New Defensive Schemes are not Rockett Science!!

For my Philadelphia friends, this post comes with a disclaimer: I am a huge and slightly crazy LSU fan. So much so that at 1am on a Sunday night, when I should be sleeping to prepare for two long days of research ahead, I am kept awake by the thoughts of why my team is falling apart this year.

One of the main reasons college football scoring, and particularly SEC scores, and even more specifically LSU’s opponent’s scores, have gone up in the past few years is because of the innovations of new offensive schemes. Chief among these new innovations are two offensive schemes: the spread offense (Florida is the best at this right now) and the Wildcat running attack (also called the Wild Hog in Arkansas, the Wild Rebel in Mississippi, and I’m sure it has other nicknames as well. If you follow the NFL and not college, it’s what the Dolphins are using with Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown in the backfield).

As these innovations have developed, what bothers me most is that defenses have approached these new schemes with the same philosophies that have worked on other offenses in the past 10-20 years: Nickel or Dime packages, the 3-4, or 4-3. DEFENSES NEED TO INNOVATE TOO!!!

I love defense! Actually, I love a good defense of a team I care about (LSU), way more than I love that team’s ability to run up 50 or 60 points on their opponent. I want to see my team’s defense shutout the opposition. I want it to mean something for an LSU opponent to score more than 14 points on them in any game. And so, I’m proposing a new defensive scheme as an approach to dealing with the innovations of the spread or wildcat offenses. It’s the 2-5. Or maybe I’ll call it the 2.5.

Here is what the base defense would look like (apparently at the top of this blog):

It would have two down lineman and five linebackers/defensive ends/athletes like nickel backs that played off the line at the snap of the ball. Of the remaining four defenders, two safeties and two corner backs would cover the perimeter of the defensive scheme. On the weak side of the offensive formation, the cornerback (the best cornerback on the team) would play press coverage, man-to-man with the safety on that side spying the run or giving help on the receiver (similar to cover two). On the strong side of the offensive formation, one cornerback, one safety, two linebacker/nickel backs (or more) would zone the remaining receivers in the formation. Everyone else would crash in on the line of scrimmage according to different blitz packages or in anticipation of the spread run option.

The idea is to limit the amount of people that the offense can key on as weak points on the field from the start of the play. Additionally, with only two down lineman on defense and everyone else crashing the offensive line, it would quickly wear on the offensive line’s strength and stamina throughout the game. It would also play a physical toll on the defenders that crash the line, so the team would need to have more than one group of competent “linebackers” that could alternate in and out throughout the course of the game, but if LSU recruits well, they have the talent on their team to do this.

Any thoughts?

Celebration aren't Rockett Science

After all the celebrations that have taken place in the last few weeks in Philly and Nationally (the World Series Championship and the Presidential Election Results as the biggest two), I've been meaning to write about how these celebratory experiences were significant to me (and maybe to us).

Celebration in general is very significant. When we show our excitement and passion for something, we show our true colors. You can't hide behind the facade of the middle road (the critic's road, the indecisive or objective road) and celebrate something. Nope, you have to put yourself out there and say "I care, and this moves me to joyfulness!!" (well, you probably wouldn't say it like that, but you would say "F*** yeah!!" or "Wahooooo!!!" or something else.) But you are really showing that you were invested.

It's good to be invested in something. I think we often ride the fence in order not to get hurt or let down. I'm a king of this. I often stay indecisive so that I'm safe from the disappointment. I think it's noble and objective thinking, but really I'm just controlling my outcome.

What I realize is that when we make a decision and have something riding on the outcome of an election or a sports team or some other random thing, we find community. Making a decision lumps me into a group of people who have made a similar investment of time, energy, and passion. When it succeeds, we succeed together. When it fails, we fail together. What's significant is that it breaks down walls that existed before. It loosens our views towards "those people" and helps us to realize that we are more similar than we thought.

That was what was coolest about these past few weeks in Philly. Celebration has torn down some of the barriers that has kept this city bitter and it's people unfriendly. Who knows how long it will last (It's probably already faded a good bit with the change in the weather.), but for a season our hearts were softened. We hugged, high 5ed, and yelled in the streets together, and we felt like a real true community. Good celebrations can do that.

Diamond Mines, Not Rockett Science.

It doesn't take rocket science to see that this diamond mine is a very bad idea. This is one of the largest diamond mines in the world and it exists in Siberia. Given, it is in Siberia (an area of the world where I don't understand why anyone would want to live there, except people who might have extreme cases of allergies and can't handle ANY pollen seasons), but look at how large this mine is compared to the town around it.

It could create a whole series of your crater jokes like:

• Your crater is so big you need road signs to tell you which way is up.
  
• Your crater is so big it gave alien spacecrafts and meteors an inferiority complex.
  
• Your crater is so big it creates its own WIND current. (The last one is definitely true; I'm not sure about the rest. Feel free to add your own joke.)

This disturbs me for many reasons but I'll share two. First, what is our obsession with diamonds in general? They are a nice, clear (most of the time) birthstone, but are they really worth digging a "black hole" to the center of the earth to find. I mean, they aren't even that rare. The diamond supply is completely controlled by two or three major distributors that regulate the price and create the buzz for the industry. Before the 1920's most engagement rings weren't diamonds; they were likely some simple ban of metal and (if you were lucky) your birthstone. So, the craze for diamonds is purely a marketing scheme that has shaped our culture and become a status symbol for love.
"How much do you love me, baby?'
"I love you enough to contribute to the destruction of the earth on behalf of this jewel."
(and for some, it is the size of the jewel that matters.)

Second, there are some scientists working to develop a drill that will dig through the earth's outer crust and explore what lies beneath. It really is becoming a "Journey to the Middle of the Earth". (It sucked as a movie, maybe it will work as a science experiment.) The drill is like 25 times longer than the Empire State Building is tall.

I know we are a curious species, but I see this experiment going badly. If we already have a greenhouse gas problem in our atmosphere that contributes to global warming, what will happen when we puncture the outer crust and create massive volcanoes and gas emissions that we will not be able to control?

If you want some more information about this diamond mine, here is where i found it.