Month: August 2010

If Virginia is going to prove all the naysayers incorrect, well, then senior quarterback Marc Verica is going to have to pull the proverbial rabbit out of a hat: win with a young, inexperienced offensive line and a new offensive coordinator/quarterback coach.

Writers around the country have picked Virginia to finish last in the ACC Coastal division. The only way they don’t finish near the bottom of the league is if Verica (or Metheny, Strauss, Rocco) somehow put this team on their backs and march the ball down the field.

Virginia has not had much to work with at the quarterback position since Matt Schaub graduated and headed to Houston in the NFL. Sure, Marques Hagans almost single-handedly won games for the Hoos with his scrambling ability and his huge heart, but Schaub, who was an All-Pro last season with the Texans, was the last big-time quarterback to run the huddle in Charlottesville.

2010 will be economics major Verica’s senior season for the Hoos. In his four years here, he has had six 200 yard games. That’s one more than former fan-favorite Don Majkowski, and two more than my former QB coach Gene Arnette. Verica has the tools to win games. He’s exceptionally bright, very coachable, and he has a rising star in Bill Lazor orchestrating him on offense.

So, can Verica win games? Yes, if his offensive line stays healthy and gels and the fullbacks, tight ends, and tailbacks block for him. Verica must be better under duress while out of the pocket. He has made some pretty regrettable decisions under attack, and I’m hopeful that he can draw on those negative experiences and instead of throwing an ugly interception or a wobbly ball over the middle he can mange the game and limit mental mistakes. You don’t have to be 6-5 and run a 4.3 40 to be an outstanding quarterback. But you do have to be able to not repeat mistakes, quickly put bad throws aside, and mentally be tougher than anyone else out there.

Playing quarterback at a high level requires tons of film study, a decently-strong arm to make all the different throws, an ability to have your teammates want to follow you into battle, and quite a bit of luck to stay healthy. Of course, I’m simplifying the position a bit, but Verica has these skills. I’ve seen him throw some beautiful post patterns and sideline routes in practice this summer. He’s got the skills to get Virginia to seven wins (which would be a HUGE season), but man, a ton of other things have to come together perfectly in order for that to become a reality.

Ross Metheny should be the backup going in to the season. He’s had a redshirt season standing on the sidelines with the clipboard, and he throws a nice ball, but does not have a huge arm. Metheny is a classic drop-back left-handed passer, and will not amaze you with his running out of the pocket, but he very well might develop into next years starter. Let’s hope that Verica can stay healthy and let next season be Metheny’s year under center.

Lynchburg’s Mike Rocco comes from a nice pedigree of coaches. The true freshman also been one of the real surprises of the fall camp, and might become the backup later on during the season if London decides not to redshirt him. Rocco has a very strong arm, is a hell of a leader on the field, and could also play safety for the Hoos. I think he will redshirt this season, but could very well be the starter opening day next year.

True freshman Michael Strauss enrolled in January and has a leg up on the other freshman since he was able to compete in Spring practice. Strauss played for former Wahoo Earl Sims at Gulliver Prep in Miami. He’s playing in Lazor’s pro-syle offense for the first time here at UVA, after quarterbacking the spread in high school. He will most likely be in a huge battle with Metheny and Rocco for the back-up spot.

Freshman Miles Gooch, who hails from Georgia, looks to me like a guy that will play another position at the college level. He’s strong and very athletic, and he should easily make the move to receiver, or H-back on this team. He very well might move back to quarterback next season, or maybe not since the Hoos are light at the receiver position with the transfer of Quintin Hunter to JMU.

Go Hoos, beat the Hokies!  But, Wahoos, beat Richmond first.
 

First Circuit City leaves Albemarle Square, then Peter Chang leaves Taste of China, and now this? "We are looking for another location," says Plan 9 owner Jim Bland, of the record store’s Albemarle Square location. “We’ve been stuck in that very large space for quite a long time, and it’s way too big for us for what the Charlottesville market is these days.” 

Bland would not say when the Albemarle Square shop would close, but was "in the middle of" looking for a new location this morning. It is unclear where the record store will go next, but Bland says he wants to keep it in the Charlottesville area. A call to Dumbarton Properties, which manages Albemarle Square, was not immediately returned.

Reached by phone, Manager Ruth Wilson deferred comment to Bland. But in a recent C-VILLE story she spoke about the store’s efforts to recalibrate its selection toward used goods—originally the hallmark of the store, but less so in recent years at the Albemarle Square. Albemarle Square lost its used vinyl buyer in 2007, but recently started restocking large quantities through a buyer at Plan 9’s flagship store on Cary Street in Richmond, known for its vast selection of vinyl records.

A marketing firm called the Almighty Institute of Music Retail reported that 3,100 record stores closed between 2003 and 2008. Plan 9 lost locations in Roanoke, Lynchburg and Harrisonburg in 2009, Williamsburg this year and on the Corner in 2008.

What can record stores have to do survive?

A couple of brief updates this morning on the local arts:

The Virginia Film Festival‘s Director Jody Kielbasa will unveil the festival’s new logo tonight, "as well as making a significant announcement regarding a festival guest for this coming year." Pick up a C-VILLE and check out the Feedback column, or return here for an update after tonight’s pre-Spinal Tap conference.

Ever seen a beautiful, handmade book and wonder where it came from? Probably the The Virginia Arts of the Book Center, which needs your help moving on Wednesday from its Ix building location. Ever wonder if you could make books too? They sell off some of their gear Saturday, where you can buy the kinds of artisan bookmaking stuff you never even knew you wanted: "We’ll have shop furniture, books, ephemera, lead type we can’t store any more, and assorted treasures…including a Chinese typewriter (not making that up!)."

All this, to say nothing of the "bolts of buckram cloth." The sale is Saturday from 1-5pm at 977 Second St.

Who would you like to see at this year’s Virginia Film Festival?

Still waters run deep at Jefferson’s university. According to Charlottesville Tomorrow, UVA’s annual water usage has increased by nearly 110 million gallons since 2005.

However, water usage at the school remains more than 140 million gallons below the peak annual usage of 672 million gallons in 1999. During the same year, per capita water usage worked out to 22,748 gallons per person, compared to 15,545 in fiscal year 2010. This despite a nearly 20-percent increase in UVA’s square footage and a 15-percent increase in the overall university population. Read more here.

The Charlottesville Tomorrow article points out that a recent paper by a member of the UVA Board of Visitors suggests a growth in the number of students at UVA may outpace the growth estimate given in engineering firm Gannett Fleming’s 2004 water demand analysis. In 2009, Gannett Fleming proposed a $72 million redesign of the Ragged Mountain dam; RWSA put out a request for proposals when further studies suggested a new dam could be built for "substantially" less.

Two weeks into her job as president of UVA, Teresa Sullivan is starting to firm up her fall schedule. According to the website for the Office of the President, one of Sullivan’s first major events is a "Day of Dialogue" scheduled for September 24, and open to all members of the UVA community.

Plans for the "Day of Dialogue" originated during the end of Sullivan’s time at the University of Michigan, when news of the death of Yeardley Love reached UM’s Office of the Provost.

"With the start of the new academic year, it is important to continue the conversation that began in the wake of Yeardley’s death," wrote Sullivan in a recent letter. "It is my hope that a full day of open and vigorous discussion about violence, violence prevention, and best practices for campus safety will bring us together in new ways so that each of us can feel safe to participate fully in the life of the University." Details on keynote speakers will be available in September. (And check c-ville.com or pick up a paper tomorrow for news on how students and athletes disclose arrests to UVA officials.)

For those of you interested in hearing a few thoughts from the new UVA president prior to September 24, keep your Sunday mornings clear. According to a blog post from the Reverend James Richardson, Sullivan will visit St. Paul’s Memorial Church as "guest preacher" during the church’s "Convocation Sunday" service on August 29 at 10am. 

When the Virginia Film Festival held a conference at the Paramount Theater this afternoon to unveil a new permanent logo, Executive Director Jody Kielbasa also announced this year’s Film Festival Fellow: the director and film historian Peter Bogdanovich, whose The Last Picture Show, Mask and Paper Moon established him as a superliterate legend of the form.

…and a legend of the neck scarf. More below.

It’s also a display of the festival changing directions under Kielbasa. Fellows from past years include Maria DiBattista, a feminist literature scholar who teaches at Princeton University, and Hamid Naficy, a Northwestern University expert on media in the Middle East. As an Oscar nominee who has also written histories of Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles and Howard Hawkes, Bogdanovich has credentials and marquee appeal.

The Virginia Film Festival comes to town November 4-7. Kielbasa says that the next round of unveilings will happen October 5.

Tikki Masala, Curry, Tibault and Roxanne have been holding down Bantam Annex for going on two years now.

Bantam Annex is on the left

While way more skittish than our Rhode Island Reds and Barred Rocks, they have their own endearing qualities. Tibault, our black and glam rooster, has taken on a more fatherly role than our previous standard rooster, Sal. He is also much quieter. I think it is because he has a smaller voice box. The crowing, though nearly constant, is more charming than grating, and our next-door neighbor has even remarked that Tibault’s exclamations are a welcome reminder of a childhood spent on a farm in rural Virginia. Bonus!

Roxanne is bitty and quick but doesn’t seem to mind when my two-and-a-half-year-old throws grain near her. Curry’s a bit of a kook. She’s like that crazy aunt you learn to stay away from because you never know when she’ll just go off squawking and making everyone within earshot think that you’re pinching her or something. And Tiki, well, she’s just a follower, like every good chicken ought to be.

The Annex itself is a small raised elongated box-like structure with two nesting boxes and two doors. It is painted red with the leftover larger chicken coop paint, which is the leftover claw foot tub paint.

Does that red look familiar?

All of the annex materials are leftovers from something: from drawer pulls to pine paneling.  It’s quirky, just like the bantams that live in it.

The run of Bantam Annex (Tibault is on far left) 

Do you keep bantams? Have you noticed a difference between the standard/large breed chickens and the smaller breeds?