Sportswriters, lay off Lindsey Jacobellis

I'm trying to think of sportswriters coming down harder on an athlete in a sport they clearly don't understand.  Four years ago we all know that with a big lead Lindsey Jacobellis hot dogged it and tried a method man and wiped out.  She was being idiot and it cost her a gold.  Her horrible consolation was a silver.  She was 20 years old and is in a sport where attitude is part of the culture.  She attempted a common move and messed up.  Who did this hurt?  Her.  You can say it's embarrassing for the U.S.A.  Fine.  If you want to go there, fine.  But still she made a mistake and learned from it.  She was 20, and to be honest, it's her right to do what she wants.  And what were these writers doing when they were 20?  I know for me it wasn't winning silvers and being the best in the world at something.  And I think she only benefits the U.S.  What occurred today had nothing to do with it.  She is not a turkey as Yahoo columnist Jess Passan stupidly wrote (and he's not even remotely the only one) as he destroyed her.  And if you think it did you don't know Snowboard Cross.

She crushed her three runs and ran away with her quarterfinal race after qualifying second.  Then in the semi's she caught a lot of air and landed wrong and went out of bounds.  Sadly, these things happens.  What also happens was another rider caught less air and looked to go toward where she was landing.  Now I haven't seen her say if this affected her or not but it sure looked like she was coming down on the French rider if she didn't adjust and on the land made a mistake.  It's shocking.  It sucks but sadly these things happen.  Maelle Ricker, the Gold Medalist, had serious issues qualifying. Yesterday Seth Wescott has issues with qualifying and benefited from a wipeout in the Semis to make the final.  Fellow American Nate Holland won the semis after starting strong all day and being runner up to Wescott in his quarters run but in the finals he pushed too hard and finished fourth.  Fellow teammate Graham Watanabe raced great all day but in his heat missed it by a hair.  Again these things happen in Snowboard cross. It's the nature of the sport.  Mellie Francon from Switzerland finished first in qualifying but in her quarter run she made a mistake and was a non factor.  Deborah Anthonioz only won the silver after the two racers in front of her wiped out.  Are all of these other athletes going to be bashed and ridiculed?  No and nor should they be.  And neither should Lindsey Jacobellis.  This happens in the up and down world of Snowboard cross. It makes it exciting as hell to watch but as an athlete you can know you're the best but can wipe out as many of the best in the world did over the past two years.  It's not speed skating.  It's short track speed skating where you can be in four place but then a guy takes out a teammate and end up with a silver as Apollo Anton Ohno did this Olympics.  Even when you're in control you're not in control.

And to criticize her for this shows a lack of understanding.  I'm sure she feels horrible.  I'm sure nobody feels worse than her.  You can see it in her body language after the DQ.  Not to mention she's had to have the same interview for the past four years.  Hell, NBC has had three people essentially give her the same interview in their coverage and she's handled it amazing.  I know I would be like, ok I get it enough I'm done talking.  Hell, look at how Mel Gibson has responded to the same question in some of the press for Edge of Darkness. Lets just say it hasn't been pretty. Jacobellis obviously loves what she does and is making a great living in a sports she understands to be chaotic.  She's lucky she gets to "play" for a living.  Good for her. And she knows she's got it good.  And I think that's admirable.

So yes she's not an Olympic Gold medalist but she's not a failure and definitely not a turkey.  She's won 6 golds in the X Games and 2 in Worlds.  One race you're up.  Once race you're down.  And to be up as much as she has been in impressive as hell.  It's just a shame that because it's the Olympics and it's the only time the mainstream public and media pay attention she's being bashed for a mistake that could of happened to anyone, even the best in the world which she clearly is one of.

Thanks Seniors

I just want to highlight a few of the achievments of the senior class which will be playing its last regular season game today at Kidd Brewer Stadium. This senior class has been a huge part of the success of Appalachian State University over the last 5 years. In their time (with this year's playoffs still to come) they have 4 Southern Conference Championships, 2 National Championships, and a shocking win beating a top 5 Michigan at the Big House.

Armanti Edwards, QB
Mario Acitelli, OL
Malcolm Bennett, DT
Zach Brown, OL
Daniel Finnerty, DE
Cortez Gilbert, CB
Josh Jackson, RB
Justin Johnson, DL
Adam Kassouf, P
Jacque Roman, LB
Tavaris Washington, WR
Anthony Williams, DL

Hopefully a blowout of Western Carolina today will allow all of these guys to see the field at some point today (Armanti may need to sit out due to his knee injury). Hopefully, this won't be the last home game for these guys. I am eagerly anticipating the announcement Sunday of who we will get in the first round of the playoffs and if it will be a home game. Please make the drive to Kidd Brewer today. ASU could still top Montana for the highest attendance for the year in Division I-AA, but we need a monster attendance game, and these seniors deserve an incredible send off.

Potential Upset

I hate to say that I am worried this week that Appalachian State may look past an inferior opponent. Typically I wouldn't worry about this with coach Moore at the helm, but this week has a lot of scary ingredients. And this year's Mountaineers lack the discipline to instill my normal confidence.

First and most importantly App has a huge game next week which could decide the SoCon champion vs. Elon.

2nd UTC's head coach was the defensive coordinator of the team that knocked the Mountaineers out of the playoffs last year. Yes, he coached Richmond and UTC isn't the same patsy they have been in the past (3-3 in the SoCon).

3rd App is going to have to adjust to playing without one of their star offensive performers. Coco Hillary went down with a season ending injury to his right knee on Tuesday.

One interesting thing to look at is the schedule and how it has been a nice gradual warmup for Elon as the Mountaineers have gradually moved from Wofford, a pure run team, to gradually more passing offenses in GA Southern and Furman who are split fairly evenly between pass and run. Now they play a pass dominant team in UTC followed by pass happy Elon.

B.J. Coleman is the qb for the UTC Mocs. He transferred in from University of Tennessee where he didn't believe he got a fair shot. He is currently fourth in the SoCon at 209.1/ game total offense passing yards, 213.8/game and fifth in passing efficiency at 125.1 (Armanti is 2nd in country in both total offense at 361.9 yds, and passing efficiency at 167.9) . Nooga has given up only 9 sacks all year, but their running game is non-existent. Look for Jabari Fletcher, defensive end, to have a big day rushing the qb for App's d-line as he won't have to worry about the running game.

All this being said I wouldn't be surprised to see the Mountaineers play poorly in the first half and take over in the second half much like the Wofford game. App wins in the Rock this week and sets up the monster Elon matchup we have been waiting for on November 14th.


Go Apps.

Socon Weekend

We are heading into a weekend some may see as a formality as we head towards the matchup of the year between Appalachian State and Elon on November 14th. However the Mountaineers need to play as well as they did last week against Georgia Southern if they want to beat long time rival Furman. The Palladins play a bend but don't break style of pass defense. They can be vulnerable for plays in the short passing game. Look for Coco Hilary (who had his first 100 yd receiving game last week) Ben Jorden, and Matt Cline (9 catches in the first half last week) to have big days. It may be tougher to get the ball down field for big plays to Brian Quick. Defensively, App will have to watch out for the play action pass. Furman likes to establish the run first, and then catch the defense off guard with the pass. This could be a problem if the Mountaineers don't play disciplined football on that side of the ball. The best way to combat this may be to put some early scores on the board on offense and take away the threat of the run. The Paladins offensive line has only given up 5 sacks on the year (4th best in the country). So, Jabari Fletcher is going to have a tough task following his big game last Saturday.

Other games in the SoCon include Samford at Citadel 1 pm, Western Carolina at Chattanooga 2 pm, and Elon at Wofford at 1:30 pm. Barring a huge upset by Wofford, Elon should remain undefeated in conference.

In a follow-to my previous post on Western Kentucky (0-7) they may have their best chance at a win in a while as they play at North Texas (1-6) at 3 pm.

Go Apps

Cautionary Tale

As we head into the most important 4 weeks of the Appalachian schedule for the year, I, like many other Mountaineer fans wonder what else could be out there for the 3 time national champions. But, I think it is important to be aware of the possible consequences of stepping up to the FBS plate when your University may not be quite prepared for the jump. Western Kentucky University for the first time this year is eligible for the Sun Belt conference championship and bowl eligible. The school is ranked number 1 by ESPN. Unfortunately, the school is number 1 on the Bottom 10 List http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?page=bottom10102109 . After 14 straight losses WKU is considered to be the worst team in all of college football. Western hasn't won a BCS game since beating Middle Tennessee on September 20, 2007. I imagine the school began making plans to move up to FBS play shortly after they won the FCS national championship in Jack Harbaugh's final year, 2002. That year they had a huge 12 win season, but it has been downhill since. David Elson took over in 2003 and put up 9 wins in each of his first 2 years. That was followed by two 6 win seasons. It spiked up to 7 wins in 2007 before the bottom fell out. WKU had 2 wins last year and are 0-6 going into a game against Middle Tennessee this weekend. They are riding a 14 game losing streak. This is what I fear could happen to our Mountaineers if they go to a lower level conference like the Sun Belt. I mean you go from a title to be proud of in FCS to a very low level bowl game as your pinnacle. I would hate to see ASU fall to the lows of the current Hilltoppers.


None of that pertains to this season, though. App is headed into the stretch that will define this season. They have a must win game against Georgia Southern (3-1 Socon record with a loss to Elon) at the rock this weekend (black saturday). That will be followed by games at Furman (3-1 Socon record with a loss to Elon), UTC (2-1 Socon record with a loss to GA Southern) at home, and at Elon (3-0 Socon record with wins over GA Southern and Furman).


Other Socon games this weekend include Chattanooga at Elon, Furman at Citadel, and Wofford at WCU. The Wofford game is inconsequential and I see Furman having a layup against the Bulldogs in Charleston (even though they took App to overtime down there). Chatty could give Elon a game, but I think Scott Riddle will put Elon over the top at home.



So, that leaves the most interesting game of the weekend in Boone on SportSouth at 3 pm. App's defense better step up compared to what they looked like giving up big play after big play last week to Wofford. GA Southern throws the ball a lot more than they have in their storied past, and Cortez Gilbert will be important coming back from his head injury last week in the Wofford College game. A loss here could signal a definite changing of the guard in the conference. I expect App will step up to the challenge and get the victory at home, but it won't be easy. GA Southern took them right to the wire in last year's game. The Mountaineers would break the Socon Football record with 16 straight conference wins with a victory on Saturday (Paul Johnson's GA Southern teams are the only other one's with 15 in a row).
Go Mountaineers!!!

SOCON Weekend

Number 10 Appalachian State has not been its impressive self so far this year. This means there is little room for error if they want to win their 5th straight Socon title and get the automatic bid into the playoffs. The defense has proven to be inconsistent as they have had issues lining up, tackling and giving up big plays. On the other side the offense has been impressive with Armanti Edwards back in the lineup after an offseason lawn mower accident. But the team has lacked some of its quick strike ability from the past along with some problems in the red zone. This could be attributed to Scott Satterfield, the former play caller, leaving in the offseason to become co-offensive coordinator in charge of the passing game and qb coach at Toledo. Brad Glenn has taken over the offensive play calling duties. Regardless, look for both sides of the ball to bounce back this week in a homecoming game against 0-5 North Carolina Central at 3:30 pm eastern time. Brian Quick could have a big day as the Eagles have shown mainly man defense all year. This will be the Mountaineer's last non-conference game of the regular season. ASU is now 2-0 in SOCON action.

The other team that has emerged as a front runner for the Socon championship has been number 11 Elon (2-0 in conference). They had a big win against Furman last weeked as they scored twice in the final 2 seconds for a 19-12 victory. Terrell Hudgins set the NCAA Division I mark for career receptions. Furman led 12-10 until Adam Shreiner’s 37-yard field goal gave Elon a 13-12 lead with 2 seconds left. Shreiner’s kickoff was fumbled in the end zone and Elon’s Travis Greene recovered it for a touchdown for the final score. Elon's qb, Scott Riddle was 35 of 48 for 374 yards in the game. Elon will have Citadel (0-1) at home this week, 1:30 pm. The Bulldogs took Appalachian to overtime last weekend in Charleston, SC. We can only hope they can give Elon as much of a test as they gave App last weekend.

I wouldn't count Furman (2-1 in conference) out of the race, yet. The team's only conference loss so far came against Elon last week in a close game and we may end up seeing 3 teams with one conference loss this year. Furman is off this week before playing a strong defensive team in Samford (1-1) next week.

Georgia Southern is 2-1 in conference with their only loss coming to Elon. That loss was sandwiched by wins over Western Carolina and Wofford. They line-up out of conference on Saturday versus a UNC team whose offense has been a mess all season long. It would be great to see the Eagles knock off the Heels. That game will kick-off in Keenan stadium at 3:30 pm.

The final Socon game of the weekend is 1-1 UTC (beat Wofford, but lost to Furman) vs. 1-1 Samford (beat WCU, but lost to App). This one will start at 4 pm in Alabama.

It will be interesting to see how the picture at the top of the conference shakes out going into next weekend where App will have to shake off its inconsistency on both offense and defense if they want to handle 0-2 Wofford coming off a bye week.

66th Best Team Crowned

Congratulations to Penn State who proved a three way tie for 4th in the big 10 is equivalent to 66th in the country. This was a big jump from their season ending rpi of 68th in the country. Penn State comfortably beat Baylor 69-63 to gain a crown in what equateds to a second rate bowl game. Ed Dechellis, formerly of ETSU, made Papa Joe jealous with some postseason success for the Nittany Lions. This begs the question would you rather get spanked by quality competition (Southern Cal football) or beat mediocre competition (Baylor basketball). The Big 10 as a conference is split on this subject as we have seen in football Ohio State is a firm believer in getting spanked by quality competition. (Although, this doesn't explain why the conference has been chasing Notre Dame to join the league for years.) 36 bus loads of fans rode from State College, PA to Madison Square Garden in New York over spring break to see the game on Thursday night. This is a 4 hour drive from the Pennsylvania campus. Maybe someone should point the students to the beach.

As for Baylor it may be the last game coaching the Bears for head coach Scott Drew. He has been linked to the UGA job and the Memphis job since Calipari left. Tate has turned the program around in 4 years since taking the job over for a program in scandal. Four years ago junior Patrick Dennehy was shot and killed by former teammate Carlos Dotson along with other ncaa violations the program had been hit with.

P.S. Regarding a couple of teams that are actually relevant, sorry Dechellis, Is Jeff Capel headed to Arizona now that Tim Floyd of Southern Cal turned the job down? It would be a good time to leave now that the Griffin's will be gone next year.

I just hope Buzz Peterson holds out for more money from Appalachian State University. I think the school would be much better off spending their money on Melvin Watkins.