FB: Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[OxyBob]

The sophomore starter this year who got hurt throws a nice ball, has decent running speed but no moves. IMO he is to short to play QB in college.

Check out this Eric Sondheimer article from the Los Angeles Times:

Patrick Vargas tells a great short story

It's a startling sight, seeing Los Angeles Garfield football players line up after a game to exchange handshakes with their opponents and watching the reaction when 5-foot-3 quarterback Patrick Vargas finally greets his pursuers.

"I shake hands, they look down at me, and it's shocking to them," he said.

Their stunned response: "Are you the quarterback?"
...

To see how Vargas operates on a field where he comes up to the chin of many players is a sight to behold. He has a simple strategy in trying to release his passes.

"I place it like it's a window," he said. "When the receivers are running their routes, there are little areas where the linebacker shows weakness, so I hit them in that area."

Many of his passes are timing patterns. At the line of scrimmage, he examines the defense and picks out a target. He retreats on the snap and fires the ball long before anyone can reach him and usually before his receiver has made a final cut. If all goes well, the ball will arrive at the same time the receiver reaches his spot, leaving the defensive back helpless.

"It's just a lot of practice," Vargas said. "They have me practice sometimes with my eyes closed."
...

OxyBob

[Dead Poet Society]

5'3"?  Perfect fit for the Poets at QB.

Seriously though....IF he plays at any level in college...and I wish him the best, he is one of the 1%.

I believe the close the eyes stuff. For many that is not much difference then seeing a wall of uniforms...

[Sabretooth Tiger]

Why is "We Represent the Lollipop Guild" running through my brain?  If we follow the (purple and ) yellow brick road, will we find out way to munchkin land/Whittier College?

[Dead Poet Society]

OxyBob

Whittier now has a first class field and training facilities. It has the support of a terrific president and a make it happen athletic director. If you haven't been by Whittier in the past year or so, you will be impressed....well YOU might not but everyone else will....  The entire school has a different look and feel. I commend the president, athletic director, students, parents, fans and alumni for the great job they have done.

The school has built it. Now it is up to the coaching staff to make sure quality players will come. There are no more excuses, no time to waste. Whittier has a small cadre of quality players (including #63)  in which they can build.  They do need help in the areas I previously mentioned. They need to be realistic in the talents of their recruits and players. They need to do MUCH better at who they bring in. Just because one was successful in Timbuktu doesn't necessarily translate into success at D3

More success brings better athletes, which gets the ball rolling... However a coach has to get started by being more selective who they recruit. You must see your skill players play. See how hard they hit. See how they react on the sidelines. Just stop short of some other schools "come and you'll play"...wink, wink BS. You know the routine. If one relies on film or recommendations from suspect sources you are only doomed for mistakes. Mistakes translate into wasted time, money and losses.

I wish them well and look forward to seeing them play next year

[snoop dawg]

DSP....Nice insight, good posts, +k. 

Are you sure your name isn't Fred and you are friends of the Ricardo's?     Or possibly FTP posting from another email address? 

[Sabretooth Tiger]

So Snoop . . . going to motor up the coast to Columbia River Gorge, tie up and head down to Salem for the big game?

tooth   

[snoop dawg]

tooth, we can take my  motor home on the land route or my yacht on the water route, which will be rough, or we can borrow my cousins jet.  Take your pick, let me know.

[Fear the Poet]

DSP....Nice insight, good posts, +k. 

Are you sure your name isn't Fred and you are friends of the Ricardo's?     Or possibly FTP posting from another email address? 

i assure you it isn't me

[snoop dawg]

tooth, re the boat, we can invite 6, but I only have 5 life vests(not a threat)

[tigersports]

...Hopefully the Willamette folks will broadcast as I can't make it up this weekend.

That sucks!  I'm a NW conference fan and will be rooting for Willamette but have been planing to listen to your broadcast.  I've caught a couple this year and really enjoy your style, along with your partners on the air.

Are you sure you were listening to us?  Unfortunately (and much to OB's chagrin) the Ninja Waffles of Glendale AYSO boys under 10 have a second round playoff date with the Rotten Bananas and the coach should probably be there to prowl the sidelines.  We will be there for the next one for sure. 

Seriously, though, thanks for the kind words.  We have a great time doing it.

[Fear the Poet]

...Hopefully the Willamette folks will broadcast as I can't make it up this weekend.

That sucks!  I'm a NW conference fan and will be rooting for Willamette but have been planing to listen to your broadcast.  I've caught a couple this year and really enjoy your style, along with your partners on the air.

Are you sure you were listening to us?  Unfortunately (and much to OB's chagrin) the Ninja Waffles of Glendale AYSO boys under 10 have a second round playoff date with the Rotten Bananas and the coach should probably be there to prowl the sidelines.  We will be there for the next one for sure. 

Seriously, though, thanks for the kind words.  We have a great time doing it.

your missing a football game for soccer?  shame on you

[scandihoovian]

Tigersports-

I am also a member of the Oxy Broadcast admiration society.  And I have to say, The Ninja Waffles?  Awesome!  And I thought the Blue Jedi Sharks was the coolest team name ever...

Sincerely-

The guy who has seen exactly two CLU football games in their entirety since his sons started playing soccer 

[OxyBob]

Unfortunately (and much to OB's chagrin) the Ninja Waffles of Glendale AYSO boys under 10 have a second round playoff date with the Rotten Bananas and the coach should probably be there to prowl the sidelines. 

Au contraire, tigersports. My distaste is with the game (not a sport) of soccer, not the all-important playoff match between the Ninja Waffles and the Rotten Bananas. You absolutely need to be there for that. I hope the Waffles give their coach an Eggo-straordinary effort, and win the game 1-0. Maybe you can pour it on and win 2-0.

Oxy-Willamette article from the Salem Statesman Journal:

Bearcats to face Occidental
Undefeated Willamette is ranked No. 6 and will host a playoff game Saturday

Willamette will open the NCAA Division III football playoffs by hosting Occidental at noon Saturday at McCulloch Stadium.

Willamette is 10-0 on the season, while Occidental is 9-0 overall.

"It's really an honor to represent the Northwest," said Willamette head coach Mark Speckman. "We're happy for our seniors, happy for our team and happy for our community."

The winner of the Willamette-Occidental game will play the winner of the first round game between defending national champion Wisconsin-Whitewater (9-1) and St. John's, Minn. (8-2) on Nov. 29.

Willamette, which is ranked No. 6 in the newest D3Football.com Top 25 poll, is the No. 1 seed and Occidental the second seed in the west region. Both teams received automatic bids, with Willamette winning the Northwest Conference and Occidental taking first place in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

The NCAA pairs first round games with an emphasis on geographic proximity and with an effort to limit overall travel costs.

Willamette and Occidental met in the NCAA Playoffs in 2004. The Tigers defeated the Bearcats, 28-14, in Los Angeles, Calif. This year, the match-up is the only first-round game between two undefeated teams.

Willamette scored 423 points (42.3 avg.) to break the school record for points in a 10-game season. The Bearcats also have earned 398.5 total yards per game, including 254.5 rushing yards per contest. Willamette'sdefense has limited opponents to 17.0 points and 313.2 total yards per game.

OxyBob

[OxyBob]

From the Steamboat Pilot & Today of Steamboat Springs, Colorado:

Occidentally overlooking rivalries

President-elect Barack Obama and I are on opposite sides of the stadium when it comes to Division I football playoffs. However, I'm fairly certain Obama and I already agree that the story of Myron Claxton's Shoes represents one of the best traditions in small-college football.

If you tuned in to "60 Minutes" on Sunday night, you may have heard Obama reiterate his support for an eight-team playoff in major college football. He went even further, saying he would use his influence to effect this change and added that any reasonable and serious football fan could not disagree. But he didn't mention Saturday's rivalry game between Occidental and Whittier.

Call me unreasonable, Mr. Obama. Just 28 hours earlier, my Wisconsin Badgers had come from behind to salvage a piece of their season and defeat the Minnesota Golden Gophers. More important than any contrived playoff, the victory in the big rivalry game kept Paul Bunyan's Axe in Madison, where it belongs, for a sixth straight year.

I understand that a Division I football playoff wouldn't negate all of the rivalry games that enrich college football. I just think the drive to crown a national champion via a playoff misses the point. College football is at its best in rivalry games and traditional holiday bowl games that pit the champions of two conferences against one another.

That's the way I like it.

All across America this month, college football programs of all sizes are playing out storied rivalries. Many of the games are made more significant for the victors with the chance to hoist a trophy with true historic and symbolic meaning. It's the kind of memory they will repeat as grandfathers.

It's also true that all across America, small colleges, after wrapping up their rivalry games, are getting ready for the playoffs.

"Back Home in Indiana," last week, two tiny colleges played for the Monon Bell, one of the most revered trophies in college football.
...

And there are many more rivalry trophies with colorful names like: Floyd of Rosedale (a bronze pig named after a governor), The Milk Can, the Tiger Rag, The Beehive Boot, The Keg of Nails, The Blue Sombrero Trophy, The Sawhorse Dollar and The Causeway Carriage.

But nothing can quite match the story of the trophy known as Myron Claxton's Shoes. The winner of the rivalry game between two Southern California colleges, Whittier and Occidental, claims the Shoes each year.

Before Obama went to Harvard, and before he went to Columbia, the president-elect spent his freshman and sophomore years at Division III Occidental, about eight miles northeast of downtown L.A. in a neighborhood called Eagle Rock.

Writing in Quaker Campus, the student newspaper of Whittier, reporter Allee Kamela, tells the story of Myron Claxton's Shoes.

An All-American running back for the Whittier Poets in 1939, Claxton had his football cleats pilfered out of the locker room by a group of Occidental players on the Thursday night before the rivalry game.

In 1939, replacing a pair of football cleats wasn't as easy as going to the equipment manager. Claxton was forced to play the Occidental game in his work boots.

Whittier won the game, 36-0, in spite of the inappropriate footwear the Poets' star player was forced to wear. He crossed to the opposite sideline after the contest and retrieved his cleats. They were bronzed in 1946 and have become a permanent fixture in the rivalry that has been played since 1895.

History can be a murky thing.

Occidental won the Nov. 15, 2008, contest, 48-14, a victory that allowed the Tigers to reclaim the Shoes and sent them on to play Willamette University in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs. Ooops.

Did I say playoffs?
...

OxyBob

[Gray Fox]

After Oxy and Whitewater win on Saturday, will Danny Jones be in attendance for the next game?