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Not quite accurate about UVA here. But close... UVA has MANY in-state commitments for the 2009 class. Granted, we had very few commitments for 2008, but I agree with your other analysis. Coaching is nowhere near up to par, and the program does need new leadership.

Too much agreement here. :) I'm calling the upset: ECU-23 WVU-17

I found this in the Richmond Times-Dispatch this morning, and I think it's a painfully, deadly accurate article regarding Beamer's decision to burn Taylor's redshirt. Likely, many of you may not agree, but I figured it's worth posting. Link: http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/sports.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-09-04-0130.html

In the end, it's like the two fattest kids in class arguing over which can run the quickest. The other conferences are currently light-years ahead of either the ACC or Big East.

Cha-ching, WINNER!

If you only knew how well you've got it... Your northern comrades only have this problem, multiplied far more than you do. Take away the last sentence, substitute "Al Groh" for Beamer and "Mike Groh" for Stinespring, and this is an accurate description of Cavalier football, too. Welcome to the club.

Early reports are that it's a ligament tear in his toe. This, according to one of his relatives in Indiana. Again, I can't vouch for its veracity, but that's what I've heard.

That's pretty much dead on. ONE team in this "conference" won a game against a I-A team, and that was Wake Forest over Baylor. Pitiful performance by this conference. If the Coastal is that bad, I frankly think Miami will win it this year. No joke, friends. But the Pac-10, Big XII, and Big Ten are head-and-shoulders above the ACC in volleyball, too. Soccer, at least, the ACC may pride itself on.

I'll trade you Mike Groh for Bryan Stinespring. Face up. The sun came up this morning, didn't it? Only 1 ACC school won a game against a Division I-A school, right? They're not in the Coastal either, right? We all have a long way to go. Perhaps, both literally and metaphorically.

Take it easy, partner. One game does not a season make. Look at UVA last season, lost a gut-punching game at Wyoming, and came back to finish 9-4 with a January bowl game. I agree, VT looked awful yesterday, but when you have that much attrition in the offseason, unless you're a USC/Florida/Ohio State/LSU, this happens. Keep your head up, and look at it this way: only Miami and Duke looked anything resembling respectable this weekend, and those two were against I-AA schools. The Coastal's pretty wide open right now: see the Atlantic from 2005. And, for your remark about UVA, did you pay any attention at all to what happened upstate this offseason? We lost our starting QB, OG, LDE, and CB#1 due to their own hands. Add to that a promising LB, and you get the idea. Not only that, we had two of the best players that have ever come through the school graduate. We played USC. 3rd-ranked, national-title-contender USC. 11 wins for 6 straight seasons USC. Couple this with the most gutless, horrifying-to-the-senses offensive playcalling I've ever seen, in video games or in real life, and this is what you get. I hoped this wouldn't happen, but it did, and we have to suck it up and move on. To make another point, our 2008 recruiting class was POOR. One 4-star player. We're doing FAR better for 2009, which, obviously, isn't on the field yet. We have our sights set on Morgan Moses now; if we can get him, then I'll be content with what we've done in the offseason.

GREAT post. But I feel he won't be able to give hard numbers for how this is going to happen. Obama is all fluff and no substance, and that's incredibly dangerous, considering the precarious position this great nation's in now.

[ QUOTE ] So heres the deal: I have always liked VT football but I had never watched college basketball. My uncle is a huge UNC fan, so I started to watch UNC games. I think the year UNC did so poorly was the year I started to actually watch games. I enjoyed watching the games and my relatives started getting me UNC basketball shirts, so I became a fan. So I am not a fair weather fan. [/ QUOTE ] Then we strongly agree...to disagree.

[ QUOTE ] Because you pull for VT in football, and UNC in basketball right? [/ QUOTE ] Oooh... You all should know how I feel about this after last year.

[ QUOTE ] I think it's stupid if you ask me. [/ QUOTE ] Cha-ching, winner! This thing has "gimmick" written all over it. Not only that, I don't see how this could possibly work against a team that ran an effective dime or 3-5-3 set.

Glad to see the Salem boy and Virginia star getting a second wind with the 49ers. Sure has a lot of heart, too. Here's to hoping he sticks!

[ QUOTE ] Did anyone else hear Carson Palmer's rant on how he hates Ohio State? I am now a huge Carson Palmer fan. [/ QUOTE ] I like the way you think! I cannot stand the Buckeyes. Questionably dirty programs, terrible fans, you name it, they've got it. Their campus isn't even remotely attractive (outside their fitness centers).

[ QUOTE ] Yes, and the fact that Florida is absolutely loaded and will be next year and the year after that. [/ QUOTE ] Cha-ching, winner! Virginia Tech might be the class of ACC football, but Florida is the class of SEC football. There are no Dukes, Georgia Techs, North Carolinas, NC States, or Marylands to beat up on there. There's a reason why the 99-00 FSU squad was the last ACC school to win its BCS game...

[ QUOTE ] Hahaha. They're in Columbus OH today. Hahaha... [/ QUOTE ] Perhaps they're there because of the illustrious Columbus Blue Jackets. No other reason on Earth to be excited about that place .

[ QUOTE ] Have any of you eaten at Five Guys here in Blacksburg? It's a chain from the D.C./NoVA area, but they have the greatest burgers ever... imo... [/ QUOTE ] Seconded...

[ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] I would think Salem Va would be considered for titletown.. im sure someone can help me out on all the championships they hold but im pretty sure they host alotta division 2 and 3 national championships in many sports.. [/ QUOTE ] Blacksburg could be considered well i might assume...i know they have the most state titles in VA for soccer...but im not sure about the other sports... [/ QUOTE ] I'm really not trying to be facetious, but Blacksburg would never (at least in the foreseeable future) be on that countdown. Why? When people not-in-the-know think of Blacksburg, they think of Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech doesn't have any NCAA team titles. I might have a half dozen friends who know how many soccer titles Blacksburg High has. Everyone I know knows Virginia Tech.

[ QUOTE ] http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/is-the-war-over--11599 Independent reporter Michael Yon has spent more time in Iraq embedded with combat soldiers than any other journalist in the world, and a few days ago he boldly declared the war over: Barring any major and unexpected developments (like an Israeli air strike on Iran and the retaliations that would follow), a fair-minded person could say with reasonable certainty that the war has ended. A new and better nation is growing legs. What's left is messy politics that likely will be punctuated by low-level violence and the occasional spectacular attack. Yet, the will of the Iraqi people has changed, and the Iraqi military has dramatically improved, so those spectacular attacks are diminishing along with the regular violence. Now it's time to rebuild the country, and create a pluralistic, stable and peaceful Iraq. That will be long, hard work. But by my estimation, the Iraq War is over. We won. Which means the Iraqi people won. I’m reluctant to say “the war has ended,†as he did, but everything else he wrote is undoubtedly true. The war in Iraq is all but over right now, and it will be officially over if the current trends in violence continue their downward slide. That is a mathematical fact. If you doubt it, look at the data. Security incidents, or attacks, are at their lowest level in four years. Civilian deaths are down by almost 90 percent since General Petraeus’ counterinsurgency “surge†strategy went into effect. High profile attacks, or explosions, are down by 80 percent in the same time period. American and Iraqi soldiers suffer far fewer casualties than they have for years. Ethno-sectarian deaths from Iraq’s civil war plunged all the way down to zero in May and June 2008. Yon is braver than the rest of us for declaring the war over, but it’s important to understand that there are no final battles in counterinsurgencies and it’s impossible to pinpoint the exact dates when wars like this end. The anti-Iraqi insurgency – a war-within-a-war – really is effectively over. As long as another such war-within-a-war doesn’t break out, Yon will appear more perceptive than the rest of us in hindsight when the currently low levels of violence finally do taper off into relative insignificance. None of this means terrorism and violence in Iraq are over. Violence is never over in the Middle East, and Islamist terrorism will be with us for years, if not decades. There may yet be another war, a different war, in Iraq. It would be foolish to dismiss that possibility or assume there is no more work to be done. NATO is still not finished building a durable peace in Kosovo, and the war in that country ended nine years ago. The 15-year civil war in Lebanon ended in 1990, but another low-grade civil war that eerily resembles the last is brewing again. The Algerian civil war between the secular police state and the Salafist insurgency quietly wound down years ago, but al Qaeda cells are doing their worst to crank it back up again. The Second Intifada was broken in Israel, but there is still no peace between Israel, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, or the Palestinian Authority. There are no clean endings to wars in the Middle East these days, and we shouldn’t expect one in Iraq either. But there is a point when a war becomes low-grade enough that “war†is no longer the best word to describe what takes place in the absence of absolute calm. What most of us still think of as “war†in Iraq is, at this point, a rough and unfinished peacekeeping mission. Whether it is officially over or not, it has certainly been downgraded to something else, and it’s about time more analysts and observers are willing to say so. [/ QUOTE ] Very nice article indeed, and I subscribe to nearly every word of it.

[ QUOTE ] Maybe the best food and fun I have ever had was at Dave and Buster's in Earth City, Missouri. If you haven't been, a trip to Charlotte is well worth it. They had the best mashed potatoes I have ever had and a helluva game room facility to go along. [/ QUOTE ] Man, I had one of the best times I've ever had in a restaurant in a Dave and Buster's in Nashville 3 years ago. Great food and an ever better game room. It'd be worth putting one here.

[ QUOTE ] Zaxby's Waffle House Steak-N-Shake Fuddruckers [/ QUOTE ] Great list. Especially Zaxby's, some of the best chicken tenders I've ever eaten. The Honey BBQ chicken was fantastic, though fairly hot. Makes my mouth water thinking about it!

Five Guys, hands down. Some of the best burgers I've ever eaten, and I've eaten my fair share enough to know! Though, there is one as near as Blacksburg.

I have not responded to a post on here in 7 months, for I infrequently check the forums and have not felt the need to post, but law school has given me some legal insight, and I feel obliged to share some of this insight. As the article states below, Mr. Swartz has seven counts of indecent liberties with a child by a person in a custodial relationship. According to WVVA news tonight, there are multiple victims in this instance. Virginia Code delineates the class of felonies of charges in this nature by the ages of the victims. As this is a Class V felony, one can reasonably deduce by Virginia Code that the victims were between the ages of 15-17 (the only group for which this crime is a Class V felony). A Class V felony is punishable by no less than five but no more than ten years in a state penitentiary. Those seven counts would not run concurrently, but run consecutively, as is the case with multiple charges of the same nature. That means, were this case to go to trial without a plea agreement, Mr. Swartz is looking at no less than thirty-five and no more than seventy years in a state penitentiary. Were Mr. Swartz guilty, he would be well-advised to take a plea agreement, in which the Commonwealth would likely only seek one penalty per victim, reducing his potential jail time substantially. Likewise, Mr. Swartz may potentially qualify for "first-offender status", which would again reduce his jail time while adding a substantial period of probation after his incarceration. With a plea agreement, I would estimate that this 35-70 year window would likely be reduced to 2-5 years with at least 2 years probation at the end of the sentence. Were Mr. Swartz innocent, he would have incredibly hefty attorney's fees to pay, which may very well run him into the $75,000 range after depositions/interrogatories are taken, court reporters are paid, lawyers' fees are taken, and court costs are paid. If the grand jury finds him guilty, they will likely be swift to impose a very harsh penalty, due to jurors' sympathies and the nature of this crime. This is a very broad, and almost overbroad, statement, but it's a complex thing. I hope this has been some help. I must state that I was not present at any proceeding at which Mr. Swartz attended, and as such I do not have any precise information to release; I'm relying on the news and local papers as you all are. These are just what, from my best estimations, the legal system may have in store for Mr. Swartz.