Bourbon Shots: I Also Majored in Beer Edition

Here's a cool story that the Beer Control Father will enjoy: A Virginia Tech grad student's home brew is now on tap at River Company Restaurant and Brewery at 6633 Viscoe Rd. in Radford. Eric England's Belgian Blonde Ale was selected as a seasonal brew by River Company.

The restaurant's brewmaster discovered England's creation at a craft beer competition in Blacksburg last year. And while BCO usually prefers IPAs, England's beer sounds like something I'd enjoy:

"There are very few specialty grains," England said, when asked to describe the ale's distinctive recipe. "It really is a yeast driven beer, and they produce a lot of flavor compounds that make it unique."

If you get a chance, be sure to head out to Radford and support a Hokie brewer.

After the jump, a plethora of sports-related links.

Virginia Tech Hokies

Tech Transfers (Kyle Tucker)
KT has details of the transfers by Johnson and Terry. Apparently the university never issued an official release, which would be a rare lapse by the SID office. KT adds quotes from spring drills from Bud Foster and Charley Wiles that add context to Johnson's departure. I hope he and Terry have success wherever they land.

Adrian Autry talks about promotion (Darryl Slater)
Seth Greenberg filled one of his two open assistant positions by promoting Adrian Autry from director of basketball operations. Autry was an assistant or head coach of three AAU teams in the DC area and has recruiting connections there. He told Slater his new job is "a great chance to get his foot in the door."

Hokies Playing Fundamentally Sound Baseball (Roth Report)
The Hokies have been playing close attention to their Tom Emanski Instructional Videos. Quoth Roth: "They advance runners, take the extra base, get the lead man out on force plays, and they’re clutch."

Men's tennis team earns 4th consecutive NCAA trip (Collegiate Times)
The men's team will open the NCAA Tournament in Louisville against Vanderbilt on May 14. The winner will face either Louisville or Eastern Kentucky. Tech has lost in the second round of the tournament in both of the last two seasons.

Around the ACC

We can't ever have nice things around here (From Old Virginia)
UVa could use some good news. Brendan discusses the lacrosse murder case, the tasering of a Wahoo football recruit and the Facebook skills of football coach Mike London. Here's his message to UVa fans: "The University's steps should be to protect the players - both men's and women's - from prying media eyes and to print up Yeardley Love's diploma. And yours should be to support the teams in their quest for an NCAA title when they're ready to pursue it."

Tommy Bohanon Interview (Blogger So Dear)
Wake Forest fullback Tommy Bohanon sits down with BSD to discuss spring practice. It looks like the rising sophomore will get a few touches this fall in Wake's option offense. Bohanon also tells BSD he's most looking forward to the Stanford game. See! They're already disrespecting the Hokies!

Help support the Ramblin' Reck! (From The Rumble Seat)
The (W)reck needs a new home and you can help Winfield and the gang out by buying some pretty sweet bumper stickers that I would totally buy if I liked Georgia Tech or bumper stickers that don't say "Keep Honking, I'm Reloading."

Jumbo Shrimp (Barrel of Rum)
Nerd alert! How good was Georgia Tech's passing game in 2009? A lot better than you'd think according to S&P Ratings, which measures success rate and adjusts for down, distance, field position and opponent. I have no idea what any of it means.

By How Many Points Must Florida State Improve? (Tomahawk Nation)
More nerdage. It examines expected win percentage and ACC football. Last year GT outperformed its EWP while Maryland underperformed. FSU's defense needs to start pulling its weight for the Noles to win the Atlantic and give up around 122 fewer points this season if the offense has the same output as 2009.

Who's The Man Now? (Backing The Pack)
NC State needs a new AD. Anyone out there want to apply? The Pack have great fuhcilities.

BC's Schedule X Factor in Atlantic? (BC Interruption)
Brian and Jeff take time from killing weeds to discuss whether or not BC has the easiest slate of Coastal opponents among the Atlantic contenders. The toughest Coastal team on its schedule (VT) comes early in the season. I think it would have benefited BC's QBs and the returning Mark Herzlich if the VT game were later.

So Do You Want to Play Alabama to Open the 2012 Season? (The 7th Floor)
Miami fans want a piece of the Crimson Tide in the 2012 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic in Atlanta.

Close Losses Bogged Down Terps' Record (Testudo Times)
Maryland has a couple of reason to be optimistic heading toward the 2010 football season. One of them is that the Terps weren't nearly as bad as their record indicated. A play here and a play there and they could have been playing in a bowl game.

Offensive Concerns (Shakin The Southland)
SBN's Clemson blog breaks down the lack of progress the Tigers have made in the passing game. The Tiger receivers will have to improve in 2010 to compensate for the loss of C.J. Spiller.

UNC's defense has scouts convinced (Dr. Saturday)
The good doctor examines the hype around Butchie's defense and whether the Tar Heels an live up to that hype. UNC will certainly be stout on D next year, but does it have enough on O to make a trip to Charlotte?

Stuff Only I Care About

FTR Interviews Paul Kelly (From The Rink)
A candid conversation with the Director of College Hockey, Inc, Paul Kelly in which he discusses expansion, the CHL, and increased media attention. Kelly would like to see college hockey expand South and West. It's a shame the Hokies will never see an NCAA hockey team as long as Title IX and Jim Weaver are watching our bottom line.

Unsolicited Advice for Alabama Fans: It Will Not Be Fun (EDSBS)
This advice really applies to every sports fan whose team wins a championship. It certainly applied to me after the Red Sox won the Series in 2004 and 2007.

Required Reading: Mike Leach's Fourth Amended Petition (Burnt Orange Nation)
Mike Leach's Fourth Amended Petition in his lawsuit against Texas Tech provides damning evidence against ESPN analyst Craig James and Texas Tech University. It's hard to understand this document unless you're Peter Bean. Skip to about halfway through for the good stuff.

America needs a hero. Tennessee. Is. That. Hero. (Rocky Top Talk)
Is Tennessee the next plucky underdog that wins over America? Or is this just wishful thinking by Joel and were all about to enjoy three months worth of quality schadenfreude?

12 Other Questions Dez Bryant Was Asked (The Lost Ogle)
Sometimes you have to dig a little deeper before spending a high draft pick on a kid in his early 20s. Kudos to Bryant for keeping his cool. If it had been me, Ireland's next questions would have been "Hrrrrrrrrrrunnggah?" while he was spitting out Chiclets.

Times is Hard At Wright State (Bootlegger Sports)
A basketball player from Wright State exited a CVS with 36 condoms. The problem was he had only paid for 12 of them. Dude. You know you can get those for free at Planned Parenthood, right?