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Wendell Gee's Pine Bluff Aereoplane / PS2 / NCAA 10

NML

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Wendell Gee

dawg_gone parrothead
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"Welcome back, Coach. Do you know what day it is?"

These are words. This is hearing.

"Just breathe, Coach."

Breathe in. Breathe out. This is breathing. This is pain.

"Good. Can you open your eyes?"

Eyes. This is sickness. This is seeing. This is pain.

"Good. Can you stand up? Take your time."

Stand. This is vertigo. This is standing. This is pain.

"Pine Bluff backed up all the way to their own 7, now the 11. Tie game in Oxford. Tense game. Tough game. Ole Miss the defending SEC champ. Cooper takes the snap. Handoff Guzewski, left side, nothing there - reverses field - finds a seam - to the 15, the 20, it's a footrace to the sideline, the 30, he's gone, the 40, he's gone, he's gone, he's gone."

Guzewski. This is football. This is Pine Bluff.

This.

This is life.




 

Wendell Gee

dawg_gone parrothead
"What do you remember, Coach?"

Remember? Nothing. It's all gone.

"Is it? All gone?"

You're driving through West Memphis, Arkansas, sunset, with your son. He's 12. You're lost. People walk the middle of the roadway and look at you. Where is I-40? Darkness is closing down.

"Pine Bluff, Coach."

Pine forest hills. The smell of .. a paper mill. Like where you grew up. Near Macon. Georgia? Georgia. Like that.

"And?"

A lost expedition. The Quapaw tribe. An artifact. Something buried in the river silt. Something golden. An aereoplane.

"A what?"

An aereoplane.

"No, Coach. You have to learn to differentiate. The internal from the external. That which you believe from that which you see."

Seeing. Believing. This is pain.

"Let's start with verifiable data. Your first season at Pine Bluff."

Your first season. The Golden Lions. UAPB. The Golden Lion itself. The mascot. Why is this so hard? It's like somebody put these compendia in a pinewood box locked tight in a corner of a pinewood cabin near the river and pumped the cabin full of kerosene and burned it all to ash. Where is it now?

"The records are preserved, Coach. Here is the data for your first season. Our first season."
 

Wendell Gee

dawg_gone parrothead
Names.

"You remember the names?"

Jeremy Matthews. Receiver. A troublemaker? But - a leader.

"How a leader?"

Bad home. Bad breaks. But always trying. Every good choice was hard. And nobody knows. Every good choice was hard.

"Matthews had 1968 career receiving yards. Any other names?"

Dendy Lewis. Running back. Workhorse.

"Rushed for 1000 yards for us that year. Then left school even though he had one year of eligibility remaining. Do you remember why?"

Coach i can't play no mo. Need to work mo. Was that Dendy?

"I see. Any other names?"

Of course! Antonio Lovelady, the quarterback. Tiant Lacefield. The tackle. Defensive tackle? Big guy. Like Claude Humphrey.

"Claude Humphrey. The defensive end for the Falcons."

And Eagles. Super Bowl XV.

"I see. Anything coming back about the season itself? Game moments?"

Nothing.

"Then tomorrow we'll move on to--"

Wait. What about recruiting?

"Let's talk about that tomorrow."
 

Wendell Gee

dawg_gone parrothead
"Coach? We're losing him. Coach?"

Data. The numbers. Statistics. The data is here. But where are the stories?

"Stay with us, Coach."

Data alone cannot stand. Data is sand. Where is the fabric that weaves these data together? Where is the mortar? Where is the tongue? Where is it?

"Coach, tell me about these names. This name."

This name? Chris Bell. Cow Bell. Defensive end. Lightly recruited.

"Yes. What were his stories? How were you able to sign him?"

I didn't sign him. It was.... It was.... It was not me. Cow Bell was too short. Just 6'1. Four time All-Conference. Four time All-American. Too short. He put a cow bell inside his helmet padding one day at practice. Just shook his head over and over. He hated the name Cow Bell. He hated losing too. On the way back from the Florida Atlantic game....

"Yes?"

I don't remember. Something happened. More Cow Bell. He called me something. We won the next week.

"What did he call you?"

This is pain. This is memory.

"What did he call you, Coach?"

He called me Oh-Oh.

"What is your name, Coach?"

Your name. Osmond. Oswald. Williams. This is pain.

"Why is this painful?"

A high school football field. The bleachers. Your son, graduating. Where did those years go? Who looked after him? Who was there to tell him he was a good man?

"That's probably enough for today, Coach."

Wait. The game we won. Ray Frederick. Freshman corner. Interception return. Won the game for us.

"That's the data. What is the story?"

He ran the ball into the end zone. Dropped to one knee. Ran back to the sideline. Said, Oh-Oh! Whole team said, Oh-Oh! Bleachers chanting, Oh-Oh! Nobody knowing why. Nobody but Cow Bell.

"That's enough for today, Coach."
 
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Wendell Gee

dawg_gone parrothead
- Are you preparing the Pine Bluff storyboard for the Coach?

+ No. The data alone is sufficient.

- The data alone is not sufficient. Have you witnessed the pain?

+ Pain is sufficient.

- Well now. What have you prepared?

+ An interpretive summary of season results, newsfeeds, and roster analysis. An implied scope of 15 years. Terminating at the present moment.

- So a storyboard.

+ Negative. An interpretive summary of data with an implied scope of 15 years terminating in the present day.

- Signifying a story.

+ Signifying data.

- Show me.
 

Wendell Gee

dawg_gone parrothead
An interpretive summary of data.

Item 1. Sun Belt. The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff initiated Bowl Series play in the Sun Belt conference in 2006. The reasons for the abrupt transition from Championship Series play to Bowl Series play are now unknown. The roster and coaching staff were unprepared and endured a 1-13 conference record over the first two seasons. However, Ray Frederick's interception return in the penultimate week of the 2007 season signified change. From 2008-2010, Arkansas Pine Bluff finished #1 or #2 in the Sun Belt, compiling a conference record of 17-4. Immediate playing time induced good quality defensive recruits at the outset. Three of the Top 5 defensive specialists in Pine Bluff history began play in 2007: MLB Vincent Mackey, SS Derrick Meade, and DE Chris 'Cow' Bell. The offensive attack was chaotic and did not lure quality recruits. Consequently, during this era the team extensively recruited junior college athletes for the offensive program. Notables included HB Jimmy Johns, QB Will Porter, and Pine Bluff's career passing leader QB Michael Hale.
Item 2. Flux and madness. In 2011 UAPB entered play in Conference USA and finished 6-2 in a 5-way tie for first. Due to tie-breaker rules however the Golden Lions were awarded a nominal 5th place finish. For reasons now unknown, Pine Bluff returned to the Sun Belt for the 2012-2013 seasons, finishing first in the conference both years. Notable recruits were WR Mike Musick, Pine Bluff's career receptions leader, DT Fernando Olah, QB Thoong Thormodsgard, and TE Pete Inocente.

Item 3. Conference USA. The program officially rebranded itself as the Pine Bluff Aereoplane during this era which lasted from 2014 to 2019. The reasons are murky and none of the marketing materials remain, however it is likely the program wanted to distance itself from the University of Arkansas moniker. Pine Bluff won the C-USA title twice in these six years and held a cumulative conference record of 41-6.

Item 4. SEC. Pine Bluff was invited to the SEC for the 2020 season and won the western division, but lost to Ole Miss in the conference title game.

We are now in 2021, Week 6. Pine Bluff's record is 3-0 / 2-0, with conference victories over Georgia and Ole Miss.
 

Wendell Gee

dawg_gone parrothead
It's like you don't even know your own children.

"Is what it is, Coach. Ain't what it ain't."

Who are these people?

"Yeah, I was wondering why you be running so much of that Ace Tight bullshit last game. It's like you come to a gunfight bringing a chain."

All you have is that one moment. Guzewski, the cutback, the sideline, the score. The silence. Who called that game?

"Straight up it was you, Coach. Everybody be looking at you like what are you doing? Everybody like, Oh Oh, Oh No, Here We Go."

September in Tupelo. You bring as much water as you can. Never enough.

"Well, you got the state right. I guess that's something. What went down in Tupelo?"

You exit off of 178 onto 145. The back side of the storm. Things are still falling from the sky.

"Uhhh when was this?"

There's nothing left but wreckage. La Quinta, Hilton, Days Inn.

"Was that a long time ago?"

He was going to meet you at the Outback Steakhouse. His young bride was with him. You were going to meet her for the first time. Your daughter-in-law.

"Damn, Coach. Can somebody help me out here? It's like he don't even see me no more."

The GPS says it's here. It's right here. There's nothing here.

"The roster is right here, Coach. This your boys. Right here."

Your boys.

"They need a plan. They need a game plan. You already showed you can straight up smash against the SEC champs. Now show you got guns."

Nexton Jones. His mother named him Next to nothing, because that's what they had and she wanted him to remember it.

"Yeah. Just look at that. You got a 5 year quarterback. You got the guns. We want the roses."

Sweet child of mine.

"We're on the same flow. I'll go coach them up. We'll be ready."

Sam Riley. Signed his letter of intent in 2016. Dropped the first ball thrown his way in 2019. You didn't like that. You let him know it. But with every game his hands came to life. He didn't drop another pass the rest of the season. Player of the game in the conference championship loss to Ole Miss last year.

Mike Perry. You drove through the Shreveport fires and the Beaumont floods to see this guy play at Houston Worthing.
 

joshuahuskers

Utopia Football League
Omg, just checking back in to this forum, talk about a blast from the past! I am starting up (yet another) bee project, will post details soon.
 

Wendell Gee

dawg_gone parrothead
Breaking from the immersion for a moment to thank you guys for the likes and well wishes. I went chasing something a few years ago, found it, had it, loved it, lost it. Needed some solace and recuperation time, and it looks like this is it.

True freshman 95 overall?!?!
He was the #1 ATH in the nation last recruiting cycle. I last played this dynasty 6 years ago, almost exactly six years ago to the day that I turned it back on, so my memory is at best hazy. The storyline is all about my poor memory of the dynasty as it existed on the prior version of the boards. Oldtopia, is that what you call it? I think I started this dynasty on NCAA 07, and each year I restarted on the latest version. I think for 10 I didn't want to go through that whole Sun Belt to C-USA debacle again, so I used the create-a-team feature to put Pine Bluff into C-USA to begin with. As best I remember.

This game is so damn frustrating; I can bend myself into pretzels to roll with it, but that old Momentum is especially hard to deal with in coach mode. Coach mode is where you just call the plays and snap the ball. Kicks have to be executed.

Thank you again for making me feel welcome. More storyboard soon.
 

Wendell Gee

dawg_gone parrothead
"Coach, Sunny Matthews here from The Sporting Tempo. Why did you break away from the playbook that helped you control the Ole Miss game?"

Because when you have playmakers you put them in the open field and see what they can do. The Ole Miss game was a throwback to an earlier time.

"But - may I ask another question - I look at your roster and these two games make no sense to me. Your O-Line is young! And your wideouts are in fact playmakers. Yet as I watched those games it was as if I were seeing something completely in opposition. How do you make sense of this?"

You smile. Nothing makes sense. You drink coffee and fall asleep. You wake up shouting in the quietest moment of the night. Nothing has ever made sense.

"Coach, Jack Ameless here from the Tribune. To follow up on Sunny's question, do you feel you were unready for the raucous atmosphere of Neyland Stadium?"

You're never ready. You prepare, you plan, you execute. You re-plan, you fight. But ready? You're never ready.

"Coach, Greg Poof here from the Knickers. You return home next week after three games on the road. Will it be good to be back home?"

You fly into Hartsfield. You fly into Memphis. You fly into Knoxville. You walk out to the field. The field is home.

"Folks, that will wrap up today's press conference. Thanks for coming out, and thank you for your contributions in the media."

Sunny Matthews.

"Yes Coach?" Clouds form around her green eyes. Lightning in her blonde hair.

You have good questions.

"I do?" The lightning stops. The sun comes out in a twinkle. "I do!"

Will you be at the next press conference?

"I will!"

You fly into Little Rock. There is a house in Pine Bluff. It might be yours. This is pain. This is memory.
 

Wendell Gee

dawg_gone parrothead
Tennessee Defense Dominates #10 Pine Bluff

Sunny Matthews, The Sporting Tempo
October 5, 2021

The "Overrated!" chants had not stopped reverberating throughout a raucous Neyland Stadium when I started writing this blog entry. I was stunned. I guess I had become a believer in Coach O. O. Williams and his Aereoplane. They had destroyed Georgia between the hedges. They had traveled to Ole Miss and put the clamps on the defending SEC champs. Yet here they were getting handled by Tennessee.

Pine Bluff controlled this game, at least in terms of clock and yardage, for the first three quarters. The offense, led by QB Tyler Cooper, RB Kanye Guzewski, and a stable of elite receivers, methodically worked their way downfield time and again. Yet Tennessee's defense created turnovers when it seemed an Aereoplane score was imminent. The first PB drive was snuffed by a 56 yard interception return for touchdown by safety James Reid. The second PB drive ended in a punt. The third PB drive ended with a fumble by veteran receiver Sam Riley after a deep reception.

At the end of the first quarter, the Tennessee offense began to assert itself, driving 61 yards in 10 plays for a field goal. The ensuing PB drive ended in another interception, and RB Mike Cross ran in from 24 yards out to stake the Vols to a 17-0 lead. The next two Pine Bluff drives also came to an end on interceptions. Bluff QB Tyler Cooper played like a freshman at times, firing the ball into heavy coverage or throwing it up for grabs instead of taking the sack. Give Tennessee credit: once they had the momentum, they never let go of it.

I still don't know what to think about this. Perhaps it was the noise. Certainly it took away Cooper's ability to audible. There were times I could tell he was uncomfortable with the play call versus the defense he saw at the line of scrimmage. And I noted at least one false start on the Aereoplane offense that was directly attributable to decibels. I was wearing my noise cancelling headset most of the game, and when I took it off the stadium roar deafened me.

But teams train for that. Pine Bluff has been to Neyland before. It's not their first rodeo.

I've seen the chatter and heard the rumors that there is dysfunction in the coaching staff. And yes, there were times on Saturday that Coach Williams seemed unfamiliar with his own playbook. He spent long minutes studying it, lost in thought, when he should have been attending to the demands of the moment.

Here's my theory. No one has heard from Offensive Coordinator R. T. Toatley since immediately after the Georgia game three weeks ago. There was no talk of him in the bye week. Coach Williams quietly assumed offensive coordinator duties for the Ole Miss game, and the team reverted to a running attack. This week in Tennessee we saw more shotgun passing sets, so I can only assume the coach was convinced to utilize the passing game. And it was actually quite effective - except for the picks. Take away the picks and Pine Bluff dominates this game. No question.

But you can't take away the picks. Pine Bluff got its ass kicked today. Every unit was kicked. The special teams missed an easy field goal. The defense rolled over in the 4th quarter. The offense turned the ball over six times. The coaching staff looked lost. "Unprepared," as my colleague put it.

But, you know, I've followed this team since they beat my Sooners in the 2016 Cotton Bowl. They're a better team than they showed today. They'll get it together. The homestand will help.

I'll be there.

- Sunny Matthews
 
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Wendell Gee

dawg_gone parrothead
"Coach, Buck Givens from the Sun Times. Was the rain a problem?"

Rain? You look up at the ceiling. It's dry. Something about the rain.

"Seven turnovers in this game. Both teams combined."

The ceilings were stained the day you arrived at UAPB. Floodwaters receding. The small hallway was still muddy. The small room had no air conditioning. This was the AD's office?

"Coach, Sunny Matthews here. Kentucky's option offense gave you problems in the first half. How did you turn it around?"

The Athletics Director was a blazing woman. She wore cherry red lipstick. Promoted and went - somewhere. But hired you first. Schooled you first. Small town athletics.

"Coach? My question?"

You don't turn it around. You hit and cover. Wait it out. It's one play at a time. You catch a break on third down. Tie the game. Catch another break. Get a lead. It's a steady progression.

"What did you think about the play of Jarrod Anderson? When Cooper went down the team seemed to panic a little. Then Anderson broke free in the third quarter. My God, that run!"

Once you give yourself options, things break free.

"And you did give yourself options, Coach. Will you stay with Jarrod Anderson and the option attack next week against #7 LSU?"

You have to keep your options open. Floodwaters, fire and rain. You always have options.

 

Wendell Gee

dawg_gone parrothead
"Coach! Can I talk to you?"

Sunny. Of course.

"It's about Coach Toatley."

Toatley. What happened to him?

"I rather thought to ask you the same. You know, where did you even come from, Coach Williams? I thought you were long gone. This was Coach Toatley's team. Has been for a long time."

There was a promotion. Of course. You went to UAB. Was it UAB? The Athletics Director sent you. Before her promotion. Or after her promotion? What was her name? This is memory.

"Coach, what has happened here at Pine Bluff?"

Something on the river. A boat. A tugboat. The dark, muddy waters. Someone's story. This is pain.

"I want to know."

A bridge in the rain. What was it? Someone who didn't come back. Coach Toatley?

"I really want to know."

There once was a woman who walked into a bear's cave and kicked it until it woke up.

"Am I really that bad? What happened next?"

The bear woke up and got to work. Life hasn't changed much. All you have is work. Creating what you see.

"I will see you after the LSU game, then."

Sunny.

"Yes Coach?"

See you then.
 

Wendell Gee

dawg_gone parrothead
It's a chill day in Pine Bluff. Raining since early morning.

A cold house. Cold wooden floors. There used to be a dog here. Dog hair in the corners. Someone's fire in the fireplace. Someone's hot tea.

Someone's tea, someone's town, someone's world.

Not yours.

You're a stranger here, moving among memories like artifacts in a museum. Ceremonial quartz knife, Moundbuilders, Georgia. Baby tooth, preserved, Arkansas.

Someone's tooth, someone's baby, someone's life.

Not yours.

A knock on the door. "Coach Williams? It's Sunny."

Sunny? You look up at the sky.

"I brought Cheez Doodles. I hope you like them. Also KFC. May I come in?"

The door opens wider. Closes. The rain beats an inconstant tempo on the roof, upstairs.

You could listen to it, for hours.

You have been listening to it. For hours.

"This is not working. Perhaps we need to reboot him."

"It's working fine. Everything is fine."

"He is obviously in distress."

"His distress is not relevant."

"Coach, you seem a thousand miles away. Can we talk about the LSU game?"

The LSU game. Yes. It was a victory?

"It was a huge win. Ty Cooper was phenomenal. Six touchdown passes, no interceptions, 429 yards. That's why I'm here. Sam Riley had a career day. Twelve catches, 193 yards, 3 touchdowns. Mike Perry, a career day, 7 catches, 122 yards, a touchdown. Coach, your offensive attack destroyed LSU. And that's a problem. I can't reconcile this. Who is this team? What is this team?"

And that's a problem. You don't know.

It's a sunny day in North Carolina. High humidity. May. You're sitting outside of an ice cream shop on Main Street. Traffic is loud. Your daughter has just graduated from college. The same one you attended, but thirty years different. Thirty years more growth. Thirty years more...

Wait. Your daughter? Whose daughter? There is her face: tangled brown hair backlit with red fireworks in the midday light, blue eyes like her mother. Where is her mother, in this moment? You see a pain in your daughter's eyes, and that's where her mother is. This is pain.

But whose memory?

"Coach, why does this team destroy a good Georgia team, lose to a bad Tennessee team, and destroy a good LSU team? There is nothing about this season that makes sense."

Lightning flares behind her blond hair, her green eyes. Those colors stir no memories, no pain. Can you tell her this is why you like her? That this is why you're comfortable with her in the same room? Same house? Can you just tell her the truth about this?

You can't.
 
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Wendell Gee

dawg_gone parrothead
"Coach Williams. This is Johanathan Redditorson. The newest member of the Pine Bluff family."

"Just call me Johan, Coach. Everybody does."

Johan. Can you play safety?

"Safety? Hey now, everybody knows I'm a lockdown corner. They call me Loctite, you know."

Corner is a lightweight position. What we need is a versatile safety who can bring strength with speed.

"Wait now. Lightweight? Everybody knows I'm a tough dude. Check this out. I did me some bodybuilding back in the day."

Redshirt him while he studies safety.

"Redshirt? Coach now. You done promised me to start. I don't even know what to say. What my mom gonna say? She gonna commit me to The Ohio State, you know. Everybody knows that."

We're going back to the 4-2-5. You want to hit the quarterback some?

"Well now. The quarterback. Like in the backfield? Like on a blitz?"

Want to be the guy who turns the game around? Want to be the player of the game once or twice a year?

"Player of the Game."

Player of the bowl game. Player of the national championship game.

"You mean like that Chris Bell? Like that Derrick Meade? Everybody knows they the best."

You gotta be tough. Not a chicken wing.

"You recruited me here and lied to my mama's face telling me I could start at corner when what you want is a monster man."

We need a weapon. We need someone who is smart enough to read the play. Fast enough to get in the backfield. Tough enough to knock heads.

"Everybody knows I can do all that, but..."

You see a lot of looks at West Central. You know how to work. Think you can grow into your ego?

"Don't tell Mama about this conversation. She the power behind the throne. I need to adjust my self to this."

We're making the switch this week. Watch how we use the strong safeties. Watch how they read the play and how they react.

"A everyday name. 'Mama, Johan in the paper again!' 'That right, your big brother is making Mama proud.' Like, damn, everybody would know my name. ESPN call me up be like Sup Johan? All that."

If you're the monster we need, you will start.

"Like Derrick MEADE. Like Brady JENKINS."

Or you can just be a chicken wing. We need a few of those too.

"Like Chris BELL."

Give him the playbook and access to our game film. Make sure he graduates. Make sure he works. See you next summer, Johan.

"Okay, Coach. 'Sup Johan?' 'Oh not much, you know, just another game.'"
 
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