Thursday, October 22, 2015

60% of WI disapproves of Walker’s job performance in WPR/St. Norbert poll

This comes from a poll with a small sample: 603. Notables: 57 percent of those polled say that Wisconsin is headed in the wrong direction. Russ Feingold leads against Ron Johnson.  51 percent to 40 percent. 60 percent of Wisconsinites disapprove of the way Scott Walker is doing his job. In fact, 40% of Wisconsinites more »

Sunday, October 18, 2015

How AP and the WI press does damage control for Governor Drunken Sailor

Yet again I get the impression that Associated Press does whatever it can to protect and/or repair Scott Walker’s image.   Compare the headlines and stories on Walker’s recent FEC filing: From Washington Post (author – Jenna Johnson): How Scott Walker spent $90,000 a day to lose an election   From U.S. News and World Report more »

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Everybody didn’t have access to the Democratic Party debate

The editor of Buzzflash at Truthout recently wrote that, “By offering the debates on television only to paid subscribers of television packages that included CNN and Fox News, the most important political interaction between candidates for president of the United States was, essentially, privatized.” If you’re living with a net-enabled digital device seemingly glued to your more »

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

New apartments planned for Emory Saint Joseph's Hospital campus

MARTA, luxury malls such as Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza, and even the Atlanta Braves want new apartment units in walking distance of their projects. Why not hospitals? In Sandy Springs, North American Properties plans to develop 305 apartments on the southern edge of Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital campus, according to the city. The project at Johnson Ferry and South Johnson Ferry roads would also include 10,350 square feet of medical and office space, and a park, the city says. Saint Joseph’s…

Friday, October 9, 2015

BC-Wake Forest preview

Addazio says he is waiting for one of the QBs to step up. He wants one guy to show him something more...something different from the other guy. BC fans want a sign too. We want to see that Addazio can adapt and can handle rough patches and can win the games he is supposed to win. Despite our offensive struggles, BC is favorite this week. If Addazio is a very good coach, he takes care of business at home. If we lose, we will have more questions than just who should be the next QB.

What's on my mind (not totally related to this game)
I don't want to keep going back to the Duke game, but there was a little wrinkle that I failed to mention that shows their coaches are doing a good job. If you recall after every questionable catch that went their way, Duke quickly ran to the line to start the next play. We see something similar with every NFL team. You don't see that urgency as often in college. Maybe because tempo is already part of most team's game plans. Maybe because the NFL has had replay longer. But I found it interesting that Duke reacted how they did. It showed that their players have good situational awareness and good sideline communications.

Three Simple Keys
1. Continue to stretch the field with deep throws. Despite their tendency to hang, flutter and miss their target, I still want Smith and Flutie attempting big throws downfield. Every once in a while you'll hit a big TD and at a minimum, you will keep their Safeties honest. I don't trust Flutie or Smith enough to pull off lots of short passes in heavy traffic.
2. Turn anything between the 50 and the Wake 25 into 4-down territory. Addazio can rationalize this ten different ways, but this is one area where the statistics show he's being too conservative. We can't make long field goals. We have an outstanding D. Every possession in that area should play call as if we are going for it. Run on third down if needed.
3. Get better blocking from the Tight Ends and Wide Receivers. There has been a lot of criticism of the OLine, but the biggest drop off between the first two year and this one is between the blocking of the WRs and Tight Ends. On other teams that might not be a big deal. For us, it is. We depend on those guys to engage the Linebackers and DBs who are crashing the line when we run.

Gambling Notes
-- Addazio is 12-6 at home
-- Addazio last started 0-3 in ACC play in 2013
-- Wake if 1-4 at Alumni as a member of the ACC
The current line is BC-7.5

Factoid
BC has scored only one touchdown in ACC play.

Scoreboard Watching
On Friday night, NC State travels to Virginia Tech. Aside from watching two future opponents and potentially the last days of Beamer Ball, I am also interested to see how VT manufactures offense. It hasn't been pretty for their OC Scot Loeffler. Prior to calling plays for Beamer, Loeffler coached under Daz at Temple.

I hope to see...
Sherman Alston get back in the groove. Addazio mentioned players pressing and it looks like that is an issue with Alston. He can be so dynamic. We just need to find him the right situations.

BC is in trouble if...
We don't score at least 20 points. 20 points seems pretty arbitrary on my part, especially given how good the Defense is. But I think that barrier represents a comfortable enough margin for BC to control and win the game. If we keep slogging along in low-scoring battles, every mistake is magnified and someone will steal at game at Alumni.

Bottom Line
Neither QB pulls away from the other, but they both look much better. BC also gets its first defensive touchdown of the year and mostly keeps Wake in check all day.
Final Score: BC 24, Wake 13

Monday, October 5, 2015

Al Jazeera America feature on Madison, Wisconsin homelessness

A friend of mine had shared this story on facebook and I idly clicked it not knowing what I was in for. I saw the string of cars and vans along a curved street and thought, “Hey. That looks sorta like that area by Milwaukee Street.” Oh. That *IS* that area by Milwaukee Street. The more »

Al Jazeera America feature on Madison, Wisconsin homelessness

A friend of mine had shared this story on facebook and I idly clicked it not knowing what I was in for. I saw the string of cars and vans along a curved street and thought, “Hey. That looks sorta like that area by Milwaukee Street.” Oh. That *IS* that area by Milwaukee Street. The more »