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Jim Harbaugh\'s Nixonian tendencies - Printable Version

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Re: Jim Harbaugh\'s Nixonian tendencies - fullmetal - 08-31-2010

It may be for precedent, and it may be for the players\' sense of intrateam competition.  I\'ll find out when the team takes the field...and hopefully we won\'t need a punter in this game anyway.

Re: Jim Harbaugh\'s Nixonian tendencies - mark3k - 08-31-2010

I\'m with Fullmetal on this one, Garvin.  I appreciate (and share) your personal desire to soak up as much Stanford Football information as possible as the season approaches, and also understand your professional frustration with such sandbagging, but there\'s no Freedom of Information Act consideration here.  Whether it just precedent, to encourage continuing competition, or simply because he doesn\'t owe any reporter anything, I wouldn\'t call this "stupid".  

This stance may not enhance his relationships with reporters down the road, of course, but that\'s obviously his call (and ethical reporting shouldn\'t require "sucking up").  The Comical isn\'t exactly paying for the information he\'s giving them (or not giving them, in this case).

Re: Jim Harbaugh\'s Nixonian tendencies - fullmetal - 08-31-2010

well i mean, if harbaugh is willing to throw down the two-deep for sac state, what happens right before oregon when he needs to decide on a starting tailback and clams up?  people start making noises along the lines of, "well he disclosed for sac state but not for oregon, so <all sorts of ridiculosity>"...and it\'s my guess he\'s more willing to avoid that by setting a policy for himself.

and maybe the two-deep *isn\'t* set.  for sac state, it\'s probably not going to matter, so he could let the competition ride itself out to the last day before practice.  i don\'t know if JH did indeed sign off on that two-deep anyway.

i mean, i was once pulled from a lineup 12 hrs before a race (not through any fault of my own).  it sucked, but coaches have been known to do their own thing at the last moment (sigh).

Re: Jim Harbaugh\'s Nixonian tendencies - terry - 08-31-2010

Maybe Harbaugh hasn\'t made a final decision about who will punt, and he\'s trying to manage the competition between the two punters without having it play out in the media.

Re: Jim Harbaugh\'s Nixonian tendencies - Farm93 - 08-31-2010

Really good teams often do not need to punt when they play they play teams at Sac State\'s level.  Maybe JH did not name a punter because he believes the team will not be punting in this game!!!

Another possibility is that, at least in game #1, the punter that will be called upon will vary by situation.  If placement is critical it could be one guy, if distance is key it will be another.  And with the very real possibility that Stanford may only punt once or twice JH does not want to have either guy think he has earned the job in all situations because he punted once against Sac State.

Re: Jim Harbaugh\'s Nixonian tendencies - Leftcoast - 08-31-2010

Ah come on guys - We love the guy but the evidence is building that Jim Harbaugh has, at best, a testy relationship with the press.   They all seem to be a bit mystified by him and his inconsistencies.   He\'s closed practices this year, is willing to stonewall seemingly innocent questions and be combative over what reporters think of as softball opening lines.

We\'ve heard similar stories from almost all bay area reporters - heck, just this week we\'ve heard it from Wilner, Jenkins and Fitzgerald.  I believe the reporters are feeling jerked around.

Harbaugh\'s always good for a quote after a game and generally will give you a story even on a slow news day so we are not talking Walt Harris levels of testiness (is that even a word?).   He just sees no reason to be forthcoming with the guys holding pens and a notebook.   I might wish otherwise but I believe the guys who actually talk to him.

Related subject ... which Stanford coach in the last 30 years worked best with the Bay Area media?   I\'d have to say Bill Walsh  and I\'m not sure that number two on that list is even in the same zip code.   Green?  Teevens?  Wiggins?   It might even be Harbaugh.



Re: Jim Harbaugh\'s Nixonian tendencies - washingtonismoney - 08-31-2010

More to the point, I\'m not sure it\'s actually a bad thing. Am I starved for pre-season speculation and analysis? I\'m not--if anything, Harbaugh\'s closed shop has meant more speculation and analysis--and so I\'m entertained, which is all I really want as a fan. I think the obsession over closed practice and the like is more a media one than a generally felt one (though it\'s not like I\'ve ever polled the proposition--what say you all?)

(With the caveat that we\'re likely a more engaged type of fan, aren\'t we? Not exactly representative.)

Re: Jim Harbaugh\'s Nixonian tendencies - yvonne - 08-31-2010

It\'s not illegal when the coach does it.

Surprise punter!! - jacketree - 08-31-2010

I\'m with Garvin.  Holding out a surprise punter for Sac State is just jerking reporters\' chains because he can.  I can\'t wait for what proves to be some insane punting action.  It\'ll be just like Elway coming off the bench and throwing a 90 yard bomb flatfooted from his own end zone or something.

Re: Jim Harbaugh\'s Nixonian tendencies - fullmetal - 09-01-2010

Maybe we\'ll unveil a rugby-style punt.

Re: Jim Harbaugh\'s Nixonian tendencies - CowboyIndian - 09-01-2010

Quote:Maybe we\'ll unveil a rugby-style punt.

Way too Idiotface!!

Re: Jim Harbaugh\'s Nixonian tendencies - fullmetal - 09-01-2010

I don\'t know about that.  I think Texas used the rugby punt with some success in recent years.  It\'s very hard to field quickly and accurately, and a big enough leg will give it pretty good distance.

Re: Jim Harbaugh\'s Nixonian tendencies - mark3k - 09-02-2010

Quote:I think Texas used the rugby punt with some success in recent years.

That would seem to undermine Cowboy\'s analogy to an Idiotface strategy  ;)


Re: Jim Harbaugh\'s Nixonian tendencies - CowboyIndian - 09-02-2010

Well, before Idiotface, I actually was a believer in the rationale for a chess-move quick kick on 3rd down. Never again. He ruined that for me, too!

Re: Jim Harbaugh\'s Nixonian tendencies - fullmetal - 09-02-2010

Ah I see.  CI, you\'re right, Walrus Harasser did use the 3rd down quick kick in which the QB punts the ball.  Texas, for at least a couple of seasons, used a rugby-style punt on 4th down in which the punter receives the ball and delivers a sideways sort of punt that has the ball flipping end over end (shoulders are offset about 45deg w.r.t downfield).  That punter has averaged over 40 yds/punt for the last three seasons.

Re: Jim Harbaugh\'s Nixonian tendencies - fullmetal - 09-02-2010

I can just imagine the secondary looking up in confusion--that\'s not any kind of spiral from a quarterback they\'ve seen, and no one\'s in that general area--and then an onrush of offensive players functioning as special teams players stampede past them down the field...

I\'ve never seen a quick-kick in person, and I hope I never see Stanford pull that play out.

Re: Jim Harbaugh\'s Nixonian tendencies - Robbie - 09-02-2010

How open Harbaugh is with the press about the depth chart is not something I worry about.

What I want:
- a clean program
- an entertaining, competitive team,
- athletes who represent the university well

I suppose that some level of secrecy has the potential of reflecting poorly on the university, but I am certainly aware that the entire Harbaugh PR package is a very great net positive. So he has quirks. Who doesn\'t?

Who doesn\'t?  garvin - Redrum - 09-02-2010

A man totally without quirks.   Well,  one time he beat up a guy who looked like Fidel Castro,  but who among us wouldn\'t have done the same thing?

Re: Jim Harbaugh\'s Nixonian tendencies - CowboyIndian - 09-02-2010

Quote:I\'ve never seen a quick-kick in person, and I hope I never see Stanford pull that play out.

I think California.....Pennsylvania, that is....might whip it out this year, so to speak. Wlat has taken his inspirational message there as OC.
Did you blessedly sleep through the Wlat years here? God, we sucked! Harbaugh could kick Mother Teresa\'s ass before church then have non-consensual sex with lab monkeys and I\'d still take him over Buddy or Wlat.

Re: Jim Harbaugh\'s Nixonian tendencies - RandyB - 09-03-2010

Don\'t we have both left- and right-footed kickers?  I would think that might make a difference for punt coverage, and maybe that\'s behind Harbaugh\'s silence.  Might as well keep \'em guessing for at least the first game.