November 22, 2022
Did William Bradford and Squanto ever imagine a Thanksgiving Weekend with such high drama ?? … so many OMG Moments … so much Happiness & Heartaches …
Lots of Winners telling jokes … and Lots of Losers saying “deal”.
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CONFIRMED: While the refs were “reviewing” that first UNCCh TD pass to the tight end at the end of the game – which WAS reversed and nullified – during the “review” 8,752 members of PackPride were deep diving the “dark web” researching the life history of the ACC Replay Official … and were poised to strike!
Fortunately, he was NOT The Notorious Jim Knight’s second cousin “LeRoy” but, if he had been, wouldn’t that have been a HOOT! If I’m not mistaken, it was the same Kenan end zone as “TA’s Knee”.
I was not at all surprised at the outcome of the game knowing the strength of NCState’s defense. The game was every bit the THRILLA that last year’s was. Further evidence of the competitive balance of the two programs.
Did I hear the announcer quote “Dour Dave’s” now infamous pre-game “red meat” comments about the rivalry. Of course I did.
Apparently Coach Doeren had gotten ahold of a copy of Rivalry Insults for Dummies and went with the old tried and true …. “we are blue-collar and they are elitist … and they lie about us to recruits … blah blah yadda yadda.” Dave left out references to “tractors” and “homosexuals”. Probably a wise decision.
FWIW: EVERY coaches at every STEM/Ag schools uses that same “us/them line” in their baiting with their “elite” LibArts school rivals. It’s never gets old with their alums so why not?
I mighta substituted “rednecks” for “blue-collar” considering the respective team colors involved. As for the “they lie about us to recruits” I have it from impeccable sources that the “lying to recruits” is absolutely mutual … always has been and always will be.
It has been yet another “OK but no cigar” season for “Dour Dave”. PackNation has grown increasingly tired of “Borin’ Doeren” and he knew it. Tossing “red meat” to those who devour red meat was his attempt to get that next contract “extension”.
“At least we beat UNCCheats again” likely assures that. Dave ain’t going anywhere.
There were – Of Course – PLENTY of post-game insults toward UNC’s Drake “Heisman Hopeful” Maye. Just as I predicted three months ago. Drake’s snide remark about NCState back in early September has a half-life of 25 years. His children will bear that burden.
In Conclusion: Overly-caffeinated partisans from both sides, who live and die over these rivalries, have reacted as they ALWAYS do when these historic encounters take place. Same “tractor jokes” and “UNCCheats” snipes blah blah blah …
NC State Won This Years Game “amid the lofty pines”. Of that there is no dispute. Wuffs own bragging rights for another year.
Meanwhile Franklin Streeters celebrate UNCCH’s umpteenth consecutive Womens Field Hockey World Championship or some such.
NOTE: What number is greater? The number of UNC fans who actually follow Womens Field Hockey … or the number of UNC alumni who have actually read Thomas Wolfe’s Look Homeward Angel?
I would say UNCers celebrate their men’s basketball team … BUT those guys kinda hadda train wreck weekend – YA THINK? Wanna bet some lower level lunatic has already given up on Hubert and is telling Bubba to “go get Larry Brown” …. sigh.
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Meanwhile …. down in Death Valley … over in The Wally … and up yonder in The Horseshoe …
All Dabo has done is firmly establish Clemson as one of the 3-4 legitimate SuperPowers in Power5 Football. Why does he think THAT entitles him to determine who oughta be playing QB for his team? How dare Dabo assume he gets to make that decision … and to accept the consequences.
If Dabo gets tired of Clemson’s spoiled fan base, he might wanna trade places with Duke’s Mike Elko.
If it wasn’t for Sonny Dykes’ year at TCU, Mike Elko would be a legitimate NCOY for his outstanding job at Duke this year … and apparently NOBODY cares.
OK, granted Derm is a very very strange place PERIOD … End of Debate. From the enclaves of toney Hope Valley to the very mean streets of East Derm … it is a carny sideshow of human aberration. But still …
On a nice Fall Saturday with both UNC and NCSU having played the day before and The Wally has fewer fans show up than for a Trump Rally on Franklin Street !!!!
An exciting high-scoring Wake Forest plays an exciting high-scoring Duke and there aren’t enough fans in the stands to open a second set of rest rooms !!! Pathetic!
Football Hurts. It is a contact sport that involves a lot of pain. The “reward” is “Gameday” performing in front of a stadium full of cheering fans. When half your games are in a 2/3 empty concrete mausoleum … and the only cheering fans you ever play in front of cheer for the other team … what’s the fun in that?
Duke is the only Power5 school that sells a general admission ticket. “Sit wherever you want … who cares?”
It is time to finally stick a fork in Duke Football. It has flat-lined. There is no There There any more and there never will be ever again.
Ace Parker, Sonny Jurgensen, Tee Mormon, Leo Hart, Wes Chesson, Mike Curtis, Bob Matheson, Wray Carlton, George McAfee, et al …….. RIP!
Yeah, I realize 65% of Duke’s 16,000 undergrads are “foreign” with more students from Mumbai and Seoul than from Charlotte or Raleigh. What students do show up look like the Its A Small World ride at Disney World.
“Hey Abu, look at the men in the funny uniforms! Why are they beating each other up over that pumpkin ..??”
If I was Mike Elko I would call Palo Alto RIGHT NOW …. and take that Head Coach job at Stanford … then take his entire Duke team with him including their very very very good QB Riley Leonard in the Transfer Portal. They’ll be outta Derm six months before anyone misses them.
Coach Elko, his staff and their players DESERVE A LOT BETTER than the pathetic support they get from Duke and the Derm community.
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Speaking of “Tough Business” … how’d you like to be tOSU’s Ryan Day? Beat up eleven opponents by 40-50 points … then lose the ONLY game that your fan base cares about – At Home – In A Rout. OUCH!
Absolutely Nothing Coach Day can do in recruiting or for the first eleven games Next Year MATTERS. Having to wear a disguise when you shop or eat out in Columbus … hear stage whisper insults … have For Sale signs placed in your yard. Then there are the death threats from the truly insane …
At the top of the pyramid there is ZERO margin for error. Tuff Bizness.
Nick knows that. Dabo, Kirby, Ryan, Harbaugh, etc all know that. Very High Risk … Very High Reward.
You say that you would trade places with them for their Mega Bucks contracts ???? Would you really?
Another Book Recommend ….
David Archer’s Noah Wolf series. Noah Wolf is America’s #1 Assassin … part of a super clandestine organization – E&E (Exterminate & Eradicate). Noah has a rare “condition” that left him with no emotions … no conscience. He and his team of four “specialists” are given assignments to “take out” designated undesirables. … I’ve read the first four of 19 book in the series. – Check It Out!
More BobLee Rimshots ….. HERE!
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