Thursday: Godzillatron Jr. heading to Blacksburg
Just don’t step on Alejandro’s on your way here, big boy. We need that salsa bar.
THE DAY IS COMING EVENTUALLY. We won’t even need the players at our stadiums. They can just find some mutually agreeable tract of land close to equidistant between their two schools or cities. Then they’ll set up the cameras and start playing.
Us? We’ll tailgate like usual, but when it’s time to go into the stadium, we’ll just drag lawn chairs onto the playing surface. Then we’ll watch the action in sparkling high definition on stadium video boards approximately the size of Rhode Island.
Hey, I’m not knocking Virginia Tech’s decision to build this new ginormous video board. Sounds pretty awesome. As Andy reports today, it’ll measure 48.2 feet by 108.2 feet, boasting about 5,215 square feet of replay-showin’ goodness. (Even better is the fact that they’re overhauling the sound system at Cassell Coliseum — a move that is long overdue.)
Regarding the video board, I like the honesty of Tom Gabbard, Tech’s associate athletic director. He basically admits that this is little more than a … well, a pixel contest.
“It’s a lot of keeping up with the Joneses,” Gabbard told Andy. “And as you know, this business is many times a facility battle on who has got the greatest, latest.”
What the Hokies have now isn’t anything close to the latest and greatest, and even the new one will only rank eighth among FBS stadiums.
Where’s the biggest? Texas, of course. Administrators there call it the “Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium Scoreboard,” which is a really lame name for it. Much cooler students and fans have nicknamed the thing “Godzillatron.” Seems Godzillatron, while once the largest HD screen in the Western Hemisphere (until a guy in Dallas named Jones made it impossible to keep up with the Joneses), features a lot of ads during games. I’m sure Tech’s will, too.
Miami’s is the second-largest, but the Hurricanes share their home with the Dolphins, so I’m not sure they should get full credit. Virginia ranks 41st. Get movin’, Hoos.
Here is the list of top-86 video board sizes in college football. Yes, somebody made a list, and you will notice that the Hokies currently are not on it. Godzillatron Jr. shall change all this.
POY WATCH: Berman solicited opinions from analysts and coaches on who should be the ACC player of the year. Erick Green has some support, including from Georgia Tech coach Brian Gregory (coaches name their own POY this year in addition to the media honoree). Others, though, say the Hokies’ woes as a team hurt Green’s candidacy.
All this is relevant because two of the leading contenders for the honor — Green and Mason Plumlee — will meet at Cassell Coliseum tonight when Tech hosts Duke. The Blue Devils are a 13.5-point favorite. Coverage is on ESPN at 9 p.m.
GREEN FLAG: Coverage of the Budweiser Duels at Daytona begins at 2 p.m. on Speed. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart are co-favorites to win the first race at 6.5-to-1. Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth are 4.5-to-1 co-chalks in the second race.
I REST MY CASE ABOUT FEBRUARY: It snowed at the Accenture Match Play yesterday. Yes, in Arizona.
NAME THAT TUNE
Too alarmin’ now to talk about
Take your pictures down and shake it out
Truth or consequence, say it aloud
Use that evidence, race it around…
February 21, 2013 - 9:00 AM
In the “be careful what you wish for” department, here’s hoping that the revamped Cassell Coliseum sound system won’t be just another excuse to continue phasing out the pep band while piping in “Gangnam Style” at ear-splitting decibel levels.
If you want to experience that, head over to the Dedmon Center at RU —- they found donors to upgrade both their sound system and video boards, resulting in unnecessary 6-minute long NBA-style player introductions (especially ridiculous when the team itself was absolutely *dreadful* the past 2 seasons) and timeouts where the techno music is pumped in loud enough to give fans a headache. (My personal least favorite part of the new RU experience involves videos of their players screaming “AAAAAAAAAAA” on the video screen while urging fans to “get loud”.)
Maybe I’m just getting old.
Good point, RP. Hope they don’t do that. But the sound system now is so treble-tastic, it kills your ears. At least the quality will improve.
The new scoreboard is a positive, because it is actually a benefit for the fans in attendance. I see the grousing about it as fear of change. Yet the same people who are grumpy about the new scoreboard were also quite proud of the new locker rooms a couple of years ago. Funny, the dichotomy.
The current scoreboard is horrible, and the information provided during the games is weak. Hopefully, the people operating the board will understand the benefit of providing fans updated scores from around the nation on a timely basis, not the typical once a quarter they’ve been doing.
Tonight’s game is just the first of two with Duke in the next couple of weeks. The point spread is 13, it will be interesting to see just how Coach K ‘welcomes’ Johnson into the ACC.
Danica Patrick’s assignment today is to come home with an unscratched car and a top ten finish. If she does that, then she might get some bump drafting on Sunday from someone other than li’l Ricky Stenhouse.
CR, I agree that the scoreboard should help the fan experience. If they choose to use it like the NFL uses their stadium video screens, it could help fans see close-up instant replays when plays are under review and should allow them to more regularly update fans on out-of-town scores and highlights of other games. But if they choose not to use it in that way, it will just be a way for fans to see hi-def versions of Stop-In Food Store commercials. Here’s hoping VT chooses option A.
AMc, customer feedback time. Please pass along to your IT dept that this customer thinks they’re doing a lousy job of transitioning over the new format. Yeah, yeah, the typical IT excuses of – ‘Vermin! You have no understanding of how HARD our job is! Scurry back to your hole and be grateful we even acknowledge your existence!…’
It’s the little things. You know, things like the IT crowd understanding how to stop the automatic removal of spacing in paragraphs. I know they don’t understand the value of punctuation, and think all adults who do are ‘loosers’. It’s also the fact that when I post, the page won’t show my post as being accepted, EVER. I have to open a second screen to go back into the website. That is great to artificially inflate the number of hits RT.com gets, but it is horrible in terms of user friendliness. Also, it takes as much as thirty seconds for a page to load when I click on it. Unacceptable, period.
I don’t want phony excuses from IT, I just want it repaired. Four days, and still no concept of these simple features that the rest of the IT world has mastered? Very weak, very unacceptable. It’s shoddy performance like this that impedes any hopes for growth of the site. Facebook links do not trump the lack of fundamental features.
Who was who came up with the notion that fans enjoy having their eardrums assaulted at every possible juncture?
Funny, I recall about a year ago a caller (or more likely a texter since they no longer take unscreened or unfiltered questions on the show) asking about when the Jumbotron would be upgraded as Wake had just done theirs and theirs was now better than ours (even though a much smaller school and stadium). Weaver’s answer was that the present one worked just fine and there weren’t any plans to replace it in the foreseeable future.
This coming from a guy who wanted nothing but yard makers painted on the field too.
Looks like JW got told to me. I have always said- good facillities guy, terrible HR guy.
As far as I am concerned, last year, they did a very poor job of updating the scores from other games that were being played at the same time. Some of the replays (or in some cases non-replays) left a little to be desired.
Looking at our OOC home schedule, I guess they have to do something to justify ridiculously high prices for teams like…. Austin Peay.
I’m happier about getting a new sound system than the big board, although larger video will be nice…if they don’t kill it with ads. We were way overdue for decent sound.
My Hero by Foo Fighters!
And yeah, I agree with Bob H……IT needs to do some ‘cleaning up’ so to speak. Still a lot of problems with the new format.
Oops…..that should’ve been crooked road, NOT Bob H.! Sorry, Bob!!
gosh crooked road (#5), it just blows my mind that you are not satified with things. very unlike you. LOL
I can’t wait to see the new jumbotron in action! Hope in the next few decades, seating approaches 80,000 at Lane too.
My Hero FOO!!!! Foo fighters! Which makes me think of a morbid ??? What if Cobain had not killed himself. Would we have been robbed of 20 yrs. of hits from FOO? “These Days” is classic !!!!Bob H I totally agree with your last statement. Look at our home schedule this year. UNC & Miami are the big games. Will they both still be on probation? I have already “sold” my season tickets this year because getting a ticket is not hard with that weak schedule. Maybe they can use the new Godzillatron to show another game that may be a better matchup. Notice I didnt say competitive because VT made every game close last year and I can’t help but think it will be the same way this year.
“Weaver`s answer was that the present one worked just fine and there weren`t any plans to replace it in the foreseeable future” Same thing he told Greenberg after the ACC tournament last year-must be his stock answer Let`s hope we don`t get a scoreboard press conference. ” I just didn`t like what I was seeing or hearing from the scoreboard. It just didn`t seem fan friendly enough so I decided to make a change.”
RP: we are both getting old. I have been to the Joel (in W-S) and JPJ, and dislike them both. They look and feel like NBA arenas… too much noise and soulless prepackaged crap. Cassell still feels like the intimate college basketball environments of yesteryear. The game was the entire focus, not just part of the show.
Having said that about Cassell, Crooked Road is absolutely right about the Lane Stadium scoreboard. Wake Forest has one of these Godzilla boards, and it really makes a positive difference. Replays are more vivid, and the game experience is candidly much better.
I remember going to the Wake Forest-VT game in Winston-Salem 2 years ago, with my Wake Forest-season-ticket-holding brother. As soon as I saw that scoreboard, I knew that the GodzillaTron was a matter of when, not if, in Blacksburg…..
I’m stoked about the new scoreboard. Those of us in the south end-zone will have a better look at the replays. Even better news about the sound system in the Cassell.
I’m looking forward to the game there tonight, for some reason I’ve got an upset feeling in my belly, but that could be the new McD’s burrito I got on the way in. It was pretty tasty though….
NBA Trade deadline is today and the only team that can’t trade for Dwight Howard is Orlando. Why does this feel more like a punishment to LA than Orlando? It’s kind of like the “no tag back” rule in tag. Tag LA, you’re it and you’re stuck with it!
#6 Bob H, I’ll nitpick with you a little. I think it’s more correct to say Weaver does a good job of making budget, but a terrible job of public relations and of creating a vision for the athletic department. He’s a football-oriented guy, so he’s done better there. Although, you have to wonder how much of that is Weaver driving, or is it Beamer driving it?
Tech’s athletic department has always, and I mean for decades, been behind the times in terms of marketing. Weaver is as poor as any of the AD’s in that respect. It would be nice to think we’re (inexorably) turning the corner in recognition of the benefits of making our customer base (Hokie Nation) more engaged and excited.
If there is one thing that needs to continue to occur, that is new blood & new ideas from OUTSIDE the ‘family’ bubble.
For the sake of argument, Let`s say that the POY and the MVP can be two different players. Poy is the best player having the best season while the MVP is the player whose team would not be highly ranked or win championships without. Now since there a are different groups voting this year, have one vote for POY and the other vote for MVP. Who knows, could be the same person but could be interesting regardless.
Green’s best for POY is by the coaches’ voting. People on here like to ignore the decades of history showing how ‘state of NC’-centric the media has always been in the ACC. Even when the four NC schools have been easily outnumbered, somehow they’ve always controlled the voting bloc. That coupled with the fact Green’s team is solidly in last place while Larkin’s & Plumlee’s are in first & second, makes me think he’s not getting the vote of the writers. Maybe not the coaches, either, that one’s much harder to predict.
As for Green’s chances? I always take the objective approach and ask myself – ‘If Erick Green played for Wake or BC this season, would the same people think he should be POY? Or would they have ignored his season thus far?’
Some of you crack me up, those worried about the scores of other games being shown on the scoreboard, videoboard, big TV, whatever you want to call it – for the benefit of “fan enjoyment” of the game. First off, you are at Lane Stadium to watch that game, but also, everybody in the stadium has a smartphone that can give you an update any time you want on any sporting event in the world. Heck, you can even watch something else if that floats your boat, and you want to waste that cost of a ticket you bought.
Aaron is pretty much on the sarcastic mark, whether this is what he meant or not, with the notion that people will soon just watch the game on TV.
Besides, winning brings people to games, not the jumbotron. I look up at the thing for certain replays – but until Jim Weaver steps down and stops shoving this Hokie Respect program down everybody’s throat – there isn’t a controversial replay to be seen, not like other schools will show. Any replay you WANT to see isn’t shown.
Ditto crooked’s comment, that I’ve made before, too – somebody in the IT department at Landmark, or the RT, or wherever, they shouldn’t be around any longer.
I wonder if they’d let me take the old video board and put that in my living room…well, more like the side of my house…that’s where it would fit.
To put that thing in perspective…my quarter-acre lot for my house measures 90×124. The new video board would cover half of that…1/8 of an acre. That’s huge. It’s also more than 3x the square footage of my house! But I bet I get a better deal on the utility bill…
Tech hosts Duke tonight. Tech loses to Duke tonight. That’s about all I can say about that.
The IT stuff is getting better, but it’s Thursday. This rolled out on Monday, for crying out loud. The missing spaces in the comments is annoying, and I really dislike that the post history toolbar thing on most pages is gone. Having that list of the 10 most recent blog posts made navigation to older threads so much easier…now it’s clunky and cumbersome. For Aaron’s blog and the Weather Journal, where most new commentary is on the newest thread, it’s not so much of an issue, but other blogs where comments keep going for days on old threads, I’ve abandoned them for the time being. The only other substantial complain I have is…what in the world happened to the mobile web version for smartphones? It’s about darned near impossible to read the text without an electron microscope or constantly shuffling the page to the right and back to the left like a dang typewriter.
When venues got so big that you have to have a godzillatron to see the game, or little TVs hanging under stadium seat overhangs, the joy of attending went out of it for me. I can watch the game just fine in a bar with my Hokie Alumni friends. I attend live games once in a while but it is usually something “special”. Like Alabama v. Tech. Or Tech Alumni Day at a UTSA game. Or the Alamo Bowl. Or free tickets to the Spurs (last game I paid for was an NBA Final).
I suppose i’m just old (turn 60 this year) but to quote BB King,”The Thrill is Gone”.
As for Miami, the only way they should be on probation is if the NCAA puts utself on double secret probation. Bozo is in charge over there.
Rick H,
Your logic escapes me. Come to the game, don’t look for scores on the south corner board that is there only for that purpose, but look at them on a smart phone instead?
What is wrong with, in between plays, looking at the score/progress of another game? Most of us are college football fans and we want to know how other teams are doing, if an upset is brewing, etc.
If they are going to have a scoreboard there, the least they can do is have the correct score on it and update it regularly- even if it takes getting a smart phone app to do it……
Bob, here is the logic – first, you have to constantly watch the stupid thing to see the score of the game, or few games you have an interest in. Just how do you enjoy the live game you are there to see, if you are constantly glancing up at the scoreboard? Pick up your phone, look at an update immediately for what you want. That’s the logic. Find it out immediately, and get back to watching that $50+ game you are there to see.
Besides, we’re also talking about Godzillatron, not that little dinky scoreboard in the SEZ – that is where the scores usually roll. Yeah, they get shown on the big board some, but the whole idea behind it is to show replays – and of course, the countless advertisements that help pay for it. What would a game be without the Hardees commercial where you chase the burger under the moving hats?
O.J.. Side of your house? You could be onto something. The Drive -In movie concept could;d be brought back. People could tailgate throughout the whole game. You could make yourself some money. Cook up some turkey legs on your Lowes grill, sell 2 hot dogs for 99 cents, rearrange the parking plan every two years or so to make more money. Sprinkle around some outhouses-Port-O Johns- to keep people out of your house and you should be fine. the possibilities are endless-wish it could have been my idea.
#16 JWC, I agree with you on modern arenas being soulless. I’m spoiled — I spent my college years going to countless games at the Palestra in Philly (better game experience than anywhere, Duke & Kansas included), then lived 3 years in Nashville and got to plenty of games at Vanderbilt’s Memorial Gym. Cassell would never compare to the Palestra, but it has a charm of its own that I wouldn’t want it to lose.
#13 Hokie Andy…I doubt you’ll ever see the seating capacity at VT reach 80,000. The easiest place to add seats would have been in the North end zone, but Godzillatron will take that out of the equation. The only other place to add seats would be by filling in corners, which is much more cost-prohibitive. Also, demand has to be there —- I don’t see it.
IT, yeah it’s screwed up. I didnt even see Hokie Gal beat me to Foo until well after noon. Btw tell whoever did the job page totally and I MEAN TOTALLY screwed that up. Where did the advanced search go? How long till we have to start paying for online? The Cincy Enquirer is already doing it and as we have learned it’s all about keeping up with the Joneses
Well, I see everyone likes the changes at roanoke.com! Yikes. Seriously, though, I appreciate the feedback. I will relay it to those in charge of the project. I know they’re working hard to fix anything that’s outta whack.
If it makes anybody feel better, there have been some posting woes for me, too. The most important thing to me is that you guys can read/skim the thing and post comments. Anything that hinders your ability to either of those, please let me know.
“My Hero” by Foo Fighters is indeed the song. Nicely done.
Not that JW is a marketing genius by any stretch of the imagination, but I always wondered why they didn’t use the Jumbotron to broadcast away games in the stadium, and invite ST holders to come there and watch, tailgate, etc. for like $10 a ticket. Or even non ST holders.
With an even larger screen that makes the idea more doable.
I would bet you might get 10,000 fans to do it. Especially on a big game. And you could sell concessions too.
We got like 30K fans in there for ESPN game day.
Ralph…I could totally pull that off…the side of our house faces a 50-ft tall hill, perfect for setting up some tailgates, a few grills, some horsheshoe pits, etc…it’s perfect for the hillside seating some stadiums used to have a lot of…toss out a blanket or some chairs and you’ve got a prime seat.
Hmm…
Aaron, as far as the basics of reading and commenting here, that works just fine…and that’s my main concern as well. But anything beyond that, and yikes, indeed.
Aaron, my biggest IT gripe is also with the paragraph breaks. I even tried the HTML code to insert a paragraph break, but this system won’t recognize it. That would help readability a lot.
First 125 over. Danica started from the pole.
Anyone want to guess how many laps she led?
(hint, the answer is the same # of victories UVA has over VT in football over the last 3,000 days).
I see that JJ Redick has been traded to the Milwaukee Bucks. On an unrelated topic, I wonder what the hemp market is like in Wisconsin…
#33 Bob H, nice idea on the away games. I would target that towards students, though, and charge as little as $2-5 for tickets. Then allow some local civic groups to sell concessions. Keep everyone on one side of the stadium.
It wouldn’t make a ton of money, but it would create a ton of goodwill. Where that really needs to be applied is in basketball, far more than football. Greenberg’s purchase three years running of ‘free NIT tickets’ for the students is an example of building enthusiasm in a program and not just looking at the bottom line for adulation. Same as with his ‘Chalk Talks’ to try to educate the student body on the focus of the program.
Innovative thinking from someone ‘outside the family’. I just don’t understand why that is so fearful to some…
Bob H, did you watch the first ‘Duel’? It appears that Trevor Bayne ‘muscled’ past DP and led for most of the race. He’s definitely doesn’t have a rep for rough driving, DP must have been overwhelmed from the start. What happened to him? Did he wreck or blow an engine?
CR,
Didn’t see it and can’t find it on radio either. All I saw was the results on MSN.com
DP probably has a lack of testicular fortitude, in more ways than one.
Bayne finished 8 laps down and may not make the field. I hate that for the Wood Brothers. He apparently was one of the dominant cars.
According to NASCAR.com, Bayne’s average speed was the fastest on the track in Duel 1.
Bob H, you’ve got to figure something happened to Bayne’s car. He led 37 laps, Harvick was second in laps lead with 22. Biffle led one lap and that was it. Bayne started 2nd, Biffle & Harvick started 13 & 14. So, you’ve got to figure Bayne probably took the lead no later than coming out of Turn 2, and led the next 37 laps before something happened. Then Biffle & Harvick took over from there. It would be interesting to know how quickly DP faded to the back.
Looks like he pitted near lap 40 and something happened either before or after that.
From what I see on the live updates on MSN (gawd, I hate follwoing a race this way) it looks like Gordon is leading a draft of cars nose to tail about halfway thru.
Gordon gets a speeding ticket on pit row! He is done as far as the 125.
All Gordon really had to do today was avoid wrecking or blowing his engine. He’s locked in on the outside of first row, anyway.
I see the RT picked up on my Redick news. It will be interesting to see what happens to Dwight Howard at year end.
Shrub wins the second Duel.
Trevor Bayne came to pit road around lap 40, a little to fast, nearly ran over Harvick and blew a tire on right front while running off of pit road edge. Had to take 4 tires and lost track position. Then he got gathered up in a Hamlin induced wreck with about 8 to go. Hate it for the Wood Bros. as I grew up with them in Patrick County.
Not surprised that Redick was traded. No one in their right mind is going to pay this guy 8 mil , just being an average player. Had a better year because he was surrounded by other mediocre players. His best years are behind him but he has been fortunate to make some big $$$. In a couple of years he might be helping the Beamers sell some hot dogs and gutters.
can’t you solicit some quotes from regional tv analyst Dan Bonner on the video situation?