Max Hall and the Ewing Theory

by heyjoe! on Oct 27, 2009 10:13 AM PDT Comment 2 comments

Another terrific observation from heyjoe! in the FanPosts...

I was reading an excerpt from Bill Simmons book on ESPN.com. The book is titled, The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy. Scroll down to the last paragraph that begins "One last Ewing thought." Simmons shares a theory one of his readers, Dave, developed with him years ago called The Ewing Theory. Basically, it's the phenomenon of a team getting better when their "star" leaves the team for whatever reason. As I was sitting in the stands on Saturday night watching the destruction on our home field at the hands of TCU, I wondered aloud to my brother sitting next to me (my literal brother, not my religious brother), what the team would be like next year with Riley Nelson.

Sometimes a player comes in to low expectations and just "has it" - they have something that just makes things happen. Brandon Doman comes to mind. Well, as I read that excerpt from Bill Simmons' book about the Ewing Theory, I had the unsettling feeling that Max Hall might be an unfortunate candidate for the Ewing Theory. This doesn't doom him to mediocrity forever (see the footnote that has Payton Manning at Tennessee as one of Dave's orginal Ewing Theory candidates). I really like Max Hall. I like his passion. I like his fire. I like his drive to be the best. But I felt a little like a Knicks fan as I read this Simmons piece. Read that excerpt. What do you think?

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Agreed

In Max’s defense, coming in as a potential great QB puts a lot of pressure on you to be the best. Especially after his sophomore year all of us were thinking that he was the key to the BCS door for us. But he’s digressed since then. All the expectations for him to perform as the greats of old was and is more than he could and can handle. I think Riley is in a great position to sneak up on the league and turn some heads in the process. He’s had a chance to be on the sidelines and watch Max and get the feel for the responsibility of being a BYU qb… Max didn’t get that.

I said last year that Collie going was good, I regret that now to a degree. BUT Max going will actually be good for us and him.

by vaughnzipper on Oct 27, 2009 11:22 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Interesting

I read this and thought the same thing. Do you remember in 2007 when Hall replaced Beck and was pretty dang good, certianly better than anyone would have thought? Well, what’s happened since? He has gotten worse—or perhaps plateued, specifically in his leadership and rallying ability.
Is Nelson the answer? I don’t know, but I think he does possess the intangibles that Hall lacks. It’s going to be a fun battle between Nelson and Heaps this winter, spring and next fall. The better man will win, and maybe, just maybe, we’ll totally forget Max Hall.

Vanquish the Foe, a BYU Cougars blog at SB Nation

by Layton on Oct 28, 2009 10:31 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs