Thankful '05

• my fiancée
• the Washington Nationals
• frequent-flyer miles
• ego-puncturing losses to remind us: “win or lose, we’ll greet you with a glad returning / You’re the pride of VPI…”
• mart-lifting the C3
• the Yudites (even Jeff G. and DCNAB)
• road games with the Hokie Nation
• an office across the street from Metro: 45 minutes from desk to RFK
• or an office next door to Best Buy, with an easy shortcut to the back lot of Tysons
• my first-baseman’s stretch to cover a Db octave in Maple Leaf Rag
• Volkswagen diesel
• Hurricanes 8, Flyers 6: my first in-person Canes win ever
• Seth Greenberg and the joy of being the underdog
• crazy weekend travel stunts
• the new NHL (and XM 204 to follow it by)
• have I mentioned my fiancée?

VT-Hoo Preview

Everyone knows the clichés about rivalry games: “records mean nothing,” “you can throw the book away,” and so on. But the reason they keep appearing is that they’re true, and this season’s Virginia Tech-Virginia matchup in Charlottesville (12 noon Saturday, ESPN/XM 192) certainly holds to them, both because of the rivalry and external factors.

When we last saw the Hokies, they got a Singapore-style caning from Miami two weeks ago. Intangible factor #1 for this game is whether the Hokies have recovered mentally. The first score is huge in this game for Tech’s confidence, and a quick strike or non-offensive TD by UVa could be devastating. I wouldn’t be shocked to see Al Groh pull out a trick play early here; in 2003, a fake field goal was the killshot, and both coaches know the psychological importance of the early points to Tech.

Intangible #2 is the play of UVa senior QB Marques Hagans. In terms of importance to his team, he is their Bryan Randall: the team’s unquestioned emotional leader, and not a textbook QB but has developed into being a capable field general, especially in big games. It’s Senior Day in Charlottesville, and Hagans would love to step up and slay the giant that Tech has become (much to Virginia’s dismay). Virginia has played to the level of its opposition all year, and this game shouldn’t be any different.

Skatearound

I’ve got a few NHL thoughts to break up the football monotony. I’ll also have some travel talk eventually — bowl season is coming.

I’ve now posted photos from the Carolina Hurricanes’ 8-6 triumph over the Philadelphia Flyers a few weeks ago — after the VT-BC game in Blacksburg, I drove to Raleigh for the Friday nighter at RBC. Hockey photos are hard to do successfully with a consumer-level digital camera: the camera tries to force colors into balance, but the expanse of white ice throws this off badly. But after some time with iPhoto 5, I’ve got a good number of them looking acceptable.

Speaking of those Southeast-leading Canes, Scott Burnside’s Around the NHL feature at ESPN.com took notice this week that with sagging numbers in quite a few traditional markets, perhaps Southern fans and teams have been unfairly maligned:

If we assume that “real” hockey towns would have embraced the new NHL instantly, as has been the case in Philadelphia, Detroit and all of the Canadian markets, then maybe we’ve misjudged the standing of the game in markets like Long Island, New Jersey and Buffalo. Or perhaps we’ve unfairly besmirched hockey fans in places like Carolina, Atlanta and Nashville.

I’ve beaten this drum for years, and it’s nice to see a traditional columnist echo my conclusion for once. Per the mainline hockey press pre-lockout, when a Canadian market had attendance problems, it was a sign of savvy fans refusing to accept a bad product (Calgary in particular). But when Carolina got low turnouts after falling from the ‘02 Cup Finals run to the worst record in hockey the next year, it meant that those NASCAR-loving rednecks would never learn to support this great game. News flash: hockey isn’t part of our culture like in Canada or Minnesota, but we can recognize crap when we see it. We’ve had pro teams and public rinks for the better part of 15 years now, and we’ll turn out given a game worth watching. The new NHL has met that standard, and that should be good news for everyone who loves hockey.

Caned

Miami dominated Virginia Tech 27-7 Saturday night in Blacksburg, snapping a two-game losing streak and dominating a Hokie team that never bothered to show up to play. Marcus Vick played particularly horribly, turning the ball over six times, but was not given much time to work by a Miami defense that dominated the VT offensive line all game long.

While it’s true, to say that Tech didn’t bother to play shorts Miami some on credit. On the offensive side of the ball, the Hurricane offense took what the VT defense gave them and turned it into all the points they needed. The Miami offensive line completely negated VT’s attempts to pressure quarterbacks Kyle Wright and Kirby Freeman; they, in turn, defied the history of Miami QBs in Lane by playing well and within control, and the Miami running game was able to control the tempo of the game at will. It still wasn’t a horrific defensive performance for the Hokies; with the offense handing the ball over at will, it was probably as good as could be expected.

Photos: ESPN College GameDay for VT-UM

BTN readers who haven’t had the opportunity to see ESPN College GameDay live in person may be interested in some of my photos from today’s show in Blacksburg before tonight’s Virginia Tech-Miami showdown.

For the record, Kirk Herbstreit picked the Hokies and Lee Corso donned the Miami ibis head for the first time in Blacksburg.