Tuesday: Just chillin’
Seth Greenberg says "you can't have success and chill in the same sentence."
PERHAPS MARK BERMAN SIGNING UP FOR TWITTER instantly made him more in touch with the athletes of today. For evidence, check out his game story from Virginia Tech’s 84-55 victory over North Florida last night. He quotes Dorian Finney-Smith as saying he was doing too much “chilling” and not enough “grinding” in recent games.
GOOD QUOTE FROM COACH SETH GREENBERG, TOO:“Chilling is out of the vocabulary. If I see ‘chilling’ on Twitter, they immediately get a message from me: ‘Coach Greenberg doesn’t chill. He just strictly grinds.’ Chilling is a bad word. You can’t have success and chill in the same sentence. If you’re chilling, you’re going backwards.”
-Anyway, Hokies improve to 9-3 and will host Eastern Michigan on Thursday. For a scouting report on the Eagles, head on over to the Dedmon Center at 7 tonight; they’re facing Radford.
THE UVA MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM CRACKS THE AP TOP-25 FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2007 after its first 9-1 start in eight years. If you’re wondering why the Cavs-Oregon game wasn’t on the radio in Roanoke on Sunday, it was a scheduling mixup and the station says it won’t happen again.
The Hokies add FCS member Austin Peay to their 2012 nonconference slate.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
-The Hokies finalize their 2012 nonconference schedule, adding FCS member Austin Peay. Tech’s scheduled meetings with East Carolina in 2012 and 2013 have been moved back to 2016 and 2017. Andy Bitter has more here.
-Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl tonight features Florida International against Marshall (8 p.m., ESPN). FIU is favored by 4. The Bowl Guide says take FIU and lay the lumber.
-Penn State QB Matt McGloin says the locker room fight that landed him in the hospital was his fault. “I’m willing to take full responsibility — it was my fault,” he says. “I started it, but as a quarterback for this university, I should be held to a higher standard. It should not have happened. I should’ve walked away from it. It was just two guys who are emotional about the game, who got into an argument.”
-Southern Miss hires South Carolina defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson as its new coach. He replaces Larry the Hat.
-The AP dubs the Penn State scandal the biggest sports story of 2011.
NFL
-The 49ers beat the Steelers 20-3.
-Rex Ryan’s in top trash-talking form as his Jets prepare to face the Giants. “Quite honestly, I never came here to be little brother to anybody,” Ryan says. “So, it’s on.”
-Colts vice chairman Bill Polian says he doesn’t know if Peyton Manning will be back with the team next year.
READER COMMENT O’ THE DAY
-From Dan: I’m just glad that nobody on this blog seems to have jumped “off” the Tebow bandwagon just because of last night’s game. I mean, it WAS the Patriots, and Tebow wasn’t playing against their offense. Tom Brady when he is on can make anybody look bad. The worst thing about the Garland transfer is that it leaves Tech paper thin at the position. If the injury bug starts hitting as it seems to do with Tech squads, as Eddie Murphy said “there’s gonna be consequences and repercussions.”
This funny one is to make up for the unfunny ones yesterday (click to enlarge).
MISCELLANY
-Most agreed that the crying coffee maker mas the unfunniest comic strip ever. After subjecting everyone to those stinkers yesterday, I’ve added a good Far Side that justafan mentioned on your left.
BASEBALL
-The Rangers win the right to negotiate with Yu Darvishwith a record bid of $51.7 million. They now have 30 days to negotiate a contract with the Japanese right-hander.
-D-Backs sign Jason Kubel to a two-year deal.
NAME THAT TUNE
The crops we grew last summer weren’t enough to pay the loans
Couldn’t buy the seed to plant this spring and the farmers bank foreclosed
Called my old friend Schepman up to auction off the land
He said, “John, it’s just my job and I hope you understand”
Hey, calling it your job, ol’ hoss, sure don’t make it right
But if you want me to I’ll say a prayer for your soul tonight
And grandma’s on the front porch swing with a Bible in her hand
Sometimes I hear her singing, “Take me to the promised land”
When you take away a man’s dignity he can’t work his fields and cows…
December 20, 2011 - 8:15 AM
Austin Peay…lmfao…
Sorry…that’s Rain on the scarecrow….john cougar mellencamp……LOL…AUSTIN PEAY….LOL
TTT scores. Rain on the Scarecrow it is.
I understand the reaction toward Austin Peay, but let’s not forget that 95% of FBS team schedule at least 1 cream puff team each season. That said, looking at the other OOC games, Bowling Green is somebody I would never, ever overlook. Pittsburgh is a good football team, got screwed by the AD, and then jilted by Todd Graham. Cincinnati is always a dangerous team. They experienced a down year, but something tells me they might be a factor in the Big East race next season.
The ACC slate looks to be challenging, and maybe the end of the streak of 10 win season. My gut feeling is Tech finishes no worse than 3rd in the final ACC standing.
Reba McEntire “That`s the Night the lights went out in …” Sorry, I just knew that was going to be today`s tune. Don`t know the actual one after looking up. Watched the game with a die-hard Steeler fan. My first suggestion was that Maybe Batch should run a series or two. No response. Second suggestion, midway thru 4th, was that maybe the Steeler faithful should start waving white flags. Terrible suggestion was the response to that. Someone from Penn. St. willing to take full responsibility. Now that`s a response that is a long time coming.
Ralph takes the early lead with the Penn State line.
Wow…just when we thought a schedule that *included* East Carolina was soft, Tech breaks out the Charmin for an even more pillowy-soft schedule in 2012…
Would say Austin Peay, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Bowling Green is at least comparable to:
UVA – Richmond, Penn State, TCU, Louisiana Tech
LSU – North Texas, Idaho, Washington, Townson
Wisconsin – Northern Iowa, Oregon State, Utah State, UTEP
Washington – San Diego State, LSU, Portland State
West Virginia – Marshall, FSU, JMU
Oklahoma State – Arizona, Louisiana-Lafayette, still need third non-conference game
By the way, what was the theme song for Monday Night Football? “Turn Out the Lights?”
Funniest Far Side is the one where the bear in the cross hairs points to the bear next to him.
Funniest ever is the Dilbert where the pointy haired boss beieves he can reboot his laptop by turning it upside down and shaking it.
Funniest thing of 2011 is VT scheduling A-P
This even beats the 9 yard punt into the stands.
Donald, I daresay that UVa have the better OOC games than Tech. Richmond, Penn State, TCU(!), and Louisiana Tech. Wow, that’s even better than what I thought. They could go 3-1 easily with the lone loss to TCU.
Donald, don’t let your facts get in the way of some highly desperate trolls. If they are making a big deal out of a 1-AA on our schedule especially since we had to pick them up last minute. They know very little about College Football. We only had to add them (and almost every site predicted a 1-AA) because we traded East Carolina in 2013 for Alabama. If they really were so concerned about schedule strengths and big time programs, they would be spending their time on the Wisconsin message boards and getting their smack talk ready for LSU’s lineup next year. It is just Hokie hate, you can’t reason with that.
Donald, the difference between VT and all of the teams that you posted (except for UVA which is not competing for National Championships, at least at this point) is that those other schools are in better conferences. When you’re in the ACC, you need to schedule up out-of-conference to help make up for the mediocrity that you’re stuck with for the other 8-9 games.
Bottom line … If Tech wants to be considered a top-tier team, they need to start scheduling top-tier teams more often … and then, actually beat one of them.
I wouldn’t say West Virginia is in a better conference in the Big East. Yes, I know they’re moving to the Big XII, but that might not happen for up to 27 months. I was comparing non-conference to non-conference. Didn’t care about the rest and just picked this year’s conference champions + UVA. Plus… Oklahoma State in the conversation for national championship contention year in and year out? You SURE about that? This year, definitely.
One thing I thought about the other day I found humorous. The Big XII didn’t expand to 12 after Nebraska and Colorado left because it would improve the odds of Oklahoma and Texas both being in BCS games and the odds of one making the BCS title game. Had the Big XII still been in a divisional format this season, Oklahoma State would not have played Iowa State and just might be undefeated.
Last night during the basketball game during a radio time out there was an Stub-Hub advertisement. That seemed like a Catch-22 or oxymoron or whatever.I guess that was for the few people out there who might not know you can get cheaper tickets at other places then the Tech ticket office. Kind of like at Mcds getting 2 double cheeseburgers, large fries and a diet coke. Makes no sense.
How about the Rangers doling out 50+ million just to negotiate with Darvish? I have always respected Nolan Ryan but I think I’ll nominate the Rangers for President of the More Money Than Brains Club.
All of those critical of the Hokies schedule never will say who their favorite team is because they have cream puffs on their schedule as well.
The Hokies basically traded East Carolina for Alabama. Austin Peay was the team to be named later. It’s worth the criticism just to hear the “Let’s Go Peay” chant.
Tim Tebow is now an Elway-approved product of the Broncos’ organization. Sweet.
Abby Wambach is the Women Athlete of the Year. Sorry, Ralph, but Hope Solo came in second.
If you haven’t taken the opportunity to watch the Hoos on TV yet, they are looking very good. Their defense is stifling and Scott does a tough job inside and gets defensive help from Sene and Mitchell. Harris, Zieglinski and Evans are playing well and the frshman Trogdon is makng a contribution. Any game when their shooting touch is on, they can play with anybody. Don’t know what happened against TCU. —And while on basketball, how about Davidson knocking off Kansas in Kansas City last night. Syracuse is unbeaten with their usual pre Christmas at home soft schedule. But trust me—they ain’t #1!
Pardner, I can tell you that Virginia Tick is going to be very careful about who they schedule during the regular season. They finally scheduled a few decent teams at the beginning of the season over the past several years (lost to all of them, of course) but this year they went back to putting the cupcakes at the beginning of the season to bolster their record for a number 5 ranking (ridiculous). And then came Clemson (hello V Tick, welcome to real football!) Then they struggled and lucked their way to some more wins against mediocre ACC teams and here comes Clemson again (hello V Tick, welcome to real football!) Now they have EARNED a spot in the Sugar Bowl. Le us all see if we can guess what happens next.
AMac
My bowl picks have mirrored yours so far and I’m with you tonight on Florida International but tomorow night I’ll go with TCU. I think they’ve got too much for La. Teach. And how can you not pick a team that calls itself The Horned Frogs?
What’s next for the Hokies? I’ve got it! Emory and Henry. Gotta keep that 10 win streak alive!
Trevor, as with the NL MVP voting I demand a recount
Hey Aaron, Need some help. I thought Austin Peay was a high school team from southwestern virginia. Was JMU not available? Or does Tech not want to play them again.
If they ain’t #1, then who is? From what I see they can win it all.
Go Bayou Bengals!
Syracuse is unbeaten with their usual pre Christmas at home soft schedule. But trust me—they ain’t #1!
Comment by dave — December 20, 2011 @ 4:16 pm
Aaron, please tell me how a team gets beat not once, but twice and still can be ranked ahead of the team that beat them????