Jack Blanchat – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com Breaking news from the Farm since 1892 Sun, 12 Jan 2014 10:43:05 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://stanforddaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cropped-DailyIcon-CardinalRed.png?w=32 Jack Blanchat – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com 32 32 204779320 Blanchat: Fathers and sons and sports https://stanforddaily.com/2012/06/07/blanchat-fathers-and-sons-and-sports/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/06/07/blanchat-fathers-and-sons-and-sports/#comments Thu, 07 Jun 2012 08:46:15 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1068107 It hasn’t always been easy, but eventually, I think most people realize that their fathers are, in many ways, just like themselves -- real people with hopes and disappointments of their own. So that’s why, in my last column for The Stanford Daily, I just wanted to make sure and say thanks, Dad.

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It’s almost over. It’s the fourth quarter. It’s the bottom of the ninth. We’re halfway up the 18th hole.

In reality though, it’s the end of spring quarter, and I’ve got a little more than one week left on the Farm. I’ve found that senior year is a good time to think about memories and spend time swapping stories about the last four years, but more importantly, it’s a good time to reflect on who we are, how we’ve changed, how twists of fate and luck brought us here today and why we do what we do. And with this being my final column in The Stanford Daily, I’ve got just one last chance to reflect on my time covering Stanford sports.

Last week, it struck me that my graduation would occur in Stanford Stadium, a place that’s been immensely important to my time here. I’ll never forget watching Andrew Luck complete a perfect 50-yard pass in his first Cardinal-White game or beating USC on a last-second field goal in 2010. It’s pretty easy for me to say that many of my most unforgettable moments here have occurred in various Stanford stadiums, and I’m glad my last Stanford moment will happen there.

But it also struck me that my graduation would occur on Father’s Day, with my dad in the stands. And for a somewhat mundane, Hallmark-card holiday, it’s one that has a lot of significance in my life.

My dad spent his first Father’s Day behind a glass wall, watching me in the neonatal intensive care unit in Dallas, Texas, hobbled by pneumonia that left me with just a 50 percent chance to live. He’ll spend his 23rd watching me cross the stage at Stanford, his alma mater. And really, there’s no better way to explain what brought me here than to start with him.

In the course of those 23 years, I have to attribute a lot of my character today to him, including my love of sports, reading and writing that inevitably drew me to Stanford and The Daily.

Together, through road trips to catch SEC football games, hot afternoons spent trying to hook fish and our fair share of nights watching the double-A Arkansas Travelers at Ray Winder Field, sports became the huge part of my life that it is to this day. Thanks to his near-obsessive level of reading books and magazines, there was always plenty of reading material to keep me occupied growing up. And thanks to his stories about the Theta Delt house or John Elway firing baseballs like rifle shots from right field to home plate, I always wanted to go to Stanford.

That said, the relationship between a father and his son is often a complicated one. At some point in our lives, just about everybody has to tangle with the marks that a father (or the absence of a father) leaves on us. Some of the things that we bear from our fathers are easy to understand — maybe you’re a Packers fan because your dad is from Wisconsin — but other times, there are things that you never understand or don’t understand until years into the future. Like at the 2004 Masters golf tournament, when my dad told me a major business deal he’d been working on had fallen through. Eight years and three career changes later, I now know just how significant that small moment was for my dad, a moment shared with a son through the medium of sports.

It hasn’t always been easy, but eventually, I think most people realize that their fathers are, in many ways, just like themselves — real people with hopes and disappointments of their own. I know I’ve had that realization in these last four years, here at the same place my dad went to school 25 years ago. And without my father, I know I wouldn’t be here today, and I definitely wouldn’t be who I am today. So that’s why, in my last column for The Stanford Daily, I just wanted to make sure and say thanks, Dad.

To my loyal readers, thank you too. It’s been one of the most profound pleasures of my life to write for The Daily for the past two years. And take some time today to thank your dad and tell him you love him. Or just go to a ballgame with him. In many ways, it’s the same thing.

Jack Blanchat looks forward to being a dad himself — in the very distant future. Send him your best parental advice at blanchat “at” stanford.edu or follow him on Twitter @jmblanchat.

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Baseball: Seven Stanford players selected in MLB draft https://stanforddaily.com/2012/06/07/baseball-seven-stanford-players-selected-in-mlb-draft/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/06/07/baseball-seven-stanford-players-selected-in-mlb-draft/#respond Thu, 07 Jun 2012 08:40:13 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1068146 In the midst of a run to the Super Regionals of the College World Series, seven Stanford baseball players were selected in the MLB’s first-year player draft this Monday through Wednesday.

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In the midst of a run to the Super Regionals of the College World Series, seven Stanford baseball players were selected in the MLB’s first-year player draft this Monday through Wednesday.

The bevy of Cardinal athletes entering the pro ranks began on Monday, when star junior pitcher Mark Appel was picked eighth overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Appel, one of three finalists for the Golden Spikes Award given annually to the top player in college baseball, has compiled a 10-1 record and a 2.27 ERA in 2012.

“I’m currently concentrating on winning a national championship and finishing my academic endeavors at Stanford,” Appel told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Monday, as he will be the Friday starter for the Cardinal’s Super Regional matchup with Florida State. “I will address the possibility of a professional career in due time.”

Baseball: Seven Stanford players selected in MLB draft
Junior pitcher Mark Appel (above), selected eighth overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates, headlined a class of seven Cardinal players selected in the MLB draft. (Casey Valentine/Stanfordphoto.com)

With his 6-foot-5, 220-pound frame and 99-mile-per-hour fastball, many MLB experts and scouts expected Appel to be selected first overall by the Houston Astros, who instead selected 17-year-old shortstop Carlos Correa with the first pick. With the unexpected slide, Appel ended up being the third righthander picked in the first eight picks of the draft, and the third consecutive righty that the Pirates have selected with their first pick in the draft.

In 2011, the Pirates selected UCLA fireballer Gerrit Cole with the first pick, just one year after taking high schooler Jameson Taillon with the second overall pick. Altogether, the Pirates look to have compiled a fearsome young trio of arms that could help turn around a team that has routinely finished last in its division over the past two decades.

Appel didn’t have to wait long to have another Cardinal join him in the big leagues, as fellow junior Stephen Piscotty was selected 36th overall by the St. Louis Cardinals. The pair is just the fourth duo of Cardinal players to be selected in the first round, and the first since Justin Wayne and Joe Borchard in 2000. Piscotty hit .318 this season and led the team with 55 RBI.

“I had a bunch of teammates rooting for me today, and I’ll be rooting for them tomorrow,” Piscotty said after being chosen by the Cardinals. “It was pretty nerve-racking . . . I was very surprised when they called because I was talking to a couple of teams below them when they called.”

Lefty Brett Mooneyham, the Cardinal’s number-two starter, then followed Piscotty off the board, as the Washington Nationals took the Atwater, Calif., native with the 111th pick. Last year, after he missed the entire 2011 season with a finger injury, the Nationals selected the lefthander in the 38th round with the 1,147th pick in the 2011 draft, but thanks to a 7-5 record, a 4.26 ERA and 90 strikeouts this season, Mooneyham was able to improve his draft stock 1,036 places.

Next to have his name called was junior shortstop Kenny Diekroeger, who was picked by the Kansas City Royals in the fourth round. Coming out of high school, Diekroeger was a second-round pick of the Tampa Bay Rays, but the Woodside, Calif., has seen his draft stock drift in the past few years after a stellar first season where he was named Pac-10 freshman of the year. After moving back to shortstop in place of injured sophomore Lonnie Kauppila, Diekroeger hit only .269 this season, but has played excellent defense, cutting his errors in half from last season.

The Detroit Tigers made centerfielder Jake Stewart the next Stanford player to be picked, selecting the junior in the ninth round. Stewart, who was drafted in the 14th round by the Phillies coming out of high school, showed some serious pop in his junior campaign, hitting seven home runs and 15 doubles while batting .290 as the team’s leadoff hitter.

The Los Angeles Dodgers were next, selecting catcher Eric Smith in the 18th round. Smith, who switched from the infield to catcher before this season, hit an impressive .330 with 32 RBI in his first season as a starter.

Finally, the Pirates bookended the Cardinal’s drafted players when they picked outfielder Tyler Gaffney in the 24th round on Wednesday. After a dominant 2011 campaign in which he hit .327 and tallied 35 RBI, Gaffney had a swoon in his junior year, hitting a meager .240 with just 17 RBI. Gaffney, a backup running back on the Cardinal football team, could potentially return to school to play another year of both sports.

For now, though, all the Cardinal players must refocus on the task at hand, the Super Regionals against Florida State in Tallahassee, Fla., this weekend, just one step away from the College World Series.

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Baseball: Pittsburgh Pirates select Mark Appel with eighth overall pick https://stanforddaily.com/2012/06/04/baseball-pittsburgh-pirates-select-mark-appel-with-eighth-overall-pick/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/06/04/baseball-pittsburgh-pirates-select-mark-appel-with-eighth-overall-pick/#respond Tue, 05 Jun 2012 00:36:25 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1068015 With the eighth pick in Monday’s MLB first-year player draft, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected Stanford righthanded pitcher Mark Appel.

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With the eighth pick in Monday’s MLB first-year player draft, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected Stanford righthanded pitcher Mark Appel.

Appel, a Pac-12 All-first team selection and Collegiate Baseball All-American, has compiled a 10-1 record and a 2.27 ERA in his junior campaign, including a 7-0 record and 2.07 ERA in the Pac-12 conference. The Houston, Tex. native has struck out 127 batters this season, good enough for the third-best tally in the entire country.

Baseball: Pittsburgh Pirates select Mark Appel with eighth overall pick
The Pittsburgh Pirates continued the trend of drafting Stanford pitchers in the first round, selecting Cardinal righty Mark Appel with the eighth overall pick in Monday's MLB draft. (DON FERIA/Stanfordphoto.com)

While many MLB experts and scouts expected Appel to go first overall to the Houston Astros, who selected 17-year old shortstop Carlos Correa instead, Appel now brings his talent to a team in need of pitching talent and depth.

By selecting Appel, the Pirates have now taken Pac-12 righthanders with their first overall picks in the last two drafts. In 2011, the Pirates selected UCLA pitcher Gerrit Cole with the first overall pick, who completed his career with the sixth-most strikeouts in Pac-10 history. In 2010, the Pirates also selected a righthanded pitcher, taking Jameson Taillon, a high school prospect from The Woodlands, Tex., with the second overall pick.

Appel is the 23rd Stanford player to be selected in the first round since 1987, and the third Cardinal pitcher to be picked in the first round in the last four years. In 2009, the Washington National selected Cardinal closer Drew Storen with the 10th overall pick, and in 2011, the Los Angeles Dodgers picked Chris Reed, Storen’s replacement as Stanford’s closer, with the 16th overall pick.

After capturing a regional title this past weekend, Appel and the rest of the Stanford baseball team will travel to Tallahassee, Fla. this weekend to play in the NCAA Super Regionals against the host Florida State Seminoles.

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Baseball: Looking back at Stanford’s back-to-back titles https://stanforddaily.com/2012/05/31/baseball-looking-back-at-stanfords-back-to-back-titles/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/05/31/baseball-looking-back-at-stanfords-back-to-back-titles/#respond Thu, 31 May 2012 10:03:04 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1067846 With the 2012 NCAA baseball tournament opening up on Friday, it’s the season to remember when, 25 years ago, the Stanford baseball team was the king of college baseball

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With the 2012 NCAA baseball tournament opening up on Friday, it’s the season to remember when, 25 years ago, the Stanford baseball team was the king of college baseball.

In a back-and-forth affair, the Cardinal bested the Oklahoma State Cowboys 9-5 at Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium to capture its first College World Series title on June 7, 1987.

“It’s the thrill of a lifetime,” junior catcher Doug Robbins told The Daily on the day after the championship. “It’s one of the greatest things that’s ever happened in my life.”

“I can’t describe the feeling,” said senior leftfielder Ruben Amaro. “It’s the best thing in the world.”

Buoyed by All-American starter Jack McDowell, who pitched seven innings on only two days rest in his third start in the double-elimination world series, the Cardinal rallied from a 3-2 deficit in the fifth inning to pull ahead 6-4, then tacked on three insurance runs in the ninth before the final out. A bouncing ball went straight back to closer Steve Chitren, who tossed it to first base to secure the title.

Baseball: Looking back at Stanford's back-to-back titles
Stanford baseball head coach Mark Marquess (above) is trying to lead the Cardinal to a national title on the 25th anniversary of his first of back-to-back championships. (JESSICA POPISH/The Stanford Daily)

The Cardinal also benefited from shortstop David Esquer, who turned four double plays for the second consecutive game, and once again from freshman rightfielder Paul Carey, who continued his impressive hitting in Omaha by going 3-for-5 with two RBI and scoring two runs of his own en route to being named the MVP of the College World Series.

In its run to the title, Stanford beat Georgia 3-2, beat Texas 6-1 and lost to Oklahoma State, 6-2, forcing it into an elimination game with Louisiana State.

That’s where Carey, even before the final game against the Cowboys, had made himself the MVP of the series.

Down 5-2 in the 10th inning to the Tigers, Carey, who was 2-for-13 so far in the series, smashed an opposite-field grand slam over the left-field fence to give the Cardinal a 6-5 win and eliminate LSU.

“After that one, I kind of knew, to be honest with you, I mean, to come back and win it like that, maybe it is our year, and it proved to be our year,” Stanford head coach Mark Marquess told ESPN after the title win.

With all the momentum in its favor, the Cardinal bested Texas once again, 9-3, to reach the final game against the Cowboys.

Stanford had never finished higher than third in five previous trips to Omaha, and had lost three straight to OSU over the last two seasons, including the 6-2 loss the week before, leading to some extra motivation for the Cardinal well before the College World Series.

“At the beginning of the season in January, the team got together at my house for my 21st birthday party, and we made a toast to a national championship over Oklahoma State. I’m not making this up,” McDowell told The Daily.

Carey, in his post-title game interview with ESPN, said the team knew that it was finally its year after the LSU victory.

“Yeah we felt destined, this is just an unbelievable feeling, we knew we could do it, we had to do it against Texas when we played them tonight, we knew we could do it, we just had to go out and swing the bats the way we could,” a breathless Carey responded.

“I don’t know if you know it, but you are the most valuable player in this tournament,” the reporter responded.

“I don’t know about that, but this team, this is the most valuable team by far,” Carey said in his heavy Boston accent. “We came back, fought, everybody got big hits for us this whole tournament.”

The next year, the Cardinal would repeat as College World Series champions, taking a less dramatic route to the national title, winning every game in Omaha, including a 9-4 win over Arizona State in the championship game. Perhaps the most impressive thing about the repeat title run was that the Cardinal was without three of its stars from 1987 — McDowell, Amaro and Esquer.

McDowell, who was picked fifth overall in the draft by the White Sox in 1987, played in the majors for 12 years and recorded a career record of 127-87. The Van Nuys, Calif., native went on to make three All-Star teams, and captured the 1993 American League Cy Young Award when he led the White Sox to the ALCS against the eventual world champion Toronto Blue Jays.

Interestingly, series opponents McDowell and Oklahoma State’s Robin Ventura, who had an NCAA Division I record 58-game hit streak in 1987, played together on the Chicago White Sox from 1989 to 1994.

Amaro, who led the Cardinal in runs, triples and stolen bases as a senior, went on to an eight-year MLB career with the Angels, Indians and Phillies. After his playing career ended, Amaro joined the Phillies as the assistant general manager in 1998, and was promoted to general manager in 2008, where he remains one of the most influential executives in the MLB.

Esquer, who played three seasons in the minors, became an assistant coach at Stanford in 1991, then became head coach of the Cal Bears in 2000. In his 12 years at Berkeley, Esquer has been named Pac-10 Coach of the Year in 2001 and NCAA Coach of the Year in 2011, when he took the Bears to the College World Series.

Meanwhile, Carey, the 1987 World Series hero, never found any footing in the majors, playing only 18 games with the Baltimore Orioles in 1993.

Today, it’s been 24 years since the Cardinal held the College World Series trophy aloft in Omaha, despite making it to the title game in 2000, 2001 and 2003. But perhaps the 2012 Cardinal team, hosting a regional for the first time since 2008, can return to Omaha and finally return the title to the Farm after more than two decades away.

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Blanchat: Stanford stars struggle to break through in MLB https://stanforddaily.com/2012/05/31/blanchat-stanford-stars-struggle-to-break-through-in-mlb/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/05/31/blanchat-stanford-stars-struggle-to-break-through-in-mlb/#respond Thu, 31 May 2012 08:42:30 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1067842 Since 1987, the Cardinal has had 22 players picked in the first round of the MLB draft, and yet, the casual baseball fan would probably only know one or two of those 22 players

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As the MLB draft approaches and the NCAA tournament opens up this Friday, it’s easy to spend a lot of time checking out the top prospects who are hoping to spur their teams on to victory in Omaha this June.

Every season, one star will saddle up the rest of his team and carry them along in the postseason, getting the big outs or hits when the team needs it most, collect all the accolades he can hold, then go on to a lucrative pro career.

Blanchat: Stanford stars struggle to break through in MLB
Drew Storen (above) is one of several talented Major League Baseball players that attended Stanford but have struggled with injuries at the pro level. (Stanford Daily File Photo)

But Stanford baseball’s recent postseason runs have had a distinct lack of these stars — at least, it’s had a distinct lack of any players that have gone on to be real superstars at the major league level. Since 1987, the Cardinal has had 22 players picked in the first round of the MLB draft, and yet, the casual baseball fan would probably only know one or two of those 22 players.

Those two are Mike Mussina, a five-time All-Star with the Orioles and Yankees who compiled a 270-153 record before retiring in 2008, and Carlos Quentin, a two-time All-Star with the White Sox before he was traded to the Padres this season. One is a potential Hall of Famer; the other is a pretty good player who might be the fourth outfielder on your fantasy team.

When looking at the list of names that haven’t worked out (players like Greg Reynolds, Jeff Austin, Danny Putnam, Willie Adams and more), a question springs to mind: Does Stanford baseball have a development problem? Or, more specifically, why exactly have Stanford’s players never quite taken the leap into stardom?

It’s hard to answer this because it does take a while before most players make any real difference to their clubs — guys like Buster Posey and Bryce Harper, who come in and make an impact right away, are extraordinarily rare in pro baseball. So for some former Stanford products like Rick Helling and David McCarty, both of whom had 12-year MLB careers, it’s far too harsh to say they didn’t exactly pan out.

That said, Stanford baseball products seem to hit a ceiling of good-but-not-great once they reach “The Show.” Does the college game somehow sap these players’ potential before they reach the big leagues? It’s hard to know. Every player is different, every farm system is different, and the nature of the game of baseball has changed a lot over the past 25 years, with the boom and bust of the steroid era. Perhaps it just might mean that the major league teams that picked these players incorrectly evaluated just how talented these players really were.  Future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols was a 13th-round pick.

However checkered the Cardinal’s past may have been, perhaps this recent group of Cardinal minor and major leaguers will buck that trend, although the Cardinal’s current crop has been plagued by injuries.

Drew Storen, who was picked 10th overall in 2009, has been solid for the Washington Nationals in his role as a setup man and closer, recording 43 saves a season ago before an arm injury that has sidelined him so far in 2012.

Catcher Jason Castro starts behind the plate just about every other day for the Houston Astros, but he’s only hit a meager .216 this year after missing all of last year with a torn ACL.

Sean Ratliff, a member of the 2008 Cardinal CWS team and a fourth-round pick of the New York Mets, was crushing his way through the minors until he was hit in the eye with a foul ball last season. Four eye surgeries later, Ratliff is closer to being back on track, but who knows where he might be today — or where he might have been in the future — without the unlucky and unfortunate injury?

Following them, current players like Mark Appel, Stephen Piscotty, Austin Wilson, Brian Ragira or Chris Reed, the Cardinal closer who was picked 16th overall by the Dodgers in last year’s draft, could break through that ceiling and become Stanford’s next major league star.

Hopefully, one of those guys will first take the 2012 Cardinal and lead it to a win in the College World Series this year — then use that new hardware to spring himself into a superstar professional career.

 

Jack Blanchat wants to make sure any future stars remember him before they hit it big. Before you make millions, connect with Jack at blanchat “at” stanford.edu or follow him on Twitter @jmblanchat.

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Blanchat: In support of the Andrew Luck Directorship https://stanforddaily.com/2012/05/24/blanchat-in-support-of-the-andrew-luck-directorship/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/05/24/blanchat-in-support-of-the-andrew-luck-directorship/#respond Thu, 24 May 2012 08:41:32 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1067302 On Tuesday afternoon, the Stanford football program officially jumped the shark. How exactly did the Cardinal leap from the land of the normal to the realm of the ridiculous? Because on Tuesday, an anonymous donor elected to endow the position of offensive coordinator for the Stanford football program and to forever call the job “The […]

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On Tuesday afternoon, the Stanford football program officially jumped the shark.

How exactly did the Cardinal leap from the land of the normal to the realm of the ridiculous? Because on Tuesday, an anonymous donor elected to endow the position of offensive coordinator for the Stanford football program and to forever call the job “The Andrew Luck Directorship of Offense.”

Although all of Stanford’s 85 football scholarships are endowed (and therefore named after the people who endowed them), and David Shaw is officially titled “The Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football,” I was left scratching my head at the new “Andrew Luck Directorship of Offense.” Frankly, I didn’t know what to think, other than “I guess it’s kind of nice to have something that isn’t named after Arrillaga on this campus.”

But I was left with one thought that stood out above all the others: This is the kind of move that only happens at a football-mad program. This stuff only happens at places like SEC schools, where everything is named after somebody. At places that are monuments to college football, absurd tributes become normal. For example, Oklahoma has bronze sculptures of the Sooner players that won the Heisman Trophy. Alabama has its own bronze sculptures of coaches that won national titles with the Crimson Tide. Tim Tebow’s speech to the media (“You will never see a team play harder than we will the rest of the season. God Bless.”) after losing to Ole Miss in 2008 is already immortalized on a plaque next to the entrance to the Florida weight room. But something like this is utterly bizarre for Stanford.

Naturally, Luck and company said all the right things about the Directorship, even though the endowment is, at best, peculiar. Really, who on earth would choose to endow the offensive coordinator position—a coach that certainly makes a couple hundred thousand dollars a year—and name it after a player who hasn’t even graduated yet, no matter how good he was?

And yet, despite the craziness of its all, I think this endowment says promising things about Stanford football, and particularly the fans of Stanford football.

At those big football schools, donors line up year after year to contribute in any way possible to the continued success of the program, and it’s encouraging to see fans doing that now. Just a few years ago, it was hard to get people to show up for games against top-15 opponents. Now, they’re packing the stands (more than one sellout a year!) and serving up lavish endowments. It’s exciting that fans are becoming engaged with the program in a way like never before.

However, this kind of crazed fanhood isn’t all good. For example, sometimes these big donors/rabid fans will go too far in exercising their authority, like back in 2008 at Auburn University. After the hated Alabama Crimson Tide crushed the Tigers en route to the 2009 Sugar Bowl, boosters called for the firing of head coach Tommy Tuberville, who had compiled an 85-40 career record with the Tigers and taken Auburn to eight straight bowl games. You read that right—an 85-40 record still wasn’t good enough to stop the boosters from doing their best impersonation of the Queen of Hearts from “Alice in Wonderland.”

That said, I don’t ever envision that happening on the Farm—it would truly shock me if Stanford boosters demanded a coach be fired after making eight straight bowl games. Thankfully, Stanford is a place with a little less ferocious perspective than the citizens of football-crazed Alabama.

All in all, though, I think that this “Andrew Luck Directorship of Offense” is a sign of good things to come for the Stanford football team and its fans. People are taking Stanford football seriously again (maybe a little too seriously), and the program is reaping some benefits. I know I’ll be pleased if the University maintains its commitment to having a good football team well into the future because it’s made my (rapidly expiring) time here incredibly fun and memorable.

So even though Stanford football might be entering a wild new domain of boosters pouring money into the program, I’m not afraid of the consequences.

And who knows, maybe someday I’ll have enough money to endow a position in my own name—“The Jack Blanchat Grand Czar of Defense” does have a nice ring to it.

 

Jack Blanchat memorized every word of that Tebow speech. Send your thoughts to the Arkansas native at blanchat “at” stanford.edu or follow him on Twitter “at” jmblanchat.

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Blanchat: Dissecting Stanford’s woes at receiver https://stanforddaily.com/2012/05/17/blanchat-dissecting-stanfords-woes-at-receiver/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/05/17/blanchat-dissecting-stanfords-woes-at-receiver/#comments Thu, 17 May 2012 08:30:52 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1066573 Where exactly have all of Stanford’s wide receivers been hiding over these past few years?

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Since the NFL draft, I’ve been spending a lot of time sifting through the Internet in order to learn about the situations that the former Stanford football players are now in. After all, football season never really ends. For some, like Andrew Luck, it means high expectations abound.

Like my colleague Tom Taylor, I can’t resist occasionally looking at the inane banter that populates the comments section of these articles about Luck. Down in the Stygian depths of these pages, I frequently found a refrain that goes something like this: “If he had any good wide receivers at Stanford, he would have been incredible.” While this is usually used as a defense of Luck’s college career (as if he needed one) or an explanation of why he’ll be good in the pros (again, as if he needed one), this set me to thinking: where exactly have all of Stanford’s wide receivers been hiding over these past few years?

While there have been some success stories at wideout these past few seasons — Ryan Whalen and Griff Whalen became two of Luck’s favorite targets even though both started their Stanford careers as walk-ons, and Ty Montgomery was a smashing success in his freshman campaign — many of Stanford’s recruited wide receivers have never quite seen their careers get off the ground.

This is partially due to the fact that tight ends Coby Fleener, Zach Ertz and Levine Toilolo have been so prolific, but there still is a gap of talent out wide that begs to be explained. So, through the magic of the Internet, I set out to examine just what has happened to the “elite receivers” on the Farm.

Perhaps the profound gap at wide receiver is due to the strange semi-disappearance of two players that were perceived to be cornerstones of Stanford’s passing game for years to come.

In 2009, the Cardinal brought in one of its strongest recruiting classes in years on the heels of the class that included future first-rounders Luck and David DeCastro. That included two four-star wide receiver recruits, Jemari Roberts and Jamal-Rashad Patterson.

Roberts, from Long Beach, Calif., was ranked the 18th-best receiver in the country, and Patterson, from McDonough, Ga., was seen as the 28th-best pass-catcher in the country. Roberts, at 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, looked like he would pair with Patterson, who is 6-foot-2 and 194 pounds, as a pair of deep threats that would help push the Cardinal back to its winning ways.

But three years later, the two four-stars have little to show except tales of unrealized potential. While Patterson did reach the end zone to score his first (and only) career touchdown against San Jose State in 2009, perhaps his most well-known career highlight is when he was ejected from the Cardinal’s 2009 48-14 blowout win over Cal for throwing a punch at a Bear player before the opening kickoff. Sadly, Roberts is best known for … nothing. The former four-star has yet to catch a single pass in his Stanford career.

However, their time on the Farm — and their time to make a mark — isn’t up yet, as Patterson will be a senior in the fall and Roberts will return for his redshirt junior season.

While they still have a year to realize their potential, Stanford has also driven away a pair of promising wide receivers over these last few seasons.

The next recruiting season, the Cardinal brought in three-star quarterback Darren Daniel, an Alabama native, and, with Luck entering his senior season, new head coach David Shaw and his staff converted him to play wide receiver the next spring. Additionally, the Cardinal secured an early commitment from Tai-ler Jones, a four-star recruit from Georgia, but Jones eventually changed his mind and signed with (yuck) Notre Dame instead.

Daniel was generally pretty impressive in spring practice, showing off a lot of athleticism as both a pass-catcher and a wildcat quarterback, but he ultimately decided that the switch wasn’t for him, and elected to transfer, where he ended up at Itawamba Community College in Mississippi. This February, while the Cardinal was bringing in its best recruiting class in school history, Daniel signed his letter of intent to play for Alabama State, continuing his football career just an hour and a half away from his hometown of Phenix City, Ala.

Jones, on the other hand, has already made his mark felt at Notre Dame, where he’s renamed himself “TJ Jones” and accumulated 672 yards and six touchdowns in his two years as a Golden Domer.

Altogether, the lack of depth on the outside hasn’t slowed the Cardinal down — of course, having the best quarterback in college football has been the primary factor in that — but it still is interesting to consider just how unlucky the Cardinal has been with its wide receivers as of late.

Hopefully, that won’t be the case for any of the four wideouts coming to Stanford this fall as part of the fantastic 2012 recruiting class. That way, Brett Nottingham or Josh Nunes can have the one thing that Andrew Luck just might have been missing in his time on the Farm.

 

Jack Blanchat was also recruited to play wide receiver, but the coaching staff thought he was better served as a sports writer. Find out if his 40 time wasn’t up to par at blanchat “at” stanford.edu or follow him on Twitter @jmblanchat.

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Blanchat: Athletic director job search too important to rush https://stanforddaily.com/2012/05/10/blanchat-athletic-director-job-search-too-important-to-rush/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/05/10/blanchat-athletic-director-job-search-too-important-to-rush/#comments Thu, 10 May 2012 08:30:15 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1065969 But when you think about those names out there, it’s important for the Stanford fans and administration to ask themselves: Just how important is it to hire a good athletic director?

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Nobody ever says, “Go east, young man.” Everybody knows that you have to go west to make a name for yourself. But (now former) Stanford athletic director Bob Bowlsby, didn’t get the message when he was offered the opportunity of a lifetime last weekend, and will leave the Farm to take over the Big 12 in June.

Now that the dust has settled over Bowlsby’s departure, everybody has started to throw out their ideas of who should succeed the man I like to call the Bowldozer. But when you think about those names out there, it’s important for the Stanford fans and administration to ask themselves: Just how important is it to hire a good athletic director?

The athletic director position is not one to be taken lightly. After the President of the University, I think it’s pretty safe to say that the second-most important person on campus is the athletic director. Whether or not that’s the “right thing” is another issue, but the fact remains that a good athletic department can benefit a school in innumerable ways.

First of all, the athletic director is someone who is responsible for the success or failure of every single sports team to some degree. The AD directly hires new coaches and is critically important in fundraising for new facilities, mostly by courting big boosters to give their hard-earned money to the school. If an AD does these things well, it benefits the student population and the reputation of the school by bringing more attention and money to the campus. For example, how many of the school-record 36,744 high school seniors that applied to Stanford this year were attracted by the successful football team? (Another great example is how applications to Butler University went up by 41 percent after the basketball Bulldogs nearly knocked off Duke to win an NCAA title two years ago.)

That butterfly effect of one good hire shows just how important it is to pick a person who knows what he or she is doing and has a clear vision for the future that will keep an athletic department’s teams from stagnating or getting worse.

On a tangential, yet related note, that’s why it worries me when people bandy about the idea of having Condoleezza Rice as the next athletic director here at Stanford. While she might be one of the world’s most knowledgeable people about American foreign policy, she’s wholly unqualified to lead an athletic department. Getting your face on TV at every women’s basketball game doesn’t mean you are the right person to control one of the most successful athletic departments in the country.

Returning to the point at hand, though, the responsibilities of an athletic director don’t just end with hiring coaches and raising funds. There are times when an athletic director sometimes may also have to exercise their power and make ugly or unpopular decisions in order to best benefit the school.

In 2009, Florida State athletic director Randy Spetman had to force out legendary Seminoles coach Bobby Bowden, who had been with the school for 33 years and collected two national titles and 12 ACC titles on his way to totaling the second-most wins in college football history. Bowden’s tenure had turned south in the late 2000s, with the program going from a perennial national title contender to a rather mediocre squad, and Spetman eventually had to find a way to jumpstart the program. That meant he and university president T.K. Wetherell had to do the most unpopular thing possible and fire Bobby Bowden — a complicated and controversial move that left Spetman and Wetherell under fire from all sides. Now, the Seminoles are on the right track once again, bringing in good recruiting classes and preseason rankings (yes, I know that they did collapse to No. 23 after this year’s preseason No. 5 ranking), and a lot of that is due to Spetman’s unpopular decision.

Whomever Stanford decides to hire, it’s also essential to remember that an athletic director’s impact isn’t often felt until a few years down the road in their tenure. For example, in Bowlsby’s first year on the Farm, he hired Jim Harbaugh from Division I-AA San Diego to lead the Cardinal football program. While Harbaugh had led the Toreros to back-to-back I-AA National Championships before coming to Stanford, nobody could have guessed at the time that Bowlsby’s hire would turn the football team into a national championship contender.

Altogether, it’s important to scrutinize the candidates in line to take over on the Farm because one of these people could be making a difference for the Cardinal for decades to come. And that’s not something to take lightly.

 

Jack Blanchat isn’t going to throw his name into the mix for AD, but he wouldn’t really mind if you did. Give him interview tips at blanchat “at” stanford.edu or follow him on Twitter @jmblanchat.

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Athletic Director Bowlsby officially heading to Big 12 in mid-June https://stanforddaily.com/2012/05/07/athletic-director-bowlsby-officially-heading-to-big-12-in-mid-june/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/05/07/athletic-director-bowlsby-officially-heading-to-big-12-in-mid-june/#respond Mon, 07 May 2012 08:46:06 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1065670 On Friday, Stanford athletic director Bob Bowlsby was introduced as the new commissioner of the Big 12 Conference, officially making his move away from the Farm after six years at Stanford.

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On Friday, Stanford athletic director Bob Bowlsby was introduced as the new commissioner of the Big 12 Conference, officially making his move away from the Farm after six years at Stanford.

Bowlsby’s successful tenure at Stanford was marked by 10 national titles as well as the hiring of coaches Jim Harbaugh, David Shaw and Johnny Dawkins, but now the Iowa native takes over a conference that has been in turmoil for the past three years.

The Big 12 has lost four of its members in the last two years — Nebraska to the Big Ten, Colorado to the Pac-12 and Texas A&M and Missouri to the SEC — all of which led to the firing of former commissioner Dan Beebe in 2011. But the man hired to replace Beebe told reporters at his introductory press conference that the Big 12 is in a good place for the future, as it added TCU and West Virginia to the conference this year to replace recent departures A&M and Missouri.

“I, like many people, had a vision of this conference as unstable,” Bowlsby said Friday in Irving, Tex. “What I found instead was a group of chief executive officers that were very committed to one another and very committed to the best principles of intercollegiate athletics. I was very quickly put at ease relative to the stability of the group and the ongoing commitment to one another.”

Bowlsby, who will take over as commissioner on June 15, was seen as the ideal candidate for the Big 12 job because of his exceptionally successful tenures at Stanford and at the University of Iowa, where he worked from 1991-2005. He also contributed significantly to the lucrative media deals of both of those schools’ conferences, particularly the Pac-12’s current $3 billion, 12-year television contract with ESPN and Fox. Additionally, Bowlsby was present for the birth of both of those conferences’ television networks — the Big Ten Network, which launched in 2007, and the Pac-12 Network, which will launch in August 2012.

Bowlsby’s role in the media network expansion of the Big Ten and Pac-12 was critical to his hiring as Big 12 commissioner because the turbulent conference is currently working on a new television deal of its own.

“He’s been very involved in the television aspects of conferences he has served, from the formation of the Big Ten network to the Pac-12 network and, of course, the related television agreements,” Burns Hargis, the president of Oklahoma State, told ESPN. “Obviously that’s a very valuable talent that we intend to take full advantage of.”

Bowlsby’s other challenge will be determining if the conference needs to expand, as the Big 12’s major quirk is that it currently only has ten member schools, which prevents it from staging a conference championship game. Conference championship games generally require 12 teams, and they serve as major boons to any conference’s pocketbooks; the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, and Pac-12 all have title games. However, Bowlsby said he currently didn’t know where exactly the conference would go with its membership.

“I’m not going to presume a direction that we would go,” he said. “There’s nothing magic about 11 or 12. I come in with no preconceived notions of what the right number is…I’m pretty excited about the 10 institutions that we have.”

And while the move was a no-brainer for Bowlsby, as he will quickly become one of he most powerful and influential people in all of college sports, Stanford is now forced to try and find a successor to replace him as athletic director.

For now, the list of candidates whose names have been mentioned includes Yale athletic director Thomas Beckett, Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl executive director Gary Cavalli, UC-Irvine athletic director Mike Izzi, West Coast Conference Commissioner Jamie Zaninovich, Utah athletic director Chris Hill and West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck, father of former Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck. All of these candidates have major connections to the Farm, as Beckett, Cavalli, Izzi and Zaninovich have all previously worked for the Stanford athletic department.

Additionally, former Secretary of State and Stanford political science professor Condoleeza Rice has been suggested as a potential wild-card candidate to replace Bowlsby, as she is a dedicated Stanford sports fan and has said that her dream job would be commissioner of the NFL.

The athletic department has not yet suggested a timetable for finding a new athletic director or intimated whether it would hire an interim commissioner when Bowlsby packs up for the Big 12.

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M. Tennis: A day in the life of Bradley Klahn https://stanforddaily.com/2012/05/04/m-tennis-a-day-in-the-life-of-bradley-klahn/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/05/04/m-tennis-a-day-in-the-life-of-bradley-klahn/#respond Fri, 04 May 2012 08:46:12 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1065519 It’s 9:30 a.m. on a cool Thursday morning, and Bradley Klahn is setting out traffic cones on a tennis court. The senior from Poway, Calif., is used to balancing his prodigious tennis career and school, but now, it’s all tennis, all the time. Six feet tall, dressed from head to toe in red and black dri-fit, the economics major graduated from school in the winter and now spends his days preparing for the final hurrah of his college career—and the beginning of his budding professional career.

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It’s 9:30 a.m. on a cool Thursday morning, and Bradley Klahn is setting out traffic cones on a tennis court.

“My serve’s been such a rollercoaster lately,” he says, placing 10 cones from left to right across the service line, five in each box.

M. Tennis: A day in the life of Bradley Klahn
Senior Bradley Klahn (above) fully devotes his time to preparing for the upcoming NCAA Championships, after graduating in the winter as an economics major. Klahn, the 2010 NCAA men’s singles champion, has been battling a back injury much of the season, but hopes to close out his illustrious collegiate career on a strong note. (ALISA ROYER/The Stanford Daily)

Klahn, the 2010 NCAA men’s singles tennis champion and the number one player on the Stanford men’s tennis team, is preparing for the upcoming NCAA championship next week.

His third serve smacks the red cone in the left service box, knocking it off the court.

“The problem with the big cones is, if I hit the top of them, the serve’s going out,” he says.

The senior from Poway, Calif., is used to balancing his prodigious tennis career and school, but now, it’s all tennis, all the time. Six feet tall, dressed from head to toe in red and black dri-fit, the economics major graduated from school in the winter and now spends his days preparing for the final hurrah of his college career—and the beginning of his budding professional career.

The lefty pulls a serve and smacks a cone in the wrong service box.

“Aw, that doesn’t count.”

Now, the only thing on Klahn’s schedule is to play tennis, practice tennis, work out and rehab—sometimes for 12 hours a day. Most days, he rises at 6:30 and goes to bed before 11.

“Without any schoolwork, I go to bed a lot earlier. Trying to get on a more professional routine, I guess.”

He finds his rhythm when he switches to the other side of the baseline, hitting three cones in rapid succession.

“Target practice,” he says.

This year’s NCAA title is in Athens, Ga., the site of Klahn’s 2010 singles win, where he crushed Louisville’s Austin Childs, 6-1, 6-2, in the final to capture a championship ring. Those memories—and his memories after from the 2011 NCAA tournament in front of a rowdy home crowd at Stanford—drive him to wake up and hit ball after ball every morning.

“The [2011 quarterfinal] match against Texas A&M was a wild one…that was fun. [The semifinal match against] Virginia was fun too. Virginia was the most absurd thing I’ve ever seen, let alone been a part of.”

“And I can’t say I’ve got bad memories [about Athens] after winning there,” he adds.

However, if Klahn hopes to add a championship coda to his days at Stanford, he’ll have to overcome his two nemeses this season: USC and a balky back.

The Trojans have won three consecutive team titles behind the powerful play of senior Steve Johnson, last year’s NCAA singles champion, who is riding a 60-match winning streak coming into the tournament.

“He’s been a lock. They’re always starting 2-0 in every match, or at least 1-0,” Klahn says. The No. 1 Trojans also captured the Pac-12 title this year and blanked the Cardinal 7-0, 7-0 and 4-0 in their three matchups this season.

Klahn also still battles the effects of a herniated disc in his back, an injury that forced him out of competition for half the school year and still affects his mobility and strength, he says. He takes the time to stretch his back during every pause in his practice schedule.

“I had the same injury that [Orlando Magic forward] Dwight Howard has,” he says. “It’s just stiff, more than anything else. The surgical site was painful right after, but the hardest thing for a while was just getting in and out of bed.”

After finishing his morning session of serves, Klahn gets a necessary back massage, eats lunch and returns to the Taube Tennis Center courts to hit with assistant coach Brandon Coupe.

A light drizzle forces the two of them to the underground indoor court the team refers to as “the dungeon,” where Coupe gives Klahn pointers on his backhand and volleys. Coupe’s strokes are short and direct when compared to Klahn’s nimble, smooth backhands—Coupe is leathered from 10 years spent on the professional tennis tour. He gives Klahn tips that will serve him well when he moves along to the professional ranks right after graduation.

Klahn will train in Carson, Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles, after his time at Stanford is up and could possibly begin playing in professional events as early as June 2, at the Sacramento USTA Futures tour event—a step below the ATP tour of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

“It kind of depends on how I feel depending on where my fitness is. But really, I haven’t planned it out too far in advance,” he confesses.

The bigger question, he says, comes down the road, when he’ll need sponsors to help him jumpstart his pro career.

“I haven’t had any agent interest so far. I don’t know if people will sign me or not,” he says. “I’d obviously like to sign with an agent; it’d be cool, and they can help out with deals and money and stuff, but I’m sure any agent is going to have their reservations about signing a guy who had back surgery. I hope not, though, because I feel healthy; I feel good. It’s definitely better than it was.”

For now, though, Klahn’s first concern is ending his college career on the right note. He feels the pressure of being a senior team captain in his last NCAA tournament.

That’s the real reason he gets up in the morning to hit serves, hits with Coupe after lunch, goes to the regularly scheduled practice with the rest of them team, then works out, then rehabs.

He’ll do the same thing again on Friday, and Monday, and Tuesday, and Wednesday. All tennis, all the time.

Just a normal day in the life of Bradley Klahn: not quite student-athlete, not quite a professional.

 

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Football: A look back at Stanford’s other No. 1 picks https://stanforddaily.com/2012/05/03/football-a-look-back-at-stanfords-other-no-1-picks/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/05/03/football-a-look-back-at-stanfords-other-no-1-picks/#comments Thu, 03 May 2012 10:03:27 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1065346 A look back at the days that Garrett, Plunkett and Elway were drafted first overall reveals an incredible amount about how Stanford, the NFL and the United States have changed over the last 60 years

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When the Indianapolis Colts picked Cardinal quarterback Andrew Luck first overall in the NFL draft on Thursday night, it marked the fourth time a Stanford signal-caller has been taken first overall. Luck joined the illustrious club of Bobby Garrett, Jim Plunkett and John Elway as the four Cardinal first picks, and Stanford is now one of just five schools to have four or more players taken first overall.

Football: A look back at Stanford's other No. 1 picks
Redshirt junior quarterback Andrew Luck (above) is the fourth Stanford QB to be taken first overall in the NFL draft. The previous three had a big range of NFL careers, and some of them have interesting connections to Luck's early career with the Colts. (MICHAEL LIU/The Stanford Daily)

And while Luck’s selection was a huge media event, watched by millions of football fans all over the globe, a dig through The Stanford Daily’s archives reveals that the distinction of being picked first overall in the NFL draft has changed quite a bit over the years. A look back at the days that Garrett, Plunkett and Elway were drafted first overall reveals an incredible amount about how Stanford, the NFL and the United States have changed over the last 60 years.

Bobby Garrett, Cleveland Browns, 1954 Draft

Garrett, a Los Angeles native, was an All-American quarterback and an outstanding defensive back for the Stanford Indians in the early 1950s. Garrett’s exploits earned him both the MVP of the 1954 Hula Bowl and the W.J. Voit Memorial Trophy as the most outstanding football player on the West Coast.

Back then, the NFL was still a fledgling league with just 12 teams (only two on the West Coast) and the draft was far different than it is today. Instead of seven rounds, the 1954 draft had 30 rounds, and a peculiar quirk called the “bonus pick.” Today, the team with the worst record in the NFL is guaranteed to pick first overall, but the drafts of the 1940s and 50s tossed every team’s name into a random lottery, and the winner of the lottery got to pick first overall.

Under the tutelage of future Hall of Fame coach Paul Brown, the 1953 Cleveland Browns went 11-1 in the regular season, then lost the NFL Championship Game to the Detroit Lions, 17-16, in a rematch of the 1952 NFL title game. The Browns were the dominant force of the early ’50s, going to six consecutive championship games after joining the league in 1950, but they had the good fortune of winning the “bonus pick” lottery, allowing them the opportunity to add to their already stacked team.

The Browns were hoping to find a successor to aging quarterback Otto Graham (another future Hall of Famer) and thus picked Garrett first overall.

“I am perfectly delighted to have been chosen by the Browns,” Garrett said in the Jan. 29, 1954 edition of The Daily. “I consider Paul Brown one of the great coaches in the game.”

However, Garrett was unsure whether or not he would take his talents to the NFL, as the United States was still in the final stages of the Korean War.

“I’m in the Air ROTC, but it is still not sure whether or not I will be called,” Garrett said.

Eventually, Garrett did make it to the NFL, where his career flamed out faster than perhaps any first pick in NFL history. First, Garrett was traded to the Green Bay Packers before training camp even started. Next, he had to serve two years in the Air Force, forcing him away from the game of football. After his two years of military service, the Browns reacquired Garrett from the Packers in another trade.

Finally, when he got to Cleveland, the Browns discovered that Garrett couldn’t possibly play quarterback in the NFL — he stuttered so badly that it was impossible for him to even call plays in the huddle.

In the end, Bobby Garrett, the No. 1 pick in the 1954 draft, only played nine games in the NFL.

Jim Plunkett, New England Patriots, 1971

By 1971, the NFL was a much larger enterprise, as the league had merged with the popular American Football League in 1970, and the first-ever Super Bowl had been played just four year beforehand. Plunkett, who had captured the 1970 Heisman Trophy, was selected first by the Boston Patriots, who were coming off a dreadful 2-12 season.

While the Patriots entertained trade offers from 17 of the 25 other teams in the league, they eventually picked Plunkett, calling him at 7:04 a.m. to tell him he was a Patriot.

“I feel honored to be picked first, I just feel great about it,” Plunkett told The Daily on Jan. 29, 1971. “It will be great to play with Boston. I feel I can play right now as a pro, but I don’t expect to play right away.”

“He’s the Joe Namath of the future,” Indians head coach John Mazur told The Daily.

Ole Miss quarterback Archie Manning, the second-runner up for the Heisman trophy and the father-to-be of Peyton and Eli Manning, was selected second overall by the New Orleans Saints, and the Houston Oilers picked Santa Clara quarterback Dan Pastorini with the third overall choice.

Plunkett wasn’t quite the smash hit that Mazur expected him to be, as he struggled mightily after his rookie season. After five years with the Patriots, he was traded to the San Francisco 49ers and then released after a 5-9 season in 1977.

Plunkett then finally regained that magic touch that made him the first overall pick when he joined the Oakland Raiders in 1978. He eventually stepped into the starting role in 1980 after Pastorini, the Raiders’ starter, went down with a broken leg, and Plunkett went on to lead the silver and black to Super Bowl victories in 1981 and 1984.

John Elway, Baltimore Colts, 1983

Elway, the runner-up to Georgia running back Herschel Walker for the 1982 Heisman, was sure to be a superstar professional athlete — but he wasn’t sure whether that would be in professional baseball or football.

The Baltimore Colts, picking first overall after a 0-8-1 campaign in the strike-shortened 1982 season, clearly wished to pick the strong-armed Californian, but Elway wasn’t having it. After the Colts picked him first overall (Walker was picked first by the United States Football League’s New Jersey Generals), Elway insisted he would join the New York Yankees organization if the Colts did not trade him to a “West Coast team or a (NFL) contender,” the April 27, 1983 issue of The Daily reported.

Elway made his ire toward the Colts clear, especially during a bitter phone call with Colts head coach Frank Kush.

“I said, ‘Mr. Kush, I don’t want to be a jerk or anything, but we’ve told you for the past three months that I don’t want to play for Baltimore. And I know for a fact you’ve been offered three (first-round picks) and a quarterback and you turned that down. And right now you’ve got nothing.’ And then I hung up the phone,” Elway said.

Eventually, Elway’s fit garnered him the trade he so desired, as he joined the other equine NFL team when the Colts traded him to the Denver Broncos, who had gone 2-7 in 1982, on May 2.

This time, Elway’s response was much different.

“I’m definitely thrilled to be here,” Elway told The Daily on May 3. “It’s something I didn’t expect to happen. I’m glad to be playing in the NFL and I’m glad to be playing for the Denver Broncos.”

Elway would play for the Broncos for the next 15 years, taking them to five Super Bowls and winning two in the final two years of his career.

Clearly, the NFL draft has changed immensely over the past 60 years, and it’s interesting to consider how some of the players in the careers of Plunkett and Elway have already affected Luck’s week-old NFL career. After all, Archie Manning, who was drafted right after Plunkett, is the father of Peyton Manning, the man Luck will be replacing with the Colts, who was signed this offseason by the John Elway, the Executive Vice President of Football Operations for the Denver Broncos. Today, it’s impossible to know what the trajectory of Luck’s career will look like, but perhaps only one thing is for sure — Luck probably wants his career to look more like that of Plunkett or Elway than that of Bobby Garrett.

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Blanchat: Grading Stanford’s NFL draft fits https://stanforddaily.com/2012/05/03/blanchat-grading-stanfords-nfl-draft-fits/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/05/03/blanchat-grading-stanfords-nfl-draft-fits/#respond Thu, 03 May 2012 08:35:27 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1065321 While a lot of people like to give grades to NFL teams about their draft, I’m going to switch the script a little bit. Instead, I’m going to give some grades to the matches between the (former) Cardinal players and their new NFL teams

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Now that the 2012 NFL draft is enshrined in history and every team has had its pick of the undrafted free agents, we in the sports media get to do our favorite thing: make predictions for the future based on the limited knowledge we have in the present.

While a lot of people like to give grades to NFL teams about their draft, I’m going to switch the script a little bit. Instead, I’m going to give some grades to the matches between the (former) Cardinal players and their new NFL teams, taking into account just how well the dozen guys who are joining the league fit with their newfound employers.

            Indianapolis Colts: Andrew Luck, Coby Fleener and Griff Whalen — A

All three of these players are in a great situation in Indianapolis. While the team is in need of a lot of help, Luck and Fleener will start every game right away, and I have to believe that Whalen also has an excellent chance to make the team, which is really the ultimate goal for any undrafted free agent. The Colts went out of their way to draft and sign Luck’s two favorite targets from last season, so they’re definitely going to do everything they can to accommodate their new franchise quarterback, and that means that Whalen will likely end up with a horseshoe on his helmet come fall.

            Pittsburgh Steelers: David DeCastro — A+

If I could, I would put about a million plusses on this pick for the Steelers. Just imagine the scene from “A Christmas Story” where Ralphie gets an A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus-ad infinitum for his essay on the Red Rider BB Gun. While it always make me throw up in my mouth a little bit when I hear the cliché that Pittsburgh is a tough, blue-collar, hard-working town, something about the brutish personality of the Steelers and DeCastro seems to fit perfectly. I can say from firsthand experience that talking to DeCastro is about as intimidating as trying to talk to a displeased rhinoceros. Altogether, I can’t wait to see him in black and gold, and I think he and center Maurkice Pouncey could immediately give the Steelers the best interior offensive line in the NFL — an absolute necessity when you play against teams like the Ravens twice a year.

            Miami Dolphins: Jonathan Martin — B+

While I like this pick for the Dolphins, I do think there will be some growing pains for Martin, as he’s likely going to have to switch to the other side of the line if he wants to play right away. Asking a player to switch positions, in addition to playing against the freakish defensive ends that populate the NFL nowadays, is a tall task to ask, especially when that player is a rookie. Martin is in a great situation to learn how to play in the NFL from Pro Bowl left tackle Jake Long, but don’t be surprised to see Martin struggle from time to time in his first season, especially with a rookie quarterback (Dolphins first-round pick Ryan Tannehill) taking the snaps.

            San Francisco 49ers: Chris Owusu, Matt Masifilo and Michael Thomas — C

I do like the fact that the 49ers picked up all three of these guys, as Owusu, Masifilo and Thomas are all excellent players — but I don’t necessarily like these players electing to sign with the 49ers. Let me explain: the Niners are a talented, veteran team, as evidenced by the fact that they made it all the way to the NFC Championship Game last year. Therefore, it’s going to be difficult for all three guys to make the team, much less contribute in their rookie years. The Niners have an excellent defense and a surprisingly deep receiving corps due to the additions of Randy Moss, Mario Manningham and first-round pick A.J. Jenkins this winter, so it’s possible that none of these three players could make the team come this fall unless former coach Jim Harbaugh goes out of his way to protect his guys.

            Buffalo Bills: Delano Howell — C

Howell’s choice of Buffalo was a bit curious to me because the Bills actually have a pretty talented group of cornerbacks and safeties already, as they signed four other undrafted cornerbacks and took South Carolina corner Stephon Gilmore with the 10th overall pick. Howell is certainly talented enough to beat out the other undrafted guys, but the numbers don’t really appear to be in his favor.

            Cleveland Browns: Johnson Bademosi — A

I think Cleveland is an excellent spot for Bademosi, because he’ll have a great shot to make the team right away. The Browns defensive backfield was (surprisingly) the second-best in the league last season, but they were 30th in the league in run defense, so if Bademosi shows in training camp that he make a few sure tackles against running backs on the second level and play some special teams, he’ll probably see a fair amount of playing time. That said, Bademosi will be switching from cornerback to safety, so that might hamper his chances a bit.

            Philadelphia Eagles: Jeremy Stewart — A

Word on the street is that Stewart will switch to fullback to try and make the Eagles, and I think that he’s got a good chance to do it because he’s a strong blocker and short-yardage guy. He’s also been a reliable special teamer in his time at Stanford, and that is always a huge boost to any player trying to make a team.

            Oakland Raiders: Corey Gatewood — B+

I rate Gatewood so highly because he’s switched back and forth between offense and defense three times in his Stanford career, so it’s nice to see him get an opportunity at the next level. While he doesn’t necessarily have a natural position, he did play well at cornerback near the end of last season. That said, I’d be surprised to see him make the Raiders’ roster, even with former Stanford defensive coordinator Jason Tarver now running the Raider defense.

Altogether, the NFL now has a massive influx of talented Cardinal players that, one way or another, will be making their mark on the league for years to come. Someday, when these guys are starters for playoff teams, it’ll be fun to watch them clash against their former teammates — and remember just how much fun they were to watch on the Farm.

Jack Blanchat triple-dog-dares you to challenge his draft grades. Find out why he skipped the double-dog-dare at blanchat “at” stanford.edu or follow him on Twitter @jmblanchat.

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Football: Twelve former Cardinal players taken by NFL teams, as Fleener and Whalen join Luck in Indy https://stanforddaily.com/2012/04/30/football-twelve-former-cardinal-players-taken-by-nfl-teams-as-fleener-and-whalen-join-luck-in-indy/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/04/30/football-twelve-former-cardinal-players-taken-by-nfl-teams-as-fleener-and-whalen-join-luck-in-indy/#respond Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:03:44 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1065060 While Andrew Luck and David DeCastro might have stolen the headlines as the first two Stanford players selected in the NFL draft, ten other Cardinal players officially made the leap from the Farm to the NFL over the weekend as well.

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While Andrew Luck and David DeCastro might have stolen the headlines as the first two Stanford players selected in the NFL draft, ten other Cardinal players officially made the leap from the Farm to the NFL over the weekend as well.

Football: Twelve former Cardinal players taken by NFL teams, as Fleener and Whalen join Luck in Indy
Tight end Coby Fleener may be transitioning to the NFL next season, but he'll have his fair share of familiar faces around the Colts' compound in first-overall pick quarterback Andrew Luck and free-agent receiver Griff Whalen. In total, 12 Stanford players were taken by NFL teams this weekend, with four being chosen in the first two rounds of the draft. (MICHAEL LIU/The Stanford Daily)

In second round of the draft on Friday afternoon, the Indianapolis Colts selected tight end Coby Fleener with the 34th pick, reuniting Andrew Luck with his most prolific target from 2011. Eight picks later, the Miami Dolphins chose offensive tackle Jonathan Martin with the 42nd selection in the draft.

Fleener, who had 34 catches for 667 yards and 10 touchdowns in his final campaign as a Cardinal, said he knew he had a chance to join Luck in blue and white when the first round ended with his name on the board and the Colts just two picks away.

“I knew it was a possibility [to come to Indianapolis], but you never really know,” Fleener told the Colts’ official website. “I sat there yesterday thinking there were some teams that could have picked me and I wasn’t sure. Today when the Colts came up, I still wasn’t sure until I got the call on my phone that had an Indiana area code. I had a big smile on my face at that point.”

Fleener, like Luck, will be expected to replace a former All-Pro at his position, as the Colts released tight end Dallas Clark in Indy following an injury-riddled 2011 season where Clark only played in 11 games and scored just two touchdowns during the Colts’ miserable 2-14 campaign.

Martin, who will be returning to the site of the Cardinal’s 2011 Orange Bowl victory for the next few years, also expressed his excitement at joining a franchise that has long been associated with excellence.

“It’s amazing. I’m just so excited to be a member of the Miami Dolphins. It’s a dream come true,” Martin told the Dolphins’ official website. “It’s an amazing city, an amazing fan base and there’s an amazing history behind the team and I just can’t wait to get down there and work.”

Martin, like Luck and Fleener with the Colts, will join a major rebuilding effort in Miami. Coming off a 6-10 season where head coach Tony Sparano was fired after an 0-7 start, the Dolphins spent their first pick on Texas A&M quarterback Ryan Tannehill and their second on Martin, who will be tasked with protecting the Dolphins’ new signal-caller.

And while Luck and Fleener will be playing the positions they’re so familiar with in tandem with one another for a few more years, that likely won’t be the case for Martin.

Instead, Martin will likely be forced to switch to the right tackle after playing left tackle in college, as the Dolphins already have four-time Pro Bowler (and former No. 1 overall pick) Jake Long holding down the left side of the line.

“I’m so excited to play behind a player like [Long]. He’s going to be a Hall of Fame left tackle,” Martin said. “He’s a guy I’ve modeled my game after for years and I’ve been a fan. I’m excited to play and I’ll play left, I’ll play right, wherever the team needs me.”

After Fleener and Martin went off the board in the second round, giving the Cardinal four players selected in the top 42, no other Stanford players were selected in the next five rounds of the draft. However, eight Stanford players signed contracts with NFL teams over the weekend as undrafted free agents.

Wide receiver Griff Whalen made it a party for three in Indy, joining the Colts and giving Luck more continuity from his career on the Farm. Whalen led the Cardinal with 56 receptions last season, tallying 749 yards and four touchdowns, giving Luck the opportunity to throw to his two favorite targets for a few more years.

Several other players tried to make it a Cardinal family affair by electing to sign with the San Francisco 49ers, including defensive end Matt Masifilo, wide receiver Chris Owusu and safety Michael Thomas. All three will now rejoin former coach Jim Harbaugh, the man who recruited Thomas and Owusu to the Farm.

Cornerback Corey Gatewood also elected to stay in the Bay Area, signing with the Oakland Raiders. Gatewood, who switched to cornerback from wide receiver midway through last season, will reunite with former Cardinal co-defensive coordinator Jason Tarver, who took over as the Raiders’ defensive coordinator in February.

Gatewood’s fellow compatriots in the secondary elected to take their skills away from California, though, as cornerback Johnson Bademosi signed with the Cleveland Browns, joining former Stanford teammate Owen Marecic, who was the Browns’ fourth round pick last season. Safety Delano Howell signed with the Buffalo Bills, where he’ll join a talented group of defensive backs and play twice a year against Martin and the Dolphins.

On the other side of the ball, running back Jeremy Stewart elected to sign with the Philadelphia Eagles, where he’ll likely compete for a spot at fullback with former USC running back Stanley Havili.

Altogether, the Cardinal has one of its largest groups of NFL-bound players in years, as 12 players from the 2011 team now take the leap to the next level. These players will report to their respective teams after graduation. While Luck, Fleener, DeCastro and Martin are expected to step in and start for their respective teams right away, the road is not as clear for those undrafted players, who will be fighting for roster spots on the NFL’s 53-man teams as soon as the academic season ends, with mini-camps continuing throughout the summer before teams open preseason training camps in mid-August.

But for now, the former Stanford players can bask in the fact that they’ve finally realized their NFL dreams — and that the NFL has gotten several shades more Cardinal in just one weekend.

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Football: Colts select Luck with first overall pick, more success for Cardinal to come https://stanforddaily.com/2012/04/27/football-colts-select-luck-with-first-overall-pick/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/04/27/football-colts-select-luck-with-first-overall-pick/#comments Fri, 27 Apr 2012 10:03:49 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1064748 After months of waiting, the Indianapolis Colts finally made Andrew Luck’s NFL dreams official on Thursday night, selecting Luck with the first overall pick in the NFL draft.

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Luck and a horseshoe. Some things just go together perfectly.

After months of waiting, the Indianapolis Colts finally made Andrew Luck’s NFL dream official on Thursday night, selecting Luck with the first overall pick in the NFL draft.

Football: Colts select Luck with first overall pick, more success for Cardinal to come
First overall pick and new Indianapolis Colt Andrew Luck stands with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell after being picked first overall. (HOWARD SMITH/The Stanford Daily)

While Indianapolis general manager Ryan Grigson had already announced that the Colts would select Luck earlier in the week, the Stanford star said the moment he’d been anticipating for over two years was still an exciting one.

“It was great. It was everything I ever though it would be,” Luck told ESPN. “I can’t wait to start with the Colts.”

Proudly displaying a blue Colts hat and horseshoe lapel pin, Luck’s message to Indianapolis fans was to “hope for the best” and promised that he would “come in and work hard” for his new team.

“I feel so honored, so grateful to represent this city now and be a part of the team,” he said.

Luck is the fourth No. 1 overall draft pick to come out of Stanford, following Bobby Garrett, the first pick of the Cleveland Browns in 1954, Jim Plunkett, the Oakland Raiders’ choice in 1971, and John Elway, who garnered a trade to the Denver Broncos after being picked first by the Baltimore Colts in 1983.

For now, Luck will be tasked with taking over a team that went 2-14 last year, as well as replacing future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning, who was released by the team after missing the entirety of the 2011-2012 season with a neck injury.

“I realize you could go crazy trying to just measure yourself to Peyton Manning every day,” Luck told the Colts’ official website. “I don’t think that would be a sane way to live…I’ll just try and put my best foot forward and work hard every day. One day, if I can be mentioned alongside Peyton Manning as one of the quarterback greats, that would be a football dream come true.”

The redshirt junior quarterback was the 19th Stanford player to ever be picked in the first round, and the first Cardinal player to be picked in the first round since the 49ers selected offensive tackle Kwame Harris with the 26th pick in 2003.

Luck is expected to sign a four-year, $22 million deal with the Colts later this week, a contract comparable to that of last year’s number one pick, the Carolina Panthers’ Cam Newton.

After Luck finally put on the Colts’ blue and white, he didn’t have to wait long to see one of his Cardinal teammates join him in the NFL, as the Pittsburgh Steelers selected guard David DeCastro with the 24th pick.

Pittsburgh general manager Kevin Colbert said it was a “no-brainer” pick that late in the draft, as the tough, physical guard was expected to be picked in the middle of the first round.

“Really, we didn’t think David would be there at [the 24th pick]. We valued him very high,” Colbert told the Steelers’ official website. “As we said the other day, there were a few special players in this group that we thought would be easy to evaluate and he was one of them.”

“I went into the thing with no expectations,” DeCastro said of his unexpected slide. “The draft has so many variables. You don’t know what’s going to happen. I am just thankful that I am on a great team and a great franchise. I am just excited.”

Luck and DeCastro both going in the first round marks the first time since 1992 that two Stanford players were selected in the first round, when the Atlanta Falcons picked tackle Bob Whitfield with the eighth pick, and the Browns took fullback Tommy Vardell with the ninth pick.

But while Luck and DeCastro now know where they’ll be playing for the next few seasons, fellow Cardinal teammates Coby Fleener and Jonathan Martin must wait until this evening to have their names called, as the two highly rated prospects both slipped out of the trade-filled first round.

While both Fleener and Martin should go in the first 10 or 15 picks of the second round, a first round that could have been filled with four Stanford players was instead left curiously devoid of Cardinal, as several teams reached for prospects that were far less highly regarded than either Fleener or Martin.

The NFL draft resumes Friday, April 27 at 4 p.m. PST, at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall.

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Blanchat: Ready for all the RG3 draft talk to end https://stanforddaily.com/2012/04/26/blanchat-ready-for-all-the-rg3-draft-talk-to-end/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/04/26/blanchat-ready-for-all-the-rg3-draft-talk-to-end/#comments Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:36:16 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1064693 I think Griffin's rise to become the new poster child of the NFL represents everything that's wrong with the NFL draft

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Tonight, 32 players will walk across the stage at Radio City Music Hall, jam awful-looking hats on their heads and finally begin their NFL careers in earnest after months of waiting and preparing. More importantly, it means that the preposterous cycle of media coverage that leads up to the NFL draft will end, and Mel Kiper, Jr., Todd McShay and their cronies can all retreat to the respective bridges they live under.

More importantly, the first round of the draft will finally signal the end of the months-long “debate” of whether the Colts should pick Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III with the first overall pick. I can’t fully express how excited I am about the end of this debate, because, quite frankly, I am sick of seeing (and hearing about) Robert Griffin III. It’s not because I’m worried that the Colts will flip-flop and pick Griffin first or because I’m jealous that Griffin ended up with the Heisman this year, but it’s because I think Griffin’s rise to become the new poster child of the NFL represents everything that’s wrong with the NFL draft.

First of all, let’s get this out of the way: Griffin is nowhere near as good as Luck, and yet, many draft experts spin us the story that Griffin would be a better pick. Why? Because Griffin is a far more exciting player to watch play football.

Several times a game, he makes one of those “oh-shit-how-did-he-do-that” plays that ends up in the SportsCenter Top 10. Meanwhile, Luck’s highlight tape is full of short, on-target passes flecked with the occasional long run and a single one-handed catch against UCLA. Luck’s brilliance is understated, and only comes through after repeated viewing, while Griffin’s video-game good plays make you jump out of your seat. You don’t need to see a Powerpoint presentation to see why Griffin is a great college football player.

And because Griffin is so exciting to watch, draft experts have conveniently obscured the fact that he ran a (somewhat gimmicky) spread offense at Baylor, never had to take snaps from under center (a necessary skill in the NFL) and got all his plays from the sideline and never was required to make passes that required complex reads of a defense. While Griffin was an accurate passer, a fast runner and an all-around delight to watch play football, things that should be major question marks (or at least big developmental steps in Griffin’s NFL career) have basically been overlooked.

What’s more, Griffin has only really had one outstanding season, and went from a guy that was above average, but essentially unheard-of outside the Big 12 to a “surefire NFL star” in just one year. For a lot of prospects, a one-year breakout makes scouts wonder where all that performance was beforehand, but apparently nobody has questioned that about Griffin’s game.

Second, Griffin irks me because he’s inescapable. He’s a total media darling, or as Sports Illustrated writer Peter King says, he’s the beneficiary of “the circle-jerking of a jillion of us covering the draft for far, far too long.” Griffin’s catchy nickname, engaging personality and inability to say “no” to a photo shoot or video interview means he’s been showing up everywhere, all the time. In contrast to Luck, who eschews the spotlight at almost every opportunity, RG3 is on the cover of every magazine’s NFL draft issue this week, rocking his ridiculous socks and absurd arm sleeve. And because he’s so beloved by the media, it means he’s the spotlight of the worst part of NFL draft coverage: specious criticism. Every year, the media trumps up insane criticisms, like a scout’s recent observation that Griffin is “selfish.” Why does this bother me? Because after I hear Kiper and McShay talk about Griffin being “selfish” for 10 straight hours on SportsCenter, I feel like drinking a big bottle of cyanide. Perhaps I just need to stop watching ESPN’s draft coverage, but unfortunately, their influence in setting the agenda in sports is so great that it’s unavoidable as well.

But all of that’s coming to an end tonight, when Luck will stride across the stage first, shake Roger Goodell’s hand, and awkwardly pose for thousands of pictures. And, for the first time in months, Luck can bask in that sublime moment on his own, while Griffin, the guy on every magazine cover, has to wait his turn.

 

Jack Blanchat prefers drinking cyanide to drinking the RG3 Kool-Aid. Compare the relative tastes of these two dangerous liquids at blanchat “at” stanford.edu or follow him on Twitter @jmblanchat.

 

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Blanchat: When should top coaches hang it up? https://stanforddaily.com/2012/04/19/blanchat-when-should-top-coaches-hang-it-up/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/04/19/blanchat-when-should-top-coaches-hang-it-up/#respond Thu, 19 Apr 2012 08:35:56 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1063893 Summitt had been the head coach at Tennessee since she was 22 years old. She was, quite literally, leaving the only job she had ever known

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When I saw that the 59-year-old Pat Summitt, the legendary coach of the Tennessee Volunteers, had officially retired yesterday after 38 years of leading the Vols, I initially was sad that such a legend was having to leave the game so early. But then I did a double take, did some mental math and was blown away: Summitt had been the head coach at Tennessee since she was 22 years old. She was, quite literally, leaving the only job she had ever known.

Consider this: I’m a senior in college and will turn 23 years old in June. I can’t even begin to fathom doing something for the next 38 years of my life. Shoot, I can’t even fathom being 38 years old. But Summitt’s all-too-early retirement made me wonder: how do coaching legends know when it’s time to walk away? How does someone who is so borderline-manically obsessed with a game for so long decide that it’s time to fade into the shadows?

With Summitt, the choice to retire wasn’t really hers to make. Her battle with early-onset Alzheimer’s meant that she was only going to be able to stay on the sideline for so long. But even before Summitt made her diagnosis public, you could tell the end of her career was coming sooner rather than later — at least, to me it seemed that way. I’ll never forget watching her storm up and down the sideline during the 2010 Tennessee-Stanford basketball game in Knoxville. She was icy, intelligent and fearsome in a way that was palpable every time she walked past my seat. But you could also see the bags under her eyes and the hints of weariness when she yelled at all-too-terrified college kids over on the Volunteers’ bench. My dad, who was at the game with me, said she was “like a lion in winter” (the winter of her career, that is). I saw and understood what he meant.

But for other coaching legends, the choice is theirs. And it’s hard to walk away at the right time. Some people walk away on top, like John Wooden, Summitt’s rival for the title of “Greatest College Basketball Coach of All Time”. Wooden hung up his whistle in 1975, after his UCLA Bruins won the NCAA title for the 10th time in 12 years. Others leave in disgrace, like Joe Paterno, whose Penn State program is now sadly synonymous with deceit (and far worse things).

And some coaches just never leave, even when their effectiveness has clearly waned, like basketball coach Larry Brown, who is currently in talks to become the head coach at SMU, one of the most woefully bad college basketball programs in the country.

But back to my original question: How do any of these people even begin to decide when it’s time to leave? Do they do something they never would have done in years past? Do they have a single moment of perfect clarity where they realize they can’t do what they used to do? Does the ghost of Babe Ruth come out of their closet and tell them that “Heroes get remembered, but legends never die,” convincing them that their legacy is safe and they can retire once and for all?

To me, it appears that there are only two things (other than unforeseen circumstances, like in Summitt’s case) that should make coaching legends step down. First, they come to grips with a day when they feel like there’s no challenge left to take on — like there’s no point in chasing the things that you used to desire so much — and they step aside for good. If that day never comes, then the people that the coach trusts, the people who know him or her better than anyone else, must say it’s time to hang it up, instead of an athletic director having to push a coach off the stage in an ugly manner.

Of course, it’s probably not that simple for these coaching legends. After all, when do you think Tara VanDerveer will stop feeling a thrill every time she walks onto the floor at the Final Four? My guess is probably never. Do you think Mark Marquess doesn’t like filling out his lineup card every day? I doubt it. But both of those coaches have slowed considerably in the last few years, and eventually there will come a day when they have to hang it up for good. One can only hope that, unlike Summitt, they get to do it on their own terms — it’s only fitting that they get to choose when to call the final timeout. After all, it’s all they’ve ever known.

 

Jack Blanchat is on his way to a 38-year stint as managing editor of sports at The Daily. Explain to him what the next 13,750 days will be like for him at blanchat “at” stanford.edu or follow him on Twitter @jmblanchat.

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Football: 2012 Stanford squad showcased in annual Cardinal-White Spring Game https://stanforddaily.com/2012/04/16/football-2012-stanford-squad-showcased-in-annual-cardinal-white-spring-game/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/04/16/football-2012-stanford-squad-showcased-in-annual-cardinal-white-spring-game/#respond Mon, 16 Apr 2012 08:47:20 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1063464 On a bright, warm Saturday in San Francisco, Andrew Luck patrolled the Stanford sideline wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, jeans and dark sunglasses, overlooking the proceedings that many hoped would determine who would succeed him as the Cardinal’s starting quarterback.

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On a bright, warm Saturday in San Francisco, Andrew Luck patrolled the Stanford sideline wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, jeans and dark sunglasses, overlooking the proceedings that many hoped would determine who would succeed him as the Cardinal’s starting quarterback.

Football: 2012 Stanford squad showcased in annual Cardinal-White Spring Game
Sophomore Brett Nottingham, Andrew Luck's backup quarterback last season, is still locked in a battle with junior Josh Nunes for the position next season. (JOHN TODD/Courtesy of Stanfordphoto.com)

While Luck wandered back and forth between the sideline and a small metal bench, the 2012 version of the Stanford football team that had hoped to leave the city with a clear idea of whom its next starting quarterback would be instead returned to the Farm with more questions than answers about the future.

In the annual Cardinal-White Spring Game at Kezar Stadium, the race between Josh Nunes and Brett Nottingham to replace Andrew Luck was slated to be the main attraction, but instead the Stanford defense, dressed in its away whites, stole the show and pulled off a 37-29 victory over the offense.

While Nunes spent the day playing with the first-team offense and Nottingham with the second string, head coach David Shaw said after the game that the two were still neck-and-neck at the conclusion of spring practice.

“That competition’s still even,” Shaw said. “I don’t know what the numbers say, I don’t care what the numbers say from today. That position was not played well enough for us today to win a football game.”

In the face of strong defensive pressure that recorded eight sacks on the day, neither Nunes nor Nottingham distinguished himself from the competition, as brief moments of brilliance from each quarterback were often offset by long stretches of inconsistency.

“I thought our two top quarterbacks, at times, played really well,” Shaw continued, offering some tempered praise for the redshirt junior and the sophomore. “Josh made some nice throws that were dropped and missed a couple of checks and reads that we can’t miss, and Brett Nottingham, same thing, he missed some things as well.”

Nunes, who went 11-of-29 passing for 167 yards and two touchdowns, and Nottingham, who went 12-of-19 for 118 yards with a fumble and an interception, both echoed their coach’s assessment.

“For me, not a whole bunch I did correct today,” Nottingham said. “A whole lot of stuff to clean up. I felt like, as an offense, that the wide receivers stepped up today and make some nice plays, but I still think it was tough for our offense to get into a rhythm today.”

“I feel like I left a lot of plays out on the field,” Nunes added.

While neither was overjoyed with his performance, the two quarterbacks both managed to pepper their performances with the occasional exceptional pass.

Nottingham’s best throw came on his first drive of the game, where he connected on a 22-yard back-shoulder completion to sophomore wide receiver Keanu Nelson to edge the Cardinal offense to the goal line.

Nunes’ masterpiece was a wobbly 45-yard touchdown pass to freshman wide receiver Ty Montgomery, who made a tremendous leaping catch between two defenders and came down upright in the end zone. Montgomery finished the day with six catches for 87 yards and two touchdowns.

“That was one heck of a catch,” Nunes said afterward, downplaying his role in the touchdown connection. “Maybe a questionable decision [to throw the ball], but it’s great that we’ve got guys who can go up and make plays like that.”

And while the Stanford offense looked somewhat out of sync for the entirety of Saturday’s game — the Cardinal was playing without its top three running backs — the defense registered a dominant performance and took advantage of the game’s bizarre, almost inexplicable scoring system (the defense was awarded points for stopping the offense or forcing turnovers) to give the White team the victory.

“Our defensive pressure was very impressive,” Shaw said. “Our front seven is about as deep as you will find in the conference. When everybody is healthy and everybody is rolling, you might want to compare them to most teams in the nation with [linebackers] Chase Thomas and Trent Murphy on the edge.”

The defense racked up points early and often by forcing the Stanford offense to stall time and time again, taking a 17-15 halftime lead into a 35-15 affair at one point in the contest. While the offense did manage to battle back — the defense had to bat down a Nunes pass in the end zone on the last play of the game to secure the victory — the guys in white were clearly the superior force, even without star linebacker Shayne Skov, who was still unable to play after a knee injury last season.

Although the defense was the more dominant half of the team in the Spring Game, junior defensive tackle Terrence Stephens said the Cardinal offense, particularly the quarterbacks, had little to hang its head about.

“A lot of guys will feel like, at the end of the day, that they leave a lot of plays on the field, but that’s how you’re supposed to feel,” Stephens said.

Shaw, for his part, added that the Nunes-Nottingham competition would continue well into the fall.

“We’re kind of past the point of learning about them; we’re to the point of seeing who’s going to win the competition,” Shaw said. “We think we know them pretty well, it’s just whose going to perform better over time. We’ll just take this evidence we got from spring and apply that to the first couple weeks of training camp and see where we are.”

For now, the 2012 Stanford football team will close up shop until summer training camp begins on Aug. 6, and all eyes will return to Luck and the other departing seniors, who await the NFL Draft on April 26.

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Football: Cardinal-white spring game to preview the post-Andrew Luck era https://stanforddaily.com/2012/04/13/football-cardinal-white-spring-game-to-begin-the-post-andrew-luck-era/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/04/13/football-cardinal-white-spring-game-to-begin-the-post-andrew-luck-era/#respond Fri, 13 Apr 2012 08:48:48 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1063197 In its final performance before the 2012 season, the Stanford football team takes to the field at San Francisco’s historic Kezar Stadium on Saturday in its annual Cardinal-White Spring Game. While the season is still six months away, the Stanford coaches are hoping that Saturday’s intrasquad contest will help settle several critical position battles before fall training camp, and provide some continuity for the Cardinal heading into the 2012 season. Naturally, all eyes are on the quarterback competition, where redshirt junior Josh Nunes and sophomore Brett Nottingham have emerged as the leaders to take over Andrew Luck’s job.

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In its final performance before the 2012 season, the Stanford football team takes to the field at San Francisco’s historic Kezar Stadium on Saturday in its annual Cardinal-White Spring Game.

While the season is still six months away, the Stanford coaches are hoping that Saturday’s intrasquad contest will help settle several critical position battles before fall training camp, and provide some continuity for the Cardinal heading into the 2012 season.

Football: Cardinal-white spring game to preview the post-Andrew Luck era
Senior running back Stepfan Taylor (above) will pace the first team offense in the annual Cardinal-White Spring Game this Saturday. (SIMON WARBY/The Stanford Daily)

Naturally, all eyes are on the quarterback competition, where redshirt junior Josh Nunes and sophomore Brett Nottingham have emerged as the leaders to take over Andrew Luck’s job. The two quarterbacks will split snaps with the first team offense on Saturday, while freshmen Kevin Hogan and Evan Crower will work with the second team offense. Both Nottingham and Nunes have impressed so far in the two spring sessions not only with their physical skills, but also with their ability to use audibles to command the offense in a fashion similar to Luck.

Behind Nunes and Nottingham, several running backs will also have a chance to fight their way into the starting lineup for next season, particularly sophomore Ricky Seale and freshman Kelsey Young. With sophomore Anthony Wilkerson injured and junior Tyler Gaffney taking his talents to the baseball field for the duration of spring, Seale has carried the ball well enough to be the likely successor to Jeremy Stewart as the final piece of the four-back rotation that led the Cardinal to two consecutive BCS bowls. Meanwhile, Young has also carried the ball and worked out of the backfield as a receiver as well, making him a versatile option for the Cardinal offense to exploit, especially with a lack of depth at wide receiver.

Perhaps the most unclear position group this spring is the offensive line, which could remain in flux until the beginning of the 2012 season. While juniors Kevin Danser and Khalil Wilkes have been battling for the right guard spot and sophomore Cole Underwood has squared off with redshirt freshman Brendon Austin for the all-important left tackle role, any leaders that might emerge from this spring could be overtaken by one of several players among the nation’s best recruiting class of offensive linemen.

On the outside, Stanford will be searching for a starter across from freshman Ty Montgomery, who has been participating in the second session of spring practice while recovering from a hand injury suffered during the first session of spring. Young will square off with Drew Terrell and Jamal-Rashad Patterson, who have been playing with the first team offense all spring.

On the other side of the ball, the Cardinal defense will be looking for starters along the defensive line and in the backfield, and will once again be without injured star linebacker Shayne Skov, who is still recovering from a knee injury he sustained last September.

Along the line, the replacement for graduating senior Matt Masifilo will likely be either junior Josh Mauro or sophomore Henry Anderson, who both bring 6-foot-6, 275-pound frames to the competition. Both played a small amount in relief of Masifilo and redshirt junior Ben Gardner last season, but the two have played so well this spring that they could possibly overtake Gardner’s spot at a starter.

In the defensive backfield, a rotation of players will look to take over the spots of three departing starters, including freshman Wayne Lyons and sophomore Ed Reynolds, both of whom missed last season with injuries. Lyons looks to be the leader to take over Johnson Bademosi’s spot at cornerback, which was expected out of a player who was rated as the nation’s sixth-best safety coming out of high school just a year ago.

Reynolds, who Shaw said was the spring’s best safety so far, is a surprise contender to take over one of the starting safety spots, as he seemed likely to be buried behind Jordan Richards and Devon Carrington, both of whom saw significant playing time last season while Reynolds was sidelined by a knee injury.

While all of these spots are open, and could continue to change when the nation’s fifth-best recruiting class comes to the Farm this fall, Saturday’s Cardinal-White game in San Francisco could go a long way to tipping off fans—and more importantly, the Cardinal coaching staff—as to which players will be suiting up for the first Stanford squad in the post-Andrew Luck era.

The Cardinal (and White) will take the field at San Francisco’s Kezar Stadium at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

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Blanchat: Tiger’s dominance is gone for good https://stanforddaily.com/2012/04/12/blanchat-tigers-dominance-is-gone-for-good/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/04/12/blanchat-tigers-dominance-is-gone-for-good/#respond Thu, 12 Apr 2012 08:35:12 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1063081 But even though Bubba took home his first green jacket, it’s impossible to dissect what happened at Augusta without at least paying a shred of attention to Stanford’s most famous former athlete

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The story of this past weekend’s Masters was, of course, Big Bubba Watson bashing his way to his first major championship victory at Augusta. But even though Bubba took home his first green jacket, it’s impossible to dissect what happened at Augusta without at least paying a shred of attention to Stanford’s most famous former athlete. Of course, I’m talking about Tiger Woods and his self-described atrocious play at Augusta.

The 14-time major winner couldn’t do anything right in Georgia this past week, as he recorded his worst-ever finish after making a cut in a major and his worst-ever finish in the Masters by a long shot. And as I watched Tiger cuss and mope his way around Augusta this weekend, it became clearer than ever to me that the greatest golfer of our generation has lost the magic that he once had, and that he’ll never be able to get it back. As of this week, I feel more confident than ever in saying that Tiger doesn’t have a chance at passing Jack Nicklaus’ 18 major championship titles.

Indeed, there have been many detractors that have said that Tiger’s game post-sex scandal will never be the same, but why did this week in particular make me so willing to bury the future of Tiger’s golf game? Three reasons: his top-to-bottom awful golf game, the fact that his terrible play came at Augusta and the ever-quickening hands of time.

First and foremost, Tiger’s game is nowhere near where it used to be, and it didn’t show any signs of life at a course that he used to dominate. Off the tee, in typical fashion, Tiger didn’t even hit Augusta’s generous fairways 60 percent of the time. When he did hit the fairway, he hit the greens just 55 percent of the time — a dreadfully low number for him. And when he did hit the greens, while Tiger didn’t have that bad a week statistically speaking, he didn’t make any big-time putts to put himself into contention — the putts he never missed when he was at his peak. What’s more, every time he did something right, he immediately turned around and messed it up on the next shot. He’d hit a fairway then dump it in the greenside bunker. He’d knock it close to the pin then whiff a six-foot putt. His game, once a harmony of tee-to-green excellence, was an utter cacophony of catastrophe. That’s not the way you win a golf tournament, much less a major championship against the 100 best golfers in the world.

But even though Tiger’s game was no good this past week, the bigger problem was the fact that he played that poorly at Augusta — a course he has always dominated. Since turning pro, Tiger has played in 16 Masters tournaments, and he’s finished in the top 10 a whopping 12 of those times, including four wins. From 2005 to 2011, Tiger’s worst finish was a tie for sixth place in 2009. Those stats are what make his most recent Masters performance so startling. Tiger’s game has so utterly failed him that he can’t even play well on the course he’s been the most comfortable on during his career. From a guy who made Augusta his personal playground for more than a decade, it’s utterly shocking to see him struggle so mightily.

With that said, his performance at Augusta does not bode well for his future in major championships, the one area where he still lags behind Nicklaus. Tiger is only 36 years old, with a decade or more of majors ahead of him, but if he can’t even play well at Augusta anymore, how can we expect him to contend at any other major tournaments? There’s just no way Tiger can catch up to — and pass — Jack Nicklaus’ record if he can’t even contend at Augusta anymore, the course that has always presented Tiger with his best chance to win majors. As time ticks further into the future and Tiger’s body and game continue to change and look less and less like the man who stormed his way to 14 major titles, how can we expect him to regain his greatness? While he might win another major or two (if he’s lucky), it’s flat-out unrealistic to expect this iteration of Tiger Woods to dip into the fountain of youth and start carving up courses again.

I didn’t think it would ever come to this a couple years ago, but finally, in April 2012, this Masters finally showed me one thing: Tiger’s dominance has slipped away. And it’s never coming back.

 

Jack Blanchat didn’t take into account what would happen if Tiger gets a hold of one of Bubba’s pink drivers. Tell Jack how well pink will match Tiger’s Sunday red at blanchat “at” stanford.edu or follow him on Twitter @jmblanchat.

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Blanchat: How women’s basketball fell short five straight years https://stanforddaily.com/2012/04/05/blanchat-how-womens-basketball-fell-short-five-straight-years/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/04/05/blanchat-how-womens-basketball-fell-short-five-straight-years/#comments Thu, 05 Apr 2012 08:34:32 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1062301 But the whole time the Bears were cutting the nets down, I kept wondering just how the Cardinal, which had been to five straight Final Fours, hadn’t managed to win one, just one, title during that time

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When the confetti fell on the 40-0 Baylor women’s basketball team on Tuesday night, it wasn’t that surprising. After all, the Bears were untouchable this season, and had relatively little trouble dusting off the Cardinal in the semifinal on Sunday night. But the whole time the Bears were cutting the nets down, I kept wondering just how the Cardinal, which had been to five straight Final Fours, hadn’t managed to win one, just one, title during that time.

When you go to the Final Four five times in a row, you almost expect a team to back into a championship win. If you keep giving yourself chances to win it all, you’re eventually bound to win one, right?

Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

Instead, the 2007-2012 Stanford Cardinal is destined to go down in history as the women’s college basketball version of the early ’90s Buffalo Bills — a great team filled with great players, but not champions.

The sad thing is, the Cardinal’s championship window, at least for now, seems to have passed. It’s hard to imagine that next year’s team will be nearly as competitive or complete. Without Nneka Ogwumike and with a group of relatively inexperienced freshmen expected to step up and play major roles, the Cardinal will probably still be the favorites to win the Pac-12, but not national title contenders. So just how did this window, when Stanford was so good for so long, pass without the Cardinal taking home a national championship?

Surely it’s not talent — Candice Wiggins, Jayne Appel and Nnemkadi Ogwumike are three of the greatest players ever to play college basketball. It’s definitely not the coach — Tara VanDerveer is already in the Hall of Fame for her efforts as a coach. So why has the Cardinal been unable to bring a big, shiny trophy home to the Farm over the last five Final Fours?

In three of those five trips, it’s safe to say that the Cardinal was beaten by better teams. This year, Baylor and Brittney Griner were not going to be stopped on their road to a title. In 2009, an undefeated UConn team that was in the middle of the program’s 90-game win streak handily defeated Stanford in the semifinals, 83-64, and in 2008, the Tennessee Volunteers, led by all-universe forward Candace Parker, smashed the Cardinal in the title game, 64-48.

That said, Stanford did have two very real chances to win a title during that stretch. In 2010, the Cardinal held an eight-point halftime lead over the same UConn team that had beaten it the year before, but eventually succumbed to the talented duo of Maya Moore and Tina Charles, 53-47. While the Cardinal did have four superstars on that team — Appel, Ogwumike, Jeanette Pohlen and Kayla Pedersen — bad luck, coupled with an ankle injury to Appel, was the main factor that kept the Cardinal from bringing home a ring. Appel, suffering from a sprained ankle and a stress fracture in the same foot, went 0-for-12 from the field that night in San Antonio, scored zero points and ultimately failed to be the difference-maker that she had been in every game in her career up to that point.

And as tough as that loss was to swallow, Stanford’s best chance to win a title was last year, when Nneka Ogwumike, Chiney Ogwumike, Pedersen and Pohlen all had magnificent seasons — but it all fell apart in six terrible minutes in the semifinal game against Texas A&M. Leading by 10 points with six minutes left to play in the game, everything began to implode for the Cardinal. First, the Aggies cranked up the defensive pressure. Next, several dubious foul calls started to go against the Cardinal. Finally, Chiney Ogwumike fouled out, leaving Stanford without its best defensive player, and the collapse was complete. The Aggies went on to win the national title, but you couldn’t help but feel that the Cardinal players had almost been cheated out of the national title that was supposed to finally be theirs.

Over these past five Final Four runs, it’s been extremely disappointing that the Cardinal hasn’t taken home a title, mostly because it has played so well for so long and still hasn’t achieved its ultimate goal. Sometimes you get beat by a better team. Sometimes you’re victims of bad luck and injuries. Other times there’s really no way to explain just how you couldn’t pull off the win.

Altogether, it appears the moral of the story is clear: No matter how hard you’ve worked, and no matter how many times you get a chance to achieve your goal, you’re not guaranteed anything. And that’s a lesson the Cardinal has learned in all too bitter a fashion.

 

Jack Blanchat knows that all his hard work will not guarantee feedback from readers. Help him achieve his goal at blanchat “at” stanford.edu or follow him on Twitter @jmblanchat.

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M. Volleyball: Tigers tamed https://stanforddaily.com/2012/04/04/m-volleyball-tigers-tamed/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/04/04/m-volleyball-tigers-tamed/#respond Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:03:46 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1062199 As the Stanford men’s volleyball team heads into the home stretch of the season, with only five games remaining, the Cardinal picked up a vital win at home on Tuesday night, sweeping through conference foe Pacific in three sets.

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M. Volleyball: Tigers tamed
The No. 5 Stanford men's volleyball team swept No. 13 Pacific at home on Tuesday night, keeping its hopes for both the regular-season MPSF title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament alive. (NICK SALAZAR/The Stanford Daily)

As the Stanford men’s volleyball team heads into the home stretch of the season, with only five games remaining, the Cardinal picked up a vital win at home on Tuesday night, sweeping through conference foe Pacific in three sets.

The No. 5 Cardinal (16-6, 13-5 MPSF) rode an 11-kill performance from senior Brad Lawson to blow past the No. 13 Tigers, 25-15, 25-19, 25-18, and pick up a big win in conference play.

The game was a critical matchup for both teams, as the Cardinal is among five teams that are vying for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, while the Tigers (7-17, 4-14) were just one loss short of the eighth and final spot for the playoffs before Tuesday’s loss.

After a Lawson kill made the score 7-7 in the first set, the Cardinal then caught fire, going on an 18-8 run to close out the first set and secure a 1-0 match lead.

The second set was more hotly contested, with the teams trading points for the entirety of the game to eventually tie the score at 19. But when the set got tight, Stanford responded by pounding out six consecutive points, including a service ace from Lawson, to capture the win.

The second set loss appeared to deflate the Tigers’ hopes in the third, as the Cardinal took an early lead and held it the entire way, never letting Pacific get a lead and comfortably closing out the match.

In addition to Lawson’s solid game, sophomore Brian Cook also contributed 10 kills, and fellow sophomore Eric Mochalski continued his hot play of late by adding seven kills on just nine attempts to end up with an impressive .667 hitting percentage.

With the essential victory on Tuesday, the Cardinal now turns its eyes ahead to the last four games of the season, which are all home contests against MPSF foes. Over the next two weeks, No. 5 Stanford will take on No. 8 Long Beach State, No. 12 Cal State-Northridge, UC-Santa Barbara and conference leader No. 3 UCLA. Every matchup will directly affect which team is seeded come conference tournament time.

The win over Pacific on Tuesday was also Cardinal head coach John Kosty’s 100th career victory, making him one of three Stanford men’s volleyball coaches to join the century club, along with Ruben Nieves and former U.S. National Team coach Fred Sturm.

Stanford returns to the court this Friday against Long Beach State. The Cardinal and the 49ers match up at Maples Pavilion at 7 p.m.

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Football: Luck, Fleener impress at pro day on the Farm https://stanforddaily.com/2012/04/02/football-luck-fleener-impress-at-pro-day-on-the-farm/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/04/02/football-luck-fleener-impress-at-pro-day-on-the-farm/#comments Mon, 02 Apr 2012 08:46:20 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1061929 In his last chance to impress scouts and media members before April’s NFL draft, redshirt junior quarterback Andrew Luck didn’t disappoint, putting together a dazzling performance at the Stanford football pro day on March 22.

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In his last chance to impress scouts and media members before April’s NFL draft, redshirt junior quarterback Andrew Luck didn’t disappoint, putting together a dazzling performance at the Stanford football pro day on March 22.

Football: Luck, Fleener impress at pro day on the Farm
Redshirt junior quarterback Andrew Luck threw 50 passes at Stanford's pro day on March 22, his last chance to impress scouts before the NFL draft later this month. (ROGER CHEN/The Stanford Daily)

And while the superstar quarterback and future first overall pick didn’t exactly have a lot on the line at his pro day — his talent has been well-documented for more than two years — Luck still capitalized on the opportunity to show more than 100 scouts from all 32 NFL teams just who will be taking snaps next season.

On a cold, windy day on the Farm, Luck completed 46 of his 50 passes on throws that highlighted his mobility, including several snaps where Luck was forced to race away from a coach chasing with a broom that was intended to simulate the reach and speed of an NFL pass rusher.

“I wanted to put my best foot forward and show that I could make all the throws that I am going to be asked to do. I thought I did that to a degree, so it was a good day in that regard,” Luck said afterward. “I wanted to go out there and show that I could make every throw that an NFL quarterback has to make.”

Luck also said the pro day was a good opportunity to highlight what he’d been working on so far this offseason with quarterback coach George Whitfield, the mentor to last year’s number one overall pick, Carolina Panthers passer Cam Newton.

“I’ve been working a lot on throwing from awkward positions, maybe different positions,” Luck said. “I’ve tried to work that in to some of the throws. Whether it’s running left and trying to get it across your body or types of throws like that are going to be throws you will have a chance to complete at the next level.”

With his final throw of the day, Luck took the opportunity to add one additional highlight and show off a little bit, launching a 70-yard pass downfield into the hands of senior wide receiver Chris Owusu, who dropped the pass at the goal line.

“I think he could probably throw it further than that,” redshirt senior tight end Coby Fleener said.

“Maybe, in fact, his arm strength isn’t his weakness after all,” Fleener continued, adding a quick shot at the scouts and media members that have criticized Luck’s deep passing abilities this season.

For his part, Fleener also impressed the NFL scouts by showcasing his impressive speed. The 6-foot-6, 247-pound tight end wowed teams by running the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds, an effort that likely helped Fleener solidify his status as a first-round pick as the best tight end in this season’s draft class.

Also impressing were defensive tackle Matthew Masifilo, safety Delano Howell and cornerback Johnson Bademosi. Masifilo showed off his strength by bench-pressing 225 pounds 38 times, Howell improved on his performance at February’s NFL combine by recording a better broad jump, vertical leap and 40-yard dash, and Bademosi blazed his way to a 4.3-second 40-yard dash, then topped it off with a 40-inch vertical leap of his own.

Conversely, offensive tackle and likely first-round pick Jonathan Martin, who was unable to participate in the NFL combine due to illness, didn’t have a great day. Martin only notched 20 reps on the 225-pound bench press, a low number for an offensive lineman.

However, Martin and fellow first-round lineman David DeCastro both said the atmosphere and fanfare of the pro day were exciting as they head towards the NFL draft.

“It is always nice when you can prove your talents to as many people as possible,” Martin said. “It’s always fun to get in front of people and show what you can do. I prefer to play football, obviously. I am never going to run 40 yards in a game, unless it is chasing down an interception or something, but yeah, it is always fun to compete.”

Even though he did not run or participate in any of the pro day drills, DeCastro added that the event helped him to continue to motivate himself as his NFL career comes ever closer.

“I still think that I might not get drafted, that is how I push myself,” he said. “The fear of failure, you have to get better every day or you aren’t going to be any good.”

Martin echoed his teammate’s sentiments, saying that he wasn’t going to spend any time speculating about where he might be drafted on April 26 at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.

“It’s something that you can’t pay attention to,” he said. “There is all kinds of buzz, but you don’t think about it as a player. You concentrate on what you can do, set goals for yourself and cancel out all the outside noise.”

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M. Basketball: Stanford clobbers Minnesota to take home NIT championship https://stanforddaily.com/2012/03/30/m-basketball-stanford-clobbers-minnesota-to-take-home-nit-championship/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/03/30/m-basketball-stanford-clobbers-minnesota-to-take-home-nit-championship/#respond Sat, 31 Mar 2012 06:55:37 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1061887 The Stanford basketball team wasn’t dancing on the postseason stage it wanted to be on this March, it still played like champions on Thursday night, crushing Minnesota, 75-51 to capture the NIT title.

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Even though the Stanford basketball team wasn’t dancing on the postseason stage it wanted to be on this March, it still played like champions on Thursday night, crushing Minnesota 75-51 to capture the National Invitational Tournament title.

 

The stars of the show in Madison Square Garden were guards Chasson Randle and Aaron Bright, who both had 15 points to lead the Cardinal past the Golden Gophers.

 

Bright, who was named the NIT’s most outstanding player, also added six assists off the bench to spark the Cardinal to its first NIT title since 1991, and put a final cherry on top of the Cardinal’s superb finish to the season.

 

After a 15-3 start to the year, including a close loss to No. 1 Syracuse in the Preseason NIT tournament in New York, Stanford faded down the stretch to finish seventh in the Pac-12. But once the Cardinal received its first postseason berth in three years, it crushed everyone in its path on its way to its first postseason title in more than two decades.

 

“We were here before in the preseason and we fell short,” head coach Johnny Dawkins said after the performance. “And so we talked about this experience as how much have we grown: You know, to show we have grown, we’d have to win this tournament. And our kids, I think they rallied around that.”

 

Stanford, a three-seed coming into the tournament, closed out its surprising title run by forcing the ball out of the Gophers hands early and often, creating 22 turnovers to stretch a six-point halftime lead into a 24-point blowout.

 

The Cardinal’s suffocating defense also forced Minnesota to just 37.3 percent shooting – a figure that stood in stark contrast to Stanford 52.7 percent shooting from the floor, including going 6-of-13 from the three-point line.

 

The lopsided NIT championship game capped a dominant three weeks for the Cardinal, as it was only tested once during its five-game win streak to end the season, notching four double-digit wins and two victories by more than 20 points.

 

The NIT championship also shows that the Cardinal has a bright future ahead, even though Stanford loses four seniors from the 2012 team – guard Jarrett Mann and forwards Andrew Zimmermann, Jack Trotter and Josh Owens. The Cardinal’s 26 wins are the most for Stanford since the 2007-2008 season, and with Bright, Randle and a talented supporting cast behind them, the NIT title only upped already high expectations for 2013.

 

“”I’ve been telling everybody it’s great for next year, too,” Bright said. “It’s great for our seniors to go out like that and hopefully it carries into the offseason for us and we’ll just continue to work hard. We know what it takes to win the tournament now. We won five in a row, and I think we are going to use this experience for next year and making a run at the March Madness.”

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M. Basketball: Cardinal defeats Cleveland State, stays alive in NIT https://stanforddaily.com/2012/03/14/m-basketball-cardinal-defeats-cleveland-state-stays-alive-in-nit/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/03/14/m-basketball-cardinal-defeats-cleveland-state-stays-alive-in-nit/#respond Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:03:14 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1061508 The Stanford men’s basketball team captured its first postseason win in three years with a 76-65 victory over Cleveland State in the first round of the NIT.

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With a dominant second-half performance on Tuesday, the Stanford men’s basketball team captured its first postseason win in three years with a 76-65 victory over Cleveland State in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT).

 

Led by sophomore guard Aaron Bright’s 17 points and complimented by sophomore Anthony Brown and senior forward Josh Owens, who both added 15 points, the Cardinal (22-11, 10-8 Pac-12) blew away the Vikings (22-11, 12-6 Horizon) down the stretch to cruise to the second round of the nation’s second-best postseason tournament.

 

After Viking guard Tim Kamczyc made a three-pointer to give Cleveland State a 33-31 lead just 11 seconds into the second half, Stanford rode the trio of Bright, Brown and Owens on a 27-9 run over the next 10 minutes to bury the Vikings for good.

 

Bright gave the Cardinal a much-needed spark on Tuesday, racking up all 17 of his points in the second half by going 4-for-7 from the field and 8-for-10 from the free-throw line, while also adding three assists and two steals to his stat line.

 

Bright’s quality performance off the pine may have been the only one that outshone Brown, though, as the sophomore from Fountain Valley, Calif., added a career-high 12 rebounds to his 15 points and had three assists of his own.

 

On the whole, the Cardinal had one of its most efficient offensive nights all season, going 24-of-49 from the floor, even though it was out-rebounded by 40-31 margin, including a 13-5 differential on the offensive glass.

 

While Bright, Brown and Owens were rock solid all night, the Vikings also were their own worst enemy on Tuesday night, as they turned the ball over 21 times, a number that stood in stark contrast to the Cardinal’s 12 turnovers. Additionally, Cleveland State may have been hampered by the loss of senior guard Trey Harmon, who limped off the court early in the second half, although he was a dismal 0-for-7 from the floor before he headed to the locker room.

 

The Vikings turned the ball over nine times in the game’s first 12 minutes, while the Cardinal took advantage of those mistakes to get off to a hot start. Just six minutes into the game, Stanford held a 17-7 lead, but Cleveland State answered with a rally of its own moments later. Led by guard Jeremy Montgomery, who finished the day with 15 points, the Vikings tied the score at 18 just four minutes later. From there, the teams traded baskets until freshman guard Chasson Randle hit a three with 10 seconds left in the half to give Stanford a 31-30 lead going into the break.

 

The Cardinal will now play the winner of Mississippi and Illinois State, but must wait until tonight to find out whether it will travel to Oxford, Miss., to play the No. 1 seed Rebels or welcome the No. 8 seed Redbirds into Maples next week. Mississippi and Illinois State play tonight in Oxford at 6:30 p.m. PST.

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Football: Quarterback race narrowing after first spring session https://stanforddaily.com/2012/03/14/football-quarterback-race-narrowing-after-first-spring-session/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/03/14/football-quarterback-race-narrowing-after-first-spring-session/#respond Wed, 14 Mar 2012 09:31:12 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1061502 The Cardinal completed its first session of spring practice on Saturday afternoon, marking its first foray into a world without number 12. Naturally, all eyes are on who will fill the void left by Luck.

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After the Stanford football team’s first week of spring practice — the first week without Andrew Luck in over three years — redshirt junior outside linebacker Chase Thomas only had one word to describe what it was like to be back between the lines.

 

“It’s weird. It was weird coming out here the first day of spring ball and not having those guys out here,” Thomas said.

 

Unusual emotions aside, the Cardinal completed its first session of spring practice on Saturday afternoon, marking its first foray into a world without number 12 running the show. Naturally, all eyes are on who will fill the void left by Luck, and on the five quarterbacks competing for Luck’s vacant spot.

Football: Quarterback race narrowing after first spring session
Junior quarterback Josh Nunes (above) is one of the two leaders competing to fill the void left by superstar quarterback Andrew Luck. (MICHAEL LIU/The Stanford Daily)

 

After just a week of practices, the open competition appears to have narrowed down to just two leaders — sophomore Brett Nottingham, Luck’s primary backup last season, and junior Josh Nunes, who was the primary backup two seasons ago.

 

The two quarterbacks split time with the first team offense and could both audible to new plays at will throughout Saturday’s scrimmage, but head coach David Shaw was unwilling to claim that one quarterback was nosing out the other at this point.

 

“It’s still pretty open; we’ll evaluate this [session], but we’re not gonna make any decisions during spring,” Shaw said. “It’s just more information gathering. We tell them to approach every single day like it’s a game. They’re battling, they’re fighting it out. Both guys have executed, both guys threw some nice balls today, both guys made a couple mistakes today.”

 

In the first session of spring practice, Shaw promised that all five quarterbacks would get equal practice reps, but the head coach also mentioned that it would be too hard to maintain that egalitarian attitude when the Cardinal returns to the practice field after finals and spring break. For now, that means that Nunes and Nottingham will take their duel for the starting spot into the next practice session, which begins on April 2.

 

While the quarterback duel will continue to get most of the attention as spring practice winds along, Shaw also took time to highlight that other position groups did exist and were performing quite well.

 

“I would say the outside linebackers have just been phenomenal, and the running back position too,” Shaw said. “Even without Tyler Gaffney and without Anthony Wilkerson, Stepfan [Taylor] has been outstanding, and Ricky Seale has been great.”

 

Shaw also specifically highlighted freshman Kelsey Young’s impressive first session, as the Norco, Calif., native impressed at both wide receiver and running back.

 

“He’s been kind of that X-factor for us,” Shaw said. “We’ve moved him around a little bit and he’s shown speed and explosiveness. We’re not sure where we’re going to use him or how we’re going to use him, but he made some plays out there today.”

 

“What we’re going to do is make sure he has some kind of a package so he can help us,” Shaw continued.

 

Shaw also complimented the play of the outside linebackers, one of the most experienced and talented groups on the team. Thomas echoed his coach’s sentiment and attributed the defense’s impressive play to the smooth transition from last season.

 

“Our defense is flying around and playing around a lot faster than I’ve seen us play in the past,” Thomas said. “I think that just goes along with the experience. We haven’t had a change to our defense like we did the last couple years, so that definitely allows us to play faster and more aggressive up front.”

 

Thomas also pointed out that the secondary, which will have to replace three departing starters from the 2011 team, also had a good first week.

 

“We might have lost three guys, but I don’t feel like we did,” Thomas said. “Barry Browning and Terrence Brown all played a significant amount of football last year, same with Devon Richards and Jordan Carrington. And Wayne Lyons was playing a good amount before he got injured, so we have a lot more depth and experience back there than people give us credit for.”

 

But no matter how good both sides of the ball looked in the first practice session, Shaw said that the offense in particular still had a long way to go before it begins to look like a finished product, especially along the offensive line.

 

“There’s nobody that’s really separated themselves at the right guard or left tackle position, which would have been nice if there was, but that just leaves the competition open,” he said.

 

Shaw also added that the offense hadn’t installed the entirety of its playbook, instead choosing to feed the playbook to the new group of quarterbacks in small, deliberate increments.

 

“We went this whole session without putting in any red zone on either side of the ball… no red zone, no short yardage, no goal line. A lot of base and third down was what this was about, so we’ll put in a little more situations in the next session.”

 

Shaw said the Cardinal would also return a couple of players in the second session of spring who had been held out of the first session with injuries —  namely, defensive end Kevin Anderson and linebacker Patrick Skov. Wide receiver Ty Montgomery, who injured his hand during the first week of practice, might also return to the field in the second session.

 

For now, while the Cardinal players have three weeks off for dead week, finals and spring break, Shaw and his staff will stay busy building for the future of Cardinal football.

 

“We go full speed into recruiting,” Shaw said. “We go right into our spring recruiting. We’ll evaluate this session, start to script and get ready for the next session of spring, and start to get some ideas ready for [fall’s] training camp.”

 

The Cardinal will return to the practice field on April 2 and wrap up its spring practice on April 14 with the annual Cardinal-White Spring Game at San Francisco’s Kezar Stadium.

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Blanchat: Colts’ decision a no-brainer https://stanforddaily.com/2012/03/08/blanchat-colts-decision-a-no-brainer/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/03/08/blanchat-colts-decision-a-no-brainer/#respond Thu, 08 Mar 2012 09:30:50 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1060777 By now, you’ve probably heard that the great Peyton Manning’s time is over in Indianapolis. Cue the Andrew Luck era for the Colts.

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By now, you’ve probably heard that the great Peyton Manning’s time is over in Indianapolis. Cue the Andrew Luck era for the Colts.

 

But if you’re aware that Peyton’s days in blue and white are over, you’ve probably also seen the range of immediate reactions to this momentous announcement. For the most part, those in the national media are throwing up their hands, asking Colts owner Jim Irsay how he could do such a thing, promising that Peyton will make the Colts rue the day they ever cut him and damning the cold and cruel business of football for ending the career of a legend in such ignominious fashion.

 

But hold on just a second. Take a step back and remove the emotions, and you’ll see that the Indianapolis Colts organization did the only logical thing for the prolonged success of its football team.

 

You don’t have to ignore how great No. 18 is (was), but don’t ignore the facts in this situation. Peyton Manning is old in football years, missed the entirety of last season with a significant neck injury and was due a huge bonus that would have forced the Colts to break the bank for him, a guy who could conceivably never play in the NFL again if there’s any setback in his rehab process.

 

When you’re faced with all those morbid details, holding the No. 1 pick in the draft and the incoming player happens to be the most pro-ready NFL quarterback prospect since Manning, the choice you should make is obvious.

 

In the NFL, you always want to get rid of a talented player too early instead of too late, and when you’ve got a younger talent waiting in the wings, the choice becomes even easier. That’s why the Packers got rid of Brett Favre for Aaron Rodgers. That’s why the 49ers got rid of Joe Montana (who was better than Manning, by the way) for Steve Young. That’s why the Patriots routinely trade away great veteran players to get draft picks, a strategy that seems to work pretty well for them.

 

But instead of many in the media fully realizing all these details, you get writers like ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski making arguments for why the Colts should have kept Manning.

 

He writes, “Irsay would rather roll the bones on Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III than on Manning. Luck and RG3 have a combined zero NFL snaps. Manning has a Super Bowl ring and four league MVP awards, and has thrown for more yards in NFL history than everyone except Brett Favre and Dan Marino. And never mind what caused this divorce or where he’ll end up next.”

 

No, Gene, we have to mind what caused this divorce. You can’t ignore Manning’s bum neck just because of what he did in the past. You also can’t ignore that you’re sitting on the first pick in the draft and all you have to do to secure your team’s future is cash in your winning lottery ticket by writing “Andrew Luck” on a piece of paper in April.

 

Oh, but Gene says that’s not good enough. He continues, “Luck, the presumptive No. 1 choice, was a remarkable college quarterback. But show me the documentation that guarantees he’ll be a remarkable NFL quarterback. I’ll go read–and finish–James Joyce’s “Ulysses” as you try to find that paperwork.”

 

Tell you what, Gene, while I find that paperwork on Luck, why don’t you go find the paperwork that says Manning will definitely return to full form once he hits the field. Oh, wait, that paperwork doesn’t exist…and your argument is specious and totally idiotic. Once again, the Colts’ choice is obvious.

 

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that the way the Colts let go of Manning was more than classy. They called a press conference, laid out all the details of the lamentable split, Irsay and Manning both cried and Irsay promised that no Colt would ever wear No. 18 again. The Colts reiterated just how important Manning will forever be to their franchise and wished him along in the classiest way possible. We should all be so lucky when we get fired.

 

So when you look at the whole of this Peyton Manning situation, remember that, at a certain point, we all have to face facts. When Manning gets into the Hall of Fame someday, there’s no way he’ll deliver a bitter, Michael Jordan-esque rant about how the Colts slighted him by letting him go. He, and we, all should realize that this situation doesn’t come up often–and the Colts made the only logical decision.

 

Jack Blanchat just praised the Patriots for the first and last time in his life. Kick him off the Brady Bandwagon at blanchat@stanford.edu or follow him on Twitter “at” jmblanchat.

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Brief: Softball sweeps through DeMarini Invitational in Fullerton https://stanforddaily.com/2012/03/07/brief-softball-sweeps-through-demarini-invitational-in-fullerton/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/03/07/brief-softball-sweeps-through-demarini-invitational-in-fullerton/#respond Wed, 07 Mar 2012 09:42:58 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1060739 For the second weekend in a row, the Stanford softball team bashed its way past all comers, finishing with a 5-0 record in the past weekend’s Demarini Invitational. In the three-day round robin tournament, the Cardinal defeated Indiana, Northwestern, Florida International, Michigan State and East Carolina by a combined score of 32-4.   On Friday, […]

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For the second weekend in a row, the Stanford softball team bashed its way past all comers, finishing with a 5-0 record in the past weekend’s Demarini Invitational. In the three-day round robin tournament, the Cardinal defeated Indiana, Northwestern, Florida International, Michigan State and East Carolina by a combined score of 32-4.

 

Brief: Softball sweeps through DeMarini Invitational in Fullerton
Junior Jenna Rich went 3-for-4 with two RBI in Stanford's win over Florida International on Saturday. (SIMON WARBY/The Stanford Daily)

On Friday, No. 10 Stanford (18-3) rode the right arm of junior pitcher Teagan Gerhart to two victories, a 7-3 win over Indiana and 1-0 battle over Northwestern. With the two victories, Gerhart improved her record on the season to 15-1 thanks to her combined 12-strikeout, two-earned run performances.

 

On Saturday, the Cardinal offense exploded to record a 10-0 blowout win in just five innings against Florida International, with Gerhart again tossing a shutout in her three innings in the circle to pick up her 16th win of the year. In a game full of offensive highlights, sophomore Danielle Miller, who had her first home run of the season, and junior Jenna Rich, who went 3-for-4 with two RBI, stood out for the Cardinal.

 

Stanford continued its dominant play on Sunday, blowing past Michigan State with an easy 11-0 win in five innings, and closing out the weekend with a 3-1 victory against East Carolina. Once again, Gerhart started both games in the circle and picked up both wins, racking up 10 strikeouts in her 11 innings of work.

 

The Cardinal now returns to the Bay Area for seven games in a row, starting at Saint Mary’s today before returning to the Farm to host the Louisville Slugger Classic at Smith Family Stadium from March 9-11.

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Brief: Track and field readies for NCAA Indoor Championships https://stanforddaily.com/2012/03/07/brief-track-and-field-readies-for-ncaa-indoor-championships/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/03/07/brief-track-and-field-readies-for-ncaa-indoor-championships/#respond Wed, 07 Mar 2012 09:41:35 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1060746 On Tuesday, the Stanford track and field teams had nine athletes announced as qualifiers for this weekend’s NCAA Indoor Championships in Boise, Idaho. The Cardinal men will have five athletes competing in six individual events and a relay, and the women have four athletes participating in five individual events plus a relay.

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On Tuesday, the Stanford track and field teams had nine athletes announced as qualifiers for this weekend’s NCAA Indoor Championships in Boise, Idaho. The Cardinal men will have five athletes competing in six individual events and a relay, and the women have four athletes participating in five individual events plus a relay.

 

On the men’s side, the Cardinal will boast a lineup of distance specialists, with three qualifiers in the 5000 meters and two in the 3000 meters. Senior Chris Derrick leads the way for the team as the fourth seed in the 5000 and the ninth seed in the 3000, but redshirt senior Elliot Heath, who has not run since January, will be the one defending his crown in the 3000. Fellow redshirt seniors Jake Riley and Brendan Gregg will also compete in the 5000.

 

The No. 13 Cardinal men will also compete in the distance medley relay on Friday with a crew of runners that includes senior Amaechi Morton, who will also run in the men’s 400 meters on Saturday.

 

The Stanford women also have a strong contingent of distance runners competing this weekend, with junior Kathy Kroeger competing in the 5000 and 3000. Freshman Aisling Cuffe will join Kroeger in the 3000 on Saturday. The No. 16 women’s squad will also compete in the distance medley relay on Friday.

 

Additionally, the Cardinal will also have two competitors for championships in the field, as senior Katerina Stefanidi will compete in the pole vault on Saturday and redshirt senior Arantxa King takes on the women’s long jump on Friday.

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Blanchat: The perks of working in sports https://stanforddaily.com/2012/03/02/blanchat-2/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/03/02/blanchat-2/#respond Fri, 02 Mar 2012 09:45:00 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1060224 If you’re a sports fan, there’s a good chance you thought about all the changes you would make to a team if you were in charge. Every year, college kids line up in droves to try and work for every MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL team out there—and if you’re reading this column there’s a good chance you’re among that horde—so I thought I might be able to impart to you, dear reader, a little wisdom from my past experiences.

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If you’re a sports fan, there’s a good chance you thought about all the changes you would make to a team if you were in charge.

 

You definitely would not have signed Barry Zito to a seven-year, $126 million dollar deal. You would have drafted Aaron Rogers instead of Alex Smith with that first pick. The Chris Paul-to-the-Lakers trade was totally your idea. If you think like this, chances are you’ve probably spent some time perusing team websites to see who might be willing to hire you and train you to become the talented general manager you know you’ll be someday.

 

Every year, college kids line up in droves to try and work for every MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL team out there—and if you’re reading this column there’s a good chance you’re among that horde—so I thought I might be able to impart to you, dear reader, a little wisdom from my past experiences. For two years, I was one of the lucky few kids who had an internship with a pro sports team (an NFL team), and there are some things you should know before you consider applying for a job in pro sports.

 

For every pro sports team in every league, employment opportunities are limited at best. There are a couple jobs available with every team in the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL, but there’s a couple of catches. The first one is that you have to know someone in the organization to get a job there. It’s close to impossible to get a job if you don’t know somebody who already works for the team. Teams always tell you they had several thousand applications for just five positions (or something like that), so the only way to pick from among that group is to pick those who have connections.

 

The next thing that’s not so good about working for a pro sports team is the pay. Simply put, it’s not very good. Like, terrible. This is mostly because most teams don’t pay their interns—they offer internships in exchange for college credit, not monetary compensation. Personally, I’ve always felt that if a front office offers you college credit instead of money, they’re exploiting you—they’re getting free labor, and a lot of it. For example, the typical workweek during an NFL training camp is between 60 and 80 hours a week.

 

That said, I can’t blame them for not paying their employees well—it’s good economics on their part. When supply rapidly outstrips demand, they know they don’t have to offer much compensation in return. Because so many kids would cut off their left hand for a chance to work for the St. Louis Cardinals or the New York Jets, they can offer next to nothing and still get thousands of applications for those jobs.

 

Despite the crummy aspects of working in pro sports, the perks are outstanding—they make the long hours and low pay all worth it. You get more team gear than one person could ever wear, free food, and the ability to walk around everywhere in a pro stadium, even on game days. Sometimes, teams will even give their regular employees access to the players’ weight room. It’s hard not to feel like a boss when you roll around a stadium during a game rocking a walkie-talkie with an earpiece (like you’re in the secret service, so legit) while you’re decked out in official team clothes.

 

The best perk has to be the food, because you get to eat at the same cafeteria that the players do, and teams go all out to make sure their multimillion-dollar investments are well fed. Did I mention that you also get to rub elbows with those players every day? It’s pretty cool to walk by an All-Star player every time you walk down the hall.

 

So if you’ve gotten to the end of this column and aren’t sure whether or not you should apply to work in the world of sports, I’ll give you one final piece of advice—do it. It’s a lot of hours and grunt work for not much pay, but you won’t find a job anywhere else that is more fun and will make all your friends jealous. And who knows: If you’re really lucky, you might get Jonah Hill to play you in a movie someday.

 

Jack Blanchat is among the few lucky ones, having interned with the Houston Texans. Ask him how he did it at blanchat “at” stanford.edu or follow him on Twitter “at” jmblanchat.

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Football: Fleener’s draft stock rising fast https://stanforddaily.com/2012/03/01/football-fleeners-draft-stock-rising-fast/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/03/01/football-fleeners-draft-stock-rising-fast/#comments Thu, 01 Mar 2012 09:40:03 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1060049 With the NFL Combine over, the Stanford football team’s pro day in late March and the NFL Draft not until April, you’d think this would be a good time for head coach David Shaw to focus on the 2012 Cardinal, not the players moving on to the NFL

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Football: Fleener's draft stock rising fast
Redshirt senior Coby Fleener has seen his draft stock rise rapidly over the course of the season, as he was one of the Cardinal’s most prolific threats this year with 10 of his 34 catches going for touchdowns. (LUIS AGUILAR/The Stanford Daily)

With the NFL Combine over, the Stanford football team’s pro day in late March and the NFL Draft not until April, you’d think this would be a good time for head coach David Shaw to focus on the 2012 Cardinal, not the players moving on to the NFL. But instead, his phone–and the phones of everyone else on the coaching staff–have been ringing constantly.

 

Shaw, who spent nine years in the NFL before coming to Stanford, said he and the rest of the Cardinal coaches have been spending a lot of time talking to NFL general managers and coaches over the last few weeks.

 

“There’s a lot of communicating going on [between NFL personnel and] me, our offensive coordinator, our defensive coordinator and our run game coordinator,” Shaw said on Thursday. “All of us have a lot of NFL experience a lot of NFL ties, and they know that when they call us we’re going to tell them the truth. And it just so happens that we’ve got a lot of good players going in this draft that guys are excited about.”

 

When NFL coaches call, they’re often looking for information they can’t get from tapes, intangibles like a player’s locker room presence and their ability to learn new systems quickly.

 

“[NFL coaches] want to know what they don’t see on film,” Shaw said. “They want to talk about character, they want to talk about toughness, they want to talk about practice and they want to talk about how well does a guy learn.”

 

Shaw said coaches were “salivating” over quarterback Andrew Luck as well as linemen David DeCastro and Jonathan Martin, all of whom are expected to be selected in the first 20 picks of the draft. Shaw also noted that there’s been a recent flurry of interest in several other players, especially tight end Coby Fleener.

 

Fleener’s stock has been shooting up draft boards and mock drafts over the past several weeks, and Shaw said that he’d be “shocked” if Fleener wasn’t picked in the first round in April’s draft.

 

“I’d be surprised if he goes past 26 or 27,” Shaw said, pointing to picks that are currently held by the Houston Texans and New England Patriots. Shaw added that the recent dominance of big, speedy tight ends like Vernon Davis, Jimmy Graham and Rob Gronkowski has made Fleener an especially interesting prospect.

 

“With what happened in the playoffs, when you got the Niners’ tight end running by people, you got the Saints’ tight end running by people, you got the Patriots’ tight ends running by people, and then you turn on Coby’s film and that’s all he does: run by people,” Shaw said. “Just this playoff run I think has bumped Coby’s value up a lot in this draft.”

 

“It’s not like you have to project it,” Shaw continued. “You saw him in a pro-style offense, you saw him average 20 yards a catch, you saw him score a whole bunch of touchdowns and you saw him run past defensive backs, not just linebackers.”

 

In addition to Fleener’s rising draft stock, Shaw also said that safety Delano Howell had been another point of interest from NFL staffers recently.

 

“Here’s a guy that missed a lot of time but still got voted as an all-conference safety, because when he’s on the field he’s an impact player,” Shaw said.  “He’s a guy that you can envision playing special teams, a guy you can envision being your third safety early on, and eventually being a starting safety and a core special teamer.”

 

Finally, Shaw stumped for wide receiver Chris Owusu, who impressed at the NFL combine by running a 4.36 second 40-yard dash, the second-fastest time among all players. Although Owusu’s draft stock is somewhat unclear due to his issues with concussions throughout the course of his career–including three in less than a year–Shaw said he had no trepidations about Owusu’s ability to play at the next level.

 

“Not anymore, not after listening to the doctors, and not after listening to all the tests that Chris has passed,” Shaw said. “You start getting nervous when a guy doesn’t get hit very hard and gets a concussion, and Chris hasn’t had any glancing blows. These have all been legitimate, big-time hits where he’s gotten a concussion, and it’s always cleared up. The doctors have said that there are no lingering effects, there’s no diminished capacity and there’s nothing there that’s a result from the hits that he’s taken.”

 

“One of the biggest hits he took was against USC, and that wasn’t a concussion, it was a shoulder injury,” he continued. “It shows you that the guy can still take a big hit and not have it be an effect on his head.”

 

For now, Owusu, Fleener, Howell and others will have to wait until March 22 to impress the NFL scouts one more time, when the Cardinal hosts its pro day on the Farm. After that, the NFL draft begins Thursday, April 26th and concludes on Saturday, April 28.

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Football moves into spring practice with wide-open QB race, without recovering Skov https://stanforddaily.com/2012/02/27/football-moves-into-spring-practice-with-wide-open-qb-race-without-recovering-skov/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/02/27/football-moves-into-spring-practice-with-wide-open-qb-race-without-recovering-skov/#respond Mon, 27 Feb 2012 09:49:50 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1059529 For the first time in over three years, the Stanford football team will take the field without Andrew Luck on the roster — but when the Cardinal’s spring practice opens on Monday afternoon, the QB position won’t be the only thing on head coach David Shaw’s agenda.

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For the first time in over three years, the Stanford football team will take the field without Andrew Luck on the roster — but when the Cardinal’s spring practice opens on Monday afternoon, the QB position won’t be the only thing on head coach David Shaw’s agenda.

 

Football moves into spring practice with wide-open QB race, without recovering Skov
Junior linebacker Shayne Skov (center) is not participating in spring practice since he is still recovering from a knee injury incurred early last season. (SIMON WARBY/The Stanford Daily)

With 11 starters departing from the Cardinal’s back-to-back BCS bowl teams, Shaw said he’s just hoping to get a few hints this spring of what team will take the field come August.

 

“I think every spring has got to be about the same thing: you’ve got to find out what kind of a team that you’re becoming,” Shaw said on Thursday. “You don’t find out what kind of team you are in spring; you get clues as to where you’re leaning.”

 

The first and most important order of business will certainly be figuring out just who will replace the two-time Heisman runner-up. Shaw said that the Cardinal would have an open competition to choose Luck’s heir, and that Stanford’s next starting quarterback would come from a group of five players: juniors Josh Nunes and Robbie Picazo, sophomore Brett Nottingham and freshmen Evan Crower and Kevin Hogan.

 

When asked if he had a favorite to win the job, Shaw said that he did indeed have a leader in the clubhouse.

 

“Absolutely, and it changes every 15 minutes,” he quipped. “Every time we go on the field, somebody does something better than somebody else.”
While Nottingham was the primary backup to Luck last season, Shaw said his goal was to get all five quarterbacks equal practice reps during this first spring session, which extends until March 10.

 

“We’re going to try [to give equal reps] this first session; we want this to be competitive, we want to get every guy a shot, but it’s hard to do it like this forever,” Shaw said. “We’ll do a lot of split periods when there are two team periods going on at the same time. That’s a way to get more guys reps at the same time, so we’re able to get more guys competitive reps on both sides of the line.”

 

Shaw also mentioned that he had set out clear criteria to the five quarterbacks for ways to distinguish themselves.

 

“They don’t need to worry about if they’re going with the ones or the twos, they need to worry about their performance,” he said. “They need to worry about executing the offense, completing passes, reading the defense, making sure they’ve got the right run checks, managing the pocket — those are things that they’re responsible for.”

 

While plenty of eyes will be focused on the five-way duel under center, there will also be a couple of players conspicuously absent — including junior linebacker Shayne Skov, who will miss all of spring practice due to a knee injury in the fall.

 

“He was never going to participate in spring physically,” Shaw said, taking care to point out that Skov’s absence from spring practice was not be related to his DUI arrest on Jan. 29.

 

“He’s not an average football player and he never has been. So his rehab and his attention to detail in his rehab can’t be average. The conversation we had was that he’s getting ready to dominate, he’s not getting ready to play. That’s just the mentality — that he’s got to attack this rehab. We’re going to be smart, we need him to be healthy and ready to go to play at the level that we need him to play at.”

 

Freshman linebacker Patrick Skov, the younger brother of Shayne, will also miss the first part of spring with a foot injury. Freshman defensive end Kevin Anderson and sophomore guard Dillon Bonnel will also miss the Cardinal’s first spring session.

 

While making up for losses will be the major storyline on the Farm this spring, the Cardinal will also have to adapt to two coaching additions: new special teams coach Pete Alamar and an inside linebackers coach, whom Shaw said he would hire in the upcoming weeks. Alamar, who spent the last two years coaching Fresno State’s special teams, was officially introduced as the successor to Brian Polian on Friday.

 

But while the Cardinal is indeed a team in transition, Shaw also took care to mention that he and the rest of the coaching staff felt prepared to take on the task ahead of them.

 

“We’re more prepared [this year], partially because we were settling a lot of things schematically [last year],” Shaw said. “Now having both coordinators an entire season and having the same ones getting ready for spring, there’s less [tweaking]. The overall scheme of what we’re doing is set, so we’re just more cohesive going into this spring than we were last spring.”

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Football: Shaw discusses major coaching staff changes https://stanforddaily.com/2012/02/24/football-shaw-discusses-major-coaching-staff-changes/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/02/24/football-shaw-discusses-major-coaching-staff-changes/#respond Fri, 24 Feb 2012 09:49:10 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1059289 With the Stanford football team opening its first spring practice session on Monday afternoon, head coach David Shaw sat down with the media on Thursday to discuss some of the major changes for the Cardinal this offseason, most notably on the coaching staff.

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With the Stanford football team opening its first spring practice session on Monday afternoon, head coach David Shaw sat down with the media on Thursday to discuss some of the major changes for the Cardinal this offseason, most notably on the coaching staff.

 

First, Shaw addressed the defensive side of the ball, where co-defensive coordinator Derek Mason will assume the role of defensive coordinator.

 

“We’re going to hire a new defensive coach, but Derek Mason will be the defensive coordinator,” Shaw said. “There will not be another co-coordinator situation.”

 

Mason, who is in his third year on the Cardinal coaching staff after being hired away from the Minnesota Vikings in 2010, earned the promotion after co-defensive coordinator Jason Tarver left to take over as defensive coordinator for theOakland Raiders. Together, the two led a Cardinal defense that finished the season ranked either first or second in the Pac-12 in eight categories, including first in total defense and rushing defense.

Shaw specifically noted that the Cardinal is looking to hire a new inside linebackers coach to replace Tarver, and he expects to have that position filled by next week.

 

Shaw will also hire a new special teams coordinator to replace Brian Polian, who left to take over the special teams at Texas A&M this offseason.

 

The Cardinal is expected to hire former Fresno State special teams coordinator Pete Alamar to fill Polian’s shoes, but Shaw said the official announcement would not be made until Monday.

 

Alamar spent the last two seasons working as the special teams and tight ends coach at Fresno State. Prior to his time in Fresno, the 51-year old Alamar spent seven seasons as Cal’s special teams coordinator and tight ends coach before he was fired in 2009.

 

While Alamar did tutor players like All-American punt returner DeSean Jackson, who led the nation in punt return average in 2006, the end of his tenure at Cal was marked by a 2009 season where the Bears finished ninth in the Pac-10 in kickoffs and last in the conference in field goal percentage.

 

Second-year coach Ron Crook will continue to coach the Cardinal tight ends, and under his tutelage the trio of Coby Fleener, Levine Toilolo and Zach Ertz combined to catch 86 passes for 1,356 yards and 20 touchdowns in 2011.

 

Finally, Shaw also addressed running backs coach Mike Sanford, who was promoted to the role of recruiting coordinator on Monday.

 

“Mike’s always been one of those guys, even when he was an intern here when I first got here, that I knew he was going to have a bright future in this profession,” Shaw said. “He’s extremely personable, he’s great to talk to; he bonds with people very quickly…You look down that list of guys we signed this year, and a lot of those guys were his recruits. And those guys would run through a wall for him. It was only natural for me to elevate him to that position.”

 

Shaw did say that outside linebackers coach Lance Anderson, who was named Scout.com’s National Recruiter of the Year, would still play a major role in recruiting and act as the football team’s liaison to the admissions department.

 

The Cardinal will open up its first session of spring practice on Monday, February 27. The first spring session will end on March 10th in anticipation of finals and spring break. The Cardinal will resume workouts on April 2nd and wrap up the spring on April 14th in the annual Cardinal-White Spring Game at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco.

 

 

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Blanchat: Time has come for Dawkins to go https://stanforddaily.com/2012/02/23/blanchat-time-has-come-for-dawkins-to-go/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/02/23/blanchat-time-has-come-for-dawkins-to-go/#comments Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:30:06 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1059114 Five weeks ago today, I wrote a column profusely praising the Stanford men’s basketball team. But oh, how things have changed since then

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Five weeks ago today, I wrote a column profusely praising the Stanford men’s basketball team. But oh, how things have changed since then.

 

Five weeks ago, the Cardinal was 15-3, and it looked like it had a good shot at going to the NCAA Tournament. But in the days since my column dropped, the Cardinal has gone 3-6 and is now well out of the running to get a bid to the Big Dance.

 

Five weeks ago, Johnny Dawkins had saved himself from any questions about his job security, taken the Cardinal to first place in the Pac-12 and transformed me from a bitter, disillusioned fan into one who was foolish enough to say something like, “The Stanford basketball team is back.”

 

Boy, that was stupid.

 

As the exceptional Rob Schneider says in the American film classic “The Waterboy,” “Oh no, we suck again!” Maybe I jinxed the Cardinal’s chances by praising the team so effusively, but today I come to you not to praise the Cardinal basketball team, but to bury it.

 

Today, as we watch the basketball team’s season collapse in a fashion just as disastrous as a typical Clemson football season, I have to wonder if this abysmal end to the season is just enough to finally do in Dawkins’ career on the Stanford sideline.

 

Do you allow him to stay as a reward for the team’s hot (maybe fluky?) start, or do you punish him for letting the team fall apart down the stretch?

 

Right now, the Cardinal is a crappy seventh-place team in a crappy Pac-12 Conference, and if Dawkins isn’t able to miraculously will the Cardinal to a Pac-12 Tournament victory, can the Stanford athletic department justifiably let him return for another year?

 

Personally, I don’t think so—I think this disastrous finish has finally proved to me that Dawkins isn’t the guy to lead the Cardinal back to the NCAA Tournament, even after my initial optimism this year.

 

I understand that Dawkins didn’t have much talent to work with when he came to the Farm, and it’s true that the Cardinal’s talent level (but not its free-throw percentage) has improved in the last three years. But the fact still remains that his teams haven’t finished higher than seventh in the conference in any of his first three (and likely his first four) years.

 

Stanford hasn’t fired a coach of any major sport since Walt Harris was relieved of his duties as head football coach in 2006 after going 1-11, so I’m aware of just how serious of a statement I’m making—but it’s worth remembering that for almost two decades, Stanford was a basketball school.

 

The Cardinal made the NCAA tournament just about every year for 18 years under head coach Mike Montgomery—the same guy who is now leading archrival Cal to first place in the Pac-12. Even Trent Johnson, Montgomery’s successor, went to the Big Dance three times in his four years at the helm. Combine that with the fact that the Pac-12 today is a significantly weaker conference than it was back in the ‘90s and early 2000s, and it’s a bit painful to consider just how inept the Cardinal has been for the past several years.

 

Perhaps the team’s hot start this season just shot my expectations too high—after all, I would like to have seen Stanford make the NCAA tournament just once in my four years here—but I just don’t see a brighter future ahead for the Cardinal if it decides to stay with Dawkins.

 

The players that he’s brought in haven’t developed into consistent performers, the team has lost just about every single close game over the last four years, nobody can make free throws and the enthusiasm about the men’s basketball program appears to be at an all-time low. All things considered, I think it’s time to admit that Dawkins is a great assistant coach, but not a head coach.

 

I know that in the world of college basketball today, there’s a lot a pressure to win and win right away, and it’s hard to compete on a national level when Stanford doesn’t attract any of the one-and-done talents that flock to schools like Kentucky, Kansas and Syracuse. But when his career record is an appalling 28-41 in the awful Pac-12, there’s just no defending Dawkins any more.

 

 

Jack Blanchat is secretly hoping this column works as reverse psychology for the team. Point out to Jack that this could mean four more years of Dawkins at blanchat “at” stanford.edu or follow him on Twitter “at” jmblanchat.

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Baseball: Piscotty powers Card past Pacific https://stanforddaily.com/2012/02/22/baseball/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/02/22/baseball/#respond Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:02:57 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1058985 When the going gets tough, All-Americans show up. On Tuesday, the Stanford baseball team got a massive 11th-inning home run from junior third baseman Stephen Piscotty to nab a 9-7 win over the Pacific Tigers.

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Baseball: Piscotty powers Card past Pacific
Tyler Gaffney (above) had three hits on Tuesday, but fellow junior Stephen Piscotty was the hero of the night, clobbering a two-run homer to give the Card a 9-7 victory over Pacific. (SIMON WARBY/The Stanford Daily)

When the going gets tough, All-Americans show up. On Tuesday, the Stanford baseball team got a massive 11th-inning home run from junior third baseman Stephen Piscotty to nab a 9-7 win over the Pacific Tigers.

 

The No. 2 Cardinal (4-0) offense scored more than eight runs for the fourth consecutive game, but the Stanford pitching wasn’t sharp enough to notch its fourth straight blowout win of the year over the feisty Tigers (0-4).

 

The Cardinal got off to a poor start when senior starter Elliot Byers gave up four runs in the bottom of the second inning. The righthander gave up a walk, a wild pitch, a single, two doubles and a hit batter in a disastrous start and was quickly replaced by junior Dean McArdle.

 

McArdle then held the Tigers silent for 3 2/3 innings while the Cardinal rallied to take the lead.

 

After junior leftfielder Tyler Gaffney singled home catcher Eric Smith for the Cardinal’s first run of the day in the third inning, Stanford exploded for four runs in the top of the fifth to take the lead for the first time.

 

First, Gaffney tallied his second RBI of the day by singling home right fielder Austin Wilson, only to be followed by another RBI single from Piscotty. After a balk brought home Gaffney for the Cardinal’s fourth run of the day, Piscotty came home on a Brian Ragira groundout to make it 5-4.

 

Stanford extended its lead by adding two more runs in the next two innings, first getting a sacrifice fly from Wilson that brought home designated hitter Christian Griffiths in the sixth inning, then a Ragira single that brought home Gaffney to make it 7-4.

 

The Tigers didn’t fade away once the Cardinal got ahead, though, as they rallied with two runs of their own in the next two innings. Right fielder Allen Riley cut the Stanford lead to 7-5 with a solo home run to right field off junior reliever Sahil Bloom, and the Tigers added another run in the bottom of the eighth.

 

The Cardinal went into the ninth inning nursing just a one-run lead; a particularly unexpected event after Stanford blew away Vanderbilt in all three games last weekend.

 

Freshman reliever David Schmidt was tasked with bringing home the win for the Cardinal, but he couldn’t slam the door shut on the Tigers and cap off a Cardinal win in regulation. Schmidt allowed a leadoff single to Riley, who advanced to second on a wild pitch, then charged home when sophomore designated hitter John Haberman singled to center field. After two strikeouts and a failed stolen base attempt ended the inning, the Cardinal and Tigers headed to extra innings tied 7-7.

 

After a scoreless tenth inning, Piscotty played the role of hero in the 11th, clobbering his third home run of the season over the left field fence to make it 9-7. Sophomore righty Sam Lindquist came in and closed out the Cardinal win with two strikeouts in the final frame to earn his first save of the season. With his bomb, Piscotty tied his home run total from all of last season, as the junior already has three in the first four games of the campaign. Altogether, Piscotty ended up 2-for-6 with three RBI, and Gaffney went 3-for-4 with two RBI after his 25-game hit streak was snapped on Sunday against Vanderbilt. Despite giving up the tying run in the ninth, Schmidt earned his first college win to go to 1-0 on the season.

 

The Cardinal now returns to the Farm for the weekend, where it will take on No. 12 Texas in a three-game series. The Cardinal and Longhorns will take the field at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Sunken Diamond.

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Blanchat: Is Billy Beane a genius or a madman? https://stanforddaily.com/2012/02/16/blanchat-is-billy-beane-a-genius-or-a-madman/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/02/16/blanchat-is-billy-beane-a-genius-or-a-madman/#respond Thu, 16 Feb 2012 09:35:50 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1058459 Every single day, the Oakland Athletics’ general manager continues to defy all logic

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Billy Beane is a genius. Or he’s a madman. I’m just not sure which one.

 

Every single day, the Oakland Athletics’ general manager continues to defy all logic. In their most recent mind-boggling move, the A’s signed Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes to a four-year, $36 million deal on Monday, making the collective baseball world scratch its head. The A’s not only have a small payroll, but they haven’t been very competitive in the AL West since their last playoff berth in 2006—so why on earth would the perpetually rebuilding A’s sign an unknown power hitter most famous for a preposterous YouTube highlight video to a deal this big?

 

The natural reaction is to think that Beane, the architect of the fantastic “Moneyball” A’s teams of the early 2000s, has totally lost his mind.

 

First, he traded away almost all of the team’s good young pitchers, shipping Gio Gonzalez to the Nationals, Trevor Cahill to the Diamondbacks and Andrew Bailey to the Red Sox. Next, he signed the rapidly-falling-apart-and-laughably-out-of-shape Bartolo Colon to join his rotation. After that, he spent big for Cespedes. Finally, he plans on signing Manny Ramirez in the near future to join Cespedes as the team’s other power hitter. Yes, Manny Ramirez, the same guy who had just one hit in 17 at-bats for the Tampa Bay Rays before he retired because he failed his second drug test for performance-enhancing drugs.

 

How on earth do the A’s expect to compete with in the AL West like this? The Angels sign Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson, the Rangers break the bank for Japanese sensation Yu Darvish, and this is how Beane responds? By signing a washed-up, nutty steroid user and a guy who is known for a video that features him taking batting practice in slow motion set to Juelz Santana’s “The Whistle Song”? Billy, have you lost your damn mind?

 

But in the midst of all these mind-boggling moves, a thought suddenly occurred to me: Is Billy Beane trying to tank his team on purpose?

 

I know Beane is smart—he somehow got the A’s to extend his contract through 2019 despite the team not making the playoffs for five years—and I think he has finally found the way to revive Oakland’s franchise.

 

Anybody who knows baseball knows the knock on Oakland: they have a payroll smaller than most WNBA teams, so they have to make every dollar count by counting on young prospects. They can’t sign big free agents. But finally, Beane has found a way out of Oakland’s status quo. If he tanks the franchise, the MLB will be forced to let the A’s build the new ballpark in San Jose they desperately want, and Beane and company will get a big influx of new money with which to bring the A’s back to greatness.

 

Take a look at the franchise formerly known as the Montreal Expos, currently the Washington Nationals. They had to become the laughingstock of Major League Baseball before they could finally get into a spot where they were able to compete, and Beane is following their lead.

 

First, the Expos became one of the worst teams in baseball, and nobody showed up to their games. It got so bad that the team had to be sold to Major League Baseball, and even had to play games in San Juan, Puerto Rico in order to get anyone to show up to their games.

 

But once things got that desperate, the MLB finally did what it could to save the franchise.

 

First, they moved the franchise to Washington, D.C. and changed the team name to the Nationals. Next, the Nationals got a big, brand-new ballpark with a view of the United States Capitol building. They only had to suck for a few more years before they could get two dynamite first overall picks in a row—Stephen Strasburg in 2009 and Bryce Harper in 2010—and now they have enough money and talent to put up a fight in the NL East. They just had to get worse before they could get better. And they are definitely getting better in a hurry.

 

Why does the tank-on-purpose theory make sense to me? After all, that’s the “Moneyball” philosophy: You zig when others zag and you value things others don’t. If Beane pulls this great gambit off, he’ll have taken what he’s been given and done the absolute best thing for the A’s: get them out of the Coliseum, into a new park, infused with new money and ready to be contenders again.

 

And if you think I’m the crazy one, consider this: Beane got Brad Pitt to play him in a movie. Do you really need any other evidence that Billy Beane is a genius?

 

 

Jack Blanchat is only calling Billy Beane a genius to try to get on the newest Sh*t A’s Fans Say video. Point out that it’s more likely to be in Sh*t A’s Fans Don’t Say at blanchat@stanford.edu or follow him on Twitter @jmblanchat.

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Baseball: Talking shop with Stewart and Kauppila https://stanforddaily.com/2012/02/15/baseball-talking-shop-with-stewart-and-kauppila/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/02/15/baseball-talking-shop-with-stewart-and-kauppila/#respond Wed, 15 Feb 2012 09:40:36 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1058321 With the No. 2 Stanford baseball team kicking off its season this Friday, The Stanford Daily sat down with sophomore shortstop Lonnie Kauppila and junior centerfielder Jake Stewart to talk shop before No. 10 Vanderbilt comes to Sunken Diamond.

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Baseball: Talking shop with Stewart and Kauppila
Sophomore Lonnie Kauppila, who played second base last year, will be making the transition back to shortstop, where he has played for his entire life. Kauppila and the No. 2 baseball team will kick off their season at home against Vanderbilt. (Stanford Daily File Photo)

 

The Stanford Daily (TSD): First of all, what was the team’s reaction to being ranked the country’s preseason No. 2 team by Baseball America?

 

Lonnie Kauppila (LK): We were stoked; we didn’t really expect to be that high. We expected to be pretty high, but being up at No. 2 is kind of a statement. Honestly, being No. 2 and seeing that makes each and every one of us work just as hard, if not harder, just to maintain that spot.

 

Jake Stewart (JS): When that ranking first came out, we were surprised. We expected to be up there just because of our situation last year, where we made it to regionals and we had a lot of guys coming back, but I didn’t think that we expected to be as high as No. 2. I don’t think that’s really changed our work ethic coming to the field every day, though. Our goal is to outwork every team in the country, our coaches say it every day, and even if we had been ranked sixth, seventh, 10th, 12th or 15th, that still would have been our goal.

 

TSD: With so many returning starters from a quality team last season, what’s the mood been like so far for the team this year?

 

LK: Personally, I feel that this is the closest team I’ve ever been on. We’re all on the same page; we all work hard, not only for the team but also for ourselves individually, because we want to be the best that we can be. When we do that as a team, we can ultimately come together and try and achieve that one goal of going to Omaha and ultimately winning either a Pac-12 championship or a national championship.

 

JS: Personally, this is the coolest team I’ve ever been on because of the fact that everybody’s so close and works so hard together… It’s cool for me because it’s not just the fact that everybody’s such great teammates, it goes beyond that. Everybody on the team is the biggest fans of everybody else on the team. We love watching each other play as much as we love playing beside each other. I’ve never been on a team that’s like that.

 

TSD: After losing a couple critical parts of the bullpen last season, like Los Angeles Dodgers’ first-round pick Chris Reed, how do you expect the pitching staff to do this season?

 

LK: To be honest, I think that our pitching staff is just as good as it was last year. I mean we did lose Chris, which was a big hit to our team, and [White Sox draft pick Scott] Snodgress too, but I think the key this year is just throwing strikes and letting the other teams beat us. I feel that with our quick outfield and with our almost stellar infield, we can beat anyone as long as our pitchers just get it over the plate and as long as we hit, because we do have probably one of the best lineups in the country.

 

TSD: With seven of the team’s best hitters returning, what are some of the team’s offensive goals for this season?

 

LK: We’ve talked about it, and we think we should honestly be putting up six to seven runs a game. One through eight, one through nine, we don’t know who some of the hitters are going to be, but one through seven or eight is just going to be brutal for the other pitchers. I kind of feel bad for them, knowing that after you face Stewart, Gaffney and Piscotty you still have to deal with Ragira, Wilson and Kenny, so there’s no one that you can really look to to get an out.

 

JS: We feel as if Piscotty and Ragira are the two best pure hitters in the country, so having those two guys back-to-back…we feel like every single time they come up, they can get a hit. If we get on base, we know one of those two is going to drive us in. It’s hard to get past those two and get them both out. It’s pretty much impossible. They’re about as good as it gets in college baseball.

 

TSD: Even with all the returning starters, there are still some open spots left in the starting lineup–who do you expect to have a breakout season this year?

 

LK: I think [redshirt junior] Christian Griffiths is going to make a comeback; he hurt himself last year, redshirted last year, so I think he could make a big impact on our team, especially being a switch hitter. As for freshmen, we expect some of the pitchers to really step up because they have a good opportunity to make it in the rotation and give the team the depth that we need. We expect [freshmen pitchers] David Schmidt, Spenser Linney and John Hochstatter to do some things that are kind of unexpected of them in their first year.

 

TSD: Lonnie, you’ve switched from second base last season to shortstop this year. How has that transition been for you, and do you expect to stay at short this entire season?

 

LK: I’ve played shortstop all my life, so actually last year transferring to second base was kind of a big transition for me. I kind of didn’t know what to expect. Now that I’ve been more on the left side of the infield this year, it’s been awesome. I can’t explain how comfortable and how at home I feel at shortstop. I’m hoping I can get the playing time I want, but overall, as long as we’re winning I don’t have a problem with playing either shortstop or second base.

 

TSD: Finally, how nice is it to start with four of the first five series of the season at home, especially after going on the road for the first three series of the year last season?

 

LK: It’s nice being at home; last year was kind of hectic, especially being a freshman. Traveling three weekends in a row is a little rattling, especially dealing with crowds and umpires and all that, so it’s kind of comforting to have them come to our place this year and to be in our home environment. I think it’s going to do a lot more good than bad.

 

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M. Basketball: Regular season title hopes likely dashed against UCLA https://stanforddaily.com/2012/02/10/m-basketball-regular-season-title-hopes-likely-dashed-against-ucla/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/02/10/m-basketball-regular-season-title-hopes-likely-dashed-against-ucla/#comments Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:03:18 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1057788 Freshman guard Chasson Randle was the brightest star on a dark night for the Cardinal, tallying 16 points. As a whole, Stanford committed 22 costly turnovers that led to 28 points for UCLA.

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M. Basketball: Regular season title hopes likely dashed against UCLA
Freshman guard Chasson Randle scored 16 points on the night, but Stanford committed 22 turnovers as a whole and fell short against UCLA 72-61 (MIKE KHEIR/The Stanford Daily).

On a Thursday night in Los Angeles, it only seemed fitting that the Stanford men’s basketball team decided to wear its black uniforms against UCLA, as the Cardinal likely saw its chances at a Pac-12 title vanish thanks to a 72-61 defeat at the hands of the Bruins.

 

The Bruins (14-10, 7-5 Pac-12) got out to a massive lead early and then held on for dear life, blowing open a 25-9 lead in the first 11 minutes of the game and then fending off every Cardinal parry for the rest of the game.

 

While the Cardinal (16-8, 6-6) did respond with a good rally to put itself back into the game by cutting the deficit to 56-53 with just 4:45 left in the game, it was never able to grab a lead and fully swing the momentum back its way.

 

Senior guard Lazeric Jones led the way for UCLA with 21 points, while Travis Wear added 13 and Jerime Anderson contributed 12. Altogether, the Bruins improved to 11-3 at home and notched their fourth victory in their last five games.

 

Freshman guard Chasson Randle was the brightest star on a dark night for the Cardinal, tallying 16 points. As a whole, Stanford committed 22 costly turnovers that led to 28 points for UCLA.

 

The Bruins turned in the eleven-point margin of victory due to some late fouling by the Cardinal, and with the loss, Stanford has now lost two games in a row and five of its last six after it was tied for first back in mid-January.

 

From here on out, the Cardinal’s chances at a regular season Pac-12 title are likely dashed, and its only chance at making the NCAA tournament can come through a victory in the season-ending Pac-12 tournament in Los Angeles.

 

The Cardinal will get a chance to earn a split on this weekend’s road trip, however, as it travels to USC to take on the Trojans later this weekend with a chance to snap a ghastly streak—Stanford has now lost its last 13 games in the city of Los Angeles, a streak that stretches back to the 2004-2005 season.

 

Stanford and USC tip off in Los Angeles at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday.

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M. Tennis: Cardinal looks to continue dominance over BYU https://stanforddaily.com/2012/02/10/m-tennis-cardinal-looks-to-continue-dominance-over-byu/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/02/10/m-tennis-cardinal-looks-to-continue-dominance-over-byu/#respond Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:47:46 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1057751 Stanford does have a 19-2 all-time record against BYU, but if the Cardinal wants to overcome the Cougars (3-4) this weekend, it will have to overcome three ranked players at the top of the lineup who are all off to hot starts in the spring season.

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After grabbing a big rebound win against Hawaii on Tuesday, the Stanford men’s tennis team looks to continue its win streak this Friday against BYU.

 

The No. 9 Cardinal (5-1) dropped its two biggest matches of the season last weekend to USC and UCLA and heads to the ITA Indoor National Championships in Charlottesville, Va., next week, so regaining the momentum lost to the L.A. schools will be the major goal of this weekend.

 

Stanford does have a 19-2 all-time record against BYU, but if the Cardinal wants to overcome the Cougars (3-4) this weekend, it will have to overcome three ranked players at the top of the lineup who are all off to hot starts in the spring season.

 

Senior Georgy Batrakov, who plays at the number one spot, is the nation’s 43rd-ranked player thanks to his 12-6 record this season. Batrakov’s doubles partner, sophomore Patrick Kawka, is the 106th-best player in the country, and the two have combined to notch an 11-6 doubles record this year.

 

Rounding out the three ranked BYU players is freshman Keaton Cullimore, who has risen to No. 67 in the country thanks to a 14-7 start to his year.

 

Aside from the three ranked players, senior Spencer Smith, the Cougars’ number-two player, holds the best singles record on the team with an 18-6 record this season.

 

Getting a big win over a ranked player will certainly be important for Stanford’s No. 1 player, Ryan Thacher, who fell to two ranked players in tough third sets last weekend and sat out Tuesday’s singles matches against Hawaii to rest up for the long road ahead.

 

An added subplot to the weekend’s matches is the health issues of ace player Bradley Klahn, whose back injury has kept him off the courts so far this season. Klahn, the 2010 NCAA singles champion, said his health has been steadily improving, but isn’t completely sure when he’ll return to the courts.

 

“Obviously, it’s a hard injury to diagnose when I can play exactly,” Klahn said. “The biggest thing is just trying to minimize my pain level on the court and then also speed up my recovery time once I’m done, so that I’m able to not feel any effects after practice or a match—to the point where I can train and practice at my full capabilities and then be able to do it the next day.

 

“I feel like I’m improving in that respect, and I’m hoping it’s one of those things where doubles may come first. I can build myself back that way, start by playing doubles and then singles,” he continued.

 

The return of Klahn would be a big boost to an already solid Cardinal squad that could use its best player to help it down the stretch, but Klahn said he wants to make sure he’s at full strength before he gets back in the lineup.

 

“Obviously the goal is to be ready as soon as possible—I’d like to be ready for Indoors if possible,” he said. “But its one of those things where you never know where setbacks may occur.”

 

Stanford and BYU hit the courts today at 1:30 p.m at the Taube Family Tennis Center.

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Blanchat: Jacobs needs to practice what he preached https://stanforddaily.com/2012/02/09/blanchat-jacobs-needs-to-practice-what-he-preached/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/02/09/blanchat-jacobs-needs-to-practice-what-he-preached/#comments Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:30:49 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1057505 But despite the fact that nothing that interesting is going on in the sports world, that doesn’t mean there’s any shortage of athletes saying stupid things, most notably Giants running back Brandon Jacobs

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So here we are in mid-February, the most awful time of the sports year. Football season is over, the eternity that is the NBA season is only half-over and we’re still a few weeks away from March Madness.

 

But despite the fact that nothing that interesting is going on in the sports world, that doesn’t mean there’s any shortage of athletes saying stupid things, most notably Giants running back Brandon Jacobs.

 

After Tom Brady’s receivers (read: Wes Welker) couldn’t quite hang on to his perfect passes on Sunday, Brady’s wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, was caught on video saying, “My husband cannot f-ing throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time. I can’t believe they dropped the ball so many times.” To anyone who watched the game, this was a reasonable (albeit passionate) critique of the Patriots’ receivers’ performance.

 

Enter Brandon Jacobs. During the Giants championship parade on Tuesday, Jacobs offered his critique of Bundchen’s comments, saying, “She just needs to continue to stay cute and shut up.”

 

You go, Brandon. You’re the man. Everybody knows that when you rush for a whopping 37 yards in the Super Bowl, you get to say whatever petty, sexist things you want to the national media.

 

After all, Jacobs is the NFL’s arbiter of telling people to shut up. After the Giants beat the Jets in week 16 this season, Jacobs told the media that he told Jets’ head coach Rex Ryan, “Wait till we win the Super Bowl … And I told him I’ll punch him in the face.”

 

“[Ryan] needs to shut up,” Jacobs added later. “He’s a great coach, I take nothing away from him. He comes from a great coaching family. But he needs to shut up.”

 

Now, Jacobs has at least stood up and apologized for his comments, but after running his mouth all season long, you’d think that he would know better than to say something so patently stupid to the New York media. He of all people should know just how viral and gossipy things are in the City That Never Sleeps, considering how he set off the Giants-Jets firestorm that dominated ESPN’s airwaves in December.

 

Personally, I don’t see where Jacobs got the chip on his shoulder that allows him to talk so big. Perhaps he knows that he’s one of the softest running backs in the NFL and needs to justify his awful play on the field with his even worse trash talk. His 571 rushing yards this season were good enough for the 40th-most yards in NFL, well behind guys like Darren McFadden, who played in seven games this year. Jacobs even finished with fewer rushing yards this year than Timothy Richard Tebow (and Jacobs somehow managed to finish with an even worse completion percentage than Tebow as well).

 

Altogether, Jacobs’ dumb comments should be a reminder to all athletes that you can’t just talk trash about whatever you want. Just like a politician or a businessman, if you talk to the media and you say something that would make a “Mad Men” character blush, you will get excoriated for it, and you deserve to be raked over the coals. Just because you “backed up your trash talk” and ended up with your second Super Bowl ring in five years doesn’t mean you get to say whatever you want—in fact, you should be far more circumspect about what you say to reporters, considering that they are now putting a mic in your face and expecting that you will say something dumb.

 

So Brandon, I have just one more thing to say. You’ve been running your mouth a lot this year, so let me run mine: Stop acting like a 14-year-old and start using that mouth to kiss the shoes of everybody who actually contributed to the Giants’ Super Bowl run this year. You might want to start with Eli Manning, Justin Tuck, Mario Manningham and Jason Pierre-Paul. Then give your appreciation to Wes Welker, Kyle Williams, Tony Romo and Jason Garrett’s clock management skills.

 

And after you’re done doing that, you’d be best served to take your own advice: Shut up.

 

 

Jack Blanchat knows you won’t excoriate him for his opinions. Ask Jack what “excoriate” means at blanchat “at” stanford.edu or follow him on Twitter @jmblanchat.

 

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M. Tennis: Rocking the Rainbow Warriors https://stanforddaily.com/2012/02/08/m-tennis-rocking-the-rainbow-warriors/ https://stanforddaily.com/2012/02/08/m-tennis-rocking-the-rainbow-warriors/#respond Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:40:36 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1057427 After a long weekend that saw the Stanford men’s tennis team drop a pair of matches, the Cardinal proved it was not suffering from a hangover on Tuesday, dusting off Hawaii by a score of 6-1.

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M. Tennis: Rocking the Rainbow Warriors
After suffering defeats to USC and UCLA this past weekend, the No. 9 Stanford men's tennis team came back to decisively defeat Hawaii on Tuesday. (NICK SALAZAR/The Stanford Daily)

After a long weekend that saw the Stanford men’s tennis team drop a pair of matches, the Cardinal proved it was not suffering from a hangover on Tuesday, dusting off Hawaii by a score of 6-1.

 

Needing a big win after falling to USC and UCLA on Friday and Saturday, the No. 9 Cardinal (5-2) started off the day the right way by blowing through the Rainbow Warriors in doubles. Behind an 8-5 win from the duo of freshman John Morrissey and senior Ryan Thacher, coupled with a pair of 8-4 wins from juniors Matt Kandath and Denis Lin and sophomore Jamin Ball and freshman Robert Stineman, the Cardinal swept its way to an early 1-0 lead.

 

The Cardinal didn’t encounter much trouble after that either, even with ace player Thacher sitting out the singles matches. Stanford’s tennis quality was highlighted by especially strong performances from Morrissey and Stineman in singles. Stineman was the first off the courts with a dominant 6-1, 6-0 win over Carter Lam, with Morrissey following shortly after by cruising to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Nils Schuhmann.

 

Ball, playing at the No. 5 spot, wrapped up the Cardinal win as early as possible when he blew past Jared Spiker, 6-2, 6-0.

 

Lin, who was the only Cardinal player not to end up in the win column, was the next to finish, and then Kandath, who toughed out a 7-5, 6-4 win over Dmytro Kovalyov, the Rainbow Warriors’ No. 1 player. Junior Walker Keher rounded out the day for the Cardinal with a third-set tiebreak win over Danilo Casanova.

 

Stanford now has two days to rest up for another big contest, as it welcomes No. 52 BYU to the Farm on Friday for its only match of the weekend. The Cougars (3-4) are coming off consecutive blowout victories against Idaho State and Montana State, but only after they lost their last four matches. So far, the Cougars have fallen to every ranked opponent they have played this season, including No. 9 UCLA, No. 36 Vanderbilt and No. 52 Cal Poly.

 

After the Cougars come to town this weekend, the Cardinal has only one more home match before it heads to Charlottesville, Va., for the National Team Indoor Championships the next Friday.

 

The Cardinal and the Cougars will face off Friday at 1:30 p.m. at the Taube Family Tennis Center.

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