As the leaves in Charlottesville signal the start of autumn, many students take walks outside to appreciate the beauty of their surroundings.
The Virginia players exited the field in misery after Saturday’s 27-20 Homecomings loss to archrival Maryland that all but sent their bowl chances, like their new indoor practice facility, up in smoke. For all the moralizing rhetoric out there about the indomitable power of teamwork and persistence and a “can do” attitude, they aren’t enough to outweigh the torturous disappointment of coming up short.
What do we know after six weeks — the rough midpoint of the college football season? We know USC is not the unstoppable juggernaut the media presented to us at the start of the 2012 campaign.
Keeping with the theme of quarterback controversy that has filled recent Cavalier Daily sports pages, I couldn’t help but be intrigued by the QB plight of this year’s NFL drama queen, the New York Jets. Hard Knocks or not, Rex Ryan and his team of colorful personalities always seem to find their way into the news somehow.
NCAA Division I athletics are inarguably the highest level of college sports. An overwhelming majority of the best 18-22 year-old athletes in the United States compete in Division 1, creating the ultimate destination for aspiring young athletes to test their mettle against the best talent the nation has to offer. But when a high school prospect is only good enough for Division 2 or Division 3 and picks a D-1 school instead for its academics or other factors, the dream of being an elite athlete goes on life support.
Entering Sunday with a 10-6 lead at Medinah Country Club, the United States was preparing to bring the Ryder Cup back to U.S.
First of all, let me be clear. I never wanted this to happen. I was the one defending Virginia quarterback Michael Rocco through all the chants and signs proclaiming “We Want Sims!” I consistently asserted that Rocco should remain the starter ahead of backup Phillip Sims even after consecutive games in which Rocco threw two interceptions and failed to reach 150 yards through the air. “He’s getting no help from the defense,” I said.
In the aftermath of Virginia’s zany 44-38 loss against Louisiana Tech, coach Mike London was the spitting image of a man trying as hard as humanly possible to avoid the use of a four-letter word.
In the aftermath of Virginia’s zany 44-38 defeat to Louisiana Tech, Coach Mike London was the spitting image of a man trying as hard as humanly possible to avoid the use of a four-letter word.
As the 2012 MLB regular season draws to a close and the hunt for October intensifies, both new and familiar faces are taking over the national spotlight.
Week four of the college football season was an important one, as many teams began conference play. Gone for the most part were the tune-up games against depleted FCS squads.
Like all good television, the NFL has its fair share of action and drama. But after the past two weeks, pencil this season in to sweep the Daytime Emmy Awards for the most dramatic soap opera on television. Yes, we’ve been treated to phenomenal performances in the first two weeks.
Denial is the first stage of grief. Like many Virginia football fans, I have spent the last few days denying there was a college football game in Atlanta Saturday afternoon.
“Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat.” I am not a Latin scholar, and I doubt most of you are either, but we all know that phrase.
Even if your only connection to sports journalism is through Twitter, chances are that you are well aware of that rule.
Nobody got his money’s worth from this highly hyped Penn State showdown. What we got instead is far more valuable: a genuine human drama that reinforced everything we truly love about college football.
Though the vast majority of the 50,081 fans who flocked to Scott Stadium donned orange for Virginia’s first home football game of the season, the color gray most defined the Cavaliers’ 43-19 win against Richmond Saturday.
The Wes Anderson-directed Moonrise Kingdom was my favorite film of the summer. As is characteristic of Anderson’s films, Moonrise Kingdom offered both a charming, quirky brand of humor and a thought-provoking central theme, all the while unapologetically embracing its weirdness. Once upon a time, college football was the Moonrise Kingdom of big-time American sports.
As sports fans we form a bond, sometimes practically spiritual in nature, with a team or player. We build memories of that connection, that team’s achievements or that player’s incredible moments. Then the very next year many of those same players have departed. New faces replace the old, rendering the team fundamentally different from the team we remember.
Dez Bryant’s 2012-13 rules for success: 1. Focus 100 percent on football. 2. No more “allegedly” assaulting mom. 3a. Stop doing stupid things. 3b. Grow up and stop being a distraction.
