Thursday Nite in LANE!

I am sorry for the late posting of the blog but frankly there is not much positive to write about and I am just coming out of my funk enough to be able to face the remainder of the season.  We have won one and lost two since the last post meaning that we need to win two of the next three to even be eligible for the Military Bowl in Washington D.C.!  Speaking of that I received my bowl order forms which must have been printed before the season because it wants to know how many tickets I want for the ACC Championship and the Orange Bowl!

There is not much on earth better than Thursday night football in Blacksburg, VA, probably because I am not working on Friday!!  Even with a indisputable down year it is great to take a breath of the cool fall air in through your nostrils before the stench coming from the offense overwhelms you and you look up on the scoreboard to realize we have beat ourselves again.  I do not think that the ACC has all of a sudden caught up with Virginia Tech, I believe we have given the games away with our mistakes, lack of focus and simple lack of enthusiasm of the players and lack of motivation from the coaching staff.

I have only noticed two times this season where the VT sideline has looked like they were engaged in the game and enthusiastic about playing the game going on in front of them.  Nobody seems to be a leader on the sidelines or the field and without a leader they all seem to just go through the motions and then hurry off the field.  The defense has improved over the past several games and has provided an opportunity for the offense to score some points but they can not stand that so they go 3 and out allowing the defense to again show what they are made of.  If I was Bud Foster I would walk up to Logan Thomas and whisper in his ear, KEEP IT UP AND I WILL PERSONALLY PUNCH YOU IN THE MOUTH!!!

The Duke game was exciting as the day was beautiful.  We had a good crowd at the tailgate and a couple of my Duke friends were entertained by our pregame rituals.  The Hokies spotted Duke 20 points before the offense decided that losing to Duke would be hitting rock bottom.  41 points later I did not have to go back to North Carolina and take same crap from the Blue Devils that I am taking from the Tarholes on a daily basis.  Yes Blue Devils I realize Basketball season starts this weekend but we accepted the fact that we are a football school a long time ago.  We left the parking lot knowing we would not meet again in October but were excited about a couple of road games we though we could win.

Go Ahead, hit her with that stick

Marcus Davis gets the scoring started

 

Finally pressure on the Quarterback

 

 



The next two games against those other teams who wear orange were supposed to be against suspect defenses.  Their defenses are still suspect but the offense found new ways to give up the ball.   Numerous interceptions and punt blocks in both games.  Looks like the BeamerBall gig is up!  We left South Carolina and Florida without a win and in serious jeopardy of a losing season for the first time in 19 years not to mention all the other notable records that will end this season.  Has anyone else noticed that we are not selling out the home games this year??  If the Hokies keep it up Lane. Stadium will look like Sun Life Stadium on a Thursday night in South Florida.

 

The only highlight I could remember

 

 



 

Too much of this

 

 



 

...and this

 



 

 

Please don't hurt me Coach Foster.

 

 

Seems to be the standard play

 

 

I could swear I had 29 seconds left.

 



We are going to try out this catering thing on Thursday and if it works out well possibly do it again for a couple of games next year.  Feel free to leave me some feedback on how it worked out and if you would like to try it again next year.   I will have my own comments next week after the game.  I am traveling to South Bend, Indiana next week to see the Fightin Irish against my hometown Demon Deacons.   Looking forward to the trip but not the weather.

Dinner will be served starting at approximately 5:30pm until 7:00pm when we will toast to the Ol' Hokie Cheer.   Catch me when you get there and I have wrist bands for all who have RSVP'd.  If you get this blog and have not let me know you are in for dinner please call ASAP 336.407.3847 so I can try to contact Custom Catering.  The menu is BBQ Chicken Breast, Mashed potatoes, Seasoned green beans, Fruit, Pasta, Banana pudding, cookies, Iced tea, Lemonade.  Of course the bar will be open as soon as I set up around 3:30pm if I can get into the lot.

The game time is 7:30 with fireworks planned before the game and if we score.  The weather should be nice but cold when the sun goes down.  The low temp will be 29 degrees.  Bring your coats and Hot Hands.  Hope to see everyone there around 4:30 and maybe, just maybe the Criminoles will have an acute bout of food poisoning which will disable them and the offense will find a way to score.  A man can HOPE for CHANGE and move FORWARD can't he??

Stopped by to see Alonzo.  Must be at lunch.

Next up is the other school in Virginia who just laid a smack down on NC State, probably costing Tom O'Brien his job.  The Hoos would love to keep us from bowl contention but it is yet to be seen if that is even a possibility until we win one of these next two games.  No time yet as ESPN is trying to figure out what to do with this dog.

Travel safe and remember to send your pictures (SUSAN!!!) and comments so I can post them for all to enjoy.  Also if you can't make the game the HokieMobile is a great place to crash!   See below.

GO HOKIES!!!  BEAT THE NOLES!!!

I am feelin' BLUE

Here we go again.  Another team in BLUE from the State of North Carolina looking to put up some points on the Hokies.  The Duke Blue Devils (5-1)(2-0) are coming to Blacksburg on a roll looking for their first bowl eligibility in 17 years.  They plastered UVa for 42 points and seem to have an offense this year which is bad because we do not have anything resembling a defense.  The Blue Devils have not beaten Virginia Tech since we entered the ACC but are prime this year to do so unless the coaches and the team found something this week that they have not had in the first 6 games of the season. 

Sure Logan Thomas had a record day, and would have had more without the senseless drops, but that was because the offense was forced to play catch up and abandon the run.  The Tarholes scored on a 4th and 1 with out being touched!!!  The defense gave up 500 yards and it would have been a heck of a lot more if Carolina had not penalized themselves for over 100 yards.  There was enough laundry on the field to keep China Town busy for a week.

The Tarholes brought their A game and their white special uniforms too. They apparently have "White Out" also.  Seems we are not the only team who changes uniforms as often as a you and I change underwear.  They picked the Virginia Tech game to debut their new white helmets just as Georgia Tech picked our game to debut their honeycomb helmets.  I for one am tried of it and long for the days when we wore maroon helmets and maroon or white uniforms and hit somebody.  I do not see any desire or fire in this team and I am afraid it is from top to bottom.

 

Now I am not mad at losing I am disappointed in the effort and confusion I saw on the field.  I lived through the late 80's and early 90's of Hokie Football so I know what it is like to lose, but back then when we lost the team had given it their all.  Something is not right and I not sure if it is in the locker room or the front office.  Let me be truthful, it sucks losing to the Tarholes.  I will be taking grief from every fan and pseudo fan for a year unless we slip up and beat them in basketball.

The tailgate was fun and I must send a shout out to our host Steve Archbell.  He was gracious and accommodating, allowing us to park in his lot just a small walk from the stadium.  Steve helped us to do the Ol' Hokie Cheer and we ate all we could before heading to our seats.  The day was gorgeous and as you can see by the picture the sun was out, causing sunburns on the unprotected.

 

Where is the SPF 50??

 

 

Lovin' the great outdoors.

 

I thought this was a White Out??

 

Plenty of friendly Tarheels.

 

My college roomate and another Rod siting!

 

Saturday looks to be a beautiful Fall day as well.  The leaves should be turning and the high temperature is predicted to be 67 degrees with a 0% chance of rain.  The Duke game is Homecoming and for all of you who feel up to it the Homecoming Parade will start at 9:00am and will go down main street Blacksburg.  The festivities continue with a EF-18 Growler flyover and the Homecoming court at halftime.  No that it not a bad stomach joke but an actual plane.  Hopefully the pilot is a Virginia Tech Grad and can actually fly over the stadium unlike the WWII planes we had for the Bowling Green game.

 

 

 

 

 

I will be setting up in Lot 7 around 8:30am and look to have brunch on the tables by 10:00am.  Since the game is an early one at 12:30 we thought brunch items would be appropriate.  Feel free to bring breakfast or lunch items for everyone to enjoy.  That worked out well last week in Chapel Hill and makes clean up easy.  The Ol' Hokie Cheer will be at 11:30am and I believe that I have fixed my microphone problem for this week.  I have invited a Duke fan and I would like him to take it all in so please introduce yourself and make them feel welcome.

 

The next game is the Florida State game and as discussed earlier we are going to cater the tailgate for that one.  The menu includes BBQ Chicken Breast, mashed potatoes, seasoned green beans, fruit, pasta, banana pudding and non-alcoholic drinks.  Don't worry the HokieMobile bar will be open!  We have promised a certain number so I REALLY need everybody who is coming to let me know so we get an accurate head count a week before the game.  The price for all the food, setup, cleanup, servers, plates and utensils is $10.95 a person.  Not a bad price to pay to leave your worries at home and just show up!  Feel free to make any donations to me at the Duke game so I can payoff the caterer sooner than later. 

 

Looking forward to being back in Blacksburg and smelling the fall air.  Have a great week and I will see everybody soon.

 



Nothin' could be finer....

than to be in Carolina!   The Hokies have a 13-0 record in the State of North Carolina against ACC teams since being allowed to sit at the table in 2004.  Unfortunately we have a crappy record in NFL stadiums no matter what state they are in!!! Looking forward to a much shorter road trip this weekend down I-40 to Chapel Thrill.  The Tarheels posted 66 points against the Idaho Vandals proving that they grasp the concept of offense.  I will go to Chapel Hill this week prepared to watch a struggling Hokie team that may leave with a .500 record.  The fans are getting restless and the players seem to be getting more apathetic as the weeks progress.  Have to go back to the late eighties to remember the mumblings that I have read about this week regarding what is wrong with the team.  We started strong but have lost to midlevel Big East teams.  Look at the remaining schedule and tell me where we get even 5 more wins.

The HokieMobile Tailgate was alive and kicking at the Bowling Green Game.  We added the Venable family to the crowd and they seemed to have a good time and enjoy our company.  Chris Venable hails from the Winston-Salem area and has a daughter at TECH this year.  He tailgated with us at the Wake game last year and says he will return when they get up for another game.  Chris laid out quite a spread himself and took a shot for the family when the time came.  We also had some friends from Raleigh visit Blacksburg for the first time.  Jean and Rodney Kirk made the trip from Raleigh to see the Hokies play.  We all made it back to Biff's place on Claytor Lake to celebrate the victory and enjoy the rest of the weekend

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful day for Hokie Football.

 

 

Yes, Believe it or not there was a ROD sighting!

 

A couple of our Falcon Friends!

 

The BGSU game is what I am talking about.  We do nothing for a quarter and just as I am falling asleep the team comes up with 21 points before the half to get me excited.  It took a whole other half to muster 16 more points and a missed field goal by BGSU to make the score 37-0  and give us a false sense of security heading into the game at FedExField.  I traveled all night, stayed in a marginal hotel just to be able to arrive in the parking lot by 11:30am.  Clete McCarthy from our Lot 8 days had invited me up to his neck of the woods to see the Hokies finally win one in FedExField.  Based on the scene in the parking lot we had them beat hands down.  There was 1 Bearcat for every 1000 orange and maroon clad Hokies.  Clete and his bride to be were great hosts and treated us to a luxury suite and prime parking.  Everyone was hospitable and we even found a couple of Bearcats to do the Ol'Hokie Cheer with prior to kickoff.  That's when things went down hill.  The Hokies only had a couple of first downs and 7 points at halftime.  The 4th quarter action picked up a little bit and all looked well until the defense let their man get behind him in the prevent defense.  We will give a reciever a 15 yard cushion in normal situtations but when we are supposed to give a cushion and keep the reciever in front of us we fail miserably.  The other stat that distrubed me ( because they do not have a stat for lack of effort) was the penalties.  We had 100+ yards in penalties.  Nothing about this team so far reminds me of hard playing, blue collar Hokie football so far.  You know from my previous posts that I am not a Stiney fan and I will again call for a change at the end of the season.  Without some new blood we are headed for medicore.   Sorry I do not have any pictures from the Cincy game.  I am still waiting on pictures from Chandler who was taking pictures during the tailgate.  Hopefully I will be able to post them soon.

 

 

William's reaction over Stiney's offensive calls from the box!!

 

 

The Hokie Mobile will be parked in the Ehringhaus Dorm Lower parking lot which is located directly behind the Baseball Field off of Manning Drive.  Hope to be on place by 8:30-9:00 to begin tailgating.  Come on down and hang out before the game with fellow Hokies and a few Tarheels. 

 

 

 

 The 12:30 game time  in Chapel Hill makes it hard to fix a large meal so according to our host it looks like the theme will be Bruch Buffet.  The menu looks like breakfast biscuits, quiche, fruit, Bloody Mary's and the like.  Feel free to bring whatever you would like.  As usual the bar will be open at 9:00am.  The weather looks great with the prediction of 80 degrees at gametime and 0% chance of rain.  Should be nice and hot on the sunny side of the stadium unlike last year in Blacksburg when it snowed during the tailgate.  SoCo toast will be at 11:30 and on Kenan stadium from there.

 

Next Up DOOOK!!!

 

 

 

 GO HOKIES!!!!   BEAT THE HEELS!!!

 

 

PITTiful APathy

 

          DID YOU WONDER WHERE THEY WENT???

The much talked about Hokie Defense could not stop a Governor or a Panther over the past two weeks.   The Austin Peay Governors had several sustained drives and clipped off many long runs in our 42-7 win in Blacksburg last week.  I was disappointed in the APathy the fans showed towards this game.  I know it was not Notre Dame but I remember when we were the Austin Peay of the Independents in College Football.  We would go anywhere to make a paycheck.  I do not know if it was the impending bad weather of the sloppy play of both our offense and defense that lulled the fans to sleep.  I was seating in the Outdoor Club Seating on the West Side and 30 seats around me were empty.  Just ask Richard, he came over after halftime with his family and had plenty of seats to pick from.

 

 

 

 

 

I had even better seats for the PITT game, smack in the middle of my Hokie Room.  No obnoxious Pennsylvanians hurling insults, calling us traitors or throwing objects at Hokies for leaving the Big East.  Now they will have a taste of their own medicine as they do their farewell tour. Our defense looked even worse at this game and had the stopping power of a wet paper bag!  They gave up 537 yards on the way to a 35-17 loss to our future Coastal Division foes.  We have not beat the Panthers in the last 10 years and next year it will count.

 

 

We had a great time grilling dogs and burgers and as usual Bob and Al cooked everything to perfection.  Could not find a Governor to do the Ol' Hokie Cheer with but hopefully we can find a Falcon to represent BGSU.  I have personally invited one I know to stop by if he is man enough ( you know who you are Ryan). 





 

 

 

 

 

 

The next game is against the Bowling Green State University Falcons at High Noon in Blacksburg.  ESPNU has picked up the game even though they had to suffer through last weeks game.  The Falcons are 1-2 with a hard fought loss to Florida in the opener and a loss last week to the Toledo Rockets.  Virginia Tech leads the series 2-0 and last played BGSU in 1993 in Blacksburg ( was Weaver AD then too?)  The Theme of the week is actually one I appreciate, Military Appreciation.  There will be a WWII B25 Flyover before the game and a P-51 Mustang Flyover at halftime.  The uniform of the week is white with camo numbers and camo helmets with a maroon VT on the side.

 



 Our servicemen and women across the globe are being appreciated by College Football this month and deservedly so.  The cadet we see in the stands today will be defending your freedom anywhere in the world tomorrow so take time to thank any active, reserve or retired service member when the chance presents itself.

The game is scheduled for noon kickoff which make it hard to do much tailgating but we will try our best.  We are going to be minus some regulars so be sure to invite all your friends to come and hang out.  I will probably be setting up around 8 am with the Ol' Hokie Cheer at 11 am.  Running out of entree ideas and it is not cold enough for chili yet so I believe we will go with bring whatever.  I am bringing some Subway sandwiches and chips.  Breakfast food, lunch food, whatever you think sounds good.  We will put it all on the table and graze until game time.  The weather is looking good with a high of 74 degrees and a 0% chance of rain.  Looking forward to seeing everyone and celebrating after the game in Lot 7. 

Several people have expressed an interest in catering the FSU game so we can enjoy the short tailgate.  I am going to work on this with Betty Hall and secure a menu over the next couple of weeks.  Please let me know if you are willing to chip in and we can figure out our budget and plan accordingly. 

Lost & Found

Found: I still have a pair of women's blue frame sunglasses from the Georgia Tech game

 

Lost: William lost his football last week.  If anyone picked it up please bring it with you to the game

 

Lost: one defense, an offense and a quarterback.



Workin' Overtime

I went from deflated to elated in the Hokies first ever overtime football game in Lane Stadium.  The 2012 version of Virginia Tech Football is much like the teams of the past.  We do not seem to get serious until time is running short or we are Vegas underdogs.  We can't stand being the favorite so we let the other team hang around while we try every play that hasn't worked before but hope will work this time.  The defense lived up to its name and held the triple option Yellowjackets to 192 yards rushing and as expected less than 100 yards passing.  Washington saved the best pass for last to position the Hokies for the winning 18 yard field goal from our community service kicker.  With this game out of the way early every newpaper and online rag has declared us the Coastal Division champion.  Not so fast, Carolina, Duke, Miami, and yes Virginia still have something to say about that.  One game at a time and Every Game Matters!





The tailgate was a great time as always.  We came prepared to battle the elements with rain suits and pop up tents but thankfully every storm cell that popped up on the radar just missed us.  Not a drop of rain noted even as I left Blacksburg on Tuesday morning.  The crowd gathered around 4pm and kept at it until the Ol' Hokie Cheer at 7pm.  I want to thank everyone for breaking down the tailgate so quickly and efficiently.  No one let Robbie touch the TV and now it will be available again this week!  The gang worked like a fine tuned pit crew and the HokieMobile was packed up by 7:15 and everyone headed to their new seats.  Bob cooked a great pork butt and of course there was food galore to compliment the entree.  Biff tried to send the crowd into a diabetic coma with jello shooters.  The pregame toast was SoCo and lime but some of our younger crowd requested Rock & Rye for their delicate palate(Tara!).  We did have one Yellowjacket participate and he did a fine job representing the University.

I was looking forward to seeing everyone again and I was not disappointed.  We reconnected with some old Lot 8 friends up from Florida, Gator and Lisa, made new friends in Greg and the Woods family.  The regular crowd was there as well enjoying a day off work and catching up. It was Orange Effect and the fans responded.  Even Fred got it right and wore his new orange VT shirt for good luck, unfortunately he spilled salad dressing all over it and had to wear his lucky new maroon shirt.  On my way out of Lane after the game I came across Ryan and his family who are GT fans.  Ryan played for GT back in the 90's.  I provided directions to the public parking lot but apparently they made a wrong turn because I caught up with them and their wrinkled up paper map of campus headed toward the greenhouses.  I guided them back to Lot 7 where Chris and Bonnie were nice enough to give all five of them a ride to their car up on Prices Fork.  I hope to see many of you again this week and continue the winning streak.

The game this week is against the powerhouse of the Ohio Valley Conference, the Austin Peay Governors.  IF YOU NEED TICKETS, BOB HALL HAS 4 AVAILABLE  (804) 387-1878. This will be the first(hopefully the last) time we meet the Governors on the football field.  I know you thought we had played them back in 1896, but that was St. Albans College on the old Gibboney field which is now the drill field.  The kickoff is 1:34pm and can be seen on ESPN3.  Bring your books for Herma's Readers and wear white to intimidate the Governors as they exit the locker room.  There is a 50% chance of rain at game time with 90% humidity so I recommend the ladies wear appropriate undergarments for the possibility of a soaker. Bring your personal rain gear and anyone who has a pop up tent please throw it in the car just in case.  Also I can't wait but it is the debut of the "Turkey Foot" helmet.  We have gone old school, now we are just going uncool.  I hope it is safe to wear turkey feet this time of year with all the hunters in the immediate vicinity.

The menu is an easy one this weekend.  Hamburgers and Hot dogs are on tap with the game being an early one.  Al might even treat us to his goose dogs.  Feel free to bring whatever you think would go well with the menu and we look to serve it up around 11:30am and the toast around 12:30.  We are talking about the possibility of catering the FSU game to minimize setup and clean up.  If you are coming to the FSU game talk to me and let me know if you are interested.  With enough people we can keep the cost to a minimum and enjoy the tailgate even more.  Working on the Bowling Green game on Sept. 22.

LOST & FOUND

One pair of ladies dark blue rimmed sunglasses
One clear plastic cup from Sharkeys ( I think it is Bob's Vodka Tonic cup)

                                     GO HOKIES !!!!!  BEAT THE GOVERNORS!!!!