A Hostile Hochuli Editorial: Who are you to call out a guy?

There has been something brewing in my grey matter for a few days and I am just now combining the time and (hopefully) the thought process to put it together. It is something that has made me uncomfortable, it has made me angry and it has made me disgusted; disgusted to the point of speechlessness – which anyone who knows me will tell you is near impossible.

What is it that perturbed me so?

Jim Mora’s Monday Press Conference. View video here

I guess it was the same as any other press conference – well, except that it started over 30 minutes late, causing a lot of people to ponder if the wonder-child was going to end his Seahawks career before an entire season was up. The normal questions arose from the start: “are there any injuries?” “did that play go as you expected?” “how do you get such luscious hair?”

Alright, that was a Head and Shoulders commercial.

With the exception of the last one, all of those questions were posed and all were answered calmly. And then there was a turn…a turn that made me question his validity as an NFL Head Coach: he started questioning the officials.

Yeah, yeah I know that Seattle always questions the officials. You would too if they had completely screwed you in a Superbowl!

It wasn’t that he questioned it was how. Every coach has his moments when he will question an official (even though maybe this season they should notice that stupid penalties are getting hefty fines) or when he calls out a player, but Mora is making it a normal occurrence. First it was calling out Olindo Mare for “losing the game” when the Hawks haven’t looked like they could beat Washington State most of the season. Now he has supposedly sent 17 plays to the officiating committee to review.

That is not a typo. 17. Mora comments on how many that is; he understands it. Is that enough to catch my ire? No. It is the rest of it. His next move?

He calls out Darnell Dockett.

Look, the play was dirty, it was cheap, and it very well could have KILLED Hasselbeck, forget injuring him. (If you missed it, Dockett “regained his balance” by using Matt’s throat as a crutch) But Mora’s outragre le him to say: “They didn’t call it, so it must be legal…if it is legal, then I am going to tell my guys to do it.”

WHAT!?!? You are going to tell your guys to threaten someone’s career because you are a petulant child?

A reporter (bless him) asked the same question – albeit not in that way – and Mora responded: “I would never tell my players to do anything illegal, nor would I want them to hurt anyone, but if it is legal I am going to tell them to do it!”

Wow. Because a ref had his head up his hindside, you are going to threaten to do something absolutely ridiculous. This quote has been used by a lot of people to say the team has no enforcer (a player that will play tough and stick up for his teammates), but whose fault is that? Also, who cares? What he is saying is that a player might get hurt by one of his players because it was “legal” last week. (gasp) think of the children!

Okay, that is a bit dramatic. But doesn’t it pose an interesting question? What does he tell his kids? They are sitting at home wondering if he is going to draw on the walls because mom didn’t scold them for doing it.

The statement was childish and irresponsible.

Oh. And Josh Wilson AND Marcus Trufant may not play due to concussions. (Insert groan here.)

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The Hoch Reviews: "That First Season: How Vince Lombardi Took the Worst Team in the NFL and Set it on the Path to Glory"

Today’s NFL is all that a lot of NFL fans have ever known. An offense consisting of five linemen, two receivers, one tight end, a quarterback, a blocking fullback and a running back are the standard lineup every Sunday. The average fan is used to the “Diva” receiver, the larger-than-life press conferences and the President, GM and Coach hierarchy. How many coaches does your team have? At least upwards of six, right?

All of those examples are how I know the NFL and they are a few of the reasons that I really enjoyed reading That First Season: How Vince Lombardi Took the Worst Team in the NFL and Set it on the Path to Glory. If that doesn’t make sense, I completely understand and I hope to explain it.

That First Season tells the story of Vince Lombardi’s first season with the Packers. It truly is the genesis of a story that stretches further than he could have imagined, and includes more mini-legends than you can believe.

John Eisenberg has taken a story that some football fans know and created a book every football fan should read. He has written a narrative that is both entertaining and provoking. It starts in November of 1958 as the Green Bay Packers are returning from a game against their rival Baltimore Colts. The Packers season had begun to falter from day one, and at this point they would be lucky to walk off the field intact. Under Head Coach Ray “Scooter” McLean, the Pack had become an abject failure, coming into the game with a record of one win, three losses and a tie. The team had quit. No one was running the correct plays – which by all accounts were part of a playbook the size of War and Peace - and many were more excited for that evening, when they were sure to go out and have a great time. Scooter wasn’t angry – or if he was, he wasn’t showing it – and he knew that come Monday he would be hearing from the Executive Committee.

The team trailed 28-0 at the half, and walked out of the stadium at the end of the day, heads hung low, with the scoreboard reading 56-0. The team was terrible.

At this point of the book, you are asking yourself: “Why? They have Bart Starr, Jerry Kramer, Paul Hornung – how could they be this bad?”

The Packers organization had the same question, so they fired McLean, and started the search. We can all guess who won…even though he was a 40-year-old Offensive Coordinator that no one had ever really heard of. But sometimes that’s the guy you want; a Head Coach that wants it. He was a stout, brash, stubborn man who was always wearing the iconic hat and jacket, cigarette hanging from his lips. He was the Head Coach they needed.

Lombardi had the guts to stand up to whoever he needed to. He stepped up against the Executive Committee (gaining full power over the organization), helped crush the “failure” mentality that had crept into the Green Bay locker room, and changed the idea of what Packer football is. He preached preparedness, working the team out to the point of a few needing medical attention – then working them harder. He cut the play book, making it simpler with numbers corresponding to players and holes they would hit, in hopes that his Quarterbacks would be stronger in play calls at the line. Lombardi also made it perfectly clear that if you don’t show that you want to be there, you won’t be.

That last point is what made this such a poignant story; this book shows us how 50 years ago the mentality was that of toughness and playing the game for the love. Lombardi brought in ideas that seem foreign to any fan of the current systems, and showed that they worked. For example: he didn’t care who Paul Hornung was. Lombardi wanted Hornung to play in this new style (tough) and sat him if he wouldn’t. Jerry Kramer was berated day in and day out because he would miss a block – regardless of how much talent he had, he wouldn’t get away with making a single mistake. The best example might be this: Bart Starr was the third Quarterback on the depth chart for most of the season. Starr showed that he was smart and did the work, but he had a knack for throwing the inconvenient interception. After being Scooter’s number one, he was relegated to the end of the bench – after a rookie. But Starr’s story went as if he had read a script: he gained his job.

Starr learned the playbook, learned Lombardi’s style and soon started to see everything slow down – like a homerun hitter might start seeing a fastball easier, Starr started seeing how the entire system worked together, where people should be and how the defense was shifting. He began to see what was going to happen before it did and firmly took the starting job.

We all know who Starr was; a Hall of Fame Quarterback. What most of us don’t know is that he had a losing record as a starter when Vince Lombardi was not his coach.

The book hit me more when comparing Lombardi’s Packers to the NFL teams and players of today. One example is when he decided to play two starting wide receivers and two running backs, instead of one wide receiver and three running backs. Now that lineup is normal.

My favorite part of the book was the play by play. Eisenberg has a way with words that made you feel like you were there. At a point I wanted to skip forward to see what happened. His telling of the games made me feel like I was sitting in the stands, in the snow and wind watching the blossoming of multiple Hall of Fame NFL players.

Overall, this is one of the best non-fiction books I have ever read – let alone sports books. Eisenberg is truly a genius at storytelling, giving us enough detail to paint a picture then framing it in the narrative.

I highly recommend this book.

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Monday Shmonday - The Hiatus is over! (11/16/2009)

Hi everyone! Matt is back! So the last month has been tough around the Hoch – not because there was a lack of sports news, but because Matt got married! Now you understand why the last three months has been more sporadic then Kurt Warner’s passing statistics. Between getting married and switching jobs, things have been hectic, but now we are back – so strap in kiddies, here comes the pain!

Game of the Weekend
Pats' gamble backfires as Colts win stunner

We all know how much I despise the Patriots; I am sure that there are a few players out there that I would like; maybe a sound clip or two, but as a whole the Patriots to me are the devil. They are the Bob Wiley to my Leo Marvin – that is right; I just dropped a “What About Bob” reference. And to be completely honest, most of it falls on the shoulders of one man. A man who looks like he just jumped out of a train car with his satchel and a belly full of beans, walked into the stadium and put on a headset. A man who cheats. A man who is a complete jerk to everyone around him.

I don’t know if you heard, but Tom Brady is probable next week…


But, I really hate love kicking a guy while he is down, so let’s talk about last night:

NBC was billing this game as the “Rivalry of the Century” and the “Game of the Year”, and it lived up to both of those billings. The game really wasn’t about the teams but more about the cerebral nature of the Quarterbacks and Coaches. Did anyone feel that without Dungy in his corner, Manning seemed like a tag-team wrestler without his partner?

But we saw who came out on top. With 2 minutes to go, the Pats were up by 6, on their own 28 and facing a 4th and 2 that would all but seal the game. Most would say that you punt. You would put the ball around the other teams 20 and they would need a touchdown. That makes sense. Belichick decided instead that he should go for it. Well, we all know what happened: they didn’t convert and Peyton drove his team the 30 yards they needed into the endzone.

Did Belichick make the right decision?

(Gasp) I believe he did. You have one of the most potent offenses in the last 10 years and a defense that has constantly shown holes – play the hot hand. The argument today is that you need to your team the best possible chance to win, and with the Patriots their best chance is Tom Brady. I do think it goes deeper, though. I am a firm believer that Belichick is a jerk and wants to do anything he can to show the world that he is the best coach ever. So he takes unnecessary risks.

Trent Dilfer said it best on the Colin Cowherd show:

(Paraphrased) "Most owners would be asking if they wanted to keep that coach. Not because it was a bad decision, but because you start to question if the decision was made because they wanted to win or if it was for their own ego.”

Anyway…the game was great and Belichick is a jerk.


Upset of the Weekend
Stanford deals USC's Pac-10 hopes huge blow

OOOOHHHHH SNAP!

I am sitting in an all-day meeting Saturday next to a massive College Football fan – an Oklahoma Sooner we will call “Jody”.

Well, “Jody” says to me: “USC will kill them”.
So I say: “I don’t know man, I like what Harbaugh is doing down there”.
Halfway through the game, USC is down 21-7 and he says: “They are pretty good.”
I responded with: “Yes”.

Man, that was worth you reading.


Disappointment of the Weekend
Broncos lose 3rd straight

When you heard at the end of the 1st Quarter that Brandon Marshall had 2 catches for 100+ yards and 2 Touchdowns, wouldn’t you think that the Broncos would win?

Well, when you happen to be as bad as the Broncos have been over the last few years, the culture of your team has changed to that of a loser (trust me, I am a Seattle sports fan). So, why are we so surprised that the Broncos went from 6-0 to 6-3? That is three straight losses, the third being against a Washington Redskins team that has no right to even be playing on Sundays right now.

This bodes well for us Seahawks fans as we watch them plummet – let’s go high draft pick!


News of the Weekend
Stifling Bengals defense caps sweep of rival Steelers after Benson leaves

This is a huge upset – What has happened with the Bengals? They were the bottom of the barrel and now they have swept the season series against the defending champions Steelers.

I’ll tell you what, though – if this team makes the playoffs, they won’t make it past the 1st round.

That is all.


Rumor of the Weekend
Reds may trade Phillips or Arroyo

The “always-wanting-to-offload-payroll-Reds” look to be doing the same thing again, and this time it is two of their best players. A solid starting pitcher (Bronson Arroyo) who has a few issues with consistency, but is still at LEAST a number two starter on most teams, and one of the best-fielding second basemen in the league (Brandon Phillips).

There are dozens of GMs salivating right now that they might be able to pry a great player from a team that just DOESN’T care about longtime building.

(Homer alert) I hope the Mariners are sitting down right now, sorting through the list of players they have, and calling the Reds to find out what they want for Phillips. The Mariners have tried to build the stoutest defense in the league, so why not try Phillips?


Video of the Weekend
Titans’ owner Bud Adams got into the taunting as Tennessee defeated the Bills…awesome.

“Communicating. Keeping up foreign relations.”




Dumbest.Thing.Ever., or: What I Am Tired of Hearing About, or: The Brett Favre Retirement Memorial Honorary Award
Top candidate to replace Charlie Weis is...

For the love of God…just can the guy and hire someone else!

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The Hoch Reviews: “Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen”

On Halloween 2007 I heard a story of how a football team in a small Kansas town had scored seventy-two points in the first quarter of their game the night before. This broke the record of sixty-six in one quarter, a number that had stood since 1925.

I was incensed. I was railing on everything about this story. How could a High School coach allow his team to show such terrible, grotesque sportsmanship? I’m sure it didn’t help that this was only a few days after the New England Patriots (who would go 16-0) ran up a score of 52-7 against the Washington Redskins.

My feelings have shifted (for the Redmen, not the Pats) after reading Joe Drape’s “Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen”.

In this Friday Night Light’s style documentary, Drape moves his family to Smith Center, Kansas to follow this team during the 2008 season - the year after the blowout. Drape is the New York Times columnist that covered the story on the day before Halloween the year before, so he seemingly had access to everyone. He moved his family from New York to a city of 1,900 people on 1.2 square miles.

You pick this book up looking for a great story about a young football team; the struggles and triumphs, the ups and downs, but you get much more. Drape paints a portrait of the town and its inhabitants. He tells you the story of fathers who played on the team because their fathers had before them. You learn about men and women who went off to college but came back to Smith Center because that is their home. You discover a community that you didn’t know existed. You hear about the community that cares more about each other then they do anything else. You hear stories about a simpler life where men still have breakfast with their parents before they harvest their crops.

Expertly woven in this city’s biopic is the story of the Redmen’s battle for the State Championship behind a Senior Class that was inexperienced and not nearly as talented as the team before them. The Redmen are led by Coach Roger Barta – a man who cares more about the kids then he does about the games. The team had won four straight state championships while outscoring their opponents 704-0 during its fifty-one game win streak, but Roger Barta was more interested in the maturation of these young men.

This is why I changed my tune. Barta wasn’t telling his team to destroy Plainvile on October 30, 2007; he was putting them in position to win in life. Sure, he had installed is offense in the Junior High ranks, so when the kids got to him, he taught them game plans, he trained them on how to get better, but above all else, he had taught them how to be men.

While I was a little disappointed in the lack of “play-by-play” in “Our Boys” (and that there are photos in the middle of the book that tell you how the season progresses), I was not disappointed in the amount of heart. I cared about these kids and remembered what it felt like in High School to see your team win.

I was entranced from the first page and it never let me down. Drape has written a book that any sports fan would like. No, that anyone would like.

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Little Girl Throws Ball Back

Kids are cool and all...but come on

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"The NFL" Meets "The Oregon Trail"

Thanks Mr. George...this is flipping awesome

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Offense finds their way but defense rules the day

NFC WEST:

Seahawks 28

Rams 0

The Seahawks open their 2009 season with a defensive gem on Sunday, shutting out the Rams at Qwest Field 28-0.  Now before you get really excited there is something you should know if you didn't watch the game; Hasselbeck looked like a Rookie quarterback without Mike Holmegren in his head.  Hasselbeck threw 2 interceptions before the end of the first quarter and was struggling to find not only the playbook, but someone on the offense to catch a ball!  Ok, so the two INT were recoverable because the Rams didn't know what to do with the gifts they had been given, but to add insult to injury, Burleson gets a ball from Hasselbeck, and then fumbles the ball!  Not looking good...  

But low and behold, a hero emerged from our sordid past.  A defense that was tarnished and tattered from its former glory finally had returned to the 12th Man and did so in stunning fashion against the Rams.  This game was won on defense.  They stood up to anything that came their way, including all the mistakes the offense made.  Everyone contributed, even those who had yet to really be tested, Aaron Curry, Nick Reed, and Josh Wilson played like they had been around a while and that makes this Hawks fan very excited.  Although the injury bug took two of our linebacker core out of the game, the defense stayed their course.  This one was about proving something.  It was about announcing their presence with authority(without needing a curve ball...baseball fans will get this quote) 

The key series of the game was in the fourth quarter with 3 minutes to go and the Rams charging down the field...you know the series...  The Rams are within the Red Zone and have the chance to walk out of Qwest with at least a field goal, but go for it on 4th down and the defense stops them!  

We could talk about all the specifics like John Carlson starting out with 2 touchdowns and a pro bowl year or Houshmazode and his catches or Julius Jones and his 100+ yards of rushing, all the stats, and why this game was eventually balanced with whispers of the past winning seasons, but today and in this article we will say the offense found their way, but the Defense ruled the day.

GO HAWKS! 

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NFL Week 1 - And so it begins

There are three days in the NFL Season that gets “The Hoch” all hot and bothered – the trade deadline, the Super Bowl and today, the opening game of the season. This is a time when everything is new and we all prepare to watch our teams start their trek to February.

This is a day when we look at our favorite squad through a different pair of glasses then last year. Maybe we are happy that they made that signing or we are devastated that we lost that future Hall of Fame Left Guard to the Minnesota Vikings. You might be ready to see how that draft pick works out or what play that new coach calls on the first drive. Perhaps you are excited because you have a Runningback that tore up the league last year and you drafted him first in your Fantasy league...

Or maybe you are just like me and you love every aspect of every game that you watch. It is a grand chess match, filled with the smartest men in the business attempting to be smarter than their counterpart on the other side. It is a time of camaraderie, a time when you might walk down the street, see someone in a jersey similar to yours and scream something about how great your team is.

And today it all starts. Today the NFL season opens with a game that true Football fans will love: a battle o f two tough, smash-mouth, angry, hard-working, blue-collar teams with Defenses to rival the rest. It isn’t every year that you get to watch a game that includes two of the best Defenses in the league go up against each other, both teams with a Runningback that might be able to exploit it and with a Quarterback that is more likely to throw one touchdown and no interceptions then four touchdowns.

Tonight it is the:

TENNESSEE TITANS
AT
PITTSBURGH STEELERS (5.5)

So who wins?

I don’t know. Watch the game. (But my money is on the Steelers and the points; while my heart is on the Titans)

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The face of the brand!!

My dad has a shirt...where's yours?
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Matt's 2009 Season Preview - NFC East

It has been tough to try and get these done before kickoff tomorrow. My goal now is to get you a preview of the games this weekend and continue the season previews by Sunday! Sorry everyone, we are trying, but with so much happening this week, it is difficult to focus on each division.

The NFC East.
(In Alphabetical Order)


Dallas Cowboys

I don’t know how much to say about this team – there are so many strengths and so many weaknesses…the problem is that their problems are in some major areas.

They have a great (cough) Quarterback, a solid TE, decent Offensive line, solid Running Back tandem, great Defensive line, and a great set of linebackers. Their secondary isn’t the greatest (and I used to be a huge Ken Hamilin and Roy Williams fan) and is going to cause them some woes.

But their biggest problem? Their coaching staff.

Jerry Jones is Al Davis “Lite” and has surrounded him with a staff that will do as he asks, and not what may be the best ideas for the team. That is their problem.

They could have the best team but as long as the coaches are the worst, this team will continue to NOT win a playoff game.

2008 Record: 9-7
2009 Prediction: 9-7 – 3rd in the Division



New York Giants

The Giants have a lot to look forward to this year – they have their Defensive line back together, they have their franchise Quarterback locked up for the foreseeable future and they have a young talented receiver corp.

But those same excitement points should make them nervous.

The Defensive line is great. They were great last year without Osi, and he is now back. They should only get better, right? Or will it create a rotation that doesn’t work for anyone – rhythm is a huge thing in the NFL. I don’t believe that they really need to worry much about this, but there is a danger.

Eli Manning has shown that he can throw passes under pressure – and he has a ring to prove it – but is he really worth more than his brother? Contract terms aside, has he proven his worth? He still makes bad decisions and has shown a lack of leadership. With a group of young receivers, he is going to need to learn how be “the guy”.

And speaking of Wide Receivers, this can be exciting for a team to have young, speedy talent at a skill position – but, when that is all you have, there are going to be problems. Both starters are gone (Amani Toomer and Mr. Burress) and now it is up to a few guys who have limited experience to help keep the Offense on pace.

God thing they have a stout run game.

2008 Record: 12-4
2009 Prediction: 11-5 – 1st in the Division



Philadelphia Eagles

What do we say every year? If Westbrook and McNabb can hold up they have a chance. Every year we say that because the Defense is mid-tier and the Receivers are non-existent. This year may be a bit different, however now that DeSean Jackson has stepped up and shown that he is an NFL caliber Wideout, they have some firepower.

There are always questions about the Defense – and with the loss of the stalwart Brian Dawkins, there won’t be anything different this year. Their secondary is decent, their front line is good and their Linebackers are serviceable.

2009-2010 is going to be hard for this team now that they have McNabb worrying about his future. In a town that has little faith in its players, a town that has bandwagons parked at every curb and a town that once threw batteries at Santa (they need to do something else ridiculous so I can mention a different example) having a Quarterback that is a lame duck (even if just in his own mind) is a bad idea. Having Kolb as “the future” and Vick as the Wildcat will get into McNabb’s head.

But the Iggles are always in contention and I don’t see that being any different until something major happens.

2008 Record: 9-6-1
2009 Prediction: 10-6 – 2nd in the Division.



Washington Redskins

Jim Zorn’s job is on the line this season as he goes into year two at the helm of the listless Washington Redskins. He will have some help from the Defense, though as a very good unit got better by adding Albert Haynesworth and Brian Orakpo in free agency and the draft (respectively). They also have a decent schedule playing the AFC West as well as Detroit and St. Louis.

The questions really swirl around Quarterback Jason Campbell. Any kid should get better learning from a coach like Jim Zorn – an ex-QB – and with a few good plays could be in the middle of the hunt as the season winds down.

My favorite description of the team, however is from Kevin Seifert at ESPN.com:

The Jim Zorn experiment was flawed from the start, and now he's left nursing a quarterback his owner wanted to dump this offseason. The Redskins will be competitive, but they're too disorganized to challenge the division's top teams.

I disagree about Zorn, since I think he could be a very good coach if he had some support, but the rest makes complete sense. The schedule is in their favor.

2008 Record: 8-8
2009 Prediction: 7-9 – 4th in the Division

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