Ketch's 10 Thoughts From The Weekend (Charlie is a player-developing jedi knight)

[utexashorns88]

Yikes on 118-110. My bad.

Only Dave Moretti scored it 118-110. The other two judges had 116-112. All three judges had the fight at 58-56 Mayweather at the halfway point, but Moretti gave Floyd a shutout in the last 6 rounds while the other two judges gave rounds 9 and 10 to Pac.

 

[brownieJr]

Ketch,

You are a paste eating nerd! BTW, that is a compliment!

I didnt like your commment about the Kentucky Derby! I believe that American Pharoah has a chance to win it all this year. Should be fun to watch.

 

[Califashorn]

After seeing all the kids get drafted from Louisville, I have more faith in Strong . He just needs time.

 

[Ketchum]

The margins of victory for Floyd were 118-110 and 116-112, not 117-111 and 116-112. Just FYI.

Yikes on 118-110. My bad.

Ketch,

You are a paste eating nerd! BTW, that is a compliment!

I didnt like your commment about the Kentucky Derby! I believe that American Pharoah has a chance to win it all this year. Should be fun to watch.

 

[Kronic22]

He didn't play silly games coming out to the ring?

Don't all these guys make fools of themselves walking to the ring? Didn't watch the fight or even read up/follow it, so I won't comment on the injury deal, but the walk to the ring in these big prize fights is always a circus. Don't see why you or anyone else is making a big deal about it. Seems like a reach and trying to make a story out of nothing.

 

[Ketchum]

Don't all these guys make fools of themselves walking to the ring? Didn't watch the fight or even read up/follow it, so I won't comment on the injury deal, but the walk to the ring in these big prize fights is always a circus. Don't see why you or anyone else is making a big deal about it. Seems like a reach and trying to make a story out of nothing.

I have never seen a manager stop a fighter to take a selfie until Saturday night. Mayweather was ALL business.

 

[dallashorn02]

Speaking of draft numbers, just saw that Florida had 8 guys drafted in this years' draft. That was the third highest total behind FSU and Louisville. You wouldn't think that coming off a 7-5 record.

 

[Ketchum]

Speaking of draft numbers, just saw that Florida had 8 guys drafted in this years' draft. That was the third highest total behind FSU and Louisville. You wouldn't think that coming off a 7-5 record.

Quarterback play matters a LOT.

 

[98horn]

Speaking of draft numbers, just saw that Florida had 8 guys drafted in this years' draft. That was the third highest total behind FSU and Louisville. You wouldn't think that coming off a 7-5 record.

Getting the qb right appears to be more important to the success of a team in a single year than getting the coach right. Bama is probably the only team in the country that can compete with average play from that position.

 

[Ketchum]

Getting the qb right appears to be more important to the success of a team in a single year than getting the coach right. Bama is probably the only team in the country that can compete with average play from that position.

Just look at the quarterbacks in this year's Final Four.

 

[DougNTexas]

Loved the pic of the twins, and the sister in law ain't bad either.

 

[Ketchum]

Loved the pic of the twins, and the sister in law ain't bad either.

You aren't the first to notice the latter, but thanks on the former.

 

[OldCleatus]

Good to see his old recruits have developed out nicely, my only concern is that over the past two years only 4 out of the 14 players drafted from louisville have been offensive players. Hopefully it'll translate to the offensive side of the ball. I'm interested to see how many of the 3-star recruits he developed were defensive and offensive players.

 

[jspirohorn]

a. I think he goes for 1,200 yards.

b. Thompson hasn't reached his ceiling yet as a player.

c. Not my nieces. Those are MY kids.

Bad reading comprehension on c. Having looked at their aunt though, I bet their cousins are cute too. Oh, never mind - his is a football board.

 

[jspirohorn]

Actually, he never so much as said a word to Luck on his visit. He ignored him and let Luck figure it out on his own.

The Stratford parents at the time were shaking their heads. No one could figure it out.

 

[Ketchum]

Good to see his old recruits have developed out nicely, my only concern is that over the past two years only 4 out of the 14 players drafted from louisville have been offensive players. Hopefully it'll translate to the offensive side of the ball. I'm interested to see how many of the 3-star recruits he developed were defensive and offensive players.

The numbers will be more impressive if you include 2014 draft results.

The best quartrback in the NFL in December last year (in terms of rating) was a rookie from Louisville.

 

[Ketchum]

Bad reading comprehension on c. Having looked at their aunt though, I bet their cousins are cute too. Oh, never mind - his is a football board.

Aaron's husband will have to own 100 guns to defend the boys that will be interested in his daughters.

 

[davidchildress_a_andrewskurth.co]

There are 127 FBS schools with one in transition not 120. Does that change your math?

 

[Ketchum]

There are 127 FBS schools with one in transition not 120. Does that change your math?

No, it doesn't but thanks for the heads up. I corrected that info.

 

[dallashorn02]

While Strong was at Louisville, he averaged 16 three-star prospects each year from 2010-2012, which means that the national average suggests that 1.14 players from each of those classes would emerge at some point as a drafted NFL prospect.

All told, seven players that arrived as three-star prospects under Strong were drafted this
weekend, which means that on the average, one out of every 2.28 three-star prospects recruited by Strong was eventually developed into an NFL drafted prospects.

Basically, Strong spots and develops three-star prospects better than the rest of the nation develops four-star prospects by a considerable margin and nearly as well as the rest of the nation develops five-star prospects.

Of course, development is only one part of the equation that will determine whether Strong achieves ultimate success, but it’s a damn big part of that equation. Does he need a quarterback? Yes. Does his in-game decision-making need to be sharper? Probably. Might a little more emphasis on analytics prove to be helpful? It can’t hurt.

The devil's advocate in me also considers the following: In 2013, Charlie Strong's Louisville team had 13 future NFL draft picks and couldn't win the AAC, compared to a Central Florida program that had just 4 future NFL draft picks.

I don't consider this to be insignificant and something worth filing away. The whole needs to be better than the sum of its parts.

 

[Ketchum]

The devil's advocate in me also considers the following: In 2013, Charlie Strong's Louisville team had 13 future NFL draft picks and couldn't win the AAC, compared to a Central Florida program that had just 4 future NFL draft picks.

I don't consider this to be insignificant and something worth filing away. The whole needs to be better than the sum of its parts.

They won the league and beat Florida in a BCS game the previous year.

Your point basically demands perfection and while those Louisville teams were very, very good, they were not perfect.

They lost a 38-35 game to a team with a Top 3 NFL draft pick at quarterback in an otherwise perfect season.

I'd say the sum of the parts were tremendous.

 

[ball911]

They won the league and beat Florida in a BCS game the previous year.

Your point basically demands perfection and while those Louisville teams were very, very good, they were not perfect.

They lost a 38-35 game to a team with a Top 3 NFL draft pick at quarterback in an otherwise perfect season.

I'd say the sum of the parts were tremendous.

And the team Lou lost to, defeated the Big 12 champ rather easily.

 

[Veritas10]

The devil's advocate in me also considers the following: In 2013, Charlie Strong's Louisville team had 13 future NFL draft picks and couldn't win the AAC, compared to a Central Florida program that had just 4 future NFL draft picks.

I don't consider this to be insignificant and something worth filing away. The whole needs to be better than the sum of its parts.

That's the key question. CS has had one significant victory and that was beating Muschamp, which turned out to be a rather routine occurrence.

 

[The Poopsmith]

Pacman was in a horrible spot- if he backs out, people are even more upset and everyone call him all kinds of names with all kinds of accusations. As it stands, he put up a decent fight against and undefeated fighter with a torn rotator cuff and in some ways that's very admirable. On the other hand, we are somewhat ripped off because he wasn't at his best.

I do not believe it was merely a cash grab as he threw over 400 punches and went 12 rounds. He did the best he could given the circumstances. He could have backed out but he didn't.

Ketch is a little over the top in his admiration of Mayweather and criticism of Pac. I chuckled at the poster who compared him to Skip Bayless as that's the type of character he has become (Skip's take on the fight was equally absurd.) Ketch's silly fight take is a shame because it mars some otherwise great analysis in the column.

On another note I've been to the Philippines a couple of times and Pacman is everything to them. That country is full of horrible squalor far worse than anything in the USA. I've talked to a couple of Filipinos since the fight and they say backing out would not be an option in their culture. He had to save face by fighting and like a lot of Asian cultures, you just have to "endure" despite the hand you're dealt. He did that and the Filipinos are very proud.

And neeither fighter is a saint of a person.

 

[unclejemimah]

And the team Lou lost to, defeated the Big 12 champ rather easily.

Gotta remember that no team of 18-22 year olds is going to play their best every single time out on the field, no matter how good the collective talent and/or coaching staff is. Just ask Nick Saban.

The point, as Ketch stated, is that the SUM of the parts was tremendous. You can pick apart ANY team of ANY era if you hyper-analyze every connecting point of data.

 

[Ketchum]

That's the key question. CS has had one significant victory and that was beating Muschamp, which turned out to be a rather routine occurrence.

What was that Florida team's record going into that game?

 

[Ketchum]

Pacman was in a horrible spot- if he backs out, people are even more upset and everyone call him all kinds of names with all kinds of accusations. As it stands, he put up a decent fight against and undefeated fighter with a torn rotator cuff and in some ways that's very admirable. On the other hand, we are somewhat ripped off because he wasn't at his best.

I do not believe it was merely a cash grab as he threw over 400 punches and went 12 rounds. He did the best he could given the circumstances. He could have backed out but he didn't.

Ketch is a little over the top in his admiration of Mayweather and criticism of Pac. I chuckled at the poster who compared him to Skip Bayless as that's the type of character he has become (Skip's take on the fight was equally absurd.) Ketch's silly fight take is a shame because it mars some otherwise great analysis in the column.

On another note I've been to the Philippines a couple of times and Pacman is everything to them. That country is full of horrible squalor far worse than anything in the USA. I've talked to a couple of Filipinos since the fight and they say backing out would not be an option in their culture. He had to save face by fighting and like a lot of Asian cultures, you just have to "endure" despite the hand you're dealt. He did that and the Filipinos are very proud.

And neeither fighter is a saint of a person.

a number of thoughts...

a. Manny lied and lied big, and he did it all in the name of cashing the biggest payday of his life, which I can't blame him for.

Yes, he was in a tough spot, but only when collecting the check matters. From a competitive situation, he knowingly went up against the best fighter of his career at far less than 100-percent. If the fight never happens, it never happens, but this decision almost certainly wasn't made with him staying in to win the fight.

Just say it out loud. An older, slower one-armed Manny thought he could beat Floyd? Really? REALLY?

The fight was not that competitive. It was competitive for a few rounds until his body gave out, like anyone using common sense, including Freddie Roach, would have known going in.

How am I over the top on my admination of Floyd? He's a horrible human being, but he was sensational on Saturday.

You're going to have to explain which part was specifically silly and I would argue nothing was sillier than suggesting fighting with a torn rotator cuff and winning was an option.

 

[The Poopsmith]

Do we criticize other athletes who play at less than 100%? I understand boxing is different but in my opinion it's more admirable to try your best and fight Mayweather while injured than it would have been to back out. It's not like Manny didn't give it a good go. He wasn't the once dancing and dodging- he just didn't throw any rights but he still tried to be the aggressor. Seriously think of the backlash had Pac dropped out.

Also, I'm guessing he knew his shoulder was hurt up but doubt he knew it was a torn RC. That's pretty damn tough to go 12 damn rounds against MW in that situation.

 

[ball911]

Gotta remember that no team of 18-22 year olds is going to play their best every single time out on the field, no matter how good the collective talent and/or coaching staff is. Just ask Nick Saban.

The point, as Ketch stated, is that the SUM of the parts was tremendous. You can pick apart ANY team of ANY era if you hyper-analyze every connecting point of data.

I'm glad you got that off your chest, but I was just saying that CF had a pretty damn good football team that year.

 

[Ketchum]

Do we criticize other athletes who play at less than 100%? I understand boxing is different but in my opinion it's more admirable to try your best and fight Mayweather while injured than it would have been to back out. It's not like Manny didn't give it a good go. He wasn't the once dancing and dodging- he just didn't throw any rights but he still tried to be the aggressor. Seriously think of the backlash had Pac dropped out.

Also, I'm guessing he knew his shoulder was hurt up but doubt he knew it was a torn RC. That's pretty damn tough to go 12 damn rounds against MW in that situation.

a. Fair point, but I consider it apples and oranges. In a pay-per-view event like this where the fee to watch is $100, not being honest, especially in the final build-up of the fight, is a critical component of this. He committed fraud.

How many people buy the fight if he doesn't commit fraud? Less and that means less money for him,

b. Very few are beating up Manny for leaving the fight if he's seriously injured, which he was. He has a torn rotator cuff. Few would ever jump into a situation like that with su9ch a serious injury. That's a red herring IMO.

c. So, you're giving him an attaboy through all of this?