Althouse: "Every time we were struggling in kicking, coach tells me to think about girls on a beach or brunette girls."

January 4, 2012

"Every time we were struggling in kicking, coach tells me to think about girls on a beach or brunette girls."

"So that's what we did. Made the kick."

Said University of Michigan's Brendan Gibbons, hero of the Sugar Bowl.

30 comments:

Curious George said...: I bet that would also work on three foot putts.

Attn: Jerry Kelly; 1/4/12, 11:55 AM
traditionalguy said...: That's what Georgia's uptight Coach, Mark Richt, doesn't say for religious reasons. Otherwise UGA could have won its bowl game too.

The beach relaxes you, and then the challenge of a Brunette girl's brains gets you going.; 1/4/12, 11:56 AM
mccullough said...: Stanford's kicker needs to heed these lessons.; 1/4/12, 12:00 PM
Wince said...: I surmise that when thinking about blondes, there's always the question whether the "carpet matches the drapes", and thinking about that can be too distracting and defeat the purpose.; 1/4/12, 12:04 PM
MayBee said...: VA Tech had its third string kicker playing. Their coach had the integrity to sit the first two out.

mccullough- I felt for Stanford's kicker. It looked to me like the team could have worked a little harder to give him confidence going into the final regulation field goal attempt. Instead they ignored him.; 1/4/12, 12:10 PM
Original Mike said...: Mmmmmm.... brunette girls.; 1/4/12, 12:11 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @EDH,

My guess is what's unsaid here is the question right before his coach gave Gibbons the winning advice:

"Gibbons, you prefer blondes, brunettes, or redheads?"

"Brunettes, sir."

"Then, think about brunettes, son."; 1/4/12, 12:13 PM
MayBee said...: He's pretty cute. I bet a lot of girls think about brunette Brendand Gibons.; 1/4/12, 12:32 PM
ricpic said...: They're also instructed to think of a blonde before they make a squib kick. It's all very technical.; 1/4/12, 12:34 PM
BarryD said...: "Stanford's kicker needs to heed these lessons."

Ditto for Boise State, and it's been more than one kicker.

Any of these guys can kick the ball through the uprights from 35 yards away, all day long, in practice. The challenge is to do it under extreme pressure, with crowds screaming.

I don't know that I could. At age 21, I know that I couldn't have. It's amazing that there are people who can! That's why we like to watch college football. :-); 1/4/12, 12:36 PM
Toad Trend said...: Girls on a beach.

Brunette girls.

Nuke, don't think, just throw.; 1/4/12, 12:37 PM
Joe Schmoe said...: My view of U of Mich as a good school has been diminished. Apparently its coaches and players think the beach is devoid of brunette girls. I know they're just football players in flyover country, but jeez. They've been to the coasts to play bowl games. If you go to LA at all how do you not go to Newport, Huntington or any other of their excellent beaches?; 1/4/12, 12:42 PM
DADvocate said...: Little known fact, most guys prefer brunettes, not blondes.; 1/4/12, 12:44 PM
Joe said...: Bah, the coach needs to get up with the times. He should have told his kickers, "Think of yourselves as the 1%."; 1/4/12, 12:56 PM
Original Mike said...: "Little known fact, most guys prefer brunettes, not blondes."

Mary Ann.; 1/4/12, 1:01 PM
Toad Trend said...: "Little known fact, most guys prefer brunettes, not blondes."

Jaclyn Smith.; 1/4/12, 1:05 PM
damikesc said...: VA Tech had no business being there in the first place. They played one viciously overrated team all year, Clemson, and got slaughtered by them.

Twice.

Including once right after my alma mater had exposed Clemson as a joke a week prior (and before the D exposed Nebraska as being a bit of a joke as well).

I suppose the Big 10 had to win at least 3 of the 9 or so bowls they were in this year. What an overrated conference...again.

/football rant over

PC is never going to change basic human psychology. Dudes will always feel far less stress thinking of hot girls in bikinis than being on television in front of millions with the game on the line.

Of course, one could argue that if Michigan played better, it wouldn't have relied on that kick.; 1/4/12, 1:22 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Little known fact, most guys prefer brunettes, not blondes.

That's because most blonde women I've met are bleach jobs.

FTR: I'm a blonde man, so I can tell.

wv: midioms - mid level idioms?; 1/4/12, 1:25 PM
Tank said...: Place kicking is too much like golf.

Way too much time to think.; 1/4/12, 1:28 PM
Ron said...: Let's see....two Michigan teams with dramatic OT victories....Bucky? Buckeye? Not so much.; 1/4/12, 1:53 PM
edutcher said...: I've never kicked a brunette girl.; 1/4/12, 2:10 PM
Bob_R said...: He would not have had to make the kick if the !@#$!@#$ booth referee WHO HAS NO IDEA WHAT THE WORD INDISPUTABLE MEANS didn't overturn the Hokies' touchdown! It should not have come to that. We should have been a head by 14, but STILL!

Not that I'm bitter.; 1/4/12, 2:22 PM
Known Unknown said...: The refs totally hosed VaTech.; 1/4/12, 3:08 PM
Original Mike said...: "He would not have had to make the kick if the !@#$!@#$ booth referee WHO HAS NO IDEA WHAT THE WORD INDISPUTABLE MEANS didn't overturn the Hokies' touchdown!"

You mean the play in overtime?; 1/4/12, 3:13 PM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: Rules to live by:

When playing sports, think about girls.

When playing with girls, think about sports.; 1/4/12, 3:20 PM
Pragmatist said...: Kickers are usually smarter than the average football player. Good evidence for that.; 1/4/12, 4:31 PM
Jose_K said...: Of course, one could argue that if Michigan played better

The refs totally hosed VaTech.
Va tech played bad. All the scoring by Michigan were for mistakes on defense
The refs? The way VaTech played they deserved worse.
bad refes were the ones against the Lions for Packers ,btw.
Go, Michigan; 1/4/12, 5:15 PM
George Grady said...: Virginia Tech was absolutely not "hosed". See, for example, this gif:

http://mgoblog.com/sites/mgoblog.com/files/Screenshot3_thumb.gif

That was not a catch. Coales did not have full control when the ball hit the ground.; 1/4/12, 6:11 PM
gadfly said...: George Grady is wrong of course, as were the officials. The game replay clearly showed the receiver's left elbow touching the ground before the ball ... and we all know that the ground cannot cause a fumble.

I say this despite a my great dislike for the way the Hokies (nee Gobblers) run up the score in games they dominate - all for improving their national ranking.; 1/4/12, 11:05 PM
Howard said...: It wasn't a fumble, gadfly, because he didn't have control of the ball. Current rules state that the ground can't help you control the ball, which it clearly did. The ball rotated 90 degrees when the nose of it touched the ground, ergo no control.; 1/5/12, 6:31 AM