Tuesday: Smorgasbord
LINEBACKER AND DEFENSIVE LEADER BRUCE TAYLOR says he will play for Virginia Tech on Saturday against Pitt despite a sprained ankle that is limiting him in practice. Andy has that and many more defensive nuggets in his blog post here.
-Andy looks at the struggles Pitt has has thus far here.
TIP YOUR CAP: With all the talk about Penn State’s struggling kicker on Saturday, Doughty pauses to give a little credit to the guy who made his attempts.
KEY-DECKED: Rough news coming out of Lexington, where VMI has lost former Hidden Valley standout David Turner to a torn ACL and the basketball team loses two key returners in Quinton Upshur (transfer) and Jordan Weethee (torn ACL). I know for a fact that Nappy will miss saying “Weeeeeeetheeeeeeeeeeee for threeeeeeeeheeeeee” on press row.
FEARLESS FORECASTERS slate for this week is up. I have overtaken Berman. This is important.
NFL: The Ravens rout the Bengals and the Chargers beat the Raiders.
PENNANT RACES: Two teams chasing the Yankees and/or a wildcard berth duke it out in Charm City tonight, as the Rays visit Baltimore (7 p.m., MASN2). The Red Sox try to play the unusual role of spoiler at home against the Yankees (7 p.m., MLB Network).
-The Tigers have lost four in a row and have fallen three back of the White Sox in the AL Central after Chicago’s 6-1 win over Detroit last night. Series continues tonight.
-Oakland’s story is every bit as impressive as Baltimore’s. The A’s knock off the surging Angels 3-1 and are three games back of Texas in the AL West. Angels still are firmly in that wildcard mix, 1.5 games back of Baltimore.
-Gio Gonzalez gets his 19th win for the Nationals.
TENNIS
-Andy Murray wins U.S. Open for his first Grand Slam title.
WRESTLING: I don’t know anything about pro wrestling but I do know Jerry “The King” Lawler came to a Salem Red Sox game in July and drew plenty of autograph seekers. Lawler collapsed ringside during a broadcast last night and was hospitalized, but his condition has stabilized, according to WWE officials.
NAME THAT TUNE
(Note: I love the “Brain so good could’ve sworn you went to college” line. Try it in the bar sometime!)
Shawty you the hottest, love the way you drop it
Brain so good could’ve sworn you went to college
Hundred-K deposit, vacations in the tropics
And everybody know it ain’t trickin’ if you got it
You ain’t never ever gotta go in your wallet
Long as I got rubberband banks in my pocket
5 6 rides wit rims and a body kit
You ain’t gotta downgrade, you can get what I get…
September 11, 2012 - 8:48 AM
I saw where the Houston Astros owner Jim Crane ‘mentioned’ that he’d like to have Roger Clemens pitch ’1 or 2′ games for the team during their final two home stands. This would conveniently dovetail into Clemens comments earlier about only wanting to pitch against ‘playoff teams’.
It would also reset the clock on Clemens eligibility for the Hall of Fame another five years. The benefit of that? Lots more of the old school voters gone, and lots more young voters who seemingly don’t care about the ethics of steroid use tainting the Hall. Also, that keeps Rahjah from being voted on in the same ballot as Barry Bonds. Clemens knows that in about ten years, enough of the voters will not care about the steroid scandal that it is even mentioned. In five years? He might slip in with 75%, and that’s all he’ll care about, being in the Hall. There will be a lot of the young guys that will vote for Bonds this time, thus sort of breaking the ice. The two will probably make it in about the same time, only Roger wants to go in first ballot, and not be shunned. Barry? He’s got the HR record, so he doesn’t give a sh… flip. He knows there will be no asterisk, he got his prize.
Appears Clemens has nixed the idea of playing for the Astros this year.
The pennant races are definitely heating up. The A’s are having a great year. I think most everyone picked the A’s to finish last but here they are. Sorry that happened to Jerry Lawler. At 62 you have to wonder if he should be wreatling as he was last night shortly before his heart attack. Even though the action is scripted it is still pretty physical for a guy his age. The Ravens looked good last night or was it the Bengals looked really bad?
More black eye for UNC…
http://m.nbcsports.com/content/cbt-did-hansbroughs-mom-cost-unc-fundraiser-his-job
AMc, I’ll bet the comment is – ‘to be continued…’
I won’t believe Clemens not pitching until the playoffs begin.
The Hokies need to get off the sloppy play and refine their perfoemanceThey are not playing like a #13 team.
Aaron, speaking of baseball could you please do a recap of how these new playoffs work. The teams with the 6th and 7th best records play one game? Who does the winner play and how long is that series. Seems to me like this baseball stuff was easier to figure out back in the day. Anyway, thanks.
I think the song is “whatever you like”. Not sure the artist.
Beamer says that VT doesn’t have a goal line defense for Pitt.
That should compliment the no goal line offense they have for every foe….
I’m just about ready to throw in the towel on the Tigers for the season. I had my doubts after their slow, inconsistent start, thinking they wouldn’t make the playoffs. But a surge over the summer got them into contention, and they couldn;t sustain it. Their offense has products a grand total of 6 runs in the current 4-game losing streak, while they have given up 18.
Rick Porcello has now lost his past 6 starts, giving up 17 runs…but the Tigers offense has scored just 10 runs in those 6 games. They simply cannot get good pitching and good offensive production to occur in the same games enough to win more games. They get good pitching, and can’t put up runs. They get good offensive production and the pitching is shoddy. Their season will probably be decided by Friday morning. If they lost 2 or 3 of the remaining games to Chicago, it’s essentially over…they’re too far back in the Wild Card race to stand a realistic chance, especially given how many teams are contending for those.
If the Tigers miss the playoffs, they may well go down as one of the biggest disappointments in the Majors this year, though I suspected that their slow, error-prone defense might be their undoing.
A-Mac, you shouldn’t be so confident you’ve overtaken the Little Slugger in Forecasters. There is talk of a recount.
Ralph, the 3 division winners from each league are locked into the playoffs. The next 2 teams with the best regular season records play a one-game ‘series’ to decide who gets to play in the Divisional series for each league. The screwy part, is that the winner of the Wild Card game gets to HOST the first two games of the Divisional series! So the top seed in each league plays 2 road games, then 3 home games. The 2 vs 3 series is still the 2-2-1 format though.
*Andy Dalton could be a good quarterback if he have more playermakers around him beside A.J. Green. I thought they would tie up the game after halftime, but for some reason they got bog down in the red zone. The Bengals’ defense isn’t stellar, and if they could trade and draft quality players, I think they could be a contender in a few years. Or never.
*Joe Flacco, on the other hand, looks to be this year Aaron Rodgers. He was sharp, his throw had zip, and he was on the money with his passes. With Ray Rice in the backfield and reliable receivers to pass the ball, I think the Ravens could book a trip to the Super Bowl. Their defense, as long as they stay healthy, will remain nasty as always.
*I was amazed with coach Beamer’s comment about not having a film on Pitts. That’s just incredulous. At least coach Foster is using the Wisconsin’s game film to study the offense tendency to game plan for this Saturday’s match up. Based on the information on Andy’s blog, I’m going to predict another slow start for the offense, and that’s already a trend this fall. I’m sure fellow commentators are going to remind me that it is an issue every year, and I get that. It is going to be like watching boxers in the first few rounds, feeling each other out, before turning it up a notch.
Why would a guy who might still be injured play against a team like Pitt?
The Hokie offense will need to be aggressive, even a bit of trickery if necessary. If they allow Pitt to hang around or there are too many miscues, the game could come down to a field goal. Shouldn’t but probably will. Pitt has the edge with home field advantage and a desperate need for a W. my prediction: Pitt 17 – VT 14.
There are several valid reasons Gdad.
Taylor is a redhsirt senior. A game missed cannot be made up.
Taylor has this year to show any pro-scouts what he is made of, which includes palying through injury.
Taylor is a Hokie.
Call me crazy, but I wonder if the Pitt game winds up being a lot more difficult than their first 2 awful losses might indicate.
Also want to add, whenever the new commenting system comes on line, I’ll be offline. I don’t have any problems with using social media like Facebook or Twitter, I’m friends with several of the regulars in various RT blogs and follow a few moderators as well. But combining my accounts with the commenting system here is not something I will do. The reboot team has seemingly eliminated the option to log in without a third-party account (despite overwhelming objections to it), and I just won’t play like that.
So, in the meantime, I’m going to try to enjoy things as best as I can while they last…so my time will be spent here and at the Weather Journal, and not much else. I’m glad we’re into the fall sports season…having college and pro football, upcoming playoff baseball, college hoops not too much further away, and hopefully the NHL…it’s nice to have a lot of sports for the next 5 months before the winter slowdown into the spring.
#13 Maybe he’s not still injured…
Breaking News – Mike London is now paying for Sam Ficken’s scholarship at Penn State. Will that count against UVA’s limit of 85 scholarships?
Speaking of smorgasbord, didn’t anyone see Janikowski last night? He hasn’t passed up too many smorgasbords recently. He looked like Norm from Cheers in a Raiders uniform. If he was filling out one of those exercise profiles that asks how much you work out and how many days a week, I would guess his answer is light exercise one day a week!
I suspect that all the staff needs to see is the CIN game to know all they need to know. It is possible to overthink an opponent and see nothing but demons instead of the chipmunks of reality. Yes, a chipmunk can bite but you really have no need to fear for your life.
PIT is big and slow. We are big and fast. I say make them keep up with you instead of worrying about keeping up with them. I say blitz their brains out. Make them prove they have something. I saw the CIN game. PIT has nothing. Be concerned about the bite, yes, but do not hide in fear.
O.J. Thanks. Like you and the Tigers, I`m about to give up on the Dodgers. Maybe the added game will help one of us.
Interesting note regarding our attendance discussion yesterday. The latest issue of ESPN The Magazine had a graphic showing the difference in stadium prices from 2002 to 2012. NFL ticket up 55 percent, MLB up 47, NHL up 39, NBA up 16, Parking up 57, Soda up 51, hot dog up 50, Beer up 44.
I think we all figured that. But the thing that struck me was that the median U.S. household income went up only 20 percent.
Aaron, makes you wonder if the economy really is improving…
Aaron, that would highlight the pinch pretty well. It’s been slow in building, but the downturn that started in 2007 really socked it to the average sports fan who would go to a few games a year…not really so much to the season ticket holders, because those were so much more expensive to begin with and out of the range for most fans. But even those supporters have been hurt, as evidenced by the plethora of empty seats in the new yankee Stadium that were selling for a premium.
And no problem, Ralph. If I were you, I wouldn’t give up on the Dodgers. They’re 1 game out of the Wild Card behind the Braves and Cardinals, and a game and a half up on the Pirates. That’s really not a bad spot to be in, though the Division title is getting out of reach at 5 games behind the Giants. Good news for your guys, they have a 4-game set against the Cardinals, in LA, starting Thursday. Win that series and the Dodgers are in a good spot. Lose, and they may be toast…they’ve got a tough schedule after that with 3-game sets at Washington and Cincinnati, finishing up the year hosting the Giants. That could be brutal.
My Tigers, after the next 3 games against the White Sox, don’t play another team with a winning record all year, aside from hosting the Athletics. Problem is, they got swept by KC and lost 2 of 3 to the Indians the last time they played, and have barely over a .500 record against those losing teams this season. That simply won’t cut it for making the post season, especially since they got swept by the Angels, a Wild Card team, that now sits 1.5 games back of the A’s and O’s, with the Rays hanging in there at 1-game behind in the WC standings too.
crooked road is on to something with the roger the dodger clemens and the astros. i think they are spinning this to keep from looking like they want to dodge the hall of fame ballot. its too fishy. clemens has an agenda here. been embarrassed enough by the steroid thing. seen him pitch once in the early 90s against jim abbott in anaheim. i remember thinking what an arm clemens had. now it dont seem so mighty to me in retrospect. waiting 5 years for the air to clear seems better than a reject on the first ballot. as for the economy improving- that is a joke. you would have to go to china to be able to say that. we are living on borrowed time and money. better enjoy those damn high price concessions and tickets while we can.
I think Tech will put it all together and pound Pitt, and I see Ga Tech handling Virginia pretty easily.
These were the the 2011 rankings but interesting to check out anyway. The Sports Business Journal ranks the minor league markets from around the country. The Roanoke-Salem market ranks 43rd. Lots of factors go into the rankings including time that you have had a franchise etc. Tenure ranked 36th, Attendance 98, and Economy 142nd. The rankings are of 241 areas of various size. Interesting info at the link http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2011/08/15/Research-and-Ratings/Final-ranking.aspx
VT might have some trouble with PITT, the Panthers have everything to gain and nothing really to lose at this point. If Tech handles this too conservatively, there could be problems. I am picking an upset (of course) Pitt 17 – VT 14.