Hokies At 11-1 Still 'Don't Get Any Respect'

I'm sick of the national sports media. I've cringed over the years as the national sports media kissed Joe Paterno's butt. How'd that work out?
Here's an update, 'Bear' Bryant doesn't coach at Alabama anymore. You can stop kissing his butt, too. Here's another update, many of the schools that the media adores that have been awarded championships have been cheaters. Look it up.

I've got a chip on my shoulder because I grew up in Blacksburg, Virginia and I'm a Virginia Tech fan. I watch a lot of college football. There aren't that many teams this year as good as the 11-1 Hokies. Still, when the national media goes over national championship scenarios, they leave out the Hokies. The NYC sports media has called the Hokies a 'fake' good team. WTF?
How many teams have won 10 or more games for the last eight years? None. With Paterno fired Hokie coach Frank Beamer is now the winningest active coach. Still no respect.
I've heard all the arguments national media types use. Goes something like this. "We like conferences that give us big TV ratings. We love Notre Dame, the SEC, the Big 10 and Texas schools. We love TV ratings. We love TV ratings."
A small market school tucked away in the mountains (Boise State fans know what we're talkin' bout) gets no respect. It's all about hype, entertainment, and ratings. It's sickening to see all these fired coaches and ex-jocks make fools of themselves every week, trying to sound like they know what they're talking about.
Against the University of Virginia, the Hokies had to win to get to the ACC championship game.
They won 38-0.
The Hokies ran the clock out in the red zone, with Beamer,as he always has, refusing to run up the score. With Logan Thomas and David Wilson, the Hokies have two of the best offensive players in the nation. They have the top two receivers, Jarrett Boykin and Danny Coale, in school history.
Virginia geared up to stop Wilson, Boykin and Coale, so Thomas hits receiver Marcus Davis for 36 yards on the first offensive play. Thomas caps the drive with 14-yard run to put the Hokies up 7-0.
Then came the game's turning point. The Cavs took the ensuing kickoff down to the Hokie seven-yard line and went for it on fourth down. The Hokies defense stopped them.
At the start of the second quarter, with Boykin and Coale covered, Thomas hit Davis on a 52-yard pass. Three plays later, Thomas hits Boykin for a touchdown and the Hokies go up 14-0.
Receiving the second-half kickoff, Thomas guides the Hokies down the field, completing four passes to set up a 27-yard burst by Wilson for a score. Game over. Wilson runs amok the rest of the game, finishing with 153 yards, and the second unit gets to play much of the fourth quarter.
Next up for the Hokies is Clemson. The Hokies have lost to a team in the regular season before and won the rematch in the championship game (Boston College fans know what we're talkin' bout). It should happen again. If so, the 12-1 Hokies deserve to be considered for the national championship game. Will they?
Probably not.

Hokies Off to A Good Start in Downing Appy State

1-0 is better than 0-1. Every time. Last year, the Virginia Tech Hokies opened against powerhouse Boise State on a neutral field and lost.
This year, opening against Appalachian State at home, the Hokies did what you are supposed to do. They won big. When you win big you can make those opening day mistakes and not have them cost you the game. When you win big you can play a lot of people and develop depth you'll need as the season wears on and the inevitable injuries strike.
Last season, the Hokie defense just wasn't that good. Fortunately, the offense led by Tyrod Taylor, was so good the Hokies won 11 games. But in the BCS bowl game against Stanford, the Hokies mediocre defense was torched.
What was bothersome about the Hokies defense last year was that they didn't appear to learn from their mistakes. They kept making the same kind of mistakes all year long. They were out of position, they would over react and leave their lanes, they appeared to be easily fooled by clever offenses.
Even though it is only one game, the play of the Hokies defense is encouraging. They appear disciplined and stay in their assignments. The team speed on defense also appears to have picked up, especially at linebacker. Appy State had a good offense and a very good, athletic quarterback. Against the Hokies, he never got going.
The game was over at halftime with the Hokies up 38-0. Besides the defense, the offense and special teams look like they can be, well, special. Tyrod Taylor is playing for the Baltimore Ravens. His successor, Logan Thomas, appears to have amazing upsides. All he lacks is experience, which he will gain quickly. At 6-6, 250, he is going to run over defensive backs and be able to throw over the out-stretched arms of rushing lineman.
And we haven't got to the best part, yet. That is David Wilson, the running back who is threat to score EVERY time he touches the ball. He may not sustain a 10 yard per carry average throughout the season (162 yards on 16 carries) but he should have his share of long runs. What is incredible to watch is that even with his great speed, Wilson runs well right up the middle.

Keeping in perspective this is just one game against a non-conference foe, the signs are promising. The next three games, East Carolina, Arkansas State and Marshall, should give the Hokies chances to keep winning and gaining experience before heading into conference play.
The Hokies are young, outside the O-line there aren't many seniors starting. None of the Atlantic division ACC teams the Hokies play this year are named Florida State.
It's a long year, we'll see how it plays out. But it's hard to argue with a good start.

Derek Jeter and Rod Carew and 3,000 Hits

In 1977, while living in Minnesota and attending the College of St. Thomas, I attended 32 baseball games at the Twins Stadium in Bloomington. The Twins weren't the best team in baseball (the Yankees won the World Series), they weren't even the best team in their division (the Royals won the West Division) but they had Rod Carew.
The 1977 Twins were fun to watch, even if they finished 17.5 games behind the Royals. They could hit (team BA 1st) and they couldn't pitch (team ERA 12th) so most of the games were high scoring affairs.
The big draw was Rod Carew spending most of the year batting over .400. He finished the season at .388. In this pre-steroid era, they had six players hit more than 10 home runs, led by Larry Hisle's 28. Even Carew hit 14, in addition to 38 doubles and 16 triples. Carew played in 155 games, scored 128 runs, had 239 hits and amazingly 100 rbis.
Every day at the ball park, Carew was guaranteed to do something amazing. One game against the Brewers, I got seats in the third deck behind homeplate right in front of the radio announcers. Back then, a younger Bob Uecker was doing radio for the Brewers.
Carew went four for five. After Carew's fourth hit, I looked back at Uecker, he had a big grin on his face, looked straight at me and lifted his hands in surrender as if to say 'we can't get him out, not today, not no way.' As a baseball player, Uecker was clearly enjoying, as we all were, one of the greatest players ever to play, in his prime.
Carew moved on to the Angels, where he never matched his success of that magnificent year. His skills declined as he entered his mid 30's. He retired at 39 after batting .280, with a career average of .328.
Many thought Carew kept playing past his prime so he could reach 3,000 hits. He ended his career with 3,053. They were probably right. Although, it needs to be said, not many players hit .280 even in their prime.
In 2011, I'm living in the NYC area, can't afford to go to Yankees or Mets games, but I watch them on HDTV every night (I make my own popcorn).
The big story in NYC this year is Derek Jeter closing in on 3,000 hits. The wags are on his case because he's 37 and not playing like he was, uh, two years ago. At 35, Jeter hit a phenomenal .334 with 18 home runs among his 212 hits. Not many players can do that at 35. This year, the wags are saying Jeter is washed up because he is batting .257.
I've been comparing Derek Jeter and Rod Carew careers. They are remarkably similar. Here's the numbers:
      Carew    Jeter
AB   9315    9602
R      1424    1725
H      3053    2998
2b      445      480
3b      112        62
HR      92       236
RBI  1015     1157
BA    .328      .312
SB     353       330
OPS  .822     .832

They were both Rookies of the Year, Carew in 1967, Jeter in 1996. Jeter is the better fielder, winning four gold gloves. As Carew got older, he switched from second base to first base. Jeter continues to play shortstop. Jeter has also shown more power, hitting more home runs, while Carew had more speed, hitting more triples.
The local sports talk radio shows have people calling in giving their thoughts on whether Jeter has had a Hall of Fame career. I think he does. Carew was a class act, so is Jeter. Something Jeter said in the paper recently about the enormity of the task to hit get 3,000 hits made sense.
He said that you had to average 200 hits for 15 years to reach 3,000. That means you have to be very good for a long, long time. For my penny, that means Hall of Fame.
Some day, Jeter will be in the Hall of Fame with the great Rod Carew. And he will deserve it.