Hokies fall into the trap again.

So this weekend did not go well for the Hokies and once again fans are left to wonder why this seems to happen every year. You could point to many things but the only real reason in my mind is over confidence and under performance. I believe that Frank Beamer has to absorb a huge share of the blame for this problem. In my opinion the issue of over confidence on any team has to begin with the head coach. At no point, in any sport, should a team feel that it is unbeatable by a certain team and games like this are the reason why. I am sure that no player on that Virginia Tech roster went into that thinking that there was a legitimate chance that they could lose that game. And that is a huge issue, because when a team as a whole believes that where is the drive to up their game and perform to the best of their abilities. In short it isn't there, it takes a huge amount of preparation to win any football game and part of that preparation has to be respecting the opponent. It is even in some of Virginia Tech's, you see the phrase "respect the opponent" on cups and billboards and see it in commercials on game day. To me respecting the opponent doesn't just mean don't maim them on the field on purpose but also  respect their ability to play the game because when you don't, things like this past Saturday happen, it just happens that our team hasn't learned this lesson and I am not sure if they can/ or will.

Of course we heard the typical coach speak of not knowing why the team took them lightly and to me that is in excusable. I know there is no comparison but even having coached little league football games I learned when the players were in the right mind set that week and they weren't we did our best to motivate. I know it is on a much larger scale with many more people but Frank and the other coaches have to be able to tell what their player's mind sets are through out the week and if they can't that is a big problem. Unfortunately I believe that our coaches fall victim this over confidence as well and if that is the case more than likely this will never change. It takes a great amount of ability to motivate a team to win week in and week out. But it has to be done in order to put your best product out on the field. If you were a coach and these wins and losses affected your resume wouldn't you want every player on your team to be as motivated as possible to win? I know I would, but this leads me to my next area of worry with the Hokies.

It seems to me that in general there is a sense of entitlement in almost every area of this sports program. Whether it be the coaches, players, administrators or the fans. There seems to be an overall feeling that we should win certain game sno matter what and that when we are given a perceived "easy" schedule we should easily be able to go undefeated. This to me is ridiculous and I fall prey to those thoughts as well, it just took another one of these losses along with another round of the "I don't know why we weren't prepared"'s to show that we are not a team that can take anyone lightly no matter what. We should have learned this a long time ago but we haven't. As much as we like to say that we aren't that far away from maybe getting to a national championship the facts are that we just aren't. We aren't at the talent level nor do we recruit the types athletes to be at that level. And very few teams are, it takes a special set of circumstances to build teams like that as well as many more resources than I believe VT has. To close, I think we all need to take a step back and realize that we may never have a team that can step on the field with the likes of a Pitt team that lost to Youngstown State and win while being in low gear the whole game. But we should strive to be better prepared for each game and encourage the players we know or have any contact with to do the same. The proof is in the pudding that when you constantly build players up and tell them how much better they are it will not end well. Obviously most of us don't have much contact with the players but somehow how the word has to be sent out that these guys need more motivation because I know that when they are at their best they are much better than what we saw Saturday. I hope Frank can figure out how to get that of every team somewhere down the line but until that happens we will just have to enjoy our bowl game every year. Go HOKIES!

Hoki Hoki Hoki Hi

I have missed writing on the first two weeks of the season so I have to play a little catch up here. First the game against Georgia Tech was a great game and I think probably the best possible result for a team looking to build on a success from the last season. Going into the game the Hokies didn't have a very good record in this early season big games and GT is definitely a big game. This game had impact on the ACC championship game and to have that in the player's minds has to have an effect on how they play. For the most part the Hokies showed up and took care of business. Of course it took some extra time to put it away and a 44 second drive for a field goal to get to that extra time. But these Hokies showed that they won't give up and I think it is going to be very hard for a team to put them way this year. The defense was great against GT especially in the running department and even though they gave up a few big plays I think this unit will live up to the preseason hype.

As for the Austin Peay game, I still haven't watched the entirety of the game but I did listen to it on the radio live. For the most part what happened was what should have happened with the Hokies winning 42-7 but I think I am with many Hokie fans when I say that the first half was little disappointing. I am not one to wish for 70 points against a team of this caliber but it would be nice to get off to a good start and put teams like this away early so the starters can rest even more. That said there was no let down and the team did what they needed to do to get the W and move on to the next one.

That leads to this weekend's game against Pitt, this game could also be considered a trap game as if the Hokies have payed any attention to what Pitt has done as of yet they are probably thinking this will be a cake walk. And by all accounts it probably should be. Pitt is off to a 0-2 start and have lost to Youngstown State and Cincinnati by a combined score of 65-27. That is pretty rough especially considering YSU scored almost half of those points against. I don't know much about YSU but I assume I am not going to see them win many more games in that fashion this year. So it looks like Pitt's defense is sloppy to say the least and hopefully Logan Thomas and the young running backs will get it going early so they maybe they can get some more rest in the second half. Also the defense should be more than able to keep these guys down as they don't have much confidence already and if we can smack them in the mouth early they seem like a team that will just roll over.

All that said this team still needs to focus and get better while trying to stay as healthy as possible. I would like to see the "change of tempo" offense work more smoothly in this game and the running game needs to start showing some results as we are going to need that as the year goes along to get some pressure off of LT. The emergence of Tony Gregory against Austin Peay was a good sign and hopefully he can help lead the younger runners to some better games yardage wise. That wasn't against great competition but it was still nice to see a runner seem to build momentum and carry a few drives. Also I think something to follow would be the punt return unit. I think Kyshoen Jarrett looked very good back there last week and more than likely he will carry the load there this week but you never know what Frank has up his sleeve. I wouldn't mind seeing Kevin Asante get some looks in the return game but as of now Kyshoen seems to be the best for the job. Also Kyshoen is in beast mode right now playing safety. Easily the hardest hitter on the team right now. Here's hoping we get another W and every player contributes and improves so we can get better as a team as this year moves along. Also no injuries! Let's Go HOKIES!

What a difference Manny makes.

I'll start with a correction, I got a little ahead of myself yesterday when I said we had a one game lead on the Yankees. As we sit currently we have a half game lead on the Yankees and now we wait on tonight's Yankees vs. Redsox game to see if we will have sole possession of first place.

Moving to Manny and his impact on this team over the last two days Manny has basically won two games for the Orioles and it is more prevalent with each game how important he is to this team. In yesterday's game he made a key play to end the ninth. When he had runner coming from second base and he faked a throw to first to pull the runner off of third then quickly spun and got the ball to JJ Hardy who got the runner into a rundown with Matt Weiters eventually applying the tag. That was a play that I don't think I have ever seen and it shows how smart Manny is as a defensive player. On the other side of that JJ had to be in the right place as well and that shows how hard this team has worked to improve their defense. It seems like more and more players are in the right place at the right time and even though we are still leading the AL in errors we don't look like that kind of a team anymore. Of course Manny was first up to bat after his great defensive play and he came through with a single to set Robert Andino up with the opportunity to sacrifce which lead to Nate Mclouth's walk off single. It was a great game and one that only builds on Manny's already great story.

That lead to today's game which unfortunately I couldn't see but did get to listen to most of it. While last night's game ended in a ninth inning walk-off today's took extras to the toon of a 14 inning epic with what sounded to be a great crowd especially for a Thursday afternoon game. I don't have much of the details but I know it ended up with Manny at the plate and him delivering with a walk-off single and once again he was the hero. The commentators mentioned his defense on the day so I can only assume that he had an all around game once again. We could not have asked for more when the O's decided to bring this kid up and it is awesome to see just what kind of things he can do. He has cut down on the errors from the left side of the field and proven that he can be leader at the plate as well.

So now we make the trek to Oakland and go up against a very good A's team. I know the A's lost today but until then they had one six straight and have a pretty firm hold on the number one spot in the wild card. With all that success you hope to maybe get them in a slump of some kind. But it is going to take more good defense and hitting to make this a good road trip. Of course these games don't start until 10 on my coast so I don't know how much I will see live but I think this team has the character and stamina to take a game like today's and turn it in to momentum heading into another big series with PLAYOFF implications (I love saying that). Let's GO O's!

Let's Go O's!

So it's been a while since I have posted, but now I am back at it and the first topic I come back too has to be the Orioles. I can't tell you how awesome it has been to watch this team throughout the summer. As we stand right now the team is one game ahead of the Yankees in the ALEast on September 12th. And as we all know this is the first time we have had a lead in the division this late in the year since 1997. It seems we can't go a day without being reminded how long it has been but who cares because this year is just different. As a fan who has struggled with the team through the last 14 years I can tell you that at many times this year I have expected the slide to begin but this team is different.

In my mind it all starts with Buck Showalter and Dan Duquette of course that isn't too hard to see. With basically the same team as last year ( a team that won 69 games) Buck Showalter has managed this team in a way that has changed these player's mindsets. As one could imagine playing so long for a bad organization could change someones outlook on what they could accomplish in this game. But somehow Buck showed these guys that it didn't matter what happened in the past all that matters is what you do now and the players are responding. Not only has he reinvigorated players like Nick Markakis but he has also dealt with a revolving door in the rotation with only one holdover from the opening day staff in the current rotation. It seems like every move he makes ends up working and we haven't had a manager with the feeling for the game like he does in a long time.

As for Dan Duquette, I remember some criticizing the team when they hired Dan and many thought that with his time away from the game he would not have the knowledge of the current players to help the organization get better. And just as with Buck he has shown an uncanny ability to pick up players that produce and at some points carry this team. His accomplishments must not go unnoticed, such as bringing in Nate McClouth or trading for Jason Hammell. Even though I have questioned some of his moves he has shown that he knows what this team needs and he knows how to go get it.

As I am writing this the O's are tied with Rays in the bottom of the sixth inning in a huge game with playoff implications at Camden Yards and it has been a long, long time since I have been able to say that during football season. I hope to be writing much more about how well the Orioles are doing in the near future. And for now I am going to enjoy every game we left because this is the team I have wanted to see in Baltimore and I know they won't let us down. Let's Go O's!

Os vs Red Sox

Tonight the O's start a three game series versus the Red Sox and hope to maintain their momentum that has seemed to have been building all season long. I still find it hard to believe that most mornings I wake up to see the birds in first and I can say that that is an awesome feeling especially this late in the season. I thought this past weekend would have been a much tougher test against the Nationals, honestly I wasn't sure they could take two from them. But the Orioles pitchers showed up and the hitters showed they could stand their ground against a very good Washington rotation. Sunday wasn't as good, it is especially embarrassing to give up a home run to Strasburg but for the most part we had another great series against a very good team.

Moving on to the Red Sox, this series should be very different from our first series which ended up being a three game sweep in our favor. At that point of the season the Sox were woeful at best and did little to slow us down, we ended up out scoring them 23-12 over that series in their house. Right now the sox are surging they are on a two game win streak and have won eight of their last ten. All phases of their game have improved and you can bet they will be looking to get some revenge on the first place O's. Also the Sox play a little better on the road so it may not be to our benefit that we are home for this series. The pitching match ups look pretty good with Tommy Hunter vs. Clay Bocholz in game one, then Brian Matusz vs. Felix Doubront, and ending up with Jake Arrieta vs. Daniel Bard. I am most comfortable with Jake the snake in their, which of course means Daniel Bard will probably no-hit us. Tommy Hunter has also seemed to lower his fastball a bit which has helped keep the extra base hits down a bit. Brian Matusz is still the wild card, as. he has been all year long. He might only give up three runs and go six innings or he could give up six runs and only go three innings. You can pretty much count on him giving up a few runs but he has been slightly better as of late. Hopefully playing the Sox will crank him up a bit for this series.

All in all I think this series being a good one and I think we could win two out of three but it is hard to tell how much better the Sox are as I haven't watched them play a game since our last series. As for the season, I know it is still early yet but as Buck said the other day we are a quarter of the way through the season and we are still in first place, we are 12 games above .500 and we aren't showing signs of that changing any time soon. We have fought through every injury, bad start, and 17 inning game so far and came out on the winning end of almost every one of those tests. Most importantly to me we are hearing all the right things come out of the club house. I haven't heard any of the guys start running their mouth about how much better we are than anyone else, in fact the one thing you do hear is the guys saying how much more professional this club house is compared to years past, which is a very welcome change. I can't pinpoint what the biggest change is this year from last year but there is just something different about this team. They don't flip out when they strike out or make a bad play. And the pitchers don't implode when they give up a run. They are vastly improved from last and they still have room for improvement. Hopefully everyone can come back strong from the DL and keep this thing going all year. I know there will be low points but I think this team will be able to break out of those much easier than we have seen recently.

One last note, Dylan Bundy is freaking amazing, the kid has yet to give up an earned run in something like 30 innings of professional ball. I don't care what level you are playing at that is crazy production and I can't wait to see this kid live. I wish we were hearing more from our other pitching prospects but for now it looks like we will have to be patient until this kid breaks through. Also I would like to give some kudos to whoever made the call on Xavier Avery and called him up. I remember seeing him in the past and was not that impressed but he seems to be much better this year and it was definitely time for him to move up. Of course that happened partly due to injury but it was easily the best move to make. Any of you wishing we had hung on to Matt Angle now?  Let's hope we come ready to hit tonight and keep the sox in last place, Let's Go O's!

Mother's Day Baseball

Today the O's face off against the Rays and hope to improve their record in these Mother's Day games. We are on a five game losing streak in such games and that includes the Mother's Day massacre. A game in which Dave Trembley pulled Jeremy Guthrie in the ninth inning with a 5-0 lead. We ended up losing that game and many more after a decent start up to that point. Hopefully today will be another massacre just with us on the winning side of it.

This has been a crazy week for the O's and honestly they probably got the most they could get out of it. It was certainly disappointing to drop 3 of 4 to Texas but you have to remember we had played 13 and 17 inning games over the weekend and our pitchers were pretty much gassed. Something that is not good at all heading into a series with probably the toughest lineup in baseball and includes a guy on pace to break Barry Bond's record for homers in a season. But to get one against them and be able to rest some pitchers and then move on and get the first 2 of 3 from the Rays is quite a feat in my mind.

Also we had 4 guys go on the DL this week and after today we will have something like 5 guys make their Orioles debuts. Today Xavier Avery will start the game and lead off against the Rays and this will be his major league debut. Hopefully he can make a similar impression to what the guys have made as Bill Hall hit a homer in his O's debut and Steve Tolleson has played some great defense as well as aquitting himself well at the plate. We shall see, it isn't an easy task but it seems like they know when to bring these guys up and they all seem to make a positive impact.  Happy Mother's Day and to every mother out there, Thank You for all that you do.Let's Go O's!

Orioles are awesome!

Ok, I know it has been over a month since and I wish I didn't have to wait this long to write something. In short me and my family are going through a lot at the moment but hopefully soon I will be able to write with more regularity. For now I just wanted to comment on a few things that I am excited about. First and foremost are the mother f@#*ing Orioles! They have gotten off to an incredible start and I can honestly say that this is the most excited I have ever been as an Orioles fan. To see this team finally compete at a high level has just been awesome. Hopefully they can maintain some of this early production through out the year but the odds are not with us. Right now I am just enjoying this to the fullest because I know the other shoe will eventually drop, it always does. I plan to get more in depth with the Orioles later this week as long as I can find the time to do so.

Second, the mother f@#*ing Devils! They have been awesome in the playoffs and remind me of those early 2000's teams that made me a fan. Obviously part of what made me a fan was that they won a lot but also I liked the kind of defense they played even though most others bitched about it, also they had and still have Martin Brodeur who is, in a word, awesome. This team seems faster and while the defense isn't quite as stifling and slow it is still effective. It's a great feeling to beat any team from Philadelphia and it feels even better when it happens in the playoffs, as it did last night when we sent the Flyers home for the rest of the year. Next up we will face either the Rangers or the Capitals. My money is on us having to beat the Rangers to make it to the finals as the Capitals seem to be following their script of forgetting how to win in the playoffs. Obviously this year's Capitals weren't expected to do as much in the playoffs but after their round one win some thought they might have turned a corner. They do still have a chance as the series is 2-3 in favor of the Rangers, and honestly I feel a bit more comfortable playing them than the Rangers, but I doubt they have 2 wins left in them especially with their anemic offense. The good news is we won our series and are currently resting up for whomever we get next. Gotta love playoff hockey, it doesn't get much better.

Next has to be the basketball coaching situation at VT. This has been one of the crazier off seasons for any VT team in a long time. I don't remember a situation quite like it but that may selective memory as well. Seth Greenberg's dismissal came as somewhat of a surprise but with everything leading up to it I believe it was the only acceptable outcome. Three more assistants were choosing to leave VT and there was word that player's were starting to lean that way as well, and this is not the first time this happened under Greenberg. Almost every year there has been turnover in the coaching ranks and usually a kid or two would decide to transfer. None of that is terribly uncommon in NCAA basketball but for a school at our current level of competitiveness that much turnover does nothing to help build something bigger. In the end the school decided to go with someone who might be able to bring the same kind of family atmosphere to basketball that Frank Beamer has done with football. The man they chose was James Johnson, one of the three assistants who had accepted a job elsewhere before Greenberg got fired. I don't know much about him but he always seemed like a good motivator and an energetic coach on the bench. I like the hire, I do wish Seth could have done a bit more in his time at Tech but apparently he hurt himself when it came to keeping people around him. Hopefully James can hang on to some of our recruits and next year won't be a complete wash. It's hard to tell how things will go until we know who exactly will stay on the roster and we get to see how they play together. Congrats and good luck JJ here's hoping for a great first year.

There is much more to discuss, RGIII is a REDSKIN!!! and that's pretty awesome, however I need much more time to write about the Redskins and the draft as whole. Also the Hokies spring game got cancelled due to lightning but many people around the team expect this year's squad to be even better than last years. I think the defense will definitely be better but it may be hard for the offense to improve with basically a brand new line in front of LT3 etc... I need more time to get into all of that as well. Also Kevin Harvick has done fairly well, he is still in contention for the chase but he better get some points from wins before to long as he needs all the bonus points he can get. I am sure they are things I am missing but hopefully soon I will be able to get to everything. Thanks to everyone who reads me and soon I hope to be more prompt with this stuff. As for now, Let's Go O's and Devils!