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One player does not a baseball team make. And unless there has been some major work done in Bluefield, VA, Graham will do exactly what they've always done, for the past 18 years, anyway. Sad, but true. And I hope it changes soon.

The sitting president chooses the members of the Supreme Court. The very body that enacted Roe v. Wade, and the very body that can overturn it, and came within 1 vote of overturning it in 1991. We realize very little just how very much power the Supreme Court has. Oligarchy in its purest form. 9 people whose basic job is to interpret the laws of Congress as they apply to the Constitution. I've heard it argued convincingly that a law passed by Congress has no teeth until the Supreme Court has its say. I bring this up in the light of abortion. People have came and left the Supreme Court, but that 5-4 majority still stands. All it would've taken for a majority unsympathetic to abortion to have come into power in the last 8 years would have been for octogenarian John Paul Stevens to retire/die. He's 89 years old. And I guarantee he'll retire within the year. As the other 4 justices in the bloc may retire in Obama's term, all of whom are into their 70s. This election was CRUCIAL to the Republicans not as much because of McCain, but because of packing the court. It would've taken a court order for me to have voted for Obama. Partly because the man had a less-than-spotless past and some downright grubby associates (Blagojevich as the most recent example). Also partly because of the Supreme Court. But as I said before, and we disagree on this point, I do base my vote greatly on abortion. 40 million dead fetuses in 36 years. Almost 7 times the number of Jews that Hitler ruthlessly slaughtered. I must say, I do not use any comparison to Hitler lightly. If there's one thing in this world I stand for and believe, it's this: abortion is the world's largest genocide. And it goes absolutely unnoticed by mainstream society. Sorry for rambling.

Geographically speaking, this isn't a bad choice. However, the terrain of the Divides is FAR too hilly to set a high school without massive land development. Pounding Mill, though, would be a great place for the other high school. I like Tazewell East and Tazewell West. Or, Clinch and Bluestone. Either would be swell. Building two new schools = $Ms of dollars Tazewell County doesn't have. Sadly. Especially when Tim Kaine's forcing Tazewell County schools to cut $4.5M from the budget as it is.

I feel you, brother. This is one of the worst possible ways I could've envisioned the Obama presidency starting. Abortion is the single-largest reason I vote Republican. Far beyond all others.

Correct, my fiancee confirmed this. With a "large kitchen knife". And entirely out-of-the-blue. No argument, nothing. This reminds me of the incident on the Canadian Greyhound. Eerily similar scenarios, except the guy and girl knew each other.

Hmmm, I wasn't that impressed with his speech, TBH. Not as much the message (which was good), but the delivery was rather emotionless (as was his demeanor throughout the entire inauguration) and drab on the whole. Perhaps with Obama's reputation for oratory, I hold him to a higher standard than I might another speaker.

I've been calling for the "three-into-two" consolidation ever since I was in high school. The most major concern would be the location of the two schools. A close second would be regarding busing kids from the remotest parts of the county to the two new high schools. Aside from all the petty bickering about what name changes to make to the two schools, etc.

My fiancee and her friends frequent the Au Bon Pain where this took place. It surely hits close to home.

I'll certainly get my fiancee to take a picture of it with her nice digital camera the next time we're back home together. I might be able to get my dad to do it here this weekend. It's a beautiful fish. Beautiful and BIG. This came 1 year after he caught TWO 5-pounders within a week of each other...at 11 years old. Without his dad's help. I tell you, I don't know if he's picked it up in scouts, but he's got some sort of gift.

Well, Democrats love to spend, spend, spend. ;)

You've got that right, brother. I couldn't tell you how sick it'd make me to look in the paper the day after we played a game and see that we had made 11 errors against Pulaski County. I distinctly remember a highly-preventable error that cost us an extra-inning night game in Tazewell my junior year. It's the difference between a poor team and a good one.

Sadly, VT has the upper-hand on in-state recruiting, even I admit this. I'm glad to see the virtual stranglehold on Tidewater talent slipping just a little, though. However, VT's claiming more second-tier players than purely elite talent. VT has recently failed at keeping the notable top-end talent in-state. As the state's premier football school, this is something you should do. Look at Percy Harvin, as a prime example. As far as this year, I believe you fail to mention Morgan Moses, the 5-star offensive linemen from Henrico. He's all but eliminated VT from his radar, and UVA's hanging on by a thread. Call me crazy, but I can see him going to WVU. Just a hunch. Recruiting updates aren't my forte. Just some observations. That's my SN, after all. ;)

My 13-year-old cousin caught a 10 pound, 1 ounce largemouth at Lake Witten two years ago. He surely did, and it's mounted in my grandfather's living room as proof. An absolutely huge fish. Virginia Game and Inland Fisheries classified the fish as a largemouth, but I've caught largemouths myself, and there's no way this fish is a largemouth. I've looked at it, studied it, and I just cannot see it. Were it to be classified as a smallmouth, it would own the state record by nearly a pound, I believe.

Sorry for being so long in response, law school keeps me busy ALL the time it seems. You can practice like Tazewell as it is; facilities aren't the end-all for a baseball program. You might have to take batting practice in the cold and the snow. You might have to install a Hit-Away outside on a basketball pole when it's 20 degrees outside. You might have to do some weight training/conditioning at the local YMCA. You might have to haggle a buddy until he gives you some fielding exercises. But it can be done. That's an absolute cop-out statement, and I'm being brutally honest when I say it. The difficulty is: installing the culture to where young men think in this fashion. Baseball players meet on their own time in Tazewell to train and practice. They don't at Graham. It's strictly a culture thing. Do coaches have anything to do with this? Certainly they do, and that's partially how Graham has floundered for going on 20 years. It is the coaches' jobs in organized practice to work the players, install proper fundamentals, and get the players both physically and mentally ready to perform on gameday. Does it sounds like a football mentality? Sure does, and it applies as equally to baseball/bowling/any other competitive sport. Of course, I didn't see it in high school. That's a coach's job as well: to instill in the young men this common vision. I wish I knew/believed in high school like I know/believe now.

I definitely agree that the Ole Miss loss was a Grade-A wake-up call. But I just believe that Oklahoma's a lot better than the media's giving them credit for.

Of course, Wikipedia isn't going to give the prevailing opinion in UVA's Environmental Sciences department, either. ;) I've heard words like "quack", "loon", and "thick-headed" thrown about. But he's far from a bust. He's quite successful. And having listened to him, his arguments are very compelling.

Saban pretty much said the exact same thing afterward. And it's spot on.

I had a nice little chuckle. And it goes to show that Tyrese Rice, as of now, should be this conference's POTY. He ALWAYS comes to play against the big dogs, and he's single-handedly leading BC to a very stellar season. Well, until doing this, of course. And it's a shame that we couldn't keep this L.C. Bird graduate in-state.

If Utah were in the ACC, they'd be playing Oklahoma now...

As much as I hate to crash this festival of hope and dreams, that's what I have to do here. One thing that I haven't seen mentioned yet is how much better the ACC will be next season. This conference was VERY young this season, and you have anywhere from 10-12 teams who, on their face, will be vastly improved next season. In the Coastal alone, you have Miami/UNC (who are recruiting out of their minds) and GT (who has a very solid football mind at the helm). On the other side, you have NC State (my pick for their division next year: solid talent + excellent coach), FSU (bringing in all those Florida recruits), WF (Grobe = fantastic coach), and Clemson (always recruits well). VT will be much improved, I guarantee. But, it's not like you're the only ones this season. And with that massive liability at OC, I could see an agonizing heartbreak next year. Think of it this way: you have a better team, but you have a worse postseason destination.

Silly, Maryland can't win a conference title!

Very classy gesture, and one of hopefully many that will go under the radar. You know, as much crap as I've given VT fans at times about their athlete-students, Taylor looks to be a horse of a different color. He's not the stereotypical "thug" QB from the 757. He's not a Heisman candidate, either, but he's a solid player. And I'm not reading all 7 pages of this, haha. Looks like a WVU-VT flame war. :(

Very nice post! UVA's the poster-child for having a young basketball team. Go on the road and beat a much more talented rival, and then look completely lost in the first half of the next game, and then fight back to respectability in the second half. Landesberg is tied for 1st in the ACC in points per game. As a freshman. It gives me hope for the future of this team, especially with Spurlock and Evans coming in next season to shore up the 3-4. This team could be SCARY come 2010-2011, if all the pieces fall into place. And I'm not talking about a Sweet 16... And... Big East: 16 teams ACC: 12 teams Hmmm...which conference is more likely to have the most tournament teams? Doesn't mean that one's better, though. UVA beat South Florida...

As does mine. It's a shame for any parent to lose their son in the spring of his life.

I've listened to a lecture series by Pat Michaels, a UVA science professor that viciously attacks the (plausible) inexactitude of global warming. Having spoken to my science friends regarding Michaels' perception, I found out what I had assumed on my own: that he has a stigma about him that he's on the fringe. The Wikipedia article states it better than I could: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Michaels