100 Things

I have lots and lots and lots of things bouncing around in my head that I want to put on this blog, but not enough of them are clumping together to form coherent, cohesive blog posts.

Considering that "making lists is lazy writing," and that I am nothing if not lazy, I thought I'd give you a list.

In an effort to make it epic (and to stick it to a person who recently doubted if I could even generate a piddly 50-item list), I'm going to make a list of 100 random Wahooze-related thoughts.  If I can't dazzle you with quality, I'll dumbfound you with quantity.

This will be long, this will be rambling, it will flow in a stream-of-consciousness style, it will likely be a soul sucking siege for you to read, but here it is.  I'll do my best to make it amusing, entertaining, and/or enlightening along the way.

(Special thanks to Peter King and Matthew Berry for providing inspiration for the tone, content, and format of this piece.)

With no further ado, here is 100 THINGS!

1) The football team needs to win at least one of the next three games (FSU, @GT, UNC) if it wants to push for that 7-5 record and an outside shot at a bowl game.

2) We'll be at least 7-point underdogs in each of those three games.

3) I think losing Dominique Wallace really sucks.  He's a talented football player, and seems like a good dude.  I expected big things from him.

4) With Wallace gone, we now have a gaping hole on the roster.  After Keith Payne exhausts his eligibility after this season, who will be the Hoos' power back?  It's a role that seems pretty crucial to the type of offense London and Lazor are building.  Don't be shocked if we make a late recruiting rally to add a big back to the 2011 class.

5) Speaking of the 2011 class, I think the player I'm most excited about is quarterback David Watford.  He's a true dual-threat QB, and based on what I've seen from the London/Lazor pro-style offense, a mobile QB would be an extremely dangerous weapon.

6) That's not to say that Watford won't have a battle on his hands once he arrives in Charlottesville.  The hype machine is on full throttle for Mike Rocco, and I think he looked fantastic in his game action against VMI.  Best arm since Matt Schaub, easily.

7) I'm glad Tim Smith is being shut down for the season.  Having him on the team three years from now will be more valuable than having him on the team as the #3 WR this season.

8) The person responsible for initially pushing Smith out of the starting lineup and to the #3 role -- Dontrelle Inman -- is rapidly emerging as one of my favorite players this season.  He's providing a great receiving presence opposite Kris Burd.  He's tall, has good body control, runs good routes, and is sure-handed.

9) In watching Burd and Inman work through three games, I have finally discovered my favorite trait in a wide receiver: the ability to catch the football.  It trumps speed, it trumps size, it trumps leaping ability, it trumps open field moves, it trumps downfield blocking, it trumps everything else.

10) Applying the above realization to my fantasy football pursuits led me to make a trade last week for Miami's Brandon Marshall.  After his 10-catch, 166-yard explosion against the Jets on Sunday night, I had a big smile on my face.  CATCHING THE FOOTBALL.  How profound.

11-16) Let's stay in the NFL for just a second.  The fantasy football dork in me likes to pride itself on realizing trends in pro football offenses as they emerge, and then extrapolating how the game will be changing in the near future.  Here are my most recent observations/hypotheses:

• The unbalanced line, aka the 6th o-lineman.  Power football is making a big comeback, and it only makes sense that getting an extra lineman on the field is the way to go.  This might come in the form of a jumbo, blocking specialist tight end, or it might be the "6th man" on the o-line who lines up off tackle.  In either case, it's clear that there are benefits to getting better blocking on the field, especially on the edge.
• Return of the fullback.  Look no further than the recent success of guys like Jason Snelling, Peyton Hillis, and John Kuhn.  I think the recent explosion of committee backfields will soon settle into a system of having a designated banger to complement a designated jitterbug.
• The designated jitterbug.  I'm a little late to the party mentioning this one, as guys like Chris Johnson, Reggie Bush, and Darren Sproles have been making hay in the league for a few years already.  But the backs are still getting smaller, shiftier, and faster, and NFL teams are splitting these guys out wide.  Dexter McCluster is the latest and best example, but Jahvid Best, LaRod Stephens-Howling, Mike Goodson, Justin Forsett, and Joe McKnight also fit the jitterbug profile.
• The TE/WR hybrid.  Tight ends have been getting more and more athletic over the course of the last decade, to the point where offensive coordinators are flexing them out wide on a regular basis.  This opens the door for guys like the Patriots' Aaron Hernandez, who at just a shade under 245 pounds is woefully undersized as a prototypical tight end, and too big to run deep routes as a wideout.  But who do you cover him with?  He's too shifty/fast for linebackers and too big for safeties.  When the term "tweener" begins to be replaced by the term "hybrid," you know the concept is beginning to gain traction.
• The LB/S hybrid.  The obvious yin to the TE/WR's yang.
• Slot receivers!  Wes Welker has paved the way for the sure-handed overachievers.  Guys like Jordan Shipley, Eddie Royal, Davone Bess, Austin Collie, and Lance Moore are starting to make huge impacts on NFL games.

17) Off of that tangent and back to UVA football.  Have I mentioned how excited I am about almost all of the things Mike London is doing to rebuild Virginia Football?  I'm planning to re-visit the "Road Map to Relevancy" again sometime soon...

18) Saturday's game against VMI was one of the top-five hottest games I've ever experienced at Scott Stadium.  It felt like the stadium was a giant wok, and I was a shriveled up sliver of moo goo gai pan.  The other four hottest games in reverse chronological order: 2008 vs. USC, 2007 vs. Duke, 2006 vs. Wyoming, and 2002 vs. Colorado State.

19) Ras-I Dowling didn't play well against VMI.  He's understandably rusty coming back from injury, but he needs to get it going if we're going to have a good season and if he's going to cement his first round status for NFL scouts.

20) Prediction: We're going to give up a backbreaking kick or punt return touchdown this season, and it will cause us to lose a game we would otherwise win.

21) Chase Minnifield has had an awesome first three games.  He's making me look smart for predicting he'd top five INTs this season, considering the fact that he already has three picks.

22) Ditto Cam Johnson, whose 3.5 sacks are making me look smart for predicting he'd hit double-digits.

23) More defense...  Has any young player on the team been more exciting to watch than LaRoy Reynolds?  It often looks like we have three different #9s playing defense.  He's all over the field.

24) I was nervous about Matt Conrath's move to defensive tackle, but he's been playing extremely well in his new role.

25) Holy crap.  I'm high on our receivers, our o-line, our running game, our defense, and I bullishly defend Marc Verica as a competent Dilferesque starting QB.  Is it possible that we might actually be pretty good this season?  I guess we'll know a lot more about this team after Saturday's game against Florida State.

26) I love that NC State hung 45 points on Al Groh's shitty 3-4 defense at Georgia Tech.

27) Speaking of Al Groh, it's finally becoming clear that he was a man of fallacies.  He proved that "he bleeds orange and blue" was totally false when he made the scumbag move to join the Yellow Jackets staff for a discounted price.  Now "his defenses were never the problem" is coming under some fire.  Yes, we generally had some solid D here at UVA during Groh's tenure... but how many times would you say our defense made the explosive plays to win games?  We kept scores down and kept games close, but that defense was never feared, and it never really swung the tides in games.  Just saying.  (He's gone, and I reserve the right to pile on.)

28) Al Groh ended up having a 2.5 year honeymoon at UVA, and then a three year phase of general acceptance that gave way to apathy.  The apathy turned to anger in 2008/2009.  If Mike London doesn't win big within his first three years at UVA, I wonder how long our fans will tolerate him?  I'd say that he gets at least three more years than Groh, if for no other reason than he's a more charismatic human being.

29) Don't take #28 to mean that I think Mike London will fail at UVA.  I don't.  I think he'll succeed.  I'm just trying to be realistic.

30) Why did we waste the WHITEOUT on a 12:00 noon kickoff?  I know we were sort of big-timed by the TV game selection process, but c'mon.

31) I love the fact that we're even having a WHITEOUT.  This is exactly the kind of stuff we should be doing, and it's exactly the kind of stuff we weren't doing under Al Groh.

32) The Advertures of CavMan has to go.  It was cool at first, but now it's a tired concept.  The production quality is also embarrassingly crappy.

33) Can I bitch for a second about our two local radio shows?  I didn't like Adam Gottschalk, but at least he was focused on UVA sports.  Mark Moses doesn't even pretend to care about UVA and Mac McDonald's show (while being broadcast out of Charlottesville) stubbornly covers the entire state.  In other words, why does our local radio insist on pandering to Hokies?  And who gives a shit about anything Mark Lorenzoni has to say?  Yeah, I tune in to sports radio so I can hear about high school track and field.  Huh?  Sorry... rant over.

34) I thought it was really cool that VMI brought the entire Corps of Cadets.  It was less cool when I was trying to go anywhere on the concourse and they were clogging the aisles, hitting on chicks.

35) That fake punt against USC was awesome, and it made me hungry for another trick play.  I bet we trot one or two out against Florida State this weekend.

36) Maybe it was a little bit odd that we burned Mike Rocco's redshirt for mop-up duty against VMI, but it was clear that the coaching staff wanted to see him in action in a game setting, and that they think he's a better prospect than Ross Metheny.  (Sorry if this one is a little bit redundant with #6.)

37) It was VMI... but I thought Torrey Mack looked good.  He's still got the talent that made him a four-star prospect coming out of high school.  If Perry Jones goes down, we're going to need another back to step up.

38) We're now 2-for-6 on field goals this season.  To the special teams' credit, the operation is looking much better than it did against USC.  I still think a missed kick will cost us another game.  I have zero confidence in our ability to kick field goals.

39) I'll touch on this again when we revisit the road map, but our 2011 out of conference schedule includes home games against William & Mary, Southern Miss, and Idaho, and a road game against Indiana.  That slate won't sell tickets, but it might help to manufacture some wins.  Considering the fact that we could have as many as seven returning starters on offense and ten returning starters on defense, I think we could be looking at a bowl game next season.

40-55) Here's a bunch of YES or NO questions based on this year's individual football stats through three games:

• Marc Verica is currently on pace for 2788 passing yards.  Will he actually eclipse 2500 yards this season?  NO
• He's on pace for 19.99 TDs.  Will he throw for 20+ TDs this season? NO
• He's thrown 5 TDs and just 1 INT.  Will his TD:INT ratio stay better than 2:1?  YES
• Keith Payne and Perry Jones are both on pace to rush for over 800 yards.  Will Keith Payne eclipse that mark?  NO
• Will Perry Jones?  YES
• Payne has 5 rushing TDs, which puts him on pace for 19.99 on the season.  That's a bit extreme... but will he break double-digits?  YES
• Kris Burd has 260 receiving yards, putting him on pace for 1039 on the season.  Will he actually break the 1000 yard plateau?  YES
• Dontrelle Inman has 214, good for a 856 yard pace.  Will he break 800 yards?  YES
• 5 receiving TDs between the two of them, 19.99 pace for the season.  Will they combine for 20+ TDs?  NO
• 15-19?  YES
• Cam Johnson's 3.5 sacks puts him on pace for 14 sacks this season.  Will he break 12 sacks?  NO
• 10?  YES
• Chase Minnifield's three picks puts him on pace for 12 INTs this season.  Will he get to six?  YES
• Eight?  NO
• Will Ras-I Dowling be a first round draft pick in the 2011 NFL draft?  NO
• Will we get to six wins this season?  YES

56) Didn't think I could get to 100, did you?  Now that you've experienced some of my fulgurant shortcuts, do you believe?

57) Ha!  Nailed you with another shortcut at #56.

58) Through four weeks of college football, I've actually been able to watch every single ACC team in action at least once.  Here are my current power rankings for the conference:
#1 Miami -- It's all sort of coming together, meltdown at Ohio State notwithstanding.
#2 NC State -- Clicking on all cylinders, but this weekend is a big-time litmus test.
#3 Virginia Tech -- Recovering from the losses to Boise and JMU by getting the defense revved up and making plays.
#4 Florida State -- Ponder's passing and a fierce pass rush make up a winning recipe.
#5 Clemson -- Seems to be solid in all phases of the game (except maybe kicking).
#6 Boston College -- Tough D, good o-line, strong running, nothing really remarkable... the typical BC formula for success.
#7 Georgia Tech -- The defense is not good, and teams are finally starting to catch up to that triple option attack.
#8 North Carolina -- The off-field stuff has torpedoed their once-promising season.
#9 Virginia -- I think we have the look of a .500 type of ACC team, via aggressive defense, high energy, and relentless effort.
#10 Maryland -- Their 3-1 record is a bit of a mirage.  This team has some damning flaws, but they are playing very tough.
#11 Duke -- Even though they lost at Wake, I think their explosive offense will allow them to spring an upset or two in conference play.
#12 Wake Forest -- They are 2-1... en route to a 3-9 season.

59) I just said that I think we have the "look" of a .500 type of ACC team, and I stand by that.  But just because we look like a .500 team doesn't mean we'll get those four wins.  But what wins will we get?  Here's my list of possibilities, ranked from most likely to least likely: EMU, Maryland, @Duke, UNC, @GT, @BC, FSU, @VT, Miami.

60-67) Last year I did a UVA Sports Over/Under that was a lot of fun to write.  Judging from the positive response it received, I think it might have been fun to read, too.  I wanted to do one again this year, but never got around to it.  So here's a quick version, embedded in my epic list of 100 Things.  Enjoy!  (Oh yeah, and in case you're hazy on what an over/under is, here's the basic definition: "An over-under or over/under bet is a wager in which a sportsbook will predict a number for a statistic in a given game (usually the combined score of the two teams), and bettors wager that the actual number in the game will be either higher or lower than that number. For example, in Super Bowl XXXIX, most Las Vegas casinos set the over-under for the score of the game at 46.0. A bettor could wager that the combined score of the two teams would be either more than or less than that number (as it happened, the combined score was 45, so anyone who had bet the under won)."  Anyway, here is the Wahooze Over/Unders for 2010-2011:

• Over/under -- UVA Football wins in 2010: FOUR.  I'm betting the OVER.  We've got two in the bank already, and EMU is another lock.  I'm confident that we'll beat Duke and Maryland, and then shock another team along the way.  So that puts us at six.  If we can spring a second big upset, we're going bowling!
• Over/under -- Number of times I'll curse Al Groh's name for needlessly burning Dontrelle Inman's redshirt: 2 million.  Bet the OVER. Trust me on this.  Inman is playing great... just think about how valuable he'd be next year as a 5th year senior.  *sigh*
• Over/under -- UVA Football wins in 2011: SIX.  I'm going OVER.  Like maybe even way over.  I think we could be looking at an 8-win team next season, if we can find the right QB to lead the way.  (Mike Rocco, I'm looking at you.  Well, not literally, but you know what I mean.)
• Over/under -- ACC wins by UVA Basketball during the 2010-2011 season (five last year): FIVE.  Maybe I continue to be stupidly intoxicated by Tony Bennett's good vibes, but I will take the OVER on this. I think another year in a cohesive system and energy provided by the seven freshmen will be enough to snag some wins in a weakened ACC. Nothing ground-breaking, but I see 6 or 7 ACC wins this season.
• Over/under -- Mike Scott's averages (he averaged 12 points and 7 rebounds last season): 15 and 8.  Scott should lead the Hoos in both categories, but I'm still going to take the UNDER here.  I think we'll see a more liberal rotation this season, as Bennett attempts to get all of the freshmen adequate playing time.  I think Mike Scott will end up duplicating his numbers from last year, which would still represent very solid production.
• Over/under -- Freshman K.T. Harrell's scoring average this season: 7 ppg.  OVER.  I think Harrell will be an absolute revelation to us, and will quickly assume a primary scoring role for this team.  We have good complementary-type scorers in Mike Scott, Sam Zeglinski, and Mustapha Farrakhan, but I think it is Harrell who will emerge as the team's go-to scorer.  10, 12, maybe even 14 or 15 ppg as a freshman could be in his future.  Bold, I know.  ACC Freshman of the Year?  Hmmmm...
• Over/under -- ACC wins by UVA Baseball during the 2011 season (23-7 last year): 19.  I'm going to have to say UNDER on this one.  We'll still be a good team, but we lost a lot from last year's elite outfit.  I feel a 17-13 or 18-12 type of ACC season coming on.  Another NCAA appearance, but not hosting a regional at Davenport.
• Over/under -- The number of juniors who leave the baseball team for the professional ranks after the 2011 season: TWO.  We lost a ton last year, but this year should be less brutal.  However, I still see us losing at least three guys, so I'll take the OVER.  Danny Hultzen, John Hicks, Steven Proscia, Scott Silverstein, and maybe even Keith Werman could be looking at lucrative careers in pro baseball.

68) Let's focus on the basketball team now.  It's clear that I like K.T. Harrell's potential as a scorer for this team, but where do I think the other six freshmen will ring in?  I'm not sure about the exact numbers, but here is the order in which I think they'll rank when it comes to scoring average: James Johnson, Joe Harris, Billy Baron, Akil Mitchell, Will Regan, Thomas Rogers.

69) It's easy to be excited about the freshmen, but there are two other players I can't wait to see in action this season.  The first of which is Jontel Evans.  I've heard that he's added a bit of a jump shot to his game, that his ballhandling has improved from good to very good, and that his defensive ability has gone from very good to completely off the charts.  He might still be an offensive liability, but he's just really fun to watch.

70) The second guy I'm psyched to see is Assane Sene.  He was about to be lost in the shuffle, but has added a bunch of weight, added considerable strength, and has focused on improving his ability to catch the ball.  Any contribution he can make is gravy, but I think he'll push for a starting spot in the rotation, and will change the nature of games with his shot-blocking ability.  I'm actually looking for his improvement to mirror that of Jerome Meyinsse's last year, which would be a great thing for the basketball program.

71) I'll love the freshmen, I'm excited to see Evans and Sene, but my favorite player on the team is Mustapha Farrakhan.  I'm not sure exactly why, either.  I guess I just like his moxie.  I like smaller guys who take it to the hole, I can't help myself.  (PS -- I still miss you, Sean Singletary.)

72) I don't want to rip through the basketball roster without mentioning Sam Zeglinski.  He'll cede the bulk of his point guard duties to Evans and Baron, which means he should be more free to serve as a spot-up shooter.  It's a role that I think suits him well.  By the end of the season, I think he'll be one of our few feared offensive weapons.

73) This basketball team will struggle to score.  That's pretty obvious.  Defensively, we should be very good, especially if guys like Mike Scott, Jontel Evans, Assane Sene, and Mustapha Farrakhan continue their rapid improvement on that end of the floor.

74) The key to the season will be the freshmen.  If they can add some scoring punch while not being absolute liabilities on defense, I think we have a good chance to be pretty good.

75) We'll be tested early in the season, that's for sure.  Games against Stanford, Washington, Kentucky or Oklahoma, Minnesota, Virginia Tech, Oregon, Iowa State, and LSU before the New Year will tell us what kind of team we have.  A 4-4 record in those eight games would bode extremely well for the trajectory of the team.

76-87) Can we talk about REALIGNMAGEDDON for a second?  Because I don't feel like it's over; not yet; not by a long shot.  The Big 10 (12?) still has unfinished business, and I don't believe the Pac-10 (12?) is satisfied either.  The Big XII (X?) is still extremely fragile, and ripe for the picking.  And as the ACC and Big East continue to flounder in football, their stability comes into question.  Will the SEC finally decide to throw its considerable weight around in all of this?  Nothing will happen in the short term, but I do have some bold long term predictions:

• Texas and Notre Dame will swap places as Div-1A Independents.  The Longhorns are developing their own cable network, which will quickly render their Big XII affiliation unnecessary.  Meanwhile, Notre Dame isn't generating anywhere near the ratings they once did for NBC... which means the Irish could be looking for shelter in the form of conference affiliation at some point within the next decade.
• Notre Dame will join a conference, but it won't be the Big Ten.  I honestly think that Notre Dame is too proud and too stubborn to ever cave in to the Big Ten bully.  The Big East or the ACC will be the conference that benefits from that tumultuous history between ND and the B10.
• With Texas gone, the pin will be pulled from the Big XII grenade.  Oklahoma will have options, but I think they'll end up leading a few other B12 castoffs to the Pac-12 or the SEC.  Missouri will try, once again, to seek entry into the Big Ten.  Schools like Kansas and Iowa State could be left to scramble for the scraps.
• Maryland will have wanderlust.  The Terps might start looking for the bigger buck, and the Big Ten might be looking for a toehold in the DC/Baltimore media market.
• Ditto Rutgers.  If the Big Ten expands the rest of the way to 16, and I think it probably will, I'm almost certain that Rutgers (for the NY/NJ market) and Maryland (for Baltimore/DC) would be included in that expansion.  The other two schools?  My best guess is Missouri and UConn.  That would leave the Big East with only six schools, and the ACC with 11.
• Once the Big Ten expands to 16, I think the SEC will follow suit.  Their targets would be Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, and one of the ACC schools that could give them a further reach up north into markets not currently tapped, while still fitting the SEC profile.
• My guess for that one ACC school to join the SEC?  Virginia Tech.
• The ACC and Big East leftovers will then combine to form a basketball-based superconference.  BC, Virginia, UNC, Duke, Wake, NC State, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Miami, and Florida State would join forces with Syracuse, West Virginia, Pitt, Louisville, Notre Dame, and... wait for it... Kansas.  Hoops, anyone?
• The Pac-10 will get shafted in all of this realignment.  With no good options available, they'll decide to stand pat at 12 schools.
• The biggest losers in all of this?  Kansas State, Iowa State, Baylor, South Florida, and Cincinnati... and fans of the BCS.
• Fans of the BCS lose?  How?  With four superconferences -- the SEC, the Big Sixteen, the Pac-10, and the *NEW* ACC -- the BCS is punted in favor of a playoffs-style championship tournament for football.
• The NCAA will collapse.  Once the superconferences learn that they can work together to govern themselves, they will no longer need a third party to set rules and enforce regulations.  And just like that, the world of college athletics will be changed forever.  It didn't happen in 2010, but I bet it all happens before 2020.  Or maybe 2030.

88) Back to #30 and #31.  For this WHITEOUT, it's already been revealed that the team will be wearing blue jerseys and white pants.  That's cool... but why isn't the team wearing all white???  (Before you say "the home team wears the colored jersey and the away team wears the white jersey," know that you're wrong.  The home team gets to choose, under new rules that started a year or two ago.)
89) I have a hunch that we haven't seen all of the new uniform options.  I think we're holding something up our sleeves... perhaps for this season's last home game, against Maryland.  I thought we might debut white helmets for the whiteout, but it seems like that isn't going to happen.  At least not this week.  I hope it's a white helmet, I think those would look awesome over either the orange, blue, or white jersey.

90) While we're on the subject of uniforms, how do you like our new uniforms?  I've heard some people say that they're too plain / too boring.  I happen to love them.  Especially the orange jersey with the blue pants, as seen here:

91) I hope we bring back the throwbacks we wore against Richmond in 2008.  These were awesome.

See what I mean about the white helmet?

92-99) Sorry for geeking out on the uniforms.  Since I'm on #92 and starting to try to wind this thing down, I want to get back into the meaty opinion stuff.  Here's a big one for me, personally.  (And yes, I do try to live by this decree.)  EIGHT WAYS TO BE A BETTER VIRGINIA FAN:

• 1 -- Every season, make it a point to attend at least one home football game, one home basketball game, one home baseball game, one home lacrosse game, and one other non-revenue sport's home game/match/meet.  Part of what makes Virginia sports so great is the celebration of those non-rev, so-called "Olympic" sports.  We have world-class soccer, tennis, swimming & diving programs, and we're rapidly approaching elite levels in many other sports.  Grab your family and go soak in a game.
• 2 -- Tailgate!  If you attend a Virginia home football game, that's great.  But you need to spend some time (preferably 3.5+ hours) in a parking lot eating food and imbibing libations.  It's the UVA way.  And someday, I hope that we can develop a reputation as a "tailgating school."  It's a little dream of mine.
• 3 -- Be loud, and stand up, put your arms around each other's shoulders, and sway while singing/shouting the Good Ol' Song.  I know, I know, it's kind of wimpy and a little bit embarrassing, but it's our thing.  Embrace it.  (Also, I will accept "DAMN GAY!" but never "NOT GAY!")
• 4 -- Make it a point to make the following fans uncomfortable in our stadium or arena: Maryland, North Carolina, Duke (for basketball), and especially Virginia Tech fans.  These Hokie a-holes think they own Scott Stadium.  We need to make sure they understand that they in fact do not.  Now, don't stoop to starting fights or spitting on sweatshirts.  Instead, just be loud as hell, stand up in front of them while they are sitting, and show them your true school pride and love for dear ol' UVA.
• 5 -- Make it a point to seek out a fan of the opposing team after the game to congratulate them or to wish them well for the rest of the season.  If we want to be known as classy fans, we have to be classy fans.
• 6 -- Be knowledgeable about the game!  Nothing annoys me more than when our own fans don't know what in the hell they are talking about.  It's an embarrassment to our entire fanbase, actually.  Read about the game in the newspaper, and ask questions about stuff you don't know or don't understand.  Being knowledgeable is almost equally important to being passionate and being classy.  You have to have all three if you want to be a "good fan."
• 7 -- For the love of god, be loud while we're playing defense and be quiet when we're on offense, in the huddle and just prior to the snap.  If you don't understand why, see #6, above.
• 8 -- Finally, the ultimate key to being a better fan is to make a personal investment.  Learn about the team, and follow the story of the season as it unfolds.  If you care about what happens on the field, your passion will bubble to the surface.  If you are going to the games as strictly a social endeavor, that's cool... but you're not being the best fan you can be.

100) Wow, I didn't think I'd make it.  This odyssey has taken me two days to complete.  I think it might be one of my best blog entries to date, right up there with the road map and the long listing of all of Al Groh's games as head coach.   I hope you enjoyed reading these 100 Things as much as I enjoyed writing them.  Speaking of, thanks for reading my blog.  Your readership, and your friendship really means a lot to me.  GO HOOS!