Disclaimer: If bad jokes, weak segues and trivial observations do not cheer you up or get you excited for another game from your lackluster football team (on national television, no less), you might want to stop reading now.
As many of you know, there is a football game at Scott Stadium tonight which may go down as one of the worst Thursday night national broadcast matchups in ESPN history. Your 2-5 Virginia Cavaliers host the 1-5 North Carolina Tar Heels and hope to win one of the last remaining games in which they have a legitimate chance.
The first half of Saturday's game was such a surprise that it led me to say, "We can't even lose when we're supposed to" in the midst of it. Then the second half brought us back to reality. Despite how mistake-free Virginia played in the first half and how well the offense was clicking, in the end the results showed just why there are two halves.
As easy as it would be to harp on the mistakes of Saturday's huge collapse, such as the muffed punt that opened the floodgates for a huge comeback or the telegraphed (understatement of the century) pass that everyone in the stadium knew would be intercepted, Virginia is on a short week and so are the fans. It is already another game day for U.Va. Hopefully the quick turnaround will have allowed the offense to continue to flow and the Hoos will have used it to correct the mistakes that cost them the game.
There were a lot of questions raised in my mind during this past weekend's game. Some include the obvious "how did we blow a 20-point lead?" and the more focused "why did we throw a fade on fourth and four from the 15-yard line with the game pretty much on the line?" However, most of my questions deal with matters aside from the actual play itself.
The first thing I thought when the team came out Saturday was "Why are we wearing all blue?" Once we got out to a 20-0 lead, I let my superstitious side take over and decided maybe the new combo was good luck. After what happened, I hope those monstrosities are left in the closet permanently. I have never been a fan of the navy pants to begin with, mostly because they should have orange stripes (check out CavMan's pants tonight) instead of white. Better yet would be the solid navy pants of the Barber brothers and Thomas Jones era. Also, the white socks look out of place because there are no stripes on any other part of the jersey. Let's just stick to what looks good: the regular navy-on-white.
I wrote earlier this semester that one of the only reasons left to go to U.Va. football games is to see CavMan defeat the other team's mascot (usually the only chance we have to win something on game day). Anyways, when did CavMan get a plane that he kept in a secret lair beneath Mad Bowl, and who was driving the plane when he killed the giant terrapin with one blow? These are the questions that have kept me up the nights since the game. I think they should hand out a pamphlet or something before the game that explains CavMan developments since the last episode, just so that we can keep up and be prepared.
Honestly, what is the deal with HooVision? This thought usually crosses my mind a number of times each game, but the most glaring examples from Saturday was the lack of a replay after Maryland missed a field goal on the far side of the field. That was a pretty key play at the time, and there was plenty of time during the change of possession to show a quick replay of the ball going wide right. I feel like there are a number of crucial plays or questionable calls that go un-replayed without any real excuse. I'm sure HooVision cost like a trillion dollars, so why don't we make sure to use it whenever possible.
Of course, I couldn't completely concentrate on HooVision, since I was already distracted. Listen, I think we are all pretty bright people. Clearly, we go to a great school in U.Va. So why did everyone switch to waving pompoms just because they were provided instead of shouting and clapping while the Hoos were on defense? Despite the aesthetic effect of waving thousands of orange pompoms, the act did little to disrupt Maryland quarterback Sam Hollenbach. I just hope no one tries to get cute and bust them out again at tonight's game (or for that matter their cousin rally towels, which are apparently the new thunderstix).
(Also, for the record, I am not blaming the loss on the pompoms, unless Al Groh was behind those too).
I promise I paid attention to the actual football game Saturday, but these other things jumped out at me as well. I urge you to be ready for anything tonight, not only from CavMan, but also from the football team: there's no telling whether Saturday's first or second half Cavaliers will show up or how long they'll stay.
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