Thursday/Friday: Murder your babies? No thanks
FRIDAY (7:30 A.M.): No briefing today. Lot of running around to do, highlighted by UVa football media day in Charlottesville and Salem Red Sox returning home tonight. Here’s the FSU preview story I mentioned would be coming today.
Also saw that the NCAA is working on creating a four-tiered structure of violations rather than just “major” and “secondary,” and the organization also is beefing up the infractions staff. I think those are good steps. As I’ve written before here, clarity needs to be the goal.
Great job by all of you this week. Good debates mixed with good times; probably the most lively it’s been around here since Greenberg was fired. As always, thanks for stopping by and sharing your opinions/jokes/stories.
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“IN WRITING, YOU MUST KILL YOUR DARLINGS.” William Faulkner said that. The first time I heard that line, I was a young journalist, and a veteran colleague offered it to me as a piece of advice. Except he said: “You gotta be willing to murder your babies.” He was gross like that.
Let’s be honest: That’s a horrific way of phrasing a writing tip. But the upshot is I always remembered it. My colleague’s point was that there are times in writing where you’ve got to eliminate some of the quotes/details you like most, just because they’re incongruous with the rest of the article. Maybe they disrupt the flow. Maybe they stray from the overall theme. Readers are smart; they can tell when something’s been shoehorned in. Let ‘em go, he said. Murder ‘em.
I was thinking about this last night as I transcribed a 30-minute group interview with Florida State quarterback E.J. Manuel from last month’s ACC Football Kickoff. I found myself chuckling several times while going through the tape. Manuel’s terrific — smart, funny, intellectually versified, and most of all, comfortable in his own skin. He provided more babies than the Octomom.
So many of them will be murdered when I write the Florida State preview for tomorrow’s paper. Infanticide makes me sad. So here, I shall let those babies run free, some of them unburdened by context. Here you go:
- “I bought a dry erase board from Wal-Mart. I’m very proud of that.”
- “I actually have a dog named Maximus. And another dog named Titan.”
- “I’m not a Harry Potter guy by any means.”
- “The fact that I have dreadlocks [on the NCAA 2013 video game] really upset me. I’ve never had dreadlocks in my life. Nor cornrows.”
- “People asked me if I grew dreads from the spring game to now. Dreads take like two years!”
- “I didn’t buy [the video game]. Dreadlocks killed it, man. I was a member of the NCAA club every year until then, too…No dreads for E.J.”
- (On scoring his youth soccer team’s lone goal at age 6): “The only goal of the whole season. We were really good, right?”
- “You can’t be a quarterback and guess.”
- “[Twitter is] an easy way to brand yourself without doing an NCAA violation. You can give off that you’re a good person on Twitter, whether you are or not, people would still think, oh, he’s a good guy. He has nice tweets.”
- (on whether he could tell Andrew Luck would be a first round pick when he first met him at a camp when Luck was a junior): “You know what’s funny? Not really. And not to say he sucked or anything like that because he was still good.”
- (on whether FSU can actually live up to expectations for once): “I’ve been keeping a tally. That’s about the eighth time I’ve gotten that question.”
And, of course, he answered it anyway. Thanks to E.J. for his refreshing candor.
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Now, all fun aside, yesterday was a tough news day for FSU. Star defensive back Greg Reid was dismissed from the team for team rules violations. Reid’s loss will be felt most on special teams; he was on pace to break FSU’s career record for punt-return yards held by Deion Sanders.
Meanwhile, a police official in Florida speaks out against objectionable tweets by FSU defensive back Tyler Hunter.
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Remember Daniel Rodriguez, the Purple Heart recipient initially thought to be joining the Virginia Tech football team? He’s been cleared to play at Clemson.
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I went to see The Biff, and here’s what I produced — mostly a story about the massive changes at Bristol and how drivers are anxious about it. Interesting quote, I thought, from Biffle on new points leader Dale Earnhardt Jr.:
“I hope that you’re running well, because if not, you’re probably going to be looking for a job, really,” Biffle said of Earnhardt. “Right? You’re in the best equipment in the sport and you’re parked next to the 48 car [of five-time champion Jimmie Johnson]. You’ve got to be performing at some level, and they are.
“Every time the end of the race comes down and I look in the mirror, he’s either right behind me or right in front of me. This [past] weekend, same thing. We finished third, he finished fourth. It’s hard to gain points on somebody like that.”
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THURSDAY’S OTHER LOCAL HEADLINES: Duke, stung by close losses last season, is focusing on finishing games better this year (story here)…Doughty’s college notebook, leading with Virginia Tech baseball news (story here)…Princeton beats Pulaski…Salem-Potomac suspended after 8.5 innings with game tied 3-3.
NATIONAL HEADLINES: Sandusky upset over Penn State penalties (story here)…He’s really not helping matters, IMO…Roethlisberger says his rotator cuff is “a little torn,” but “it’s OK.”
READER COMMENT O’ THE DAY
From shaun: “NASCAR needs to stop blaming the economy and figure out they have a problem. NFL and college football are huge all over the country and don’t seem to have a problem drawing fans. And baseball continues to set attendance records too. I am one of the 2,000 fans on NASCARS fan council focus group and all they ever ask is marketing questions like “what driver makes you want to buy a product” or “who has the best look of any new driver” REALLY!!! Plain to me they don’t care about the racing. No not at all.”
NAME THAT TUNE
-My 3-year-old daughter this morning says: “We should get T-shirts with [name of today's song] on it. Pants, too.” I have no idea where that idea came from. A little disturbing.
Police think they can see me lean
I’m tint so it ain’t easy to be seen
When you see me ride by they can see the glean
And my shine on the deck and the TV screen
Ride with a new chick, she like hold up
Next to the playstation controller
Is a full clip and my pistola
Turn a jacker into a coma
August 2, 2012 - 9:00 AM
I remember Daniel Rodriquez. Va. native, Tech fan, war hero (bronze star too) and now Clemson walk-on. He said Tech didn`t want to take the time to fill out ACC and NCAA waivers so he became a rock rubber instead. Tech, home of the walk-on-paperwork shouldn`t have been that hard plus how is the NCAA not going to give this guy a waiver. Wonder what would have happened if he had been a great punter. Anyway, wouldn`t it have been great to see him run out the tunnel on Labor Day night carrying the flag. That would have played pretty well on ESPN. Spin coming out of Blacksburg could be that he didn`t qualify for Tech…but he did for Clemson? Seems like another gaffe to me.
That’s a good piece of advice for me to remember when I take college English composition II this fall. It’s good to focus on the overall theme of the story instead of adding a funny quote that have no bearing on the story. Good advice.
I like NCAA football on Xbox, but come on, man, the digital representation of him is, technically, property of the NCAA, and they can do whatever the heck they want to do. It’s not real! That is like saying Dungeon and Dragons are real. Oh wait…
Does Jerry Sandusky have any grasp on how he’s viewed by America? Maybe Dottie will wake up and tell him to hush. No…, she’s probably encouraging him. Neither of them can hear the cries of the lambs…
Rodriguez didn’t initially, emphasis on INITIALLY, qualify for ANY ACC school. The difference is one made an effort to walk him through the admissions process, while another notable one chose to not do so. The second one? That would be the school with the military history and the ROTC corps with their own band and section in the stands at Lane.
The sanctity of refusing to ask for a waiver for a walk-on Purple Heart, Bronze Star recipient? How many waivers are requested for scholarship athletes from Merryman, and how many get granted? In this case, they turned their back on the walk-on Purple Heart, Bronze Star athlete.
If my memory is correct, he did not qualify, academically, due to his grades, and Tech encouraged him to take a couple of community college classes to improve his grade.
It would have been nice for him to walk-on at Tech, but he is not here, and I don’t see the need to continue to beat a dead horse.
Trevor, not to argue with you, my friend just commenting on something Aaron put on the blog this morning.
Sure, Ralph. Blame me.
I have to admit I don’t feel too sorry for E.J. When you are on a video game that is distributed worldwide it’s pretty good sign you have made it big time. I wonder how detailed the games go? If you are the 3rd string special teams player are they on there too?
Rodriguez did take community college classes, but VT refused him admission based solely on his HS grades and scores. Frank Beamer chose to NOT pursue the path to requesting a waiver for Rodriguez. Dabo Swinney to INDEED pursue the path to request a waiver for Daniel Rodriguez, which was granted.
Bottom line, once again – Frank Beamer chose to make no effort on Daniel Rodriguez behalf, while Dabo Swinney chose to make efforts on his behalf. That’s why Daniel Rodriguez – Bronze Star & Purple Heart winner – was denied an opportunity to walk on to the VT football team by Frank Beamer. At VaTech, former military school.
It wouldn’t have cost Frank Beamer any scholarship, only some time spent on behalf of a combat veteran eager to join the Hokies. Frank Beamer chose to not spend that time helping the Bronze Star Purple Heart decorated veteran fulfill his dream.
Be sure to cheer loud & long on Sept 22nd, when Nike sponsors Military Appreciation Day at Lane Stadium, and Frank Beamer enjoys the thousands of dollars from his contract with them.
Ralph, my previous post was a response to crooked road.
I am all for those storybook, goose-bumping, eye watering stories where a solder, returning from the horror of war, and keeping his promise to a comrade in arm, make it on the football team as a walk-on. Nothing would have made want to chest-bump fans upon the sight of him carrying Old Glory, high up in the breeze to the thunderous roar of Hokies Faith, Enter Sandman blaring from the stadium’s speaker, and charging out of the tunnel in front of the team. For him to come back from incredible odds, being wounded in combat, and rehabbing himself to the point of being in football shape is incredible.
Unfortunately, he is not a Hokies, but a walk-on receiver for the Clemson Tigers, and we’ll be seeing him when Hokies visit the Death Valley. Again, I would love to see him don the maroon and orange, but hand wringing over the preceived inaction on coach Beamer is not going to solve anything.
You`re right, Aaron. Should have kept your name out of it especially since you gave me a pass on the Andy Warhol painting. Well, since you`re in it, what is your opinion on the wet. Something going on there I don`t know about.
Vet, sorry
Ralph — CR makes good points, but my opinion on this is closer to Trevor’s at #10. Honestly? When this first came up, it sounded like a made-for-TV-news story to me. Nice story, but I’m not a big fan of getting a bunch of publicity off our soldiers. It’s like TV commercials that say “[such-and-such product] honors our brave veterans.” Please. You’re selling something. Leave our soldiers out of your pitch.
If you want the guy on your football team because you think he can help, great. If you want the guy because he’s a brave veteran who earned a Purple Heart and it seems like something that would look good for your program and reflect well on your image as a coach…well, there are other ways to honor veterans besides putting them in pads and a helmet.
I commented late yesterday on the Sporting News ranking TECH no. 5 on their pre-season poll. Surprised none of the sportswriters picked up on it. The Sporting News must see something no one else does.
I guess a 24 yr old combat veteran probably doesn’t provide a mature influence on a locker room full of lots of new starters on a young team. Nothing inspirational that could help there.
Yeah, it’s way more cool to don some faux ‘combat uniforms’ that help Nike’s and VT Bookstore’s cash registers ring.
I do think it’s funny that when you look at this blog column from Andy and look to the right at most read stories you’ll see the info about Cody Journell. So while Beamer was eating up the free publicity of potentially helping a veteran fulfill a dream, Journell was breaking into a house to get his weed back. Now here we are several months later and only 1 of these men are on the VT football team. One of them would have been a walk-on receiver and the other the starting kicker. Is anyone else shocked about which one Beamer went the extra mile for?
http://blogs.roanoke.com/andybittervirginiatechfootball/2012/02/07/frank-beamer-to-appear-on-dan-rather-reports-story-about-army-veteran-football-hopeful-daniel-rodriguez/
As a Vet I agree they shouldnt be parading around for publicity which is why I disagree with Beamer being on CBS is the first place. But this kid can play. He had 50 schools contact him after seeing his tape.
The waiver wasn’t required to get Rodriguez into school. The NCAA has no say in whether or not a school admits a student. The NCAA only has power over whether or not the guy is elligible for football. His grades were good enough to get him into Clemson. He’s been enrolled in classes since the beginning of the summer. The waiver was just for him to get immediate elligibility.
Maybe his grades weren’t good enough for Tech or maybe they have different minimum class requirements than Clemson. They are differnt types of schools so that is very possible. If that’s the case then I would agree it’s a non-issue. But if his grades were good enough and Frank wasn’t willing to do the leg work to get him the elligibilty waiver it’s on Frank.
CR — I hate the combat uni’s too. Wish I could find the column I wrote destroying that presentation, but I don’t think it’s online anymore. UPDATE: Found it.
But don’t worry, folks. All is well. The Nike people have changed that now with their state-of-the-art “Pro Combat” line of clothing, a name that shouldn’t offend real soldiers, because we all know real soldiers love football and don’t mind having their daily brushes with death juxtaposed with the image of some me-first linebacker stopping a third-and-2 and then doing the Pee Wee Herman dance.
Hokies ranked No. 20 in coaches poll released today.
Now, now, Aaron, it cannot possibly be any worse than this!
I actually liked this Hokies uniform they wore against Boise State. It would have looked a bit better without the circuit board design in the number. This other Hokies uniform is my favorite.
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As for the poll, I think that is about right, for VT. The #5 ranking from Sporting News is way too generous, IMHO.
One more thing about Rodriguez. He was a non-qaulifier out of high school so according to NCAA guidelines he would have needed an associates degree to qualify. Again this was only for NCAA elligibilty not for entrance into school.
http://www.tigernet.com/view/story.do?id=10441
Well. obviously 2 different sets of opinions on the vet. I still think, if eligible, Tech should have gone the extra mile for him. We`re not talking “Rudy” here. As OG said, he turned some heads with those work out tapes. If the military angle helps him get his foot in the door, so be it. He earned it.
I am totally shocked and disappointed that OG is totally shocked and disappointed with Beamer. So what else is new?
Hmm OK getting back to the lighter side of this blog entry for a second. I actually empathize with EJ Manuel for not wanting to buy the NCAA ’13 game. I can remember back in the days of Tecmo Bowl (yep, I’m that old). I was kind of irked when Marv Cook, who was then with the Colts, appeared with the wrong skin color on the game. I mean, they took the time to get the guy’s name, number and position right, but missed his skin color? Seemed kinda lazy to me. Even worse with NCAA ’13. Here’s a top name QB in college football, a potential Heisman candidate on a high profile team, and you can’t even get his hair right? Lazy. OK, now back to our previously scheduled serious discussion topics.
Oh… name that tune… I believe it’s “Ridin’ Dirty” not sure of the artist DMX maybe? And you know, might make kind of a hilarious t-shirt for someone still wearing diapers.
Why is it that it’s “on Frank” for not working to get a waiver for Rodriguez? Why does being a decorated soldier mean that you should automatically get to go and play football at the school of your choice?
Being a soldier doesn’t have anything to do with playing football. I’d have liked to have Rodriguez on the team as much as the next guy, but I don’t see a reason to act like anyone has done wrong for not putting him on a team.
Dan scores on the title. Nicely done. Artist still up for grabs (not DMX). Somebody on Facebook showed me a Website where I could design my own Ridin Dirty pants, so I did.
Scott I misstated my post from earlier. I’m not shocked with Beamer at all. He has shown over the years that winning football games is more important to him than anything else. That used to be the case at Penn State too. That didn’t end so well.
hokie24 you are 100% correct. I agree that VT did nothing wrong by not putting him on the team. The only part I have an issue with is Beamer going on CBS acting like he cared and he was going to make this guys dreams come true. When actually he didn’t want to be bothered with it.
As for EA Sports NCAA 13, they always make the players look different. If I’m not mistaken they don’t use the real names either. And if you look at the cover it’s always a guy who is no longer in college. I read somewhere that they did this to keep from being sued by the players. The NCAA owns the rights to the school names, uniforms, etc., but they don’t own the rights to players names and likenesses.
AM – Sorry about the song. I thought someone already got it. It’s by Chamillionaire.
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OG, I have a copy of NCAA Football ’12, and none of the players have their name on, but their number, position, height, and weight seem to be transferred to the database of the game.
Concerning the NCAA Football franchise and player names and likenesses:
Players’ real names and exact likenesses are not used in the game. While the Madden NFL series uses real player names and likenesses, those players are compensated for the use of their image. Due to NCAA restrictions on the amateur status of athletes, names are not allowed.
Although EA Sports does not claim that the players in the game represent real life players, the jersey number, position, height, weight, home state and ethnicity, are aligned with the real players. Fans of any particular team are sure to recognize their favorite players (for example, in NCAA Football 2012, for the National Championship Winning Alabama Crimson Tide, QB#10 would correspond to QB AJ McCarron). The game gives the player the option to name them, and roster makers will upload a named roster file to a memory card for just the price of shipping. The same roster makers also allow their rosters to be downloaded free of charge, as selling named files would be a violation of the NCAA’s policy regarding amateur student-athletes.
As of the 09 release, EA has put in the EA Locker feature which allows remote roster sharing online through either Xbox Live or PlayStation Network depending on the console.
“hokie24 you are 100% correct. I agree that VT did nothing wrong by not putting him on the team. The only part I have an issue with is Beamer going on CBS acting like he cared and he was going to make this guys dreams come true. When actually he didn’t want to be bothered with it.”
Yeah, that part does stink. But I do believe that Beamer is a sincere guy. Knowing that, this sounds to me like there’s a possibility that there could be other issues not related to football that kept him from coming to VT, and that these things aren’t really any of our business.
Beamer Blunder Concerning Mr.Rodriguez?
Who knows what the truth is anymore, but it is a shame that Clemson got another VA athlete (military to boot) and VT did not. Football is just a game but war is not, I would like to know for a fact why this young man was not made the opportunity to walk on at VT. Commonsense goes to Clemson on this one, VT Blunder.
Emmert the Reformer is no longer talking the talk, he is walking the walk, and carrying a big stick at the same time.
Is it possible the NCAA is experiencing the Reformation Period? I think so.
Chamillionaire.
Dabo and Clemson is twisting the Daniel story to try to make Frank and the Hokies look bad. Daniel simply did not have the requisite high school classes to qualify for admission to Tech so no amount of paperwork would have helped him get into Tech. I hope Dabo does right by Daniel but I have my doubts.
Emmert is all talk. The more I consider the PSU penalties, the more they look weak and ineffective. Consider this: from all reports, the alternative was either (A) a FOUR-YEAR death penalty or (B) the penalties that they doled out (loss of scholarships, loss of bowl games, and a monetary fine that looks impressive but is a drop in the bucket for a school witn a billion-dollar endowment).
That’s really no comparison. PSU will still be competing, and they’ll still be on TV. Heck, even when Oklahoma had penalties back in the 1990′s for much lesser offenses, they lost TV. And bowl games will be even LESS important once the playoff kicks in next year. Simply schedule a game at USC or Hawaii, and your team (and fanbase) gets to travel to a sunny city for a week as their own “bowl” experience.
Last week the PSU head coach even got to spend a day at ESPN’s campus in Bristol giving countless interviews on TV, radio, etc. It was basically a chance to openly recruit on the largest TV platform for a day — the type of thing usually only reserved for the Nick Sabans or Urban Meyers of the world. (I haven’t seen Beamer spending a day on all of the ESPN shows anytime recently…)
PSU will be down for a few years, but this was hardly the ‘knock out’ blow that Emmert made it seem like it would be. If Hackenberg (the QB at Fork Union rated #1 in the nation) sticks with Penn State, they’ll be just like USC in a few years — coming out of an NCAA probation period on top with a seasoned senior QB, rather than rebuilding from scratch.
Emmert is all talk.
Football, Bball, hoops and NCAA, way too much money in college sports.
I appreciate Universities for providing space on campus to play, but afterall universities are for education not bouncing or throwing a ball. Creating a statue on campus of a coach?
Universities have a new course for 2012-13, it is “Cover Up 101″, VT and Penn State may offer a Phd in this, they certainly have the esperience to excel in this!
“Commonsense goes to Clemson on this one, VT Blunder.”
Wrong. I’m sorry. I respect and thank our military for what they do for us every day, but being former military does not have any connection to whether someone should or should not be placed on a football team.
I have also read the NCAA have voted to change the selection process for bowl match up.
If there’s not enough teams to fill bowl slots, they will allow teams who are in the top 5 of the APR, wins against FCS teams, and with a record of 6-6, 6-7, and even 5-7.
Then folks wonder why there have been howl for a true playoff.
Update on the status of Cal Ripken’s mom (Viola) and the search for her kidnapper.
http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/cal-ripken-jr-seeks-help-finding-moms-abducter-130447383–abc-news-topstories.html
Jim Overfelt… in what world would you lump VT with PSU and refer to both schools as having a Phd in covering anything up?
What are you accusing VT of covering?