FB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[hasanova]

I ain't 'fraid of no Freddy... down on Elm Street... I ain't 'fraid of no Jason or Crystal Lake.... no triskaidekaphobia, paraskavedekatriaphobia, or friggatriskaidekaphobia here.....! 

More importantly, how many ODAC football teams have Ornithophobia?

Until we beat the Eagles, I'd say about six!  Although, the CUA Cardinals might be a special case.

[hasanova]

There was a hot topic now idle
O'er who was the player most vital
J.D. said the pass
Makes Tigers the class
But Marcus just held up the title.

hasanova,
maybe it's just an old phart thing but i've really enjoyed your limericks. Great wordsmithing ...my hats off on your most recent. Spot on and classy! Bravo!

There once was a "liberal token"
A wordsmither both written and spoken
He said thanks a lot
In football it's not
Seen much without goodnatured jokin'.

Thanks, Olinemom.  I appreciate that.

Abnrgr -  Wish I was going to the Broncos/Pats game!  Have a great time.  Give us a report when you get back.

[abnrgr]

Guys and gals let me tell you about this Denver Boston game
I have been to many NFL and college games and that was the loudest open air I have ever been in. The crowd caused 2 false starts and and made the Pats spend 2 time outs and I am death. Well I was death before I retired but I cannot ever rememeber a 12th man doing what they did this night. Tom Brady is a man. The Bailey pick brought the house down

[hasanova]

Guys and gals let me tell you about this Denver Boston game
I have been to many NFL and college games and that was the loudest open air I have ever been in. The crowd caused 2 false starts and and made the Pats spend 2 time outs and I am death. Well I was death before I retired but I cannot ever rememeber a 12th man doing what they did this night. Tom Brady is a man. The Bailey pick brought the house down

I thought Champ was going all the way, but he either ran out of gas just a bit at the end or had no idea anyone was closing on him (or both).  What a play by the Pats' Ben Watson to track him down.  Unbelievable speed by a TE, especially when he had to take the perfect angle and come from the other side of the field.  It was definitely a 14 point swing that changed the game!  Glad you got to go, you lucky dog!

[JacketsFan]

My son was a CUA recruit (D-line) in 2003. We liked the school a lot but I had a gut feeling something was going on with the football program there, so he ended up going somewhere else. Right after that, Tom Mulholland was let go. CUA brought back Tom Clark and everyone was happy about what his return would mean for the program. Now Clark has left again to go to Liberty (Ugh!) and Bob Talbot has retired. All this in the span of a few weeks. Three head coaches in s many seasons can't be a good thing for CUA. Why did Clark leave so soon? Did Bob Talbot's resignation have anything to do with it? Does anyone know what Mulholland is doing these days? I heard he's an assistant linebackers coach at D-!AA or D-2 school but I don't know if that's correct.

[Olinemom]

Skoal daddy and LLama

I scored tickets to the Denver- New England game. 10 yd line. Look for the fat guy in black wearing a white Quacker Hat with vomit (hopefully mine) on it.

I had to take an Air Force guy too just to keep up the appearance that I accept someone in a supporting role.

Plummer scares me..........

Now don't you go and run out and tackle my Tom Brady!!!  I might miscontrue that as unfriendly   Have a great time.  Hopefully I'll be a lot warmer and can spot you in the stands!!!  And especially hands off on my favorite player of all  TEDY BRUSCHI. (sp) I'm sure he is still out with his injury, but no fair tackling him on the sidelines just because he is there.  Go Patriots!!

Abnrgr--I know they said that was the former Redskin linebacker, Champ Bailey,  who ran @100 yards with that interception, but it looked suspiciously like you!!  Are you sure you didn't creep down to the sidelines,  overwhelm the guy, grab his uniform and get outthere and nail the coffin shut on my Tom?  I don't know. . .  Your seat was curiously empty during that run.  I just know it was you!! 
    It must have been a great time in that stadium yesterday.  The crowd noise was wild,  not as loud as in Seattle--at least it didn't sound as loud--probably had to do with less oxygen.  But Denver sure did care of business.  And then today Heath Miller (UVa) and Pittsburg took care of Peyton and the Colts.  So my weekend was 1 for 4.  Oh well, I will get to choose 4 more teams for next week and watch from the warmth of my living room.  I think it's great that you got to go to the play off game.  Hope you didn't mind me funning with ya!

[abnrgr]

Olinemom
Love it when I get some "funning".

I do not know if everybody saw it on TV but Brady had a couple run ins with people who were talking smack to him. He got right back in their faces. Lynch #47 racked him at least 3 times and I mean laid the wood to him. Bruski (sp) looked like he was about a half a step slower than last year. When the Broncos ran out prior to the KO with the horse running down the field I felt like I was in the movie "Gladiator".

The Pat's fans around us (about 7) was talking serious trash all night. I am surprised they made it out of there.

[Olinemom]

Olinemom
Love it when I get some "funning".

I do not know if everybody saw it on TV but Brady had a couple run ins with people who were talking smack to him. He got right back in their faces. Lynch #47 racked him at least 3 times and I mean laid the wood to him. Bruski (sp) looked like he was about a half a step slower than last year. When the Broncos ran out prior to the KO with the horse running down the field I felt like I was in the movie "Gladiator".

The Pat's fans around us (about 7) was talking serious trash all night. I am surprised they made it out of there.

So now you all have another home game.  Are you going to try for some more tickets?  bEcause Champ might need some more help!!  Just once I want to be in attendance at a pro football (or for that matter baseball) game.  It hasn't happened yet.  But there's still time!!  Glad you got to go.  Did you know that BC's athletic trainers are going to the Hula Bowl to be first responders for the East team?  2 of the girls are missing the last week of my Interterm class to go, so they have to get me Bret Elliott's autograph on one of my Stagg Bowl pictures from last year.  I think that's fair.  Of course, they have to turn in their other work, too.  But Hawaii, when the rest of us are still in winter??  Not fair!!

[Pat Coleman]

My son was a CUA recruit (D-line) in 2003. We liked the school a lot but I had a gut feeling something was going on with the football program there, so he ended up going somewhere else. Right after that, Tom Mulholland was let go. CUA brought back Tom Clark and everyone was happy about what his return would mean for the program. Now Clark has left again to go to Liberty (Ugh!) and Bob Talbot has retired. All this in the span of a few weeks. Three head coaches in s many seasons can't be a good thing for CUA. Why did Clark leave so soon? Did Bob Talbot's resignation have anything to do with it?

From Catholic's release on Talbot taking the development position in 2004:

Talbot, who has been CUA athletic director for 12 years, will assume his new position Oct. 15, taking charge of "The Competitive Edge: A Campaign for Cardinal Athletics" and running it until Aug. 31, 2005, when he plans to retire. Kristine Manning, associate director of athletics, will serve as interim athletic director.

It's actually three coaches in four seasons, though that isn't really any better.

[muchacho]

Jacketsfan...If your son was looking at Catholic while Mulholland was still the coach, then you were right that there was something going on. Coach Clark was a great coach, but everything he built during his first run from '94 to 2000 was lost under Ambrose and Mulholland.  If Catholic had seen another year under Mulholland, there might not even be a program right now. Consider that CUA's upcoming senior class, which was the responsibility of Mulholland, only has 3 players...of which 1 is a starter. Last year's senior class had just 13 players, of which only 6 were Ambrose recruits.
Although Tom Clark has left Catholic again, he has left the program in much better shape than it has been since the 2000 season. Despite his junior and senior classes being so small this year, he started camp with over 100 kids. He also demanded that Catholic make the upgrade to field turf, which is being put in this spring, and raised the number of full time coaches from 2 in 2003(Mulholland and Hunter) to 5 in 2004 and 2005.
Although Coach Clark has moved on to Liberty, he left a great foundation at Catholic that was absent when he left the first time around. So while the carousel of coaches looks like a bad thing for Catholic football, I believe that Clark's impact was to negate what had happened from 2001-2003, and to build a potentially greater program than what he left in 2000.
Regarding Talbot, his retirement was coming for awhile. It wasn't a shock to anybody when he left, and Catholic built in a nice period of time to transition from Talbot to new AD Michael Allen. Allen is a young guy with a lot of energy and ambitions for the program. I see him doing his best to ensure that Catholic has a top notch D3 program in the near future.

[JacketsFan]

Thanks, muchacho. Although my son, and by extension, his parents, are happy where he is and the program he's in, we were impressed with Catholic University. Plus, there's something to be said for being in the D.C. environment. Hell, we even enjoyed the subway ride. But the pricetag -ouch! My only criticism of the school - and maybe this had something to do with the underlying problems in the football program at the time - was that CUA was really late in sending out its acceptance letters and financial aid package information that year. Someone told me that CUA was at the time processing and sending out all its acceptance letters at once, instead of the piecemeal method employed by most other schools. I'm thinking that it was late April before we ever saw a financial aid package offering. As you can imagine, that's a pretty tough way to do things when you're down to the wire and need to make a decision soon. But, in all fairness, maybe all that was a reflection of what was going on at the time. We did meet Mike Hunter and spend some time with him. He struck me as a quality person and I'm glad to hear he's still with the program.

The best of luck to CUA in 2006. I just can't believe Clark bailed for Jerry Falwell U. But that's just me.

[muchacho]

Well the jump to Fallwell U. had something to do with Clark's family still being in Virginia after he was at Wiliam and Mary, and also with the fact that the new Head Coach at Liberty was at Colorado at the same time as Coach Clark.
In terms of your problems with financial aid and acceptance letters, I don't think that has anything to do with the football program, and its definitely not the first time I've heard of people having problems with the administrative side of the University.

[Matt Barnhart (kid)]

Previous Question: Who will end Bridgewater's 35-game ODAC win streak in '06?
Catholic - 4 (13.3%)
Emory & Henry - 1 (3.3%)
Guilford - 4 (13.3%)
Hampden-Sydney - 2 (6.7%)
Randolph-Macon - 1 (3.3%)
Washington & Lee - 4 (13.3%)
No one will - 14 (46.7%)
 
Total Votes: 30

[Bwana]

I thought Champ was going all the way, but he either ran out of gas just a bit at the end or had no idea anyone was closing on him (or both). ..

Bailey said in a post-game interview that he was gassed by the NE 30 yard line, and he thought it was amazing how the altitude sucked the air out of him.

[hasanova]

I thought Champ was going all the way, but he either ran out of gas just a bit at the end or had no idea anyone was closing on him (or both). ..

Bailey said in a post-game interview that he was gassed by the NE 30 yard line, and he thought it was amazing how the altitude sucked the air out of him.

I can believe that.  I was hiking in the Garden of the Gods Park in Colorado Springs a few years ago and I could see a big difference beween the 7000+ feet there and the tamer Blue Ridge Mountains and Smoky Mountains here.  Guess that's why they have the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.  Maybe "the Bus" will get a tailwind if he breaks a long run on Sunday.