ACC Best of the Blogs: Scheduling and Hoops

Because it's the off-season, these posts are infrequent and irregular. But, here's what's going on around the ACC. Sadly, the ACC lost a great blogger last week when Jeff from BC Interruption decided to end his own life ... by getting married. Our condolences to Brian.

BOSTON COLLEGE

BC All Access: Boston College Upsets Duke
"The atmosphere in Conte Forum was electric as the Eagles dazzled the sellout crowd. Fans packed the arena early and created a hostile environment throughout the game. The victory brought upon a massive rush of students as they stormed the court in celebration."

BC Interruption: Role Play: BC Hoops, ACC Football Sched and Gaylord Hotels
"Brian as ACC scheduler: Well, we had to wait to see how some of these out of conference games were going to pan out. We wanted to wait until the teams from North Carolina gorge themselves on creampuff opponents in early September. And we also want to take an extra amount of time to ensure teams like Florida State, Virginia Tech and Miami (FL) have the most favorable schedule possible. Because those programs sell! Some say we have a football perception problem. What better way to fix that than give those programs the easiest schedule possible in terms of when who plays who and screw the little guys! I'm looking at you, Duke, Wake Forest and Boston College!"

Eagle in Atlanta: First (delayed ) reaction to 2009 schedule
"Considering we already knew the opponents this is a dream slate for Spaz's first year. I think we get nearly every team when and where we want them. We don't deal with any awkward trips or Thursday night games. Seven games are at home. The toughest road game is at Virginia Tech, but we know we can win there (neutral fields with the Hokies are a different story)."

CLEMSON

Block-C: 2009 Clemson Football Schedule
"The Tigers will face out of conference foes from Middle Tennessee State, Central Michigan, Coastal Carolina, and Sakerlina. The Tigers will face their regular Thursday embarrassment early this year, traveling to Atlanta on September 10 to face Georgia Tech."

FLORIDA STATE

Tomahawk Nation: How can FSU fill their wide receiver void?
"We discussed Jimbo's extensive use of the depth chart throughout the season and despite our concerns (that Ponder and his wideouts couldn't get in rhythm because the reps were spread too thin), it looks like it might be paying off. Many players got significant reps last year, and despite losing three more wideouts than we expected (Carr was a senior), those losses might not be as bad because of the valuable experience gained by the backups."

GEORGIA TECH

The Legacy x4: 2009 Yellow Jacket football schedule is out
"I kind of wrinkled my nose at the idea of not playing Clemson closer to mid-season, but the more I think about it, the more I like it. We get a nice warm up game, then hit the ground running by playing people we love to hate and hate to love."

MARYLAND

Testudo Times: 2009 Football Schedule Announced
"It's going to be tough to open the season at California. It would have been nice to get a game against James Madison under our belt first, but it will be a good, early test for this team."

Turtle Soup: Franklin to Replace Friedgen (Eventually)
"I think it’s a great move for all the reason’s they discussed above and Franklin seems to have a passion for the University, saying he can’t think of another school that can offer all the things Maryland can offer a student-athlete. Will that be enough to get the blue chip recruits? It hasn’t so far, but with the class we just got and this ‘continuity’ announced today, perhaps we can take that next step."

MIAMI

The 7th Floor: Like a doll's eyes
"Aside from former linebacker Brandon Marti joining Robert Marve in proving that we really, really, reeeeeeeally need to stop recruiting white guys, all of yesterday's news comes from Lovett's presser. Lovett acknowledged the challenge of arriving 12 days before the start of spring ball, but said he's already hit the ground running and "all the kids I have met have exceeded my expectation in terms of how to present themselves." Team MVP Matt Bosher will shatter this illusion later when he uses his entrée fork to eat a salad, and suffers the humiliation of being shown to the door by the footman."

All Canes: What's new at the U
"Kirby Hocutt joined Shannon at the function and it was stated that Miami's athletic department raised upwards of $4.5M last year with the move to Dolphin Stadium. Though the stadium needs more bodies in seats, it's hard to argue with the bottom line. The Canes left the Orange Bowl for money and for a strapped program, it's hard to argue with almost a $5M increase... in a down economy, no less."

NORTH CAROLINA

Carolina March: UNC 101, Duke 87
"Four straight wins at Cameron. With the turnover in college basketball, there won't be that many players at UNC next season who have played with guys who have lost in Durham. There's no fear there. Thompson and Davis both, 60% free throw shooters that they are buried four from the line in the faces of a screaming crowd. Neither of the freshman seemed lost for long - only Drew when he kept losing his footing on the wet Duke floor - and Thompson was positively gleeful for most of the first half."

Tar Heel Fan: Oh Yeah…The Football Schedule Came Out
"There is also the matter of UNC playing two I-AA teams this season. The 2nd game came about when Butch Davis canceled a home-and-home with Colorado but could not find a suitable I-A opponent willing to come into Chapel Hill. Playing two I-AA teams means only one of those games can count towards bowl eligibility. At least Duke and NCSU are doing the same thing sparing us any trash talk about the schedule."

NC STATE

StateFans Nation: 2009 Football Schedule Released
"End with Carolina, so it looks like the ACC is finally starting to see the marketability of this rivalry rather than the contrived nature of the Carolina-Duke football “rivalry.” Also, since we’re apparently marked for a Thanksgiving Weekend home game every season, then making it the biggest game of the season is the most practical solution to ensure a max-capacity crowd."

Yet Another...: A look at the 2009 football schedule
"What a wonderful, wonderful site to behold: The front offices of the ACC acknowledging that this game -- not the Duke/Carolina matchup for the Victory Bell -- is the state's most significant college football game."

VIRGINIA

From Old Virginia: The schedule, obviously
"No long stretches of home games or away games - only two each consecutively. The only time we don't have a home game after a road game is early, after the Southern Miss game, which I feel like we should win. All this strikes me as a good thing. As schizoid as we were last year, and for the most part still pretty bad on the road, I think coming home after all the road games is a good way to re-align the psyche if/when we take another dump on somebody's field."

VIRGINIA TECH

Beer Control Offense: Putting the Beer back in Beer Control Offense
"The dual party ass clowns might actually do something to help out us Beer drinkers ... via helping the brewer's themselves. Not sure how the BCO feels about this since I think 70% of the stimulus bill is horseshit, this looks like it may actually give some relief to breweries. Either way it's beer news."

College Game Balls: CGB Off-Topic: The Types of Drivers I Hate
"She sees you coming from 500 feet away. Plenty of time to turn onto the road you are barreling down. 400 feet. You can see it’s clear both ways yet she isn’t turning. 300 feet. If you want to turn now is the time. 200 feet. She must be extra cautious and is waiting for you to pass. 100 feet. She decides to turn now. You slam on you brakes to avoid an accident and curse."

Tech Sideline: Can I rant for just a second?
"Schmadtke’s mistake, assuming I’m interpreting his comments correctly (always a dicey assumption), is a common one made by college sportswriters, who also like to write that the difference between a school winning a conference championship and not winning one is the $17 million paid out by the BCS bowls. No, it’s not — BCS money goes to the conferences, not the schools. Get it right!"

VT Fan: I Picked a Bad Game to Watch the Hokies Up Close
"I’ve watched this team all year, and frankly that was the worst I’ve seen the Hokies so far. It wasn’t any one thing, they just didn’t have the enery, focus, or sharpness they’ve had most of the season on Saturday. Malcolm Delaney and Jeff Allen especially had bad first halfs. In many ways, it was a case of Maryland just coming out more ready to play, fresher, more energetic, and shooting the lights out."

WAKE FOREST

Blogger So Dear: Startling Statistic: Jeff Teague's last six games
"With Ish Smith on the floor, Teague far too often watches Ish and does not look to score. The two are good on the floor at once, but they could be better. In addition to this, it is incredibly hard to keep up the pace that Teague had. He was seeing a huge hoop and finishing a high percentage of his shots."

OT: Weekend guide for single people

CGB has his own off-topic discussion at his blog.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Or, as us single people call it, "Saturday". I live with two other guys who are in long-term, committed relationships. So, I'm going to have the house to myself tomorrow, which is going to be awesome.

Here's how I plan on getting through the day. Leave your own ideas in the comments. Unless your idea is to watch NBA All-Star Weekend. No one cares.

Morning: Golf

I've played golf each of the last three Valentine's Days. The courses are deserted. While all the slow-playing hacks are off with their wives at some restaurant I can't afford, I'm on the course enjoying one of the few days I can walk without having a bunch of bald, fat, ass holes in carts complaining how slow I am since I'm on foot.

If you're not walking, you're not golfing.

Afternoon: VT at Maryland

This is for those of you on the East Coast only. I'll probably just play another nine holes. The Hokies have had the Terps number as of late and Gary and Grievous are on the verge of a complete meltdown.

Can we make Gary and Grievous live together and then give them their own reality show? I'd watch that. Then again, I DVR "Tool Academy" so I'm probably not the best test audience for whether or not a reality show is good.

Late Afternoon: Hooters

The V-Day crowds are always fun at Hooters. Plus you'll occasionally be assigned a waitress who's single and desperate on Valentine's Day. Or at least one willing to act that way for a fat tip. It doesn't really matter.

Evening: Hockey Night in Canada

Thank you, NHL Network, for giving me this wonderful gift. This week it's Pittsburgh at Toronto and Calgary at Phoenix. The Leafs have given Sid fits this year, particularly on HNIC, so that will be a fun game. Calgary is at least a fun team to watch and has one of the better goalies in the West. Plus, I can only imagine the suit Don Cherry is going to break out for Valentine's Day.

Night: Wild Turkey Rare Breed

This is my Valentine's Day present to myself. Costs just as much as flowers.

A basement worth envying

What a horrible weekend in so many ways.

Anyway, here's what my basement will look like should I ever get married. Just imagine Lane Stadium instead of Ohio Stadium.

Merry Christmas from furrer4heisman

Everyone has their own Christmas traditions. Where I come from, it isn't Christmas until we see this on our TVs:



Merry Christmas, Hokie fans. It's a time of year to sit back, sip egg nog and reflect on the birth of one of the greatest and most important human beings to ever walk to the earth. Happy 62nd birthday, Jimmy Buffett.

Bragging in Print

The year, a bunch of friends and I decided to try a college fantasy league. It was an eight team league and all because we didn't like the set up over at CBS Sports, it was left up to the commissioner (me) to handle scores, standings and transactions. It was a helluva lot of fun.

It was a lot of fun mainly because I thoroughly dominated the league. I clinched my division with two weeks to play in the regular season and scored more points and had the fewest points against. I was like the '99 Hokies.

Well, yesterday, despite Percy Harvin getting a big DNP next to his name, Virginia is for Hustlers won the league championship game in dominating fashion. Strong efforts from Chase Daniel, Glen Coffee and the Hokie defense helped. But the fact my opponent got exactly dick from Kevin Riley, Demarco Murray and Domenic Goodman probably helped more.

Frequent commenter Sid Bream Speed finished sixth.

Hokie fans: Be sure to watch GameDay

Hokies,

You may want to check out GameDay Saturday morning from Norman. If all goes well, I'll have a surprise that will make you proud.

Love,
furrer4heisman

UPDATE: GameDay wouldn't let any flag poles into the area, other the two guys with Wazzu flags because they've been going for so many years. I was more than a little pissed. The plan was to fly the flag of the Commonwealth and the VT flag. But, I was told at the gate the flag pole couldn't come in. Fascists.

I Like Ike Update: I Love Ike

Blow, you savage hurricane, blow. Unleash the fury of your ancestors onto the plains of central Texas. Feast upon a multitude of nourishing gulf water and grow strong and prosperous as you approach the Lone Star.

Seriously, hurry up and postpone this bogus little Arkansas-Texas drubbing-in-waiting so I can see the Hokies without having to cough up money that had previously been allocated for Wild Turkey 101.



Right now, I'm slated to see the Horns and Hogs Without Nixon Coming at 2:30 on Saturday. If that game gets wiped off the slate, chances are the Oregon-Purdue game will be seen in my area. Then, the Hokies and Jackets will be on ESPN, instead of the Ducks and Boilers.

With the Reverse Mirror game, the Ducks and Boilers are shown on ABC in the blue area above and on ESPN everywhere else. The blue area gets VT and GT on ESPN. So without that pesky game between Texas and Arkansas, the coverage area for the Oregon-Purdue game increases, along with my odds of seeing VT-GT on ESPN.

Weather.com is predicting heavy wind and rain for the Austin area around gametime on Saturday. The "Spectator Index" is listed at 1, which is at the bottom of its 1-10 scale.

Is it morbid that I want a hurricane to strengthen in order to see my favorite football team on TV for free? Yes, but at least I'm willing to admit it. The best case scenario for everyone is for the thing to strengthen, the Texas game to get postponed and then for the hurricane to weaken and not kill anyone. There, that's the politically correct statement, right?

Go Ike!

UPDATE: Phase one is complete. Texas-Arkansas has been postponed. Now all we have to do is get ABC to put the Oregon-Purdue game in my market and it's Peanut Butter Jelly Time.

So help me, God, if ABC shows that lame Penn State-Syracuse nonsense I will shit a Frisbee. The wrath of that hurricane will have nothing on what I will unleash if I have to see Syracuse's pumpkin uniforms instead of the beautiful bastion of orange goodness the Hokies will unveil against the Yellow Jackets.

UPDATE: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!





All areas in yellow (read: me) will see Oregon-Purdue on ABC and VIRGINIA TECH-Georgia Tech on ESPN. Thanks, Ike!