Monday: Good lawd, that’s a lotta sports
WE’RE GETTING THERE, GUYS. That wonderful time of year when it’s impossible for me to decide what to lead this daggone thing with. There’s just too much out there. SportsCenter led with Andrew Luck last night, but you also had a historic margin of victory in a golf major, Team USA winning gold in a surprisingly tight hoops game and one of the zaniest final laps you’ll ever see in NASCAR. Did we mention Manny Machado homered again?
Yep. We’ve got our hands full today. We’ll get more specific as the week progresses. Today, I’ll just spread it all out there like a pupu platter and let you guys dive into what you want. But to nobody’s surprise, I’m going to lead with…
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
-Virginia Tech held media day on Saturday, and there are some interview opportunities for media the next couple of nights, too, so the flow of stories coming out of Blacksburg should be steady this week. Andy has a notebook today leading with Corey Marshall moving ahead of J.R. Collins (at least temporarily) at defensive end. Check it out here.
-If you missed my column on Tech’s offensive line in Sunday’s paper, here you go. One of the new starters earned a top-50 world ranking in a hobby pursued by millions. Also, learn what to call center Andrew Miller if you ever run into him on the street (Hint: You’ll have to size up his facial hair first).
-Also Sunday, Andy explored the running back position. The Hokies want to have their top two guys decided by the end of the week so they can start getting them more reps and preparing in earnest for Georgia Tech.
-CBSSports.com’s Bruce Feldman includes N.C. State QB Mike Glennon among his longshot Heisman Trophy candidates. Writes Feldman: Glennon will be able to create some buzz if he can put up a big performance and lead State to a win over Tennessee in the opener in Atlanta. Even though, the Vols aren’t Bama or LSU or a Top 20 team, it’s still a recognizable program from the SEC with some talent, especially on offense. I do like the Vols to win that game, but if Glennon has any shot of getting in contention, he needs to key the win here.
-We’ll do a briefing focusing on the Heisman race later this week.
GOLF
-Rory McIlroy wins the PGA Championship by a record eight strokes, eclipsing the mark set by Jack Nicklaus in 1980. “I think winning his second major is going to make things a lot easier for him,” Padraig Harrington says. “I think last year he proved it, but there’s been ups and downs since his last major win because of the pressure and the expectations and the hype. Now he’s delivered again. It’s going to be a lot easier for him going forward. And he’ll get better.”
-Tiger Woods, tied for the lead heading into the weekend, finishes 11 back.
NASCAR
-Perhaps the Sprint Cup Series should oil up all the tracks for the final laps. In a wild finish at Watkins Glen caused by an oil leak, Marcos Ambrose passes Brad Keselowski for the win, while Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart tumble after crashing.
-The last lap really has to be seen to be believed. Head here, and check out the video link near the top.
-Dale Earnhardt Jr. falls from first to fourth in points. Full standings here.
NFL
-Andrew Luck throws his first NFL (exhibition) pass for a long touchdown and finishes 10-for-16 for 188 yards and two scores. Story here.
-The Dolphins release Chad Johnson following his arrest on domestic violence charges.
HOOPS
-Team USA beats Spain 107-100 to claim gold.
BASEBALL
-Orioles rookie Manny Machado, 20, hits his third homer in four Major League games in a win over the Royals.
IDENTIFY THE MOVIE
“What can you tell us about the man you saw last night?”
“He’s Caucasian.”
“Caucasian?”
“Yeah, you know, a white guy. A moustache. About six-foot-three.”
“Awfully big moustache.”
NAME THAT TUNE
I was singing to you, you were singing to me
I was so alive, never been more free
Fired up my daddy’s lighter and we sang oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Stayed there ’til they forced us out
We took the long way to your house
And I can still hear the sound
Of you saying, “Don’t go”
August 13, 2012 - 8:35 AM
I do love me a pupu platter, Aaron, but it’s too early in the day to dine on it. I’ll take the egg roll, the spare ribs, and the chicken first before I move on.
Andrew Luck. Man, that guy is like Superman returning to Earth after a 20 years hiatus. The Colts looked good on offense, shredding the Rams repeatedly all day, and not even Bradford fared well when he was in the driver seat. The Colts fans are probably beside themselves, dreaming big things, kind of like some Hokies fans each August. I know it’s the preseason, but I was genuinely impressed with Luck’s command of the offense. He has something Peyton didn’t have – the legs to evade pressure and fire off a bullet for a first down. I even had the chance to watch former Hokies running back, Darren Evans, rush for a touchdown. He looked so dang small to the other players leading the way for him.
So, the men basketball won the gold. That’s not surprising. It wasn’t a surprise that Spain gave them fits. Everyone knew that.
Did anybody see the new Hokies helmet for Austin Peay game? It was something.
Hahaha….the movie is Naked Gun 2 1/2.
HokieGal continues to be a master of the tough ones. Nicely done. Figured somebody would guess Naked Gun but the 2 1/2 part was where I’d trip you up.
Name that Tune is “Springsteen” by Eric Church. Not 100% sold on him as an old-fashioned country ‘outlaw’ at this point in his career, but he’s got some solid material.
Even though some of the drivers were complaining about the oil on the track NASCAR absolutely did the right thing letting the race finish under green. Road courses are usually boring but that last lap was probably one of the most exciting the last 5 years of NASCAR.
As for those VT helmets they are awful. I see much better looking helmets in Pee Wee football than those.
I thought Tiger was going to win the PGA. I mean the trophy is called the Wannamaker-what could be more Tiger then that. Hard not to pull for Rory though. Huck Finn with a million dollar swing. He wore red Sunday and hugged his father after a Major win. Other then being great golfers, comparisons probably stop there. Eight months and two days before the next Tiger collapse He seems to do okay on Thursday and Friday.
Count me as one Nascar fan who would love more road racing on the schedule, especially with one as part of the Chase. I was only home to see the last 10 laps yesterday, but I thoroughly enjoyed them.
Not sure how I feel about the new Hokie helmets. Using car magnets as helmet decals seems to cheapen the experience a bit, but then again, it’s against Bowling Green, so nobody will notice outside of the folks who show up that day. Too bad they didn’t use the hokie tracks on their 2012 “white out” t-shirts —- instead they opted for a “tuxedo t-shirt” design that seems right out of a Salem Red Sox promotion. I’ve bought the last 3 white-out shirts but I could never honestly see myself wearing the 2012 model on the street, so I saved that $6.
To be honest I never thought Tiger would win. I thought he would have 3 good rounds and that is pretty much what he did. He is improving but he is not there mentally. That one missed putt made him come unglued. That right there shows he is not mentally ready to contend for any major title right now. Maybe he needs to find Happy Gilmore’s happy place so he can avoid those meltdowns.
I kinda like the helmets. I like it because they are unique to Hokies. Be happy that we’re not Tigers or Eagles or something else that 15 other teams also use as their mascot.
As I put on Andy’s blog, as long as equipment makers think that VT is worth the effort of creating alternate helmets and uniforms for, then that’s a good thing for VT football.
Tiger proves again that he is just another golfer now. Watching him he reminded me of many people I have played with. He was very focused and then all of a sudden, poof, the focus was gone. He couldn’t make up for it with forced intesity. Time for him to get a really good sports phsycologist. I think he needs that more than a swing coach. I also think he misses Steve Williams more than he is willing to admit.
Rory was terrific. Nothing phased him. Most players go a little nuts after losing a ball in a tree, or watching an Ian Polter knock down 5? 6? straight birdies to start a round.
Looks like both Luck and RGIII are the real deal. Also looks like Wilson is a hit in NY. I also saw that Darren Evans ran over some guy for a TD yesterday. I wish Evans luck. He was way back on the depth chart but they had to have liked what they saw (his tracks up the front of some guy’s uniform).
And what else could we expect from Chad Whateverhisnameistoday? Self-involved jerk.
The turkey track helmets are embarrassing for the VT program. Stick to the ONE standard helmet ( whichever that is ????? ). The marketing dept at VT is a joke, the Hokies need to have consistent logos, uniforms, etc.. to be able to market a BRAND. Presently, the look is a hodge podge of little league outfits.
I’ll admit, I do think the helmets look pretty neat, but I’m with the other Tony – let’s stop being the Nike whore and just pick something and stick with it.
Virginia Tech has long had an identity issue, and been very vocal about it – all you have to do is read the media guides put out. They’ve scuttled the VPI moniker, to avoid confusion, even VPI&SU is pretty much dead. The company line is “Virginia Tech” as the name – yet Tech takes the most visible portion of the university and twists and turns it 100 different ways for the sake of Nike making a buck. If Phil Knight is funding that indoor practice facility, I can see it, but he isn’t.
One standard helmet and one standard uniform isn’t a requirement of having a “brand” anymore. That’s the past. I think VT’s merchandise sales numbers easily prove that the “brand” is doing just fine.
Whether we think it’s silly or not, recruits love this stuff. I think Oregon’s success is plenty of proof that this sort of marketing helps bring in good recruits.
I’d bet that the money that the VT marketing folks bring to VT would pretty much guarantee that they are anything but a joke. Marketing is about making people take notice. You’re talking about the helmets. You obviously noticed. The VT marketing folks were successful.
Concerning Olympic basketball, Kobe said they were better than the Dream Team, not!!!The dream team did it all, defense, shooting, playing as a team. This Olympics defense was let them run by us and try to block it from behind and the offense was typical NBA, one on one basketball. About the golf, I was glad to see John Daly fight it out to the end instead of bagging it in.
Good lawd, Rick, that is the best post I’ve read all day!
This might make me a weirdo, but I think I like the turkey tracks better than the camo helmets.
My favorite though is the maroon helmet with the orange/white stripes down the middle like we wore against GT last season. I thought that helmet paired with the maroon home jerseys was sharp!
H24, I want to offer a counterpoint here. Texas, USC, even lowly Tennessee all have recongizeable brand name and that is without even changing their uniforms or logo over the years. Alabama is about as old school as one gets. Penn State is changing their uniform (causing an earthquake at Happy Valley).
My favorite uniform is the all maroon they wore a few years ago, the combat uniform against Boise State, and the all white pro combat unifrom they sported against Maryland a while back.
Pierson Prioleau your ACC legend for Hokies this year. Frank Quayle gets the nod for UVa.
I find it funny that people are opposed to the turkey track helmets after all these years of silence about the atrocious uniform changes that Frank beamer agreed to as part of his personal compensation from Nike. Camouflage uniforms, Dark Knight uniforms (Boise State last season) disjointed versions of color schemes, bizarre stripes and ribbons of color across uniforms. Essentially any version of distortion of the traditional Hokie uniforms possible, so long as Nike keeps cutting the check to Beamer & the rest of the athletic department.
I also find it funny how the knee jerk defense is that if a weird uniform is created, then it MUST be a successful marketing strategy. Because goodness knows, marketing and merchandising people have NEVER come up with a bad idea. Right, h24? I’d love for you to provide me numbers as to the success of VT’s Nike slavery… err… team membership, and just where we rank on their list of experimental ideas… I’ll just guess that it is lower than our final standings in the polls, and is nowhere near filling the trophy case of top merchandising success in the nation. I look forward to the link that won’t be provided.
Rory McIlroy gets it done! Humbly, yet displaying confidence, no sense that his dad ever thought HE might impact the world more than Ghandi, ala Earl Woods. no sense of false image, Rory just seems to be honest. How… different.
He also looked pretty good in red on a Sunday. As for anointing a new king? The old ‘king’ has been dead since Thanksgiving three years ago, and golf hasn’t collapsed upon itself. Perhaps the sports media is just too lazy to understand that a ‘new king’ is not necessary.
When you look at the powerhouse schools, they’ve all gone decades without making any major changes to their uniforms or helmets. Sometimes without making ANY changes, no matter how minor.
Marketing people are also aware of something called brand awareness. If you’re good enough, you don’t have to change your logo because you pretend the players request it, as Frank Beamer claims. Somehow Coca Cola has done okay without logo changes. IBM, Apple, I could name a hundred more.
In college football? Southern Cal, UCLA, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Alabama, LSU, Florida, Miami, Florida State, ad infinitum.
Yet VaTech bends over in a yoga position for Nike, because Beamer and company get personal checks. Then it is assigned to ‘the players want to wear them’, even though the uniforms and helmets are designed prior to the players even returning to school.
It would be nice if Beamer & company actually manned up and said – these logos are Virginia Tech. These colors are Virginia Tech. This is what we wear.
You know, like the big boys do…
Wow Crooked, your crusade against Beamer has gotten into that OCD realm if you ask me. Helmets. You’re coming unglued about Beamer and helmets. Your lack of objectivity is showing my friend. When you complain about helmets, who’s going to take you seriously over something that matters?
CR… provide your own links. Google works as well on your computer as it does mine. Don’t bother asking me to provide anything for you. You’re the only one talking rankings and lists, so go ahead and find your links on your own, nobody else cares. All I said was that marketing is about getting attention, and look at that… it’s got your attention. And while you gripe and moan, go ahead and cut another check to the Hokie Club. You’re supporting all of these things that you’re so gung-ho against with your donations.
My personal opinion of liking the uniforms has squat to do with VT. I don’t know or care who gets paid when VT sports a new look. When I wrestled in high school, if we made it to the finals of a tournament, then we got to wear an alternate uniform where all of the white in our uniforms was changed to gold. As players, we loved that.
I used to not believe the “players/recruits love it” argument myself, actually I used to despise that excuse… but I’ve known too many folks that have gotten to wear the alternate jerseys at VT, and I’ve seen the excitement first hand, and now I’m starting to believe it.
You listed, “…Southern Cal, UCLA, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Alabama, LSU, Florida, Miami, Florida State…”
Of those teams, ALL of them except USC, PSU, and Alabama have worn at least one alternatively decorated/colored helmet in the last 5 seasons. Nebraska is planning to wear an alternate helmet this September during a game.
I’m with you Trevor, all of those schools absolutely have a recognizable brand and logo without all of the uniform change hype. And that’s no problem. They’ve also got history on their side.
If we’re being honest, VT football didn’t really jump onto the national spotlight and matter very much on the big stage before the mid to late 90′s. We just don’t have much of a history like they do at Alabama, USC, etc, and I’m not too shy to admit it. VT is still growing, and people want them to be a historically established power yesterday. Can anyone ever make up for lost history? Can any team that hasn’t always been a perennial power become a perennial power, and stay there like the perceived “big boys?” I’m not sure. As much as it sucks, you have to find a way to spend with the big boys to compete with the big boys. Right now, money is the name of the game, at every school. For example, when Alabama was recovering from sanctions a few years ago, what did they do to get back on top? They used money to prove that they were willing to spend more than anyone else to get the coach that they wanted, and they got the best in the business.
I think the alternate uniforms are fun and it gets attention. Some schools benefit from the attention. Some schools don’t need it or want it, and that’s fine too. I’m not naive enough to think that VT has historically been a national power since the beginning of time. Personally, I’ll take any extra effort from any equipment vendors that they are giving to draw positive attention to VT. And no, thinking that a helmet or uniform is ugly is not negative attention… that’s just fashion police. I like seeing the alternate uniforms at any school, ugly or not, and not just at VT. I always look forward to seeing what Oregon and Maryland and TCU and others come up with as far as uniform changes.
It’s hard to deny that uniform changes get about as much attention as most any topic in college football.
In the early ’80s, Alabama wore crimson helmets at home, white helmets on the road. Might have been just one season.
Scotty, no OCD here, and I’m about as adhered as can be. Just because you disagree with my view does not make me defective.
h24, your last two posts show you jumping the fence to make both arguments. Adroitly done. you like to say I provide no input, yet when I ask your for foundation to your opinions, you scurry away from that. At least we see how it works with you. When you pass Reading Comprehension 101, you can see that I didn’t say the iconic schools NEVER changed, just that they seldom changed.
Maybe you’d like to research Nick Saban’s comments about uniform changes, since you took the time to research all of those schools to see if they had changed any – fourteen schools multiplied by five years gives 70 checks. But you don’t have time to show that VT’s souvenir sales have improved any over, say the last decade. That would be 10 checks, a mere fraction of what you did to argue with me. Of course, you don’t need to check, because we’re both pretty certain of the results already, and you need to avoid having them displayed here.
Have fun with the Turkey trot helmets. I don’t dislike them nearly as much as I dislike the hypocrisy, that’s all.
H24, fair points. Alabama, Tennessee, and etc. have history on their side. I am not stupid or naive enough to realize that Tech wouldn’t be here today without the consistency and steady hand of coach Beamer and his staff.
I’m all for the alternative uniforms as long as it is done in good taste (not like Oregon’s Rose Bowl uniform they sported this past January), and if it is aesthetically pleasing, then hey, go for it.
You mentioned Nebraska. That was funny because I was thinking of another school that is as old school as Alabama, and Nebraska fits that bill. They are going to have an ungodly uniform, manufactured by Adidas, and it looks u-g-l-y. It’s as bad as the Ohio State’s combat uniform they sported one time.
I couldn’t find Alabama’s alternative uniform, but I think it’s because they are so old school, it’s not necessary.
Actually CR, I didn’t have to look anything up for those helmets. I could be wrong about which of those teams have used alternate helmets, but I think I got it right. Like I said before, I enjoy the alternate uniforms anywhere, not just VT.
Trevor, I haven’t seen the Nebraska uniform yet, I had just read about it somewhere. Alabama did do an alternate jersey once or twice last year, but I think the changes were fairly minor. I think they added houndstooth patterns to the jersey or something like that.
Was the Rose Bowl where Oregon had the chrome helmets? I thought that was awesome.
good to see hokies have their first OLman ever ranked in top 50 in nation in something!