King John out of touch with Wahoo Nation
By Jerry Ratcliffe / jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com | 978-7251
December 15, 2007

Three weeks have passed since Virginia lost for the sixth time in the last seven years to arch rival Virginia Tech.

While this columnist thought that most Cavalier fans had moved on from that regular season-ending loss and were more concerned with Gator Bowl issues, they haven’t. Virginia fans are still burning over what they term as a “Hokie lovefest” during the pregame ceremonies.

Yes, I’m getting bombarded with e-mails and comments about why UVa’s ticket sales for the Gator Bowl aren’t meeting the school’s expectations. We will publish a special page dedicated to fans’ thoughts on those issues later this week.

But, surprisingly, after all this time, there’s an anger out there about the lovefest, and it’s an anger that’s not going away. There are e-mails and voice mails and even snail mails about the Tech game.

Casteen loves dem Hokies

Most of that anger is directed squarely at UVa president John Casteen, whom we often refer to in this column as King John, a snooty, pompous president who has been largely unpopular with Cavalier sports fans for years.

In case you missed it, there were many unifying activities between Tech and UVa on the football weekend. The two bands collaborated on a show, which was fine with fans.

Clearly, when the Cav Man video came onto the stadium screen, it was a touch of class that instead of destroying the Tech Hokie Bird in the customary ending, the two characters shook hands and commented, “Let’s settle this one on the field.”

While some fans were disappointed, it displayed sensitivity to the tragic events that occurred on the Tech campus last April. Everyone’s hearts went out to Virginia Tech for that horrible time, and no university in the country reached out to Tech more than UVa.

Crossing the line

However, most Virginia fans believe UVa went too far in pregame ceremonies by unfurling a massive banner on the field about Commonwealth Day, whatever that was, highlighting Charlottesville and Blacksburg.

Then there was the ultimate slap in the eyes of Wahoo fans when former Virginia Tech star Bruce Smith was presented a bronze football on the field.

Say, what?

All of this, of course, was orchestrated by Casteen. Personally, I don’t believe the athletic department had anything to do with this other than following Casteen’s directives. After all, who had more to do with getting Virginia Tech into the ACC than Casteen?

I’m still waiting for the Hokies to erect a statue of Casteen somewhere on the Tech campus, perhaps between Cassell Coliseum and Lane Stadium.

One UVa fan, who said he has given the Cavaliers $50,000 over the years had this to say about the weekend:

“I found myself saddened that an opposing team could come into our house and be treated like it belonged there more than we did ... If you are a member of the athletic department, shame on you! ... If you are a fan that sold your ticket to the opposing fans, double-shame on you! ... It is appalling to see as many of the opposing team’s fans as your own. I know of no other rivalry that would let an opponent’s fan base rule in your house.”

Virginia Tech fans have showed up in numbers at UVa games in Charlottesville for several years now, a fact that frustrates many Wahoo fans. But the outpouring of brotherhood to the Hokies in the pregame ceremonies was more than most Wahoo fans could stand.

“The Hokie lovefest (a popular description of the day by many UVa e-mailers) put on by our administration on 11/24 was just too much,” wrote one UVa fan. “The mixed signals that administration is sending us ... Casteen basically dissed all of us hardcore Wahoo fans who would like to beat Tech more than once every 7-8 years, YET they want us to increase our donations next year.”

Another wrote: “Love-affairs with VPI (Tech’s former name) is a big downer for us ... and last but not least, talking down to loyal, rowdy fans (as Casteen) calling the rivalry ‘jocular.’ I think he’s a joke, myself.’”

This is a sampler of the steam Cavalier fans are letting off.

They’re right. This would have never happened at a Texas-Texas A&M game, Auburn-Alabama, Florida-Florida State, Clemson-South Carolina, Michigan-Ohio State, USC-UCLA, Georgia-Georgia Tech game. And it should never happen at a Virginia-Virginia Tech game again.

Guarantee that it will never happen in Blacksburg.

In case you missed it, what those fans were referring to in terms of Casteen’s statements, this is what King John declared to the USA Today that week:

“The chief theoreticians behind the modern athletics rivalry are sportswriters and people who sell T-shirts. Among persons with less obvious motives, and with more important things on their minds, this athletics rivalry (Virginia vs. Virginia Tech) is more jocular than serious.”

That is about the most misguided, pompous, uniformed statement this columnist has ever known to come out of a college president’s mouth. It clearly shows that Casteen is either ignorant when it comes to modern college sports or is so out of touch with his school’s fan base that he should be ashamed of making such a stupid remark.

First of all, before the NCAA was created and cleaned up the rules of football, college football players were occasionally killed in those rivalry games (happened at UVa once, if I recall correctly). I don’t think sportswriters had anything to do with that and I don’t think anyone sold T-shirts.

I believe I could represent my fellow scribes in pointing out we wished we had that kind of power and influence. If that were the case, myself and the area’s premier T-shirt salesman, Mark Mincer, would have our own private islands in the Caribbean along with Paul Tudor Jones.

But that’s OK. We sportswriter types have thick skin.

However, dissing the fans in such a manner is unforgivable. These loyal subjects, King John, pay your salary, pay for your athletic programs, your stadiums, your little kingdom.

And, King John, if you think the UVa-Tech rivalry is a joke, go ask Hokie fans if they agree. Go ask Frank Beamer. Go ask Tech president Charles W. Steger if he shares your opinion. You might be surprised.

No wonder Tech sacks your kingdom every time it comes to town, takes your seats, keeps your trophy, kicks your fanny.

If that’s a joke, King John, you’re the only one laughing.

 

Hitting the books, boards
Academics top priority for Cavs' Meyinsse
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
December 15, 2007

Virginia sophomore Jerome Meyinsse was in middle school when he got the bad news from his parents: He would no longer have cable television in his room.

Meyinsse’s report card had just arrived in the mail and he had received a ‘B’ in a class. No more cable was the punishment.

“I got it back eventually,” said Meyinsse, laughing. “I pulled up that ‘B.’”

Meyinsse, whose parents are both professors at Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., has been pretty much a straight-A student since.

Sans a couple of ‘B’s’ in psychology and astronomy classes the first semester of his freshman year, Meyinsse has an almost perfect college transcript. The 6-foot-8, 245-pounder has a 3.78 GPA.

“Whenever I have an [academic] problem, I’ll go to Jerome for help,” said Virginia sophomore Will Harris. “Jerome, I feel like, is basically a baby genius. I wish I could have the same academic strive that he has.”

Added UVa senior Sean Singletary: “He epitomizes what a Virginia student-athlete is.”

Joseph and Patricia Meyinsse, Jerome’s parents, have always harped on academics.

“I had to do really well in order to play basketball,” said Meyinsse, a National Achievement Scholar at McKinley High School in Baton Rouge.

“They didn’t really care whether I played basketball.”

Meyinsse and his Virginia teammates are currently taking winter exams. UVa (7-2) doesn’t play another game until Wednesday when it hosts Hampton.

Meyinsse expects his toughest exam to be in one of his economics courses.

Meyinsse says the transition to student-athlete at a school like Virginia was tough at first.

“It was an adjustment my first semester,” said Meyinsse, who turns 19 on Tuesday, “but after that it’s just about time management. After practice you have to fight fatigue to go and study, because if you go to your room and sleep, your work may never get done.

“It’s about time management and having your priorities in order.”

Meyinsse’s father is a math professor. His mother is an economics professor. It comes as no surprise then that Meyinsse is planning on majoring in economics and minoring in math.

Meyinsse loves working with numbers. Last year he took a calculus class with teammate Mamadi Diane.

“I had to drop out,” said Diane, laughing. “He probably got an A in it. He’s a great student.”

“He keeps our team GPA up,” joked Singletary.

Diane says Meyinsse isn’t the typical Division-I basketball player. After all, Meyinsse participated in the U.S. Department of Energy Science Bowl as a high school senior,

“He’s definitely different,” Diane said. “He’s always boisterous and outgoing, but at the same time a bit of a nerd. But it’s cool - we all love him.”

Meyinsse says there is one course outside of his area of study he would like to enroll in - just for fun.

“The History of the Circus,” he said, smiling. “I had to drop out of it because it conflicted with a math class, but before I graduate I plan on taking it.”

Meyinsse says when it comes time to attend study hall with his teammates, he is glad to lend a hand.

“If I see somebody who needs help, and if the other tutors are busy, I’ll help them out,” Meyinsse said.

There is one downside to being known as the smartest guy on the team: Meyinsse takes plenty of good-natured ribbing from his teammates.

Recently, players were doing a workout on stationary bikes and Meyinsse forgot what level they were supposed to be pedaling at.

“If I make any mistake or error, they say, ‘You’re supposed to be smart!’” said Meyinsse, smiling. “[But] if you have to get teased about something, that’s not something bad to be teased about.”

On the court, Meyinsse has yet to make much of an impact for the Cavaliers. However, that was expected to be the case since he is one of the youngest players on the team and has only been playing basketball at an intense level for a couple of years.

“You can’t really see it now, but he’s real dominant in practices,” Singletary said. “I think by the time he’s a junior he’ll be real good. He has a lot of talent. You’ll see that.”

 

ACC bowl teams lacking cash windfall
Revenue-sharing puts Duke on equal footing with Virginia Tech
Saturday, Dec 15, 2007 - 12:07 AM Updated: 12:35 AM
By JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

ACC football champion Virginia Tech will meet Kansas in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 3. That game is part of the Bowl Championship Series, so the official payout for each team is a cool $17 million.

Imagine what that might buy for the Hokies. Only some of that money, however, will eventually find its way to Blacksburg.

Unlike some conferences, the ACC has a revenue-sharing plan under which its members essentially get equal payments. It doesn't matter, then, that Duke's football team failed, once again, to advance to a bowl game. The Blue Devils' check from the ACC for the 2007-08 academic year will not differ significantly from Tech's.

"There's no performance bonus," said Mike Finn, an associate commissioner with the ACC.

For the 2006-07 academic year, U.Va. received about $10 million under the ACC's revenue-sharing plan. Had the Cavaliers played in a bowl in 2006, the total would have been closer to $11 million, because the ACC helps pay for its members' travel expenses to postseason games.

Eight ACC teams are headed to bowls this season: Virginia Tech to the Orange, Virginia to the Gator, Clemson to the Chick-fil-A, Florida State to the Music City, Georgia Tech to the Humanitarian, Wake Forest to the Meineke Car Care, Maryland to the Emerald and Boston College to the Champs Sports.

Each school will get an expense allotment from the ACC, depending on where it's bound, to cover the cost of travel.

For the Chick-fil-A, Gator, Champs Sports, Music City and Meineke, each ACC school will receive $1 million. The ACC pays $1.1 million for the Emerald, which is in San Francisco, and $1.2 million for the Humanitarian, which is in Boise, Idaho.

An ACC team heading to the Orange or Sugar gets $1.6 million, Finn said. The expense allotment is $1.75 million for the Fiesta and $2 million for the Rose.

The payouts of the bowls with which the ACC is affiliated range from the Orange ($17 million per school) to the Humanitarian ($250,000 per school), Finn said.

The ACC also helps its bowl-bound schools pay for unsold tickets. The Orange and the Chick-fil-A give allotments of 17,500 tickets to each of their participating schools, Finn said. For the Gator, it's 13,500 tickets per school; for the Champs Sports and Meineke, 12,500 apiece; for the Music City, 11,000 each; and for the Emerald, 10,000 apiece.

The Humanitarian does not ask its participants to pay for a certain number of tickets, Finn said.

For the other seven bowls, the ACC requires its schools to pay for the first 6,000 tickets. For any tickets unsold after the first 6,000, the ACC picks up from 50 percent to 100 percent of the cost.

The bowl payouts form a major revenue stream for the ACC. Others include the conference's TV deals for basketball and football, plus the money the ACC receives from the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

 

Opportunity amid turmoil
Former Virginia running back Jason Snelling tries to find a comfort level in Atlantas fractured season.
BY MELINDA WALDROP | 247-4634
9:06 PM EST, December 15, 2007
 

However turbulent it may seem, Jason Snelling has found a home.

Snelling, Virginia's leading rusher in 2006, was selected by the Atlanta Falcons in the seventh round of April's draft. Since then, he's been bounced to the practice squad, seen the franchise's marquee quarterback disgraced and endured a 3-10 season.

The upheaval in Atlanta continued this week with coach Bobby Petrino leaving after 13 games. But amid the turmoil, Snelling has settled into a niche as the Falcons' short-yardage back.

"Nobody expects to have a season like that," Snelling said. "Nobody wants to lose as many as we have, but it happens. Coming in as a rookie, you want to win. You want to do a lot of things, but it's a learning process. I just want to get better and help my team."

Against New Orleans on Monday night -- the same day former quarterback Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison for his role in a dogfighting operation -- Snelling had three carries for 9 yards, including 3 on fourth-and-1 in the third quarter of a 34-14 loss. That gave him 28 yards on nine carries for the season.

Modest though those numbers are, they encourage Snelling, who languished on the Falcons' practice squad for three months despite an impressive preseason.

"I always thought that my chance would come," Snelling said. "It's been a long road. I'm blessed to have the opportunity, and I want to keep on seizing the opportunity."

Perseverance is nothing new to Snelling, who sat out his sophomore season with the Cavaliers because of mystifying migraines and seizures, later diagnosed as epilepsy and controlled with medication. He returned to gain 325 yards in 2005 before leading U.Va. with 772 yards and seven touchdowns in 2006.

His agent, Scott Smith, said no NFL teams expressed concern about Snelling's epilepsy. A bigger pre-draft issue was whether Snelling, fullback-sized at 5-foot-11 and 232 pounds but with soft hands and surprising speed, was best suited to be a blocker or a ball-carrier.

"You wouldn't look at him and think of him as a scatback type, (but) he was much more difficult to get tackled than might have been a defensive back's first impression," Virginia coach Al Groh said. "I would want Jason Snelling on my team any time, any place."

Still, Snelling sweated out draft day until the Falcons took him with the 244th overall pick. Once in Atlanta, Snelling plunged into minicamp, getting to know Vick as a hard worker. His time with Vick was cut short, though, when the quarterback was suspended indefinitely in August after pleading guilty to federal conspiracy charges.

"I was just coming in, a new face trying to make the team," Snelling said. "I knew (Vick) was a big part of the Atlanta Falcons, (but) earlier this season, we realized he wasn't gonna be here. That was the reality of it. ... I just take it for what it is and try to keep myself focused to better my career."

Snelling's focus resulted in 172 preseason yards, fifth-best in the NFL but not enough to keep him from being sent to the practice squad Aug. 4. His original four-year contract, with a minimum rookie salary of $285,000, was replaced by a one-year practice-squad deal.

But Falcons running-backs coach Ollie Wilson saw potential in Snelling, who he said worked hard to adjust to the speed and defensive intricacies of the pro game.

"It just takes reps and a lot of time," Wilson said. "But once he gets it, he's a smart kid."

On Nov. 12, a roster spot opened up for Snelling when linebacker Travis Williams was waived. Six days later, with a new two-year contract for about the same money as his original deal, Snelling gained a season-high 13 yards on two carries in front of family members in his first regular-season pro game, a 31-7 home loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"I grew up wanting to play in the NFL, and having the opportunity and sharing it with my closest family was real exciting," he said.

Snelling barely was settled in his new role when Petrino, whom Snelling called "a good guy" and "a good coach," left the team. Snelling said he had no idea Petrino was leaving and heard about his resignation from family and news reports.

"There's a lot of disappointment and anger out of some people, but we've still got three games to play," Snelling said. "We hit bottom this year as a team, (but) adversity is amongst you in everyday life, not just on a football team. We've just got to take that adversity and feed off of it."

As to what Petrino's departure might mean for his future, Snelling said, "It's the guy that drafted me, (but) it's too early to worry about that. Wherever I'm at, whether it's Atlanta or another team, I'm going to be faced with having to go out there and work hard and show a new coach what I can do." Wilson believes Snelling fits with Atlanta -- because of his on-field ability and his off-field focus.

"When things were really tough early, with the whole Mike Vick situation ... the character of (the team) really showed up," Wilson said.

"They stuck together, they went out and worked hard, and they tried to put as much of that distraction away as they could. ... Jason was just one of those guys who went to work every day and tried to get better, and it's paid off for him."