One of the many places I'll be Labor Day Weekend in Atlanta is the Atlanta chapter of the alumni association's tailgate the day of the game. The VTAA is pulling out all the stops for their tailgate, which will be held from 4-7 p.m. in the Yellow lot of the Georgia Dome.
Tickets are on sale through Friday and are $20 at the chapter's Web site. After Friday, you'll have to buy tickets the day of the game when the price jumps to $25.
There will be cornhole, beer pong and free food and beverages. I hope to see you there.
Hokies
Not Going to Lie, I'm Pretty Jealous of the Moon Bounce (Kyle Tucker)
"My fellow beat writers (and best friends) are here with me. Richmond’s Darryl Slater and Newport News’ Norm Wood are also recently a year older and are sharing in my fun. The newest guy on the beat, the Washington Post’s Mark Viera, is getting an eye-opening welcome to our little crew. And we’ve even allowed a radio talking head in on the fun. ESPN’s Sean Bielawski is jumping and giggling like a 5-year-old as I type."
K Matt Waldron Gets a Scholly (Norm Wood)
"Tech coach Frank Beamer has utilized two of the ultimate motivators for kickers in the last few seasons: perform better than any other kicker in the preseason and win the starting job, and earn a scholarship. Prior to last season, senior Dustin Keys won the starting job in August and was awarded a scholarship. He went on to make a very strong 23 of 29 field goal attempts during the season."
In-depth Breakdown of the AP Poll (College Game Balls)
It's like a Whack Ballot Watch for the AP.
Blacksburg Beer Festival? Blacksburg Beer Festival! (Beer Control Offense)
Is it uncouth to tailgate a beer festival?
Why We Hate Boston College (The North End Zone)
"Fans? JMU women's tennis has more devoted fans than BC football. I’d love to rag on supporters of the Eagles, but I honestly haven’t met one. Other teams have alumni that travel to bowl games. BC just pays local homeless people to attend the games in yellow shirts."
So girls don’t know football, huh? (The Football Girl)
"Not only am I chock full of football knowledge, but I also worry quite a bit about the environment, and do my part by taking my own bags to the grocery store. One of my bags happens to be a Virginia Tech bag. My bagger, a guy who apparently thought he could impress me with his football talk, tried to engage me in football conversation. The exchange went something like this..."
5 Things We Think We Know (Tech SuperFans)
"The two LB positions that everyone is so concerned about are certainly not lacking talent, just experience. Barquell Rivers has been making plays all camp and Jake Johnson, while not spectacular as he still needs work in coverage, has certainly been solid. Rivers is backed up by Bruce Taylor who has all the makings, and Johnson's backup is a position battle right now between Quillie Odom and Lyndell Gibson. "
Freshmen RBs Must Live Up to High Expectations (VT Hokie Fans)
Josh Oglesby may be the assumed starter for the Hokies at running back, but it's the two freshmen behind him who will determine Tech's success this season.
One-on-One With: Frank Beamer (II Of III) (ACCSports.com)
"Beamer: What’s even more important is that assistant head coach Billy Hite, recruiting coordinator Jim Cavanaugh, my coordinators (Stinespring and Bud Foster), how long they’ve been here. That’s the foundation. As long as your main people are there, there’s not much change overall in what happens. It’s important in recruiting, in making a decision out there in about five seconds that could affect that game. The more you’ve been together, the better chance you have of making the right decision. I think it is a big part of winning, a big part of what I really preach here, being a consistent program."
Why Virginia Tech Could Possibly Not Win the ACC (On The B.Rink)
"We all saw Clemson crash and burn from their top ten preseason ranking and being picked to win the ACC Championship and Virginia Tech is in that place this season. As a football prognosticator, it makes ya a bit queasy about the almost 99.9% vote of confidence that Virginia Tech is getting this preseason after last season. Here are some reasons that I can point to myself and say "Ha!" about when my Virginia Tech pick goes epic fail."
Is It Wise to Play Virginia Tech? (Big Red Network)
"As the Big 12 media days took place this month, so did the Atlantic Coast Conference’s. It was no big surprise that Virginia Tech was named the favorite to win the ACC, given they return a lot of good players from a team that won the Orange Bowl. But aside from some exposure and the potential for a "signature win", does it make sense in this day and age for Nebraska to schedule a team like the Hokies?"
ACC and Opponents
Duke & Virginia Among "Douchiest Colleges" (Joe Ovies)
"Virginia is ranked 25th, which is highly undervalued. Come on, where else would wearing jeans to a football game be met with looks of horror? Duke comes in at No. 2, mainly because GQ didn’t want to rank the Blue Devils first place at anything. Still, it’s worth mentioning since Mike Krzyzewski would get upset at the lack of coverage over a second place ranking."
The Right Weapons for Proper Tailgating: Coolers (Block-C)
"When you’re doing it big, you’re going to need the big boy coolers. The two person, heavy-ass wide load mothers that are usually described as "marine coolers." These babies are usually used on fishing boats, but all I’ve ever really used them for is drinking, carrying meat for grilling, and hauling meat from the deer processing plant. I’m sure the Charleston crowd will chime in with their differences but seriously dude, I’m not trying to get fish guts/scales on my beer."
More on the 4-3: Stunting (Clempson Football)
"Virginia Tech, for example, might tell you they are running a 4-3 in the pregame introductions, but it is really a 4-4 (or Gap 8) system....thats why they always seem to have one great tackler in the secondary. They are reducing their fronts in passing situations with a player like DeAndre McDaniel playing a LB position that is really more like a SS, which makes them better versus the pass than you would think a 4-4 team would be normally."
Changes Coming to Joel (Blogger So Dear)
"Finally, in the student section, a good number of seats are being replaced with risers. Wortman indicated that the risers will be an opportunity to get more students into the seats, as well as bring students a bit closer to the court. There will still be seats in the rows closest to the visitor's fans and on the opposite side of the student section. The risers are mostly behind the visitor's hoop."
The Bad News is They Still Have Helu (Corn Nation)
"Earlier today, running back Quentin Castille was dismissed from the Nebraska football team for a "clear violation of team rules", and whatever that means, doesn't matter now. I'm sure many Husker fans will have that same attitude towards the situation - that it doesn't matter and that another back will step up and take Castille's place. Human beings, especially football fans in August, are good at rationalization, if nothing else."
Weak Scheduling is a Poor Mentality (From The Rumble Seat)
"Teams are not rewarded for playing a tough team to the wire and losing at the end. Teams are rewarded for winning no matter the opponent. There is something seriously wrong with that mentality and I don't know how to fix it or even if it can be fixed. If Notre Dame succeeds this year because it purposefully lowered its schedule difficulty, it will be celebrated as a great Notre Dame team and Charlie Weiss will get the praise that he so desperately needs. But yet will they really be that good?"
'Nole Your Enemy: The UNC Offense (Tomahawk Nation)
"In any case, Yates is a decent player who doesn't get a lot of publicity. He's not much of a running threat, though there are some whispers that UNC will try to run him a bit more as he's better conditioned this year and might have dropped some weight. I would like to note that he probably will not have a 3-1 TD/INT ratio this year, given his past. They did visit Texas this off-season to pick up some concepts. I'm sure some of that was the zone read."
After All, Who Pays Attention to the Last FIve Spots on the Ballot? (Carolina March)
"That's the problem with preseason polls; once you get out of the Top 10 or 15 teams, there's little consensus of who should make the rankings. Instead, everybody throws up their wacky ideas, which are promptly codified. Once the first week's games are in the books, the voters will go back to the preseason poll and adjust their rankings accordingly; Notre Dame, having made it to 23rd on the recommendation of 30 sportswriters, will get a lot more votes than Oregon State, stranded in the Also Receiving Votes category with only 26 nods of encouragement. Once you get beyond the unanimous (or in Georgia's, California's and Boise State's case, near-unanimous) picks, the data becomes really noisy really fast."
Football, Recruiting and Football (From Old Virginia)
"So with eight - yup, eight - more season preview posts to finish up, and only two weeks to do them and really not that many because a week from Thursday it's time for the preview of the W&M game at which point we shift right into Season Mode, naturally last week turns into a light posting week in which I skip two days. Of course I would do this."
Shinskie Breaks Rib (BC Interruption)
"Now that all reports are confirmed, we know that Dave Shinskie did break a rib in Sunday's scrimmage and that was the reason why he did not see more snaps. This clears up all doubt that Shinskie was the favorite to be the starter for Boston College's season opening game against Northeastern on Sept 5th, but now, due to the injury, we are uncertain if he will be ready and able to do so."
Stuff Only I Care About
Coffee Creek, Poor People and "informed" PR Folks (The Lost Ogle)
"Yep, Carol Hartzog, a PR person, sent an email to TheLostOgle.com. And she addressed it to Kelly. Awesome. Seriously, is that not the coolest thing ever? We probably should have had fun with it and asked her to drinks or to play laser tag with Kent and Kevin, but we didn’t. We just giggled and laughed that a communications and PR professional who seems to pose as a social media expert wasn’t aware of our site. We did this because we have big egos and are incredibly handsome. When you have that going for you, you can pretty much do whatever you want."
On Rocky Top, by Clay Travis Review (Rocky Top Talk)
"Essentially a chronology of the 2008 season, On Rocky Top is a quick read. The pacing of the book is aided by the fact that Travis doesn't just tell the story from his own perspective but through the unique perspectives of several other folks as well, such as Arian Foster and his family, Josh McNeil, UT booster Thunder Thornton, Volquest.com's Brent Hubbs, team truck driver Charlie Harris, and others. And although the book never strays for long from its primary theme, Travis nevertheless pauses often along the way to discuss Tennessee history, surface never before reported facts about the season, or relay behind-the-scenes stories about the players and coaches. No detour disappoints."
Sabres' Possible Trading Partners (Die By The Blade)
"With all of the moves that Darcy has made in the past few weeks, it is starting to look more and more like there is a trade in the works. The main question though is who? Who has the assets that we need and the cap space to make the deal work. Lets look at the state of the league to see who has the cap space."
Sea Dogs first hand: the good and the bad - Over the Monster
"All in all, a good night for baseball, despite the Dogs losing. Players I was most impressed with: Nava and Exposito. Players I'm holding out hope for: Lars and Place. Players I want to see succeed, but will probably fall through the cracks somewhere: Iggy and Khoury."