congrats zona: watch out for badger band

congrats to the RPT Wildcats who will be playing in the 2016 RPT National Title game (which will be streamed live via Adobe connect) against the Wisconsin Badgers. Many great individuals have been a part of the football program, such as Ron Dayne, Chris Chamers, Jim Sorgi, and of course all memebers of the band

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2623998

irish micky

Towards the end of the 2nd quarter, Marcus Minor led an 80 yard drive only to have the ball intercepted in the endzone. This put Bama down 17-3 at halftime to a decent Boston College squad (7-4 B+ ovr and 99 ovr QB & TE). This snow day match had been dubbed by the press as “South vs. Southie”, and the drunken, mostly Irish crowd were pelting Bama players, cheerleaders and band members with snow balls , potatoes, catholicism and profanities. So Coach Namath made the decision to start Micky Daniels in the 2nd half.

The lightly recruited 3 star player (#42 rated QB) would simply deliver one of the greatest performances by a QB in my Dynasty. Daniels was near perfect going 11-13, but what was perhaps more important was the fact that he stayed in the pocket. He gave the OLine confidence, whereas Minor would often scramble out of trouble. Daniels wasn’t afraid of getting sacked. This opened up the running game. Lackawanna, NY native Lonnie Fletcher looked comfortable in the snow as he would rush for two TDs. Bama’s D also came up big allowing only 3 points in the second half. But another move that showed leadership was on 4th and 2 with Bama down 20-17, Daniels suggested to Coach Namath that Minor go in, claiming that he had more speed to scramble should all the WRs be covered. Minor came in and hit rsFR Wendall Harris for the 1st Down. This set up a FG for the 20-20 tie. Bama would hold the Eagles on D and regain possesion. “South vs. Southie” then ended in dramatic fashion: with the clock ticking down, Robert Capps hit a 24 yard GWFG.

Bama 23, Boston College 20

Stats
- Minor 5-10 73 yards 0 TDs 1 INT
- Daniels 11-13 105 yards, offensive trust
- Fletcher 118 yards 2 TDs; Thronton 95 yards
- Ek Chua 4-80-0; L.C. 4-34-0; Perriloux 3-41-0

Earlier in the year during SVSW, Daniels came in for an injured Minor and threw the game winning TD. It was also the first complete pass of his career. His performance in Boston pretty much determined who would be starting in 2017. And it also put him along the ranks of Flutie and Brady as most of the drunken crowd had flip flopped and were now praising Daniels. The next morning he was given the nickname “Irish Micky Daniels”

Bama is now 9-3 and heads into Bowl Season with a matchup against 10-2 Geogia Tech at the Chik Fil A Bowl in Atlanata. The Yellow Jackets have several players on their squad from the state of Alabama. Two players in particular were heavliy recruited by moi, SO QB Nate Guerrero and FR WR Alan Bradford. Simply put, these guys are JERKS

p.s. snow games are awesome, enjoy these shots

RB Lonnie Fletcher

true freshman Matt Williams, who is now 88 OVR!!!!!

hollywood native Loren Johnson, SO starter at MLB

minor meltdown

marcus minor is chris simms. 4 years ago Minor was the #1 rated QB in H.S. and he came to Tuscaloosa with a lot of hype. The 2016 Iron Bowl cemented his legacy at Alabama as he threw 4 INTs in a 24-10 loss. Alabama did a decent job of moving the ball up the field, but Minor seemed to turn the ball over in the red zone. Not all blame should be place on Minor, Auburn Safety Duo SR Lance Torrey and JR Brandon Perez (nice to see a hispanic presence in the Iron Bowl) were outstanding. They are the best DBs I’ve seen in awhile. Also the Tide could not establish the run, its not that the OL wasn’t blocking, its just that no one on the team has the speed to break pass Heisman level defense. True Freshman Junior Wiliams is the closest with 90 spd, but I will be looking for a speed RB in recruiting. The only highlights for the Tide was the 90 yard performance of TE Lucas Campbell.

Stats
- Minor 15-20 207 yards 1 TD 4 INTs
- Fletcher 32 yards, Junior Williams 25 yards on 5 carries, 1 REC TD
- Lucas Campbell 5-90-0, Ek Chua 3-42-0
- Auburn RB Lucas Jordan 156 yards 1 TD

Bama is now 8-3 and ranked #25, it is the first Iron Bowl loss since 2010.

Program went into meltdown as the racist Athletic Director took the blame out on Latino Captain Lawrence Castillo demanding that he be suspended for the Boston College game.

At the risk of losing scholarships, bowl bids and a television contract, Coach Namath will only suspend him for 2 quarters, “Lawrence loves Tom Brady and is a big Bruins fan and a big fan of The Departed, even though he thinks Infernal Affairs is much much better, no way he’ll miss this game just because our AD is racist”

an apology to the 2016 seniors

I am a terrible individual. After losing to LSU, I was already analyzing the 2017 Depth Chart. I also stated in an email that I would zip through the season. Considering that there is still the iron bowl, a trip to boston and a bowl game left to go, this was total disrespect to the 14 Seniors on the team. If anything, with the amount of Madden NFL talent, myself and Coach Namath are the ones who are failures. So I apologize to the recruiting class of 2012, who will go 5 years without a national title, but most of all I would like to apologize to the following Seniors and their families. We managed a deal with the University so that everyone will be given their degrees after the Iron Bowl. A special presentation will be held before the Boston College game in Boston.
Lawrence Castillo – Frostproof, FL
Communications Studies
1st Team AA as a JR and possible repeat Rimington Award winner

Clarence Morgan – Calgary, AB
First foreign captain for the tide, 3 year starter at FS
Industrial Engineering

Charles Sanders – Odessa, TX
Communication Studies
A hawk in his two years as the SS in Tuscaloosa

morgan and sanders formed the safety duo known as “The Drillaz” because Alberta and West Texas are really into Oil (picture below)

Marcus Minor – Fort Bliss, TX
Political Science
3 year starter at QB, will leave with almost every Tide passing record

Lucas Campbell – Landen, OH
Sociology
Converted to TE and will be a star on Madden (similar to Vernon Davis)

Adam Pressley – Fairfield, AL
Criminal Justice
Football and school kept him out of trouble and out of jail, very proud

Terrance Osborne – Fayette, AL
Computer Science
smart kid (99 Awr, good with computers) strong dude (99 str)

Patrick Hargrove – Deer Park, TX
Biology
even with a 93 OVR, he never started, but won several hunting competitions in Alabama

Brent Trott – Kenosha, WI
Antropology
never lived up to hype as #1 DE and battled injuries, huge talent but never adusted to southern living

Jim Lane – Holt, AL
Industrial Engineering
local kid, who overachieved. #41 WR out of H.S. ended up being a 94 ovr CB

Aaron Perriloux – Montreal, PQ
French
3 star RB who ended up becoming the impact WR as a SR. Will have a good career in CFL

Terrell Berry – Russellville, AL
English
1 star punter who started for two years. Learned to read while at Bama

Jaymond Keller – Hartselle, AL
Socilogy
solid CB throughout career, very clutch, will be missed (right)

Adam Lee – Hartselle, AL
Education
like severall other hartselle players not named Jaymond, he was on team to keep JK happy

a tale of two freshmen

believe the hype! LSU QB Roddy Hickman of Harrison, MI and Bama OLB Matt Williams of North Highlands, CA, both true freshmen, are FO REALE. In last year’s recruiting class Williams was the #1 ranked player, while Hickman was #2. The rivalry between the two began at the US Army All America Bowl where both player’s entourages got into a midwest / nocal brawl in the crowd. The army was called in from Fort Bliss, Texas to stop the melee. Harrison was going to sign with Michigan and Williams with USC, but the army and their parents decided that it was best to keep these players as far away from their friends as possible. So that is how they ended up in the SEC. That and a couple of cars and preppy AE type girls may have helped as well.

Anyways there was no doubt that Matt and Roddy were the two best players in the 2016 LSU / Bama game in Baton Rogue. Williams was all over the place and even did a good job covering speedy WRs (the 4-3 was used even when LSU had 3 WR sets). In spite of this pressure, Roddy stayed cool inside the pocket. He was willing to take the sack and made very few mistakes. In fact it looked as if LSU stole my OC, they used runs up the middle and short passes to set up the long bomb. Possesion times on both sides were very long, averaging about 4 minutes each (I play 6 minute quarters) but the two defenses always came up in big in the Red Zone. Late in the 3rd quarter with LSU up 14-9, things looked like they would be in Bama’s favor with a momentum changing INT by Matt Williams. This did not phase the LSU defense, as they prevented the Tide from scoring, nor did it seem to bother Hickman as he led a 12 play drive that put LSU in the end zone. I’m very upset by this loss as it is the 2nd straight year that I have lost to LSU, but I am loving this matchup between Roddy and Matt. Hickman was awesome and he was working with a bunch of FR and SO WRs! It seems odd that a QB from Big 10 country and a west coast OLB will be dominating dixie football for the next couple of years

LSU 26, Bama 9
Hickman 1, Williams 0

Key Stats
- Minor 19-34 207 yards 0 TDs 2 INTs
- Thronton 33 yards, Fletcher 29 yards
- Perriloux 5-88-0; W.Harris 4-44
- Matt Williams 8 tackles 1 INT (these stats don’t show how well he covered the field)

- Hickman 12-18 210 yards 2TDs 1 INT
- Jamie Jones 3-87-1 (also a Freshman)

for more on american eagle, just go to your local mall, but beware this place is trouble, i’m talking sr trouble

the hickman hype

don’t believe the hype on the curry chips pictured left (the commercials for these are VURY good and VURY funny) but do believe the hype on Roddy Hickman and props to LSU’s defense, one of the toughest I’ve ever faced

details on the chips and the loss in the morning

LSU 26, BAMA 9

Bama dropped to #16 with an 8-2 record and had two recruits backout on their soft verbal. Oddly enough Bama will need LSU to be Arkansas if there is any chance of an SEC West Title. That would create a crazy 3 way tie and I don’t know how tiebreakers work, oh but I gotta get past Auburn first.

yikes, LSU’s roddy hickman

There is no doubt that Bama’s chief rival in my Dynasty is LSU. The Iron Bowl is always close, but my team always wins. Meanwhile LSU gives me a headache:

2006 LSU 24, Bama 21
2007 LSU 24, Bama 10
2008 Bama 27, LSU 21
2009 Bama 38, LSU 35
2010 LSU 28, Bama 18
2011 Bama 42, LSU 10
2012 Bama 16, LSU 10
2013 Bama 36, LSU 14
2014 Bama 17, LSU 10
2015 LSU 31, BAMA 24

Of my 10 years in Dynasty play, Bama has won 5 SEC Titles, while LSU has won 3. The last 9 SEC West titles have either been won by the Tide or LSU. And perhaps most painful was 2015 when they ended Seth Sanchez’s shot at a national title.

This year the defending SEC champs have loads of talent, but most of them are Freshman or Sophmores. Thats good for the Tide this year as experience means more than overall rating, but bad news over the next couple of years. LSU sits at 7-2 with losses only to Florida (who beat Bama earlier this year) & Auburn. What’s scarry though is that the QB is this guy:

Roddy Hickman was the #2 Overall player in recruiting last year (bama starting OLB Matt Williams was #1, and he’s living up to the hype) and with an 87 OVR rating, he is perhaps the most talented True Freshman that I’ve ever encountered. And his stats ain’t bad too with 2143 yards 24 TDs and only 2 INTs!!!! I plan to use the nickle a lot and will probably play my safeties in a Cover the entire game. Bama needs this win as they sit #8 in the BCS, but more importantly pride and the SEC West is at stake. I’m trying not to look too far ahead to a rematch in Atlanta against Florida. And I didn’t even notice this but in 9 games SO Ek Chua Smith already has 42 receptions for 830 yards and 10 TDs. Anyways I think I’ll need a good dinner and Tea before I play this game.

roll tide

p.s. looking at the above scores, makes me realize how special the 2011 to 2013 teams were

bama gets by cupcakes

Sorry i know i’ve been slacking off on the reports and on the wiki, work’s been busy, baseball mogul has a bit of my attention and the Hills was intense last night, I HAD TO WATCH IT TWICE. Oh and I’m all about Chiara the Intern who appears for only 30 seconds. Who are you fooling honey, the show is called “The Hills”, not “The Silverlake” or “The Echo Park”, (yes so that line was taken from a facebook message i posted earlier this morning, bite me, I’m not feeling too original today).

Anyways since the Tennessee game I played two SEC cupcakes (hence the picture to your right courtesy of pancakejess of E! fame), Vanderbilt and Mississippi State. The Vanderbilt game proved tough, while the MSU game was a walk in the park. Anyways I’m itching to play LSU and put up a preview of that game (that has become bigger than the Iron Bowl in my Dynasty) so these game summaries will be short, but sweet, just like that cupcake

Bama 31, Vandy 28
- Minor 17-28 278 yards 2 TDs 2 INTs; Daniels 2-2 25 yards 1 TD
- Fletcher 57 yards 1 TD; Thornton 50 yards 1 TD
- Ek Chua 10-150-1, L.C. 4-50

Vandy is a B- team, but their skill players were 90+. Slow star again, but bama’s talent came through.

Bama 65, Miss St. 10
- Minor 6-14 67 yards 1 TD 2 INTs; Odom 3-5 133 yards 2 TDs; Daniels 5-10 103 yards 1 TD
- Thornton 68 yards, Fletcher 47 yards 2 TDs
- Hood 5-155-2; EK Chua 3-92-1
- Trevor Gibson 1 INT and 2 PRTDs

Minor played terrible but 2 PRTDs from Gibson eventually spawned a 38-0 halftime lead. In scrub time Odom played awesome, which hints at a possible QB controversey in 2017. His favorite target was fellow Bball teammate Jeremy Hood (march madness sim with the se guys to come).

8-1 ranked #9 in the nation. Florida clinched the SEC East.

roll tide

1 quarter of solitude

The anti-hispanic sentiment that plagued Patrick Rodriguez in Tucson has hit Tide All American C Lawrence Castillo. Members of the athletic department recommended a 4 game suspension after Castillo was caught with a stolen wallet that belonged to an English T.A.. Lawrence, or the hispanic L.C. as his friends call him, did not deny that he stole wallet, but claimed he did so out of anger. He had complained to the T.A. that there was not enough Latin American authors on the reading list, but he T.A. said that Isabelle Allende and Ernest Hemmingway were enough. Instead of punching him, Castillo got one of the wasp girls that Seth Sanchez had slept with in previous years to slap the T.A. on his ass and steal his wallet. With a game in Knoxville against rival Tennessee, Coach Namath ignored the recommended suspension time and sat the hispanic L.C. for only 1 quarter stating, “Castillo, has carried the other scrubs on the OLine this whole year, if I could I would have suspended those guys for sucking against Florida and Ole Miss” With that quote in mind, the Oline would go on to play their best game of the season.

Let’s face it, on Heisman difficulty you need at least one or two shotgun formation. So i added two new formations to the Norm Chow playbook. With the 2016 team, I pretty much found ACE Y TRIPS and I FORM TIGHT useless, so in came two of my favorite formations from Urban Meyer’s spread option: SHOTGUN SLOT F TRIPS which has a lot of running plays and east west past routes, and SHOTGUN FLANKER CLOSE which essentially has several plays designed for the long bomb. The new changes combined with a motivated OL would result in an offensive explosion. Minor had time to make his throws and the deep pass kept the defense honest. This allowed for a decent run game. At halftime Minor had already thrown 4 TDs for a 28-7 lead. By the mid 3rd quarter most of the subs were in and Alabama would have their first 50 point game of the year leaving the home crowd in Knoxville and myself shocked at the Tide’s performance

Alabama 52, Tennessee 17
-Minor 13-20 236 yards 5 TDs 1 INT, 1 rush TD (for those who can’t add 6 total TDs)
- Fletcher 84 yards, Thronton 64 yards (FINALLY!)
- Ek Chua 8-162-1; L.C. (pictured above: the tight end, not the FIDM student or the hispanic Center) 6-57-2; W.Harris 3-44-1
- Defense had 4 INTs

Alabama sits at #9 and has a home game against Vandy with several recruits coming to visit. Notre Dame is ranked #1 in the BCS, which is bullocks because they only have 1 game against a team with a winning record.

In other news
- St.Paddys day madness from the Tdot, let’s just say there’s a story involving the pouring of a pint on someone, girl fight that went to the ground and frontal female mooning (whats the term for this?). Anyways just ask on MSN on monday, hahahaha
- Kits loss to some team from the island by 1 point in the BC Basketball finals. An asian kid missed what would have been the game winning bucket. below is this year’s BC provincial champs, and the favoirtes in the upcoming OFSAA finals, wow Canada is same no matter where you go. Try and guess which one is which.

Rexdale and kits big ups

Lawrence Castillo’s recommended reading list:
Cien anos de soledad – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents – Julia Alvarez
House of Spirits – Isabelle Allende

madden update: nfl icon brandon luke

4 dynasty/franchise years have passed now since I exported my first graduating class to madden and one individual stands out, WR Brandon Luke. The 6′7 Ravenna, Ohio native was the top rated player in high school and was on the starting lineup from day one. As a freshman Luke, along with Joel Thompson was part of 1-2 punch that led Alabama to a 14-0 season in 2009, the only undefeated season in the Namath era. Luke was solid in Tuscaloosa, but I honestly thought he would produce Justin Abdullah type numbers. He would only play two more years for the Tide, as he declared early for the NFL draft.

Brandon was selected in the 1st round, 14th overall by the Carolina Panthers. Since then Carolina has been to 4 Super Bowls, two of which they won. Here is recap of his career thus far, where he went from special teams player to Super Bowl MVP:

SBD Year 1 – KR and PR. 4th WR. Helped team to NFC Championship with a PR TD in the conference finals. Had 15 rec 188 yards and 2 TDs

SBD Year 2 – 50 rec 520 yards 3 TDs, but Panther lose again in the Super Bowl.

SBD Year 3 – 55 receptions 711 yards 5 TDs as Panthers finally win the Super Bowl

SBD Year 4 – With Steve Smith signing with the Texans, Brandon becomes the star player on the Panthers and finally makes the Pro Bowl with 86 REC 1346 yards and 12 TDS. Named NFC’s best WR. Has 3 catches for 80 yards and 2 TDs in the Super Bowl with the Panthers repeating as champs

Brandon is also the only member of the Namath era Crimson Tide to achieve icon status. Going in the 5th year of franchise, only Chad Johnson is a higher rated WR.

p.s. it hurts to see a lot of my star players struggle in the pros, but its realistic and so much better than in previous years where all your players were superstars in madden