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Originally Posted by slimecap

They are mean.

Originally Posted by booray17

A few points:

Golem and others incessantly post about the overreach of the federal government in general and under the current President in particular. Their views are clearly that the government has overstepped its appropriate role in a wide variety of things and that, if not checked and soon, the government's intrusion into the market and the lives of citizens will ruin our way of life. Then Golem posts a series of questions about Government tyranny and gun rights. We are supposed to understand, however, that the post on tyranny/gun rights has nothing to do with the current political situations. He is not even in the least implying that gun rights are needed to fight current policies or those that may be forthcoming in the near future. In the immortal words of teens everywhere, "Whatever." Your incessant drum beating about the supposed transformation of America being worked by Obama has some consequence--people read your other posts in context of the bile you spill elsewhere.

As to the Constitutional issues, I find it amusing the things people overlook about the drafting of the Constitution to get the result they desire.

1) James Monroe did not write the Constitution. The document is a series of compromises that resulted from a long and trying summer in which Monroe's wishes were often ignored. So, if you asked "the Founding Fathers" what their intent was on many issues in the document you would get a wide variety of answers. If you asked the state electors who ratified the Constitution what it meant you would get an even wider variety of answers.

2) Monroe was a moving force, probably the most important moving force, behind the Constitutional Convention. His motivation? He understood that the Articles of Confederation were not working. The system under which states viewed themselves as the most important sovereigns was falling apart. Any suggestion that Monroe's motivation with regard to the broad outline of government was to preserve, or God forbid, strengthen the states, is pure fantasy. Monroe was in Philadelphia with the intent to strengthen the national government.

3) The Constitutional Convention had legitimacy for one reason. George Washington was there. He did not say much publicly about it and he lacked the intellectual firepower of some of his compatriots. But the delegates' work would likely have been for naught if the Convention lacked his stamp of approval, particularly given that the delegates well exceeded their congressional charge to propose amendments to the Articles of Confederation. That fact is important because Washington's intent was also to create a much stronger national government. As someone who had struggled to create a national army and deal with other countries on behalf of a loose confederation of states he clearly understood the need for a strong, centralized government.

4) There was plenty of debate in the immediate aftermath of the document's passage about how binding its words were. Jefferson in particular, had the view that each generation retains the right to form a government that is most adaptable to its purposes. Maybe he would have felt differently had he been in Philadelphia, but the point is that not all of our Founding Fathers believed that the words in the Constitution had immutable meaning.

Again, I would commend to anyone interested Plain, Honest Men, The Making of the American Constitutionby Richard Beeman, for an account of how the words actually got put to paper and ratified (note, the narrative does not recount the drafting of the Bill of rights, so it is of limited help regarding Gun Rights; I am focused more here on the federalism issues raised.)

And if one is still convinced that the document exists to protect the rights of states, we fought a war that killed 600,000 Americans to settle the point. The side that said the Union is more important than the states won. Following which this country became the greatest place to live in the history of the world. The most prominent example of ignoring that result comes form the individual states tyrannizing (real tyranny like lynchings and imprisonment, as opposed to seeing your tax rate go up a couple of points) people of color; something that we needed a strong national government to stop.

Why anyone would ever want to re-visit the issue to make sure that the Rick Perry's of the world get to make the most important decisions about how we live is beyond me.

All to say those who fear Washington beyond all else misread history in several important respects, imho.

And to wrap it up with a bow--if you don't need to fear Washington, you don't need the right to keep an RPG launcher in your gun safe.

Originally Posted by booray17

A few points:

Golem and others incessantly post about the overreach of the federal government in general and under the current President in particular. Their views are clearly that the government has overstepped its appropriate role in a wide variety of things and that, if not checked and soon, the government's intrusion into the market and the lives of citizens will ruin our way of life. Then Golem posts a series of questions about Government tyranny and gun rights. We are supposed to understand, however, that the post on tyranny/gun rights has nothing to do with the current political situations. He is not even in the least implying that gun rights are needed to fight current policies or those that may be forthcoming in the near future. In the immortal words of teens everywhere, "Whatever." Your incessant drum beating about the supposed transformation of America being worked by Obama has some consequence--people read your other posts in context of the bile you spill elsewhere.

As to the Constitutional issues, I find it amusing the things people overlook about the drafting of the Constitution to get the result they desire.

1) James Monroe did not write the Constitution. The document is a series of compromises that resulted from a long and trying summer in which Monroe's wishes were often ignored. So, if you asked "the Founding Fathers" what their intent was on many issues in the document you would get a wide variety of answers. If you asked the state electors who ratified the Constitution what it meant you would get an even wider variety of answers.

2) Monroe was a moving force, probably the most important moving force, behind the Constitutional Convention. His motivation? He understood that the Articles of Confederation were not working. The system under which states viewed themselves as the most important sovereigns was falling apart. Any suggestion that Monroe's motivation with regard to the broad outline of government was to preserve, or God forbid, strengthen the states, is pure fantasy. Monroe was in Philadelphia with the intent to strengthen the national government.

3) The Constitutional Convention had legitimacy for one reason. George Washington was there. He did not say much publicly about it and he lacked the intellectual firepower of some of his compatriots. But the delegates' work would likely have been for naught if the Convention lacked his stamp of approval, particularly given that the delegates well exceeded their congressional charge to propose amendments to the Articles of Confederation. That fact is important because Washington's intent was also to create a much stronger national government. As someone who had struggled to create a national army and deal with other countries on behalf of a loose confederation of states he clearly understood the need for a strong, centralized government.

4) There was plenty of debate in the immediate aftermath of the document's passage about how binding its words were. Jefferson in particular, had the view that each generation retains the right to form a government that is most adaptable to its purposes. Maybe he would have felt differently had he been in Philadelphia, but the point is that not all of our Founding Fathers believed that the words in the Constitution had immutable meaning.

Again, I would commend to anyone interested Plain, Honest Men, The Making of the American Constitutionby Richard Beeman, for an account of how the words actually got put to paper and ratified (note, the narrative does not recount the drafting of the Bill of rights, so it is of limited help regarding Gun Rights; I am focused more here on the federalism issues raised.)

And if one is still convinced that the document exists to protect the rights of states, we fought a war that killed 600,000 Americans to settle the point. The side that said the Union is more important than the states won. Following which this country became the greatest place to live in the history of the world. The most prominent example of ignoring that result comes form the individual states tyrannizing (real tyranny like lynchings and imprisonment, as opposed to seeing your tax rate go up a couple of points) people of color; something that we needed a strong national government to stop.

Why anyone would ever want to re-visit the issue to make sure that the Rick Perry's of the world get to make the most important decisions about how we live is beyond me.

All to say those who fear Washington beyond all else misread history in several important respects, imho.

And to wrap it up with a bow--if you don't need to fear Washington, you don't need the right to keep an RPG launcher in your gun safe.

Originally Posted by Michibear

by a score of 33-0 in 1899?

Well gee, didn't they win the National Championship in 1899?? I think it's posted at Kyle Field, so it must be true..........

Originally Posted by ftblbob5

Game Analysis: Holiday Bowl – Baylor vs. UCLA



The Baylor Bears took the field at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, CA and their third consecutive bowl appearance as three point underdogs to the 17th ranked UCLA Bruins. What ensued was a good country butt kicking. The Baylor Bears defeated the favored Bruins 49-19 - oh, sorry…make that 49-26. The victory was only the second time in program history that Baylor has won consecutive bowl appearances. The Bears were dominant on both offense and defense. That Good ‘Ole Baylor Line pushed the Californians around the field, making life difficult for the Bruin backs on offense and the defensive backs on the UCLA defense.



For all Baylor fans, the Holiday Bowl has to give a slight peak into what might be possible when the defensive side of the ball begins to approach the remarkable performance of the offense. The first half was a perfect blend of an offense that could not be stopped and a defense that was capable of getting off the field quickly. Had it not been for an unfortunate turnover, the Bears might have been able to extend even the remarkable 35-10 lead it built.



Defense

To be sure, UCLA might be able to point out that they were shorthanded several offensive linemen. But, the attack mentality of the defense we have seen for the last six games certainly made the line of scrimmage a location completely owned by the Baylor Bears. The Bears’ defense got off to a great start with three 3-n-outs in the first 4 possessions, only allowing one first down on the other possession. This is outstanding defense in anybody’s book.



SIX SACKS!!! This incredible number was made possible by improved technique in pass rushing and an aggressive approach that has continued to take advantage of the physical skills the linebackers DO possess while not asking these same guys to do too much coverage, which is difficult for them. Because of this change in approach, it became possible for the secondary to be much more aggressive and jump most of the initial cuts of receivers. More passes were contested closely by the DBs and this added pressure on the passing game was way too much for the Bruins in the first half.



Defensive Line

In many ways, the Holiday Bowl performance of the defensive line has to be considered the best the front four has looked this season. The domination of UCLA by the Bear defensive line, especially in the run game, was very impressive. When you couple that with the fact that the front four was able to generate pressure on the quarterback with or without linebacker help, this makes it a complete package for defensive line play. Prior to the game, much was made of the fact that the UCLA offensive line was MUCH larger than the Baylor defensive line. When you watch the game video, you see that the Baylor defensive line consistently stuffed the larger Bruins at the line of scrimmage. This defensive line group has really improved at controlling the line of scrimmage against the power running game.



Because UCLA didn’t (or doesn’t) run waggles or the read off of zones, the Baylor defensive ends were free to run down the ball carriers from behind. The Bears got great pursuit from all of the DEs, denying cutback lanes to the ball carriers.



The starting defensive line for the game was Terrance Lloyd (11) at strong side end, Chris McAllister (31) at weak side end, Gary Mason, Jr. (10) at defensive tackle, and Nick Johnson (76) at nose tackle. These guys set a quality tempo that had the favored Bruins scrambling to find something that could produce yardage for most of the first half.



Terrance Lloyd gave the Baylor defense a great start when he ran right by the Bruins for an 11-yard sack on the first defensive series of the evening for the Bears. Terrance was very good at releasing off of blocks in the run game. He owned the Bruin offensive tackles when he was at the point of attack in the running game. Every time that the Bruins tried to run outside of Lloyd, the tall Baylor defensive end either stuffed the play and forced the ball inside or he tackle Franklin for no gain or a loss. On the evening, Terrance was credited with 3 tackles (4 total tackles) for a loss of a total of 15 yards and a sack.



Chris McAllister was named the defensive player of the game at the Holiday Bowl. There were several Bears that had quality games against UCLA, but the choice of Chris was completely justified. Chris came up very big against the outside run. Even when UCLA tried to put a TE to the short side to gain leverage, Chris was able to defeat that block and string out the play so that the support could get to the ball carrier. Chris got Baylor’s fifth sack of the first half when he drove the huge right tackle for UCLA right back into Hundley and reached around the blocker to bring down the red-shirt freshman quarterback. Even though Chris didn’t get any more sacks in the second half, he continued to bring significantpressure, got hits on the quarterback just after the ball was gone, and caused the UCLA quarterback to hurry several attempts. Demonstrating his diversity (and going back to his linebacker days), Chris dropped on 3rd and long and did a great job of getting under a quick curl route to the outside receiver. Chris was able to get a big hand on the ball, knocking it to the ground. That’s some play for a DE.



Both Jamal Palmer (92) and Javonte Magee (90) demonstrated excellent quickness and speed in their opportunities against UCLA. These young men are pretty good at being able to turn the corner on both the run and the pass. Jamal got to the arm of Hundley on a real good inside move against the UCLA tackle. This forced a pass that came up about halfway short of the intended target – that’s good pass defense. Jamal almost made a spectacular interception of a tipped pass near the 11 minute mark of the 4th quarter, but just could not quite make the play.



Nick Johnson came up very big on the play after Baylor’s first turnover when he coupled with Terrance Lloyd to throw Franklin for a 1-yard loss on a sweep attempt. Nick showed excellent lateral quickness in getting across the face of the center blocking back on him as the guard pulled. Nick got flat down the line and took the legs out from under the running back as he tried to turn up inside of Lloyd. Nick did a great job of spying for the screen on UCLA’s first play after their big punt return. Nick forced the QB to throw it into the turf, putting the Bruins off-schedule on a very important drive for them. Right after Baylor’s second fumble, Nick got great penetration and caused a loss on the opening play of the drive. Nick is still struggling against the double team. He is just too high. He allows himself to be driven off the ball too far, making it difficult on the linebackers and the defensive ends to get to the point of attack on interior running plays. Beau Blackshear (95) was very physical at the nose tackle position. This young player is very strong and more than held his own against offensive linemen that out-weighed him. Beau got a piece of a sack when the UCLA guard picked up the MLB instead of Blackshear. The young DT wasted no time in getting to Hundley, arriving just after the WLB got there on the 3rd and 11 deep in the Baylor end of the field. Beau got pressure on Hundley in the 3rd quarter with another good bull-rush. Kevin Parks (91) coupled with Chris McAllister to get pressure on Hundley that resulted in a linebacker sack.



Since his move into the defensive tackle spot, Gary Mason, Jr. has demonstrated himself to be a relentless and active pass rusher. His height and quickness are real assets in the interior rush lanes. At the 9:25 mark of the 2nd quarter, Gary did a great job of forcing Hundley to step up and unload a pass to the short side where the Baylor defensive back almost turned it into an interception. Gary was just too quick for the UCLA guards. He did a great job of slanting and getting penetration against the run. He slipped the guard to the inside and was still quick enough to get back to the “B” gap to make the play late in the 2nd quarter. Gary hit the QBs arm on the first play of UCLA’s last drive of the first half, causing the ball to land far short of its intended target. With UCLA driving in the 3rd quarter, Gary Mason beat the left guard’s protection when the blocker got confused as to whether or not to pick up the blitzing linebacker. This resulted in Baylor’s 6th sack of the game – Wow!



The Bears did a great job of utilizing the 3-man pass rush in long yardage. Coach Bennett had a linebacker “spy” Hundley and the defensive linemen were able to generate surprising pressure on the UCLA quarterback. In fact, one of Chris McAllister’s sacks came off of a three man rush when the Weak side linebacker was spying the QB and forced him to flatten right back into the hustling Baylor defensive end.



Linebackers

The linebackers did a great job of playing zone in longer yardage situations. They denied deeper throws and then broke up on check-down routes to make the plays far short of the yardage needed for a first down conversion. In these situations, you must be a sure tackler. The Baylor linebacking trio was all of that and more in the Holiday Bowl.



Eddie Lackey (5) had a very good game. Eddie had 5 tackles and 2 ½ of those were for losses. One of Eddie’s most impressive plays of the game came on a 3rd and 11 at the Baylor 26-yard line. Eddie was blitzing from the short side and completely drove the left guard for UCLA back to the quarterback. Eddie, then, completed the sack just prior to the arrival of Beau Blackshear. It is surprising that Eddie has enough power to drive a lineman of that size back into the QB. Eddie was able to bull-rush that left guard several times – impressive. These efforts created quality pressure on the young UCLA quarterback most of the evening. Finally, Eddie gets credit for an ice-water dousing of Coach Art Briles, but he loses rep points for hitting the head linesman, too.



Bryce Hager (44) is a very good run-stopper as a middle linebacker. He has good instincts and plays down hill, running through blocks of the offensive linemen. He has really improved at this last quality throughout the season. Early, he was getting stuck on blocks. Since he regained his starting position due to the injury to Rodney Chadwick (26), Bryce has done a much better job of getting through the trash to get a face on the ball carrier. He is a quality tackler that has enough strength and size to stalemate quality running backs like Franklin in the hole. Bryce benefitted from DT pressure to get a sack when he came off of coverage (spying the QB) and tackled Hundley for a 5-yard loss. Bryce is still struggling with his pass coverage techniques. It was Bryce that barely got any contact a tall on the talented UCLA tight end when he went vertical. This made it impossible for the short side safety to come off of his coverage to overlap and help. Bryce has to redirect that vertical so that his deep help can get to the route. Bryce had 9 tackles with 1 ½ tackles for a loss and a sack – he had a quality game.



Ahmad Dixon (6) was terrific at playing the bubble screen. He dominated the Bruin inside receivers that were attempting to block him. He fought outside of the path the receiver was trying to take and forced the ball back inside to his safety and linebacker help. This is something that very few Nickel linebackers are able to do often. Ahmad did this all night long. When UCLA got down to the Baylor 15-yard line in the 4th quarter, Ahmad made a HUGE hit on a bubble screen route to throw the receiver for a 2-yard loss. This was terrific recognition – you can’t play it better than this. This fall, there have been several times when Ahmad did not pick up his coverage on vertical receivers. In the Holiday Bowl, Ahmad was excellent in coverage – once batting a ball away on a deep throw down the hash mark at the Baylor goal line. Ahmad became a little slow to help back inside on the run as the second half started, but I’m sure he was concentrating on coverage much more with a 25 point lead.



Secondary

The improved pass rush really had a positive effect on the Baylor secondary. Since the DBs knew that Hundley didn’t have much time to make a decision, the Bears became ball-hawks against the passing game. Baylor defensive backs or linebackers ended the game with 9 passes broken up – this is a huge total of passes that did not have a chance to be completed due to a defender interfering with the opportunity to make the catch.



Joe Williams (22) did a great job of breaking on the ball late in the first half. Hundley tried to throw a deep out and Joe got a great redirect to bat the ball away just prior to a possible catch that would have resulted in a first down. Joe got really turned around on an out route by Johnson in the 2nd quarter. This was his worst play of the day, but you’d much prefer giving up a 15-yard out to getting beaten deep (which is what Joe thought was happening).



Chance Casey (9) had one of his best games as a Baylor Bear. He led the team in tackles and forced a fumble. He almost had an interception for a touchdown that just was beyond his fingertips. Chance made a great break on the ball as Hundley stepped up to avoid Gary Mason, Jr.’s pass rush. The ball was thrown low and outside and just barely came off of Chance’s hands. Chance ran stride for stride with UCLA on a go route. Chance’s tight coverage forced the incompletion and a UCLA punt. Chance did a good job of redirecting on the fake punt at the end of the first half, but got there just a step too late to stop the punter from getting the first down. A few plays later, UCLA threw a catch-and-throw at the line of scrimmage right in front of Chance. The idea of this play is to beat the tackle and get a first down. Chance hung on for all he is worth until help came, denying the first down. Several times in the second half, Chance didn’t just get a hold-on-type tackle. Several of his tackles in the second half were more of the slobberknocker-type tackle. This was his most physical tackling half of the year. Chance did get beaten for a touchdown when he slipped on a double move and could not recover. When you are beaten like this, you need to stay on your feet and hold the receiver. Take the penalty, don’t give up the touchdown. On the next play (the 2-point conversion), UCLA tested Chance, again. They tried to throw a back-shoulder fade, but the Baylor DB knocked the ball away. Chance was beaten on a gor oute by Johnson at the mid-point of the 4th quarter. Chance should have had overlap help by Sam Holl, but the angle the short side safety took was too flat to get over the top. Hundley threw a very good ball on this play. At least Chance made the tackle to allow the defense to line up again. On the last play, Terrell Burt (13) was caught between two vertical receivers. He broke on the ball and made the play at the 1-yard line. For some reason, the official gave UCLA a touchdown. Sheesh!



Mike Hicks (17) had one of his best coverage games of the year. He was closer and tougher in coverage than he had been all season. One of Mike’s best plays of the day was on a post route by Evans at the Baylor goalline. Mike played this ball perfectly. He shadowed the post and reached through the hands to cause the incompletion. Mike even kept his backside arm free and off of the body of the receiver to show the back judge that he wasn’t interfering on the play. This was a great play on the ball on a very difficult coverage. When the Bears were backed up to their own goal line in the 4th quarter, UCLA chose tog o for it on 4th and 3. They sent their tall tight end vertically right at Mike. Mike did a great job of playing underneath the big target and, when the Bruin went up for the ball, Mike went right for the hands, stripping the ball out. This is exactly how short defenders should play very tall receivers.



Sam Holl (25) had another good game. Sam did get over-extended on a delayed blitz in the 2ndquarter. He lost his balance and was notable to redirect when Hundley was flushed from the pocket. Sam got caught up behind the block on Hager and that allowed the UCLA quarterback to get a 19-yard gain on a scramble. Later, Sam executed the safety blitz perfectly when he came off the outside and got right to the rib cage of the UCLA quarterback (Lackey got there, too). This forced an early and high throw on a dig route that was well-covered by Mike Hicks. Hicks upended the Bruin receiver,who landed very hard and had to come out of the game. Sam was a little late getting to Fauria (the talented UCLA tight end) on the first UCLA touchdown of the day when the MLB didn’t redirect the vertical route enough. Holl just missed knocking the ball away despite the lapse in linebacker technique. Late in the half, Sam appeared to be beaten by Johnson on a post, setting up UCLA’s field goal. It appears he was expecting tighter coverage from Joe Williams. Sam did a great job of getting a hand on the ball when UCLA attempted to match the big tight end on him with 15 seconds left in the half. Fauria ran a corner route, which has been deadly on the Baylor safeties. But Sam (knowing he had the end line to help his deep coverage) jumped the route break and made a quality play on the ball. On UCLA’s first drive of the second half and the Bruins desperately needing a touchdown, Sam Holl came right up the middle on a safety blitz on 3rd down and batted the ball back into Hundley’s face forcing a punt. Sam got two more tipped balls on back to back plays later in the game.



Overall

Baylor’s defense really turned around one of its most discouraging statistics – 3rd down conversions allowed. Against UCLA, the Baylor defense allowed 1 third down conversion in 17 tries. In addition, they allowed only 3 4th-down conversions in 8 tries. Deep into the terrific first half the Bears had only allowed 7 yards rushing and 48 yards passing – that’s awesome defense.



One of the best things I saw all night was on a 3rd and 6, UCLA motioned to trip just as the Baylor linebackers tipped their hand that they were brining a 7-man blitz and playing man-to-man in the secondary. With the play clock winding down, Hundley tried to audible to a “man-beater.” Hager and Holl then re-checked the Baylordefense back to zone and forced a UCLA penalty. This indicates that Coach Bennett has given significant freedom to the guys on the field to “have the chalk last.” The ability to check out of blitzes when the offense tries to beat them is very tough on an offense.