AbsolutVT03

said. There are lots of artists that I don't care for but that are immensely talented.

argument.

Pulitzer Prize and an Emmy. You can "question talented" all you want but the data shows otherwise.

answer to defensive issues is apparently always a zone. Just throw that on and it magically stops the other team cold. Unfortunately it's a secret on the elite coaches know.

New OC - Under; pretty confident on this Spring Game Attendance - I’ll say over but weather is probably the determining factor. Basketball Wins - Over Hair questions - No pick as the individuals can directly influence the outcome Commitments before Spring Game - I’ll say under. The second portal window is after the Spring Game. I definitely think there will be some movement there but I think it will be quiet until then.

providing any actual information.

Tyler Bowen really the best candidate? I get that they are hiring him as OL coach and not OC but still it’s a curious choice.

shown no interest in coaching jobs let alone here. Fuente would be a great OC but him coming back here is about as likely as Bud Foster coaching at UVA. Rahne is more realistic but not sure how much more. Vick is a nonstarter for a variety of reasons. Mines would obviously be feasible but it would be a big gamble.

know he's credible.

happening. And just like no one said TSL is why Bowen is leaving I didn't say we should "settle for mediocre". There's no "fear" there. That doesn't even make sense in this case. We have to hire a new OC. It wasn't a move made to stave off mediocrity. We'll see plenty of posts in the next days/weeks effectively saying "the new OC couldn't be much worse". I simply pointed out that Bowen was likely a better OC than many gave him credit for and the next guy could most definitely be worse.

everything which is absolutely true. Was he an amazing OC? Of course not. Was he better than many people here gave him credit for? Probably. And contrary to many fans' beliefs the next guy could most definitely be worse.

realistic at this point.

Ohio State. And it will be interesting to see what options we have for OC at this late date.

opinion as to what caused it. Flatly stating “intentional” is not “having an opinion”. And immediately jumping to conspiracy theories with zero evidence is most certainly delusional. I already explained why baseless conspiracy theories and speculation are dangerous. I gave examples of why they have harmful consequences. All of which you, of course, ignored. So “people on the ground” confirmed that the hurricane was made by the government and directed towards western NC possibly in an effort to seize control of lithium mining operations? Or that the government was seizing entire towns? You realize plenty of people “on the ground” came out and said “I live there and this is not true” right? As another example which you will ignore I saw a picture on Facebook a few weeks back. It was of a bunch of snow covered tents. And the post was using that as evidence that people in NC were homeless and freezing and nothing was being done about it. I did a quick reverse Google image search and it turns out the picture was from 2015 and was of a homeless encampment outside of NoVa. I pointed that out with a link to the news article where the picture appeared and the response was crickets. Did the OP take the post down or update it? Of course not. People don’t want truth. They want “evidence” to support their preconceived notions and nothing more. But sure they are “much more credible” than traditional media. 🙄 And just so we’re clear we should believe “people on the ground” while also dismissing people with experience and expertise in a specific subject. We should believe you because you are “in NC” but not the others there who are debunking misinformation. And we certainly shouldn’t believe pilots and medical experts who have spent their entire careers in their respective fields.

a fact. Jumping to the most unlikely conclusion is asinine. Actual pilots who actually fly actual planes into this actual airport have pretty much to a person said they don’t see anything that would indicate it was done intentionally. The problem is people start baseless speculation like this and others amplify it across social media. A perfect example is one of the helicopter pilots being misidentified. Certain people then ran with that incorrect information to the point where commanding officer had to call people and tell them it was false. We also saw a crap ton of it with regards to the hurricane damage in NC. If we keep excusing it like you did in your response then it will only continue to get worse. If you truly want to wait for the results of the investigation the you should have zero issue with me calling out a baseless rumor. Instead your post comes across as defending the OP’s delusional claim. ** Edited by AbsolutVT03 at 2/1/2025, 11:53:26 PM

be getting my news from random people on Twitter and Tik Tok?

and around that airspace. That and the various no fly zones are what makes it so complex in terms of air traffic control. That's from actual pilots who actually fly into the actual airport. Do you do even the bare minimum of research before spouting off completely uninformed takes?

your opinion. I said "Sure" as in the things you mention matter (not really in relation to Babcock/Pry) and then added another factor. It's worth noting that your opinion regarding whether the current leadership can navigate this mess is just that, an opinion. My statement that money is a limiting factor is NOT an opinion. It's a fact (for VT and every other school). You can certainly opine as to whether we are utilizing the money we have efficiently but that's not what I was doing.

know that's not feasible (for VT or literally any other program) so yes lower level stats can most definitely translate to P4 football... period.

could be wrong. It's definitely becoming more popular.

more at play than "wisdom" or being able to identify ideal candidates. I'm sure if money were no object we (and every other school) would go after the top DC in the country. I have no idea what we're paying the new DC. I don't especially care b/c people will complain about that. If it's too high they'll say we overspent. If it's too low they'll point to that as us being cheap or the candidate not being in demand.

Do you think every school (even the blue bloods) always get their "primary candidate"? FWIW it doesn't sound like he was very far down the list (top 5). But none of that matters. If he succeeds here no one is going to be like "Well sure but he wasn't the primary candidate".

probably gotten a more proven hire. Hell if money was no object then we could have gotten just about anyone we wanted. But given the resources available and the circumstances/stability we were almost assuredly going to get someone who was either unproven at the P4 level or a retread that was out of work. That's just where we are in the pecking order right now.

range. Again I'm not sure why people are hung up on that but there you go. It will have zero bearing on whether he's successful or not.

before complaining. Also both Babcock and Pry have a very vested interest in getting this hire right. I doubt they threw darts at names on a wall.

Both post a ton and are fairly controversial. Have we ever seen the three of them in a room together?

so many positions and multiple guys at that position on the field at the same time that you really want to have guys that can rotate in and not have too much of a drop off. Football is also more physical and (without looking at stats) I would assume more likely to have injured players. In basketball obviously it's ideal to have at least a couple quality bench guys for fouls or injuries or whatever. But it's not like you need a complete backup team for the starting 5 (unless you're pressing constantly).

based takedown. But on this particular point I was just saying that it certainly doesn’t go out of its way to clarify what he means. Maybe it’s intentional or maybe it’s just atrocious writing. Both are feasible.

out of its way to demonize (literally) Babcock. It doesn’t help that the writer makes other points that aren’t supported or rational.

interpretation. You can embezzle from a fundraiser. If you are saying it was a goal and we never had the money the quote again implies otherwise. Here’s the whole quote: “In February Whit would announce “Reach for Excellence”. A $400m initiative that never came to light. This left many wondering where the money went” In context of the whole diatribe (Babcock is the devil) it’s certainly not a stretch to think the writer is alleging something sinister like embezzlement.

photos were just random pictures of what he was talking about or photoshopped nonsense you’d find in bad political ads.

An open ended “where did the money go” could most definitely be interpreted as suggesting financial impropriety. Also calling this an “article” is an insult to actual journalists. It’s an opinionated rant on social media with random pictures.

a disgruntled fan trying to use his platform to push a narrative based on his personal opinions. Here he is calling for anonymous “stories” he can use to do something similar to Sands who he calls a “California scum bag”. This isn’t investigative reporting (or any kind of reporting). This is a guy with an axe to grind looking for any piece of “information” regardless of source or validity as long as it supports his narrative. “Coming Soon, a Tim Sands 🧵🪡 Please feel free to dm me any and all of Tim Sands terrible decisions and any story’s you may have on this California scum bag”

blame Babcock for everything. For example, Buzz Williams was not staying here no matter what Babcock did. Buzz was looking for new jobs after one season here. We were always a stepping stone yet that post makes it sound like Buzz left because of Babcock. Things like blaming Babcock for uniform designs (because the poster didn’t like them) undermine valid criticisms. And then when new uniforms (that I assume the poster likes) come along he gives Babcock zero credit and instead focuses on a “fumbled timeline”. He says this “Whit Babcock insulted VT fans at the presser saying they didn’t want to donate enough” but then the following quote doesn’t show that at all. Renumbering Lane Stadium was at worst a neutral change. The old numbering confused people (both VT fans and visitors). Reseating and ticket price increases are things that happen pretty much everywhere. I don’t like them but I certainly don’t blame Whit Babcock for them. The baseball rant is weird especially juxtaposed with his complaints about “not supporting” women’s basketball. Do we want to support sports that don’t make money or not? As is the case with other points the writer tries to have it both ways. It’s Babcock’s fault when a coach leaves due to lack of support and it’s also his fault when he does provide support. Finally there’s a ton of stuff in there that’s stated as fact with zero supporting evidence which makes people wonder if the writer really knows that stuff to be true or if he’s just guessing. And the childish pictures with Babcock as the devil and a FAIL stamp make it seem like the “you don’t hate children, do you?” ad from South Park. You don’t need that nonsense if you have a compelling argument. ** Edited by AbsolutVT03 at 1/26/2025, 4:05:42 PM

wife would probably kill me if I spent almost as much as the whole trip on upgrading to the beds. We sometimes have very different definitions of “worth it” 😉. It does seem like an infinitely more comfortable option though. If nothing else I know I’ll be sitting beside my wife and her best friend so I don’t have to worry about an inconsiderate stranger or a baby/small child.

based in PA. My wife’s best friend works for the Chamber of Commerce in Carlisle, PA. She had two spots left and told us we should take them. My wife really wasn’t interested but I told her we would probably never have another opportunity like this. So I think everyone but us will be taking a bus to Philly from Carlisle. I think they want to try to keep the group on the same flights which is why we are flying from Roanoke to Philly. I really wanted to fly out of Roanoke because I didn’t want to have to drive back home at the end of the trip. We do have like an 8 hour layover after we get to Philly. I’m definitely concerned about the timing between Philly and Dallas though. I think we’ve only got like an hour and 45 minutes and the Dallas to Sydney flight only flies once a day so if we miss it we’ll be waiting an extra day. I’ve brought that up to my wife’s friend because pretty much any delay getting out of Philadelphia will cause us to miss the Dallas flight. @hardwoodhokie

thinking... if there's ever a flight to go first class on it would be this one.

I should be good.

going to be a lot of flying as we are traveling all over Australia. I'm not the best flyer (understatement) so I'm definitely a little anxious especially about the 17 hour!!!! flight from Dallas to Sydney. Going out we'll be going Roanoke to Philly to Dallas to Sydney. Then in Australia we'll be in Sydney for 3 days then fly to Cairns. Cairns for 3 days and then fly to Alice Springs via Brisbane. We'll be in Alice Springs/Ayers Rock for 3 days and then fly to Melbourne. We'll be in Melbourne for 2 days and then fly to Queenstown, NZ. We'll be in Queenstown/Mount Cook/Christchurch for 6 days and then fly from Christchurch to Brisbane to Fiji. We'll be in Fiji for 3 days before coming home. Coming home we'll be going from Fiji to LA to Atlanta to Roanoke. It's obviously the trip of a lifetime which is why I'm making myself do it... but holy hell is it a lot of flying for someone who has probably flown 5/6 times total and never for longer than 4 hours!!! Anybody got any tips so that I won't go insane and try to open the door in the middle of a flight??? I've got some Xanax. I've got noise canceling headphones. I'll be taking my iPad and Nintendo Switch. I'd really like to sleep on the plane but I'm not sure I'll be able to get comfortable. They have the seats that turn into beds in first class and even at an additional $7,000 I considered it for the 17 hour flight. Alas I'll be slumming it in Economy. Also we're hitting the obvious stuff like the Opera House, Great Barrier Reef, Uluru/Ayers Rock as well as some other tours/events. Since it's a guided trip the itinerary is pretty full but does anyone have any recommendations for any of the places we'll be?

a room with 5 other people actively calling for and trying to pet the cat and it will only want to jump in my lap.