Talk:Mark Vlasic/GA1

GA Review

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Greetings. I will review this article to see if it fulfills the GA criteria. My internet time is somewhat limited right now, and as such I can't begin the review immediately, but I'll return in 24 hours to start. Nosleep ^{break my slumber} 15:56, 27 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Apologies for the delay, a legal matter (and a little burnout) kept me from returning sooner. Let's get down to it.

Quick fail criteria assessment

The article completely lacks reliable sources – see Wikipedia:Verifiability.
Lots of good sources
The topic is treated in an obviously non-neutral way – see Wikipedia:Neutral point of view.
Neutral
There are cleanup banners that are obviously still valid, including cleanup, wikify, NPOV, unreferenced or large numbers of fact, clarifyme, or similar tags.
No tags
The article is or has been the subject of ongoing or recent, unresolved edit wars.
No edit wars
The article specifically concerns a rapidly unfolding current event with a definite endpoint.
An article on a conclusively-retired professional athlete is about as stable as an article can get.

Proceeding with further review immediately. Nosleep ^{break my slumber} 19:41, 29 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Firstly, are Center High School (Pennsylvania), Rob Houghtlin, and The Bryan Times likely future articles? They stick out as the article's lone redlinks. Per my cursory research, it doesn't seem Houghtlin ever played in the NFL, so I wonder whether he's notable. Of course, redlinks aren't a big deal, but unless they are likely future articles, they shouldn't be there.

Center High and Bryan Times (created now) are notable for an article, I could make a couple stubs for them. Houghtlin I honestly am not sure. I'm a deletionist so I'm leaning towards no, as he didn't play in the NFL, but he had a nice college career. I may ask the College Football WikiProject about that guy. Wizardman 21:41, 29 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Is Vlasic of Serbian or Croatian descent? That may be nice to mention, if it's known. I think an indication of the pronunciation of his last name would be helpful, too - I imagine he pronounces it like the pickle and not the Croatian high jumper, but I'd like to see that mentioned, as I for one continually read the name as "VLAW-sitch" instead of "VLAH-sick" and there's every possibility that other readers might as well. Nosleep ^{break my slumber} 19:55, 29 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

He pronounces it like the pickle I believe, I remember reading that a couple times. As for his descent, I unfortunately found nothing on it. I found a Mark Vlasic who committed a crime in the 70s who was Croatian, but that doesn't really help. Wizardman 22:41, 29 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Before the 1988 San Diego Chargers season began, Dan Fouts chose to retire from the game after 15 seasons, leaving Vlasic as the main backup to starter Mark Herrmann, and as a result the Chargers began trying to trade for an experienced quarterback.[17] In response, the Chargers signed Mark Malone and Babe Laufenberg to compete for the starting job, and also traded Herrmann to the Indianapolis Colts. Seems to be an awful lot of 'transition' phrases here. As a result, in response, also...kind of reads a little choppy. Suggest The Chargers also signed Mark Malone and Babe Laufenberg to compete for the starting job, and traded Herrmann to the Indianapolis Colts.

With the Chargers having a reliable starter in Jim McMahon, Vlasic was kept on the list for the season. Where did McMahon come from?

Chargers coach Dan Henning named Vlasic as the starting quarterback against the Dallas Cowboys in the season opener, citing that he was "steadier" than Tolliver.[26] After starting in the season opener against the Dallas Cowboys Department of redundancy department Nosleep ^{break my slumber} 20:38, 29 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Sentences fixed. Wizardman 00:35, 30 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

GA review (see here for criteria)

Is it reasonably well written?
A. Prose quality: Despite the few nitpicks above, the article does indeed seem reasonably well written.

B. MOS compliance: At a glance, the lead seems a bit short, but this isn't an enormous article anyway, so it's probably all right. At most, maybe a mention of Vlasic's Bowl appearance seems wanting (but maybe not even that). Nosleep ^{break my slumber} 20:38, 29 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Is it factually accurate and verifiable?
A. References to sources: This is a little tough to review, with the article being so dependent on print sources. I'll AGF and sign off on this.

B. Citation of reliable sources where necessary: I don't see anything as I read the article that I would challenge as dubious or needing to be backed up that isn't.

C. No original research:
Is it broad in its coverage?
A. Major aspects: What major aspects a career backup can have.

B. Focused: Very much on point.
Is it neutral?
Fair representation without bias: Looks to be so
Is it stable?
No edit wars, etc:
Does it contain images to illustrate the topic?
A. Images are copyright tagged, and non-free images have fair use rationales:

B. Images are provided where possible and appropriate, with suitable captions: Both N/A, as the article doesn't have any images. They're not required for GA, though I do think they help.
Overall:
Pass or Fail: I'd like to see the phrases I plucked from the article and posted above addressed, as well as the matter of Vlasic's name and, if possible, ancestry, but I'm ready to pass this right now. It's not an excellent article by any means but it sure is a good article, and that's what we're here for. Nosleep ^{break my slumber} 20:38, 29 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]