I'm battling about three colds, exams are a week away and my cheeks are chapped from the cold wind. There's no reason for me to be in any sort of a good mood, yet the predominant emotion I feel right now is gratitude. No matter how miserable I feel, I can't help but notice and appreciate all of the blessings around me. Today, I'll share with you a few of them.
I am thankful for the overdue firing of football coach Al Groh, but even more so for the nine years of hard work he gave us. True, he never managed to pull together a really good team, but he sometimes convinced bad teams they could play well.
I can't help but feel a shred of sympathy for Groh, who was essentially booed out of town. Granted, he has been paid well and will reel in hefty paychecks the next two years just sitting on his bum; but he's put every ounce of himself the past decade into his alma mater, even if the results have been mediocre.
Also, he's received a hair too much heat for how pathetic Virginia ended up this season. Primarily at fault for the struggles was the offense, which was supposed to take a big leap forward after Groh's son Mike got canned and "guru" Gregg Brandon was brought in. As head coach, Groh was responsible for the entire team, but his focus was defense, which quietly had a solid year.
I am thankful for Tuesday Morning Quarterback, Gregg Easterbrook's phenomenal ESPN.com column. The NFL-themed opus frequently runs close to 10,000 words, and it's everything you could want from a sports column. Funny, articulate, insightful and thorough, TMQ has become one of the highlights of the week.
Speaking of my favorite ESPN writers, has anyone else noticed how sharp Bill Simmons has been recently? If you can get over his obsession with "Rocky IV" and his Boston douchery, his columns are a treat. He recently released "The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy," a 700-page epic about the NBA, and it's at the top of my Christmas list.
(In honor of Simmons' habit of infusing pop culture into his sportswriting, here's one music tidbit: 12 Gardens Live by Billy Joel, from 2006, might be the most underappreciated live album of all time. At the age of 57, the washed up Piano Man hipsters love to hate released the best album of his career.)
Meanwhile, Rick Reilly, held on a pedestal by every aspiring sportswriter under the age of 25, is in the worst creative rut since I started reading him. A bunch of his recent columns have been rehashes, and the rest have been shrug-inducing. He's been stretched too thin since he moved to ESPN from Sports Illustrated.
I am thankful for Monica Wright. I do very little to hide the fact that the women's basketball team is easily my favorite team on Grounds, but I feel I can objectively state the following: Since I've been at Virginia, only Somdev Devvarman has been an unquestionably greater athlete than Wright. You could make cases for Chris Long, Sean Singletary and Nikki Krzysik, but I have counterpoints ready for each of them. Paige Selenski may someday give Wright a run for her money, especially if a field hockey national title is involved.
Wright is a great player by any measure, but undoubtedly a better person. Ask anyone who knows her - nobody has anything but glowing praise for Monica. My favorite anecdote about her takes place before I started writing regularly for The Cavalier Daily. I attended the 2008 March Madness bid announcement at John Paul Jones Arena. Wright and I were both second-year students at the time, and I had interacted with her maybe twice.
After the announcement of the fourth seed, she and her friends were walking out of the arena through the bleachers. When she saw me, she stopped, held up her friends, greeted me, thanked me for coming, shared a 15-second conversation and then continued walking. It was a small gesture, but it's nice to know that the team's star had time on perhaps the most exciting day of her athletic career up to that point to stop and thank a fan.
I am thankful for having Aaron Rodgers on my fantasy team. Most people forget about Rodgers when a discussion of the elite NFL quarterbacks come up, but no player at any position in the NFL has more fantasy points thus far.
His big weak point is that he crumples at the slightest sign of pressure. His 44 sacks lead the NFL by a hefty margin. Still, only Brett Favre and Drew Brees have a better QB rating. Rodgers has thrown only five interceptions to 22 touchdowns and has the 7-4 Packers in control of a playoff berth.
I am thankful for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I have become moderately competitive at it. I challenge anyone, anywhere to take on my Mr. Game and Watch. Seriously, find me on Facebook and send me a message. We can drink a beer and play Smash together instead of studying.
More than anything else written here, though, I'm thankful for the people who take the time to read what I write. This is my second year writing a weekly sports column, and I'll be the first to admit that I've got a little bit of a sophomore slump going. More than once I've run short on ideas or time to execute them.
Nothing makes a writer happier than receiving reader feedback - positive or negative. So, thanks to those who have written to me or commented on one of my pieces. You all have called me out when I've screwed up - plenty of times - and even occasionally patted me on the back when I've said something you appreciated. It means a lot.
I hope everyone does well on their exams, gets home safe and has a most blessed holidays. Let's hope 2010 is as memorable as 2009.
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