Thursday, October 31, 2013

We have a very long way to travel on our road to redemption


Tinker:

My goodness heavens sakes no wonder that our country's government is not run the way that it could be managed better. Because the choices that the American people have to choose from is appalling with a hand picked setup by the two political party's known as the Washington DC political establishment.

The Tea Party made it easier to identify the men and women working for the DC establishment. So I know now who not to vote far.

It is a shame that I can't vote for some very honest and responsible people that I already know in my own city. But that of course is what really is wrong with our present American political reality.

The American people are going to need to completely bake the right political cake running America from scratch. From the grass roots spreading out in greater numbers into the federal government.

We have a very long way to travel on our road to redemption
----------------------
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/10/29/chris-matthewss-passionate-rant-on-benghazi-will-probably-leave-you-speechless-where-were-they/
----------------------
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/10/29/ted-cruz-explains-to-trayvon-martins-mother-how-stand-your-ground-laws-help-protect-the-black-community-at-senate-hearing/
Ted Cruz Explains to Trayvon Martin’s Mother How ‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws Help Protect the Black Community
Watch

Ted Cruz Explains to Trayvon Martin’s Mother How ‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws Help Protect the Black Community

“The notion that stand your ground laws are some form of veiled racism may be a convenient political attack, but it is not borne out by the facts remotely.”
Read More »
----------------------
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/10/29/bill-oreilly-goes-at-it-with-charles-krauthammer-over-president-obamas-massive-problem/

Bill O’Reilly Goes at It With Charles Krauthammer Over President Obama’s ‘Massive Problem’
Watch

Bill O’Reilly Goes at It With Charles Krauthammer Over President Obama’s ‘Massive Problem’

“Oh, come on…”
Read More »
-----------------------
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/10/29/top-house-democrat-we-knew-some-americans-would-lose-their-health-insurance-plans/


Top House Democrat: ‘We Knew’ Some Americans Would Lose Their Health Insurance Plans

Top House Democrat: ‘We Knew’ Some Americans Would Lose Their Health Insurance Plans

“We knew that there would be some policies that would not qualify and therefore people would be required to get more extensive coverage.”
Read More »
-----------------------
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/10/29/babys-amazing-reaction-to-hearing-mothers-song-goes-viral/
Baby’s Amazing Reaction to Hearing Mother’s Song Goes Viral

Baby’s Amazing Reaction to Hearing Mother’s Song Goes Viral

“My Heart Can’t Tell You No”
Read More »
----------------------
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/10/29/unsuspecting-mother-of-two-unruly-kids-was-trying-to-have-a-nice-dinner-the-man-next-to-her-sent-this-note-and-changed-her-night/
Unsuspecting Mother of Two Unruly Kids Was Trying to Have a Nice Dinner — the Man Next to Her Sent This Note and Changed Her Night
Watch

Unsuspecting Mother of Two Unruly Kids Was Trying to Have a Nice Dinner — the Man Next to Her Sent This Note and Changed Her Night

“…I have had the privilege of watching you parent your children for the past 30 minutes.”
----------------------
Tinker:

Happy Halloween!!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHJYu-UxnbQ

Scary haunted house for Halloween

----------------------
Sports
LSU Football - Geaux Tigers!!!
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
The Advocate Buzz of preparation underlies LSU’s rest
Sports Xchange LSU Report: Inside slant, Notes & quotes, Strategy & personnel
The Advocate Rabalais: LSU fans should brush off the losses, put on a happy face
Louisiana Daily Audio (10 min, 32 sec): Alan Risher on Furman game, prepping for Alabama | .mp3
Sports Xchange Alabama Report: Inside slant, Notes & quotes, Strategy & personnel
USA Today In idle week, Alabama will focus on healing
CBS SportsLine Blog Kicker brings awareness to friend with Angelman Syndrome
USA Today NCAA board chair Hatch doesn't envision a superdivision

LSU Sports Audio (1 hour): The Les Miles Show - Week 11 (open date 1)
Times Picayune Video (10 min, 28 sec): Les Miles post-practice press conference
Times Picayune Les Miles not sure if Colby Delahoussaye will return for Alabama
Tiger Bait Les Miles press conference recap
Tiger Sports Digest Les Miles press conference thread (updated)

-----------------------
http://www.nola.com/lsu/index.ssf/2013/10/lsu_kept_offense_vanilla_defen.html

LSU kept offense vanilla, defense showed some pizzazz in second half: Film Study

Alfred Blue  : LSU vs. Furman
LSU Tigers running back Alfred Blue (4) goes airborne as he runs for yardage against the Furman Paladins. LSU had a sloppy first half but finished strong going into an open date weekend. ((Photo by Brett Duke, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
---------
Jim Kleinpeter, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune By Jim Kleinpeter, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on October 29, 2013

Welcome to the Film Study from LSU's 48-16 victory against Furman. The Tigers' imperfect performance wasn't unexpected, as they played for the ninth consecutive weekend. Having an open date with Alabama up next also contributed to the malaise.

Outside of a couple of turnovers, the offense was pretty sharp, even with a reshuffled offensive line and starters resting. Zach Mettenberger threw an ugly interception that directly resulted in the visitors' only touchdown. The other pick he threw came as the result of a protection issue when his arm was hit from behind. The Tigers piled up 672 yards and likely would have topped 700 without the picks.
It's interesting to note how vanilla the LSU offense was, likely due to Alabama coming up next. The Tigers ran from their base offensive set, two running backs and two wide receivers, on 43 of 62 snaps. The Tigers also worked in a few sets with two wide receivers and two tight ends, a formation they have shown very little of this season. Expect to see that set in two weeks in Tuscaloosa.
See Video and read more...http://www.nola.com/lsu/index.ssf/2013/10/lsu_kept_offense_vanilla_defen.html
-----------------------
http://theadvocate.com/sports/lsu/7443584-123/buzz-of-preparation-underlies-lsus

LSU gets in some rest ... but preparation for Alabama lies ahead

Advocate staff photo by TRAVIS SPRADLING -- LSU safety Craig Loston (6), running back Jeremy Hill (33) and wide receiver Terrence Magee (14) wait for coach Les Miles to release them onto the field for the start of the Georgia game Sept. 28. 
BY MATTHEW HARRIS
mharris@theadvocate.com
October 29, 2013

Instead of exiting the LSU practice facility at 8 p.m. Monday, running back Jeremy Hill squeezed in studying for a grueling exam in oceanography.

Safety Craig Loston ordered a new pair of ice skates for his 2-year-old daughter, while quarterback Zach Mettenberger — a senior with a lone three hours of course work — deviated little from a regimen of devouring film on the screen or his iPad.

“I’ll go home, hang out, sleep,” Mettenberger said, “and then be back here in the morning.”

Since checking into the West Campus Apartments on a balmy Sunday in early August, the No. 11 Tigers have slogged through 13 weeks of workouts, lifting sessions, film reviews, position meetings and nine games before an open week — the last of the Southeastern Conference teams, along with Alabama, to get a reprieve.

Run-down bodies and weary minds need a rest, but buzzing in the background of the lull is the dull roar starting ramping up ahead of a visit to No. 1 Alabama (8-0, 5-0) on Saturday, Nov. 9.

The volume knob has barely been turned, but Tuesday saw the first volley of questions about a game that’s served as a de facto BCS quarterfinal the past two seasons.

And the Tigers don’t trot out the tired cliché of this one being the next game on the schedule, either.
“I’m not going to sit here and lie to you guys,” Hill said. “You just can’t let it overwhelm you. You can’t let it take you out of what you normally do. A lot of times you can get amped up and try to do too much.”

Over the first three days, LSU turns the mirror and scalpel on itself to remove flaws.
On Tuesday, there was the normal routine of film review from what can generously deemed a somewhat lethargic 48-16 rout of Furman, and a practice in helmets and shoulder pads.

In each meeting room, the to-do list of fixes varies.

For Loston, the session with defensive backs Corey Raymond hit on a long-running theme this season at the last level of LSU’s defense: shoring up communication.

“You want communication to always be a main topic,” Loston said. “If we’re communicating, nothing can go wrong. We need to stay on the same page. We just want that to be a focus, no matter who we’re playing.”

Then there’s clean-up and reminders. Case in-point: proper alignment and leverage on routes, an issue alluded to by Miles two weeks ago coming off a 27-24 loss at Ole Miss in which the Rebels passed for a season-high 349 yards.

Technique was the chief topic in the linebackers room with defensive coordinator John Chavis and his linebackers, who have been criticized in recent weeks for poor tackling.

Lamin Barrow, a senior outside linebacker, said whiffing in space is a product of the second level relying too often on speed to make a play, leading to overrunning, poor angles and weak leverage.
Still, Barrow said, Chavis underscored playing low.

“Pad leverage,” Barrow said. “Just getting our knees bending and getting down there and being physical with these O-linemen.”

As for Hill, he’s already parsing film of the Crimson Tide — the footage from last year.

Running backs coach Frank Wilson dispensed with tape of the Tigers gashing the Paladins — Hill and Terrence Magee combined for 251 yards — and showed cringe-worthy cutups from a night where Bama limited ballcarriers to less than 3 yards a crack.

Statistically, Hill could spare himself a critique after posting 107 yards in a 21-14 loss. Only he sees a back forcing the action, cutting back and changing direction trying to turn 4 yards into 50 and winding up with a 5-yard loss.

“It was horrible,” Hill said. “It was 50-50. I’d do a really great play, then a really bad play.”

The tally: 60 yards left out on the Tiger Stadium turf. And Hill thinks about carry No. 28, a 3-yard loss where he cut back on a power call going left. Take the 4-yard gain given, and it’s a manageable third-and-3 at the Bama 25. Four yards closer for kicker Drew Alleman, who missed from 45 yards out.

“You can’t do those things against Alabama,” Hill said. “They’re way too assignment sound, and it’s just getting what’s there.”

“These games stick out for a long time,” Barrow said. “If you can make your mark on a game like this, it’ll take you a long way.”

Comments

Thomas Williams · Top Commenter · Im not telling u

I don't like using my friends like chumps, so I really try to be honest with my opinions:

So I guess college upsets happen from time to time because of the football team with the best ability loses the football game before the game begins, because their emoticons are simply flat as the underdog team play with fire and great energy..

That is not going to be the case however in the up coming LSU vs Alabama football game week after next.

Alabama college football team has discipline and the best recruited college football players for the past five years.

LSU has very little team discipline and not as good college football recruits. What more do we need to know?
-----------------------
http://theadvocate.com/sports/lsu/7444100-123/scott-rabalais-lsu-fans-should

Scott Rabalais: LSU fans should brush off the losses and cheer up; put on a happy face

LSU can’t win a national championship, and chances at an SEC West title are pretty slim. So the season is over, right? Think again

BY SCOTT RABALAIS

srabalais@theadvocate.com
October 29, 2013

 
In our virtual reality world, it’s hard to sift what is real from what is perception.
That’s especially true for LSU, where gloom and despair reign every time the Tigers lose a game or don’t play well for a half (We enter into evidence as Exhibit A the first half of the Furman game).

Perception: Les Miles is on the hot seat (or should be).

Reality: Monday, one of our sports staff members took a call from an out-of-state LSU fan wanting to know if Les Miles was in trouble.

Look, fans certainly have the right to be unhappy with the Ole Miss loss, the first half of the Furman, or the season in general. The Tigers despite their defensive issues (more on that later) should be 8-1 at least right now and still in the thick of the national championship hunt.

But to imply that Miles is on the hot seat, or that his seat is anything but air-cooled with a state-of-the-art ventilation system, is beyond ludicrous.

First, the Furman win put Miles’ record at LSU at 92-23. That a winning percentage of exactly 80 percent. Add one national title (played for another), two Southeastern Conference titles (played for another) and you’ve got a coach who, barring some off-the-cliff seasons to come or some major scandal (the Sports Illustrated investigation at Oklahoma State really didn’t dent him), is going to leave LSU on his own terms. Plus, any coach worthy of the job would run the other way for fear that if a coach who won a national title and 80 percent of his games couldn’t succeed what chance would they have, Miles isn’t going anywhere other than by his own choice.

The other safety net for Miles is money. LSU would owe him $15 million were it to fire him without cause for the next three years.

Perception: LSU has fallen far behind Alabama.

Reality: Just two years ago, LSU was No. 1 in the country going into the Alabama game, which it won 9-6. LSU was the preseason No. 1 going into 2012 before Tyrann Mathieu was dismissed. And LSU was a whisker away from beating Alabama last year, which would have put the Tigers in line to play Georgia for the SEC title and the right to beat Notre Dame in the BCS National Championship Game.

If LSU is awash in the Crimson Tide’s wake, then it makes the Tigers no different from any one else. Alabama has won three of the last four national championships. Since the The Associated Press poll began in 1936, that’s been done just two other times. If Alabama wins it all this year, it will be the first program in the AP era to win three national titles in a row.

Winning national championships is hard, much harder than Alabama is currently making it look. It’s LSU’s misfortune that it is in the midst of its most successful era of football at the same time Alabama is chasing history.

Perception: LSU’s defense is the worst ever.

Reality: This isn’t a classically skilled LSU defense as we have come to know them over the last 10 years, but it is also not completely terrible. In fact, in most statistical respects, the Tigers are respectable compared to their SEC bretheren: No. 3 in pass and pass efficiency defense, No. 4 in total and scoring defense with 351.7 yards and 21.9 points allowed per game.

Certainly there are some huge deficiencies. LSU is eighth in rushing defense allowing 148.4 yards per game. Third down defense (38.3 percent allowed) is seventh, not abysmal but obviously not great.
You could say the Tigers’ numbers are skewed by playing Florida and Furman two of the last three weeks. Their numbers are likely to get skewed the other way the next two games against Alabama and Texas A&M, the latter whose defense is ranked no better than 12th in any major SEC stat category.

Now that’s a bad defense.

Perception: LSU’s season is over.

Reality: The Tigers’ hopes of playing for the BCS title are virtually nil. Their hopes of playing in the SEC Championship Game aren’t much better, but it is still a reasonable possibility.

This is the scenario: LSU has to win out against Alabama, Texas A&M and Arkansas. It then needs Alabama to lose to Auburn (or Mississippi State, not likely either) while Auburn loses to Arkansas, Tennessee or Georgia.
Again, small chance, but less likely things have occurred.
comments
  • Thomas Williams · Top Commenter · Im not telling u
  • Reality: Alabama has recruited the best college football players in the SEC for the last five years, and those Alabama football players fear Nick Saban more than the referees. So Alabama plays college football game with great ability and team discipline.

    You know about Alabama recent football history.

    Lsu doesn't have the same equally as good college football recruited players as Alabama. And the LSU football players like to laugh at what Les Miles is talking about, so LSU football team discipline is on the poor side.

    That reality is very clear to me, and I don't know how to change that truism quick enough for this LSU tiger football team to really defeat Alabama this week after next.
    Reply · Like · 

  • Matt Miller
    LSU to win out is highly unlikely.
    Reply · Like ·

  • Bobby Coxe · University of New Orleans
    Scott: Surely you jest! "LSU fans should brush off the losses and cheer up; put on a happy face?" What are you smoking? Agreed that a record of 92-23 (.,800) is impressive, it still comes down to "What have you done for me lately?" Since Miles laid the proverbial egg in the BCS game and was "Saban-ized" 21-0, the Tigers 2012-2013 SEC record is 9-4, (.6900) with three games (Bama, Texas A & M, Arkansas) to go, and judging by the way the team is underperforming, the Tigers could very well end the 2013 season with a 4-4 Sec record. Should this happen, the Tigers would have a two year SEC winning percentage of .625, hardly worth writing home about. As a Tiger fan, I expect more from a $5M per year coach. In my opinion, the needle on the Tiger Football program is changing directions. A lack of quality coaching coupled with the loss of one or two key recruits each year the past few years is now beginning to show up. The best the Tigers could do last year was a tie for fourth in the SEC with 8 or so players going to the NFL, and add to this the Clemson loss, and the 2012 season could hardly be ruled a success. At this time, we very well could be headed for a similar finish. Sorry Scott, but I do not find anything to smile about with the last two years Tiger football performance. As a Alum and fan, I expect more. If you are content with the Tigers performance, then that is your business, but seems to me you are judging their success by other teams failures.
----------------------

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

We now know who they are


Tinker:


Remember the song "Let's hang On" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8782KIj_rKw

Well I am very tired of watching so many American people giving up their hopes and dreams in the way that they like to live in America. Just because Barack Obama is a incompetent louse, that is really no reason for the American citizens to be giving up. Because the ghost of our American people spirit and way of life is not dead just yet.

Barack Obama is going to leave the stage as soon as the puppet masters replace him with a Hillary Clinton puppet. Than the American people can vent their anger and replace the corrupted democratic party with a better person. To guide the American government back into health. Don't give up, because we the American people still have a chance to turn the tide of America politics.

In time the American government in Washington DC will go our way if we just keep pushing. So keep marching winning the fight that you are in anyway you can as you walk forward. After all just remember that they can not prevail because they have already destroyed the government that they think is winning.

Stealing all the money from the America people has broken the thing that they run, President Barack Obama and the democrats have trash the government that they were elected to run. The democrats and the establishment republicans are fighting to stay out of jail for as long as they can.

It is just a matter of time before we get to them. And once we do it won't be pretty, so the only way for the American people government to go after that will be up.

To finally get the country politics right and removing the sorry memory of the bad people running the Washington DC government now, out of there. They are fighting for a lost cause, as we in time will fix everything that they have broken.

The spirit of my American Father and Mother was great and the love for each other in our American family was even greater. So to was the spirit of the American citizens, That the self serving corrupt politicians through hook and crook, money and political power was fixing the American people government politics. To take advantage of the American people and place all the political governments power into their corrupted hand.

The American people now know who they are and the safety vale of reasonable doubt has been lifted because of the incompetent behavior of Barack Obama.
Think about what the two political parties did the people of the United States for the past one hundred years.

Well la dee da! What Tweedledee and Tweedledum did was not so great a feat after all, because when you think about what they did, any moron could do that to us.

Because we loved them for true, and trusted them with our government's power. That they have done those dirty trick to steel our money is their sin. They will rest in the grave of lose souls forever, as the American people will once again breath healthy back into their country spirit.

The march against a corrupted Washington DC is just beginning. So march forward to crush down their evil beneath the souls of our shoes, and rejoice in our god light.

“If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31
-------------------
http://www.anncoulter.com/
Ann Coulter

HANG ONE, TO ENCOURAGE THE OTHERS

October 23, 2013
One of the most effective ways of discouraging people is to make them think there's absolutely nothing they can do about something, anyway. Thus, liberals have tried to insinuate that Obamacare is impossible to remove, hoping conservatives will despair.

But with only one-half of one branch of government, Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee and the House Republicans have made it absolutely clear that Republicans are not giving up on repealing Obamacare. Inasmuch as "bubonic plague" is polling higher than "Obamacare," I'd say this is a brilliant marketing strategy for the GOP.

Unlike every other idiotic government program ever foisted on us by the Democrats, this time Republicans are not rolling over on this illegitimately passed, disastrous legislation. Give Republicans a veto-proof majority in the Senate, America, and they will rid us of this plague. (Without even charging a co-pay!)

Not only that, but Republicans have exposed Democrats as hypocrites who are forcing the rest of the country to live under Obamacare, while shutting down the government rather than live under it themselves.

With any luck, the Obama-Reid government shutdown -- as Sean Hannity calls it -- has also impressed upon Republicans the importance of winning elections.

Whatever cavils and objections liberals have to the Republicans' majority in the House, the Democrats' Senate majority certainly does not reflect the popular will. At least nine sitting Democratic senators have asterisks by their names, indicating seats given away by Republicans through unforced errors.

The only thing the Democrats' majority demonstrates is the stunning incompetence, stupidity and malfeasance of the Republican Party.

Here are a few Senate seats recently sacrificed by Republicans.

In 2008, career prosecutors in George W. Bush's Department of Justice convicted Republican senator Ted Stevens of Alaska for various corruption offenses just weeks before the election. The prosecution was so sleazy that not only was the conviction thrown out, but the indictment was tossed -- by Obama's Justice Department, no less. Read More »
------------------
http://fusion.net/justice/story/ted-cruz-obama-absolutely-abusing-power-165870


Chamber of Commerce Leans On Speaker To Back Immigration Push...
McCain: We'll Pass Bill -- Once Primaries Are Over...
Pelosi: We have the votes...
'Homeland' Approves Over 80% of 'Dreamers' Who Apply for Legal Status...
Amnesty activists block traffic in Manhattan... Orlando...
UPDATE: Rubio Backs Off His Own Bill...
Schlafly: Amnesty = Suicide For Republicans...


CRUZ: OBAMA IN ABUSE OF POWER!

---------------------
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/29/pakistani-drone-victim-congress_n_4171975.html

A DRONE KILLED MY MOTHER


------------------
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/10/28/were_really_screwed_now_nsas_best_friend_just_shivved_the_spies

SPOOKS SPOOKED! 'We're Really Screwed Now'

Nsa Seal
------------------
http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/29/21222195-obama-administration-knew-millions-could-not-keep-their-health-insurance?lite


ADMIN KNEW MILLIONS WOULD LOSE INSURANCE...
1.5 million cancellations so far...
Thousands head to free clinic event...
Latest Hurdle...
Doctors resisting Obamacare...
Britain's NHS pulls plug on £11bn healthcare computer system...




MYSTERY: GOOGLE 'FLOATING STRUCTURES' ON BOTH COASTS
-------------------
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/29/white-house-nbc-news-obamacare_n_4173145.html

White House Not Happy With NBC News

Brian Williams
------------------
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/29/jon-stewart-congress-healthcare-gov_n_4173337.html

Uh Oh, Congress May Have Finally Broken Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart Congress Healthcare
-------------------
Sports
-------------------
http://espn.go.com/college-football/
Miami Hurricanes and Florida State Seminoles

Tell Me A Story

Miami and Florida State meeting as top-10 teams is the kind of game the ACC dreamed about when the Hurricanes joined the league. Heather Dinich »Al Golden ListenDuke holds the key for Canes »
Getty Images

-------------------
http://lsufootball.net/
LSU Football - Geaux Tiger!!!
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Tiger Rag Kwon Alexander relishing the healthy, productive season he's been waiting for
Tiger Rag Offensive stars shined brightly in Furman win
LSU Sports LSU Tigers in the NFL -- Week 8
Tuscaloosa News *1 Cameron has LSU offense headed in right direction
The Advocate Notes: CBS picks LSU - Bama for prime time
LSU Reveille Chavis' defenses excel on third downs
Les Miles Video (1 min, 42 sec): Players of the Week - Furman
Louisiana Daily Audio (21 min, 37 sec): Tommy Moffitt talks team conditioning | .mp3
Sports NOLA Video (8 min, 39 sec): Jim Hawthorne at New Orleans Quarterback Club
Louisiana Daily Audio (18 min, 40 sec): Monday evening QB with Jarrett Lee | .mp3
Everything Alabama Former Ole Miss chancellor talks about how Confederate flag ban changed a culture
NCAA News NCAA council identifies concepts for Division I redesign
Dothan Eagle Alabama Notes: Bye week comes at the right time
Columbus Ledger, GA Alabama Notes: Landon Collins already winning accolades
Chattanooga Times Alabama veteran WR Kevin Norwood finally gets 100-yard game
Crimson White Crimson Tide faces stretch of big games after win over Vols
Tuscaloosa News *1 Alabama holding teams to under 10 points a game
Notes: Arkansas | Auburn | Florida | Georgia | Kentucky | Mississippi State
Notes: Missouri | Ole Miss | South Carolina | TCU | Tennessee | UAB
Louisiana Daily Audio (11 min, 20 sec): Edward Aschoff talks about the SEC | .mp3
Macon Telegraph SEC needs more transparency, accountability for officials
College Football News Cavalcade of Whimsy: Could BCS be a playoff? | Part 2
USA Today NCAA makes new effort to stop O'Bannon class action bid
--------------------
http://www.tigerrag.com/football/alexander-relishing-the-healthy-productive-season-hes-been-waiting-for

Alexander relishing the healthy, productive season he's been waiting for
10/29/2013 9:10:27 AM

Kwon Alexander (25) tackles UAB running back Darrin Reaves in LSU's 56-17 win on September 7, 2013.
By CODY WORSHAM
Tiger Rag Editor


Kwon Alexander still doesn’t know how it happened.

In the third quarter of last season’s game pitting LSU against Florida, the then-freshman linebacker, in his first career start, did what he had done a thousand times in his football career: he dove to make a tackle.

Only this time, he couldn’t get up afterward.

Alexander broke his ankle on the play, ending his football season just as it got started for the second straight season, after missing his senior season of high school with a knee injury.

And while most athletes who overcome injuries burn the film and put the play out of their memories forever, Alexander has never deleted the footage of his injury from his iPad.

"I look at it almost every week, and I still can’t figure it out,” he said "My ankle just popped. Maybe my bones were weak, so I drink a lot of milk now just to get my bones back stronger.”

Far from being a masochist, Alexander says the film serves as inspiration.

"I felt like I was really coming along last season, that’s why it really hurt me,” he said. "But everything happens for a reason.

"It still motivates me.”

That motivation has been evident every time Alexander has taken the field in 2013, as even low-energy contests like Furman feature highlight after highlight of the sophomore flying to the ball like an uncaged predator. His 14 tackles on Saturday night against the Paladins helped inject life into an LSU defense that gave up two long scoring drives in the first half, but held Furman scoreless in the second.

"I don’t know what was going on out there (in the first half), but we got it together,” he said. "Chief [Defensive Coordinator John Chavis] came in and told us what we needed to do. We made some adjustments. We went out there and played ball.”

For Alexander, that’s a gift in and of itself, after spending more time in the last two seasons in the training room and rehab facility than on the football field. His ankle injury against Florida stays in the back of his mind at all times, not as a cautionary reminder.

"I’m not even worried about [getting injured again],” he said. "If it happens, it happens for a reason.”
Instead, the memory of that injured ankle helps him stay at full speed, knowing any play could be his last.

"It gives me a lot of appreciation,” he said. "One of my quotes is, ‘One life, one chance.’ You can only do it one time, so I go out there, practice or game, and try my best every night.”

On the season, Alexander is second on the team with 52 tackles, including 22 solo tackles, easily the most among the LSU linebackers and barely trailing cornerbacks Tre’Davious White and Jalen Mills, who get a boost in solo tackle numbers when they tackle their receiver after a reception. In a season where the LSU defense has been short on bright spots, Alexander continues to excel.

"Kwon Alexander, if you watch his contribution, you can see it with speed and contact,” said head coach Les Miles.

Nine straight weeks of games takes its toll on everybody, but especially Alexander, who hasn’t played nine straight weeks of football since he was 16 years old. The upcoming bye week will give the entire team a chance to catch its breath, something Alexander said is critical entering the back end of the season.

"We need to get our legs back under us,” he said.

Not least of all because the next opponent is Alabama, with whom Alexander, an Oxford, Ala. native, is more than familiar. Alexander chose LSU over the Tide as a prep prospect, but didn’t get to play against them last year because of his ankle.

"I watched in the stands,” he said. "I can’t wait to go back home and play them.”

Until then, he’ll keep watching film – and drinking as much milk as he can.

"I’m happy that I’m staying healthy, and, God bless me, I hope I stay healthy the rest of the season,” he said. "It feels good to keep playing and starting.”

Posted by: Cody Worsham | Submit comment | Tell a friend
Comments

Chief Peace Pipe Picklehead:
10/29/2013
If I was 6-4 or 5, 300 pounds and having the athletic ability to get a college football scholarship  playing football for the LSU tigers, in tiger stadium. I would be a basket case of emotion, wanting to explode on each snap of the football game, until the last whistle.
I would want to block the guy in front of me out of the way. To be the best offensive lineman that I could be.
I feel like it would be a great honor for me if I was 18 or 19, 20 years old and 6-4 or 5, 300 pounds. I would be wanting to play with the emotional fire that I was feeling for at least 15 more years at LSU, and in pro football. I feel like that would be a great job to have, working at the skill to block the other guy out of the way.

If I was that lucky?
--------------------
http://www.lsureveille.com/sports/football/football-chavis-defenses-excel-on-third-downs/article_7aa9e9b4-402c-11e3-a308-001a4bcf6878.html

Football: Chavis’ defenses excel on third downs

10.26.13 LSU vs Furman Photo by Charlotte Willcox

10.26.13 LSU vs Furman

The LSU defense makes a stop Saturday night, Oct. 26, 2013 during the Tigers' 48-16 win against Furman in Tiger Stadium.

Posted: Monday, October 28, 2013 6:55 pm | Updated: 12:41 pm, Tue Oct 29, 2013.
Trey Labat | 1 comment
Posted on October 28, 2013
Since his days at Tennessee, LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis has carried around a nickname on message boards.

It isn’t the more popular “Chief,” as his players call him — it’s “Third and Chavis,” as people have taken to accusing Chavis’ defenses of failing in third-down situations.

Since 2009, LSU has consistently ranked in the top half of the Southeastern Conference in opponent third-down conversions. Even with the Tigers’ much-maligned defensive unit this season, LSU is holding opponents to 38 percent on third downs, just behind South Carolina and Missouri.

One of the defense’s most high-profile missteps was in the 2012 season against Alabama. On second down, Alabama running back T.J. Yeldon took a screen pass from quarterback AJ McCarron 28 yards for a touchdown in the closing seconds of the game, essentially winning the match for the Tide.

What many fans don’t remember from the game, though, was that conversion was Alabama’s only third down conversion out of nine attempts that day — the same Alabama offense that ranked third in the nation in offensive success rate and points per play (S&P).
While the defense has been worse in raw third down conversion rate, advanced statistics have shown the Tigers have fared better than what some more traditional stats show.

The Tigers have been better on passing downs this season than they have on third downs, according to Football Outsider defensive S&P rankings. LSU has ranked in the nation’s top 25 of defensive S&P on passing downs every season since Chavis’ hiring in 2009.

The LSU defense is ranked in the nation’s top 15 of Difference in Net Points, raw average of the points an offense scores on a given drive compared to the points it would be expected to score based on starting field position.

In LSU’s loss to Georgia, while the Bulldogs scored on the final possession, the Tigers held them to only four conversions on 11 attempts.

Georgia’s offense is ranked fifth in Fremeau Efficiency Index, which considers each of the nearly 20,000 possessions every season in major college football. All drives are filtered to eliminate first-half clock kills and end-of-game garbage drives and scores. A team is rewarded for playing well against good teams, win or lose, and punished more severely for playing poorly against bad teams than it is rewarded for playing well against bad teams.

While LSU’s defense has statistically fallen this season, the Tigers’ struggles on third downs have been exaggerated by focusing on three or four failures rather than the greater number of successes.

Chief Peace Pipe Picklehead posted at 12:22 pm on Tue, Oct 29, 2013.

  Posts: 1
Oh how I long for the rock solid defense from other past LSU football team. Sacking the opponents QB, stopping the other team 3 plays and out. Getting the football back from fumbles, after a jarring tackle, or from a thrilling interception.

all I see mostly now is arm tackling and no football pursuit what so ever. In fact I feel broken hearted that I am now watching a LSU football game knowing that LSU can't stop the other offense if our life depends on it.

I'm afraid that the dark day before Nick Saban has returned to LSU Tiger Stadium
---------------------
http://www.nola.com/lsu/index.ssf/2013/10/lsu_quarterback_zach_mettenber_20.html

LSU QB Zach Mettenberger is looking like a Day 2 NFL draft pick, analyst says

Zach Mettenberger : LSU vs. Florida
LSU Tigers quarterback Zach Mettenberger is improved in his second year as a starter and may be a second day draft pick. ((Photo by Brett Duke, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

Jim Kleinpeter, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune By Jim Kleinpeter, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on October 29, 2013

LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger has suffered a bit of a backslide with five interceptions in two games. But his overall NFL draft stock has risen considerably this season, according to ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay.

Mettenberger was rated in the seventh round by McShay coming into the season. That was before the results of Mettenberger's collaboration with new offensive coordinator Cam Cameron could be noted and now McShay likes the fifth-year senior's chances of going on the second day when NFL teams make their second- and third-round selections.

"Seeing him in a pro-style offense, seeing the improvement he's made and knowing he has that size, arm strength and quick release you can't coach, I think he's moved up from a seventh-round grade to possibly in the Day 2 range," McShay said on a conference call Tuesday. "Like (Virginia Tech quarterback) Logan Thomas, he'll be a developmental quarterback that you bring in and don't have to play right away. (You) go for a few years and hope that he gets it so when he gets a shot to push for a starting job, he's able to do the things he needs to do."

Mettenberger (177.1) was the SEC's top quarterback in efficiency and No. 4 in the nation at one time this season, but has dropped behind Texas A&M's Johnn Manziel (181.9), the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner. Mettenberger is tied for second with the most interceptions in the SEC with seven. But he is completing 65.4 percent of his passes (151 of 231) and is second to Manziel (22) with 19 touchdown passes.

The 6-foot-5, 242-pound Mettenberger burst out with good showings early this season after an inconsistent season in 2012, his first as a starter. Mettenberger and LSU coach Les Miles credit the time spent with Cameron, an NFL veteran offensive coordinator, with overhauling his mechanics and making him more productive. He's already surpassed the 12 touchdown passes he threw last season and is 118 yards from topping his yardage total with three regular-season games, plus a bowl game, to play.

Mettenberger has also improved his athleticism, although he's nothing close to a dual-threat quarterback, a style that is becoming more popular at the next level.

"(There are) still concerns about his lack of mobility," McShay said. "If he's going to have a chance to push for a starting job in the league, he's going to have to be great mentally, because he can't beat you with his feet, so he's got to beat you with his mind and then his arm."

McShay said it isn't clear if Cameron simplified the offense for Mettenberger or just has taught it better. But Mettenberger's comfort level is unmistakable.

"He's dropping back and he knows where his eyes should go, knows what to look for, and is a lot more decisive," McShay said. "It's very obvious with young quarterbacks when they know what they're doing, they can focus on the physical part. But when you are always thinking and wondering where you are going to go with the ball and concerned about what read you are making, that effects the physical part.

Read more...http://www.nola.com/lsu/index.ssf/2013/10/lsu_quarterback_zach_mettenber_20.html
---------------------