My Favorite ASU-U of Tucson Memory

As Saturday's Territorial Cup match-up approaches, the Bob Young of the AZ Republic had a blog about the Top 10 Territorial Cup moments. He put as number 1 John Jefferson's TD catch in the 1975 game that led to an ASU win. Given that I was four at the time, living in Houston and had no clue who ASU was, that one obviously doesn't mean a lot to me.

It was easy to remember however which one was my top one - the 1991 ASU 37-14 win where we snapped Tucson's 8-0-1 streak against us. To this day I still say that it is the absolute best football game I have ever been to and really ignited my passion for Sun Devil football. Sitting in the student section with some friends, a couple of whom were dating gals from U of Tucson that made the un-wise choice to sit with us.

It wasn't the competitiveness that made it special, it was the thrill of being there when the streak was snapped. ASU was in control the entire game and we just wanted to see them keep scoring and run it up and take out 9 years of frustration on the kitties. ASU was going nowhere that season, this was their bowl game and coach Larry Marmie was canned soon after. None of that matter, the streak was over and I was there to take in the moment. We stormed the field after the game, tore down the goalposts which subsequently fell apart and we carried pieces up to the top of the stadium. It was an amazing night.

I guess my other favorite one would be Kevin Galbreath's 51-yard TD run in the Devils' 7-6 victory in Tucson the next season. It was against the "Desert Swarm" Kitties that had been leading the nation in scoring defense at the time. Overall, it was a boring game but an exciting play and the Sun Devil D made it stick in a game we had no business winning.

0 for 2

Two games on the national stage against the other top teams in the Pac-10 (I'm omitting Cal because they are just not that good) and ASU both times gets embarrassed. The Oregon game was excusable. Rudy had the bad thumb and Dennis Dixon was playing out of his head. Getting thumped by USC at home by 20 is not. Talent gap aside, there's no excuse for the poor tackling and overall shoddy defense displayed on Thanksgiving. How many times can one defense bite on a simple play action, naked bootleg? USC is getting a lot of credit for their recruiting prowess and getting their swagger back as to why they put on the clinic they did the other night but frankly some of that is attributable to ASU just not executing like they should.

Now on to the University of Tucson where I'm sure the Stoops brothers are sitting around inventing new blitz packages to throw at the Devils sorry excuse for an offensive line. I was a bit worried after Thursday night that the Devils would not be motivated for the Kitties but then I saw this quote from Erickson this morning:

"This game has nothing to do with the BCS, nothing to do with bowls, nothing to do with anything," coach Dennis Erickson said Friday. "Winning this game is more important than any bowl game. It's the University of Arizona. It's the most important game of the year."

Glad to see DE is publicly acknowledging the importance of this game. I just hope his team is better prepared to play this time around. This one also has the potential to get ugly real quick. If this team finishes 9-3 with a loss to Tucson, all the good things that happened during this season will be overshadowed by the last two weeks.

Brian McLaren was in Austin this week

And I'm really bummed I didn't know about it beforehand. The Austin-American Statesman had a story about his visit to do a book signing and talk with local Christians of all denominations.

When Tricia and I lived in Maryland we attended Cedar Ridge Community Church where Brian was the senior pastor. He is an amazing teacher and his sermons (although I am hesitant to label them as such) always spoke to me. He always knew just how to take scripture and relate it to contemporary and pop culture. I'll never forget the one from Easter 1999 where he was talking about how Christ's disciples were feeling on the day he died and he closed it by playing a song from one of our favorite singers David Wilcox called "Show the Way."

I have read one of his books, "Finding Faith" and the one referenced in the article sounds like one I will want to check out. Also, I had no idea he was named to Time's 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in the Country. He definitely sticks out among some of the others on the list like Chuck Colson and James Dobson.

Thoughts on "The Mayflower"

Given that Thanksgiving is next week, it's timely that I finally finished reading Nathaniel Philbrick's "The Mayflower." Given Philbrick's background in Maritime history, I thought it would focus more on the period of time leading up to the Mayflower's departure from England and the voyage itself. Instead, that didn't even encompass a third of the book. In fact, it seemed like half the book was focused on King Philip's War and the events leading up to it.

After having read Philbrick's "In the Heart of the Sea" a few years ago, I knew going into it the guy had what it takes to turn a historical narrative into a readable story. I wouldn't quite put him at the level of Stephen Ambrose yet, but he's pretty close.

Here are some of my quick takeaways:

• The Pilgrims' desire to have the freedom to practice their religion was discussed at length in the beginning but was only touched upon briefly throughout the rest of the book.
• I never realized the original destination of the Mayflower was the Hudson River.
• Philbrick portrays Myles Standish's unprovoked raid of the Wessagussett Indian settlement as having "irraparably damaged the human ecology of the (plymouth) region."
• King Philip's War was a bloody one that resulted in more colonist deaths than was ever discussed in my college Colonial history courses.
• King Philip's War may have dragged on much longer if not for the heroics of Benjamin Church. While there were probably many other aspects of this Indian vs. Colonists nearly two year battle that were not captured in the book, Philbrick focused on Church's battles and his pursuit and ultimate capture of Philip. Philbrick portrays him, he's very much the type of hero someone could probably develop a screenplay around. Primarily because of his trust in the Native Americans and willingness to form alliances with them at a time when other colonists refused to and would kill any and all they came in contact with.
  

Overall, the book was extremely informative without going into the extreme details that some historical narratives tend to do. Check it out if you're looking for a good Thanksgiving read.

Saturday at the Rose Bowl

Sitting in the DFW airport right now waiting for my connection back to Austin having flown in from L.A. earlier today -- I was supposed to be home by now, but the 3:40 flight got canceled. DFW remains the scourge of all U.S. air travel IMO.

However, I would be even more miserable right now had the Devils blown it yesterday. They are either just real lucky or a good team that is able to overcome their mistakes. I like to think it's the latter but frankly it's probably a combination of both and the fact that UCLA is just not very good and Karl Dorrell is doing his best Dirk Koetter impersonation, circa 2006 season. He has clearly lost his team and they are just playing out the string. He may even have the dubious distinction of the being the only coach to lose to Notre Dame this season when it's all said and done.

Rose Bowl was a great place to watch a game and their were more ASU fans there than I would have ever guessed. Local alum group said they had a record turnout for their tailgate party. The good news is we escaped with a win at the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1996, won with a quarterback who had a bad throwing thumb, we're 9-1 and have a nearly two weeks to prep for USC on Thanksgiving in Tempe. Here's hoping Erickson gives Rudy at least a week off to rest that thumb.

Look about halfway up the section, I'm the one in the Gold

Ed Wade Appears to Have a Plan

Whether or not the trading of Brad Lidge for some unproven players works out, I commend Ed Wade for having the guts to do what his predecessor never did. Brad Lidge was never going to be a successful closer in Houston. Everyone around baseball knew he still had killer stuff but just needed a change of scenery. Unfortunately Wade's predecessor had hang ups about trading homegrown Astros players while they still had some trade value (see Morgan Ensberg.)

What I like most about this deal is Wade appears to have a plan and vision for how this team should look next season. He knew there was a hole in CF and he addressed it. He apparently feels like Chris Burke is not the solution at 2B and is making overtures toward free-agents who he think can be. With Pupura there never seemed to be any plan for how to address needs on the team. He stuck with his homegrown boys such as Ensberg and Lane and they let him down.

The next logical move would seem to be a package of Burke and possibly Luke Scott for some pitching. Both players are young and still have trade value. Keep taking risks Ed, this team needs to change. Good luck to you Lidge, I truly do admire heart and the way you never shied away from the challenge of taking the ball night after night when things were going bad.

Random Thoughts from the Oregon Loss

• Nine sacks is unacceptable. The O-line definitely deserves much of the blame for this one, but Rudy must quit holding on to the ball so long or else needs to learn how to throw it away effectively. There were a couple of times where the tailback would be in open in the backfield and Rudy didn't even look him off.
  
• With Dixon going out of the game in Q4, the Devils had an opportunity to rally but turning the ball over twice in the quarter makes that a bit challenging.
  
• Either Oregon's offense is that good or our defense was just that bad in Q1.
  
• Stewart ran all over the ASU defense like no one has this year, particularly in Q3. I'm sure a couple of more have ran for more yards but some of those runs by Stewart were killers.
  
• What the heck happened clock management-wise at the end of first half? We had momentum going our way at that point and to not get any points set the tone for the second half.
  
• Dixon looked like a Heisman candidate in Q1 but wasn't overly impressive after that.
• We clearly missed Ryan Torain that game. Particularly at the goal line in Q1 and the 4th and 1 attempt in Q3.
  
• The Devils national title hopes are probably finished but Rose Bowl hopes shouldn't be. As has been proven week after week, anything can happen this season. Oregon's remaining schedule would indicate that they probably won't lose a game. But they still have their in-state rival to play and have to travel to AZ to play the suddenly hot University of Tucson.
  
• I have no idea what to expect from UCLA next weekend. They are a team that is reeling with a lame duck coach. I wouldn't be surprised if UCLA fans are actually pulling for the team to lose to help seal the deal on Dorrell being ousted. Based on the past two weeks, his team doesn't appear to be rallying around him.