VT 27 - UNC 24

Well, that was frustrating. Bunting's job is still not secure...imho. That game was lost on a lot of stupid mistakes. I still maintain that VT is overrated.

At least state lost too...

Prediction: UNC 28- VT 24

I'm always the optimist, but here goes:

~ I've said since watching them play the first game of the year against USC that VT didn't look like a very good team. Watching them play (and lose) to state confirmed that. Their win over a relatively bad GT team (that we trounced) was ugly as well. All alround, they aren't that good.

~ That being said, neither are we. And I wouldn't be surprised at all to see us come in flat and get destroyed. If its not UNC 28-24, it's going to be VT 35-10.

~One things for sure, neither team is exactly solid on defense, so if our offense (especially the offensive line) shows up like they did against Miami, we should be able to win this game.

VT 24
UNC 28

UNC 113 - WSSU 54

Please note that I do understand that we were playing a DII school, Winston-Salem State University, but I'm kinda pumped right now, so here goes. Notes from the game tonight:

Rashad did what he always does: leads the team in scoring by dropping 21, while I think he's having a slow game. He has a few nice dunks, shot 3-4 from 3point range. He should be the front runner for ACC player of the year.

Quentin Thomas is going to be a star. Maybe not this year, but he can play, and should bother the hell out of opposing point guards in the near future. Loved the handles, the intensity, and defense.

This team is deep. Roy has quite a bench to work with, and that could lead to very good things if we really buy in and give it our all. It is difficult to judge rotation or minutes from a game like this, as we definitely played a couple 3-5 minute stretches with Grant, Sanders, Miller, Terry, and Scott on the floor, but I did like how Roy had Sean, Jawad, and Marvin rotating in and out at the 4 and 5 every 2 minutes or so in the middle of the first quarter. He did the same thing with Jackie, Melvin, and Rashad at 2 and 3. I would like to see that in the season.

The entire team looks athletic as hell. I think we got a new strength and conditioning coach, and if that is the case, he is doing one hell of a job. Melvin was doing clutch reverse dunks with ease. Jawad's nasty ally oop dunk in the first quarter was insane. Hell, all of his dunks were pretty nice. Even Reyshawn got up a couple times. Not to mention that Damion played, ran the floor well, and even had 2 blocks and a steal.

There were some things we still need work on. Ray still needs work on his shot, despite rumors that he had really picked it up. Marvin and Quentin still need more practice time to figure out where to be on the floor at any given time. Marvin may be great, but I disagree with everyone who says that he'll be a starter any time early in the season (not to mention that he would have to take Jawad's spot, and Jawad played really well tonight). Byron didn't seem to improve too much. Got one easy put back, missed another, fumbled a few passes.

The WSSU fans were awesome. They filled in the front half of section 100. WSSU is majority black school, and it was a like a step show the entire game. Even when they were down 30 points, they were loud and fun to watch. They got extra hype when the band played lean back.

Oh, and Jackie nailed a 3 :)

Here's the game recap from IC

Spurrier tells Florida: "Hell NO!"

Well, who know where he wants to go, but we can be sure Spurrier will not be at Florida.

This all shouldn't pertain to UNC. Bunting took large steps towards securing his job with the Miami win. Hell, I seriously think we could win out. Two more wins, and we go to a bowl. But on the chance that we lose all three, or that we lose two of three in embarrassing fashion, having Spurrier around could be a good option.

So where will Spurrier end up? I'm pulling for the Dolphins. That way, 2 years from now he'll be back in the coaching pool, in case we need a coach then....

And, did anyone else notice through all this election hype, we got votes in both polls this week! Not only did we get votes, but we got more than the supposed "football powerhouse of NC" :)

Politics

Ok, I am going to try to get it all out today, so I can leave it. I've been saying on my away message that I'm gonna drop politics as of midnight tonight, so here it all is:

Ok, I too voted for Kerry. I think that the country would have been a lot better off under him. However, I will add that I think that both Kerry and Bush suck, and that despite his being pure evil, I was most impressed with Dick Cheney during this election season. Anyway, here goes:

1) I don't think I could say it any better than I did in my away message: "The world is not over. YOU are not leaving the country. Claiming so is neither original nor clever." I will add that if you are honestly thinking about leaving the country, this does not apply to you. But really, you live in the most privileged country in the world. I understand that the election did not go how you wanted. It didn't go how I wanted. But the "I'm taking my ball and leaving" attitude is spoiled and bratty. You are better than that. Fix things from within. Work for what you believe. Educate people. (And that leads me to my next annoyance...)

2) Just because someone doesn't think like you do, or value what you do, or vote for you who think they should, that doesn't mean they are stupid. Assuming that you know what is best for someone and how they should think is one of the most arrogant thoughts I can think of. People aren't stupid just because they have a different outlook on life. The weird part of this for me is how the people who are making claims on the contrary are the people I thought to be some of the most open minded people I know.

3) I may agree that gay marriage and abortion shouldn't be political topics. But they are. And every one of you that is ranting, claiming that it is bad that the country voted based on these issue, ask yourself this: If abortion was illegal, and gay marriages were prohibited, and a candidate was running on a platform of legalizing abortion and passing a constitutional amendment to allow gay marriage, would you take that into consideration when you voted? I bet you would.

Ok, I hope that's it on the politics, at least for a while. Holler at me if you want to debate. I love debating.....

PS - Finally, Bush definitely won this year, and I haven't heard any (or at least not many) cries of foul play. So we need to do our best to work with the situation. I am not as frustrated with Bush as many of you, but still, make an effort to start anew. I think Jeff (who is relatively liberal) said it well:

I'm going to give George W. Bush a chance to re-earn my trust and respect as a leader. I am by no means offering him a clean slate, and I will not forgive him for the missteps of the past four years, but I am going to give him the opportunity to make right over his second term.

I don't have much faith that he'll do so, but he's at least getting the chance to.

From here, I see one of two scenarios playing out. Either a) Bush improves and begins to repair the nation's international image, or b) we put up with four more years of the same ineptitude and win in a landslide in 2008. Of course, I realize that reality will probably fall somewhere in between (like, Bush continues his ineptitude but the Democrats fail to sweep in '08), but this at least gives me hope for now, so I'm holding onto it.

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Why a blog?

So I've always hated on blogs. "Who the hell wants to read your online journal?" I've always said.

Well today I'm taking that large step into blog hypocrisy. First and foremost, this move is inspired by everyone else's bitching about the way things have gone in the last few days, and how I would like my chance to do the same. And hell, no reason not to keep a posting of funny links or interesting stories. And beyond that, Jeff started one, and I noticed the "Get your own blog free", and I was tempted. I started to feel lame, but when I saw that Jeff has amassed about 15 posts in his first 24 hours of bloggerness, I decided that I could have a blog and still be cool by comparison. So here goes. I also figure if I get all my political rants out here, I can leave it here, go back to not caring about politics.