Thursday: The magic of winning streaks
I’VE WRITTEN ABOUT THIS TOPIC BEFORE, SO LONG AGO THAT THE SALEM RED SOX WERE STILL THE SALEM AVALANCHE. It was 2006. The Salem Avalanche had won 13 games in a row — the longest winning streak in the Carolina League since 1958. The 13th win gave the team a division title.
Here’s part of the column I wrote then:
When it comes to lasting sporting thrills, the hierarchy goes like this:
1. Inspiring upset victories.
2. League championships.
3. Really long winning streaks.
You could make an argument for perfect games and record-breaking scoring nights and a host of other individual accomplishments, but these can’t be widely shared. Winning streaks serve the triple purpose of boosting team morale, galvanizing fans and jetting a team toward its overall goal of a title.
I STILL FEEL THIS WAY. Winning streaks are hard to beat. And we have a couple of great ones going in sports right now.
Did you know the labor dispute-shortened NHL season is now halfway over? And Chicago still hasn’t lost a game in regulation. Last night, the Blackhawks scored with 49.3 seconds left to beat Colorado 3-2, improving their record to 21-0-3.
This is pretty amazing on paper. But if you click on that link I provided and watch the highlights, you’ll see why long winning streaks are so great. Check out the frustration in the Avalanche players when Chicago ties it up early in the third period. They were going to be the ones, right? The guys that ended the streak. And then they weren’t.
Listen to the crowd when the Blackhawks take the lead and run off the final seconds. It’s hard to get that kind of excitement in the regular season.
MEANWHILE, THE MIAMI HEAT HAS WON 16 IN A ROW AFTER EDGING ORLANDO LAST NIGHT. Longtime members of the blog crowd know my opinion on huge overdogs — I don’t understand the appeal of rooting for them — and Miami is about as big an overdog as we currently have in sports.
Yet the winning streak changes things. Watch the video of LeBron James’ shot in the closing seconds. Look at the normally placid Miami crowd go crazy.
And that’s the difference: The Heat were competing not against the lowly Magic, but against history. Against the improbability of winning 16 in a row.
Thanks, winning streak.
STREAK-RELATED LOCAL LINKS
-UVa will try to snap a skid of nine straight losses in Tallahassee tonight (7 p.m., ESPN2).
-Here’s my column on the Parry McCluer boys basketball team, which broke the school record with a 16-game winning streak. The Fighting Blues play West Point in the state semis today.
OTHER LOCAL HEADLINES
-Andy checks in with Tech cornerback Antone Exum, who talked some trash with Dr. James Andrews about Alabama when coming in and out of anesthesia for his knee surgery.
-The Salem girls join their male counterparts in the state finals with a 51-38 victory over Loudon County. Both title games will be Saturday in Richmond.
-VMI faces Longwood in the Big South quarterfinals at 2:30 p.m.
-Ray has a feature on Radford High’s Josh Little, who’s been a longtime leader of the Bobcats.
-Circumstance! Oh, you’d better believe that word’s in the paper today. Doughty talked to Al Groh about his son Mike joining the Bears.
NAME THAT TUNE
Mama, mama, mama
Why am I so alone?
I can’t go outside
I’m scared I might not make it home
I’m alive, I’m alive
But I’m sinking in
If there’s anyone at home at your place
Why don’t you invite me in
Don’t try to bleed me
I’ve been there before
And I deserve a little more…
March 7, 2013 - 8:16 AM
So, the Miami Heat have almost come to halfway matching the winning streak of the LA Lakers. Sort of like a baseball player reaching a 27 game streak of getting a hit in every game.
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It’s nice, for those young people who possess zero knowledge of sports history. For the Playstation crowd, it’s monumental. Based on history, it’s ‘nice’. The BlackHawks have a ‘nice’ streak going. The Heat have a ‘nice’ streak going. Their’s pales compared to the BlackHawks, and both pale compared to the real standard bearers in their respective leagues.
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it must be a slows sports day, when you ignore golf and the other sports that had notable news yesterday.
I have to admit that the streak by the Blackhawks is amazing. I dislike that it has come at the expense of my Red Wings. But, with the upcoming potential realignment of the league, they’ll be in different divisions…which take a bit of getting used to. But, it might allow more games to be played in DC and Raleigh so I could see them a couple times a year.
I just re-read the column above, and I had to laugh hysterically. here’s why –
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‘And that’s the difference: The Heat were competing not against the lowly Magic, but against history. Against the improbability of winning 16 in a row.’
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See, that’s said as though it meant something. Anybody want to talk about the other winning streaks of this season that were longer than ten games? Then rationalize why THIS streak was the only one that ‘meant something’?
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How redonkulous can you get? Seriously? how willfully ignorant of history do you have to remain in order to lick up the ESPN bilge that ‘the latest is always the greatest’?
Not sure I understand, CR. Are you arguing that a winning streak has to be the greatest of all time to be noteworthy?
The Heat’s is a franchise-record streak. So every time they extend it, they’ll set the bar higher for their franchise. To me, that’s noteworthy.
Chicago’s streak is the best ever to start a season. That’s historic.
So if Mike Trout hits in 45 straight games this summer, we’re not allowed to talk about it as being significant because it’s not 56?
Wow- Somebody didn’t take their lithium this morning!
Rain King Counting Crows
Loved the trash talking from Antone Exum. James Gayle and Exum oozes confidence that borderlines aggronance. It reminds me of the scene from Top Gun where Maverick’s asked if he thought he was the best.
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UNC trashed Maryland. Miami lost to the bumble bees. That is so #goacc right there.
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My take on winning streak: it means something to different folks. I could care less about that NBA team in Florida or the hockey team’s winning streak. Other folks go ape over it. Different strokes for different folks.
Rain King it is. Nicely done.
My editor alerted me to this New York Times story about a black female stock car driver who’s making claims about her career that NASCAR isn’t too happy with. According to the story, a start-and-park Late Model race at Motor Mile is her legit claim to fame, but she purports to have done much more.
Glad to see Tommy Lemons Jr. quoted in there, but would have loved it if Tink Reedy or Rodney “Six Pack” Cundiff — my two favorite Motor Mile driver names, along with Johnny Cash — had gotten some publicity in Gotham print, too.
AMc, wrong. I’m just saying it isn’t the level of historic that so many ESPN-esque wannabes desire to make it. If Mike Trout or Bryce Harper happen to put together a 35 game hitting streak, that’s great, but it’s not the level that it will inevitably be played up by ESPN and the sycophants. That’s all. Great is as great does. Fifteen or sixteen game win streaks in the NBA are not historic. Count the number of them and understand. Print the list, and we can all see the perspective, instead of just those of us who have the desire to look beyond the first layer of the onion. Call me if LeBron & followers get to 25, and we can talk.
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See how I still – STILL – have to put a dash in to make a paragraph? Do your geek IT people understand how much that makes me HATE the RT? Do they care? Of course they don’t, because they are geek IT droids. The pathetic thing is that they probably love that label, and understand that their masters don’t care about customer service either, thus allowing them to ignore me & hundreds of other customers.
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They have zero concept of how much lost revenue they cost the RT, and how the RT is swirling down the drain because the geek customer-hate pervades more areas than just the geek IT department.
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Anyway, moving beyond the DEAD point that the RT will probably NEVER address because of their total lack of customer service awareness – winning streaks are to be respected. Just not created falsely into something they’re not worthy of, as in the typical ESPN blather every time one of the pimped ESPN athletes succeeds even slightly above the norm.
You and I share a disdain for what ESPN has become, CR. But don’t worry — they’re too busy talking about the fourth round possibilities for the NFL draft to get into any of this. (Except, I must say, I do love ESPN The Magazine. Nothing at all like ESPN TV or ESPN radio.)
Not sure it’s the streaks themselves that made me want to get into this topic. More the fact that two long streaks were kept alive by late-game heroics on the same night. I like the ability of the streak to turn something mundane (regular-season NBA or NHL games) into something that feels meaningful.
Was not much of a hockey fan until I moved to Phoenix. You have to admit, that’s ironic. The Blackhawks’ streak is interesting in how close they came to getting beaten just recently. Red wings and Avalanche. The Coyotes are a good team, not great, but good. But, when the Blackhawks come to town it’s men among the boys.
ESPN spends time, and I assume money, on where they can get the most revenue from advertisers. It’s TV directed by bean counters. But, it really gets bad when they start talking about the media coverage of sports. Yes, people talking about people talking about sports. Ah yes, the good old days when Jim McCay on the Wide World of Sports would speak wistfully about the ‘singing of the ash’ as he was about to host the broadcast of the Hurling finals in Dublin, Ireland. Imagine, a bunch of Irishman running up and down a football sized field with clubs in their hands. Now, that was drama!
My thought on ESPN? They have become too big for their own good. They are following the same arc that is dooming The Weather Channel. I don’t pay attention to the Weather Channel anymore. Why? They started adding reality shows, interviews in the style of “60 Minutes,” and gotten away from what made them relevant, reporting on the weather. If I need weather update, I turn to Twitter, and listen to three sources: O.J. and Kevin Myatt, in addition to a meterologist student at Tech. Why would I want to do that? For the most part, I can interact with them, ask question, and they typically answer in timely fashion. ESPN have also helped dulled college football a bit too with the 24/7/365 coverage of sports. For some fanatics, it’s wonderful, but for me, it just tires me out. I like the old days when football was over, it was quiet on the western front, until the pre-season starts, and then football interest wakes up. Now, we are constantly bombarded by it.
Anybody notice Hokie baseball’s ranking? Any insight on the season? Nice start, anyway. Yeah, crooked, I know, it’s a marathon, not a sprint, but a good start, nonetheless.
CR & Aaron, I’ve had a growing disdain for ESPN as well. They are uber-focused on the NFL almost all the time now, sometimes college football, and the NBA. They talk some baseball when big things are happening…but other sports are generally ignored, or only get brief mention when something significant happens. I like the SVP show, because they talk about a myriad of things, including hockey, and its generally more entertaining than the rest of the lineup lately. Used to be I had my radio on 1420 AM all day long. Now I have it on a couple hours at most, with Pandora cranking tunes the rest of the day.
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The story about Norfleet just reeks of potential financial fraud, in my estimation. Improper portrayal of her “accomplishments” and “credentials” in order to garner attention, and potential advertising dollars and endorsement deals. If she has a legitimate interest in being a race driver, then I wish her luck. If she has actually raced competitively in non-sanctioned events, then that’s something. Many local tracks are not Nascar-sanctioned…the Late Model team I worked for ran at several of them, in addition to their regular dose of racing at the Nascar-sanctioned Langley Speedway in Hampton, VA. But from the sound of it, there’s a lot to the story that is not being told by the Norfleets, and probably for a reason.
That should say 1430…typed a bit too fast for my own good.
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And thanks, Trevor! I do my best on the weather front…it’s interesting that there’s quite a few folks on Twitter and Facebook who look for my notices on the weather primarily, before checking other sources. I’ll admit though, it’s a fun hobby…and never dull!
The great thing about the Blackhawks’ streak is the “0″ in the loss column, *but* there should be a HUGE asterisk there — they have lost 3 games in shootouts this season that don’t show up in the loss column due to the weird NHL rules. Yes, they’ve scored a point in every game this season, but it’s not technically a “winning” streak.
I was unaware that the ACC tournament on the women’s side had begun today. At the half, VT is losing to Miami 21-8.
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Yes, you saw that correctly, 8 first-half points for VT. 3-21 shooting, at an astounding clip of 14.3% from the floor.
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You know your basketball team stinks when they aren’t even capable of putting up points that even a middling football team can in a half of a game. Ugly.
Here’s a perfect example of what ESPN doesn’t do enough: About a half-hour ago, as I was driving, Dan Patrick did a great interview with MMA fighter Ronda Rousey. I’ve heard of her, of course, but I’ve never seen her fight (no interest) and therefore had never heard her interviewed.
She was awesome! Funny, smart, tough, clever, candid — she even ripped on Michael Phelps a little bit. It helps that Patrick really knows what he’s doing as an interviewer, but the bottom line is Dan’s show took me outside the box and showed me a part of sports I otherwise might have neglected. I learned something.
Contrast that with ESPN: Tebow, Cowboys, Brady, Manning, LeBron, Kobe, A-Rod, Tebow, Cowboys, Brady, Manning, LeBron, Kobe, A-Rod. Who among us doesn’t know what’s going on with these topics? As Desert Hokie noted, they look at the ratings and say that’s what sells. And they demand their “talent” hammer these topics again and again. (I agree with O.J. that SVP is a refreshing exception to this.)
Hey, we’re a capitalist society. So perhaps, if I really think about it, my problem is with the national sports-fan majority and not ESPN. I can’t believe these tired topics draw the ratings they apparently do.
For me personally? It’s just insulting that you think I want to hear another debate on whether Tom Brady is a top-5 quarterback of all time. You think that’s all I can handle, ESPN? I can’t go beyond pad-popping chatter 12 months a year?
So I stopped listening. Thank goodness, technology gives me the option go somewhere else — like to Patrick or Czaban.
I really don’t care about NBA winning streaks anymore. A few years ago, Houston had a 22-game (I think?) winning streak in the NBA, but when you looked at their schedule, they only played 4-5 tough teams during the streak, and only had one pair of back-to-back games during that streak. The talent in the NBA is so watered down that a team like Miami only has 3-4 games a month that are ‘tough’ games during the regular season — the biggest reason why the Heat haven’t had several streaks like this over the past few years is their own tendency to have let-downs.
I love Patrick & Czaban on the radio, and I also enjoy Mad Dog Radio on Sirius XM — Russo in the afternoon & Dino Cost in evenings on that channel are both excellent because of the variety on their shows.
(Dino Costa, not Dino Cost)
Agreed, RP. My latest rankings would go:
1. Czaban
2. Patrick
3. SVP
4. Christopher Russo
5. Casey Stern on MLB Radio
I haven’t quite figured out Dino’s schtick yet, but I’m trying.
Let me weigh in on the ESPN discussion. ESPN is pulling the MTV. Us “more mature” people remember when MTV was first launched, it actually showed music videos, all day long. Now, I doubt you can see more than a dozen in 24 hours. ESPN is pulling the same crap. It used to show sports, now, it is starting to just show crap. Sportscenter is nothing more than a rolling repeat, most of the time. It started going downhill when it considered poker a sport.
I recently got disgusted with Scott Van Pelt when he sucked the pipe, as so many do with ESPN the Great & Powerful, and tried to defend the ridiculous 12 month/365 day/7 days a week/24 hours a day coverage of football as the ultimate. Somebody tweeted him that college football should own March, and he played the lemming tune of ESPN nation about football, blah blah blah.
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STILL NO PARAGRAPH BREAKS.
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I can be right one thousand times about that before I’ll ever be wrong even once. The IT geeks are too stupid and their bosses too apathetic to care about customers to ever care.
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SVP is just another lemming for ESPN, nothing more or less. he’s a Maryland grad, so some give him undeserved breaks, but he marches lockstep with the rest of them, no difference whatsoever.
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ESPN identifies a certain singular reference point in each sport and drums it into the ground and far below. The stupid among us parrot that lemming point, and thus we have the current state of sports, where a fifteen game NBA win streak is something worthy of discussion. Excuse me while I yawn. Let me know when June rolls around, and I’ll give you three NBA-centric posts of note. Before and after that, the NBA does not, and has not mattered for over two decades now.
RP, you’re right about that…and that’s why in the NHL notices I get on my phone, they cite it as a record points streak…which is correct. They’ve had shootout losses to Minnesota, Vancouver, and Anaheim…but have not taken a regulation loss going back to last season…April 23, to be exact…but they also lost 3 OT games to Phoenix during that playoff series. However, since points are not awarded in the playoffs, their points streak actually chases back into March of 2012…with their last regulation loss being an ugly 6-1 blowout to Nashville. But, 3 of the first 6 games in the current 30-game streak were also OT losses in shootouts, like the 3 this year.
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In my mind, that’s one of the flaws of the current OT rules the NHL has, which I believe have been in effect since the 04-05 season. Teams now have an incentive to end regulation in a tie, because both are guaranteed at least 1 point for the trouble, and then the OT winner gets a second point…whether it happens in the 5-minute OT period, or the shootout.
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That change came about when tie games were eliminated in favor of the current 5-minute OT period of 4-on-4 skating, followed by a 3-shot-per-team shootout (for regular season games…playoffs just play regular 20-minute sudden-death periods until someone scores).
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So in a way, comparing the current streak to the past can be a bit deceptive…but at the same time, the Blackhawks are essentially still doing what past teams did: end regulation play and an OT period with a tie score. And they are approaching all-time history with their current streak.
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They’ve now won a franchise-best 11 games in a row…in addition to setting a franchise-best points streak, and an NHL-best points streak to start a season. They sit just 5 games behing the 79-80 Flyers for the all-time record points streak of 35 games.
Oj, so the BlackHawks have had six losses during their ‘unbeaten streak’? but, because of NHL semantic rules, they’re considered unbeaten? What is this we’re discussing, NASCAR? Are the Blackhawks somehow the Dale Jr’s of the sport, and considered untouchable? How did that happen to a team from Chicago, of all places? I thought ESPN was still fixated, mantra-like, on the Hartford Whalers, (thus denying the existence of the Carolina Hurricanes as they did for years on end), much as they do with Big East basketball, etc.?
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How stupidly laughable does it need to get before sportswriters somewhere, ANYWHERE, might mention that? Thanks to you, OJ for doing so, despite not being a sportswriter. I guess since you’re not paid to do sports, you can be honest about it. Thank goodness for that.
“It started going downhill when it considered poker a sport.” — Rick H.
Now, now. Let’s not get crazy here. One of their better moves!
I just saw a tweet about VaTech women’s basketball. I had forgotten we had a team in that sport. Has that been the case for the last few years? I rally didn’t realize that.
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STILL NO PARAGRAPH BREAK, AMC, LET YOUR DROID IT GEEKS KNOW WE HAVEN’T FORGOTTEN. ALSO LET YOUR MASTERS IN MGT KNOW WE’LL AVOID EVERY POSSIBLE SPONSOR UNTIL THEY CONSIDER US WORTHWHILE BECAUSE OF THAT.
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No, I’m not letting it go. The RT insults us every minute it doesn’t address the issue, so other posters can be lemmings and suck the pipe, or they can also voice the fact they are actual consumers who spend money, even if not on idiotic online subscriptions. the fools are those who accept this, not those who take action against it.
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How long will Jim Weaver ignore the relevance of women’s sports at VaTech? Are there ZERO females who care about this? How stupid would you have to be to be a female athlete who chooses to attend VaTech? Seriously? It would be like a minority going to Ole Miss…
CR — I’ve seen you fired up plenty of times, but you are on a roll today. You might even say you’re on a SIGNIFICANT STREAK of angry responses. I will check the franchise logs for your record.
In all seriousness, the NHL gives you a point for an overtime loss. Credit. Half a win, in effect. Not my rules. You don’t get half a win for losing in extra innings (my sport of choice), but I’ve chosen to accept diversity — that draws in soccer can be significant, that NHL overtime losses aren’t so bad.
This is a really good “not-so-bad” streak.
Forget the Heat and Blackhawks, my favorite winning streak was the one pulled off by Amy back in the day when those things were the fad on campus. That girl could move-especially when we all rushed the Quad. Sorry I can`t blue line it like Aaron did above but that was back when phones were only used to talk on. I`m glad when other streaks are noted so we can keep up with their progress. I remember when Rose got to 44 straight games with a hit-a ways from 56 but still had to be noted. I wonder if he bet on whether he`d break Joe D`s record?
Aaron, I will go to the confessional on this one – I do watch it when it is on, but poker still isn’t a sport!-
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In the ESPN family of networks, maybe they should have created ESPNP, as in ESPN Poker.
Again, proof why soccer shouldn’t be a sport for anyone above the age of ten years old.
HEY, DID YOU NOTICE THAT THERE ARE STILL NO PARAGRAPH BREAKS? ARE YOU TIRED OF THIS YET? JUST WAIT UNTIL I REALLY GET FIRED UP ABOUT SOMETHING. DOES NOBODY CARE ABOUT THIS?!?
See, no paragraph breaks. Proof the RT is pathetic and deficient in customer service.
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AMc, I’m not going to let this one go, so you might as well go ahead and mention it to the pathetic droids that comprise the RT IT dept, and more importantly, to their bosses. The IT dept won’t care, obviously, as they NEVER care. The bosses, there is a glass shard of hope that they care. Less than one tenth of one percent chance they’ve got the brain matter to respond coherently, but I’m hoping it might finally sink in. Perhaps I should start calling the sponsors of the web site and pointedly insulting them in the way I’m so so adroit in doing, to re-assert the point.
I’M TIRED OF THE STUPIDITY, AMC. WHY DO THE IT DROIDS FOR THE RT NOT LISTEN TO CUSTOMER RESPONSE? I’M NOT ASKING FOR ANYTHING UNUSUAL. I’M ONLY ASKING FOR THE RT TO COME WITHIN A DECADE OR TWO OF CUSTOMER SERVICE AND TECHNOLOGY IN ‘SERVICING’ THEIR CUSTOMER BASE. CURRENTLY THE RT DOES EVERYTHING BUT- (I WISH I COULD BOLD FACE THIS) EVERYTHING BUT BUT BUT BUT BUT BUT ‘SERVICE’ THEIR CUSTOMERS. GET THE POINT?
ANOTHER IGNORED PARAGRAPH BREAK AND I’M NOT GIVING UP. I WILL CONTINUE TO BE A BOIL UPON THE SADDLE MARK UNTIL THE IDIOT GEEKS IN THE RT IT DEPT TAKE THE TEN MINUTES NECESSARY TO MAKE THE CHANGE. TEN MINUTES. I DARE ANYONE TO PROVE ME WRONG AND SPEND EVEN TWELVE MINUTES FIXING THE PROBLEM. THE TRUTH IS IT WOULDN”T TAKE MORE THAN SIX MINUTES BUT I’M AN EASY GOING GUY AND GIVING YOU TEN MINUTES. TEN MINUTES AFTER MORE THAN TWO WEEKS. TWO WEEKS THAT WERE ABOUT FOUR YEARS LATE IN EVOLVING.
YOU THINK I’M STOPPING? I’M JUST GETTING STARTED…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynKoZD-sFi4
Personally, I wouldn’t have been so subtle. Ike should have died early.
So, if I read your 27 comment correctly, and I know you are a stickler for accuracy, “How stupid would you have to be to be a female athlete who chooses to attend VaTech?” , then if a young lady does play or plans to play sports for Tech, she is stupid, by definition. Get a life would you!
Rick — Nice. I’m about to tell way too long of a story, but oh, well:
In 2009, they played the U.S. Open golf tournament at Bethpage Black. Three Roanoke County Fire and Rescue employees got an opportunity to serve as marshals on the course. I thought this was cool and deserving of coverage, so we arranged for one of them to call me each night and tell me what they had seen on the course each day. We ran the quotes in the paper, unedited.
Anyway, I never knew when they would call. It depended on when darkness fell, their responsibilities, etc. So I was watching poker on TV with my (then) 3-year-old son Casey when they called one night.
“Gotta take this, Casey,” I said, getting up and going to the basement. “Tell me what happens.”
So I’m about 3 minutes into the interview when I hear feet pounding down the stairs.
“DADDY!”
I ignore it and keep asking the marshal questions.
“DADDY!”
I realize I’m not getting off easy.
“I’m sorry, man,” I tell the marshal. “Can you hold for one second?”
“Sure,” said the marshal.
“WHAT IS IT, BUDDY?”
“THE GUY HAS ACE-KING SUITED!!!!!”
“OK, THANKS!”
The marshal heard everything and thought it was hilarious.
CR is off his meds. It happens. He is just too high strung.
Bill Brill used to say (or was quoted as thinking) that if you didn’t kick it, shoot it, catch it or hit it it isn’t a sport.
George Carlin said many of the things we call “sports” are really just “games and activities”.
Poker is either a game or an activity. I rather watch it than hockey. It amazes me when poker announcers try to rev up excitement by fast talking a slow-play.
As for winning streaks – I sure like them better than losing streaks. Especially at blackjack when its my streak………….
ESPN ratings are measured by radio minutes people listen to. Hard to be sensible in on air content when the only thing you are measuring is this stat. Even some ESPN voices critcize this aspect of their won work on-air.
For the rest of us there is NPR.
#32 DH, again I ask, seriously, if you were a female athlete, and all things academic were ‘even’, why would you attend VaTech, knowing how pointedly Jim Weaver and the rest of the athletic department ignore women’s sports?
SEE HOW THERE IS STILL NO PARAGRAPH BREAK BECAUSE THE IT GEEKS AT RT NOR THEIR SUPERVISORS CARE ABOUT CUSTOMER SERVICE?
Seriously, it has to be disruptive to recruiting female athletes when the most high profile sport – women’s basketball – is treated so pathetically. I mean, why would any female come here, unless she was interested in some academic pursuit that no other university offered?
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Go ahead, DH, provide your feedback on this. I’m not trying to slap you with a gauntlet, but instead to get thoughtful discussion going about the depth of apathy within the Hokie athletic department regarding all sports excluding football.
CR, you mean the stupid female athletes who play softball at Tech and are currently 12-1 on the season? Or the Women’s soccer team that went 13-6-1, ranked for most of the year and went to the NCAA tournament? Or the women’s tennis team that is currently 8-2 on the season? or the VT women’s swimming team who finished 2nd in the ACC championships (highest ever school finish)? I was mistaken to think though that someone who is so against ESPN’s main stream focus on sports would have the awareness that women aren’t only allowed to play basketball. I just really don’t understand why you are so hostile all the time, especially today. You aren’t just getting upset over sports (which is ok to be passionate about your alma mater or favorite team) but you are getting upset over a topic for an article. Really? I don’t think the topic of AM’s article today will have any type of negative impact towards you? I don’t mean to be hostile, I really don’t because that is not in my nature. However, I do find it unacceptable that you would insult the intelligence of hundreds of female student-athletes at Virginia Tech for their choice to pursue their extra-curricular activities and educational opportunities. They deserve better than that. I love sports more than most but I would never let it be a reason to let it take over my emotions and be disrespectful.
Zman, nice to see that the sun finally got high enough in Texas to shine through your window & wake you up.
FEEL FREE TO POINT OUT WHERE I’M WRONG FOR SAYING THAT THE RT IS DEFICIENT IN PROVIDING THE LEAST AMOUNT OF CUSTOMER SERVICE POSSIBLE BY TAKING THE LESS THAN TEN MINUTES NECESSARY TO CORRECT THE PARAGRAPH BREAK PROBLEM.
See, it’s still not been done. Zman, you should know by now that your slurry isn’t going to distract me from keeping my message on point. Don’t you have some pointless defense of Jim Weaver to espouse, like usual?
ANOTHER PARAGRAPH BREAK IGNORED BECAUSE THE IT GEEKS AT THE RT DON’T CARE ABOUT CUSTOMERS.
Poker is a game, not a sport. Even NASCAR is a sport, but poker is a game. Hockey is a sport. Poker is a game. ESPN is a whore for ratings. They’ve been so for a couple of decades now. What about any of this do people not understand?
THE RT DOESN’T CARE ABOUT CUSTOMERS AND THE PARAGRAPH BREAKS ARE ONLY A TINY EXAMPLE.
Baseball team is doing great! 11-2 record right now against very good competition. Several Hokie players expected to be drafted this Spring. Hats off to Jim Weaver for hiring Pete Hughes. What a great coach he is !!Georgia Tech coming to Blacksburg for a big weekend series. Come out and see the beautiful, new baseball field. Mega dollars spent on the stadium and awesome indoor facility. Great job Mr. Weaver !
VT had a female Olympic hurdler a few years ago. Brought a lot of attention to VT. Our female soccer, track, softball, cross country teams have been very good recently. Basketball will get better. It’s a marathon, not a sprint !!
DJ, women’s basketball is the most high profile sport for females and is the sport that is ‘traditionally’ supposed to get the most financial support, based primarily on interest levels of the viewing public. Our success despite the lack of financial support in other women’s sports notwithstanding, the point remains germane.
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Why does Jim Weaver ignore investment in female sports? If you have financial evidence to prove otherwise, I’d welcome it. If you have discussion by sportspeople in the same vein, I’d welcome it. If there is anything showing that Jim Weaver has directed significant resources towards advancing female sports, I’m all for that.
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I’ve just never seen nor heard evidence of it in many, MANY years. The women’s basketball practice facility was only constructed as an appendix to the men’s basketball facility, we all know that. Just wanted to get that EZ Button out of the way before your pointless tangent on that one, if you don’t mind. Save us all four useless posts back & forth, you know?
Aaron, that is classic.
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I had one of those with my son when he was about 4. First off, my wife calls me at work to B&M about him watching the NCAA tournament as soon as he got home from pre-school. My initial response was something along the lines of ‘that’s better than Barney.’
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This is pre-internet TV and extensive internet coverage, so I then tell her to give him the phone, to give me some scores, and she hangs up on me. I guess she figured he couldn’t read yet, there was no point. She saw little humor in it at the time.
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Anyway, I get home that day, and we’re having dinner, and he starts telling me about this bizarre end to a game in the tournament. He went into great detail about “some team in yellow” and talked about how they made this long pass, another quick pass, a long shot, and won the game at the buzzer.
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I figured his 4 year old imagination was taking over – then, after dinner, I saw highlights of the day and the end of the Valparaiso (the yellow team) game that day. I’ve never doubted his sports knowledge since.
DJ #36, loved your post. Truth and accuracy matters.
CR,
I’ve asked you this question before, and you’ve conveniently ignored it. You refer to yourself as a customer and whine about levels of customer service. Do you subscribe to the RT? By definition, to be a customer, you have to pay for goods or services. If so, then call them up on the customer service line or shoot them an email to the customer service box, to voice your complaint. Heck, click on the feedback tab on the side of the screen and have at it with people that can actualyl fix your problem, but even then, you will just find something else about which to whine. I don’t know about the rest of the audience here, but I come to this blog to read intelligent and reasonable discussions of sports issues of the day–not to read incessant whining about things that the blog’s author or his readers can remedy.
So far the marathon in basketball has proven to be a guaranteed losing season, and to have the faintest of optimism to be a possible (Oh! Can we ever hope for such glory?!?) NIT bid sometime about four years from now. The sprint was the faux winning against OOC patsies, while the ACC marathon has produced a solid last place production.
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How’s that NCAA bubble taste now, danny?
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Seen any SI articles you’d like to link lately? Or are you still imagining them? Yeah, that’s what I thought.
CR, I have no financial evidence to prove otherwise but can you say there is evidence that female sports aren’t being supported? You’re right, the basketball facility was partially a result of the (perceived minor) success of the men’s basketball program from the previous few years but also the desparate need for more accommodating facilities. As a result tough, the women’s team benefited from the upgrade and also was additionally used as an investment in their future as well. Most of the men’s and women’s teams on campus (besides softball and baseball) share the same facilities for practices and games though. When the capacity of the soccer stadium was increased was that a result of the men’s peformance on the field? No. It was because we just entered the ACC and doing so was an investment in the product of men’s and women’s soccer for the future. The baseball and softball teams have both received the same upgrades to seating capacity (more so the Softball team), locker rooms, dugouts, scoreboards, concessions and practice areas. I’m not a Weaver supporter by any means, but to say the women’s sports at Tech aren’t being invested in is quite ridiculous. I’m also aware though that the women’s sports are sometimes the beneficiaries of the men’s sports. To single Tech out though would be to single out every other school in the nation who does the same thing with the exception of maybe Tennesse who upgrade their women’s basketball facility due to their success and as a result the men were the beneficiary. To say Tech doesn’t invest in the women’s sports is pretty delusional though and to also think that prospective female student-athletes don’t weigh such factors in their decision process is pretty insulting.
Ouch, here’s what Jim Weaver could learn about ‘The Big Picture’, if only he were actually in his office on occasion to see something like this.
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http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2013/3/7/4075478/joe-flacco-ravens-contract-extension
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Thank goodness for him, attendance isn’t called in his office…
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Maybe the next guy will care… We can only hope…
OK, I’m going to take a risk here and interpret a bit of what you are saying. I have a niece who was a very good volleyball player who ended up going to a smaller school with a partial scholarship other than UVA and Tech where she was offered partial scholarships. Why? Because, she liked the school who wanted her to play for them, liked the coach who will probably never win a NCAA championship, she was going to get a good education, liked the area around the school, and she was going to get to play. I mention all of this because I believe that girls chose schools for reasons other than playing on a national stage. Maybe, girl’s basketball has developed into this ‘elite’ program status, but all things being equal, most girls sports have not. Who would want to go to Tech, maybe a girl who wants to be an architect, and engineer, a teacher, name it. Why would she want to come here just to get a good education while playing sports at a high level with a scholarship? The nerve of that girl! Maybe, just maybe, she likes Tech just the way it is; Weaver and all.
On the topic of my day?
As Bubba Watson would say – ‘You’re welcome…’
I’ll repeat that and let you interpret…
‘You’re welcome…’
Like I said, ten minutes… OR LESS.
‘You’re welcome.’
AMc, you’ll always be the recipient of my tabloid exclusives.
Why?
Because you’re my dawg!…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMDlZHdKMqk
Still, nobody notices?
Power of the voice, people!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47vvdOfPzLY
That’s what I think of the apologists, the ‘defenders’ of the flaccid hidebound ‘family’ Circle Of Trust… the Avery Brundages of the world…
It’s not an equal comparison, but it is a taser to the psyches that like to deny the most basic of changes, as in someone outside the ‘family circle of trust’ to enter the coaching ranks, as though that would desecrate the temple…
Like I said…
You’re welcome…
Yeah, the NHL rules are quirky…because like the NFL, they change the overtime rules between regular and post-seasons…though, admitedly, the NFL change isn’t too terribly big, only that you can’t have a tie. I would rather the NHL drop the shootout entirely, and just play 5 minutes of 4-on-4 hockey. If no one can score after that, then each tem gets 1 point for a tie. If someone scores, they get 2 points…loser gets nothing. That’s really how it should be, and how it was at one point. But, the lower levels of hockey like the ECHL, IHL, AHL, etc adopted it and fans liked it, so the NHL followed. But, there is a caveat with the OT wins via shootout. When it comes to tiebreakers for the playoffs, if 2 teams have equal numbers of points, shootout wins do not count toward the first tiebreaker…being win total. The only wins counted for that are regulation and OT period wins. Just too complex, really…simplify. Then, make the only change for playoff hockey be that you play full extra periods of 5-on-5 hockey until someone scores, as is the case today.
So yes, Chicago’s “unbeaten” streak is really technically an “unbeaten in regulation” streak, where they’ve had 6 games go to overtime shootouts, where they’ve lost in the shootout…games that previously would have ended in a tie. At the same time though, is there anything more unstatisfying in sports than a tie or a draw? It’s like going to a bar and finding out all they serve is NA beer.
I think that’s also why I like baseball so much. The rules to win are simple: score more runs at the end of 9 innings. If it goes extra, just outscore your opponent. Simple.
And YAY, paragraph breaks have returned!
My IT problems were solved 2 weeks ago. CR needs to update his hardware and software.
Well almost, the processing time of the above 1 line post took about 3 minutes.
#51 TL, WRONG. The paragraph break issue was universal, and anyone who denies that is also denying the apologetic stance of the RT that admitted there was a paragraph break issue. So snuff that phony attempt at a defense (i.e. a LIE) out, Tom L, okay?
It was solved this afternoon, so the apologists can stop denying there was a problem and now proudly proclaim that the problem they denied existed (feel me, Tom L?) was quickly fixed after only two weeks and that the fix had NOTHING to do with the obnoxious complaints by one loud mouthed irritant. I’m cool with that.
Tom L?
You’re welcome.
Let’s move on…
Halftime Miami 21 VT 8? Caption on picture on front page. “?The 2nd half we`re gonna play with 5.”
How about that Rambling Wreck from Georgia Tech…….they put the stuffer on the Miami Hurricanes last night….beat a top 10 team (yes, it is possible so take heart Hokie fans). The ACC Tourney is going to be most interesting….don’t rule out the Jackets, Wahoos and Eagles. I will be saying…..I told youse guys!!!!
Even James Johnson couldn’t limit his team to 8 points in a half of basketball. Who knows, maybe Weaver will fire Johnson for being ‘too exciting’ and replace him with Woolff.
Howl if ya hear me!
AHHHYOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
Question – do we want Jim Weaver to hire a new Women’s basketball coach? Or do we prefer to let the program drown for three more years, and hope the next guy gets it right?
Weaver has gone the ‘member of the family’ route with Dunkenberger, and the ‘just down the hall’ route with Woolff. Do we hope he eventually conducts an actual coaching search and hires someone new? Or do we just wait for the next AD while we ignore the current program?
One thing seems obvious – Bonnie was pretty smart to leave, regardless of where she went. My sympathies to the players on the current team.
Here’s one that should go in Friday’s discussion. Denny Hamlin was fined $25K by NASCAR for criticizing the Gen6 car? His ‘criticism? Evidently, as anyone with eyes has seen, it’s hard to pass in the Gen6 car. So… for THAT NASCAR fined him?
NASCAR seems to be the only sports entity that takes itself more seriously than even the NFL. Congrats to Hamlin for publicizing the hidden fine by NASCAR. Let’s hope this backfires on them in a big way. $25K? For saying the new car is bad? So much for the phony urging of – ‘Boys, have at it!…’ and of NASCAR trying to pretend their drivers aren’t more boring than the average PGA field.
I guess Denny should have asked Dale Jr to say the words for him, then everything would have been celebrated. Really, NASCAR? Is the France family really that thin-skinned as to let such become a distraction?
No wonder ratings are down. What next? Fining drivers for having their socks too low or too high?