Laziness is Next to Godliness

I'll have a bigger (but probably not better) post later today featuring some actual journalism-type stuff. It's great when you can take the audio from a teleconference and use those quotes to make it seem like you accomplished something.

Until that gets posted tonight, here's your topic for debate:

Who will lead the Hokies in sacks this year? Jason Worilds is the returning leader, but John Graves is having a stellar spring since switching to DE from DT.

Linkage

Hokies

- Perception isn't always reality: Bama QBs vs. VT QBs. (Blogsburg)
- Coach Beamer does not understand your fascination with embedded video. (Roanoke Times)

Atlantic Coast Conference

- n00bs who will have an impact on the 2009 season. (ACC Now)
- The three guys competing for UVa's starting QB job all have sob stories. (Annette)
- The UVa view of the Philip Sims Bama commitment. (From Old Virginia)
- Kyle Parker becomes Willy Korn before Willy Korn can become Willy Korn. (Block-C)
- If you don't have traditions of your own, steal them. (The Legacyx4)

Stuff Only I Care About

- I like to think my constant linking had something to do with everyone's favorite cougar, Kristin Chenoweth, winning Ogle Madness. (The Lost Ogle)
- Fins up! I'll be at tomorrow's show. (Buffett News)
- The Twitter phenomenon has engulfed God's conference. (The Quad)
- If only he had dropped THE c-bomb. (Puck Daddy)
- DACOACHO is sure to win an Oscar for his portrayal of DACOACHO. (EDSBS)
- Some of our favorite calllllage footbawl bloggers are meeting in Vegas for a weekend of debauchery. (Dr. Saturday)

VT Spring Football Guide Available

The Virginia Tech spring football media guide is available for download here. As always, Dave Smith and Co. did an excellent job. Here are some tidbits from the guide I thought you might find interesting:

Spring Schedule

April 1: 4:30-6:30
April 3: 4:30-6:30
April 4: 11 a.m.
April 6: 4:30-6:30
April 8: 4:30-6:30
April 10: 4:30-6:30
April 11: 11 a.m. Scrimmage
April 13: 4:30-6:30
April 15: 4:30-6:30
April 17: 4:30-6:30
April 18: 11 a.m. Scrimmage
April 20: 4:30-6:30
April 22: 4:30-6:30
April 24: 4:30-5:30
April 25: 2 p.m. Spring Game

Walking Wounded

Three returning starters (OG Sergio Render, DE Jason Worilds and LB Cam Martin) are being held out of spring practice due to injury.

Breakout Candidates

As with previous years, the spring guide lists players at each position who have the potential to step up and surprise during spring drills.

OL: Nick Becton, Vinston Painter, Michael Via
WR/TE: Dyrell Roberts
QB/RB: Ryan Williams
DL: Kwamaine Battle
LB: Jake Johnson
DS: Lorenzo Williams
K: Justin Myer

Be sure to download the spring guide. It includes everything we need to know about the team before the main media guide comes out in the fall. It also includes quotes from all the positions coaches about what they expect this spring.

More Tide Comments Over at the AJC

The best and brightest the state of Alabama has to offer has again enlightened us on this September's VT-Bama game. Tony Barnhart had a blog post today on ACC spring practice and the first item for discussion was the Hokies' opener with the Tide. Take it away, Tony:

1. Virginia Tech begins with Alabama on its mind: Virginia Tech finished 10-4 last season, won another ACC championship, and beat Cincinnati, a slight favorite, in the Orange Bowl. With 15 starters from that team coming back, the Hokies are getting some early love as a potential dark horse for the national championship. Spring practice begins today in Blacksburg (ed. note: Wednesday) and coach Frank Beamer knows that he won’t have to wait long to find out if he’s got a contender. That’s because the Hokies open the 2009 season in Atlanta against Alabama, which will be in everybody’s preseason Top 10. “When you play a big game early—and we’ve done that in the past—it focuses you team better in the spring and in the summer,” Beamer told me when the Sept. 5 game at the Georgia Dome was put together. “You can’t ease into your season. You’ve pretty much got to hit the ground running.” One of the top priorities of the spring is to find a backup to QB Tyrod Taylor, who has a history of getting banged up.

The last time Virginia Tech opened with a game this big was 2004 when the Hokies played Southern Cal and lost 24-13 in Landover, Md. The Trojans went on to win the national championship.

SEC fans, your rebuttal?:

Saint Nick: "The only people that will “hit the ground running” are Richardson and Ingram!!!! Bama wins VERY comfortable!!!!"

Otto: "No VT just another ACC team with alot of preseason hype sorta like Clemson…..oops"

Saint Nick: "Bama’s QB situation will be addition by subtraction. McLeroy has been in this offense for three years. Bama won’t have to depend on the RB’s as they did last year, they will have a much improved passing attack. Last year all Bama fans heard were JPW will be the weak link, and that Bama can’t match up against Clemson’s skill positions. Clemson had 0 yds rushing and no Offensive touchdowns. This year is just more of the same, New ACC team, same hype, same result!!!RTR!!!!"

Otto: "VT has played SEC teams before and more time than not comes up short. VT is a best of the rest team playing in a 2nd tier football conf. Maybe the MWC should take the ACC’s automatic BCS bid."

gatorsam: "Does anyone really care what happens in the A.almost C.college C.conference, or if you perfer: A. association C. Community C. Colleges"

Huh?: "If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a hundred times. Virginia Tech is one of the most overrated football programs in D-1. Look folks, they win alot of games because they’ve played in the crappy Big East and ACC. Out of conference they’ve done about jack diddly squat. Their bowl record is atrocious. Their record against top 25 out of conference teams is atrocious. They just aren’t that great. Good, but never great. Nevertheless, they always find themselves in the preseason top 10 and they’re always a “dark hourse national title contender” every year. I’m sorry but I just don’t get it. OVERRATED.

With that said, I don’t think Bama will be anything special this year. VT might actually do the unthinkable and beat a ranked SEC team. Has that ever happened? I doubt it has."

I think "gatorsam's" comment was my favorite. The irony of an SEC fan calling ACC schools community colleges is just fantastic. Fortunately, there are people out there like commenter "Bo Williams":

Gatorsam, why are you so venomous? Were you not accepted into UNC, Duke, WF, or UVA? With a degree from Gainesville, you can always be a lifeguard

Linkage

Hokies

- Annette thinks Tyrod is the best household name in the ACC. (ESPN)
- The back-up QB situation is a huge question for Tech this spring. (Roanoke Times)

Atlantic Coast Conference

- The response out of Hooville to the Bennett hire is similar to Auburn's response to the Chizik hire. (From Old Virginia)
- Dane wouldn't mind being Cooper Taylor's father in law. (The Legacy x4)
- FSU's defense is having trouble with non-traditional offenses. (Tomahawk Nation)
- Who's the better Tournament coach, Izzo or Roy? (Carolina March)

Stuff Only I Care About

- College football nerds can rejoice in this look at zone run blocking. (Rocky Top Talk)
- Ohio Stadium's "drunk drivers" are finding new ways to get there. (ESSBS)
- More commenting stupidity. (Holly)
- Rob Ray's Mind? Blown. (Willful Caboose)
- Miller could be the difference... in finishing 9th instead of 10th. (Die by the Blade)
- That's a pretty stacked lineup if you ask me. (Extra Bases)

Submit Questions for a Hokie Spring Football Roundtable

Several Hokie sports blogs have agreed to participate in a roundtable to preview Virginia Tech's spring football practices. However, we need help from you all.

Please submit questions for us to discuss by leaving them in the comments or E-mailing them to gobblercountry-at-gmail-dot-com. Please try to limit the questions to Hokie football or the concept of spring football.

We'll pick five or six questions they will be answered by our panel. The roundup will be posted here after all the bloggers have chimed in.

Participating blogs:

Beer Control Offense
College Game Balls
The North End Zone
Tech Super Fans
Virginia Tech Fan

Things that get me to football: Wii

This is a quasi-regular feature on things that help me make it from the BCSCG to Labor Day weekend and the start of callllllllage footbawl season.



Nothing beats kicking the shit out of middle schoolers online at Mario Kart Wii at 3 in the morning. To date, I have never lost on Moonview Highway.



For a while, Wii Fit was also pretty addicting particularly the penguin slide. We somehow turned Wii Fit into a drinking game, which I'm pretty sure defeated the purpose of Wii Fit.

"Dude, I kicked your ass on 'tree pose'. Drink!"



But now that we finally have Rock Band, that's taken up most of our time. Our band, "Tell Your Mom I Said Thanks," is currently touring Europe performing Rush covers.

Happy Birthday!

On this day one year ago, I realized I needed some sort of catharsis when it came to writing about sports and the Hokies. I combined the two into this blog. The first few posts were really horrible (OK, they've all been really horrible) but thanks for sticking with me and making it worth doing this. Without all you commenters out there (all three of you) I wouldn't want to churn out posts on Tech and the ACC from a thousand miles away.

Thanks again for indulging me. Without this blog, Tech would cost me at least $100 an hour in therapy. Here's to another great year of blogging on the Hokies, the ACC and all the cobwebs I have in my brain.

Calm before the storm

Tomorrow's a busy day for my remote. There are things we both care about, such as the Hokies' game against the Tar Heels and their NCAA Tournament fate. But there are also things only I care about, like the NHL trade deadline, the return of Thomas Vanek and the Sabres' game against Ah Oui, Les Canadiens de Montreal. It will be an interesting day, to say the least. I'll have a full preview of Tech-UNC manana.

The roller coaster ride that is Hokie Hoops 2008-09 really needs this win. Without a victory over Duke or UNC, the Hokies essentially have the same resume for this year's Tournament as last year's. There are just too many teams with better RPIs and resumes than Tech for the Hokies to get into the field without a eye-popping win in the next two weeks.

Linkage

- TSL has its weekly Labatt Hokie Hotline notes.

- The A-Line wonders aloud if Coach Greenberg is in a New York state of mind.

- BCO has his review of the Duke game and Bulls & Bones brew house.

- I don't think the VT game is on the minds of UNC fans.

- I'm not surprised.

OT: Things I'm Not Giving Up Because of Lent

Because I'm not Catholic, I'm not observing Lent. But, I didn't celebrate Fat Tuesday either, so I'm not a hypocrite. After all, every day in my house is Fat Tuesday.

However, I've heard from a lot of friends, both Catholic and non-Catholic about all the things they're giving up for the next 40 days. Most of it is just complaining. Anyway, here are the things I won't be doing for Lent because I already don't do them. Add your own in the comments.

1. Non-breakfast items at McDonald's



I saw Super Size Me in January 2005 and haven't had a burger or nuggets or anything from McDonald's that isn't served before 10:30 AM. Why didn't I just give up on McDonald's period? Because McGriddles are just that delicious. Get off my back.

2. The NBA



From Bird's retirement until last year's Celtics-Lakers finals, I only watched one NBA game from start to finish. That game turned out to be the Pacers-Pistons brawl. I was in Waco, Texas, to cover an OU-Baylor football game and the only thing to do in Waco was sit with the other writer in our hotel room, drink beer and watch TV. The only thing on was that game. I took as a sign I was correct in not watching the NBA. I tried to watch last year's finals. It was meh.

3. Auto-erotic Asphyxiation

(I decided not to do a Google Image search for this)

Never really saw the upside to this.

4. Sugary Pop



I've drank solely diet soda for a few years now. It started when I kept getting sick from mixing bourbon and regular coke. Once I switched to diet it fixed everything. And drinking diet helped me drop a few lbs.

5. Climbing Everest



It's not because I'm not athletic (even though I'm not athletic). It's because I don't trust sherpas.

Follow Gobbler Country on Twitter

Tweet, tweet.

Links and random thoughts from the abyss that don't qualify for a full-fledged blog post will be tweeted. If you follow the blog on Twitter it will help my self esteem and happy blogger is a better blogger. OK, that's probably a lie. I'm at my best when I'm angry and/or so drunk I think I'm invisible.

Who should be on VT's Mt. Rushmore?

I am blatantly ripping off the guys over at BC Interruption, who in turn borrowed the idea from ESPN.

Basically, ESPN is doing a Mt. Rushmore of sports for all the states by picking the four most important sports figures they have to offer. So who should be on a Mt. Rushmore for Virginia Tech sports?

My Hokie Mt. Rushmore:

Frank Beamer. Made Virginia Tech football. This one is a given.

Bruce Smith. The Hokies' first No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft. Was a beast for the Hokies and had a Hall of Fame career in the NFL.

Angela Tincher. The most dominant player in their sport in Hokie sports history.

BomboBimbo Coles (apparently I decided to mate Bimbo Coles and Bombo Rivera). Beloved Hokie hoops player that had a solid pro career.

Also Considered: Michael Vick, Brad Clontz, Joe Saunders, Jim Druckenmiller, Dell Curry and of course Will Muthafuckin' Furrer.

The Michael Vick Question

Should Michael Vick be put on the Hokies' Mt. Rushmore? I say no. For something like this, you have to consider how the person has represented Virginia Tech even after leaving the university. Vick is no longer representative of what being a Hokie is about and I don't think he belongs.

So who would you put on the Hokies' Mt. Rushmore? Would you put Michael Vick on there? Let me know if I'm wrong.