Recent Comments

Extending ECU...

To me,

• Nationally Relevant = A measure of success in a given year. Being invited to a prestigious bowl makes you nationally relevant
• National Power = A measure of success over a given time period. If you are routinely expected to win/compete for your conference title, and win an NY6 bowl, you're a national power.
• National Brand = A measure of how recognizable your team is to a non-fan anywhere in the country. If you are constantly (and perhaps irrationally) expected to have success in any given year, you may be a National Brand.

Anybody who follows college football in the region is aware of both teams.

Case in point.

I think Clemson is a pretty fair comparison. Unlike us, they are (obviousl)y nationally relevant right now, perhaps on their way to being a national power, but not yet a national brand. Here's some examples of what I consider 'nationally relevant' vs 'national brand':

• I live in Georgia. I see stores that sell OSU shirts, Michigan hats, Notre Dame jackets, even though these schools are located in a different region. I haven't tested this theory, but I doubt there's (m)any random shops selling VT gear deep in B10/B12/P12 country (no, the DMV does not count as 'Big 10 country' just b/c UMD is there)
• I would wager that, in any given season, most big time VT football fans could guess USC's record with some accuracy. A big time USC fan will probably only know VT's record in a year where they have won the ACC, or if they are in an NY6 bowl.
• VT football (as we know it) is only 25 years old. For reference, OSU had 6 Heisman winners before we played in our first major bowl game (1996 Sugar Bowl).

I think we definitely have the potential to be national relevant again, and even a national power. Becoming a 'national brand' really requires far more history and alumni. We need a lot of NY6 Bowl wins, more famous players, more alumni, and more time before we become what I consider a 'National Brand'.

$860 million cash value (before taxes of course)
$519.44 after federal taxes (39.6%)

We must have cursed the Hoos; they lost to GT yesterday.

To 3rdGen: The imgur links are wrong, so the pictures won't show up. When using the "img src" tag, the provided URL needs to end in the file extension of the image, e.g. .jpg, .png. imgur provides the link (don't use the link to the page containing the image, use the link to the image - the one that says "for websites/blogs").

Ha, I was out on a training excercise in Las Vegas for a month on year. The cops that we talked to at the range (we were using LVSWAT's range) asked us if we were gambling any and we said some guys are a little. He said thanks it pays his salary. I said don't mention it, your taxes are paying me to be here.

....and I had Steve Addazio on my early VT HC lists......shameful mea culpa.

I honestly believe this has become a byproduct of Wiles refusal to rotate if he isn't 100% certain a player can play Wiles' style of football with technical proficiency. If you know you aren't going to get benched, why put your ass on the line every play? I think Wiles might be becoming the new Billy Hite of this program. One thing I hope happens is, if the front four start slouching, Fuente comes to Wiles and says, "So who are you starting instead this week?" If the coach won't put pressure on the players, the HC should put pressure on the position coach.

Least humble humblebrag ever.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/powerball-winners-jackpot-grows-estimated-13-bi...

ay night's record $949.8 million Powerball drawing, the next jackpot could reach an estimated $1.3 billion, lottery officials said early Sunday.

This is just crazy.

But Pittsburgh should have also drawn a flag there, because Joey Porter, their LB coach, was on the field in Pacmans face antagonizing him. I didn't think there was much contact between him and the ref, but the refs had to throw the flag to try and maintain order.

It seems like we are far behind the other Hokie fans as far as booking hotels, but booking every weekend just seems logical as far as guaranteeing a hotel instead of waiting.

There's almost always something available in Roanoke just due to the sheer number of hotels, so I wouldn't sweat it too much. We booked the NC State game (Thursday and Friday at the hotel) less than a month in advance last year. There were also some available for OSU (although it was slim pickings). Nothing this year is going to be more in-demand than that one.