December 2007 - Posts
If this book exists, I need it.
I am terrible at packing. I don't know what it is. I always bring clothes I won't need and inevitably forget something I will need.
I make lists, I start packing early. It doesn't help.
Oh well. I've survived this long.
I had better not blog about this game too often, but the Holiday Bowl just had one of the more strange happenings I've ever seen.
The Arizona State QB was almost sacked, but instead made some kind of play (its debatable whether he fumbled, lateralled the ball, or threw the ball [poorly; and backwards]). The ball bounced towards the sideline and a Texas coach/assistant/manager (it turned out to be Mack Brown's step-son) came out and almost touched the ball. The ball stayed in bounds and Texas ended up with it. The call on the field was first-down Texas.
The refs reviewed the play and inexplicably decided Mack Brown's step-son had touched the ball - un-sportsman-like conduct was called and ASU moved half the distance to the goal (to the 7 yard line). They scored on the next play.
I'm sure this will show up on youtube eventually. But man, that was crazy.
I mentioned in a previous post that a friend of mine had been trying to get me to bring my saxophone back to The Hook with me from my mom's house. My girlfriend had been bugging me about that for months as well.
Well, it finally happened.
When I left my mom's to head to my grandmother's for Christmas this week, I snagged my saxophone and brought it with me.
I opened the case when I got it back here yesterday.
Gross.
I haven't opened that case since May 1999. That's 8 and a half years of just sitting there. I've got old reeds in there. Two mouthpieces (one broken, one semi-broken), one ligature (also broken) and a bunch of empty boxes and (very dirty) cleaning items.
Gross.
So now I have a list of things to take care of...
- Get the whole thing cleaned/adjusted/oiled/tuned/etc.
- Buy reeds. I have a vague recollection that reeds come in strengths. I used to use fairly strong ones. I have a feeling I won't anymore.
- Buy a new mouthpiece (Selmer Paris still good?)
- Buy a new ligature (uhm...).
- Buy new cleaning stuff.
- Buy some sheet music.
I should have thought of this before Christmas...
"Do you think a woman can be as effective a President as a man?"
That was the question posed on facebook's politics application (which appears to be somehow connected to ABC News, but I haven't explored that connection yet). You'll need a facebook account to see the question (current results: 78% Yes; 19% No; 3% Unsure).
I'm sure there is a more vague way to ask this question. But... I can't come up with one at the moment.
There are lots of subtle implications here. The real question expands to something like this:
"Do you think that [some] woman [could] be as effective a President as [some] man [at some point in time]?"
For someone to say no to this question, they would have to truly believe that no woman could ever be as effective as President as any run of the mill joe-blow man.
I can say, leaving all bias and political maneuvering aside, that anyone who truly believes that is a fool of utmost proportions.
But how is that question relevant right now? Isn't the real question right now whether Hillary Clinton can be as effective a President as a man? Or, more specifically, whether Hillary Clinton can be as effective a President as one of the dozen or so male contenders she is up against?
If you ask me, ABC News (or whoever actually posited the question) is intentionally baiting people. By setting the bar so low, they're ensuring that people must say yes. By taking people down the thought process in this manner, they're putting people in a "let's be positive about women" mode of thinking. If you take that and start talking about Hillary Clinton (which is the logical next step), people will be more inclined - having just answered the previous question as it was asked - to ignore the problems with Hillary that might be tied to her being a woman.
I won't get into the list of potential problems with Hillary Clinton as they deserve their own post. Maybe I'll do that while I'm en route to Jacksonville. But probably not - I like enjoying my vacations... Anyway, I just wanted to point out that vague poll questions are dumb. Vague poll questions that are also leading... those really irk me.
I could only read the stories about FSU and Tennessee so many times without really wondering when we'd hear something about our own players.
It seems like every year we get a bit of bad news around bowl time - though this is certainly not something limited to the Cavaliers.
Reports are abundant (we've even heard from Groh himself, per his teleconference today) that Chris Cook and Mikell Simpson did not travel with the team to Jacksonville on Tuesday.
Right now we're in a bit of a holding pattern as there are some appeals processes to be done. We should know more within a day or so (I would guess appeals would need to be complete by end of business tomorrow, perhaps?).
Blogging will be slow around here over the holidays.
I was in Richmond/Fredericksburg with family the last few days for Christmas... and in 2 days I'm leaving for Jacksonville for New Yeras and the Gator Bowl.
So don't expect much.
After the New Year I hope to get some more blogging about basketball and perhaps an ACC season preview... We'll see.
This article hits pretty close to home since I have just recently started blogging, and also just recently started enjoying some people's live blogs (I mentioned one in my last post).
Here is the list of rules that the NCAA is imposing on its credentialed* bloggers (taken straight from their own PDF):
Fall Sports
Soccer: Five times per half; one at halftime
Field Hockey: Five times per half; one at halftime
Volleyball: Three per Competition; one in between Competitions
Football: Three per quarter; one at halftime
Cross Country: Ten per day/session
Men’s Water Polo: Three per quarter; one at the halftime
Winter Sports
Ice Hockey: Three per period – one in between (includes overtime)
Basketball: Five times per half; one at halftime; two times per overtime period
Wrestling: Ten per session
Indoor Track and Field: Ten per day/session
Swimming and Diving: Ten per day/session
Bowling: Ten per day/session
Gymnastics: Ten per session
Spring Sports
Baseball and Softball: one every inning (includes extra innings)
Women’s Water Polo: Three per quarter – one at halftime
Lacrosse: Three per quarter; one at halftime
Outdoor Track and Field: Ten per day/session
Golf: Ten per day/session
Tennis: Ten per day/session
Rowing: Ten per day/session
Fencing: Ten per day/session
Skiing: Ten per day/session
Rifle:Ten per day/session
This is just insane, if you ask me. The motivation, I'm assuming, is because they want people to watch their tv broadcasts, their web broadcasts or just attend the games. They don't want fans to rely on live blogging instead of the normal avenues for watching the games. That is ridiculous.
Especially in non-televised events. If I had want to follow the ACC championships in Cross Country this fall, I would have had absolutely zero mechanism for doing so from the NCAA. But if some credentialed blogger wanted to help out those of us who are actually interested in following the under-reported sports... they can't anymore. At least, not in any interesting way.
It's simply amazing that the NCAA continues to make decisions that defy all logic and that perplex their entire audience. If they didn't have a monopoly, there's no way they would survive...
* This is how they are going to get away with this. This only applies to bloggers to whom the NCAA is giving credentials. That means they can set whatever kind of [absurd] rules they want.
I'm not sure Mike Scott was the player of the game last night. Mac and Jim named Meyinsse (career high 9 points, 9 rebounds) as their player of the game. One could make an argument for Adrian Joseph (team high 19 points, 3 rebounds). But Mike Scott is the player I'm talking about the next morning and that tells me he was the player of the game.
Scott started last night for the first time in his career, stepping in for the injured Lars Mikalauskas and Ryan Pettinella (and Tunji Soroye who has been out for a while now). The 5 isn't really Scott's position, but the Pirates weren't exactly a big team on the floor last night.
It was obvious from our first possession that part of the game plan would be to get the ball inside. Scott was moving around trying to get position and the guards were looking inside. Looking, but not passing. It took a little while before the ball really got inside (in fact, Scott didn't have his first basket until just under 4 minutes remained in the first half). You could see, however, that the guards were feeling out Hampton and their defense.
Later in the game, Scott made 3 buckets (the first and second sandwiched around free throws from Jamil Tucker) in a 2 and a half minute stretch of the second half. That surge helped extend Virginia's lead further into double-digit territory, a margin they would only temporarily relinquish.
Today's Daily Press has some quotes from Scott talking about how he got after the guards, trying to get them to give him the ball. That takes some serious guts for a freshman to tell someone like Sean Singletary what to do. But it was the right move, and it paid off.
Having an inside game is a very important piece of the puzzle for this team. We can't always have the hot shooting hand. And sometimes we'll be guarded in ways that make shooting from the perimeter pretty tough. So Mike Scott's continued emergence is a very nice development.
Random Musings
- Singletary's stat line looks like he continues to struggle. And to some extent, he is. The turnovers are frustrating in particular, but sitting in JPJ I didn't realize he had that many turnovers. As a team I knew we had a lot. But I guess I didn't blame him for some that were credited to him. The one big difference with him this year compared to last, in my opinion, is that he's really moving the ball around. There were lots of times where I think last year he might have taken a contested three or drove into the lane trying to draw a foul. But this year he doesn't seem to need to. Joseph can knock down the threes. So can Baker. Diane some games too. Jones as well. Scott and Meyinsse can do some impressive things inside. So Sean just doesn't have to. A few of the possessions towards the end of the game where I was wondering if he would get double digits or not, he seemed content to just pass the ball around to his teammates and see what they could make happen together. That's the point guard's job, right? Nonetheless, he needs to work on those turnovers a bit.
- Jeff Jones spent much of the game looking a lot less comfortable than he did in the first couple games of the season. I'm curious about his apparent backwards step, but I don't think its much to be concerned with. On a couple occasions, Jones drove into the lane and took it to the basket. Not as clean of a play as I would have liked to see, but its nice to see a freshman take charge like that when his outside shot isn't falling.
- Diane did not have a great game, but, according to reports, it was the Pirates plan to eliminate him and Sean from the game. Looks like that plan worked, but Hampton didn't have a backup plan in place for Meyinsse, Scott and...
- Adrian Joseph. We got a glimpse of what he could do towards the end of the year last year. We knew he had ice in his veins when taking important shots. But seriously - did anyone expect what we've seen so far? I guess some people did. Regardless, Joseph continued to look good, notching a team high 19 points. He didn't get a double-double this time around (as he's done, I believe, 3 times so far this season), but with Meyinsse and Scott working the glass, he didn't need to.
- Our inbounds play needs to improve. It looks like we're trying to run some sort of play... but I can't tell at all what it is. A couple times we made really poor decisions. Scott passed the ball in to Singletary under our basket... but apparently didn't notice the Hampton player standing between them. On another play, Sean passed the ball in to Calvin, who passed it back to Sean a second later... only problem being that Sean hadn't come back inbounds yet. We can afford those mistakes right now. We can't afford them when we get into ACC play or into the dance, so I really hope it is somewhat of a point of emphasis during practice the next couple weeks.
- Does anyone else feel like we swing the ball around the perimeter pretty slowly? I watch games with other teams where they can't get the ball inside, so they just swing it around the perimeter until someone is open enough to shoot. Since we usually have 4 3pt shooters on the floor at any given moment, shouldn't we be able to do that pretty easily? It just seems like the ball moves much more slowly.
- The live blogging by Chris Graham and Scott German during the game (mostly the second half) is pretty entertaining and worth the read. I had many of the same thoughts (particularly about the fouls) from where I was sitting.
- It's really really really nice to see a Virginia big man catch the ball near the basket, turn and, with aggression, put the ball into the basket off the glass. And then do it again from straight in front of the basket and no glass just a minute later. Yay for inside games. I can't mention that enough.
Mike Ingalls (the fan formerly known as BoardHost) just made a rare post to TheSabre's Good Ol' Blog talking about why the fans should be supporting the team for this bowl game instead of belly-aching about a myriad of other issues that do not concern this team.
I’d like to weigh in and say that this team deserves the support of the UVa fan contingent, regardless of where the seats are located, the love fest shown to Virginia Tech on Nov. 24, or any other matter that seems to be more of an excuse than a reason for not supporting this year’s team. ... [S]ome of the excuses that are being thrown out have nothing to do with what the football team deserves in terms of your support.
Hear, hear!
While my last post was a rant more specifically about using the reseating policy as an excuse, Mike's thoughts echoed some of my own:
But my real point here is that this is quite possibly the worst reason I've ever heard of for not going to a bowl game. What does next year's seating policy have to do with cheering on the ACC Coach of the Year. What does next year's seating policy have to do with being present for the final game in a Virginia uniform of Chris Long, a man whose accolades this season are too numerous to list in this paragraph - and is a wonderful person on top of all of that. What does next year's seating policy have to do with supporting the group of men who entertained you all season long with their improbable (and often heart-attack-inducing) wins?
Mike continued to say things much better than I did (emphasis his):
Fans should think carefully about why they may choose not to support the team for this bowl game. Remember who you’re really supporting, the coaches and players that gave you something to cheer for. Don’t senior players like Chris Long, Ian-Yates Cunningham, and Nate Lyles deserve your support? Long is one of the best defensive players to ever wear a Virginia uniform. Cunningham moved from position to position, often fighting terrible injuries, to end up being one of the team’s best offensive linemen. Lyles bounced back from a terrifying injury to play again and play well. Why would anyone not want to watch these kids play another game in a Virginia uniform?
Normally I wouldn't copy that much text from someone else's blog post, but I felt that this was a comment worthy of being spread. Everyone who reads this should make sure to follow the link to the full post and read it in its entirety.
Then go out and buy tickets to the game - regular or proxy - and do it through the UVA ticket office.
The local NBC station (NBC29) reported last night that a poll on their website asked why people were not going to the Gator Bowl this year. As of right now, here are the results:
The trip is too expensive - 24%
I'm upset about the new Scott Stadium seating policy for next year that requires a donation - 50%
Other reason - 22%
I am going - 4%
I'm going to address these out of order:
I am going
Well, good. This blog post is not about you.
The trip is too expensive.
Fair enough. I certainly can't bring myself to force people to spend money they don't have. I'll admit that its not cheap for me. Dedicated fans will still go (like I am doing) but I can't fault people even a little bit if this is the reason they can't go. This blog post is not about you.
Other reason.
I'm going to assume that for most people this category really means one major thing and then a lot of other things. The major thing being "I have other plans." The bowl game is on New Years. People already had New Years plans. The bowl game is right after Christmas, people already had Christmas plans. The bowl game is right after people just took time off from work, people can't take more time off from work. Those are all valid excuses. Dedicated fans waited to find out their bowl destination before making plans, but I can't fault the people who did not. This blog post is not about you.
I'm upset about the new Scott Stadium seating policy for next year that requires a donation
This blog post is about you.
Fifty percent of the respondents said that this was their reason for not going to the bowl game.
Seriously?
I'm not sure how many people voted in the poll (NBC29 conveniently left that out) but I have to assume based on the percentages that it's at least 100 people. From reading the comments on TheSabre about the seating policy, I'm fairly certain that 50% of the population doesn't understand the seating policy well enough to justify being upset about it.
To start off, the question itself was misleading and likely lead some people to choose that option even though they didn't mean it. 2008 season football tickets at Scott Stadium will NOT require a donation. In fact, VAF's little chart conveniently points out a group for people who are non-donors. Why would they list people who were non-donors if they were ineligible? Non-donors will still get seats. Compare that to other schools (even our agriculturally inclined cousins down the road) where every season ticket holder is required to give a donation. What's the big deal?
I could probably go on about this topic for 20 pages.
The reseating policy makes sense for the University. We haven't reseated the stadium in a LONG time and the current system is unfair to anyone who started giving donations in the last 50 years or so. Which, if you didn't notice, is just about everyone that comes to the games. Currently there are people sitting inside the 40s who have given their $100 donation every year since 1950. That's just grand. It really is. I'm glad we've had their support that long. I wish we had more people like that. But I have donated more money than them in my limited time since graduation. Should those people just be kicked to the curb? Of course not. They should be given the opportunity to keep their seats (the new policy provides for that, more or less) and they should be given the option to continue donating at whatever level they choose (the new policy provides for that) and they should be given the option to continue buying season tickets (the new policy provides for that). Should I be stuck wallowing in the endzone next to the painfully annoying visitors section just because of my age? No, I should be given an opportunity to sit where my donations allow (the new policy provides for this). Where is the problem?
Sure, people who get "screwed" by this policy are going to be mad. Of course they are. That's how it happens. UVA could offer free tickets to the first 65k people that show up - and people would still find a way to complain.
We could argue this all day (I'm sure anyone reading this is arguing with me in their head right now - I seem to be in the minority that is 100% in favor of this new policy).
But my real point here is that this is quite possibly the worst reason I've ever heard of for not going to a bowl game. What does next year's seating policy have to do with cheering on the ACC Coach of the Year. What does next year's seating policy have to do with being present for the final game in a Virginia uniform of Chris Long, a man whose accolades this season are too numerous to list in this paragraph - and is a wonderful person on top of all of that. What does next year's seating policy have to do with supporting the group of men who entertained you all season long with their improbable (and often heart-attack-inducing) wins?
As usual, our fan base is just looking for something to whine about. Some excuse to justify their poor support of our programs (yes, programs - anyone who has been in JPJ this season for a men's or women's game knows what I'm talking about). They picked up on one of the hot topics of the year (it's bound to get white hot as the March 31 priority deadline approaches) and used that to make themselves feel better about their lack of support of our programs.
It's sad, it really is. As a fan base we demand the most from our players, our coaches and our administration. Yet we apparently demand very little from ourselves.
We're The University of Virginia. We can do better.
Vandy-Hoo linked to and preserved a great posting on TheSabre by LoyalHoo. I enjoyed it so much, I just wanted to make sure all three of my readers saw it.
I don't normally talk about our football commitments unless there's some real specific reason to do so. But in this case I'm making an exception.
Groh and Co. landed a verbal from Rod Wheeler, a 6'4" 240 pound TE from Highland Springs High School.
Why do I mention this particular verbal?
Because he's from Virginia.
He joins Buddy Ruff from Norfolk, bringing our in-state load to a whopping two.
I'm definitely not one of the "sky is falling" types about this year's in-state recruiting woes. I really don't care that much and think things will be different next year. But I do feel that this needs to be well-documented.
I want to catalog these achievements in this post because I like to be able to refer back to them. I'm sure they're all listed in other places, but I want them on my own site so I can easily find them.
As an aside, did you know Chris Long has his own Wikipedia page?
- #91 Jersey Retired
- Received 17 points in the 2007 Heisman voting (1 first place vote, 2 second place votes and 10 third place votes). Fifth player from UVA to finish in the top 10 in Heisman voting.
- 2007 Unanimous All-American
- The Football Writer's Association All-American
- The American Football Writer's Association All-American
- The Walter Camp Football Foundation All-American
- The Sporting News All-American
- Associated Press All-American
- CBSSports.com All-American
- Rivals.com All-American
- 2007 ACC Defensive Player of the Year
- 2007 All-ACC First Team
- Ted Hendrick's Award Winner
- Dudley Award Winner (top collegiate player in the Commonwealth of Virginia)
- Richmond Touchdown Club Defensive Lineman of the Year
- Lott Trophy Finalist
- Lombardi Trophy Finalist
- Nagurski Trophy Finalist
- 2007 ACC Defensive Lineman of the Week (twice)
- 2006 All-ACC Second Team
Sources:
I've got a lot of friends asking me for information on the bowl game. And now, thanks to TheSabre, I have a place to point them to for all of the information.
I don't really have much to say about this quote, in part because I think it speaks for itself, but I wanted to preserve it here on the blog so I would always know where to find it.
"The chief theoreticians behind the modern athletics rivalry are sports writers and people who sell T-shirts," Casteen writes. "Among persons with less obvious motives, and with more important things on their minds, this athletics rivalry is more jocular than serious."
Yeah...
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