Category Archives: Current Events

USC’s John Robinson speaks at Little Rock Touchdown Club Part 1

August 27, 2012 – 1:56 pm

USC-ND ’74 – The Anthony Davis Game

Uploaded by on Aug 6, 2006

Notre Dame was killing USC 24-0 with a minute left in first half of the 1974 game in Los Angeles. Anthony Davis caught a TD pass to close out the half, then returned the 2nd half kickoff for a touchdown, and USC ran off 55 straight points in 17 minutes. 55-24 final score.

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Today on August 27, 2012 I got to hear John Robinson speak at the Little Rock Touchdown Club, and I got to ask him a question. “Do you remember John McKay’s halftime speech at the 1974 Notre Dame at USC game?”

John Robinson responded that he remembered being down 17-0 and McKay called a play on 4th down and 1 that John Robinson knew would fail because Notre Dame had their goal line defense in. Sure enough it lost three yards.

Down 24-6 at half, McKay talked to the players in a calm voice and told them that he was prouder of this team than any other that he had ever coached. He told them to calm down and they were playing like they had a case of the jitters.

The second half was history and USC scored on the first play (100 yard kickoff return by Anthony Davis) and scored again and again till they won 55-24.

Here are some comments from the website redroom:

For Trojan fans, it was not a game, it was a sighting. It was Fatima, Lourdes and the Burning Bush combined. 

For Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian, it was the Seventh Circle of Hell. 

It was a 17-minute Southern California earthquake, epicentered at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on a fall Saturday in 1974. 

Notre Dame 24, USC 0. Then USC managed a touchdown on a swing pass from quarterback Pat Haden to tailback Anthony Davis with 10 seconds left in the first half. 

“We had dominated the first half,” said legendary Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian.  After Davis scored, “that didn’t bother me that much, because we had done very well in the game. “ 

“I said gentlemen, we’re behind,” USC coach John McKay once recalled of his halftime speech, “and two guys who were math majors put up their hands and said, ‘Yeah, that’s right.’ ” 

In a 2000 interview McKay said if Davis ran the second half kickoff back for a touchdown, “we would win the game.” Over the years, McKay’s remarks were changed to “Davis will run the second half kickoff back for a touchdown,” but like everything else that day, his words are now legend and myth. Fertig was a myth-teller par excellence. According to his story, McKay stated, “And I’ll tell you one other thing, we’re gonna return the second half kick-off.” 

Fertig further stated McKay told special teams blocker Mosi Tatupu “there’s no rule in this game against blocking,” and “if you’ll get off your rear end” and David Farmer also would block, “if you two will hit somebody, Anthony Davis will go 98 yards for the touchdown,” adding “he was wrong. A.D. went 100 yards.” 

USC radio announcer Tom Kelly famously started the second half broadcast, “It’s been an Irish afternoon,” but after Davis took the ball out of the end zone he immediately got excited . . . very excited.  

“. . . Davis coming out at the 10, 15, 20, he’s coming out at the 30 . . . HE’S GOING ALL THE WAY! They won’t catch him. Touchdown USC, 100 YARDS!” 

Dressed to the nines in a black suit, carnation in his pocket, national title ring glistening on his finger, A.D.’s eyes got big as he recalled the moment. 

“I haven’t seen a kick like this in two years. End over end, perfect kick, right in my hands, two yards deep in the end zone . . . And I always had a seven-yard relationship with my wedge. Every time they were hitting on defenders, I was making my breaks. I always gave myself three ways to run, so when I hit the edge, the whole field opened up, and I hit the sideline, on an angle, and I tell you, I was fast on the ring because I outran that angle, and it was on.” 

“We were trying to kick the ball away from him,” said Parseghian, looking like a guy trying not to think about a long-ago mugging. “I said kick it down to one side or the other, whatever you feel most comfortable with, I remember it vividly, and he kicks it right to Anthony, his left side, right in front of us, and I had the impulse to grab him, not like I could have.” 

The next 17 minutes were the most exciting in college football and Los Angeles sports history. That span included the kick-off return for a touchdown, a TD pass, a fumble recovery, another Davis TD run from scrimmage followed by A.D. diving in for a two-point conversion, a 56-yard punt return, another TD pass, an interception, another TD pass, and finally Charles Phillips’s 58-yard interception return for a touchdown. 55-24. 

Up in the broadcast booth, Ohio State coach Woody Hayes must have felt like a Prussian military commander with a binocular-view of Napoleon’s Italian Campaign, knowing he would have to face them down the road. The USC rooting section started chanting, “Woody, you’re next!” in reference to the upcoming Rose Bowl. 

USC won the national championship after a thrilling, comeback 18-17 win over the Buckeyes. Parseghian never coached after that season. Rumors have it he sees a therapist to combat visions of a white horse constantly running around a field.

8-27 jrobinson Coach John Robinson – USC, LA Rams
Former USC Trojan and Los Angeles Rams head coach leading USC to four Rose Bowl wins, a national championship and two final season #2 rankings while taking the Rams to two NFC Championship games and drafting Eric Dickerson as the #1 player in the NFL draft. His UNLV team defeated the Razorbacks 31-14 in the 2000 Las Vegas Bowl then lost the 2001 season opener against the Hogs at War Memorial with 18 seconds remaining in the game. Inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame 2009.

Did you know that USC has a great football tradition that goes back 100 years. Take a look at this Rose Bowl Victory in 1945:

No. 17: 1945 Rose Bowl (USC 25, Tennessee 0)

photo from rosebowlhistory.org
photo from rosebowlhistory.org

The last of the Trojans war-time Rose bowl victories came via quarterback Jim Hardy’s prolific arm as the USC legend delivered two more touchdown passes in a Trojan rout of the 7-0-1 Tennessee Volunteers.

The Trojans would finish undefeated, with only two ties to blemish an otherwise perfect season.

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Steve Sullivan, Wally Hall and Jim Harris talk at Little Rock Touchdown Club on 11-28-11

I enjoyed the Little Rock Touchdown Club and have posted a lot about it all fall. I have links below to earlier posts. Yesterday Wally Hall and Steve Sullivan had some good insights. Below are some of the thoughts of Jim Harris that he shared at the lunch. BUILDING THE DEFENSE: How nice it would […]

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach at Little Rock Touchdown Club (Part 3)

Earlier I wrote about where I think Arkansas could win a national championship with just two more wins. Below is a portion of an article by Jim Harris of the website Arkansas 360: AND ON BOBBY: Schlabach, on Arkansas’ coach: “I said when he was hired that Bobby Petrino would make Arkansas a contender for […]

The most significant game in Arkansas razorback football history? (Part 2)

A few days ago it looked like we would not have the opportunity to play into the national championship game, but now all that has changed. Life is funny that way sometimes. The Arkansas News Bureau reported: “I think we’ll have the opportunity,” Bequette said. “That’s what I believe.” All we got to do is […]

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach at Little Rock Touchdown Club (Part 2)

Earlier I wrote about where I think Arkansas could win a national championship with just two more wins. Below is a portion of an article by Jim Harris of the website Arkansas 360: STILL THERE’S LES AT LSU: Schlabach, in saying that LSU and Alabama are the two best teams in the country, had high […]

The most significant game in Arkansas razorback football history?

Wally Hall actually said on his radio program on Nov 22, 2011 that the Arkansas v. LSU game on Nov 25, 2011 is the most significant game in razorback history. I have to respectfully disagree. I will agree that it is in the top 5, but I will start a  list today of other games […]

After blowout at Arkansas, Vols coach Dooley felt like celebration after Vandy win was warrented

I saw the end of the Tennessee/Vandy game on tv and my brother-in-law went to the game (pictures from him below). I have written about the game earlier on this blog so I will not go into that again. I just wanted to comment on the video clip above. I think it is fine that […]

 

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach at Little Rock Touchdown Club (Part 1)

Earlier I wrote about where I think Arkansas could win a national championship with just two more wins. Below is a portion of an article by Jim Harris of the website Arkansas 360: What kind of college football polling world do we live in now that a No. 3 Arkansas could win Friday at No. […]

Mangino speaks at Little Rock Touchdown Club (Part 3)

Mangino at a 2007 KU basketball game Eric Mangino is a fine coach. Here is a portion of an article by Jim Harris: Jim Harris’ Notebook: Mangino Ready To Return; Big Week For Central Arkansas by Jim Harris STRANGE YEAR: Mark Mangino noted the unusual college football season, from six more more teams being in […]

Mangino speaks at Little Rock Touchdown Club (Part 2)

Mangino at a 2007 KU basketball game Eric Mangino is a very good speaker. Here is a portion of an article by Jim Harris: Jim Harris’ Notebook: Mangino Ready To Return; Big Week For Central Arkansas by Jim Harris 11/14/2011 at 3:37pm It’s easy for fans who don’t follow Kansas football closely to forget just […]

Johnny Majors speaks at Little Rock Touchdown Club (Part 12)jh80

Uploaded by TheMemphisSlim on Sep 3, 2010 Johnny Majors from Huntland, TN tried out for the UT Football team weighing 150 pounds. His Father, Shirley Majors his HS Coach,encourage him and then 4 younger brothers all to be Vols. Johnny Majors was the runner-up in 1956 for the Heisman Trophy to Paul Horning, on a loosing Notre Dame […]

Johnny Majors speaks at Little Rock Touchdown Club (Part 11)jh79

Interview with Johnny Majors after 1982 Kentucky game Below is a picture of Lane Kiffin with Johnny Majors. I enjoyed hearing Johnny Majors speak at the Little Rock Touchdown Club on 11-7-11. He talked a lot about the connection between the Arkansas and Tennessee football programs. It reminded me of what Frank Broyles had said […]

Will Dooley be given enough time to turn Vols around? Arkansas loss energizes foes of Dooley jh84

Photo by Amy Smotherman Burgess, ©KNS/2011 Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley reacts as Arkansas scores their seventh touchdown of the night at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville on Nov. 12, 2011. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL)

Johnny Majors speaks at Little Rock Touchdown Club (Part 10)jh78

FB: The Best of Johnny Majors at Iowa St I got to hear Johnny Majors talk on 11-7-11 and he talked about the connection that Arkansas and Tennessee had with their football programs. Two years ago I got to hear Frank Broyles speak at the Little Rock Touchdown Club and he said that too. As […]

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By Everette Hatcher III, on August 9, 2012 at 2:49 pm, under Current Events. No Comments
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“Music Monday” Switchfoot is a Christian Band with a great message (Part 5)

August 27, 2012 – 7:49 am

Switchfoot is a Christian Band with a great message (Part 5)

One of my favorite bands is Switchfoot. Tim Foreman is the front man and this band has always been very vocal about their Christian faith. I am really enjoying this series on their band.

Switchfoot: Oh! Gravity. The Meaning Behind

 Posted: Friday, December 22, 2006, 12:24 (GMT)

Oh! Gravity.
The Songs by Jon Foreman

grav•i•ty (grv-t) n.
– The natural force of attraction between any two massive bodies, which is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
– Grave consequence; seriousness or importance
– Solemnity or dignity of manner.

Meaning Behind Songs

Oh! Gravity is a conversation with a well-known law of physics. The question is this: If in the physical world things naturally move closer together, why are we falling apart? War and rumors of war, divorce, hatred, violence, and everything else on the evening news seems to contradict gravity. This song is a fun happy-clappy tune about a grave matter: “Sons of my enemies, why can’t we seem to keep it together?”

American Dream. I am proud to be an American. Proud of my grandfather who was shot down in world war two. Proud of some of my best friends who are in the Marines. I believe in a nation that is serving a higher calling than a TV. I have nothing against the material world. I have nothing against consumerism as a social structure. Certainly we are consumers with physical bodies, but if that’s all we are we’ve lost what it means to be human. When success is equated with excess the ambition for excess wrecks us. As the top of the mind becomes the bottom line when success is equated with excess.

Dirty Second Hands. the machine. the clock. our own hands. The dirty second hand of time is always ticking- bringing us and all that we have worked so hard to achieve closer to the grave and the second hand store. In my fight with depression, lust, pride, and boredom I have found that the biggest challenger is often within me. The very machinery that I loathe and have fought so hard to defeat stares back at me from the mirror. This mechanism is always ticking. And in my spiritual life I have found that this is a part of me that has to die everyday if I am to be truly alive.

Awakening. How quickly I am lulled back to sleep! How quickly I forget. In one of my favorite Wilco songs Jeff Tweedy sings, “You know I would die if I could come back new.” Perhaps to be truly reborn death is not optional. Here’s a firsthand story about new life, it always starts at the bottom.

Circles. Here’s a tune that had its roots in the past. We actually played a version of this song a few tours ago while we were gearing up for the recording of “nothing is sound.” It’s an ecclesiastical song about the modern machine. We tracked a previous version of this song while we were tracking stars. But something about the song was never quite right. When Sean and Sarah Watkins (our friends from Nickel Creek) came in, the song took on a new life and became something truly special. The end of the song represents one of my favorite moments we’ve ever had on a CD.


Amateur Lovers. Oh that we knew how to love each other well! Here’s a song that elaborates on the title track with another set of social-physics questions. We all need love so badly- it’s how we were made. And yet we’re so bad at loving one another. It’s our attempt to put another matter of grave consequence in the skin of a pop tune.

Faust, Midas, and Myself. Two mythologies and the truth. Or more specifically, a man who makes a deal with the devil, a man who has a touch of gold, and my own personal struggles. CS Lewis had a lot to say about mythology. On one occasion he said that he writes fantasy to get past the watchful dragons of religion. That’s why I write music, because our minds are often so closed that even the truth can’t fit in to set us free. This is a story about following the fantasy and seeing where it leads. Sometimes the dreams turn into nightmares… In a million ways, I know firsthand that the taste turns sour very quickly.

Head Over Heals. This is an honest love song. Love is not a silk flower- always bright, with artificially whitened teeth and a fake tan. No, love is a fight. Love is what happens when you’ve been hurt and you want to quit. Love is what happens when you decide not to. Love is not the beginning of the story but the ending. Perhaps the thirty-minute sitcom has done a disservice to the sheer magnitude of what love is.

Yesterdays. I wrote this with my brother. The song is very straightforward. I have hope in this life and beyond the grave.

Burn Out Bright. One of two tracks on the record that is a command. Seems like every story I can relate to starts off with a broken heart, broken dreams and bleeding parts. There’s a story I know about a man named Israel who wrestled with God. From that day on he walked with a limp. I guess in a lot of ways I don’t trust a man who doesn’t have a limp. The future is yet unwritten. Write it well.

4:12. Another musical thesis on the subject of materialism. I’ve heard it said that we are souls and we have bodies. And yet our physical world is always hungry, always thirsty, always watching, always listening. It gets to the point where I begin to believe that all we are and that all of our dreams are nothing more than material. That love and fear and pain and justice are material? It’s nonsensical.

Let Your Love Be Strong. My wife’s favorite song. This one means a lot to me. “Maybe I’m just idealistic to assume that truth could be fact and form, that love could be a verb, maybe I’m just a little misinformed.” I wrote this one after a long walk in the early morning before the sun came up. I was sitting out by the train tracks halfway between the ocean and the freeway. When everything in your life falls apart you begin to realize what’s worth holding on to and who’s got a hold on you. Let the world fall apart … all of my life rests upon the love that created every breath I have been given.

*a footnote:
I have a hard time explaining what I do for a living. I sometimes wish I played the role of inventor: purposefully creative, a wizard with notes and words. But in fact my occupation is much more like an archeologist. Always digging. Always sorting. And occasionally I feel that I stumble across something truly remarkable. Like a hidden city buried in the ground, the notes and words seem to have been there long before me- as though the song would exist without my involvement. Or maybe it’s more like farming. Preparing the soil, planting, watering, pruning and caring for these ideas hoping to see a bumper crop yet knowing that the outcome is almost entirely out of my hands.

With that in mind, this collection of songs then is something that I can only partly take credit for. Most of my favorite moments on the record represent the times when my fingerprints are the lightest, where my own self-conscious second-guessing is absent and the buried city can speak for itself. I suppose to some extent I’m talking about honesty- allowing a song to be itself rather than forcing your own will upon it. This was a goal not only in the writing process but in the studio as well. Many times on this record we deliberately went back to the first take and the rough draft to find our direction simply because the first response to the song is often the most honest. Your first instincts might be poorly played or incomplete but they were honest.

I am so proud of these songs, like I am proud of my friends or as I imagine a father would be proud of his son. I truly feel like there is only so much credit that be given to the songwriter, for the buried city was waiting there all along.

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Mark May at Little Rock Touchdown Club Part 5

August 25, 2012 – 10:07 am

I always enjoy the Little Rock Touchdown Club meeting and August 20th was better than I expected. Mark May did a great job. I thought his answer concerning Tennessee being a sleeper team was an excellent description of them. I have not heard many commentators talking about the Vols challenging for the SEC East conference title. However, they do have some very good receivers and a fine quarterback in Tyler Bray.

I also was surprised that David said he did not invite Mark Henry to speak till his son committed to be a Razorback. Maybe David is right but I thought the members of the LR Touchdown Club would be able to rise above that. Keith Jackson played at Oklahoma and he has been on the radio broadcast for years.

1:00 am – August 21, 2012

<:header>

May gets TD Club off to good start

By Harry King

Arkansas News Bureau

hking@arkansasnews.com

LITTLE ROCK — Decked out in shorts and a colorful button-down collar shirt, ESPN analyst Mark May dropped by a Little Rock radio station to talk a little football on Monday morning.

Off the air, there was a conversation about his blunt assessment of the Penn State mess and how his employer appreciated his honesty to the point of wanting May to weigh in on all things controversial in college football.

You know the man is candid when he tells several hundred football fans from Arkansas that if he had a son who was a top recruit, he would encourage the young man to go to Alabama and play for Nick Saban. He is the best at developing talent, May told the Little Rock Touchdown Club.

The Outland Trophy winner while at Pittsburgh, May was a good leadoff hitter for the TD Club. Before May was introduced, club president David Bazzel reviewed the lineup of speakers, including the interesting timing of UA coach John L. Smith on Sept. 24 and UA athletic director Jeff Long in mid-October. Smith will be 10 days post-Alabama and Long is up when Arkansas is halfway through its Southeastern Conference schedule.

May had high praise for Long, crediting the athletic director with putting UA football on the map nationally, for the way he handled the dismissal of Bobby Petrino, and for hiring Smith as a CEO to oversee the program. Asked about the next coach, May said “most of those big names, you can’t get them,” but that if Long zeroes in on somebody, he would pursue him like a “rabid dog.”

Tossing out names, May mentioned Cincinnati coach Butch Jones, Louisville coach Charlie Strong, Florida State defensive coordinator Mark Stoops, and Texas defensive coordinator Manny Diaz. At our table, Smith’s successor received more attention than the upcoming season.

On the 2012 season, May said what Razorback fans want to hear, that Arkansas has a “road to the national championship.” Whether they heard his preamble, who knows.

He said Petrino left the cupboard full, but that he wanted to see running back Knile Davis get hit before the season opener, that the defense is still a question mark, and that the Razorbacks needed big plays from special teams. May noted that Arkansas would be favored in nine games and said fans should make sure the atmosphere is raucous for Alabama and LSU in Fayetteville.

He did say that he believed Alabama would win the SEC, that the loss of Tyrann Mathieu would hurt LSU severely, and that USC is thin on defense and has a weak schedule.

May had some fun with Lou Holtz, his foil on “Final Verdict” with robe-wearing Rece Davis, including word that the bit is never rehearsed. Holtz gets ticked when he loses, particularly after his golfing buddies in Florida chide him about being outdone by May. “Have you ever been threatened by a 73-year-old?” May asked.

Bazzel got the jump on May, playing the tape of a phone message supposedly from Holtz. Bazzel’s former coach said he would have liked to have been in Little Rock for the meeting, but that he has a busy schedule. “Mark May doesn’t,” the caller said.

May did say he and Holtz would be putting in about 16 hours each Saturday since the Pac-12 has promised a 10:30 p.m. kickoff every week and that there is a wrapup show to follow.

May encouraged questions and picked Tennessee as a possible surprise in the SEC. He said he is not a big fan of the new four-team playoff in college football, pointing out that a team that goes through the rugged SEC must still win a conference championship game and a semifinal game to reach the title game while a team in the Big 12 has an advantage since there is no conference title game.

———-

Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.

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Razorbacks blew a few games because of kicking

August 24, 2012 – 7:00 am

I was really upset at the Florida game in 2009 that we lost because we could not a field goal and the same could be said about the 3 rd overtime short 38 yard kick we missed that would have won the game against Tennessee in Knoxville in 2002. We ended up losing in 6 overtimes.

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8/23/2012 at 1:00pm

Arkansas kicker Alex Tejada helped the Razorbacks win the 2010 Liberty Bowl. But the inconsistency of Tejada and other Razorback kickers over the years were a source of great frustration for fans.
Image by Mark Wagner

Arkansas kicker Alex Tejada helped the Razorbacks win the 2010 Liberty Bowl. But the inconsistency of Tejada and other Razorback kickers over the years were a source of great frustration for fans.

This football season marks the 21st for the Razorbacks as members of the SEC. Having completed two decades in the league it seemed worth reflecting on how far the program has come. Which victories over the last 20 years were the sweetest? Were there losses that hurt more than others? What coaching decisions still have folks scratching their heads? ArkansasSports360.com assembled a panel aimed at answering these questions. We have our list and we’d love to hear yours.

No. 6 on our moments you would love to forget …

SHAKY KICKING

When it happened: 2002-2009

Who we remember: Alex Tejada, Brendan O’Donohoe.

Why we’d like to forget: Arkansas has had an amazing run of clutch kickers over the years, starting with Tom McNelly winning the Texas game in Austin in 1960, a program-changing victory for Frank Broyles. Bob White, Bill McClard, Steve Little, Ish Ordonez, Bruce Lahay, Kendall Trainor and Todd Wright all became household names to Razorback fans for making the extra point and field goal “automatic.”

So it was that Hog fans and UA coaches were yanking their hair out in the 2000s when games were lost on the foot of such highly recruited kickers as El Dorado’s Brendan O’Donohoe and Springdale’s Alex Tejada.

Houston Nutt could find a walk-on like Todd Latourette, Chris Balserio or David Carlton to rescue the kicking game during his 10-year run, and it was rare he would offer a high school kicker a scholarship until O’Donohoe came along out of El Dorado.

But Nutt was almost past the frustration point with his kicker when O’Donohoe was called on to end the Tennessee game in the third overtime in Knoxville in 2002. From 34 yards away, he missed for the third time in the game, and Tennessee escaped with a victory in the sixth overtime.

Tejada was much heralded for his leg strength, but his direction left lots to be desired, especially with Bobby Petrino in 2008-09. A missed field at Kentucky in ’08 would have provided the Hogs with the winning margin there, and Tejada badly blew a 47-yarder at the end of regulation in a 31-28 loss at Mississippi State. In 2009, Tejada failed both at Florida in a game the Hogs lost 23-20 and in overtime at LSU in a 33-30 defeat.

Providence yet shined on Tejada: He delivered the winner in overtime to beat East Carolina in the Liberty Bowl on Jan. 2, 2010. Then he gave way in the 2010 season to Russellville product Zach Hocker, who has had an amazing run of success for two seasons.

Up Next: October unkind to Razorbacks …

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Mark May at Little Rock Touchdown Club Part 4

August 24, 2012 – 6:40 am

Too bad for Ohio State they had to forfeit the Sugar Bowl victory in 2011.

I got to hear Mark May speak at the Little Rock Touchdown Club on August 20, 2012 and he did a great job.

May sees hurdles for Hogs in SEC

By Jeremy Muck

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

LITTLE ROCK — During his 32-minute speech to the Little Rock Touchdown Club at The Peabody Little Rock hotel Monday, ESPN college football analyst Mark May had high hopes for the Arkansas football team.

“If they win less than nine games, I’ll be surprised,” said May of the No. 10 Razorbacks, who finished 11-2 last season and beat Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl. “The two challenges, obviously, are LSU and Alabama but they get them both at home [Alabama on Sept. 15, LSU on Nov. 23]. They’re going to have to go to South Carolina and from all indications, [ junior running back] Marcus Lattimore is back. It’s going to be tough to stop them because if he’s back to 100 percent after the knee injury, he’s one of the top three backs in the nation, without a doubt.

“Those are the three games they’re going to have to target. Every other game, they should be favored in.”

May, 52, was a first-round draft pick in 1981 by the Washington Redskins from Pittsburgh. He played on two Super Bowl-winning teams with the Redskins and was an All-American and Outland Trophy winner in 1980.

After playing 13 seasons in the NFL (1981-1990 Redskins, 1991 San Diego Chargers, 1992-1993 Arizona Cardinals), May worked for TNT and CBS before joining ESPN in 2001. He is an analyst on ESPN’s College Football Scoreboard and College Football Final.

May praised Long’s decision in April to hire Coach John L. Smith to replace former coach Bobby Petrino, who was fired. Long had served as Arkansas’ special teams coach before leaving to take the Weber State head coaching position last December,

“It was a short window that had to be filled in a hurry,” May said. “I think what Jeff Long did was he brought in a CEO. He wanted a guy that’s not going to tinker with the major problems on this football team, if there are any.”

May said that if Smith is not retained by Arkansas after this season, possible coaching candidates could include Cincinnati Coach Butch Jones, Louisville Coach Charlie Strong (Batesville) and defensive coordinators Manny Diaz at Texas and Mark Stoops at Florida State.

As for Petrino, May believes he should take his time getting back into head coaching.

“I’d try to go out and get a job as an offensive coordinator someplace, maybe Conference USA,” May said, “to at least get back into the game and re-establish myself.Maybe in another 3-5 years, he would have another opportunity to be a head coach again. But right now, he’s as toxic as [former Ohio State coach] Jim Tressel.”

Junior running back Knile Davis – who missed the 2011 season after ankle surgery – has not participated in contact drills since Arkansas opened camp earlier this month, which concerns May leading up to the Razorbacks’ opener Sept. 1 against Jacksonville State in Fayetteville.

“I want to see him get hit before he plays,” said May of Davis. “I want to make sure he’s ready to go before the first whistle blows. I think John has to make that decision in the next week or so.”

Other highlights from May’s speech to the Little Rock Touchdown Club:

On LSU dismissing junior defensive back Tyrann Mathieu, who was a Heisman Trophy finalist last season: “People don’t realize how good he was. He changed the game against Arkansas. He changed the game against Florida. He changed the game in the SEC Championship Game against Georgia.In every one of those games, they were down. He scored a touchdown, whether it would be an interception return or a punt return. … He’s the momentum changer of that franchise, that program.”

On Southern California – which was on NCAA probation the past two seasons- being picked as the No. 1 team in The Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll: “That’s a hard one to fathom. They’re very thin. They’ve lost scholarships. … They have a weak schedule. You look at their schedule, their three nonconference games are Hawaii, Syracuse and Notre Dame. They’re going to be favored in every one of their games the entire season long. Their only challenge is going to be Oregon at home [Nov. 3]. That’s it. The second game will be when they play Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship Game. They’ve got an easy road to get to the championship game. But they’re going to be playing against a juggernaut from the SEC West.”

On whether the NCAA sanctions for Penn State’s football program were strong enough: “I think after the Freeh Report, I think Mark Emmert and the NCAA did a terrific job in how they handled it. The president of Penn State signed off on it. It was a brutal agreement for Penn State, but it was something that had to be done. … The way they protected people there was atrocious.”

Sports, Pages 15 on 08/21/2012

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Questionable calls between Arkansas and SEC opponents

August 23, 2012 – 8:26 am

In the last 5 minutes of this video you can see some key plays from the 1971 Liberty Bowl and it shows Tom Reed recovering the ball for the hogs.

There are lots of questionable calls in the past and at the bottom of this post you will find a fine article from Arkansas Sports 360 on them. The biggest mistake in the past in my view is from the 1971 Liberty Bowl between Arkansas and Tennessee when clearly Tom Reed can be seen recovering the fumbe for Arkansas but the ball was given to the Vols. Here are some more details on the game below:

Ferguson lofted a screen to Jon Richardson, who was hit hard by Graham and fumbled, resulting in a broken wrist for the Hog tailback. Just where and under whom the fumble went is a mystery only to be solved by the most instant of instant replays. Some stories had the ball going out of bounds, others said Tom Reed recovered. Tennessee claimed it was sub-tackle Carl Witherspoon, and the scoreboard later agreed, though half the stadium didn’t.  Arkansas did not like the call, to say the least, and it gave the Vols momentum. This was momentum leading to a 17-yard scoring romp by previously injured fullback Curt Watson. He eluded all red shirts around his own right end, and deadlocked the game at 13-13. Hunt put on the clincher at the 1:56 mark (video).

 

Arkansas tried a last-ditch effort, driving 20 yards before Ferguson’s second-down bomb intended for Hodge found its way into the hands of UT defender, Eddie Brown, and the Liberty Howl was over. And so was the 1971 football season for 51,110 fans in Memphis Memorial Stadium

 
 

 
George Silvey (far right) carries for Tennessee
 

 
Jim Hodge catches TD from Joe Ferguson (above) then celebrates with teammate (below)

 
 

 
Tennessee’s Curt Watson on winning TD run

 
 Attendance– 51,110 

Scoring Summary

 

First Quarter

UT- Rudder 2 run (Hunt kick)

 

Second Quarter

UA- Hodge 36 yard pass from Ferguson (McClard kick)

 

Fourth Quarter

UA- FG McClard 19

UA- FG McClard 30

UT- Watson 17 run (Hunt kick)

 

Individual Statistics

Rushing

UA- Saint 17-71, Richardson 13-38, Hodge 1-12, Morton 11-48

UT- Chancey 12-34, Rudder 5-18, Silvey 2-3, Watson 11-39

Passing

UA- Ferguson 18-28-200

UT- Maxwell 10-20-120, Rudder 1-1-22

Receiving-

UA- Hodge 6-75, Ettinger 5-53, Richardson 6-48, Nichols 1-24

UT- Rudder 2-10, Love 3-37, Thompson 2-16, Theiler 3-53, Silvey 1-26

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8/22/2012 at 1:00pm

Questionable calls at Florida in 2009 cost the Razorbacks a win and drew the ire of then coach Bobby Petrino.
Image by Mark Wagner

Questionable calls at Florida in 2009 cost the Razorbacks a win and drew the ire of then coach Bobby Petrino.

This football season marks the 21st for the Razorbacks as members of the SEC. Having completed two decades in the league it seemed worth reflecting on how far the program has come. Which victories over the last 20 years were the sweetest? Were there losses that hurt more than others? What coaching decisions still have folks scratching their heads? ArkansasSports360.com assembled a panel aimed at answering these questions. We have our list and we’d love to hear yours.

No. 8 on our moments you would love to forget …

Shady Stripes In Florida
When it happened: Oct. 17, 2009
Who we remember: Referee Marc Curles, Coaches Bobby Petrino and Urban Meyer, Tim Tebow, Ryan Mallett, Malcolm Sheppard, CBS announcers Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson.
Why we’d like to forget: A few games in Arkansas history (Ole Miss in 1960, SMU in 1982) seemed known more for the officiating that appeared to determine the outcome than for the play on the field. Arkansas seemed on the verge of knocking off No. 1 Florida in Gainesville in 2009 if not for some odd officiating by a crew led by Marc Curles. That the SEC league office would suspend the crew for three weeks following the game indicated that if it wasn’t an outright “hosing,” at least the SEC believed the bad officiating deserved more than a reprimand.

Countless plays — late hits out of bounds that weren’t flagged, unusual spotting of the football that appeared favorable toward the home team, etc. — had the small Arkansas contingent in The Swamp, not to mention head coach Bobby Petrino, upset. The Hogs seized the momentum in the second quarter and constantly frustrated Gators’ Heisman Trophy quarterback Tim Tebow. However, it was one play in the fourth quarter that even the CBS announcing crew found outlandish, and they harped on it even after the game was over.

Arkansas defensive lineman Malcolm Sheppard was whistled for a personal foul by the officials, though video replay showed that he appeared to be legally taking on a Florida offensive lineman blocking 20 yards away from the play. The call kept alive a tying fourth-quarter drive by the Gators, and Florida would then win on a late march, also aided by questionable spotting leading to a short field goal, 23-20.

Arkansas had the sympathy of the nation after that loss — maybe for the first time when Hog fans had screamed foul — because it allowed Florida to remain unbeaten on its collision course with the unbeaten Alabama Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship Game. There, Tebow’s magic ran out. Marc Curles’ crew was nowhere to be seen that weekend.

Related posts:

Questionable calls between Arkansas and SEC opponents

In the last 5 minutes of this video you can see some key plays from the 1971 Liberty Bowl and it shows Tom Reed recovering the ball for the hogs. There are lots of questionable calls in the past and at the bottom of this post you will find a fine article from Arkansas Sports […]

Houston Nutt went 6-1 in overtime games at Arkansas

You got to respect a lot of the results that Houston Nutt got while he was the Hog football coach. He won or tied for the SEC West 3 out of 10 years and he had us in the national title conversation in 1998 and 2006 as late as Novemeber. (Petrino did the same last […]

Mark May at Little Rock Touchdown Club Part 3

I went to hear Mark May speak at the Little Rock Touchdown Club on August 20, 2012 and he did a great job of giving some insights into the Penn St case and he also looked into the SEC race this year. I do think that May has some good insights and I think his […]

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Wally Hall wrote a fine article on the Little Rock Touchdown Club meeting yesterday that I got to attend. It was moving when Mark May got choked up responding to a question about the Penn St scandal. Wally refers to that. LIKE IT IS: ESPN analyst starts LRTC talks with bang Tuesday, August 21, 2012 […]

SEC football championship game history

I have been hoping that Arkansas could win the SEC Championship game but after 20 years we still haven’t done so. Wikipedia reports that four times have appeared at least five times. They are Florida (10), Alabama (7), LSU (5) and Tennessee (5). Arkansas does have 3 appearances but no wins. Florida has the most wins […]

Mark May at Little Rock Touchdown Club Part 1

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10 most hated men in SEC football

Got this off the internet: Nutt makes the top 10 for one of the few times in his SEC Coaching Career 10 Most Hated Men in the SEC There is no doubt that the college football conference with the most emotion is the SEC.  One of those emotions is hate and this is the list […]

Past Little Rock Touchdown Club meetings (Part 3)

This year’s Little Rock Touchdown Club speakers are very exciting and I am really excited about the first one being Mark May. Below that are some of the posts about past speakers. Here is an article from Arkansas Sports 360 on the lineup of speakers: ESPN’s Mark May Kicks Off Little Rock Touchdown Club Aug. 20 <!– 23 […]

Top 25 football teams for 2012

Photo by Erin Nelson Alabama head coach Nick Saban signs autographs for fans at the Southeastern Conference NCAA college football media days in Hoover, Ala. on Thursday, July 19, 2012. (AP Photo/The Tuscaloosa News, Erin Nelson) Photo by Butch Dill LSU coach Les Miles speaks to reporters at the Southeastern Conference NCAA college football media […]

Past Little Rock Touchdown Club meetings (Part 2)

This year’s Little Rock Touchdown Club speakers are very exciting and I am really excited about the first one being Mark May. Below that are some of the posts about past speakers. Here is more about Mark May from Wikipedia: Mark Eric May (born November 2, 1959) is a former American college and professional football player who was […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Comments (0)

Houston Nutt went 6-1 in overtime games at Arkansas

August 23, 2012 – 7:56 am

You got to respect a lot of the results that Houston Nutt got while he was the Hog football coach. He won or tied for the SEC West 3 out of 10 years and he had us in the national title conversation in 1998 and 2006 as late as Novemeber. (Petrino did the same last year.)

However, one of the most impressive things Nutt did is go 6-1 in overtime games. The only loss being to Tennessee. I was driving from Little Rock to Orlando that night and I caught it on the radio in the fourth quarter. Little did I realize that I would get to see the last two overtime periods on tv at the hotel with my relatives about 1 hour later. What was amazing to me was the horrible field goal kick that Tennessee made in the second overtime. It cleared the goal post about 3 inches. Then our kicker had a chance to win it in the 3rd overtime with a 38 yard kick and he missed that!!! Here are some of the details of the game from Sports Illustrated:

Working overtime

No. 10 Tennessee takes out Arkansas 41-38 in six OTs

Posted: Sunday October 06, 2002 12:35 AM
Updated: Sunday October 06, 2002 1:56 AM
Rashad Moore, Omari Hand Tennessee’s Rashad Moore (58) and Omari Hand (91) rest during a timeout in the sixth OT of the Vols’ 41-38 win. AP

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer said a lack of discipline and youthful mistakes were keeping the No. 10 Volunteers from playing their best. He had nothing to complain about Saturday night.

Jason Witten caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Casey Clausen in the sixth overtime to give Tennessee (4-1, 1-1 SEC) an exhausting 41-38 win over Arkansas.

“This is the type of game that jells a football team. I am excited about the way we played,” he said. “We had the heart and the guts to take it to them.”

For the Razorbacks (2-2, 0-2), who beat Mississippi 58-57 in a record-setting seven-overtime game last season, it was a heart-wrenching loss.

They pushed into the final overtime but had to settle for a 47-yard field goal by David Carlton in the sixth OT before the Vols got their last chance.

“When it went into overtime, I said, ‘This is our game. We’re ready,”‘ Arkansas coach Houston Nutt said. “This was bitter, bitter. There were a lot of times we outplayed them.”

The teams kicked field goals in the first two overtimes and were held scoreless in the third.

Arkansas finally scored a touchdown in the next OT, on Matt Jones’ run, but the Razorbacks couldn’t get the 2-point conversion. Under NCAA rules, teams must go for 2 points after touchdowns starting with the third overtime.

Tennessee scored a touchdown on Clausen’s 25-yard pass to Tony Brown, but the Vols also failed on the 2-point conversion.

Jabari Davis, who scored two TDs in regulation, ran from 12 yards out to start the fifth overtime. He fumbled, but the ball was recovered in the end zone by Troy Fleming. Clausen was then stopped on the conversion attempt. De’Arrius Howard scored a TD for Arkansas, whose pass attempt was intercepted by Tennessee’s Julian Battle at the goal line.

Arkansas scored two touchdowns in a 41/2-minute span of regulation to tie the game at 17 with 3:30 to go.

The Razorbacks trailed 17-3 after Davis scored on a 58-yard touchdown run a minute into the fourth quarter. Arkansas got the ball back, drove 60 yards and scored when Howard ran 10 yards.

The Vols were pushed back, penalized and had to punt on fourth-and-17.

Standing at his own 8, Jones passed to Richard Smith at the 40, and Smith ran down the sideline untouched to the end zone for a 92-yard touchdown to tie it.

“The coaches have told us never to quit, and we were down seven at our own 8, I kept thinking about that,” Jones said.

Clausen completed 19 of 28 passes for 291 yards and two touchdowns.

Jones, who couldn’t find many open receivers, ran 21 times for 66 yards. Arkansas’ leading rusher, Cedric Cobbs, left the game in the third quarter with a twisted left ankle.

The Razorbacks, who have lost five straight games in Knoxville since 1992, continued to rely heavily on the run but couldn’t score a touchdown until Howard’s 10-yard run cut Tennessee’s lead to 17-10 with 6:56 remaining.

Tennessee came into the game averaging 129.5 yards on the ground — 10th out of 12 SEC teams — and was determined to improve despite its leading rusher, Cedric Houston, sitting out with a torn ligament in his left thumb.

The Vols pounded away at Arkansas’ defense with Davis, starting in place of Houston, carrying 25 times for 135 yards. Tennessee finished with 162 yards on 47 attempts.

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8/22/2012 at 1:00pm

Arkansas quarterback Matt Jones appeared too laid-back to some fans, but his stamina during septuple overtime games was hard to deny.
Image by University of Arkansas Athletics
Arkansas quarterback Matt Jones appeared too laid-back to some fans, but his stamina during septuple overtime games was hard to deny.

This football season marks the 21st for the Razorbacks as members of the SEC. Having completed two decades in the league it seemed worth reflecting on how far the program has come. Which victories over the last 20 years were the sweetest? Were there losses that hurt more than others? What coaching decisions still have folks scratching their heads? ArkansasSports360.com assembled a panel aimed at answering these questions. We have our list and we’d love to hear yours.

No. 8 on our moments you love to remember…

Going Overtime
When It Happened: Nov. 3, 2001
Who We Remember: Matt Jones, Eli Manning, Jermaine Petty, Jason Peters, Houston Nutt and David Cutcliffe.
Why We Remember: An NCAA game had never before gone seven overtimes, and by the fifth one the fans for both sides in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium (and maybe those watching on ESPN2) were wishing for someone, anyone, to win this Arkansas-Ole Miss matchup. Ole Miss was favored behind future Super Bowl-winning quarterback Eli Manning, but regulation play ended 17-all, and then it really got wild.

The night proved to be Matt Jones’ coming out party, with unbelievable runs and throws during the extra periods. Jones looked like former Ole Miss superstar Archie Manning in running around the Rebels for a 25-yard scoring run, and later he scrambled and somehow found tight end Jason Peters (now an NFL All-Pro tackle) for a key two-point conversion pass.

It was as if Jones was drawing up plays in the dirt, and Ole Miss’ defense had no answer. Of course, Arkansas’ defense was having its own difficult time keeping Eli Manning from reaching the end zone too.

Finally, Hog linebacker Jermaine Petty stopped a tying 2-point play and Arkansas had a 58-56 win, spurring them on to a 7-4 regular-season finish.

The game became an “Instant” ESPN Classic, and KATV, Channel 7, produced videos of the game that were in huge demand.

The game would spark Arkansas to a berth in the Cotton Bowl against Oklahoma.

Jones and Arkansas would lose a six-OT game at Tennessee the next year and would win another seven-overtime game in 2003 over Kentucky and Jared Lorenzen, 71-63, but by then these games were old hat to Hog fans.

But maybe better than going seven overtimes was Nutt, fittingly, watching his Hogs use three OTs in dispatching eventual national champion LSU 50-48 in 2007 in the coach’s last game as Razorback coach. Darren McFadden and Peyton Hillis were especially dominant that day in Baton Rouge.

Nutt was an amazing 6-1 in overtime games as UA coach.

By Everette Hatcher III | Comments (0)

Mark May at Little Rock Touchdown Club Part 3

August 23, 2012 – 6:53 am

I went to hear Mark May speak at the Little Rock Touchdown Club on August 20, 2012 and he did a great job of giving some insights into the Penn St case and he also looked into the SEC race this year.

I do think that May has some good insights and I think his observation to watch out for Tennessee is a good insight into was is going on in the SEC. The Vols do have very good receivers and they have a very good quarterback in Tyler Bray. I think Arkansas has a better quarterback but I don’t think our receivers are as good as the Vols’ crew. (Losing Wade in off season was a blog to the Hogs.) As far as our chances of reaching Atlanta goes, it may come down to the Alabama, LSU and SC games for the Hogs. For Tennessee it comes down to Alabama, LSU, SC, Florida and Georgia. The real wild cards are Georgia and Florida. We know Alabama, LSU and SC are going to be really good, but how about Florida ad Georgia. I just don’t know yet.

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8/20/2012 at 3:18pm

ESPN's Mark May was the speaker at Monday's Little Rock Touchdown Club meeting.
Image by DeWaine Duncan
ESPN’s Mark May was the speaker at Monday’s Little Rock Touchdown Club meeting.

ESPN college football analyst Mark May covered more subjects in 30 minutes for the Little Rock Touchdown Club on Monday than most football banquet speakers would manage in a week. With his rapid-fire delivery and his ability to change directions in mid-thought, May touched on everything the Arkansas football fan would have wanted to know as the Touchdown Club opened its eighth season with a one-off at the Peabody Hotel.

May, a former NFL star offensive tackle with the Washington Redskins and a College Football Hall of Fame inductee, described himself Monday as “blunt, truthful and honest.”

That’s why he commands such a prominent position for ESPN analyzing college football alongside “Doctor” Lou Holtz and host Rece Davis on Saturdays. Their workday, which last year ran from 10:30 a.m. Saturday to 2 a.m. Sunday (that’s Eastern Time) just expanded to probably 4 a.m. thanks to ESPN now broadcasting a late Pac-12 game on Saturday nights.

That change might have Holtz grousing, if not going ballistic, May joked, but it doesn’t appear to faze a guy who still can’t believe he’s paid to watch and talk about college football.

His matter-of-fact style drew a full house Monday to the Peabody Ballroom.

The crowd also momentarily saw a 6-foot-4 man — who at peak playing weight in the NFL carried 305 pounds (320 in the off-season, he said) but now is a svelte 240 thanks to regularly working out — appear to tear up when the subject of the Penn State child molestation scandal come up during a Q&A with the audience.

May called it the biggest story in college football since the tragic Marshall University plane crash in 1970.

The image of the Nittany Lions program, built up behind the do-good reputation of Joe Paterno for nearly a half-century, “came down like a house of cards,” he said.

“How could a man [Paterno] not do everything in his means to stop a child molester,” May said, referring to Paterno and Penn State allowing former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky to have access to Penn State’s facilities, where alleged sexual molestation occurred, from 1998 on.

“I don’t understand how a person with the chance could not stop it,” May said haltingly. “It’s about as bad as it gets in college football. Hopefully everyone involved will get their just dues.”

Paterno, who died in January, has seen his reputation ruined, his campus statue taken down. Sandusky will spend the rest of his life in jail. Other Penn State officials await trial for their roles in the coverup.

The NCAA then came down hard on Penn State, whose followers will no doubt point out that May played for rival Pittsburgh in is college days. But May has long since shown on ESPN that he’s as unbiased an analyst as there is. Later, after addressing the Touchdown Club, May added about the NCAA’s penalties:

“After the Freeh report I think [NCAA President] Mark Emmert and the NCAA did a terrific job in how they handled it. The Penn State president signed off on it. I think it was a brutal agreement for Penn State but it was something that had to be done.

“It’s just a situation … I’ve got two daughters. As a father, if anything like that ever happened to one of my kids, they wouldn’t be able to restrain me. So, I’ve got a personal feeling about that and what was done there, it’s just a personal feeling of mine, I’ll go down saying it that I totally disagree with the policy they had, what had happened there, and the way they protected people there was just atrocious.”

May loves getting the better of his broadcast partner Holtz and says the 73-year-old former Arkansas coach once threatened to whip May’s backside during a break in one of their ESPN segments. May says he knows how to push Holtz’s buttons, but that the pair have a “great” relationship. At least it makes for interesting TV, especially at the end of a long college football day.

For a guy who has to know the college game from coast to coast, May seemed well-versed about the goings on in Arkansas. When an audience member suggested “Arkansas State” when May was making an analogy about Arkansas and a possible non-conference opponent, May said, “No, you’re not going to get me going there.”

May placed Tyler Wilson among the top 10 quarterbacks in the country, and said that Arkansas appears third behind Alabama and LSU but has both at home and, should the Hogs win those games, they could have a open road to the national title game.

“Bobby Petrino left a team with the cupboard full,” he said, adding however that he’d like to see running back Knile Davis hit in practice before he plays to have a better indication of his prospects. The Cotton Bowl defensive performance under new coordinator Paul Haynes was promising for this year’s team, he said.

May gave kudos to Jeff Long for landing Petrino to build the program and that Petrino had rival defensive coordinators “shaking in their boots.” He termed Petrino’s successor, John L. Smith, as a CEO “who won’t tinker with anything where there’s not a problem already there.”

Southern Cal is the preseason No. 1 in a variety of polls, but May says “that’s hard to fathom” other than the Trojans have an easy schedule. Tyrann Mathieu’s dismissal at LSU is a game-changer for the Tigers, he said. May says the SEC’s dominance and run of national titlists shouldn’t change this season, and he’d give the nod to Alabama again.

May expects South Carolina to win the SEC East if running back Marcus Lattimore is fully healthy again, but he also warned to watch for Tennessee, which will have a healthy Tyler Bray back at quarterback and a corps of talented receivers, plus new defensive coordinator Sal Sunseri off the Alabama staff.”

As for the first, late ESPN game from the Pac-12 on Sept. 1, May says Arkansas State will have it’s work cut out for it against Oregon, as well as a road trip at Nebraska on Sept. 15.

“Rest your starters, and save them for the conference games,” is May’s advice to new Red Wolves Coach Gus Malzahn. “Those are big-check [money] games. If they asked me, I’d play those games like an NFL exhibition game, where you play your starters for a quarter and then turn it over to the reserves.”

May’s blunt, truthful and honest commentary will be a weekly feature on Thursday mornings on KABZ-FM, 103.7 The Buzz and “The Show With No Name,” which is co-hosted by Touchdown Club president David Bazzel. Next Monday, the Touchdown Club welcomes former Southern Cal and UNLV coach John Robinson to the Embassy Suites in west Little Rock, where the remainder of the luncheon schedule will the held.

Email: jharris@abpg.com. Also follow Jim on Twitter @jimharris360

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By Everette Hatcher III | Comments (0)

Mark May at Little Rock Touchdown Club Part 2

August 22, 2012 – 6:51 am

Wally Hall wrote a fine article on the Little Rock Touchdown Club meeting yesterday that I got to attend. It was moving when Mark May got choked up responding to a question about the Penn St scandal. Wally refers to that.

LIKE IT IS:

ESPN analyst starts LRTC talks with bang

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

LITTLE ROCK — Mark May was funny, entertaining, educational and thought-provoking.

About what you would expect from one of ESPN’s most respected studio analysts for college football.

What surprised, though, was when he choked up with emotion over what Penn State allowed to happen to innocent victims.

May attracted almost 300 to the season’s first meeting of the Little Rock Touchdown Club on Monday.

Usually two or three weeks before the Monday kickoff of the LRTC, David Bazzell meets with the founding members and business is discussed but not the speakers.

Baz teases the founding members until the yearly news conference at Metropolitan Bank.

At that news conference, the press packets with the list of speakers is not passed out until after it is announced to the crowd.

What is amazing is that going into its ninth year this nonprofit football-loving organization has been treated to some great speakers, and this year will be no different.

Baz was able to kick off this season of Monday lunches with the always honest May, who is outspoken, critical, funny at times and always willing to call out Lou Holtz.

Holtz is the former college coach, including a great run at Arkansas, who won a national championship at Notre Dame in 1988, but May has a long football resume, too, as a great player.

After earning first-team All-America honors and winning the Outland Trophy as the nation’s best interior lineman, he was the 20th pick in the first round by the Washington Redskins, with whom he earned two Super Bowl rings as part of the “Hogs,” the highly respected offensive line.

“He sees things as a coach, I see them as a player,” he said. “And I know how to push his buttons.”

May said he made a remark about Notre Dame that upset Holtz so much that he told the 6-6 May: “You are going to get your a++ kicked in the parking lot by a 152-pound old man.”

May was exceptionally polite and friendly, smiling and taking time to sign the multitude of things he was asked to autograph.

He couldn’t have fit in better if he had been wearing a Razorbacks golf shirt.

Of course, he talked about the Razorbacks, quarterback Tyler Wilson and how this could be a “very special season.”

Before the lunch, he also addressed the Hogs’ tough schedule and said they won’t be favored against Alabama, South Carolina or LSU, and those games could define the season.

He also said he thought Arkansas State Coach Gus Malzahn was a great offensive co-ordinator, but when asked about the Red Wolves’ chances against Oregon, he rolled his eyes and groaned.

After May retired from the NFL, he planned to take a year off, but his agent called him and said he had him a job as the radio analyst for Pitt football games.

“I told him I didn’t know anything about radio, and he told me I better start learning,” May said with a laugh.

That led to two years on TNT as an NFL studio analyst on Sunday nights and then a game analyst before TNT lost the television rights. Then CBS grabbed him for three years of NFL coverage.

Then he joined ESPN and found his passion: college football.

In 2001, he and Holtz, who are the only on-air talents at ESPN who do not rehearse, started their public debates.

They go at it hard and heavy with honesty and discerning ideas and opinions.

Just like Mark May did Monday.

Sports, Pages 15 on 08/21/2012

 

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By Everette Hatcher III | Comments (0)

“Woody Wednesday” Why am I obsessed with Woody Allen?

August 22, 2012 – 1:53 am

I guess the reason I have spent so much time on Woody Allen is because in so many films he discusses the big questions in life. His movie “Crimes and Misdemeanors” is a perfect example. Check out my earlier post Nihilism can be seen in Woody Allen’s  film “Midnight in Paris” .

September (1987)September (1987)

The director famously re-wrote, re-cast and re-shot this film after seeing his original finished product. The second go-round starred (from left) Jack Warden, Elaine Stritch and Mia Farrow (with Allen, second from right). “I usually reshoot tons of material,” he explained at the time. “The fact is, I’d like to shoot September a third time.”

__________________

It is my view that this next movie is Woody Allen’s best by far:

Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) 
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)

Roger Ebert called this flick one of Allen’s best. The director, pictured with cinematographer Sven Nykvist on set, was nominated for three Academy Awards, including best director and writing. “Who else but Woody Allen could make a movie in which virtue is punished, evildoing is rewarded and there is a lot of laughter – even subversive laughter at the most shocking times?” wrote the famous reviewer. 

Mighty Aphrodite (1995) 
Mighty Aphrodite (1995)

Mira Sorvino won an Oscar for her portrayal of a hooker in this comedy. “Woody does not care if you say his lines,” she has said. “For our greatest comedic film writer, I think that’s incredible. I said them anyway, but I had the leeway, if I wanted, to ad lib.” 

From Wikipedia:

1980s

Woody Allen at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival

Allen’s 1980s films, even the comedies, have somber and philosophical undertones. Some are influenced by the works of European directors, notably Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini.[30][31] September resembles Bergman’s Autumn Sonata, and Allen uses many elements from Bergman’s Wild Strawberries[32] in Another Woman. Similarly, the Federico Fellini classic Amarcord strongly inspired Radio Days.[33]

Stardust Memories features Sandy Bates, a successful filmmaker played by Allen, who expresses resentment and scorn for his fans. Overcome by the recent death of a friend from illness, the character states, “I don’t want to make funny movies any more” and a running gag has various people (including a group of visiting space aliens) telling Bates that they appreciate his films, “especially the early, funny ones.”[34] Allen believes this to be one of his best films.[35]

Allen combined tragic and comic elements in such films as Hannah and Her Sisters and Crimes and Misdemeanors, in which he tells two stories that connect at the end. He also produced a vividly idiosyncratic tragi-comical parody of documentary, Zelig.

He made three films about show business: Broadway Danny Rose, in which he plays a New York show business agent, The Purple Rose of Cairo, a movie that shows the importance of the cinema during the Depression through the character of the naive Cecilia, and Radio Days, which is a film about his childhood in Brooklyn and the importance of the radio. Purple Rose was named by Time as one of the 100 best films of all time and Allen has described it as one of his three best films, along with Stardust Memories and Match Point.[36] (Allen defines them as “best” not in terms of quality but because they came out the closest to his original vision.)

In 1989, Allen teamed up with directors Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese to make New York Stories, an anthology film about New Yorkers. Allen’s short, Oedipus Wrecks, is about a neurotic lawyer and his critical mother. His short pleased critics, but New York Stories bombed at the box office.

 

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(Part 32, Jean-Paul Sartre)July 10, 2011 – 5:53 am

 

 (Part 29, Pablo Picasso) July 7, 2011 – 4:33 am

(Part 28,Van Gogh) July 6, 2011 – 4:03 am

(Part 27, Man Ray) July 5, 2011 – 4:49 am

(Part 26,James Joyce) July 4, 2011 – 5:55 am

(Part 25, T.S.Elliot) July 3, 2011 – 4:46 am

(Part 24, Djuna Barnes) July 2, 2011 – 7:28 am

(Part 23,Adriana, fictional mistress of Picasso) July 1, 2011 – 12:28 am

(Part 22, Silvia Beach and the Shakespeare and Company Bookstore) June 30, 2011 – 12:58 am

(Part 21,Versailles and the French Revolution) June 29, 2011 – 5:34 am

(Part 16, Josephine Baker) June 24, 2011 – 5:18 am

(Part 15, Luis Bunuel) June 23, 2011 – 5:37 am

According to Woody Allen Life is meaningless (Woody Wednesday Part 2)

Woody Allen, the film writer, director, and actor, has consistently populated his scripts with characters who exchange dialogue concerning meaning and purpose. In Hannah and Her Sisters a character named Mickey says, “Do you realize what a thread were all hanging by? Can you understand how meaningless everything is? Everything. I gotta get some answers.”{7} […]

“Woody Wednesday” Part 1 starts today, Complete listing of all posts on the historical people mentioned in “Midnight in Paris”

I have gone to see Woody Allen’s latest movie “Midnight in Paris” three times and taken lots of notes during the films. I have attempted since June 12th when I first started posting to give a historical rundown on every person mentioned in the film. Below are the results of my study. I welcome any […]

What can we learn from Woody Allen Films?

Looking at the (sometimes skewed) morality of Woody Allen’s best films. In the late ’60s, Woody Allen left the world of stand-up comedy behind for the movies. Since then, he’s become one of American cinema’s most celebrated filmmakers. Sure, he’s had his stinkers and his private life hasn’t been without controversy. But he’s also crafted […]

Nihilism can be seen in Woody Allen’s latest film “Midnight in Paris”

In one of his philosophical and melancholy musings Woody Allen once drily observed: “More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.” Life tortures Woody Allen posted by Rod Dreher […]

Movie Review of “Midnight in Paris” lastest movie by Woody Allen

Midnight in Paris – a delightfully entertaining film of wit, wonder and love Have you ever thought that you were born in the wrong time? Since I was a child, I found my love for MGM musicals set me apart from my friends. Are we really out of place, or is a sense of nostalgia […]

“Midnight in Paris” movie review plus review of 5 Woody Allen classics (video clips from Annie Hall)

Five favorite Woody Allen classics Add a comment Sean Kernan , Davenport Classic Movies Examiner June 11, 2011 Woody Allen’s new film “Midnight in Paris” starring Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams and Oscar winner Marion Cotillard opened Friday, June 10th at Rave Motion Pictures in Davenport, Iowa. “Midnight in Paris” stars Owen Wilson as a blocked […]

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