Loyalties and Motivations

I could have been a Mets fan. In late 1988, I took notice of Gregg Jefferies (talk about mistakes) as the Richmond Braves’ season ended, after seeing baseball in person for the first time that summer. For Halloween, I demanded to be the Mets’ rookie shortstop, and my mom dutifully ironed a number 9 onto the back of the pinstriped shirt we had bought in the mall a few months before. A year later, though I would decry the injustice of Jerome Walton winning the National League Rookie of the Year award, I really couldn’t have cared less about the pride of Flushing, Queens. I was a nine-year-old kid. Easy come, easy go, I guess.

Sports team loyalty is like that. Though people try to establish rules for sports fandom, the actual practice of choosing and holding an allegiance varies quite a bit. Just take a look at the hockey blogs riffing on this theme:

• Penalty Killer Chris kicking off the topic, with his team loyalties following a combination of parental and personal moves
• Abel to Yzerman demanding some geographic loyalty, after seeing too many out-of-state Wings fans line up with the Yankees, Cowboys and Lakers to boot
• Acid Queen (from whom I found the topic) just asking for honesty about your motivations

So here goes. Read More »

Reputation

The Daily Press’s David Teel continued his strong work on the Gator Bowl and Marcus Vick stomping incident Wednesday by tracking down the Gator Bowl’s head referee, Steve Usecheck of the Big 12 Conference, and getting his comments on Tech’s behavior. His words confirmed a couple of thoughts I had already. From the CBS Sportsline version of the article (which wasn’t edited for length like the DP’s own copy):

“We missed [Vick’s stomp], and I’m sorry we did,” Usecheck told the Newport News Daily Press from his Colorado home. “The TV, everybody saw it but us. I wish we had the opportunity to talk to (Vick) because that was complete (expletive). You bet I would have thrown his ass out.”

Usecheck said he has not seen a replay of the Vick incident but that purposely stomping a defenseless opponent warrants ejection. […]

“I was really disappointed,” Usecheck said. “We don’t see football like that (in the Big 12). Those kids were just completely out of control. Louisville wasn’t as bad. Virginia Tech was brutal.”

Usecheck ejected Hokies All-America cornerback Jimmy Williams in the first quarter for swinging his arm at head linesman Al Green. Williams was jawing with Louisville’s Amobi Okoye, and Green grabbed Williams to separate the two.

“He never hit the official but he swung at him twice,” Usecheck said of Williams, a senior from Bethel High.

First off, Usecheck can be as disgusted as he wants at Vick’s behavior. Lord knows I am. But for him to use two expletives in the same sentence describing the play, to a newspaper reporter, is grossly unprofessional — especially if he still hasn’t seen a replay. For that matter, I can’t recall the last time I saw an official quoted in news media after a game at all — but he wouldn’t care about any rules of that sort, as he’s retiring. Either way, if you’re going to preach about staying under control, displaying your own temper is a curious way to do it. Worth noting: back in the Big 12, Nebraska fans have quite the low opinion of Usecheck.

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Won, and Lost

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
     (Mark 8:36, KJV)

JACKSONVILLE — I’m tired of this. I’m tired of walking out of a stadium, or turning off the television, and trying to figure out how to defend the indefensible rather than celebrating a hard-won team victory. I’m tired of the adulation, the array of jerseys in Dick’s, and the kid gloves from the coaching staff. Most of all, I’m tired of being embarrassed by someone wearing our colors and our logo.

We should be talking about yesterday’s Virginia Tech win over a tough Louisville team. We should be praising Cedric Humes’s 113 yards and a touchdown and the Hokie offense’s zero-turnover performance. We should be congratulating junior offensive lineman Brandon Frye, who replaced injured senior Jimmy Martin and stood his ground against Louisville’s national defensive player of the year Elvis Dumervil, and freshman corner Brandon Flowers, who stood in for Jimmy Williams after a completely meritless ejection and made it seamless for the Hokie defense. They earned the ink.

Instead, we’re talking about Marcus again. In the second quarter, he got up from a Dumervil tackle after a nine-yard gain, took a quick look around to see if any officials were watching, then stomped on the back of Dumervil’s leg. It was a completely classless act, easily akin to UVa’s Brad Butler’s October cheap shot on BC’s Matthias Kiwanuka. Vick compounded his error postgame by lying that it was accidental and about apologizing to Dumervil: Frank Beamer sent him over to the Louisville locker room to do so; Vick then told reporters Dumervil “definitely” accepted his apology, but Dumervil and Louisville coach Bobby Petrino both said they never saw him.

Two Virginia-based writers, the (Newport News) Daily Press’s David Teel and the Roanoke Times’s Aaron McFarling, had good columns out early ripping Vick and pretty much everyone on the coaching staff but Vick’s position coach Kevin Rogers, who had the guts to call the play what it was:

“There’s no place for it in the game. It hurts him. It hurts our program, and it’s frankly just embarrassing.”

Read More »

Chop To The Head

I’ll make this short, and I won’t talk much about FSU. That’s not to short the Noles on credit; they shored up their confidence from November in the first half, then opened up a can on Tech in the 3rd quarter. Congrats to them; they earned the championship. I also won’t talk much about VT’s late rally, because I left in disgust after FSU’s last score in the 3rd quarter to take it to 27-3 and didn’t see it. It’s the first time I’ve done that since Pittsburgh ‘01, and I had a non-football reason to want to get back to Blacksburg then. All I had here was a hotel room, an Internet connection, and a blog.

*Tech has no idea how to play as the favorite. That’s the difference between champions and pretenders, and we’re pretenders until proven otherwise. Chokie Hi, baby! *Other than Virginia, Tech gameplanned every game the second half of the season the same on offense. Tech counted on speed to make whatever headway they could in the first half, then waited for that speed plus physicality to wear down the opposing defense. That’s inverse Spurrierism: it’s a long way from the Fun-N-Gun, but both strategies require you to have superior personnel. It doesn’t work against programs like Miami and FSU that have talent and practically invented team speed in the late ’80s and early ’90s. *The refs: If you allow them to decide the game, you don’t deserve to win anyway. Some of the calls and no-calls in the late second and early third quarters were simply shameful, but Tech’s general inability to execute for three quarters had nothing to do with the refs and a lot to do with (1) gameplan and (2) a maligned FSU defense that roared back to life.

Thoughts?

ACC Championship Pregame: Live from JAX

It’s well after midnight here in Jacksonville, so I’ll make time for a few thoughts on the first ACC Championship Game happening later today at Alltel Stadium between Virginia Tech and Florida State.

Florida State has the top-scoring offense in the ACC for the season, but has not been able to support it with defense; they’ve been mediocre against the run and bad against the pass. If Marcus Vick can find a fix for his inconsistency problems, he can make this game very tough to win for FSU; conversely, a run-it-down-their-throats approach as employed against UNC in the second half won’t get it done, despite Cedric Humes’s recent hot streak. A couple of early mid-range completions for Vick would do wonders.

Whether the Noles can rev that offense will depend on the coherence of their offensive line, ravaged by injuries and suspensions, as well as their general mental state after a three-game slide and a nasty defeat to arch-rival Florida last week. FSU fans hope this report is indicative. Objectively, this team has nothing to lose at this point; no one other than their own coaching staff seems to be giving them any credit. This is a mistake. It’s tempting to read too much into the Florida game, but I think the looming presence of the VT matchup changed the dynamic of that game somewhat: yes, it’s their state rival, yes, it’s pride, but there was one game left the next week with far more direct implications to their bowl future. It’s easier to go all-out when you’re closing out your season; knowing they would have the chance to salvage a major disappointment this Saturday (which this season has been to FSU, regardless of the UF result), I suspect FSU may have subconsciously held something back for Tech.