear anything about any of this until I read ur post.  Here are my thoughts FWIW:

It's not Pennemon.  We have been on him for a long time.  If CBB and company JUST NOW are telling him about all of these positives about playing at Ark then that would be an utter recruiting failure of epic proportions to have not done it a really long time ago like when he was on our campus this summer and explain why he committed to OM over us and I know they are not incompetent recruiters.  Not saying he won't possibly flip to us at a later date though...

However CBB recently started following Rakeem Boyd on twitter- who doesn't have a known offer as of right now and just committed to A&M and is a Jennings recruit. So it would make sense that he would just now be hearing about this recruiting pitch if we have just now entered the picture for him and are actively recruiting him

I'll start by saying that I don't have a clue.  However, CBB may have just been giving lip service in the interview.  Also, it may be that Pennamon didn't have a committable offer until recently, so Bielema wasn't giving him full service.  I'm just playing the devil's advocate here, but other's have said this as if they knew what they were talking about, so for all I know, they could be right.

Rakeem Boyd is an interesting guess.  The thing I don't get is that I started hearing mumbling about him shortly BEFORE he committed to A&M.  So I have to ask, if he were interested, then why did he commit to A&M?

[whosiskid]

didn't you say you lived near the lake in 3000's block ?  My 12 years there were awesome as well, great city...

3421 North Seminary - one block west of the Clark/Newport/Sheffield trisection.

No longer exists. Well, exists, but the house was torn down along with the house immediately to the south of it to create a new 12 flat complex. It was an old house, from the first group of homes to be built in the first two decades of the twentieth century in Lakeview after the EL was built. That was, btw, a massive factor in why Wrigley was built. At that time it was sparsely populated, but the EL make it really easy to get up there to see games. I forget what team was there at the time. It was the old league that tried to compete with the AL and NL. Anyway, a lot of people don't know this, but the Chicago Cubs have NEVER won a World Championship playing at Wrigley. IN 1908 they played at a different ballpark, I think roughly where IIT now stands. That makes the Cubs' run of bad luck look even worse than it already does.

Another little known fact (outside Chicago). Wrigley Field is the place where the longstanding record of the most TDs by a single player in a game was set. I don't know the history of why the Bears sometimes played at Soldier Field and Sometimes at Wrigley, but in the sixties they mainly played at Wrigley. Gale Sayers - who is my all time favorite football player - scored six TDs in the mud as a Rookie. So many fans today don't realize how spectacular he was before he injured his knee (which today would be repaired arthroscopically and cause him to miss maybe 2 to 3 games). I don't know how many players in the history of the NFL you could say were a threat to score any time they touched the football, but Sayers was. He is the only player to this day that I've seen who could cut at less than a 90 degree angle at near full speed. The closest to Sayers was Barry Sanders, but Sanders didn't have Sayers's speed, though he had his elusiveness and quickness. What Sanders lacked was that higher gear that made him blow by every player on the field. After his second knee injury Sayers just didn't have that speed or quickness. It was so sad to see.

I will add that I saw long time Bear and Cub announcer Jack Brickhouse (Harry Carey moved from the White Sox to the Cubs upon Brickhouse's retirement) interviewed on WGN. The interviewer asked him, "Is Walter Payton the greatest running back you ever saw?" expecting him to say "Yes." Instead, Brickhouse said, "No. Gale Sayers." He went on to say that he and Jim Brown were the two best he'd seen. I agree, though I'd toss OJ Simpson in there somewhere. His becoming a murderer and thug has obscured how fracking awesome he was as a running back. I loved watching Joe Ferguson with Buffalo and as a result saw every game Simpson was in that was televised back in those pre-cable days. And Ahmad Rashad at WR.

But yeah, loved Chicago. It is a massive city yet doesn't always feel like a huge city. After my best buddy and land lady sold her house and the one she owned next door to developers, I moved to Rogers Park because I wanted to be as close as possible to the beach. I lived only two blocks away and would take my dog every single day on a walk along it. Most evenings when I got home I'd get ready and take Lion (the handsome fellow in the photo to the left) for his walk on the beach. We'd start on the extreme north end of the beach and walk all the way down to end of the Loyola campus. That is officially 0.8 miles each way. We very frequently would walk the 1.6 mile round trip in the winter without seeing a single person. I always let him off the leash and the cops didn't care. I never could get over the fact that you could walk on a major beach in one of the three largest cities in the United States for 1.6 miles and not encounter another soul. That would never happen in L.A. or NY. Yet it also had world class universities, great museums, zoos, and had an unreal music scene. I went to dozens of great rock concerts in small clubs (in 1990 - I still have the ticket stub - I went to a double bill to hear Eleventh Dream Day, still my all time favorite Chicago rock back [in their best line up a twin lead guitar band influenced by Neil Young and Television - their two best albums are LIVED TO TELL and the remix of the follow up album that the studio butchered but was only recently released in the form they preferred, STALLED PARADE, which was originally released as BEET - awesome twin lead guitars supplied by Baird Figi and frontman/singer/primary songwriter Rick Rizzo, who was married at the time to the drummer, who is half of the neo-Blue Grass band Freakwater, another great band - Eleventh Dream Day and NYC's Yo La Tengo would often perform together, and after Figi left the band YLT's Ira Kaplan has often sat in as a second guitarist - both EDD and YLT are the quintessential bands that music critics raved about but never hit it big -----

Just found this Youtube video from 1990, which was precisely when I first learned of them, a Dutch feature on both them and Green, led by Jeff Lescher, one of the best power-pop performers I ever heard - hearing "I Love Her" reminds me of how amazing Lescher was - a lot of critics compared him to Ray Davies of The Kinks and Alex Chilton of Memphis's Big Star, the latter in my opinion the greatest band to ever come out of the South, though they created Power Pop instead of playing what would later be known as Southern Rock - the pairing of their two studio albums # ONE RECORD and RADIO CITY is one of the ten greatest rock albums of all time - Chilton might be best known by casual music fans for singing at age 16 the song "The Letter," which was a Top Ten national hit for his band The Box Tops in the late sixties - a couple of year later instead of singing in a baritone he was suddenly a screaming tenor - The Replacements later did one of their greatest singles on him, titling it "Alex Chilton," in which Paul Westerberg sings "I don't go anywhere without my Big Star". I'm rambling, mainly because I just finished alphabetizing philosophy and need to turn my attention to Economics and then Cultural Studies and then Poetry - they are all piled up along a wall staring at me. Anyway here is the video - the sound quality isn't great, but the Jeff Lescher clips helped remind me of how amazing  he was:

BTW, their bass player, Doug McCombs, is one of the fixtures of the Chicago music scene, probably the top rock bass player in the city and plays with dozens of bands either live or on recordings, and was one of the founders of The Sea and Cake. They have played in various forms over the years, but right now they feature the three remaining original members in Rizzo, Janet Beveridge Bean, and McCombs, with the keyboardist they picked up a few years ago, and a new guitarist I don't know who plays very much in the style of Baird Figi

Why do I go on about this? Apart from procrastinating? THIS was MY Chicago. Going to predecessors of the Hideout and listening to bands like EDD (I would always look for the mixing board and stand right in front of it - best sound in the entire house regardless of where you go). Taking Lion for walks on Lake Michigan. Going for drinks at Blue Bird or Rainbow Club. Getting gameday tickets at Wrigley. Spending two or three hours in Powell's Bookstore. Sitting on the rocks along the lakeshore reading. And god I miss it all.

I love being back in Little Rock, but it isn't my Little Rock any longer. I don't know where to go to hear live music (Juanita's I know about, but I need to find where else). I feel alienated by the politics in the state, it being a blue state when I left for Yale in 1976 and it being a red state upon my return (I'm voting for Bernie Sanders straight down the line - if he doesn't get the nomination I'll write him in as a protest vote in November), but no one really understanding that for Arkansans to vote for Republicans is like Jews in 1930 voting for Hitler, utterly against their best interests. There is no major university in the city and I despair of finding anyone to discuss philosophy with. There are still all the great parks and hiking trails, but I'm older and not in great health at the moment.

So I'm kind of depressed and feel a tad alienated and my father died just before I moved back, though I'm incredibly grateful that I can be here for my mother, who is really beside herself. My Dad died two months ago today, btw. I want to find a church, but I'm theologically traditional on most issues (I am a heretic on one major belief, while the Baptist church in which I was raised has become heretical on another) but I'm progressive politically. I despair of finding a church where I'll be happy. In other words, was Thomas Wolfe right when he said you can't go home again?

At least there are the Razorbacks. Though even that has changed. I used to see 2 to 3 games a year in the sixties and seventies, but now there is just the one game in LR and tickets are literally 10 to 15 times more expensive. I'll probably go to next year's game.

[whosiskid]

I don't understand why running backs aren't falling all over themselves to play in this offense. It's perfect for stud running backs. Just don't get it. Plus a little exposure to Jerry Jones and the Cowboys can't hurt.

This is one of the great mysteries

But here is a question: do schools make the players or do players make the schools? I think CBB has an offense that is going to produce great running backs. Obviously, you have to have someone who is at least decent, but we already have that. RWIII is perfectly capable of being a 1,500 yard a year player for this team. I think Devin White would be even better, but I've written before that if Devin White does not go to Arkansas, he will never have a season where he has more yards than one or perhaps two Arkansas running backs. If our two main backs next year are RWIII and TJ Hammond (I know they are hoping to use him more as a slot player, but they also know he could play running back if needed), both will get more yards than White or Whalley EVERY SEASON THEY ARE EACH IN THE SEC. The only difference is that RWIII and Hammond would get JWill/Alex type numbers, whereas Devin White would get Montee Ball type numbers.

Keep in mind the top running backs didn't go to Wisconsin either. Yet CBB had a string of 1,000 yard rushers there. One more carry and Ball would been the third 1,000 yard rusher his freshman year. But there is a reason that so few CBB running backs have done well in the pros: the system made them. I could be wrong, but I think RWIII will lead all SEC freshmen in rushing. We are going to remain RBU.

[whosiskid]

If the linebacker

[Peter Porker]

3421 North Seminary - one block west of the Clark/Newport/Sheffield trisection.

No longer exists. Well, exists, but the house was torn down along with the house immediately to the south of it to create a new 12 flat complex. It was an old house, from the first group of homes to be built in the first two decades of the twentieth century in Lakeview after the EL was built. That was, btw, a massive factor in why Wrigley was built. At that time it was sparsely populated, but the EL make it really easy to get up there to see games. I forget what team was there at the time. It was the old league that tried to compete with the AL and NL. Anyway, a lot of people don't know this, but the Chicago Cubs have NEVER won a World Championship playing at Wrigley. IN 1908 they played at a different ballpark, I think roughly where IIT now stands. That makes the Cubs' run of bad luck look even worse than it already does.

Another little known fact (outside Chicago). Wrigley Field is the place where the longstanding record of the most TDs by a single player in a game was set. I don't know the history of why the Bears sometimes played at Soldier Field and Sometimes at Wrigley, but in the sixties they mainly played at Wrigley. Gale Sayers - who is my all time favorite football player - scored six TDs in the mud as a Rookie. So many fans today don't realize how spectacular he was before he injured his knee (which today would be repaired arthroscopically and cause him to miss maybe 2 to 3 games). I don't know how many players in the history of the NFL you could say were a threat to score any time they touched the football, but Sayers was. He is the only player to this day that I've seen who could cut at less than a 90 degree angle at near full speed. The closest to Sayers was Barry Sanders, but Sanders didn't have Sayers's speed, though he had his elusiveness and quickness. What Sanders lacked was that higher gear that made him blow by every player on the field. After his second knee injury Sayers just didn't have that speed or quickness. It was so sad to see.

I will add that I saw long time Bear and Cub announcer Jack Brickhouse (Harry Carey moved from the White Sox to the Cubs upon Brickhouse's retirement) interviewed on WGN. The interviewer asked him, "Is Walter Payton the greatest running back you ever saw?" expecting him to say "Yes." Instead, Brickhouse said, "No. Gale Sayers." He went on to say that he and Jim Brown were the two best he'd seen. I agree, though I'd toss OJ Simpson in there somewhere. His becoming a murderer and thug has obscured how fracking awesome he was as a running back. I loved watching Joe Ferguson with Buffalo and as a result saw every game Simpson was in that was televised back in those pre-cable days. And Ahmad Rashad at WR.

But yeah, loved Chicago. It is a massive city yet doesn't always feel like a huge city. After my best buddy and land lady sold her house and the one she owned next door to developers, I moved to Rogers Park because I wanted to be as close as possible to the beach. I lived only two blocks away and would take my dog every single day on a walk along it. Most evenings when I got home I'd get ready and take Lion (the handsome fellow in the photo to the left) for his walk on the beach. We'd start on the extreme north end of the beach and walk all the way down to end of the Loyola campus. That is officially 0.8 miles each way. We very frequently would walk the 1.6 mile round trip in the winter without seeing a single person. I always let him off the leash and the cops didn't care. I never could get over the fact that you could walk on a major beach in one of the three largest cities in the United States for 1.6 miles and not encounter another soul. That would never happen in L.A. or NY. Yet it also had world class universities, great museums, zoos, and had an unreal music scene. I went to dozens of great rock concerts in small clubs (in 1990 - I still have the ticket stub - I went to a double bill to hear Eleventh Dream Day, still my all time favorite Chicago rock back [in their best line up a twin lead guitar band influenced by Neil Young and Television - their two best albums are LIVED TO TELL and the remix of the follow up album that the studio butchered but was only recently released in the form they preferred, STALLED PARADE, which was originally released as BEET - awesome twin lead guitars supplied by Baird Figi and frontman/singer/primary songwriter Rick Rizzo, who was married at the time to the drummer, who is half of the neo-Blue Grass band Freakwater, another great band - Eleventh Dream Day and NYC's Yo La Tengo would often perform together, and after Figi left the band YLT's Ira Kaplan has often sat in as a second guitarist - both EDD and YLT are the quintessential bands that music critics raved about but never hit it big -----

Just found this Youtube video from 1990, which was precisely when I first learned of them, a Dutch feature on both them and Green, led by Jeff Lescher, one of the best power-pop performers I ever heard - hearing "I Love Her" reminds me of how amazing Lescher was - a lot of critics compared him to Ray Davies of The Kinks and Alex Chilton of Memphis's Big Star, the latter in my opinion the greatest band to ever come out of the South, though they created Power Pop instead of playing what would later be known as Southern Rock - the pairing of their two studio albums # ONE RECORD and RADIO CITY is one of the ten greatest rock albums of all time - Chilton might be best known by casual music fans for singing at age 16 the song "The Letter," which was a Top Ten national hit for his band The Box Tops in the late sixties - a couple of year later instead of singing in a baritone he was suddenly a screaming tenor - The Replacements later did one of their greatest singles on him, titling it "Alex Chilton," in which Paul Westerberg sings "I don't go anywhere without my Big Star". I'm rambling, mainly because I just finished alphabetizing philosophy and need to turn my attention to Economics and then Cultural Studies and then Poetry - they are all piled up along a wall staring at me. Anyway here is the video - the sound quality isn't great, but the Jeff Lescher clips helped remind me of how amazing  he was:

BTW, their bass player, Doug McCombs, is one of the fixtures of the Chicago music scene, probably the top rock bass player in the city and plays with dozens of bands either live or on recordings, and was one of the founders of The Sea and Cake. They have played in various forms over the years, but right now they feature the three remaining original members in Rizzo, Janet Beveridge Bean, and McCombs, with the keyboardist they picked up a few years ago, and a new guitarist I don't know who plays very much in the style of Baird Figi

Why do I go on about this? Apart from procrastinating? THIS was MY Chicago. Going to predecessors of the Hideout and listening to bands like EDD (I would always look for the mixing board and stand right in front of it - best sound in the entire house regardless of where you go). Taking Lion for walks on Lake Michigan. Going for drinks at Blue Bird or Rainbow Club. Getting gameday tickets at Wrigley. Spending two or three hours in Powell's Bookstore. Sitting on the rocks along the lakeshore reading. And god I miss it all.

I love being back in Little Rock, but it isn't my Little Rock any longer. I don't know where to go to hear live music (Juanita's I know about, but I need to find where else). I feel alienated by the politics in the state, it being a blue state when I left for Yale in 1976 and it being a red state upon my return (I'm voting for Bernie Sanders straight down the line - if he doesn't get the nomination I'll write him in as a protest vote in November), but no one really understanding that for Arkansans to vote for Republicans is like Jews in 1930 voting for Hitler, utterly against their best interests. There is no major university in the city and I despair of finding anyone to discuss philosophy with. There are still all the great parks and hiking trails, but I'm older and not in great health at the moment.

So I'm kind of depressed and feel a tad alienated and my father died just before I moved back, though I'm incredibly grateful that I can be here for my mother, who is really beside herself. My Dad died two months ago today, btw. I want to find a church, but I'm theologically traditional on most issues (I am a heretic on one major belief, while the Baptist church in which I was raised has become heretical on another) but I'm progressive politically. I despair of finding a church where I'll be happy. In other words, was Thomas Wolfe right when he said you can't go home again?

At least there are the Razorbacks. Though even that has changed. I used to see 2 to 3 games a year in the sixties and seventies, but now there is just the one game in LR and tickets are literally 10 to 15 times more expensive. I'll probably go to next year's game.

Are you Johnnie in El Paso or related to him?

[WarPig88]

I don't understand why running backs aren't falling all over themselves to play in this offense. It's perfect for stud running backs. Just don't get it. Plus a little exposure to Jerry Jones and the Cowboys can't hurt.

CBB has said he wants 3 backs over 1000 yards. Most kids either want to be the feature back or if they are going to platoon, then they want to do it at a school that is proven it competes for national championships.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

CBB has said he wants 3 backs over 1000 yards. Most kids either want to be the feature back or if they are going to platoon, then they want to do it at a school that is proven it competes for national championships.

I think that may be some of it and sometimes if kids seem selfish in that regard and are less "team" oriented, we may not pursue them as hard as some might like. It's important to be a great quality athlete, but with this philosophy a kid has to have the right character and attitude to fit the team chemistry.

[JackJohnson]

CBB has said he wants 3 backs over 1000 yards. Most kids either want to be the feature back or if they are going to platoon, then they want to do it at a school that is proven it competes for national championships.

Tex AM and OM aren't competing for championships and rotate 3-4 RBs who get between 50-75 carries total for a season yet somehow manage to sign 4* RBs per year- and in most years several

We just have to figure out what buttons to push when we are recruiting these kids bc there is no reason we shouldn't be able to sign at least 1 4* RB per year- if not multiple

[COCHISE]

I think we got a 4* talent last year, the recruiting "experts" just didn't give RW3 his due credit.

[duckman]

I think we got a 4* talent last year, the recruiting "so called experts" just didn't give RW3 his due credit.

FIFY

[Music City Hog]

Fair point.

CBB certainly looks to find kids who will move past this mindset (as so many will not until they are 5th team at a school and regret it).

I think he's doing a good job. We need to keep to momentum flowing this season.

[ChicoHog]

Because high school kids often care about imagine, sexiness, reputation,that they can say "I'm going to Bama", etc

We love the Razorbacks so we are biased, but Arkansas isn't "sexy".  Many of the big time kids wanna go to the prom with the prettiest girl.  They don't think through what may actually be the best situation for them.  They just wanna be a part of the in crowd.

Very good post and I believe 100% correct.  Too many kids are concerned about image or style vs substance.  Kudos to the kids in Louisiana who have LSU offers and go to Arkansas.  I bet their friends give them crap every day and it takes an uncommon man to handle that.  Same with texas kids with A&M or Longhorn offers.  Maybe a couple of great seasons will make Arkansas sexy.  I doubt it but I hope so.

[presidenthog]

ok so now who is the second??