A Jaguar Rebirth
Filed under: Football, Jacksonville Jaguars, Sports, Uncategorized
This is a collection of posts I have made recently about the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars. The original post can be found on Google+
Recently new Jaguar owner Shad Khan said that he defined fans as season ticket holders. There was of course a lot of people who were upset. I personally don’t care if people are upset or not. Khan has made no secret that he wants to support the Jacksonville Community but that the community needs to support the team and that support means NOTHING if people don’t buy tickets.
I have been a season ticket holder for every season the Jaguars have been in Jacksonville. I bought my tickets before they hired the first coach, before the first player was signed. There are plenty of others who have been there as well, but not it is time for the rest of the community to step up and buy a ticket.
I’m not saying that you can’t be a fan of the team without a ticket but you certainly can’t claim to be any huge supporter of the team if you aren’t buying their product and merchandise is such a small part of the Jaguar revenue its a joke to bring it up.
I’mt not unsympathetic to people who can’t afford to buy tickets which is why I support local business organizations stepping up to buy tickets and giving them away. We need more corporate purchasers of tickets and we need more individual fans to step up and put their money down to support the team.
Khan’s job is to put a consistent winning team on the field. To spend the money to make the team competitive year after year and to make the experience at the stadium and throughout the year a good buy for the fans.
Our Part is buying tickets and showing up for the games. Watching the away games on TV and buying merchandise to support the team.
Khan’s comment about fans being season ticket holders was obviously tongue in cheek he said it with a smirk and a little laugh, but he wasn’t kidding about the need for more people to step up and buy season tickets. We need for him to do his part and the community to do their parts so we aren’t waiting until the last day (and getting an extension every week) to see if the blackout will be lifted. The national media is still talking about blackouts in Jacksonville because we still flirt with them every single game. We need to go into 2012 without that threat at all by having enough Season Tickets to make blackouts a non issue.
Khan’s first real decision after taking over the team was to hire Atlanta Falcon’s Offensive Coordinator Mike Mularkey as the new Jaguars Head coach. There are people in Jacksonville who are disappointed in the hire because Mularkey isn’t a high profile name in head coaching. Or because the Falcons lost their last game to the Giants 24-2.
I like Mularkey more every time I hear him speak. He is saying the right things and doing the right things. Finding a way to keep Mel Tucker was a great move we have our defensive coaching staff pretty much back from last year and that is a good thing. I have no illusions that we can keep Tucker beyond the next year or so because he is going to be a head coach in the NFL. The time just wasn’t right for it to be Jacksonville with the issue we have on Offense but he will be a head coach in the next couple of years I have no doubt so it is good that we keep him on board for now. The defense should be good with most of the personnel returning next year.
Getting Mularkey and his offensive style and having one of this guys from Atlanta as the OC seems to me like a great opportunity. We need to be active in Free Agency on the receiver front and get someone who can anchor the receiving corps and give Gabbert some targets to throw at. We need to change the way we play offense to match the personnel we have and take some of the pressure off of Jones Drew and make our team much more explosive on offense. We can’t continue to try to win games 14-10. We need to be able to put up points early and then use our running game to grind out the clock late.
The next step is seeing if Khan is really willing to put out some money and go after top flight free agents where it makes sense. You can’t build a long term team on free agents that comes from the draft but you can plug a hole or two with a good signing and that is what we desperately need.
I don’t agree with people who say we are two drafts away from being a competitive team. We aren’t. We are a couple of players away from being a winning team and a few more away from being a really good team. The core is there we need to get the people to close the gap and have consistent effort from those who are already there to win consistently.
A Jaguar Christmas Present
The Jacksonville Jaguars take the field
The weather was chilly and the threat of rain was in the air. The Jacksonville Jaguars 2011 Season has been a total disaster. So much promise after last season and the result has been heartbreaking for the faithful fans. The crowd wsn’t a large one for Everbank Field. That wasn’t surprising to me considering that the team was 3-9 and coming off a Monday Night Football loss to San Diego that was embarrassing to say the least. The first quarter got off to a rocky start the defense looked outmatched against the Buccaneers. The first drive of the game went the length of the field for a touchdown and took more than five minutes of time off the clock. The Jaguars first possession wasn’t any better than it has been all year. Good runs by Maurice Jones-Drew but nothing else. Two really high passes to Mercedes Lewis who didn’t even make a play for either ball resulted in a punt after only 1 first down.
The rest of the second quarter wasn’t any better. A fumble recovery by the Jaguars was squandered by more bad play on the offense and Tampa scored another touchdown. The game was at 14-0 and it was looking a lot like the last two quarters of the San Diego game where the team just seemed out of their league on both sides of the ball. I was thinking about how miserable I was and how sitting through another three quarters of this game was going to be unbearable.
The first two possesions in the second quarter didn’t bode much better as they resulted in two quick punts after little gain. Then something magical happened. On what looked like a routine punt Montell Owens delivered a forceful blow to the Tampa punt returner causing the ball to pop up in the air and roll towards the end zone. A Jaguars Tight End named Colin Cloherty #83 scooped up the ball and ran into the End Zone for the first Jaguar touchdown of the day. I scrambled for my program to find out who #83 was since I had no idea. I would be left in the dark for several hours because he wasn’t listed. I would find out later that he was only activated a couple of days before and this was his first game as a Jaguar.
The mood in the stadium was electric. I certainly didn’t anticipate the game to turn out like it had, but I felt excitement at the special teams score. I remember hoping that maybe somewhere the offense could get pumped up from the efforts of the special teams squad. I never expected what happened next. After a brief unremarkable Tampa possession Jacksonville’s Blaine Gabbert, who has struggled all year, was alive. He completed two short passes then on the third play of the drive back up in the pocket and hit a wide open Mercedes Lewis running down the middle of the field resulting in a 62 yard pass play taking the Jaguars to the 2 yard line. Two plays later Maurice Jones-Drew ran for his 69th touchdown of his career tying the record for touchdowns by a Jaguar player.
The Jaguars would add a defensive touchdown on a sack and a short pass to Jones-Drew for this record breaking 70th touchdown before the half was over. They were in command of the game and for the first time this season the team had turned in a lights out quarter of football and the faithful who had braved the weather and the poor records of the team were rewarded for their efforts with an amazing performance. The team would add two fourth quarter Jones-Drew touchdowns to win 41-14 making it a really special day for the team and the fans.
Jones-Drew awarded Mel Tucker, the Jaguars Defensive Coordinator turned Interim Head Coach, a game ball in the locker room later after the team had soaked Tucker with Gatorade on the field earlier. It was an emotional time for everyone. The game means nothing in the standings other than the jockeying for Draft Position, but it was terribly important for the Jaguars, Tucker and the fans to have a magical Christmas present of a game after the season of heartache, injuries, and disappointment. Whatever happens for the rest of the year, this game is what I will remember. Thanks Jaguars for making a cold, wet December day something special.
The Adjustment Bureau Movie Review
Filed under: entertainment, Google+ Posts, Movie Review
My wife and I watched The Adjustment Bureau tonight..so yea I don’t have to do that again.
It isn’t so much that it is a bad film as it just doesn’t seem to really be very substantial. The film sets up this very complex sounding story only to make it very un-complex and very pedestrian at the end. The climatic resolution was telegraphed 10 minutes before it happened and when the credits rolled I was left with this very unsatisfied feeling and not because I wanted more, because I felt like the film didn’t really try all that hard.
The characters are interesting and Matt Damon does a good job in the role of David Norris. Emily Blunt was very compelling as Elise. I even loved the character played by Mad Men’s Slattery. The problem wasn’t the cast or the characters. Ultimately it was a good idea for a story..without much story actually executed.
via Google+.
The Drop by Michael Connelly Out Tomorrow
A new book by one of my favorite writers and one of my favorite characters. I was introduced to Harry Bosch in a novel loaned to me by my inlaws years ago. They were so-so on the book but I found it and Bosch very compelling and couldn’t stop talking about it. After reading several others I believe I convinced them to give Connelly a second try. I’m looking forward to catching up with Harry in The Drop.
via Google+.
My Art is your Static
(Reposted from my Google+ Steam for those of you who are still G+ Challenged..you should fix that already)
There has been a lot of hanging wringing today on Google+ about people wanting to limit what people they are voluntarily following share on the service.
Whether it is the music haters wanting to block all sharing of music, to people complaining about those who type posts that are too long, or too short. It all amounts to the same issue. If you are following someone who isn’t posting things you want to read..stop following them.
No one can force you to read any one else’s posts and you removing them from your circles in no way changes whether they see your public posts. You can control who you read. You aren’t obligated to follow anyone.
I generally follow people back when they add me to a circle but I do so almost exclusively in a circle I call “Probationary.” Posters in that circle get removed quickly if their posts don’t interest me. If they are interesting and I find their thoughts and ideas stimulating I move them to other circles. It should not be an insult to them if I don’t follow them back indefinitely. Not everyone’s interests are in line with my own.
Google+ is about sharing. Sharing the web site you found interesting, the picture you took, the book you read last summer that changed your life, the tv show you poured your heart into making (that’s for +Jeri Ryan and the people who complain when she talks about her work) and yes even the great new album you just purchased on Google Music and want to share with your circles. Nothing in Google+ is shared by accident. The music I’m listening to isn’t forced into my stream against my will. I’m not even pressured into sharing it. I must click a button that clearly says “Share” and then I must click another button to actually post it.
If I abuse the people who follow my posts by spamming them with things they don’t find interesting they will rightfully remove me from their circles and that is fine. I try to share things I think others might like to know about or that I have a special interest in. Hopefully the people who hang around me on Google+ like some of those things as well, if not maybe someone else will find me tomorrow and they will appreciate the things I have to say where others might not.
Google+ Pages Arrive
So after a little bit of waiting Google has now opened up their growing Social Media site Google+ to business and product pages. The flood gates opened yesterday with some of the top companies and organizations being first in line to add their presence to the new virtual gathering space.
The Muppets had their page up quickly with a video from Kermit and Miss Piggy announcing they would be doing a hangout with the muppets later in the day. (All to promote their new movie of course), The Dallas Cowboys added a page with a personal welcome to Google+ by owner Jerry Jones. From news organizations like The New York Times to Pepsi there were a great number of companies quickly getting pages up.
The other side of the story is the numerous fan pages and outright fake pages being put up at the same time. It will be a challenge for Google to weed through all of that and protect the digital entities of companies. I expect that will get sorted out soon and Google already has a system in place for verifying people and organizations in Google+.
Now we just have to sit back and see what develops. My hope is that some companies will get the fact that Google+ is a little different than every other social media site and will use those unique qualities to make the user experience on Google+ better. Most won’t. They will just re-post their marketing copy on Google+ the same way they do on Twitter, Facebook and other sites. The companies that will really shine will do something different. They will tailor their message to the tools available on Google+ and make themselves stand out among all the other companies using Social Media just as one of many outlets for their marketing collateral. We’ll see what develops.
For now I follow a lot of companies which I organize in circles separate from my individual circles. I have page circles for News, Technology, Google, Music, TV&Moves, and Comics. I’m sure other categories will follow. I expect to start un-following some of those companies as it becomes clear which are just going to spam me with marketing messages I could get anywhere else and which are going to give interesting posts to read and share with my Google+ circles.
Good Times
Single button disk copy devices aren’t particularly new, but looking at the device which costs almost nothing made me nostalgic for the days of ghost, laplink, and other less sophisticated methods for duplicating drives.
Jaguar’s Loss Number Five The story…
Jaguar's Loss Number Five
The story is all to familiar this year. The defense blanked the Steelers in the second half. Held them to under 20 points and the Jaguar's offense just couldn't get anything done for most of the game. The first drive looked promising but after that the passing game was MIA and the running game was spotty at best.
As usual the play calling was questionable at times. A late fourth quarter 3rd and for call to run the ball seemed really strange considering they put their best running back Maurice Jones Drew on the bench for the play.
I really don't know what is going on with this team, but the past three years have been really agonizing for the fans and this year is not going in the right direction. The obvious decision to make is change is going to have to happen this year. I don't expect anything to be done during the season because that just isn't owner Wayne Weaver's style, but this franchise has enough trouble without the lackluster performances we've seen from this team over the past three years.
#jaguars,#NFL
Sign Outside the Local CVS
Sign Outside the Local CVS
The only lists in this fight sure going to be Walgreens and their customers. Express Scripts wins because the people who want to use Walgreens don’t make the decision about who their company chooses for prescriptions. CVS and others win because they still pick up Walgreens lost customers.
Cross Posting Google+ Posts to a Bl…
Cross Posting Google+ Posts to a Blog
I have been trying out one of the WordPress plugins to cross-post my posts here on Google+ to my blog. So far I have had mixed results. I like the idea that I can write an article one time and it be in both places, but like almost every other cross-posting exercise you quickly realize that not everything I post here needs to be in my blog.
Basically my blog is for review and commentary or general musings about life in general. I don't usually post short comments to it (though some people use their blogs for that quite effectively) I wish the plugin I was using allowed me to signify which posts to include and which to exclude. I also suppose I could get off my butt and modify it myself if I was really motivated to do so.
For now I'll keep playing around with it and see how it goes. I do like that every post has a link back here and if I can get my twitter notifier thing working again it would give my posts here a lot more readers.well not a lot more, but more..maybe.
Dilbert
