Tuesday: Hokies-Duke; state semifinals begin
IF YOU’RE A VIRGINIA TECH FAN, WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SEE TONIGHT? I’ll assume a win over Duke tops the list, but given the unlikelihood of that (the Blue Devils are a 20.5-point favorite), what other things could the Hokies do that would make you feel better about this season or the future? Or is that not possible for you at this point?
The game’s on ESPNU at 7 p.m. Duke fans surely will be tuning in to see what Ryan Kelly will do for an encore after his huge performance against Miami. The national story is obvious: How good can the Blue Devils be with Kelly back in the lineup consistently? But the Tech angle is less clear-cut.
I’d like to see if Robert Brown can build on his senior night performance and C.J. Barksdale can continue his upward trend. How about you?
THE VHSL STATE SEMIFINALS BEGIN TODAY IN RICHMOND, with the Bassett girls facing Courtland at 7 p.m. and the Salem boys opposing Potomac Falls at 9 p.m. Robert has a feature on Salem junior Troy Mann, who has become the team’s leading scorer and most versatile player.
OTHER STUFF
-Andy checks in with former Tech lineman Vinston Painter, who was pleased with how he handled interviews at the combine.
-Gonzaga takes the top spot in the AP poll for the first time in its history.
-Rory McIlroy says his withdrawal from the Honda Classic was “not the right thing to do.”
-The NRA will be the title sponsor for the Cup race at Texas.
-Have you ever wanted to see the Phillies take on the Dominican Republic? Of course you have. You get your chance at 1 p.m. today on MLB Network.
-Real Madrid hosts Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League at 2:30 p.m. They played to a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford last month.
-The Heat wins its 15th in a row.
-As expected, R.A. Dickey will start for the U.S. in Friday’s WBC opener against Mexico. Meanwhile, Reds star Joey Votto announces that he will play for Canada.
-USA Today ranks the top 10 conference tournaments. The paper pegs the ACC at No. 2, behind only the Big East, citing Miami and Duke as compelling stories.
NAME THAT TUNE
Now I see the importance of history
Why people be in the mess that they be
Many journeys to freedom made in vain
By brothers on the corner playin ghetto games
I ask you lord why you enlightened me
Without the enlightment of all my folks
He said cuz I set myself on a quest for truth
And he was there to quench my thirst
But I am still thirsty…
March 5, 2013 - 8:31 AM
The NRA sponsoring a race in Texas…why does that combination not surprise me? I think what does surprise me is it took them this long to do it.
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For the Hokies tonight, I’d like to see them build on the improvements they’ve been getting from guys other than Green. They’ve played well in 3 of the past 5 games, but got the doors blown off by both Duke and Miami. If they can play well and play better than they did in the previous game against Duke, I’ll be happy. If they pulled off a stunner and beat Duke, I’d be absolutely thrilled.
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McIlroy used an excuse that I could see being legitimate. I busted a wisdom tooth a while back. I actually have no idea when it happened, but somehow I broke about half the expose tooth off. I could go weeks without any pain, then I’d have severe pain for a few minutes, maybe a half hour…and couldn;t focus at all. But it would go away, so I never thought much about it. Once I figured out what happened, I had it removed pretty quickly. But, the problem is that he appears to be having trouble adjusting to the new equipment he’s using as a part of his deal with Nike.
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And that brings me to a question…a lot of golfers have struggled with changing brands of clubs and balls when they sign lucrative deals. Do they not get to substantially test out the new equipment beforehand to see if they like it and can play with it? Seems that happens more often than you’d think, so it made me wonder.
Is NASCAR expecting a bang/bang finish in Texas?
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What would I like to see from the Hokies tonight? I’d like to see James Johnson praise JEddie after a game, instead of criticizing him. That would be different.
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OJ, the golfers do indeed test the clubs extensively prior to any announced changes. They also often insist on the ‘new’ clubs being made to the exact specs of their ‘old’ clubs, just with a different logo. However, much like the difference in hitting balls on the practice range and during a regular round of golf for us duffers, when the pros tee it up in a tourney, as compared to practice rounds, it takes a while to adjust.
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McIlroy has a lot of golf writers who are enjoying criticizing him, mostly because they dislike him getting a fat contract from Nike, while they claim he should never have swapped brands. Tiger swapped brands & it took a while for him to adjust. Phil swapped brands & it took a while for him to adjust. It always takes a while for guys to adjust. McIlroy went through a spell last spring/early summer where he slumped, mostly because he didn’t play in many tourneys. That’s part of his problem, along with the adjustment period. He’ll recover, and the golf writers can return to worshipping Tiger as he struggles while not having changed equipment. It gives the writers something to do until the Masters. ‘A tradition unlike any other…’
Real Madrid and Manchester United today? Damn. I would have liked to see that match.
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Also, today, the Big South quarterfinal pits Withrop and Radford. I just finished reading Pat Forde’s column on the March Madness, which is just starting to heat up. That means the ACC tournament could, in theory, have somebody from Florida lock up the ACC’s automatic bid by winning the tournament. I think it could be Miami this year. Virginia could also shake off their loss to Boston College and finish strong.
Tennessee- Arrested Development –
A bad tooth really hurts. If you have ever had one, you woudn’t even question McIlroy. It’s why God invented Tylenol. It really works.
Bang Bang finish in Texas. That’s not bad. The ads during the race should be real gems.
Tennessee it is. Nicely done.
Thanks, CR…I figured they did get heavily involved, but always wondered why so many of them struggled badly with the changes. I’m definitely a duffer, and I’ve swapped a couple sets of clubs in my lifetime, but once I find something I like and hit consistently, it stays in my bag. That’s why I keep a driver, 3-wood, and lob wedge from Walmart in my bag…I love those clubs. But my 5-wood is a Goodwill find (replaced one I broke a shaft on at Auburn Hills), while the set of irons I play currently I got at Play it Again. My sand wedge is a hand-me-down from my dad, and my putter is one I scored from the clearance rack at the course I used to work for. The brands in my bag are Arnold Palmer, Ping, Callaway, Knight, Spalding, and Wilson (I think that’s the 5-wood). I have an entire set of Mizuno irons as well, but I haven’t been hitting those well lately. I was partial to some older Maxfli golf balls though, the old MD-90′s and MD-100′s. Got my lone hole-in-one with an MD-100, and notched my best round with the MD-90, a 6-over 76. I’m basically a low/mid-90′s golfer now on a good day though. If I could play more often, I could probably pull that back to the low/mid 80′s I used to get regularly. That’s about the only time I wish I was still in high school…
Golf is such a mind game that it wouldn’t take much more than a hangnail to screw up your game, pro or am. I walked off of the golf course several years ago in the middle of a round with buddies. Poor form, even though they forgave me. It had nothing to do with anything more than frustration, however. I have never been back, don’t miss it one bit. Obviously I am not cut out for it and I just had to come to grips with it. While I was shooting in the mid to low 90s on a good day, I just couldn’t consistently play the game well and couldn’t afford the time or money required to get better, even if I had the latent skill to have done so. I predict Rory will adjust his ‘tude and be back strong.
As for the Hokies, I will try again to watch them play Dook, hoping for a balanced offensive performance and a spirited game from the fellows. I think if Eddie can have a good game, for a change, JJ will give him deserved praise. I hope he can if for no other reason than it is getting tiresome reading crooked’s drumbeat about JJ’s attempt to get the most out of a player with more talent than has been evident for the past couple of months. Maybe I would be content with just being able to watch the whole game this time.
Hope so!! Go Hokies!!
What would I like to see tonight? How about whatever Tech fans are there storming Coach K`s Court after a Tech victory. That being highly unlikely, I`ll settle for some defense on Duke`s 3 point attempts, some interior defense and Green getting 30+. As for Rory, if he had been 3 under instead of 7 over I don`t think he walks. That being said, let him go. Sure the tooth was a convenient excuse but he shook hands with everybody and has since apologized. He has some good mentors around him who will keep him out of the rough-provide their wisdom for the wisdom he lost. Story over. On to Doral, Rory.
Hard, really, to say whether Rory was right or wrong. On the one hand, you start a round – you finish a round. I have never made friends when I had to walk off for any reason. If you can walk, you play. If you can;t play, you stay.
On the other hand, if you really can’t play, why stay? You risk injury.
Jack called out all of the current pros on tour when talking about clubs. He talked about how many different sets guys had and how some of them were more suitable to specific conditions than others. I have to wonder if the guys today play with only one set and get so used to that set that any change is a probem?
Jack said, “in the end, the player plays, not the clubs”.
Interesting thought. But I know that some sports gear, like tennis racquets, are really customized to the player. Not that they can;t play with another racquet. They just can;t get their very best without the fine tuning. I can see this as a matter of sting composition and pressure.
is it the same with clubs? Can they customize shaft stiffness (and etc.) to an individual player’s swing? I really don;t know about this.
I think most all of the pro golfers who change clubs do it for the endorsement money, not because they are unsatisfied with their clubs. Can Nike customize clubs as well as they make shirts? Maybe not. Rory: “I switched to Nike clubs and swoosh I lose to somebody nobody ever heard of in the first round of match play and then go 7 over in 27 next time out. Never mind that. Go out and buy a set” Not a ringing endorsement there. Phil Knight was probably saying “Blame it on the tooth, Rory”.
Ralph nails it. A couple of dozen Hokie fans surrounding Coach K after the game would be ideal. I wouldn’t bet on it happening, but it’d be nice.
I read the article on the college basketball conference tournaments, and the Big East, for now, is #1. Conference basketball tournaments, and conference football championship games is about three things – location, location, location.
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The ACC has screwed up by bouncing it around (pun intended) in basketball. Find a place, and stick with it. The SEC is much the same.
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For the ACC, Greensboro might not be the most magical destination, but don’t change it from G’boro one year, to Atlanta the next, and then somewhere else.
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The BE has been in a great situation in Madison Square Garden the whole time. Granted, it is a greater venue than the rest can pull off, but it is also the most expensive place in the US for fans to go to. For the ACC, there is nothing wrong with Charlotte or Greensboro – just find a place and stick with it. Stop dribbling the thing around.
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Same thing with the football conference championship game. The ACC Championship Game would be far more appealing if they had stuck it in Charlotte in 2004 and not punted it around from Jacksonville, to Tampa, to Charlotte. Pick a location and stay with it.
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You can call it the Rose Bowl if you want, but if you play it in Vidalia, Georgia one year, it isn’t going to have the same lustre.
I’d feel a lot better about the future if Jim Weaver retired, Johnson stepped down and Greenberg came back.
ZMan, yes…absolutely, golf clubs can undergo a myriad of tweaks and adjustments based on a players swing, build, preferences, etc. Just speaking about shafts, you can get different materials, different amounts of flex/stiffness, etc to better fit the player…in addition to the typical adjustments like shaft length. You can do a lot with the club heads too, picking materials, sizes, loft angles, club face offsets, dimensions of the cavity back, how much weighting is at the bottom of the club head, etc…and with woods, you can pick different club face materials, design of the bottom of the club to have different shapes, different counter weighting, etc. And with grips…there’s several different around that can dramatically change the feel of the club as well.
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Golf is very much a head game. I’ve only left a round twice. Once I got physically sick on the course, and the other I was playing by my lonesome, so no harm no foul other than lost a greens fee. I wasn’t in a good place mentally, and just couldn’t get my head in the round that day. I’ve had a couple people leave mid-round, usually because of a health condition that they felt warranted stopping their play.
Zman and OJ, you are right. Leaving mid-round was something I regret to this day, 12 years or so later. Like I said, poor form on me. My self examination after doing so led me to set the game aside, like I said. But I was no pro. Rory is a young man with a bright future in golf, I was just another frustrated duffer who really couldn’t afford to play the game. When it’s a bad day at work, any work, you suck it up and soldier on. When it’s supposed to be fun but isn’t……so I gave it up and respect all of those who enjoy the game.
Perch, for several years I couldn’t afford the greens fees, and had given the game up as a result. It really helped that when I was younger and playing 4-6 rounds a week, I was employed at a golf course where I could play for free, along with 2 other courses in Hampton Roads owned by the same company. But once that employment ended and I became a full-time student, I barely played…a factor of both time and money. Now I finally have the money to afford some greens fees from time to time, but the problem is that I have a hard time finding 4-5 hours I can set aside to play. I’m lucky to play 10-12 times a year, and most of those this past year were 9-hole rounds after work. I only played a full 18 four times.