I love Matthew Berry. I'm a very loyal reader. If you're familiar, then you've certainly seen his weekly Love/Hate column. With Berry serving as the inspiration, and in the spirit of Yom Kippur, I will attempt to demonstrate repentance and make amends.
Here are my confessions as a less-than-perfect UVA sports fan:
-- I'm fully expecting a 40-point beatdown at the hands of Georgia Tech next weekend. I'm having trouble "getting up" for that game, and am even considering ducking out of the gameday process altogether and just being lazy and watching the game on TV. Can I muster the energy to set up the tent, cook the food, clean up, pack the car, walk to the game, sit through the prison-rape while blowing out my voice yelling for a hopeless team to achieve an impossible result, trudge back to the car, fight traffic for 45 minutes to drive two miles, lug all of the gear back into the house, and collapse, day wasted? I've got another week to get my mind right, but it's not looking good.
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| I effing hate this guy. Can't stand seeing us lose to him. |
-- Our harrowing 21-20 overtime win against Idaho coupled with the Hokies' stunning Lane Stadium shellacking at the hands of Clemson made me realize that sometimes, I enjoy Virginia Tech losing MORE than I enjoy Virginia winning.
-- I generally dislike about half of my fellow UVA fans. The ones that wear ties to football games. The old men who sit there silently, looking like elitist pricks who feel entitled to a good football program. The students who boo our true freshman punt returner. The students who can't be bothered to roll their sorry sad sack asses out of bed to walk half a block to go to the game. The pie-in-the-sky message board optimists who defended Al Groh for way too long, and the ne'er-do-well message board warriors who want to indict Mike London too quickly. The women who don't know dick about football, only want to wear sundresses and look cute by pretending to be football fans. The people who give any sort of a shit about the marching band's halftime performance. Et cetera.
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| Really, who gives a shit? I miss the Pep Band, and I hated the Pep Band. |
-- I secretly don't blame fans for not showing up for football games. I secretly wish I hadn't bothered to attend several of them myself. 5-7, 3-9, 4-8 over the last three years, and 3-2 heading toward 4-8 or maybe 5-7 this year... the product on the field isn't especially compelling. Going to games is an investment of time and money, and it's just not worth it if you're not getting anything back. Slowly building a program for eventual sustained success is great, but it's not especially entertaining for the fans to watch those hard lessons being learned at the beginning of that long, hard, ugly process. Call me when we're ready to win some games.
-- I've been having more fun following conference expansion/realignment than I've had following the Virginia football team so far this season.
-- In David Watford, I see more Tim Sherman or Jameel Sewell than Aaron Brooks or Marques Hagans. That is not a compliment. You can't mention his athleticism and running ability as positives in his play when he never runs with the ball. I hope I'm wrong about this one, but I have a strong gut feeling about it after seeing him play during these first five games. He's not too quick to run. Quite the opposite, in fact. I wish he were too quick to run!
-- I've got a sinking feeling that Mike London might not know what in the hell he's doing.
-- People look to me - ME! - to keep the faith... and I'm growing increasingly tired of bearing that burden.
-- I don't love every single player who has ever suited up for the Hoos. Jameel Sewell is a prime example. I'll never get over the starting QB being so stupid as to flunk out of school. He never should have been invited back, especially considering the fact that he played like total garbage after he returned. And I don't think I'll ever like Jontel Evans. If he played safety or running back, yes. But not at point guard. There are more, but I'll put a lid on it for now.
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| You suck. |
-- I don't find the Tony Bennett systems to be particularly fun to watch. I like full-court pressing and offenses that get out and run on the fast break (see: 1994 Arkansas and the 40 Minutes of Hell). I don't like seeing our team walk it up the court and run the shot clock down before a shot goes up. I don't like the packline defense, predicated entirely on forcing a low shooting percentage and not on generating turnovers. However, I do like WINNING. Winning trumps style points, as I might have mentioned somewhere before. If Bennett can deliver wins with his systems, then great. Fantastic. I'm fully on board.
-- The above being said, I'm not going to have much more patience for losing. In fact, this season it is NCAA TOURNAMENT OR BUST as a UVA basketball fan and as a Tony Bennett fan. Time to deliver some results, coach.
| It's time to be back in the bracket. |
-- I don't know very much about baseball, but through following the Virginia baseball team over the course of Brian O'Connor's tenure, I've learned a whole heck of a lot. I feel at least a little bit knowledgeable about college baseball now. But I still can't quite get into Major League Baseball. The season is too long, and the overlap with football is idiotic.
-- I wouldn't give two figs about college baseball if Virginia had never hired O'Connor and had never become nationally relevant. Pudding proof that winning is literally everything.
-- I love the sport of lacrosse. It features a lot of things I like in sports -- strategy, hitting, scoring. And Virginia is really stinking good at it. But I absolutely hate the kind of young men who play lacrosse. I have a hard time defending them to people who confront me with an anti-lacrosse message.
-- This makes me a heartless bastard, but I breathed a big sigh of relief when Virginia Lacrosse won the 2011 national championship... in the wake of the George Huguely murder investigation. I was afraid that murder was going to destroy the lacrosse program.
-- (Here's a big one, and really difficult to admit.) I'm jealous of the Virginia Tech football program. Honestly, I'm jealous of almost everything about it. The blue collar rep. The special teams dominance. The strong, opportunistic defense. The scrambling quarterbacks. The ACC championships. The state pride. The rabid fans. The packed stadium. The national respect. You'll never hear me repeat any of this, so take note now.
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| Y'all can keep Pud, though. |
-- This column really shook me up as a UVA fan. Since I've read it, I'm feeling myself approaching a crossroads as a UVA fan. We should be winning in both major sports. There are honestly no good reasons why we aren't winning. I always used to think I'd have endless patience with building and rebuilding these two programs. I always used to think I'd wait forever, if forever is how long it took. But I'm dawning upon a realization: It's just not that important. If it's not making me happy (and losing makes me anything but happy), then I'll cut it out of my life. I'll always be a UVA fan. But I'll back off on my investment if the return isn't there. Simple economics.
-- I'll always be a UVA fan, for better or worse, until the day I die. It has become part of my self-image, it has woven itself into the very fabric of my identity.
-- I would honestly, literally give my left testicle for a win over Virginia Tech this year. My balls are retired now, anyway. No need for them anymore, my three-year old son has already stomped them into oblivion anyway.
Good God that was therapeutic. I love Yom Kippur, and praise Jesus I married into a half-Jewish family. It kind of took a dark turn, and that was not my intention. But it made me feel better, it made me feel honest, and I think it'll be a pretty good read. I hope it doesn't depress you.
GO HOOS!
This is fantastic.
ReplyDeleteFrom an old Wahoo: Kendall - Coach London recruits well - I was in the stands as Welsh built the program in 80's - well coached - took a few chances - lost to talent at times but not to mistakes- It seems to me that when Coach London has had ENOUGH, stops the mistakes, decides THAT Va. WILL NOT BEAT Va.; the other team will have to do that - Virginia will at that point become very good - it is up to London /// also: the Pep band made UVA different on Sat. afternoons- As for jealousy ? - Chokies inhabit Blacksburg - legends in their own minds and they NEVER win the big one- When London succeeds they will not win that big one either. Last week their fans bailed out early.
ReplyDeleteWahooze is great. Keep up the good blog.
Thanks guys. I started out with the intention of making this funny, but it ended up being very negative. Kind of a bilge-dump if you know what I mean. Anyway, thanks for reading -- I really appreciate it!
ReplyDeleteGreat read, Kendall. If there's one thing that Cubs blogs like Hire Jim Essian have taught me, it's that if you're a fan of a team, it's not out of the ordinary to shit on them when they do stuff that deserves being shat on. It's totally unfair of anyone to put "keeping the faith" on your shoulders, and if I were you, I DEFINITELY wouldn't ever hesitate to lay into U.Va. sports whenever they have it coming. You guys have a really good, fun blog over here, and I doubt any of your readers would hold it against you if you go off every now and then.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post, Kendall.
ReplyDeleteBest WAHOOZE post ever. And that is saying a lot.
ReplyDeleteI agree with about 85% of this. But most of all: I hate hate hate hate our stupid marching band.
ReplyDeleteWell done, K.
Kendall, love the open, honest, straight-from-the-heart post. You're passion for all things UVA sports has few rivals, and I have much respet for all you know and share. I want to say "don't ever let that be a burden" but I know you take all this very seriously. Still, I encourage you not to let others burden you with their expectations.
ReplyDeleteWe're Wahoos for life, and I'm so grateful for that, win or lose. I know you are too.
Thanks for sharing, man!
Rookie
Thanks a ton for the comments, guys.
ReplyDeleteAndrew -- I hear you man. But there's a big difference between pro athletes and amateur (read: semi-pro) college athletes.
Nathan -- I might disagree. Might. I think it's time for a look back at the history of Wahooze... coming soon.
Pierce -- I'm interested to know what's the 15% we disagree on.
Rookie and Paul -- Thank you, my friends.
Hmmm well since you asked!
ReplyDelete-I think the atrocity that is our athletic administration and their idiotic ticket/seating restructuring is a better excuse than losing for not going to games. Yeah it's no fun watching us lose, but if the team was this bad but the school actually acted like it wants the fans to be there, I'd have an issue with people not coming to the games. As it stands, though, I have little issue with folks sitting it out.
-I liked Jameel, though you're 100% that he shouldn't have been allowed back on the team (or at least, shouldn't have had a major role on that team). I was more majorly disappointed in a player I enjoyed. Eh, I guess I see where you're coming from, he's not that good. But I gotta defend Bub Evans. He may not be that good - but dude plays his heart out, and I love guys who get after anyone on defense. I feel like Bub would defend the post against both Plumlees if we asked him.
-I think I've definitely turned the corner on TB's system. I remember last year venting to you about the defense - but I guess I don't share the "unentertained" aspect of it - I was just furious at all the wide open shots given up. But yeah, deliberate on O and tenacious on D is more entertaining to me than a lose game. (Though Im sure if we had an awesome running team, Id favor that haha).
-I'm envious of VT's wins, but that's it. They can keep their POS stadium, their fairweather fanbase, enter sandman, redneck DC, buttugly colors, their 2nd-tier school, felonious players, lunchbox, and their cow-with-a-window-in-it.
Thanks for responding Pierce! A response to your response (we could really make a whole separate blog post for this back-n-forth.)
ReplyDelete1) The re-seating didn't affect me at all. Quite the opposite, actually. I got better seats in the faculty/staff section, and eventually for $100 a pop. So I'm not beefing about that, other than agreeing it was poorly conceived and horrendously timed. No, I'm blaming the losing for not wanting to go to games. And I bet a huge majority of the people burned by re-seating would squash that beef if we had a top-25 team right now.
2) Jameel Sewell made bad decisions with the football, he wasn't anything more than a decent runner, he was woefully inaccurate with his passes, he would also get "hurt" and miss crunch time of the game (see also: Gator Bowl), and I just think he was a chump. Jontel... he plays hard, I'll give you that. But he's a football player masquerading as a point guard. If his off-ball defense were better, I'd give you "defensive specialist," but alas. Can't shoot, can't make free throws, melts down under pressure (Miami game in the ACC Tourney). I hope I'm wrong about him, and he still has two years to make a believer out of me.
3) My only point about TB's system is I'm ready to start winning now. I don't want to hear any more "still learning these complex systems" excuses. It's been two years now, time to win. If the systems are too complex to learn in two years, then they are too complex period. And they're not fun to watch, period. I don't care how much of a basketball purist you are, grinding down the shot clock is never fun to watch... unless you're winning the game and nailing the shot at the end of the clock.
4) Excellent points. And I agree with you. I just want to see us win games and be a relevant football program, and I'm jealous of Tech in that regard. I read somewhere recently that we are the Baylor to Virginia Tech's Texas. That stung.
Definitely the only way to fix the attendance problem is to win games. Le sigh.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree that the basketball team needs to win this year. We should. I'm pumped. Though it's Virginia...so we'll have to hope the results actually happen. I really think the dragging down the shot clock was more of a necessity, not a planned system for the future. The pieces are coming into place - I think this team will score plenty of points this year.
If VT is Texas in any way, shape, or form, then I'm the Queen of England. But yeah, we're all dying for relevancy, and until that happens, we're going to get dogged on and it sucks.
I agree on all three points. So tired of losing in the "big two." So, so, so, so tired.
ReplyDelete