Warpticon

My guess is money.

Heath is a fine recruiter, and a solid x & o guy. I think you give too much credit to Heath for what shoudl have happened by natural progression. There are certain things about the Heath era which were just unacceptable--the absolute inability to win a road game, for eample. Being a .200 road team is not acceptable. Getting blown out by inferior teams is not acceptable. This Arkansas team had no business playing worse at the end of the season than it did early on. It was a turnover factory this season, last season, and all prior. It's depended too much on three-point accuracy as to whether it wins or loses, and hasn't picked up enough quality shooters. There really is no reason for a team with the wealth of big men Arkansas has (five men 6-8 and up) to be near the bottom in the SEC in rebounding and have a 6-1 guard second on the team in that category. And, perhaps worst of all, the same quotes keep coming out of postgame interviews. "they just wanted it more." "We got outplayed." "We got outhustled." While a lot of people think he should have had one more chance to get this talented team where they got, all I can see is that...it should have been this year. It just should have. I do wish coach Heath good luck, and I feel he can succeed in a different environment. He just doesn't work for what Arkansas wants and expects from its basketball program.

I was wondering how long it was going to take. Not a clue who they'll get to replace him, but I'm not disappointed.

I liked that the quote about him being a throwback to the dead ball era was a) written as though that were some kind of compliment, and b) immediately followed with a reference to being mentioned in Jay-Z's lyrics. Because if there's anything in the world that's the essence of dead ball era, it's Jay-Z quotes.

Dolphins.

Let's not forget that there's at least a 50/50 shot at an opening coming up at another major basketball school (Arkansas). Coach-go-round, ho!

And again, wikipedia updates the brackets faster than the sports sites. :lol:

Illinois is sooooooo lucky.

This is the best game of Vaselineball ever.

Count this among the rampant social phenomena I don't get at all.

Holy...I completely forgot about this. :/ so, since I'm a million years behind, what's status?

Well, this is a fun day to be a Dolphin fan. I really would rather have drafted a pass rushing LB, but Porter is damn good, and should still be for at least three years of the deal. This, combined with the two picks just received for Welker, gives them a lot of leverage in the draft. I'm less inclined to trade the #9 for more picks, and there's good depth in OL talent out there. They may even get into position to trade up for Thomas now, who knows. In short, I love both of these deals, and the only detraction in my eyes is that they may have less money to sign a free agent OL. Getting a 6th for useless Dan Wilkinson doesn't hurt, either.

I love the comment about the Yankees's defense. Hilarious.

This is a terrible move by the Pats. Welker is best at returning kicks, he's only a marginal receiver from what I've seen. Yet they're paying him in the same area as Drew Bennett, David Givens (former Patriot) and Deion Branch as you said. I certainly hope there are long time Pats that take exception to them throwing around money now. Welker is actually a pretty good receiver; good hands, solid route runner, deceptive speed but not a burner. He's essentially Wayne Chrebet. Worth that money? Doubtful. i'm a diehard Dolphin fan, and I'd be sad to see him go, but the WR corps is in disarray, so any openings that can be made for reconstruction are pretty much approved by me, especially if they can generate additional picks.

I think Norm Charlton, Randy Myers, and Rob Dibble might disagree with you. Those 3 did have somewhat of a closer by committee, but except for 1 year, there was a clear preference on closer-it just changed from year to year. 1990 Myers-31 saves Dibble-11 Charlton-2 Layana-2 1991 Dibble-31 Myers-6 Power-3 2 others with 1 1992 Charlton-26 Dibble-25 Bankhead-1 By 1993, Charlton and Myers were gone. The Reds never really had a 3 way closer by committee-1 year they went with a true 2-headed closer by committee, but the other years they had a clear closer and went to another option not nearly as often. Which really is beside the point. Did it, or did it not work?

I think Norm Charlton, Randy Myers, and Rob Dibble might disagree with you.

40 reps? are you sure? that's more than most linemen.... 27 reps at 225 reading is hard Reading errors aside, 27 is more than most linemen. Apparently he tied several and was beaten only by four defensive linemen.

Wow, I just got wind of Chris Houston's combine performance. That'll solidify him as a first rounder. 4.32 in the 40 with 27 reps at 225...as a corner?

Wow, hadn't seen Quinn to Miami reports before.

Who's going to win the Fumbowl?

He's great but for some reason he's not one of those when you think of great guitar players or even good ones. Oh, he's absolutely one of them for me. He doesn't always get thought of because he also plays 20-someodd other instruments and doesn't just play guitar all the time.

Prince is a sick, sick bastard on guitar.

I'm mostly intersted in how Ugoh looked. Kiper reported he looked outstandng in the practices, and that his stock was soaring (I've seen him projected in the last 12 of the draft, with him going to the Bears several times).

So far, it looks amazingly deep. I really don't think Chris Houston should have declared, though he's got the makeup of a workout beast. My Dolphins pick 9th. Right now, I'm hoping Ginn will be available. Another Dolphins fan, huh? Pretty sweet. I agree with what other people said and feel WR isn't too huge of an issue. I expect Hagan to step up and be a bigger contributer next year and Booker, Chambers, and Welker will do for now. Eventually WR will need to be addressed, but I think serviceable WRs can be found in later rounds and through Free Agency. I'd like to see some youth injected into our defense. The DLine and Linebackers are getting old and the secondary is average at best. Maybe a CB or LB with the 1st round pick would be best in the long run for the fins. Moving down a few slots to pick up an extra pick would be the ideal situation, but with the depth of talent I don't see any team paying much to move up a few picks unless there's someone they really want. Why do the linebackers need youth and the wideouts don't? The receivers are older than the linebackers. And I don't know--Chris Chambers '05 makes a difference, but Chambers '06 is pretty much worthless. As for the secondary, it was almost totally brand new last season, and two major players, Daniels and Allen, have a grand total of 3 years experience. I don't see the dominant, shut-down DBs in this draft to make that a priority. And really, is boosting a top 6 defense on a 6-10 team a major priority? No, the Dolphins's biggest needs are on offense. There really aren't any available quarterbacks at the spot that can be immediate difference makers, so the best options at the #9 appear to be a standout, potential gamebreaker at WR or a stud OL. The wideouts do, but like the other poster said Thomas, Taylor, Wilkinson, Traylor, Zgonina, Carter are all getting old and they're going to need to be replaced. Hagan is young, Chambers is somewhat young (although not very good), and Welker still has quite a few years ahead of him. To be honest, there's really not any position that doesn't need some youth and talent injected into it (outside of running back). That's really beside the point. Why even mention Wilkinson and Zgonina? They don't matter much. The starters are all 30+, but they're all very good. Yes, they need to start working in some youth, but with the #9 pick overall? It's not like they don't have any youth--I'm really high on Matt Roth, and Wright and Wright have a ton of upside (provided health/contentment). I wouldn't really consider drafting DL until 3rd round at the earliest. I'm looking for stud OL or potential gamebreakers on offense with the first couple unless somebody exceptional slides well past where they should be drafted.

DENIIIIIIED