I heard the first 15 minutes. I cut it off. I don't understand DB anymore. I give up, tired of the same old story. I felt for JP, that he has to be the one to read the questions given to him.

Done for the season not because of the players but because of our head coach.

(11-09-2015 08:43 PM)KTOWL Wrote:  I felt for JP

I feel for him every time I listen to him. Not sure there is anyone in the public domain who is so ill suited for his job. (OK, that is hyperbole).

I have been listening to sports on the radio for as long as I can remember and I believe he is certainly the worst play by play announcer I have ever heard. (not hyperbole).

Curious if anyone has detected any improvement in his performance? I haven't. I heard a good chunk of UTEP the other night and it sounds as bad as when I first heard him.

I don't understand the focus on what a coach says. What could Bailiff possibly say that would give fans any comfort? Winning is good, losing is bad, what the coach says about it is irrelevant.

Lots of folks really liked what Rhoades had to say after games last year (e.g., "we are not happy with a close loss, winning is the only thing that is acceptable, we want to win now with the current player"), but if he was saying the same thing after nine years of mediocre performance, it would sound absurd and everyone would complain about it.

(11-10-2015 09:06 AM)temchugh Wrote:  Lots of folks really liked what Rhoades had to say after games last year (e.g., "we are not happy with a close loss, winning is the only thing that is acceptable, we want to win now with the current player"), but if he was saying the same thing after nine years of mediocre performance, it would sound absurd and everyone would complain about it.

The reason that such statements would sound absurd after nine years of mediocre performance is that those statements are inconsistent with the acceptance of mediocre performance. One would logically expect that those statements, and more importantly actions consistent with those statements, would drive performance away from mediocrity.

That's what people find frustrating about Bailiff. We have nine years of what might fairly be called mostly mediocre performance (losing career record, but only by a small margin, is pretty much the textbook definition of mediocrity), without much indication of how he plans to change that. We don't have any verbal comments about how we crawl above the mediocre level, and we don't see anything on the field to indicate that we are crawling above it.

I don't know about every fan, but I know it would help me a lot if Bailiff gave some explanation of what the hell it is that he is trying to do. Are we trying to be a defensive team? If so, why have we tolerated the hole at the back end of the secondary for nine years? And why do we keep giving up big plays in the kicking game without ever seeming to make any ourselves? When is the last time we returned a punt or kickoff for a touchdown? How many have we given up since then? I think the defining moment of the Bailiff era for me may have been a game at Tulsa where we scored a touchdown, got the extra point blocked and returned all the way, then allowed the ensuing kickoff to be returned for a TD. We scored a TD and fell three points further behind as a result. Are we trying to be an offensive team and simply outscore people? If so, then why run the clock out before the half against La Tech? Are we trying to entertain fans with our offense? If so, why the meerkat that puts everybody to sleep? Our play calls and game management decisions make sense if we are trying to win with defense and the kicking game, but then why do we have a bad defense and a bad kicking game?

Bottom line, WTF are we trying to do? If I knew that, I'd have a much greater comfort level with the team (or at least know why I did or did not have a comfort level). It's just not apparent from any words or performance that we have any particular objective or ways to achieve that objective, except, "recruit better and hope to God that it works."

And that doesn't go very far with me.

I would just like more specifics. He says we need to work on fundamentals. Ok, which fundamentals? All of them or just some of them? How are they going to be worked on? More contact during practices? Drills? Video? If a player has poor fundamentals next game in the same way, how will that be addressed?

I have heard other coaches provide that kind of detail, rather than just the coachspeak. Not sure how often it happens, but it does happen.

With more specifics, I guess we could argue with each other about whether the plan was flawed or the implementation was flawed. But I doubt that this would change any minds about the current state of the program.

More generally, I have long felt that the weekly coach's shows would be more interesting if they were full-spectrum Rice athletic shows, recapping the full week in Rice sports and previewing the full week ahead. I say this for a couple of reasons:
- There are many more great ambassadors of Rice athletics than the head coaches of the three men's revenue sports, and the more good faces (or voices) of Rice sports we can get out there, the better.
- Devoting almost all of an hour-long program to the same sport week after week gets a bit dull. That's no one's fault; to be honest, there's not much a head coach can say these days without getting in hot water, which means that devoting the bulk of the show to the same speaker every week of the season inevitably gets a bit stale. A program with more segments each week covering a greater variety of topics would be easier to keep interesting.

Of course, it would probably require pre-producing and pre-recording some of the segments -- which in itself might make better and more varied segments possible. For example, it would be awesome to include short interviews with or features on people like Josh Thiel and Tanner Gardner in Athletics; football alumnus and donor Brian Patterson; former Olympian and newly-hired men's track coach Funmi Jimoh; engineering professor and volleyball booster (and former US national team player) Wade Adams; new Chronicle beat writer Stephanie Kuzydym; former tennis player and 2014 Outstanding Young Engineering Alumnus Elle Anderson; the Patterson Sports Center architects -- to mention a few that I came up with just now.

(11-10-2015 08:48 AM)baker-13 Wrote:  

This is beautiful....

(11-10-2015 03:47 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  More generally, I have long felt that the weekly coach's shows would be more interesting if they were full-spectrum Rice athletic shows, recapping the full week in Rice sports and previewing the full week ahead. I say this for a couple of reasons:
- There are many more great ambassadors of Rice athletics than the head coaches of the three men's revenue sports, and the more good faces (or voices) of Rice sports we can get out there, the better.
- Devoting almost all of an hour-long program to the same sport week after week gets a bit dull. That's no one's fault; to be honest, there's not much a head coach can say these days without getting in hot water, which means that devoting the bulk of the show to the same speaker every week of the season inevitably gets a bit stale. A program with more segments each week covering a greater variety of topics would be easier to keep interesting.

Of course, it would probably require pre-producing and pre-recording some of the segments -- which in itself might make better and more varied segments possible. For example, it would be awesome to include short interviews with or features on people like Josh Thiel and Tanner Gardner in Athletics; football alumnus and donor Brian Patterson; former Olympian and newly-hired men's track coach Funmi Jimoh; engineering professor and volleyball booster (and former US national team player) Wade Adams; new Chronicle beat writer Stephanie Kuzydym; former tennis player and 2014 Outstanding Young Engineering Alumnus Elle Anderson; the Patterson Sports Center architects -- to mention a few that I came up with just now.

Great ideas! I think you could also have featured Rice fans, too, to help with interest in Rice athletics. Maybe someone from the Fan Experience Committee, Owl Club Board, SIG members, to share why their volunteer time is important, etc. Might also be nice to feature professors (they can talk both a little about their work/research and why they enjoy Rice athletics) - e.g., Dr. Polking for baseball, etc.

(11-10-2015 09:06 AM)temchugh Wrote:  I don't understand the focus on what a coach says. What could Bailiff possibly say that would give fans any comfort? Winning is good, losing is bad, what the coach says about it is irrelevant.

Lots of folks really liked what Rhoades had to say after games last year (e.g., "we are not happy with a close loss, winning is the only thing that is acceptable, we want to win now with the current player"), but if he was saying the same thing after nine years of mediocre performance, it would sound absurd and everyone would complain about it.

I wish our shareholders would say the same thing, who cares what the CEO has to say, it's irrelevant. They missed out on revenue, EPS and share price is down but we don't care what the leader has to say. Nice One.

We don't tackle, have no offense, have a losing record yet we don't care what Bailiff has to say. The only reason one might not care is because we have heard the same song before and he's not held accountable. Therefore, please keep investing and writing the checks. Sponsor and make sure you get the season tickets....

After nine years of not even breaking even, what could the CEO say to make you happy? Your beef is with the Company Board.

I'm not saying that Bailiff should stop talking to the media. But I don't believe that there is anything he could say that would sound better than what he currently says. If Bailiff had given us a detailed plan, we would complain about it in detail. Plus, someone would point out that sharing the plan made it easier for other folks to undermine it.

(11-10-2015 06:20 PM)CrabCake Wrote:  

(11-10-2015 03:47 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  More generally, I have long felt that the weekly coach's shows would be more interesting if they were full-spectrum Rice athletic shows, recapping the full week in Rice sports and previewing the full week ahead. I say this for a couple of reasons:
- There are many more great ambassadors of Rice athletics than the head coaches of the three men's revenue sports, and the more good faces (or voices) of Rice sports we can get out there, the better.
- Devoting almost all of an hour-long program to the same sport week after week gets a bit dull. That's no one's fault; to be honest, there's not much a head coach can say these days without getting in hot water, which means that devoting the bulk of the show to the same speaker every week of the season inevitably gets a bit stale. A program with more segments each week covering a greater variety of topics would be easier to keep interesting.

Of course, it would probably require pre-producing and pre-recording some of the segments -- which in itself might make better and more varied segments possible. For example, it would be awesome to include short interviews with or features on people like Josh Thiel and Tanner Gardner in Athletics; football alumnus and donor Brian Patterson; former Olympian and newly-hired men's track coach Funmi Jimoh; engineering professor and volleyball booster (and former US national team player) Wade Adams; new Chronicle beat writer Stephanie Kuzydym; former tennis player and 2014 Outstanding Young Engineering Alumnus Elle Anderson; the Patterson Sports Center architects -- to mention a few that I came up with just now.

Great ideas! I think you could also have featured Rice fans, too, to help with interest in Rice athletics. Maybe someone from the Fan Experience Committee, Owl Club Board, SIG members, to share why their volunteer time is important, etc. Might also be nice to feature professors (they can talk both a little about their work/research and why they enjoy Rice athletics) - e.g., Dr. Polking for baseball, etc.

And i've got the new name for the show: instead of the Rice Coach's Show, it could be:
Owl Things Considered.

(11-11-2015 09:52 AM)georgewebb Wrote:  And i've got the new name for the show: instead of the Rice Coach's Show, it could be:
Owl Things Considered.

(11-11-2015 02:53 PM)baker-13 Wrote:  

(11-11-2015 09:52 AM)georgewebb Wrote:  And i've got the new name for the show: instead of the Rice Coach's Show, it could be:
Owl Things Considered.

Straight up awesome idea.

(11-10-2015 09:00 AM)MemOwl Wrote:  

(11-09-2015 08:43 PM)KTOWL Wrote:  I felt for JP

I feel for him every time I listen to him. Not sure there is anyone in the public domain who is so ill suited for his job. (OK, that is hyperbole).

I have been listening to sports on the radio for as long as I can remember and I believe he is certainly the worst play by play announcer I have ever heard. (not hyperbole).

Curious if anyone has detected any improvement in his performance? I haven't. I heard a good chunk of UTEP the other night and it sounds as bad as when I first heard him.

I apologize for the gratuitous remark but who can forget such gems as,

It's a long deep fly ball. It may be out of here. And the second basemen catches it on the infield.

Never was sure why we hired him. I thought the students were better, and having student announcers, at least for baseball, helped some like Yardley break into the business. I assumed JP was one of TGs relatives.

I don't get to hear the Owl radio show, but I've seen and heard Bailiff at the Web Letter. At this point, I do not ever expect to hear anything insightful or even interesting from him. More importantly, that expectation doesn't bother me. The lousy performance against mediocre and good teams, the terrible game management, undisciplined play and the apparent lack of preparation and in game adjustments are leading me to believe he just isn't the guy to lead us to higher levels.

(11-11-2015 05:05 PM)Ranger Wrote:  

(11-10-2015 09:00 AM)MemOwl Wrote:  

(11-09-2015 08:43 PM)KTOWL Wrote:  I felt for JP

I feel for him every time I listen to him. Not sure there is anyone in the public domain who is so ill suited for his job. (OK, that is hyperbole).

I have been listening to sports on the radio for as long as I can remember and I believe he is certainly the worst play by play announcer I have ever heard. (not hyperbole).

Curious if anyone has detected any improvement in his performance? I haven't. I heard a good chunk of UTEP the other night and it sounds as bad as when I first heard him.

I apologize for the gratuitous remark but who can forget such gems as,

It's a long deep fly ball. It may be out of here. And the second basemen catches it on the infield.

Never was sure why we hired him. I thought the students were better, and having student announcers, at least for baseball, helped some like Yardley break into the business. I assumed JP was one of TGs relatives.

I like JP, and really haven't noticed those weird statements, at least in excess of other broadcasters.

The guy who irritated me, long ago, was the radio guy who made calls like this:

"Shelton takes the snap, heads left. He fakes out a defender, turns the corner, squeezes between two more. He's loose!!! Galloping down the sideline. Only one guy left to stop him, and he drags him for extra yardage. Gain of 1, 2nd and 9."

(11-12-2015 09:13 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  I like JP, and really haven't noticed those weird statements, at least in excess of other broadcasters.

The guy who irritated me, long ago, was the radio guy who made calls like this:

"Shelton takes the snap, heads left. He fakes out a defender, turns the corner, squeezes between two more. He's loose!!! Galloping down the sideline. Only one guy left to stop him, and he drags him for extra yardage. Gain of 1, 2nd and 9."

(11-12-2015 09:13 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  The guy who irritated me, long ago, was the radio guy who made calls like this:

"Shelton takes the snap, heads left. He fakes out a defender, turns the corner, squeezes between two more. He's loose!!! Galloping down the sideline. Only one guy left to stop him, and he drags him for extra yardage. Gain of 1, 2nd and 9."

"He heaves it into the endzone. AND IT'S CAUGHT!!!! WHAT AN AMAZING, ONE-HANDED CATCH!!!!... (long pause)... by the defender."