The game ball goes to Duke

Congrats to the men’s football team, who won their season opener against James Madison yesterday. Perhaps it was because they stole Clemson’s mojo: the players all rubbed a rock from the “Duke stone” quarry as they entered the stadium. Or perhaps it was because UNC decided to be neighborly: parachutists accidentally delivered the game ball from the UNC opener to Wallace Wade.

They Play Football at Duke?

A couple of quick-shots as you watch your favorite baseball team fall further and further from contention. (So this is what it feels like, Joe?)

• Today’s post at the Duke Chronicle’s sports blog asks the age old sabermetric question: should you go for it on fourth down?

• The pre-season coaches’ poll is out, and for the first time, Steve Spurrier did not vote for Duke. Allegedly, it’s because he was asked not to do so in order to protect the almighty integrity of the poll. I’ll pause and wait for you to stop laughing.
• The Cutcliffe era started yesterday.

Duke to Louisville: We suck…

…so we’re taking our ball and going home.

…and sometimes it rains

Just got back from my first visit to the new Nationals baseball stadium and, indeed, my first Nationals game. It felt like a good DC experience. I went with my family, took the Metro, and walked through a mob of ExxonMobil protesters to get to the stadium. (The seventh inning stretch is brought to you by… big oil. They wanted people to boo, and many did.) Playing on the oily theme, the Nats hosted Texas, George W’s former team and the erstwhile Washington Senators version 2.0, in an interleague game. We ate our $4.50 hot dogs and half-watched the game. Dmitri Young ended a rally by overrunning a base (he takes a while to get going and a while to stop, it would seem). And in the eighth, former Durham Bull and Questionable Character Elijah Dukes tied the game with a solo (this one’s for you, Joe) dong. Like good DC non-football sports fans we headed for the Metro as our team headed for extra innings. I listened to the ending at home on the radio; Dukes singled with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 14th to score the winning run.

I have to say it’s a pretty park, although the sight lines from the seats are, sadly, none too sightly. The area around it will improve, I’m sure, at which point it could be quite nice.

Why to root for…

The Grand National Championships has a reason to root for every one of the 119 Division 1-A football teams. Thanks to Deadspin for the heads-up.

Ocho Who?

With the 46th pick in this year’s NFL draft, the Cincinnati Bengals selected Coastal Carolina wide receiver Jerome Simpson. (Even though Michigan got the #1 pick overall, Simpson went a few picks before Wolverines QB Chad Henne.) Not only was this the highest pick in school history, it’s the highest pick in conference history. Of course, that wasn’t a huge accomplishment: the only other football player ever drafted out of the Big South Conference was Tyler Thigpen, Coastal’s QB that went in the seventh round last year to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Football in April

The blog has been quiet lately… too quiet.

It’s understandable. There are exams to be graded, weddings to be planned, and research papers to be written. I just realized I have seven different papers in various stages of completion (six of them are thankfully nearly done). I’ve been pretty stressed and the EPA is about the nicest, lowest stress research environment I can imagine. All the same, it’s time for distraction. Thus, I present the April football round-up:

First off, offensive lineman Justin Boren — whose right to do as he saw fit I defended not long ago — has indeed decided to transfer from Michigan to “the” Ohio State to play with his brother. I wish him well, but if he’s playing offensive line for this year’s match-up, I think we may see the OSU quarterback sacked a dozen times. A cocaine-fueled Jeff Smoker (who to his great credit has recovered) took that many sacks and still won the second-most-recent “Greatest Michigan-Michigan state game ever”

Michigan vs. Notre Dame On Ice!

No, Brian Boitano won’t be playing Rudy, and there will be no Winged Helmettes skating in a conga line, but there may be some Charlie Weis-esque octopi spinning on the ice when Michigan and Notre Dame play in the semi-finals of the Frozen Four tonight. This is Notre Dame’s first Frozen Four and Michigan’s twenty-third. Michigan has beaten Notre Dame twice this season, but one of the games was a 3-2 squeaker. Personally I’m just hoping that Michigan can find a way to sack Jimmy Clausen a few more times…

Doctors, Lawyers, and Captains of Industry

As described by the Detroit News, when legendary Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler (80% winning percentage) took over a struggling Michigan team in the late 1960’s, the more difficult practices and harsher coaching style drove 20-30 players to leave the team. For Michigan fans it is well known that he had a sign made reading “Those Who Stay Will Be Champions” and that he pretty much honored that claim by winning at least a share of 13 Big Ten titles in 21 seasons. What isn’t reported often is that one of the departing players added to the first sign: “And those who leave will be doctors, lawyers and captains of industry.” I think that’s an important part of the story.

Rebirth

Most everyone that regularly reads this blog knows about Bullocks Barbecue restaurant. It’s between my still-unsold house in Durham and Duke’s campus. When you’re in the mood for all-you-can-eat Southern cooking, there’s no better place around. As part of its charm, autographed photos of famous people cover the walls. They’re mostly late 70’s and early 80’s country stars, like Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, and Conway Twitty. There are some others, like Jay Leno and Arnold Schwartzenegger, even a very early set of photos of “U2 (Irish rock group)”.