Recent Comments

"As American as baseball, hot dogs and apple pie" What more is there to say?

Unfortunately, the "standard" has now become that NIL/Portal is a wasteland with no rules.

Trying to put the horse back in the barn is going to be extremely difficult going forward. The B1G obviously figured something out with the Washington QB who entered the Portal for 2 days before reading his contract.

I have previously suggested adding something similar to a Restrictive Covenant or Non-compete clause into NIL Contracts. Another obvious change would be to make NIL contracts heavily incentive-laden--which isn't uncommon at all in Professional contracts.

The challenging aspect is that would require high-level cooperation on probably at least a Conference-level which is difficult to come by. If Virginia Tech were to decide to do something similar on their own (i.e. non-standard NIL payments) they would risk losing out to everyone else who is not. On the other end you have places like LSU, Ohio State, Texas--they have a lot less incentive to cooperate with "lesser" programs as the Current NIL system already favors them heavily.

For the Players, the advantage here is simple---No Play, Still Paid. Plus, it gives them more time to start fielding offers from their next potential stop on the NIL Train.

I mean, just this past season, we had Football players who quit the team mid-season whining (with Sleezebag Darren Heitner in-tow) that their Rev-Share got cut off. Astoundingly ridiculous.

In short, the NIL "system" has become everything it wasn't supposed to be. Players are getting paid in a significant part for the name on the front of their jersey but a large percentage don't have any allegiance beyond who can offer the biggest payout on a season-to-season basis. It's progressing to a point of increasing anti-competitiveness and its awful for the sports and their fans. But this is what happens when you just "have to pay these players" in a short-sighted manner without any structure. Bravo.

I agree with this take! Same pitch, same place, two different calls.

What really getaway me is that in the NIL era that players have a choice. Why arent they getting extra money for every post season game they play? What idiot is writing these contacts. We've seen some places rein in the contacts but for the money being thrown around there is a lot of bad business being done.

7-11 had $3.14 large 'zas today

I feel sorta conflicted (for lack of a better term) about this...

I'm a bit of a fair weather basketball fan these days - it's not because of portal or NIL - I have limited time/energy and between family, work, hobbies, and other sports I follow... there are just other things I'd rather spend my attention on. So would I tune into watch VT in the NIT? No. Would I tune in to watch the NCAA tournament? Absolutely. So, it does feel quite disingenuous for me to be complaining about a team skipping the NIT.

Simultaneously, I feel like this is a lame, scared, loser move. Basketball isn't football - the risk of a career ending injury isn't high enough (IMO) to justify not playing a post season exhibition (I'm more than willing to have my mind changed if proper data suggests otherwise, but I bet I'm right here).

I've played a sport at a competitive level, and I've had to play consolation matches before (competing for third at a tennis tournament when you lose in the semis). I know it sucks sometimes, but I do think it's the 'right' thing to do: selfishly, for your development, and unselfishly for the other folks playing.

You can't convince me that CMY is remotely pleased with this. It's not like CMY is searching for a new job and needs to be focused on interviewing. It's not like CMY needs to be recruiting the portal instead of playing an exhibition.

This is a players' choice. Maybe I'm ignorant, but I don't think they have anything to gain (even from a selfish perspective) by not playing.

So I've never had a Hokie mini helmet, but now I do. My mother passed away two weeks ago, and she was a hoarder. I loved her very much but she vehemently refused help to the point that my siblings and I were not allowed in the house for the last 5 years due to her embarrassment. Now we are emptying the house of all the layers of junk and I found this...probably 20 years old I'm guessing, buried under other stuff. Probably meant to be a Christmas or birthday present at some point, but forgotten in the clutter. Thanks for the gift mom, it managed to find its way to me in the long run.

I hate to derail the thread but people don't like olives?

1. No, you don't.
2. Yes, some people are wrong.

Coordinators coordinate the same.

Need to protect softball. Rumors are LSU are eyeing our staff. Its one of the sports we do well and if it gets imploded I will be one more big step away from tuning in at all.

The ump perplexed me. Same pitch by Duke, low and outside on our right handed batter, that is called a strike, then is called a ball the next pitch. Over and over. I stopped the recording to look again at several calls and he just couldn't be depended on to call it right. Both teams, but it seemed like Duke benefited more.

IF they come forth with announcement that there were undisclosed injuries, internal issues, or coaching changes, etc, then I'd understand a little better. Then, I'd say the way this was done was poor.
But, if there is nothing..... then this was IMO a HUGE unforced error on the part of VT athletics and MBB. I'm not sure this can be backfilled without some major changes in personnel.
For all the good Hokies on this board that go out and hustle daily despite headwinds, this does not reflect well on the VT that we represent.