Marevelous planters on the Monday OPEN thread
Shot by Dan Friday on Roanoke Avenue
“My uncle is a Southern planter. He’s an undertaker in Alabama.”
Fred Allen
Happy Memorial Day, everybody. Have a safe one!
May 28, 2012 - 11:56 AM
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May 28, 2012 - 11:56 AM
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Friday, May 24, 2013
THE ROANOKE TIMES
Another example of the myth of American exceptionalism!
Out of 178 nations, the U.S. is one of only three that DOES NOT offer paid maternity leave benefits;
1. the US,
2. Swaziland, and
3. Papau,New Guinea.
“American women are offered 12 weeks of unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, which exempts companies with fewer than 50 paid employees…”
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/05/24/489973/paid-maternity-leave-us/?mobile=nc
Two bath..detached garage.
You may find yourself living in a shotgun shack…
Another example of the myth of American exceptionalism!
Only to lazy leftwingers is it bad not to pay people to stay off the job.
#4 Hmm, so every nation in the world is left wing except the U.S., Swaziland and New Guinea. Interesting.
Dan,
Condolences on the game.
Heck of a run for an outranked team. Dang good in face-offs — however, too many turnovers (albeit MD did close the gap some in the second half) and too many shots taken when they weren’t there.
Better, luck next year.
On this Memorial Day those so-inclined might wish to say a prayer for Bob Slaughter, who was instrumental in starting the D-Day Memorial in Bedford.
WDBJ is reporting that Mr. Slaughter is critically ill in the hospital and has taken a turn for the worse.
I just saw that on the news Art Hill, Godspeed Bob Slaughter!
Dan,
Sorry for the Maryland loss to Loyola of Maryland in the NCAA Lacross finals. However, I have to admit that 4 nieces and nephews are graduates of Loyola and I’m sure they are celebrating tonight.
Awful news about Bob Slaughter, Art. The man is a giant.
#7 Art, sorry to near about Bob. I knew him from our RT days and own his book. One of the good guys and a REAL hero.
3.”You may find yourself living in a shotgun shack…”
Yet, Art Hill will get a free pass…
“Yet, Art Hill will get a free pass…”
Not a David Byrne fan I see.
Gutless Mitt continues to gorge at the Trump Trough.
http://news.yahoo.com/romney-wont-repudiate-trump-birther-issue-003919355.html
So the MSM requires Mitt repudiate everything anybody says, but they have never yet asked 0bama to do the same to the OWS for it’s violence and destruction.
Let’s hear hypocrite Dave comment on that.
“a free pass” for what?
Obama has not campaigned with OWS…DUH!
Obama has not campaigned with OWS…DUH!
Jeez, one would hope not. But he hasn’t repudiated their crimes, nor has he been asked to. Unbelievable.
Oh and Romney has “repudiated” Trumps “crimes”?
http://2016themovie.com/
Epic! The movie to see this summer! watch the trailer!
Same as it ever was, Art.
#18 suzie will try anything for some attention. Sad.
Romney has confirmed that $1 trillion added to government spending has stimulated the economy. Here’s what he said when asked why he wouldn’t just slash the budget all at once instead of spreading it out over years:
“Well because, if you take a trillion dollars for instance, out of the first year of the federal budget, that would shrink GDP over 5%. That is by definition throwing us into recession or depression.”
http://thepage.time.com/2012/05/23/the-complete-romney-interview-transcript/#ixzz1wGT8ucfF
Oh, somebody lost a lacrosse match…too bad. Say, when does the tractor-pull competition start?
#24 National team championship. You know, one of those things that Virginia Tech has NEVER won in any sport.
Gdad mean,s unlike the University of Maryland which has national championships in football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, man’s lacrosse (10 times), women’s lacrosse (11 times) , field hockey (8 times) and soccer (3 times).
You would think that VT would have managed to win at least one championship in something.
VT has won some individual national championships in a few different track & field events, and the 06-07 bass fishing national championship. Not much, but hey…gotta start somewhere. They still have not won a team championship in a varsity sport, but considering that for the most part athletics have not been emphasized until the mid-90′s when Frank Beamer got the football team to national prominance, it’s hard to say much bad about how they’ve progressed in the past 15-20 years. They’ve really gone from an irrelevant rural mountain university largely only known for agricultural and engineering studies, to one that is also becoming known for its athletics programs, fine and performing arts, business, biomedical, research, and others. And to be perfectly honest, I’d rather have my school better known for its academic and real-life achievements than winning the 1982 women’s lacrosse title. But whenever VT does win a team title in a sport, I’ll cheer them on for accomplishing it.
Well said, Other John. A lot of folks seem to forget that VT’s athletic programs are still growing, and that they had a LOT of catching up to do.
And I’m sure that you also know, that as soon as VT does win a national team title, then the haters will say, “well, you’ve only won ONE…” But like you said, you’ve gotta start somewhere!
“And I’m sure that you also know, that as soon as VT does win a national team title, then the haters will say, “well, you’ve only won ONE…””
I’m just sick of looking at that empty footbll national championship trophy case they have. Beamer and the crew have a few years left. Now is the time.
For those who are weighing in on this discussion below is a link about Hokie sports teams and individuals competing for national championships.
http://www.hokiesports.com/weekly/20120529/2.html
“I’m just sick of looking at that empty footbll national championship trophy case they have. Beamer and the crew have a few years left. Now is the time.”
Having that empty case in place as a constant reminder of the football team’s goal doesn’t bother me. I appreciate that it represents a goal, and quite a lofty one. In fact, after they do win one, it wouldn’t bother me to see them leave the existing case empty, and just change the sign to say that the case is a placeholder for title #2.
I always thought the tractor pull was an indigenous sport on the VT campus. It should be something that they would have a good chance of winning! It goes right along with speed milking, creative wool shearing,
and shoveling the most manure in one minute.
“Suzie says:
Oh, somebody lost a lacrosse match…too bad. Say, when does the tractor-pull competition start?
Posted on May 29th, 2012″
Right after the shake-your-booty-for-the-hometeam, I mean, cheerleading competition.
After all the tempest in a teapot over Elizabeth Warren repeating what she had been told all her life about her ethnicity, now we have a prominent rising star of the Republican extreme right caught telling a REAL lie and torpedoeing his own brief rise to power and prominence.:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-newhampshire-politicsbre84s159-20120529,0,5785467.story
You would think that VT would have managed to win at least one championship in something.
People forget VT has only recently become this big national school. It’s not that far removed from the Metro Conference with the likes of teams Tulane, Memphis State, and East Carolina.
VT’s rise is due to the long shadow of one great man; conservative Christian Frank Beamer.
#27 “…and the 06-07 bass fishing national championship.”
Next up, the tractor pull.
shoveling the most manure in one minute.
Comment by dave — May 29, 2012 @ 6:13 pm
Suzie Q would have won this event hands down, so to speak.
So, I guess that “Convervative Christian” = “Choke In The Big Games”?
#35 Hmm, I wonder if it’s even worth the bother to explain to suzie that there are many schools that are not “big national” that have won national championships. Nah, probably not.
But I do think it’s great that some Tech track and field athletes have national championships. And I hope they win some more June 6-9. I like track and field a lot. suzie, OTOH, doesn’t really think it’s a sport because not many people go watch it, so I guess we can’t really count them.
George Mason and VCU have gone a lot farther than VT in NCAA basketball, and neither of those schools is the sports powerhouse that Tech is.
#35 Hmm, I wonder if it’s even worth the bother to explain to suzie that there are many schools that are not “big national” that have won national championships. Nah, probably not.
Not real concerned about synchronized swimming or soccer or racewalking titles, Gdad. We’re talking about real sports like football. It’s not surprising to hear you knock VT, though. I guess it’s a bitterness thing.
So, I guess that “Convervative Christian” = “Choke In The Big Games”?
Yeah, Frank is the winningest active coach in D-1 football. VT has the longest 10-win string in the nation and has either the longest or second-longest bowl streak.
But again, it’s not surprising to see jilted folks trash VT.
That’s great for George Mason and VCU… but it’s also very likely that neither George Mason or VCU would have even made the NCAA tournament in the years that they respectively made the final four if they were playing VT’s in-conference schedule.
I’m not gonna take away a thing from their play once they were in the tournament, because they did very well in one tournament and should be proud. But if we’re being honest, it’s a bit easier earn the auto-bid into the NCAA tournament as a CAA member than it is an ACC member.
“So, I guess that “Convervative Christian” = “Choke In The Big Games”?”
Define “big games.”
If you define it as games versus top-5 ranked teams (since that is the stat that most love to ride on), then tell me what would be an acceptable win percentage against top-5 teams would be before you would no longer say that VT chokes in big games.
Don’t know if you count the NIT as a national championship, but VT won the NIT in the 70s. Then, not as many teams went to the NCAA championship and there were a lot of good teams in the NIT. The ACC was loaded at the time, but only the ACC tournament champion went to the NCAA tournament. Probably the other conferences were the same so any good team that didn’t win their conference tournament went to the NIT. I think VT was still an independent at the time.
VT has won 4 of 7 ACC titles, and appeared in two other ACC title games they didn’t win. I’d say they do pretty danged well in big games and even better during the regular season.
#45 VRWC, the NIT was definitely a bigger deal when the Hokies won it than it is, but the NCAA tourney was considered THE tournament by then. I was watching the championship game with some other students as we waited for our National Honor Society induction ceremony. Some parents were watching, as well. We refused to allow the ceremony to start until the game was over, much to the chagrin of the old maid Latin teacher who was the sponsor of the NHS and who probably didn’t even know what the NIT was.
#41 Soccer? You mean the most watched, most played, most popular sport in the world? The sport where 650 million people recently watched one game that wasn’t even a championship? Now let’s compare that to how many watched the most recent Super Bowl (and, no, the answer isn’t 1 billion — that’s how many people COULD HAVE watched it).
ACC Championships don’t put National Championship trophies in your case Suze! “On January 4, the Hokies faced the Florida State Seminoles in the 2000 Sugar Bowl for the national championship. A back and forth game, the Hokies trailed 28–7 late in the second quarter but came back to take a 29–28 lead at the start of the fourth. However they were not able to hold on and the Seminoles won 46–29.” VT has been playing football since 1892 and this is what they have to show for their efforts at the National Chmpionship level. How many more years of Beamerball will it take before the AD and alumni say NO to CHOKE?
“…How many more years of Beamerball will it take before the AD and alumni say NO to CHOKE?”
Seriously? No football program in the country has won more games since 1995. Who gets tired of winning more than anyone else does? Is that really something to “say NO” to?
I’d love to see a football national title. It just hasn’t happened yet.
I’d love to get behind the VT football program…just can’t with this guy leading the charge. As an FSU fan I could not wait for Bobby Bowden, as much as I liked and respected him, to leave so the program could move in a different direction. Sorry hokie24 but change is needed if VT is going to put that trophy in their case.
Scott A, what exactly is needed? A dirtier program, perhaps? I’ve heard a number of comments to the effect that when rules get bent to the extent they need to be in order to get the top-shelf talent and use it effectively, then and only then will VT reel in a BCS national championship.
I don’t know if this is true or not, but if it is, I don’t want a championship. I say win the right way or it isn’t winning. Your mileage may vary.
You could very well be right Scott A. I never said it would happen on Beamer’s watch. I hope that it does, because I think that Frank has worked hard and done things the right way.
But I also see it from the view of “what do you really expect to improve” just by changing the coach? And I also realize how easy it would be to hire a big name, just to watch them send the program into shambles. I’d hate to see a situation where Hokie fans are left wondering “why did we get rid of a good thing?” You know what I mean?
I’m not content to just sit in place… but at the same time, I think that VT football is an established enough program to make sure that before any change happens that the replacement will have 100% certainty of improving the program.
I also think that it will take a small miracle for any team outside of the SEC to win a title, no matter if a non-SEC team is 14-0 or not. I just don’t see ESPN or the BCS allowing a title game to have an ACC participant anytime soon.
Here’s the reality of the situation regarding VT not getting a national championship but still putting up a BCS team year in and year out, and why it’s not Beamer’s fault.
The reality is, Beamer makes ordinary Division I athletes much better football players. We get a handful of NFL hopefuls every year in the draft, but nowhere near the number of players that the SEC puts out. Why? He doesn’t get the QUANTITY of extraordinary players for 2 big reasons 1) Lack of a National Championship and 2) Geography.
Let’s face it, Southwestern VA is not a hot-bed of football athletic activity. Yes, we have one or two here and there, but because it’s largely rural, there’s simply less people with extremely high talent. The majority of successful Hokies have come from Tidewater, NoVA, or other places. SEC teams, while not all located in bustling cities, generally have a large city somewhat close from which to do recruiting.
Do you think people want to move far away to Tiny Blacksburg if they have another opportunity with a school much closer with a track record of winning (say Auburn or Alabama, or hell, even Georgia)? It’s a rare bird that will opt that way, and if they do, it’s likely because they are not exceptional compared to what the SEC schools have, and are looking for more playing time to work hard.
It has nothing to do with Beamer’s inability. It has everything to do with what he has to work with. I think he’s done an exceptional job with the talent he’s been given and able to recruit. He’s taken low-ranked prospects and made them ready for the NFL. I don’t think VT will win a national championship, particularly the way the BCS is still currently constructed. It’s always possible though.
Bottom Line: You simply can’t make a meal out of a handful of string beans.
hokie24, isn’t their record v. top 5 teams something like 1 or 2 for 25? I like Tech football just fine, but they would have their butts handed to them in the SEC. Tech may never have the recruiting clout that SEC schools have (sorry JohnW, I don’t buy the “They’re too honest and morally upright to recruit winners”), but something’s going to have to change if they want to be spoken of in the same conversation as Alabama and LSU.
And it might be unfair to say that they’re “choking”. It’s just as likely that they’re outplayed by better teams.
Tidewater (the 757) is a big time college football recruiting area, arguably, along with Dade County, Fl., the best for it’s size in the country. A potential problem for VT is that Mike London of U.Va. is doing well there and ODU will be playing Division 1 in another year.
The progress of ODU is probably unprecedented in college football history. I think they’ve only been playing football for 2/3 years and have already beaten JMU and W&M. Now they are going Division 1. It’s going to be interesting to see how their rise affects VT and U.Va. recruiting. If they continue as they are, they might be the Virginia school that ends up in the SEC. They also have a big TV market…
Yep, that’s an accurate record against top 5 Kristen. My question to you was what type of record against top 5 would you consider to be acceptable enough so that you would have no reason to say that VT chokes in big games?
What win percentage against top 5 would you call acceptable?
hokie24, isn’t their record v. top 5 teams something like 1 or 2 for 25?
I wonder what Mason’s record is against the top 25. Oh wait. Have they ever played a top 25 team?
I like Tech football just fine, but they would have their butts handed to them in the SEC. Tech may never have the recruiting clout that SEC schools have (sorry JohnW, I don’t buy the “They’re too honest and morally upright to recruit winners”), but something’s going to have to change if they want to be spoken of in the same conversation as Alabama and LSU.
Pop quiz: Guess what the recruiting pool of SEC schools have more of than any other area? Y’all love those people when it comes to football, hate ‘em when it comes to teen pregnancy, low SATs, etc.
Hokie24, that depends on what kind of team they want to be thought of. If they want to be spoken of as a Top 10 team, 20%. That’s just my number and I’m not expert.
Again, it might not be a matter of choking, which is probably an unfair characteristic. IMO “choking” is when you’re going up against a team roughly equal or even less quality, holding a big lead then blowing it in the end.
For those having trouble keeping up, George Mason doesn’t have a football team. They have made an final 4 appearance recently though (basketball).
Kristen, you’re the first person that I’ve asked this question to that actually gave me a reasonable and realistic response. Most people say 50% or higher!
Only 8 teams in Div 1 football have a record of 20% or higher against top 5 teams. Only 22 teams are above 10%. The team with the best win percentage against top 5 teams is Miami, with a 29% win percentage.
VT, at 7.1% (2-26) against top 5 teams, is #34 on this list. Other teams that some may find interesting to know that have worse records than VT against top 5 teams would be;
Oregon (5.9%, 3-47-1)
UVA (4.8%, 1-20)
UNC (2.3%, 1-40-2)
Maryland (4.4%, 2-43)
WVU (2.6%, 1-38)
Oklahoma St (3.0%, 2-65)
Texas A&M (3.3%, 2-58)
Beamer and VT have done a remarkable job. When someone on ESPN says “Blacksburg” people know where it is and what it is. Blacksburg is a big time football town and VT has a big time program.