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Yeah I'm with you here. South Carolina I've already chalked up as a loss, but if we come home the next week to a night crowd at Lane and lose again to Vandy, I just don't think this staff will ever be P4 competitive.
Vandy is going to do it for me for Pry. If we lose to a 5-6 win Vandy team in Lane- just because they are a fucking P4 team- and by golly we don't beat those OOC- I'm going to blow my fucking lid. Vandy is not good yall- they aren't. So cut the bullshit. If we lose to them, we lost to an at best mediocre team at home. Same ole fucking same ole. Shane has a good squad- with good/great talent at spots because- I dunno- he knows how to recruit. So I know we aren't winning that game. But we lose to Vandy in Lane- I'm done with Pry. Done.
Nearest In and Out to me is 1,328 miles away in Dallas, TX. 19 hours and 53 min drive time.
You have to be family friendly to survive as a brewery. That's what it's all about now - family friendly environment and activities, good relaxing atmosphere, good food/food trucks, music. The craft beer bubble has burst as far as market share and craze over new styles (only so many ways to make an IPA), so having a great atmosphere where people can take the family and relax is where it's at. Which isn't to dissimilar from what has been going on in England with pubs forever.
I would agree with you on good food options here. Ours tend to have co-op agreements with local restaraunts so you kill two birds with one stone. Only issue I have with them is in Loudoun they tend to be close to max capacity ...good for the business but a bit more chaotic for customers. LoCo has like 40 breweries, almost as many vineyards/wineries and a handful of distilleries. Only one that bummed me out was Capital Hive Meadery closed up shop. They had an awesome slushy option for their mead and ciders.
SAME. Our neighborhood brewery has unofficial kids night every friday where all the parents come drink while our feral children run wild. It's great. And from like 4:30 til 7 or so it's almost all parents, so no one feels bad
It is not a lottery system, but people say it's 'like winning the lottery' because they are so selective. Source: wife works at chickfila corporate.
It's about $10k to start a franchise. But you have to go through a rigorous interview process that will take 1-3 years. In addition to having the money, and the qualifications, you need a number of references - coworkers, subordinates, employers, and most importantly, community members. Chickfila operators (they are called operators, not franchise owners) are expected to be active in the community - the whole reason that Sundays are closed are not (directly) because of church, but that's the day when operators are expected to be active in the community - doing little league teams, driving philanthropy, etc.
I rarely drink also I've read like a dozen articles about how wild kids are ruining breweries.
Yep. very easy to imagine getting embarrassed in those first 2 games and then the national narrative just not shifting no matter if we win the next 10
PORKCHOP SANDWICHES!
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1 year 2 days
# | OT:Whatever Happened to the Family Restaurants We Grew Up With? Honestly, larger breweries have become my go to for food that is filing, pretty good, and reasonably priced in a setting that I don't need to worry about my kid being loud. They're usually loud already and often have games like cornhole, jenga, cards, etc. kids can enjoy and at least at the ones by me, also a dozen other families there at any given time. Food is sort of typical pizza, sandwiches, nachos but is often solid and gets the job done.
I expect 4 or 5 wins. I think Pry is probably fried(not a typo) if he doesn't win at least 6. If we go less than .500 in 2025 the entire athletic department needs to be turned on its head(As much as I think it needs to happen, I don't think it will). I just don't think the leadership at our institution cares enough about football to make that happen. (And I'm not just saying Sands - I'm sure he cares - but he has to get buy-in from the BoV and that's probably not easy to do)
Our schedule is pretty brutal this year. We come out of the gate with two SEC teams (SCAR, Vandy). Pry isn't known for fast starts and with a completely new coaching staff it's hard to expect them to have a team ready to face a pretty decent program that Shane is running in South Carolina. I very seriously doubt we can win that one. Vanderbilt beat us last year and until Pry proves otherwise, I just don't believe he's cut out to win non-con games against Power conferences. I don't believe he has yet. Maybe once?
After that we get some easier games with ODU and Wofford, but we struggle with ODU so who knows. I think starting 2-2 is probably the realistic best-case scenario (obviously, in O&M pipe-dream-land starting 4-0 would be best case).
From there we don't really have any easy games until Virginia in November, except maybe Wake Forest. GT is climbing and they've been recruiting unfairly well relative to us.
There are a couple of toss-ups. NC State has been a thorn in our side and we just can't seem to beat them with Pry as HC (our last win against NC State was under Fuente). Cal had the same record as us last year but they had a tough schedule and acquitted themselves quite well, tbh. They were better than expected, anyway.
Louisville, Miami and FSU all have way more talent than us and unless our coaching is head and shoulders better than it has been (with little reason to believe that it will be) I don't see us winning all of those. I know we can all laugh at the FSU debacle but I think they just gave up after losing to a pretty good GT team in week one last year.
VT vs SCAR Definite loss
Vandy @ VT Probable loss
ODU @ VT Probable win
Wofford @ VT Probable win
VT @ NC State Toss-up
Wake @ VT Probable win
VT @ GT Probable loss
Cal @ VT Toss-up
L'Ville @ VT Probable loss
VT @ FSU Probable loss
Miami @ VT Probable loss
VT @ LOLUVA Definite win
I just see way more potential for losses than wins for this team with this schedule. Pry has a tough row to hoe, no doubt. I genuinely hope he goes out there and wins 8 or 10 games. But, realistically, I think it's unfair to expect much more than 4 or 5 wins. I think this is the end of the road for him. He messed up by bringing in two very inexperienced coordinators at the very beginning and he acted too slowly to replace Marve when it was clear he was in over his head. Those types of mistakes compound and I think 2025 is going to bear the very ugly fruits of those early missteps.
I have heard the same thing. I think it's a lottery system and the one(s) who are selected pretty much hit a gold mine since they do all the buildout and staffing but I think the catch is you have to move to where they open the new franchise. Yea the hours are brutal but one can probably stomach the 10-12 hour days with the money the generate.
Damn the founder for making sure they never go public lol.
Wife works at chickfila corporate, and their data shows that that an overwhelming percent of orders fall into two categories: drive through/takeout or a sitdown order that includes 4+ meals on it (which they define as 'family'), so they're going to lean into that heavily.
Not when you factor in the gas it would take me to get to the nearest one
The Golden Corral in Roanoke still does a big business. Felt on the chicken sandwich part, it seems like Popeyes is planning to occupy every street corner down here in Rumandcoke. Still a step up from Hardees though...
My guess is the kid that was recruited and developed by Wake will be our best WR.
If Pry goes 6-6 this year that is a huge disappointment., IMO. Spinning wheels at the very best. And in this day and age, the bowl game is basically the scout team vs. the opponents scout team. I don't know why that particular game is important as a sign of progress? Because we can't win "bowls"? That is an indictment in and of itself. If you are 6-6, you are playing in the birmingham, military, etc bowls with your scout team - its a total crap shoot. We as fans made that mistake when we beat Tulane in the bowl. We ignored that they didn't have any of their good players playing and their coach left.
Based on my last round out, I think my driver snuck a half dozen shots. That thing could not keep it straight during its sobriety test. Worst part is, it's still got five years until it's even old enough to drink
It seems like you miss "fast casual" type dining circa 20 years ago. Which is fine, I certainly enjoy those kind of places from time to time too. But everyone else in here has mostly hit the high points of why they've fallen off, I probably agree with HT the most (and though I'm a millennial who is tired of the slander, I also agree with VTJ, haha. The gourmet burger thing has spiraled completely out of control.) If a sufficient mom n pop type place is a no go, maybe check and see if there's an O'Charleys or an Olive Garden or a Ruby Tuesday in a reasonable radius? Texas Roadhouse/Red Robin as others have mentioned are also good options. I'm also assuming you don't want to subject your kids to a Waffle House/Denny's type experience.
Just here in Roanoke, the TGIFridays at Valley View closed within the last year (no great loss). We did finally get a Chilis in the area and it's pretty good although yes, terrible price point. Private equity killed Red Lobster, though the one in Cburg is still open as far as I know which is a testament to folks up in the NRV treating it like fine dining all these years. Covid did a number on Shoneys, which I was never all that crazy about to begin with.
I LOVED Friendlys as a kid living outside Philly, I still miss their food as an adult honestly. Haven't been there in ages. I'd probably still enjoy it just for nostalgia alone.
So if you take over a team that is 2-10 and go 6-6 vs. if you take a team that is 11-2 and you go 6-6 that is the same meh result?
I understand what I put above is an exaggerated over-statement of where Pry is, but I definitely think after 2023-2024 season of 3-8, going 6-6 + winning the bowl game was clearly moving up and fairly impressive. Last year going 6-6 and losing the bowl game was definitely not. My point is that with all the changes and the new system and losing much of what top-end talent we actually had, 6-6 (especially if it is followed by a bowl win) is doing a pretty good job by the coaching staff - assuming we are not losing some of those games on bad coaching. Yes, he has to elevate the wins further in 2026-2027. But what where you are coming from does impact how a record looks. We all agree he is running out of time to step it up.
Purchase a franchise... it's cheaper than you think - the catch is that the franchise owner has to work 60 hours a week for a year or so. Look into it- pretty sound investment from what I'm told.
Kinda OT for this OP, but I hope my kids work at Chick-Fil-A... Seems like everyone who works there are well mannered (or learns to be), pays well, learns how to give great customer service, plus selfishly I want free Chick-Fil-A lmao.
Knowing that they always have Sundays off (at minimum) is great too so you always have family time with them.
I agree, I don't get steak out anymore. Like the guys above stated, unless it's an other than usual cut, I can do better at home. Can't get picanha here. Hopefully that will change.
We only go out to eat if ferrying the girls is too complicated to cook at home. Our experience with mid range restaurants mirror the one we had Sat night with the beer order wrong, the bill incorrect, the food order incorrect and none of the staff or management paying any attention at all to the things going on around them.
Yeah Glory Days is a bit outside the "convenient" radius for us now. Used to have one about a mile away. Now closest is in Reston but kind of a pain to get to. I would have put Silver Diner on the list but they recently overhauled their menu with like a Mediterranean theme which really limited the menu for me.
Wing Factory almost lost me when they went to those metal chairs. Apparently enough people complained though so those are gone. Love their Sweet Firecracker sauce.