Long John

Fat, drunk, and shoeless is no way to go through life... unless your name is John Daly! Check out the man, J.D., with no shirt, no shoes, and seemingly no cares in this video...

The Hog Days of Spring

Well, I braved the crowds at Razorfest on Saturday afternoon. It was a great day for the event as temps were somewhere in the 60's. Many former Razorback greats including Matt Jones were there, television stations were plenty, football recruits were on hand, and I too was among somewhere close to 52,000 who showed up for Razorfest and the game itself.

A reported 40,000 stayed for the game (7th nationally among spring games), but I didn't stay. I knew what was going to happen: The Red dominated - just as I predicted - easily covering the three touchdown spread that I put forth in a previous post 45-14. Casey Dick threw for 404 yards and Michael Smith ran for a 157 yards against the White (second string) team. The Petrino era is in full force. Yes, it was against the second team, but still, that's what you want from your first team offense. I would hate to get on here and say that Dick threw for 127 yards and was intercepted three times and Smith ran for 52 yards and fumbled twice against the second team. So, you take it for what it is.


Just a brief recap for Hogs and ex-Hogs over the last three or four days...


The Hog baseball team is playing better and with their series win over Ole Miss. The Hogs have won seven of their last nine and are now only a game and a half out of the lead in the SEC West. Junior Logan Forsythe was named SEC Hitter of the Week after going 7-11 on the weekend against Ole Miss including three homers, five runs scored, and eight RBI's. The Hogs host Missouri State on Wednesday, and then the Crimson Tide from Bama (you're going down, Gerry) comes to town this weekend for a crucial three game series.





Of course Darren McFadden and Felix Jones both were first round draft picks to the Raiders and Cowgirls. Here are the rest of the drafted Razorbacks from Saturday and Sunday's NFL Draft:

DRAFTED PLAYERS POS ROUND TEAM
Marcus Harrison DT 3 Chicago
Nate Garner OT 7 NY Jets
Peyton Hillis FB 7 Denver
Marcus Monk WR 7 Chicago

Looks like Monk and Harrison will be training camp roomies







Former Razorback Joe Johnson single-handedly destroyed the Celtics last night in the fourth quarter to even that NBA playoff series at 2-2. Pretty astonishing considering the Celts have the best record in the league and pretty much toyed with the Hawks in Games 1 and 2



Former Razorback Ronnie Brewer had a few Sportscenter moments and his best game of the series so far (12 pts. 3 boards) as the Utah Jazz beat the Houston Rockets in Game 4 in Utah to take a 3-1 lead (Game 5 is Tuesday night in Houston).



And finally, in the NBA, I can't forget about Jannero Pargo, who went for 30 points in a loss to Dallas on Friday night, but added 11 off the bench on Sunday night for the Hornets who now lead my Mavs 3-1 heading back to New Orleans for Game 5 Wednesday night.


















Last, but not least, former Razorback pitcher and Benton native, Cliff Lee is making like Sandy Koufax for the Tribe so far this season. He is 4-0 with a 0.28 ERA. That is one earned run in 31 innings pitched, and he has 29 strikeouts to go along with that as well.

With The Number 4 Pick in the NFL Draft...

... The Oakland Raiders select - Darren McFadden, University of Arkansas.

Well, it's official, D-Mac is taking his 3.49 speed to Oaktown to begin the beatdown on the rest of the NFL. Can't say I'm overly thrilled about this. I mean, it's great for D-Mac and his family and his family's family and the next twelve generations of McFaddens, but I hate the Raiders. Always have. Now, I don't care if the Raiders go 1-15 next year as long as McFadden goes for at least 1,200 yards.




(Two outstanding running backs in the same backfield for three years. Doubt the U of A will ever see anything like it again)






With the 22nd pick in the NFL Draft, the Dallas Cowboys select...

... Felix Jones - University of Arkansas.

I could almost type word for word what I typed about D-Mac above, because I hate the Cowboys. Have since I was about eight years old. Once again, hope Felix the cat has a great year, but could care less if the Cowboys go 0-16.







(These guys are D-Mac's new fans)

The New Spring Game is Here! The New Spring Game is Here!

(We have who starting at running back? And what's this guy's name is starting at linebacker? Who are these guys?)



Yes, the new Spring game is here. The inaugural Bobby Petrino red-white spring game is kicking off Saturday at 6 p.m., and the Hog Tale is going to break it down for you:

Here's how it's going to go...
There will be lots of balls thrown. There will be lots of completions and lots of incompletions (refrain from making Casey Dick jokes). There will be some running and some hitting. There will be some kicking and some screaming, and there will be lots of cursing. There will even be some boo-boos, scrapes, and bruises.




(Perhaps, there will even be dancing...)




Nah, that'd be gay, and there's nothing gay about spring football, baby! But, I do predict that after the first three and out, that fans will start bitching because we're throwing the ball too much. It'll happen. No doubt about it.

And, finally, screw Wesley Snipes. I say, always bet on red.

I think Vegas has this game as Red as a 16 point favorite. I say the Red covers and beats the White Razorbacks by three TDs.

See my post below about the Razorfest activities that will beginning at noon Saturday.

You can go here for parking and shuttle information.

And, here is a breakdown of the rosters for the spring game.

OK, I Guess You Can Live in Arkansas

(I don't see John cutting down too many nets in the Sun Belt Conference)

I don't care about the non-Razorback part of the state known as Arkansas State territory up in the northeast corner, but I was still slightly put-off that they hired John Brady as their new basketball coach. It was probably an easy move and decision for ASU, but I never liked him or his teams at LSU. Now, he's in Arkansas. I'm not sure what I think about that. I guess I really don't care, because I don't care about ASU sports and ASU and the U of A are not really rivals. Brady brings his big name and will bring some instant cred to a program in need.

It's just one of those things that feels uncomfortable... like an ex-girlfriend that you secretly hate living next door, or like a boss who fired you that lives just down the street from you... Whatever the case, I will probably be checking in on ASU a little bit more now come roundball season this winter just to see.

Here's an interesting story from ESPN.com about the Indians/Red Wolves new head coach. (Don't even get me started on the whole - we can't have any more mascots that are Indians or Seminoles or Redmen or whatever... whole different rant for a different time)

Dear Dolphins: You're a Bunch of Idiots

Upon news that the Miami Dolphins are selecting OT Jake Long of Michigan as the number one pick in this year's draft, Darren McFadden issued several statements to several teams that are likely to pass on D-Mac. (Current projections by some experts, including Mel Kiper's hair, have D-Mac going to the Raiders at #4 or the Jets at #6.)






Dear Miami Dolphins,

You all are stupid. Stupid like Ricky Williams-stupid. Stupid like that stupid tattoo on that big ol' dumb lineman's stupid left arm. Bunch of idiots man... I am going to destroy you for the next 10 years every chance I get, and you can sure as hell bet Jake Long won't be on the field to stop me.
I can't wait for my annual 30 carries and 200 yards a game against you everytime we meet. I'm D-Dawg, baby! And you just passed up a chance to not only have the best player in the draft, but to boost ya'lls sorry-ass ticket sales by 200%. Good luck with "The Jake Long Era." How many touchdowns did Jake Long score? How many touchdowns did he throw for? How many touchdown passes did he catch? Dolphin, please. Big fat white dudes are a dime a dozen. Hell, you got one running your organization right now! I'm once in a lifetime, baby. I'll take my 4.27 speed somewhere that wants to win a Super Bowl.

Best wishes with next year's #1 pick also,

- D-Dawg




Dear St. Louis Rams,

I hear ya'll are probably going to pick that defensive end from Virginia, Chris Long. Good luck with that. He is about as hard as the picture of the teddy bear to the left. If you were smart, you would package that pick and Stephen Jackson and trade them to Miami for the #1 pick and then take me, because Miami obviously don't know what the hell they be doing. They are a bunch of idiots. You won't need Jackson no more cause you got me. Hell, Miami's so stupid, they'd probably give you Jason Taylor in that trade deal, and we gonna need some good defensive players in St. Louis with me around. We don't need great, cuz I'm gonna score me three, four, five touchdowns a game on that arificial turf.

Have fun losing a lot of games next year,

- Humanity Advanced





Dear Atlanta Falcons,

You all should take Matt Ryan of Boston College cause that boy can throw the pill and he ain't into dog-fighting from what I hear. Anyway, Coach Petrino says I don't want to go play for your jacked-up organization. So you all just go on about your business and take that pretty boy QB who's going to get slobberknocked (you like that word, don't you?) all next season because he has no offensive line to protect him or no running game that a defense would have to respect on play-action. He'll get jacked every game and sit by his locker afterwards telling all those reporters to leave him alone. He reminds me a lot of Ryan Leaf in that way. Ya'll will be set at QB for at least the next 12-24 months. Petrino had ya'll back on the right track, but now Mr. Blank has ya'll back to being the pathetic Falcons everyone knows.

Good luck with the next Todd Marinovich. You gonna need it,

- D-Mac #5

Johnny Mac Calls It a Career

OK, I'm coming clean - I've never been to an Arkansas track and field meet. It's not that I don't like watching track and field. In fact, when the nationals come on tv, or olympic qualifying, or the olympics or world championships, I like watching. I'm not so much a 100 yard dash guy. I like the relays and the 400 meters and the 800 meters and some of the long distance events. I really have no good excuse for living here and never attending an Arkansas track event though.

So, when I heard that legendary coach John McDonnell is retiring at the end of this outdoor season, I decided right here and right now (hey, there's no tomorrow!) that I'm going to attend a meet before he steps into that green pasture for grazing and studding (sorry about the mental image).



(Right now, Double K regrets not attending a Razorback track and field event while the legend was still coaching)



But, my only chance is the NCAA Mideast Regionals that will be held here at the end of May. They just held the John McDonnell Invitational on Friday and Saturday, and if the old man would have made his announcement last week, I could have planned to attend it instead.

But, oh my green clovers, pink hearts, and purple horseshoes, look at these statistics about Razorback Track and Field since John McDonnell took over as head cross country coach in 1972 and head track and field coach in 1977:

42 National titles (more than any coach in any sport in the history of collegiate athletics)
5 National triple crowns (outdoor, indoor, and cross country)
20 Conference triple crowns
34 consecutive cross country conference championships (17 in the SEC) and counting
McDonnell was named national, regional, or conference Coach of the Year 140 times (yes, 140!)

Do you think Coach McDonnell has ever had some prima-donna track stud who thinks he knows more than everyone and has questioned how he's being used by Coach McDonnell. And then do think Coach McDonnell would take said athlete to some secret room somewhere, and shown him his 140 coach of the year plaques/trophies? If it were me, I would. But, watching and listening to him over the years, it probably never happened.

Since 1984:
19 National Championships in indoor track (12 in a row from 1984-95)
12 National Championships in outdoor track
11 National Championships in cross country
Since 1984, a total of 69 (that's what she said!) national titles have been awarded in those three sports and the Razorbacks have won 42 of them.

McDonnell's teams have won 45 of a possible 50 SEC Championships (90% for you mathematically challenged)





(A toast to ye old, unbelievable career, laddy. May Irish eyes smile always upon ye, Johnny Mac, while the sun shines on your face and the wind blows gently at your back.)