Too late, the play is over, you took to long to make a decision, we lost the game because of you! We’re not going to State and the whole town of Dillon hates you! You are never getting laid your entire life… Fact!

Friday Night Lights was picked up for two more seasons, hopefully the final two. While I thought the ending for season 3, albeit not giving closure for all things protagonists, it would still have been a great way to wrap things up. I am not going to complain about more great television, and as long as these next two 13 episode arcs incorporate new high school characters and the main graduated characters (Sararcen, Riggins, Lyla, Tyra, Landry), we will be in great shape.

I hate not talking spoilers when dealing with something this good. I could put 1000 words on this season alone, what it holds for the future of Dillon, Coach Taylor, Riggins, Lyla. Lazy NBC Comcast AOL Time Warner viewers.

I didn't kill my wife!

Great photo here from JC Ridley, on the field doing real camera work, unlike my point and shoot “Oh hey that one looks good” variety.

I was hoping this shot would surface. I saw this happening real-time from the stands, but did not have a clear view line, nor was I facing his prosthetic. That guy is about the closest thing to emcompassing every good and bad stereotype a Hurricane’s fan can be. Well done sir.

Can’t finish this post without a shout out to The Fugitive, one of my favorites movies. I could watch that St. Patty’s Day, early spring, slight chill in the air Chicago thriller every weekend, if TNT would only open my letters.

Randy Phillips with an INT, most exciting play of the day

Back with the last part of the Spring Game photos I took. All in all, a fun time. Can’t wait for the season to start.

Randy Phillips getting some love for his INT

Lovett asking Randy if he's seen Swasey's pics of Nix's wife

Wide shot of Damien Barry's TD run. About to do his front flip into the endzone and get the flag

Damien Barry getting some love for his TD run

First Team O in the Gun

First Team D getting a talking to

Whipple laying down the law with Damien Berry for the front flip

Calais Campbell with CSS Sports Allison Williams. "I'll be right wit ya Anton!"

Calais Campbell again

Randy going over logistics

End zone wide shot

Baby James playing up the illegal fence standers

The offense beat the defense 52-3, in the unique scoring system. Considering the past 3 years the defense has either won the spring game or kept it close, this could mean the start of great things. Harris said post game they only used 10% of Whipple’s system, and these two quotes will have to hold me over for the rest of the dead season. 

“Now we make the defense adjust to us instead of adjusting to them,” Harris said.

(Aldarius) Johnson said Whipple’s offense has ”a dozen more patterns for each receiver” than Patrick Nix’s system. ”Now, you will never know what’s going to hit you,” receiver LaRon Byrd said. ”Sometimes, the deep guys like Travis Benjamin might be the short guys” on routes, and vice versa.

As a fan knowing this season is either the best in 5 years, or already over and a waste, all by the end of September, you have to throw pessimisim out the window, and piss excellence into the wind. 4-0 start here we come!

Swasey doesn’t like the tilt of the visor

After seeing Swasey, Randy, and numerous other Cane coaches and personnel all geared out in my favorite outfit (long sleeved shirt with gym shorts of varying kind, with Nike cross trainers), I am forever vindicated in public.  Perhaps I am still 10 years too soon, but I will stay ahead of the curve on this one. 

Here is the second part of the photos I took at the Spring Game. One more post to follow. 

5'9'' 170 lbs. Sophomore Chris Hayes, livin' the dream

LaRon Byrd can't get to one

First Team O lining up

Hey...Coach Whip...got a second? I have some guns to show you...

Well, go ahead son...give me a fucking look!

Harris attempting a pass, wait? Did that go to the middle of the field?!

Vernon on the sideline

Swasey talking to the first team D

Aldarius Johnson comtemplating the G. Notice the bitchin' outfit to the right of him? Awww yea

Swasey showing Lovett naked pics of Nix's wife

Randy addressing the crowd pre-game

As mentioned previously, the actual results of the Spring Game were not too telling. As they shouldn’t be. With free parking, and free admittance, even Eugene Marve could gain entry and be spying for USF, Michigan, Oklahoma State, whatever the hell school his son likes today. I have a ton of these, and will be filtering through them for redundancy purposes, and breaking these out into multiple parts. On to the pics!

Vinny's Heisman

2001 National Title Trophies

Orange Bowl Trophy, year...?

Baby Canes, hopefully with no DVDs professing their allegiance

Autograph session

JaScory taking snaps during warm-ups

Stretching lines

Randy readying some lieutenants

DC Lovett telling Arthur Brown his bro esta loco

Randy readying the troops

Vaughn Telemaque catching passes in warm-ups

Team huddle prior to starting spring game

Get well Colin!

More photos to come, make sure to check back in the coming days!

Spring Game today was pretty uneventful, playcalling wise. As was to be expected. Overall, the event was very fan friendly. A bounce house, tables set up with numerous Hurricane rookie cards, Vinny’s Heisman Trophy, the 2001 crystal ball, and various individual player awards. My #1 goal was to secure a Whip pic with me; failure. Goal #2? JJ and myself. Seeing as how Jimmy was in town, attending practice on Friday, I was hoping it would be rather easy. Alas, it was not.  

JJ does force the utmost Chevy commerical shiller Howie Long to watch Miami games every Saturday in the Fox studios. We can live vicariously through this, if Howie even really cares. It’s not like his alma mater is quality Saturday television. 

“Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long [Johnson's announcing mates on Fox] and I have three TVs set up in front of us on Saturdays.

And you better believe one of them has to be on the University of Miami.”

If only they were forced to watch Howie’s Man Truck, 400 times an hour like the rest of us, perhaps they would create actual chemistry through hatred on the pre-game show.

All the Spring Game pics to follow in the coming days.

Just a quick reminder for everyone out there, the 2009 Spring Game is at Lockhart Stadium in North Fort Lauderdale. The game is not at Traz Powell. That was for an earlier scrimmage. And you all call yourselves true soldiers. 

Your resident blogger Anton will be there, taking tons of pics. Hopefully I can get a pic of Whipple and myself, and he’ll tell me to Give Us a Fucking Look!

Gates open at 8:30, game at 10.

Pussy Cat, but a smart one

I’m flabbergasted I missed this small but important tidbit in this article on the renewed Notre Dame rivalry, but it can expected around that ’80s excitement. 

The Canes will try to accommodate Kansas State’s request to escape games against UM in 2011 and 2012. UM has Florida A&M, at Ohio State, at Pittsburgh and USF in 2010, but only two nonconference games booked in 2011 (Ohio State, at USF) and 2012 (Cincinnati, USF).

Miami has done great so far with these middle tier BCS opponents (Texas A&M specifically). They give you a name opponent for national exposure, but they aren’t as good as their profile suggests. Bill Snyder obviously knows his program will never out pace the Oklahoma’s and Texas’ of the Big 12, let alone Texas Tech or Nebraska. He wants his 6 wins, to get that oh so important bowl game, to make it look like progress is being made. Miami in two years will no doubt be head and shoulders above KSU. This really is TAMU all over again, and probably worse. It’s a smart move by Snyder. You only take the real shit from the fans and media when you try to get out of a game the year prior, and then you don’t do it.Do it two years early, and no one will even remember.

This game was scheduled back in 2006, and if you’re a full fledged masochist like I am, you can click here, and read how this was to be played at the Orange Bowl. Can’t say I was planning on a trip to (little, crappier) Manhattan for this away tilt, so don’t color me disappointed. Miami will find someone else to clobber instead.

Don’t you just love college football? A .500 record, Independence Bowl berth, and you’re a program saver, twice in your career!

Heather Dinich, the resident ACC blogger for ESPN, is good at her job. At the same time, she usually just spits out tidbits from the local papers of each conference team, with a few detailed pieces each day. Today, however, she hit gold. Or, in this case, a PayDay. 

Personally, I would want the Recees Cups. But that’s just me. And you can’t write a nice double meaning piece on delicious peanut butter and chocolate sweetness.

The more you hear about Miami this off-season, especially these WRs, the more you have to get excited. All we wanted these past four years were players who had a natural fire inside them. Hooray!

 Notre Dame can’t seem to Return to Glory (since 1993, natch) and are in talks with Miami to renew their ’80s heydey rivalry game. I have been wanting UM to start playing ND again for years. Not only do they suck now, but they are slow, disjointed, and slow, slow, slow, slow. Did I mention they are slow? Their annual game with USC should be the barometer for how they would do against Miami once Randy gets this program humming again, and this would be a perfect nationally hyped game to propel UM up in the polls, each and every year. Look at USC-they get credit each year they clobber the Domers, no matter their record or talent level. Get me some of that.

As long as this is not a neutral site game (ND plays one a year per their NBC contract), but is a true home and home series, we will have ourselves a good ole fashioned showcase game. Plus I can never get enough of Miami playing in their all whites, on the road, hopefully in late November, overcast, players breath everywhere, with light snow coming down on Touchdown Jesus. It’s what 61′ HD TVs were made for.

Bryce Brown chose Tennessee today. And…..no one is Miami cares. Have fun with the player his high school coach said directly contributed to their 3 losses this season. Why did he chose Tennessee? 

He told the audience that he chose Tennessee because “God basically put it on my heart.”

Religilous, anyone? His fasting with big bro Arthur obviously didn’t work last year. 

Look, I understand wanting attention. I’m 25, ran a 4.66, and could’ve played football at a lower level school in college. I day dream at least once a day I was 6′5” and the next version of white Kobe, but played at a football school like Miami or a small mid-tier like Detroit and took the team to the Final Four all by myself like Bird, hence was considered a true messiah. But as Jules Winefield said, before he retired to an easy life as an organ player in an El Paso church, “That shit ain’t the truth.” The truth is, I’m 5′10”, no longer in playing shape, and can only day dream of sports success. Bryce Brown is living it up while he can. Almost all top tier high school football talent is realizing this, and milking it for all it’s worth. Again, the second they step in the field, be it for spring ball or fall practice, they are completely nothing. Another statistic, just a number on the depth chart. They will be replaced the following winter by another stud. 

More impressive, Randy stuck to his guns today, continuing his non-renewal of the uber recruit from last month. Bryce even did the redundant slight insult towards the U, coming to his announcement with a Miami hat on, only to throw it to his brother Arthur before choosing Tennessee. Wise move. Let Lamar Miller, a local Dade product, who now has even more to prove, lead the backfield. No soldier is bigger than the Corp. Unless you are Buck Ortega. Because when you look that good in your gear, you are bigger than anything.

Times must be tough. Substitute teachers are being cut off. Sorry, Temporary Instructors. Damn PC-ness. Seeing as this was my bread and butter for over three years, if I had a conscience, this would be hitting some sad notes inside. Good thing I don’t give a shit. I didn’t see anyone saving me when random 15 year olds did the Harlem Shuffle in my face, on top of the teacher’s desk, when all I wanted to do was sit and read my Bret Easton Ellis novels in peace and quiet, and hey you fucking asshole, I will punch you in your little face, I’m an out of shape 22 year old that can beat the shit out of any 15 year old, come get some, oh you bleeding now? What what! Anyhoo, off the ranting, back to the Canes.

Vaughn Telemaque is shaping up to be a beast. He’s getting lots of national play lately, and I only hope everyone’s hubris about him rings true. He was JaScory’s only incompletion in 18 attempts at the first spring scrimmage. If Randy is right, and Telemaque is Ed Reed but 2 inches taller and faster, then I just found me my new favorite player. Ray Ray will take some time to come around. Plus, I’m a fiend for ball hawking safeties. And Mojitos. Lots and lots of Mojitos.

Damn that looks tasty. Next stop, Sonesta!

Just noticed I hit publish on a post destined for the draft folder. Nice. I’m a jackass. All 5 subscribers got an insider glimpse into the creative process of Anton. I need to lay off the rum and root. Only Kurt and I subscribe to this prescription, but, shit will put me under. 

All the more reason for those not subscribed to Anton Azucar, to do so now, because these kind of tidbits are only found when part of the insider process.

Some people might think we are piling on good ole Larry, that we hit on him too hard here. 60-15! National title! Come on! Those people would be wrong.

UTSA is set to announce Clappy as their first coach this week. This really is the perfect situation for Coker to re-enter the collegiate ranks. He obviously was not wanted by any name program, let alone the middle tier purgatories of the BCS 6. He can build his own thing in San Antonio, have access to local talent, and maybe solidify his career at Miami, show that it wasn’t just Butch’s players. Regardless of everything that has transpired, I am definitely interested in this program for the years to come.

Martin Bibla hates Jon Bon Jovi

Martin Bibla, one of the five starters on the ridiculously talented 2001 O-Line (quick name the other four or you don’t bleed it), was at Miami’s Pro day this past Friday. This is mainly a fluff article from the Herald, but it does shed a little light into the makings of an NFL career.  It truly is a crappy way to make a living, if you are just one of the guys on the depth chart, counting on the Players Union to prolong your career. Imagine, you’re in your office, 9-5, creating a bitching excel sheet for the boss, and you head off to lunch. You get back, somebody is at your cube, finishing that bitching spreadsheet, while your boss is smiling as he looks over his shoulder. Adios, you’ve been cut. I’ve spoken with plenty of practice squad players, who make $90k a year for just the five months in-season, and it’s a treacherous way to make a living. Teams don’t care if you get injured, or are in the hospital sick and can’t make Tuesday’s all important game week practice. Pure commodity lives.

Of course, the true gem of this article is Bibla will consider a World’s Strongest Man career if the NFL doesn’t take him back. And, he named one of his kids Magnus. Martin Bibla, you have just earned a dear spot in the hearts of every 25 to 35 year old male who watched ESPN2 re-runs across the country.

No, not the 54 game home winning streak. Or the 5 in a row over the Seminoles. We’re talking about Miami’s 14 straight years with a first round NFL draft pick. Truly astonishing. Other programs throughout the years have produced top flight NFL talent, even gone on notable streaks of their own. But no one can lay claim to having at least one first rounder since 1995.

It all began with Warren Sapp, and will clearly end with Kenny Phillips in 2008. With the streak truly in jeopardy last year, as only Kenny Phillips and Calais Campbell projecting as late first round/early second, I was enthralled with excitement and suspense. Watching the entire first round, something I am loathe to do even with the shorter pick intervals, I was jumping out of my recliner, calling any Cane fan I knew, once the Giants picked Phillips with the last pick in the first round.

And yes, I know, you haters out there are tired of hearing about NFLU bullshit. I’m sick of hearing about it as well. More so for players only coming to Miami to audition for the NFL. Randy has remedied this problem, buoyed by Coker, so, lo siento. Anyone who claims this streak is meaningless has a seat right next to the girlfriend at the friend’s house, who thinks she knows football, doesn’t shut up about how many games she watches, and “omg everyone listen to me I can make logical generic opinions regarding the pigskin!” Shut. The. Fuck. Up. You do not know anything. Just because you say USC would have beaten anyone last year in a bowl game, or how Oregon probably wins the national title last year if Dixon doesn’t get hurt, does not mean you are a breadth of knowledge. And the Pac-10 still sucks. Thanks.

CB Bruce Johnson was the only Hurricane invited to the NFL Combine in Indy. You have a 45 inch vertical hiding in you Bruce? Perhaps a 3.93 40 yard dash? OK, the streak is dead.

That Anton Azucar is sooo Hot right now!

Welcome fellow soldiers! Our previous barracks at wordpress.com just didn’t have enough chow in the mess hall to allow me to stay, and lets face it, the new background here is natch! Special thanks to Thoroughly Curly Designs for the awesome work. Best fur trade I ever made. The barter system will never die.

Everyone take a gander around the new stomping grounds, and throw in your thoughts on the new look in the comments if you wish. Only 3 weeks until the spring game, and I still need a decent camera with zoom. Come on rich Miami grads!