Virginia held its annual spring football game festival on Saturday.
"The fans will have a chance to see us work on Saturday," UVA head coach Bronco Mendenhall announced last Tuesday. "There will be football mixed in and there will be some live game situations mixed in."
An aside: "There will be football mixed in", is the most accurate summary of Virginia's football program I have ever read.
Back on-topic, some Hoos attended the festival which concluded with UVA's final practice of the spring.
At @UVa_Football final Spring Practice.Fast paced, no down time,high intensity.
Also no jersey #'s tough 2 keep tabs pic.twitter.com/axykiPfMuy— Wes McElroy (@WesFoxSports910) April 23, 2016
Great weather today and some great catches at the #UVa Football Spring Festival. See it on NBC29 news at 11. pic.twitter.com/IfOvKrlxm5
— Marty Hudtloff (@mhudtloff) April 23, 2016
The #UVa football practice at Scott Stadium is underway as part of Virginia's Spring Football Festival. pic.twitter.com/LKdgGZ2zq5
— NBC29 (@NBC29) April 23, 2016
The Richmond Times-Dispatch estimated a crowd of 5,000 people at Scott Stadium. The Hoo's spring game had similar turnouts in 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012.
Meanwhile in Blacksburg, Virginia Tech announced a crowd of 44,700 for its Maroon–Orange game.
Comments
I don't think there are...
Do you think the "game" format/experience (at VT) and the surrounding activities were enough to keep those 44,700+ coming back in future years? Or was there enough "meh" with the on-field scripting to turn people away?
about the festival: VT's open practice - on a Tuesday, only open to students - nearly had as many fans in attendance.
I think this year is the high water mark for VT Spring games. I know I saw license plates from: VA, MD, NC, SC, GA, FL, OH, PA, NJ, NY, WV, TN in the parking lots. That's a lot of travel for a short game. Would like to see some better parking for next year though, a lot of blocked spots taken up by tailgating.
I liked the format at VT's spring game this year. I was never a big fan of the 'normal' format where the offense and defense are split up into two teams. You lose a lot of cohesion when you split up the O-line, or when you don't give the 2nd string WR's the opportunity to catch a pass from the starting QB (pretending we had one of those selected already, of course). The only thing that I found off-putting was the way they handled punts. I'd have liked to see our punt returners actually, you know, return a punt. I understand why they didn't want to do it. No need to risk injury in a practice, but as a fan, I'd have liked to see if Stroman has figured out how to run north-south yet, or how the punter handles pressure from the block unit.
As a side note, if they continue this offense-vs-defense format in the future, it'd be fun to see the defense try their hand at offense for a drive or two. I realize that this has approximately zero value to the coaching staff and players, and thus will likely never happen, but it'd be fun to watch for the fans.
Poor Bronco.
Man, that looks like one of their best turnouts ever.
Can't tell which school you're referring to, but you are correct!
Was Wes McEllroy the guy who argued with Colin Cowherd about UVA football in the legendary UVA football rant?
He was the guy who mentioned the pitchforks I believe haha. I'm from Richmond and he's just some local sports talk show host.
Edit: the birdman beat me to it
Nah, he was just mentioned on the show. He emailed cowherd to give out the herd phone number because so many enraged, Brie cheese eating, zima drinking creampuffs were calling McElroy's Charlottesville station to complain. I think I listen to that rant too often, just beautiful stuff. Usually don't like cowherd all that much, but he nailed that one. McElroy works out of Richmond now, I think for fox sports radio.
Daaawwwwww, that's so CUTE!! LOLUVA always manages to bring a smile to my face...as I laugh at their ineptitude and adorableness. "Creampuffs" - Cowherd
And we are to be surprised by the crowd sizes at threes to spring games? Really?? Come 'on, man!
What is that poster?
Is that some kids elementary school project?
Wow I got so caught up in all of UVA's ineptitude that I somehow scrolled right past that guy and didn't give him the judgment he deserved.
Now I'm just picturing him on his computer on Friday night with a glass of wine debating between different fonts/colors and eventually busting out the old Elmer's glue bottle and carefully finishing off that masterpiece
They had to use two sheets of paper to spell recruits. I bet that took them forever to figure out.
I laughed at sign so hard at that my wife had to look. She asks "Why would one of the fans do that." I fell out of my chair laughing at her expression when I said "pretty sure that's a coach".
That cell phone holster, though.
To be fair I probably wouldn't show up for a "festival" in which the players didn't wear helmets or have numbers on their jerseys either. What's the point? You can't tell who's who. At that point, it's literally a walk-through which isn't much of a spectator sport. Dumb look on the part of the staff.
A closer look shows that they had some special guest appearances as well....
Good lord they man-scaped the horses front legs and chest. Probably waxed the pubic area.
It's the only school where ther'd be a high probabilty that a horse would get a Brazil wax.
Calling HorseOnATreadmill. The Brazilian, yea or neigh? :D
Neigh! A good trim is essential, but you just need to trim the hedges, not scorch the earth
How do we insert the mandatory "at least it's more than at the LOLUVA spring game" here?
It says something about the culture you are building when when you get more people to come to a festival where "There will be football" than to a spring game?
"There were 5 more people at the festival than a LOLUVA spring game."
" My family is bigger than Time Cop's, and did not know what to expect" explained Bronco.
And they wonder why we are the football program of the Commonwealth...
When a Wahoo tries to tell me that football doesn't matter:
EDIT: Actually, this accurately represents every interaction I have with a Wahoo.
Football matters, but it is just sooo tough to budget your time, what with attending all the rowing and tennis championships and all....this according to my recent perusal of LeSabre.
Don't forget the wine tastings and zima parties!
But I thought wine tasting was part of the festival. That's why they called it "festival".
did someone say loluva and festival!?! of course there's Zima!
oh, and football was mixed in somewhere.
And how many attended the rowing championship? I'm guessing attendance would not change if you had to be family to get in.
NCAA Fencing Champs. At least 40 uva fans. Seriously, I watched one semi-final match, who won? osu....good lord.
In one of the FB ACC sports groups I'm a member of, the conversation is the same.
They must have students memorize that excuse as a condition of graduation.
When I google festival I see pictures with a lot more people.
If you need to be refreshed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RidU6ILUQNE&list=PL696BF6B6A073A71C
Why don't they just call it the (fuckin') Cavaliera Wine Mixer and be done with it?
Douchetoberfest?
Shhhh if they see this, a cloud of smug will arise from the forsaken land (aka Hooville). Too much enjoyment from thinking they're high and mighty and smelling their own farts (and thinking they smell good).
That would be quite insulting to the catalina wine mixer.
via GIPHY
To be fair, the hood had to compete with the Dogwood Festival for warm bodies.
Gentlemen staffers of TKP. I cannot laud your good work at mocking the joke that is UVA football enough. Goodness knows they arent gonna keep this rivalry alive by fielding a competitive team to keep things interesting, so your work is paramount in maintaining a well rounded interest in college football throughout the commonwealth. Between the commonwealth cup article and this one, Ive gotten the best ab workout Ive had in years thanks to your good work. Thank you again!
and then this happened:
LOLUVA
Do we know specifically which image/graphic they are talking about? What are they copying from us?
this one:
Playing devil's advocate, where did VT get the template? Fair question.
They have been using for at least three seasons.
So basically the jokes are just writing themselves at this point?
From the Roanoke news:
CHARLOTTESVILLE — The Virginia Cavaliers lined up six deep in the end zone and sprinted onto the field. The lead group stopped at the 30-yard line.
Everyone dropped to the ground. The players pushed into the plank position on their forearms.
They twisted, in unison, onto their right side.
The crowd of about 5,000 applauded.
The players twisted, in unison, to their left side.
More applause.
On and on it went, twisting, turning, squatting, stretching, duck-walking, always moving with a purpose back and forth from the end zone to the 20- or 30-yard line.
Then came a 20-yard sprint to the end zone.
More applause.
"That's the first time in my coaching career we've got applauded for warming up," Virginia football coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "I don't even know what that means."
Here's an idea coach. When fans come to the final spring practice and are impressed with the precision of warmups, their expectations are not exactly soaring.
Are you shitting me??
it could also mean that UVA fans don't know what actual football looks like and they were just applauding because they thought they had to. I guess synchronized swimming is probably big at UVA and if the players were moving in unison that would give the fans something familiar to see and cheer for.
Or that they were in fact not mistaken and that this IS the right place to watch loluva synchronized swim team practice.
LMFAO, fernleyhokie!!
here you go:
UVA Fan #1: "We are cheering, did they score a touchdown or was that a 3-pointer?"
UVA Fan #2: "Umm...Smoke Mizzell..."
UVA Fan #1: "Ahh, very good. I had almost forgotten"
UVA Fan #3 (on the phone): "Where are you guys? The rest of us are over at Jefferson Vineyards. You're missing some absolutely scrumptious Pinot!"
Side note: Jefferson Vineyards was actually looked up and is legit, SMH.
This is seriously one of the most hilarious things I have ever heard. Seriously? Fans applauding choreographed work outs? Are they trying to mix in interpretive dance and theater with football? And the best part is I honestly think the Hoos believe they are going to be really good this year. What an absolute joke.
So I've read this twice now and I'm still not entirely sure if this is real or if you just made it up. This is just too good to be true how can they make it this easy? It's almost as if UVA is standing under the basket feeding us alley oops and letting us dunk on them
you mean like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDZvXjonXnU
"That's the first time in my coaching career we've got applauded for warming up," Virginia football coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "I don't even know what that means."
I'm actually starting to feel sorry for this guy, Bronco. He has NO idea what he has signed on to.
I don't feel bad for anyone who volunteers to be any part of the UVA football (if you can call it that) program.
They get applauded for stretching and rolling around, and they play basketball at practice. So no, I don't think there is any justification for calling it football.
Maybe the fans applauded because it was the first time they have seen a UVA player in the end zone in a football uniform?
What it means, Bronco, is that your fans don't know what is considered an accomplishment on the football field. I remember hearing about an NFL game being played in...England, I think...where the fans didn't cheer for the touchdown but they did cheer for the extra point. See, Bronco, it's like this.
I made the trip with some friends from Richmond. A few things that stood out:
So a normal day in the life of the UVA football program?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xpn_bTo893w
PLEASE LISTEN FOR AN AMAZING LAUGH!!
I can't believe I'm about to say this.....
To be fair to LOLUVA (God help me for that), when you have a "spring festival," instead of an actual spring game - in ANY format - how do you expect to draw a crowd? Would we have drawn any kind of crowd at Lane if HCJF had just held a practice?
Don't get me wrong - they suck as fans of the game. They don't GO to games. When I bought my ticket for last year's battle (sic), it was enough to get me callbacks and postcards this spring. I guess that's because the novelty of having a paying customer brought their curiosity. But you have to have a product to sell, and watching a practice wouldn't get it done for me.
(Please don't crush me too badly......)
Welp, that didn't take long, did it? :)
Haha I received the same phone calls and invitations in the mail to buy tickets this year after buying tickets through their website. I almost feel sorry for the girl that was unlucky enough to have my number on her call list.
um, yeah.
I was hoping for an open practice to go and sit and watch.
We are going silly over short videos that go to new media.
More actual football than UVA's Spring Festival.
So to answer HokieUmp's origina question, we probably would have had a pretty good crowd even if it was just a practice. The above video was from a Tuesday night and was only open to students, and that was still a crowd of about 2500.
Fair enough. But I'm thinking the "new coach smell" probably didn't hurt, either, and getting a glimpse of the new mystery offense played a role, too.
I mean, we're still better fans than they are, and probably always will be.
LOLUVA also had that "new coach smell", and a new mystery "culture" to unveil, though I'm not sure broncos smell that nice. Probably rolled in something, like he had the players doing for the festival.
The crowd assembled for a group picture afterwards...