All I have to say

In middle school I had a gym teacher named Mr. Young. Mr. Young was lanky tall, white as chalk, and almost made it in the NBA. The rumor among students was he played against Larry Bird. When it got too cold for class to be outside, we moved inside and played basketball. Every year we'd get a 60 second crash course in hoops. We'd be seated on the bleachers and Mr. Young would stretch his arms out, ball between his hands, and say, "Boys, this is a basketball." Looking back, I'm sure he thought he was hot shit. He'd continue, "You dribble the ball," then he'd dribble, "You shoot the ball," then he'd shoot. He probably spotted up 15-or-so shots, nailed 'em all, ... and you get the idea.

Virginia Tech is 3-2, 0-2 against Big East teams. Reminder, we play in the ACC, but much like the basketball, you are what you are. This is not a good football team. Personally, I overestimated how good we'd be. My optimism got the best of me in spring and the preseason; I glossed over the loss of a lot of talent. It's evident after five games last year's reserves and some fresh-faced freshman weren't ready to step up. I also thought the coaches would be able to successfully modernize the offense. The two big changes this offseason: 1) pistol, 2) pre-snap motion. We use the pistol to throw the ball more than we do to facilitate quick-hitting rushes. The movement before the snap has looked nothing but sloppy, and has lost more in penalty yards than its gained in matchup advantages.

For the first time in a long time, I don't believe we're going to win ten games, and the main (only) reason we'll contend for the ACC Championship is because we're in a weak division.

The guy who stood behind me this afternoon was a better fan than me. He didn't know shit about the team. After one of Holmes' big-gainers he yelled, "Way too go J.C.!" Of course I was the asshole who corrected him. He clapped when we ran for just a yard on first down, and when we scored points. Sometimes it would be fun to be ignorant and just take Tech football at face value.

This is a recliner.

You relax in a recliner. You lean back and reminisce over your accomplishments in a recliner. You lay complacent in a recliner. We looked liked a complacent football team tonight.

Overall, I feel like Virginia Tech football has become a spectacle, an event. We play all these games outside of Lane Stadium (that we lose), we wear funky uniform combinations, we have some sort of effect for every game of the season. Students come and go through Lane as they please and plenty of them are more focussed on throwing paper airplanes. We play Sandman during the game.

No reason we should be losing these games. Gotta move forward and get this thing right. Who wit me? #idoitforus— Bruce Taylor (@I_GotTheJuice51) September 30, 2012

Bruce is right. There is absolutely no reason why we should lose to Pitt, or to Cincinnati, or JMU, or to Boise State, or to ECU, or to __________ (insert overmatched team).

At one point there used to be a hard-nosed football team in Blacksburg. This football team would wear all maroon. They didn't give any fucks. They were angry. They played in a Terror Dome. They earned respect. They attacked, and attacked, and attacked until they lived in their opponent's backfield. They brought their lunchpail to work, but ate the other team's sandwiches. They had athletic players, put them in a position to succeed, and they did.

Where are they at?