Month: October 2009

Vic Hall – The Heart of a Lion and My Favorite All-Time Wahoo

Most serious Virginia fans have an all-time favorite player. Maybe it was someone in your family, like it was for me with my cousin Mike Cubbage. Mike played quarterback here and also got the very first baseball scholarship UVA ever gave. Perhaps it’s a guy that played the game with the heart of a lion, like Fredericksburg native Charles McDaniel. This favorite all-time guy just might be someone that re-wrote the record books during his time here on grounds like Chris Slade, or even Chris Long. I’m not sure I could pick one Virginia former student-athlete whom I could call my all-time favorite until yesterday when I read Jerry Ratcliffe’s column in the Daily Progress about Vic Hall.

Vic Hall is not the best college quarterback statistically to play at UVA. Nor is Hall the best punt-returner, defensive back, wide receiver or special teams player to play here in Charlottesville. Vic just might be the best wild-cat QB we have had because he is the only one we have ever had!

So, as the story goes, Vic Hall walked into Al Groh’s office last week and flat out told his coach that Jameel Sewell deserved to be UVA’s starting QB and that Hall would do whatever Groh needed him to do so that the Hoos could start winning again. This, of course, was coming from one of the best high school QB’s of all time in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Groh absolutely was blown away by the humbling nature of Hall’s comments. So blown away, that on Saturday in Chapel Hill Hall played the most positions I have ever seen one dude play in all my years of watching college or NFL football.

On that winning Saturday in Chapel Hill, Hall played: tailback, quarterback, slot-receiver, holder for extra-points, holder for field-goals, safety and cornerback in the dime package on defense. In this day-and-age of big-mouthed, moronic team-killers like, Marcus Vick, DeAngelo Hall, Terrell Owens and Chad Johnson, something like this makes me realize why I played this amazingly team-oriented game of football for all those years. It also makes me remember why I root for the little guy like Vic and why it is important for people to be cognizant of what football is really all about: Teamwork, dedication to the greater goal of winning far ahead of ones personal goals, and never, ever giving up. Sometimes you have to take yourself out of the spotlight and realize you can help the team much more by playing in a less glamorous position.

Vicqual Hall, of tiny Gretna, Virginia is now my favorite Wahoo of all time not because of statistics, or what it might or might not say in any record book. Vic has always had a sixth sense about where he needs to be on the field. Hall is my all-time favorite Wahoo because he knew he could help this team win at another position then where he was slotted to play. Hall stepped-up, took that chance by speaking his mind to his coach, and as much as anyone that field Saturday, Vic Hall knew he could help Virginia win that game. And he was right!

So, Virginia fans, who is your all-time favorite UVA football player?

NEW C-VILLE COVER STORY! Play time with Clinton Johnston

Fifteen years ago, an unsuspecting co-worker sowed the notion that got Clinton Johnston back onto the stage after an extended hiatus. Now, Johnston, one of Charlottesville theater’s most talented and reliable Jacks of all Trades, brings Othello to life in a production he directs at Four County Players. Read the cover story here, and don’t forget to leave comments!

Virginia Beats Carolina 16-3 in Chapel Hill!

Virginia Football finally got their first win of the 2009 campaign Saturday afternoon on a glorious afternoon in Chapel Hill. The Hoos (1-3) were led by Mikell Simpson, who rushed for 102 yards and had another 45 yards receiving. Virginia also got three field goals from kicker Robert Randolph. Defensively, Virginia had several players step-up , including Matt Conrath, who batted 3 balls down, and No. 13 Chase Minnifield who continued his stellar play.

Carolina (3-2) could not seem to move the ball at all, and at times, Virginia dominated almost every aspect of the contest. North Carolina committed 3 costly turnovers and Virginia has beaten the Tar Heels 10 of the last 12 times. UNC only rushed for 39 yards in the entire contest.

Jameel Sewell played a gutsy game at quarterback and got hit several times where I thought he wasn’t going to get up off the turf in Kenan Stadium. Marc Verica came in and spelled Sewell for a series in the second half as Jameel remembered what planet he lived on. Vic hall returned to action from his hip injury, and was everywhere on the field. Vic was out there running the wild-cat at QB, holding on kicks, playing the slot-receiver on offense. He even played some on defense.

Virginia’s defense harassed Carolina’s quarterback T.J. Yates for the entire game. Yates never seemed to look very comfortable in the pocket out there today. Virginia had a couple of key sacks on the day and Matt Conrath played his best game as a Wahoo
today.

This was my fifth game at Kenan Stadium, and I’ve never seen a crowd so quiet. With three minutes to play there were only about 15,000 folks left in the stadium. As I was leaving the stadium and walking back to my parking spot, a Carolina player still dressed in half his uniform was leaving the hospital with his arm in a sling. It was that kind of a day for the Heels.

The Hoos return to action next weekend in a homecoming match-up with Indiana. The game starts at 3:30 p.m on Saturday. I have a feeling a great deal of folks that thought they might skip that game in Scott Stadium have very quickly reconsidered their plans for next weekend. Big win today… Go Hoos.

Categories
News

U2; Scott Stadium; Thursday, October 1

“My body’s now a begging bowl,” Bono sang at the end of U2’s two-and-a-half hour show last night, “that’s begging to get back, begging to get back to my heart, to the rhythm of my soul.” It’s the classic U2 lyric, merging social issues (poverty) and world culture (Third World) with intimacy and personal yearning. And in closing the band’s blow-out show at Scott Stadium, “Moment of Surrender” summed up as well as anything the beauty and contradictions of the world’s biggest rock band.

 

How long did it take U2 to transform Scott Stadium into a city of blinding lights? More than two hours, 25 songs and multiple encores, thanks to enormous TV screens and the band’s “Claw” set. Photo by Jack Looney.

David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” signaled the start of the concert as the much-reported-on, tentacular set billowed smoke, and with all that it became clear that U2 positions itself now as the Band that Fell to Earth. Prophets from above and within, they project their vision of what ails humanity—and what can redeem it—from a vast sphere of TV screens.
 
And the effect at times was mesmerizing, vital and fresh. The Edge would be on one side of the circular stage and Bono far off on the catwalk, and yet the screen would merge their well-lighted images crisply and with style. (But fans of the rhythm section might have noted that it wasn’t until the ninth song of the 25-song show, “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” that Adam Clayton got his proper due in the live video.)
 
Things turned a bit cheesy when, at the end of “Your Blue Room” astronaut Frank De Winne’s visage filled the screen with a genuine message from outer space. Sometimes, I thought, it’s better to allude to a miracle than to actually point to it.
 
And by the time Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s close-up floated hundreds of feet in the air, exhorting the crowd to act nobly and aid the poor, I started to grow uneasy with the idea of messages from revered leaders blasting to stadium crowds that are high on shared energy. Sure, Tutu is right and so is Bono, about how to be a world citizen, but the means of communication and the rapt reception that they counted on fleetingly inspired a rather sinister comparison.
 
But it all came back to the music, in the end, and that is U2’s great trick. Right about the time that the words Bono and megalomania start to harmonize in your head, there’s The Edge, wringing waves of sound from his guitar on the brilliant “City of Blinding Lights” or kicking out the jams in “Vertigo.” With age, Bono, like his hero Frank Sinatra, is flattening the high notes or talking through them. Interestingly, that has the effect of making the band sound even tighter, and highlighting the Edge’s quiet musical passion.
 
Not that Bono is without grounding instincts of his own. Riffing on the fact that U2 was performing at a university campus, he introduced his mates (“roommates,” he actually called them) as classic college types. The Edge, he said, was the Nerd. Drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. was the Captain of the Football Team. Clayton was a Friend to Cheerleaders Everywhere. As for himself, Bono said, he was the College Dropout, still trying to learn something from the other three guys. Later, as the band wound up its second encore, he took it a step further. “Thank you, Larry, Edge and Adam,” he said, “for letting me be in your band.”

Nationwide unemployment rate hits 9.8 percent

Bad news this Friday morning: nationwide, the jobless rate rose to 9.8 percent, the highest level since June 1983.

The Labor Department released the number of total job lost in September: 263,000. NPR reports that if workers who have settled for part-time work or have stopped looking for a position are included, then the rate skyrockets to 17 percent.

The total number of job lost since December 2007 is a whopping 7.1 million.
 

C-VILLE Minute: Your weekend preview [VIDEO]

One award for Devon Sproule—an ASCAP "Sammy Cahn Award" for lyric writing, for her tune "Old Virginia Block." Congratulations, Devon!

"One," by U2, live from Scott Stadium. Which I heard loud and clear from my front porch last night:

One more minute:

What are your plans for the weekend?

First death connected to swine flu reported in the TJHD

The Virginia Department of Health announced yesterday the first H1N1 virus fatality in the Thomas Jefferson Health District.

An adult male residing in the district contracted the virus and died. Although the patient had an underlying health condition, the virus contributed to his death.

According to the department, symptoms of the H1N1 virus include fever, cough, sore throat, headache, body aches, chills or fatigue. The people at most risk from the so-called swine flu are pregnant women, individuals from 6 months to 24 years of age.

When it comes to contracting the virus, the department lists these possible means of prevention:

*  Get a seasonal influenza vaccination now and plan on getting a novel H1N1 vaccination later this fall. The novel H1N1 vaccine is anticipated to become available in mid-October.
    * Stay home from work or school when ill and limi  contact with others to keep from infecting them
    * Call your health care providers before seeking care for influenza-like illness so that the necessary infection control measures can be put in place
    * Cover nose and mouth with a tissue when coughing or sneezing and throw the tissue in the trash after use
    * Wash hands often with soap and water, especially after coughing or sneezing. Alcohol-based hand cleaners also are effective.
    * Limit close contact with sick people
    * Prevent the spread of germs by not touching eyes, nose or mouth.

(Source: Virginia Department of Health)

 

Dahlia Lithwick courts romance with “mommy lit” novel challenge

I dropped by the Blue Ridge Country Store for lunch and, as expected, everyone and their salad bar-loving friend was yacking about Bono. (In fact, one person was raving about "Sunday Bloody Sunday" to his friend when the friend interrupted him: "I told you. I don’t know any U2 songs. Any.")

Sure, we’re all excited for Ireland’s most famous rock act to come to town. But you know what the Irish love? Writers. And no matter how quiet The Edge seems—he’s like the Teller of U2—even he’d tell you the same.

Coincidentally, I ran into sculptor Aaron Fein, who reminded me of this project that his wife, Dahlia Lithwick, is documenting on Slate (where she typically tackles Supreme Court news like a boss). During the last few weeks, Lithwick has posted chapters from her first attempt at "mommy lit," a genre she describes as "a cross between Bridget Jones and The Bell Jar."

Lithwick throws out a few caveats for the project about shoes and her return to Supreme Court reporting. ("I turn back into a pumpkin on the first Monday in October, whether I finish this book or not.) But she’s also throwing out hooks for any reader willing to bite: In the 15 chapters (as of today) of her novel, Saving Face, she’s already assigned names of characters (and pets) based on popular demand and reader request. Read today’s chapter here.

Tell me, loyal readers: If you had a month to write a novel, what would you commit to paper?

 

Thomas Jefferson, the suburbanite

I’m just getting started on David Owen’s Green Metropolis, a new book that claims Manhattan is a much greener place to live than rural places or even, say, Charlottesville. More on this soon: Owen’s arguments so far are both compelling and guilt-inducing to someone like me who commutes from a dark holler in Nelson County. But I’m going to give Owen a fair shake at developing his thesis before I go blogging all over it.

For now, I just wanted to share his surprising take on our own dear Thomas Jefferson, and the house we are accustomed to worshipping as not only a mainstay of local tourism but a sacrosanct example of architectural genius. Before this passage comes along, Owen has already introduced Jefferson’s distaste for urban living and his belief that cities were deeply unhealthy. Then he says:

"Wild landscapes are less often destroyed by people who despise wild landscapes than by people who love them, or think they do—by people who move to be near them, and then, when others follow, move again. Thoreau’s cabin, a mile from his nearest neighbor, set the American pattern for creeping residential development, since anyone seeking to replicate his experience needed to move a mile farther along.

"Jefferson, too, embodied the ethos of suburbia. Indeed, he could be considered the prototype of the modern American suburbanite, since for most of his life he lived far outside the central city in a house that was much too big, and he was deeply enamored of high-tech gadgetry and of buying on impulse and on credit, and he embraced a self-perpetuating cycle of conspicuous consumption and recreational home improvement. The standard object of the modenr American dream, the single-family home surrounded by grass, is a mini-Monticello."

Snap! "A house that was much too big!" I’d never exactly thought of Monticello that way before.

Thursday Evening Quarterback UNC-UVA News and Notes + Injury Report

Carolina and Virginia Meet-Up for the 114th time in Chapel Hill Saturday @ Noon on (XM Radio 190) (TV NBC 29) (FM 97.5 WWWV) (AM 1070 WINA)

Some interesting facts about the two teams meeting in the South’s oldest college football rivalry. The series is tied for the fifth longest in Football Bowl Subdivision history. Minnesota and Wisconsin (118 games) have been playing the longest in all of big-time college football.

1.  Carolina leads the all-time series 57-24-4 and has lost 9 of the last 11 to UVA.

2.  The Tar Heels had just 17 yards rushing in last weeks loss against Georgia Tech.

3.  UNC’s run defense allowed 317 yards rushing to Ga. Tech last Saturday.

4.  Carolina is facing their second straight opponent who has had more than one week to get ready for them.

5.  Butch Davis is only 15-14 while at Carolina in three seasons. But in the friendly confines of Kenan Stadium, Davis is 11-4

6.  T.J. Yates is currently 4th all time at UNC in career passing yards as well as 4th in career touchdowns.

7.  Carolina is battling a string of injuries on the offensive line and two true freshman (Bond and Williams) will see significant action Saturday on the line.

8.  The game last year in Charlottesville between the two schools was the first overtime game in series history.

9.  The Wahoos are 14-2-1 when committing fewer turnovers than Carolina.

10.  Virginia has played six true freshman this year. On the other hand, Carolina has played 11 true freshman. In Al Groh’s tenure at UVA he has used 59 true freshman. Unbelievably ridiculous in my opinion.

11.  The Hoos are 9-4 under Al Groh coming out of the bye week. Although, they lost to Duke last year after the bye week.

12.  UVA plays 9 games against teams that went to bowl games in 2009. Florida State plays 11 which leads the nation in that category.

13. A question for you all: Why does Al Groh tuck his sweatshirt into his pants?

INJURY REPORT FROM DR. DAVID DIDUCH Game 4 vs. UNC

Issued: Thursday, Oct 1

This report is compiled by the University of Virginia Sports Medicine
staff under the direction of Dr. David Diduch.

Out – Matt Leemhuis (clavicle), Dominique Wallace (foot)

Doubtful- none

Questionable- Vic Hall (hip) and Corey Mosley (foot)

Probable- Chris Cook (hip), Nick Jenkins (ankle), Rodney McCloud (knee), Chase Minnifield (leg), Mikell Simpson (leg)

All remaining players on the Virginia roster are available to
participate. Please note the status of an injured student-athlete’s
ability to participate can increase or decrease between the time this
report is issued and game time.

Key:

Probable = Virtual certainty will be available for normal duty

Questionable = 50-50 chance will not play

Doubtful = At least 75% chance will not play

Out = Definitely will not play