Thursday, April 21, 2011

On this day in Sun Devil History: Archuleta and Heap drafted in first round

ASU has had two players taken in the first round of an NFL draft three times.  The last such occasion was on April 21, 2001 when Adam Archuleta went to the Rams with the 20th overall pick, and Todd Heap went to the Ravens at #31.  In hindsight, of course, Heap turned out to be a steal, while Archuleta's "tweener" status (too small to be a linebacker, too slow for safety) meant that he never fulfilled his high expectations, although the Redskins did sign him to the richest contract ever for a safety.  However, in many ways Archuleta may be the most successful athlete in ASU history, since his wife is one of the most beautiful women in the world.

Above all other variables, talent results in wins in college football.  There is no better way to explain Dirk Koetter's failure at ASU than to note that he did not recruit a single future NFL first round draft pick during his tenure.

A few weeks before the draft, ESPN guru Mel Kiper interviewed Todd Heap and asked him about his decision to leave ASU a year early.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

The Sun Devil Photo Archive - 1962 in color

Another picture from osulmb.  In the original post, this picture is labeled as being from 1962.  It's one of the few color pictures I have ever seen from that early.


If it is from the 1962 season then I have no idea who the opponent is.  Incredibly, we played eight home games that season, and only two on the road.  So the opponent could be Colorado State, Washington State, West Texas A&M, San Jose State, Texas-El Paso, Utah State, Utah or New Mexico State.

The Sun Devil Photo Archive - 1967 @ Utah

Thanks to osulmb on the Sparky's Pigskin message board for these great images.  Consensus is that these come from the 1967 game at Utah, which the Devils won 49-32.  Love the socks!


Here's All-America Ron Pritchard coming in for a tackle:

The Sun Devil Photo Archive - Goodwin Stadium

This generation of Sun Devil fans needs to preserve our heritage.  It's very difficult to find a lot of photographic content on the web from anything earlier than the '90s.  So when I do come across some great images I'm going to try to publicize them.

I do not want to infringe any copyright, so if you own any images used on this site please let me know and I'll be happy to remove them.

To start, here's a truly beautiful image of Goodwin Stadium.  Someone sent me this link a few years ago, but I forgot to make a note of who.  So thank you to the kind person, whoever you are!


Here are two more pictures of Goodwin Stadium from the ASU Libraries archive:



Please contact me if you have images you would like to post.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Once you go black...

Quick thoughts from the public unveiling of the new ASU identity.

What I love:
  • The new Sun Devil Bold font. Very clean - looks good both in the lettering and the uniform numbers.
  • The consistency. One shade of gold; common look for all programs.
  • The way that black was introduced. If you are going to bring black in to the color scheme, do it right. And this is doing it right.
  • The matte black football helmets. Possibly one of the best helmets in college football.
  • The basketball uniforms. Sharp, clean, tasteful.

Meh:
  • The new "trident with flames" logo.  It may grow on me, but I feel like the handle is too short in proportion to the prongs.
  • The all-white football combination (although paired with the black helmets, it could look good).
  • The "ASU" lettering on the football sleeves. Not sure what the point is; would have preferred numbers.

As expected, the message boards have exploded with people whining about the changes and bemoaning the loss of "tradition". ASU has very little tradition when it comes to branding and uniforms. Heck, we were the Bulldogs for many years, then wore numbers on our helmets (Alabama-style) for some of our "glory years". Sparky has only been on the helmets since 1980.

Change is good - embrace it and let's have some fun in 2011!