HB Arnett’s
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West 800 South –
Vol. 33,
Issue 14 – November 5, 2012
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4 More Games
4 More Years, 4 More Days and only
4000 More TV Commercials to Watch
This past weekend, it was a barrage of 4. One political persuasion was touting 4 more years. The opposing party was making its case for only 4 more days until they took power.
And then there was the political waterboarding of the
The way I understand torture tactics is that waterboarding creates the
sensation of drowning. In the 4th District congressional race in
I don’t know what party Roberto Duran was associated with, but he was ahead of his time politically when he said, “No Mas!”
If I was running Gitmo, making detainees watch 4000 political TV spots from Mia and Matheson would be the ultimate torture.
Before being inundated with 4000 emails, I get the importance of this
current national election. If this was a political newsletter, I would steal my
platform from Margaret Thatcher. She said, “Socialism only works
until you run out of other people's money.”
But this is primarily a BYU football and basketball letter.
4 More Games
When it comes to Cougar football, there really are only 4 more games this season.
Still, the line between pigskin and politics sometimes is blurred.
BYU’s current football platform, on which Bronco Mendenhall is running the program, centers on Honor, Tradition, Spirit and Firesides.
Sign me up. What’s not to like about that platform. Unfortunately, that platform only works when there is a surplus of wins on the BYU budget sheet.
At 5-4 currently, Bronco Mendenhall has a firewall to fall back on.
It’s called
That would give the Cougars a season record of either 9-4 or 8-5 and keep the Margaret Thatcher and Mendenhall platform alive. Socialism and BYU football only works until you run out of boosters and ticket buyers’ money and good will capital.
Entitlements
If Bronco Mendenhall and BYU football were on the ballot this year you could be sure that “entitlements” would be discussed. You don’t need 4000 TV spots to know that Mendenhall is anti-entitlement when it comes to players on his roster.
The following is not a political TV spot, but a recent email from a subscriber last Saturday morning. He addresses entitlement.
Dear HB:
I was listening to Game Day on the way to my office this
morning and they said that
A subscriber (name withheld)
Politically, “entitlements” can be a good or bad thing, depending on your perspective.
The same holds for BYU football. There are times when anti-entitlement sentiment can be a good thing. I can think of two distinct cases where non-scholarship players turned out to be significant and contributing players since Bronco has been in charge.
That would be Andrew Rich as a safety and currently J.D. Falsev as an all purpose player.
I can also think of cases where entitlement was warranted.
You have to play your most talented quarterback. He may not have the intangibles of your platform, but if you want to win at BYU, you have to have throwing talent at this position.
All the other stuff, like grit, determination, leadership and team chemistry don’t mean squat if you can’t throw the ball and complete passes.
At all levels of football, you don’t win without talent at quarterback. Pee Wee football puts the most talented player at quarterback. High School football puts the most talented player at quarterback. Successful college programs put talent over all other qualities at quarterback.
You can be a jerk at quarterback, but if you are also a talented jerk, you still play because of that talent, even at the highest level of football.
Check out Chicago and the quarterback of the Bears.
Running Back
It is obvious to almost everyone now that Jamaal Williams is the most talented BYU running back to come down the pike in the last few years.
Yet, except for an unfortunate injury to another BYU running back, he would not be touching the ball as much as he does now.
That is the example that some fans are fond of pointing out when it comes to entitlement or anti-entitlement. Even more telling, in my opinion, is that if not for an unfortunate injury to Eathyn Manumaleauna, Ziggy Ansah would still be a back up linebacker and situational player this season instead of now being touted as a potential NFL first round pick.
Talent is the ultimate entitlement when it comes to football at all levels. If it wasn’t, there wouldn’t be so much emphasis and cheating in recruiting going on in college football today.
BYU doesn’t cheat and doesn’t need to in football. They just need to realize that talent is the ultimate trump card and somehow balance it with the platform under which it now operates.
Political Handicapper
If I was a political handicapper and Bronco Mendenhall was running for office as BYU’s head coach, he would be a slam dunk for re-election.
Tom Holmoe is Mendenhall’s current campaign manager and he is still actively supportive of him.
But Holmoe is smart enough to realize that BYU football is a socialist state. It only survives on wins, booster cash, ticket sales from happy fans and media money.
Four more years of the same support is not a slam dunk if that money dries up and is gone because losses are piling up.
In case you missed it, Holmoe appears to be on the same page as Margaret Thatcher when it comes to socialism and football.
In my opinion, Holmoe is well aware of the importance of fans and boosters and their support. He went out of his way to try and appease those fans and boosters with comments made last week about the current status of the BYU football team.
Here is what Holmoe said last week about this season while at the WCC
basketball meetings last Monday in
Future Schedule Has Big East Flavor
Last week, BYU and
According to the terms of the agreement, the Bearcats will travel on
Oct. 24, 2015, to
While the Cougars are not a member of the Big East conference, the future football schedule for BYU is beginning to take on a Big East bias.
In addition to
The Big East is still courting the Cougars as a football only member, but barring a big money deal for media rights by the Big East, we don’t see the Cougars going anywhere.
Big money is relative. Right now, there is talk that the football only
Big East schools would be getting between $6-8 million per year from the league
in TV money.
BYU already gets that much, if not more. Why would they give up rebroadcast rights, BYUtv and ESPN affiliation for less money?
Now if Fox Sports comes up with a mega deal that would pay out to BYU as a Big East football only member something in the $15 million or higher range, then Big East and BYU talks would get serious.
Money talks and in that range, BYU would start listening.
GUARDED OPTIMISM AT THE GUARD LINE
AND WITH JABARI
This is what we know about BYU basketball this season when it comes to guard play.
Dave Rose has said publicly that the outside shooting in particular and the guard play in general last season wasn’t good enough.
He made it a priority to improve in that area. That was manifest by signing and bringing in two new guards. That would be true freshman Cory Calvert and juco transfer Raul Delgado.
Before the start of the season and the first two exhibition games, Rose pronounced that the guard line play will be better.
Yet in the first two exhibition contests, from my viewpoint, no dramatic improvement in guard play seems evident.
Steven Hayes, the psychologist said, “If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got.”
Description of Guard Play
That seems to also describe this year’s guard
play for BYU. Despite some minutes by Calvert and Delgado, the majority of
minutes at guard for BYU in two exhibition games looked a lot like last year.
Matt Carlino, Craig Cusick and Brock Zylstra are
getting all the minutes. Despite Rose’s declaration that he wasn’t
pleased with the guard play last season, this year looks like he will get what
he always got.
At least that is what I see based on the minutes
played.
Granted, Anson Winder isn’t playing because of
an ankle injury, but he was also part of the problem last year outlined by
Rose.
Calvert is getting some minutes as a backup point
guard, but Delgado apparently isn’t a big enough improvement to make a
dent in minutes played.
I know that it is very early and the season
doesn’t start for real until this weekend against
Up his Sleeve
Hopefully I am wrong and Rose and company have
something up their sleeves for guard play when competition starts for real.
Right now, when Rose rolls up his sleeve, from my vantage point, the forearm and
forecast for Rose still looks a little hairy for the coming season on the guard
line.
Getting a tattoo is the ultimate commitment. To date, Jabari Parker’s forearm is a tattoo free zone when it comes to choosing a college.
The fact that Parker has not verbally committed to
You have no idea how big the pressure is from those big time basketball schools to get a commitment from Parker while he was on campus.
In recruiting, the school that gets the last visit in both football and basketball usually is in a good spot. BYU is in a good spot, but they are in a better spot because of the new LDS missionary age requirement.
I have no source or attribution, just a gut feeling that Parker will leave on an LDS mission early next spring, regardless of where he signs.
I also have a gut feeling that Dave Rose could be telling Parker that even if he leaves for a mission at 18 and never returns to play college basketball for any school, he might as well sign with BYU and give the Cougar program a major Public Relations boost.
Unlike the reported boost in guard play with recent recruits, Jabari Parker would be the ultimate upgrade in recruiting for BYU.
Speaking of boosts, there is some talk now that Bronson Kaufusi, the 6-7 freshman defensive tackle for BYU, could be joining the basketball team in late December when the Cougar football season is over.
Kaufusi is a very good athlete and was an extremely talented high school post player for Timpview.
He would add some added depth and bulk in the front court, especially with the loss to injuries of Chris Collinsworth and Stephen Rogers.
If it happens, it wouldn’t’ be the first time a football player came over to help the basketball program.
During the disastrous 1996-97 season of 1-25 with Tony Ingle, he brought in tight end John Moala and running back Tyrone Brown after the football season to try and bolster BYU’s fortunes that year. It didn’t work.
The Cougars kick off their season for real on Friday, Nov 9 against
Football Dreams, But Fútbol Lives the Dream
It is the dream of the BYU football program to be a player on the national stage.
The BYU women’s soccer team (Fútbol)
is currently living that dream.
With a 2-0 shutout of No. 22 ranked
Pepperdine on the road in
With a record of 18-1-1 over all and
a 7-0-1 WCC mark, the No. 4 ranked BYU women now await the NCAA Championship
seedings and draw on Monday afternoon.
The selection show can be seen streamed live NCAA.com at 4:30 p.m. EDT this afternoon.
There is a very good possibility that the Lady Cougars will be hosting multiple games in the early rounds of the tournament.
In volleyball, the Ladies also continue their winning ways after taking
two matches last week from
They are currently 22-2 overall and 10-2 in WCC play. That puts the Cougars atop the WCC standings with three league matches remaining.
Television Timetable
BYU vs.
Friday, Nov 9 at
Tipoff: 7:00 pm Mountain Time
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs.
Saturday, Nov 10 at
Kickoff: 8:15 pm Mountain Time
TV: Most likely BYUtv
BYU vs.
Tuesday, Nov 13 at
Tipoff: 7:00 pm Mountain Time
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs.
Friday, Nov 16 at
Tipoff: TBA
TV: truTV
BYU vs.
Saturday, Nov 17 at
Kickoff: 8:30 pm Mountain Time
TV: ESPNU and ESPN2
BYU vs.
Notre Dame or
Saturday, Nov 17 at
Tipoff: TBA
TV: truTV
BYU vs.
UT-San Antonio (B-Ball)
Wednesday, Nov 21 at
Tipoff: 7:00 pm Mountain Time
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs.
Saturday, Nov. 24 at
Kickoff: 1:30 pm Mountain Time
TV:ESPNU and ESPN3
BYU vs.
Saturday, Nov 24 at
Tipoff: 7:00 pm
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs.
Wednesday, Nov 28 at
Tipoff: 7:00 pm Mountain Time
TV: BYUtv