Tag: hokies

The importance of storming the court

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

So while I watching the latest upset of Duke the other night, as the seconds and minutes ticked down, and Duke hadn’t made a barrage of three pointers and Mason Plumlee dunks to cut the gap and overtake the lead, all I could think of was if UVA was going to storm the court when they won. Considering the fact that NC State, Miami and Maryland had all stormed court after beating Duke, and that UVA hadn’t beaten Duke in like forever, so the answer was pretty obvious. Naturally when the final horn sounded, UVA stormed the court as everyone and their mother relished at the sight of Coach K and Duke walking off the court in failure and disappointment.

Seldom is there a Duke loss on the road that doesn’t involve the home fans storming the court. According to the WSJ, an astounding 80% of the home team fans have stormed the court following an upset over Duke over the span of the last ten years. In fact, the article is a little dated and doesn’t factor in the wins of Miami, Maryland and Virginia into the equation so it’s now a little bit more. Obviously, my favorite one is the one shown above, but it really doesn’t matter who it is in the end; everyone on the planet that did not go to Duke loves to see Duke’s men’s basketball team lose on the road and seeing their opponents’ fans storming the court in celebration. I’m pretty sure people would be okay if Duke lost to the Soviets in 1972 and Soviet fans stormed the court, to be perfectly honest.

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Oh snap

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I bet a lot of people were expecting a litany of Dragon-Con-related posts, now that the convention is over, and I’ve got hundreds of pictures and many stories to tell.  But no, here comes the jock sports bullshit to interrupt all of my nerdy fandoms and shit.

But I have to say that I’m pleased with the way Virginia Tech opened the season with an actual win for a change.  Even if it took overtime and was a way harder game than it probably should have been, I was ecstatic to see Virginia Tech win especially over Georgia Tech.

So today, I go all cheap heel mode at the gym, and march around in a Virginia Tech shirt and remind all the GT students and alums in the place where my allegiances lie.  And I’m not going to lie, for this reason alone does it mean just a little bit more.

A little bit of live brogging

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I know the game is over.  Once Mason Plumlee makes the highlight reel with any sort of flashy dunk that happens for no other reason than the opposition being so flustered by defending the three, that they leave his lily-white ass open to do as many impressions of Dominique Wilkins as he wants.  Seriously, is there anyone in organized basketball that’s more goofy and oaf-like than Mason Plumlee?

As I type, Tech’s got 38 points, and I’m pretty sure that 36 of those points are either from three-pointers of free throws.  I’m not entirely sure why I’m still watching this game other than the fact that my other television is occupado with some Mass Effect action going on, but it is certainly brutal.

This game has been a big of a prick tease as they come; Duke’s missing most of their threes, but the problem is that Tech can’t make a bucket in the paint to save their life.  Tech is owning the boards and making their free throws, but someone forgot to let them know that they still need to occasionally make some actual field goals to put those requisite points on the scoreboard.  The game has been completely winnable for the Hokies, but so far they’re the only ones beating them, because it’s certainly not Duke.

Suck it, Climpson

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Sure, they’re probably going to obliterated by Duke tomorrow, with insulting sights of Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly dunking all over the place when Doc Rivers’ kid isn’t going apeshit from beyond the arc.

But if for one night only, it’s great to see Virginia Tech not pull a vanishing act in a postseason game, and actually look like a good athletic program.  Sure, they still did their typical bonehead shit like five-second violations and was easily confused by a full-court press resulting in an egregious use of timeouts, but when it came to the important stuff like making their free throws, they sank them confidently and kept the pressure on Clemson to try and respond and it certainly didn’t help that suddenly they’re the team that can’t make a free throw to save their life.

It was refreshing to have watched, and it puts me in a jovial mood.  I can wear my Tech shit to work tomorrow proudly, because tonight, we’re the winners.

Sometimes I ask myself why I like sports so much

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Pretty much any sports team I like or favor in any way shape or form never wins.  A sentiment that pretty much every sports fan goes through multiple times over in their lives, and even the most rational of sports fans always tell themselves that with perseverance, salvation will someday come, but even the most rational of sports fans simply get tired of the tired mantra and is entitled to a moment of weakness and necessity to vent.

I want to be upset with the officiating that pretty much just screwed Virginia Tech out of winning the Sugar Bowl, but the obvious truth of the matter is that it shouldn’t have come to that point in the first place.  If Tech could have just gotten their heads out of their asses and show a little bit of patience, intelligence and killer instinct, they really should have been up 17-7 at the half, instead of down 10-6, in the most comical of ways.  The defense would have resolved as it did the entire night, the annual Beamer fuck-up doesn’t even happen because being up, he’ll actually punt the ball, and Virginia Tech wins a meaningful bowl game.  Granted, Danny Coale doesn’t have the statistical game of his life, but I’m pretty certain he’d rather be a winner too.

Instead, as has been the norm over the last few years, I’m left with the dejected feeling again, of having been rooting for the losers, watching Tech lose to teams like Georgia, Alabama, Stanford, Clemson, and now Michigan.  I want to point and call all those teams overrated and undeserving, but the harsh truth is the fact that Virginia Tech is probably more overrated and undeserving than them all.  I’ll still root for them, and I wouldn’t bet that this is the last disappointment I’ll ever have while rooting for them, but the harsh reality is that they simply cannot win a meaningful game.  And the truth hurts.  Again, and again, and again.  Que sera, sera.