Night Out on the Town - Guest Report

This week Christopher Luke, the Video Coordinator at North Carolina in Chapel Hill provides the weekly feature. Definitely worth the read as it goes beyond a restaurant review - it is about a night out on the town.

As an avid reader of your blog, I have often said, I should do this for my trips, too.  I thought this would be a great night to document.  One of the coolest things about living in the Research Triangle Park area (Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill) is the 3 BCS schools located about 20 minutes from each other.  NC State is in Raleigh, Duke is in Durham, and UNC is of course in Chapel Hill.  I know of no other BCS schools that are this close in proximity. It really is pretty cool to be around this great group of guys not only in RTP, but the ACC as a whole because every weekend someone is coming to visit.  Most teams stay in hotels in RTP when they come to play. This weekend was no different.  Maryland stayed next door to UNC as we both prepared for our games against NC State and Duke respectively.  There have been as many as 6 schools staying in RTP on a given weekend. Earlier this year, I hosted Miami and Florida State in the same weekend in October.  It really is a unique situation here in North Carolina.  Hooter’s is usually our place of choice simply because it is centrally located near the airport and all of the hotels.

 

Tom Long of Duke is a Maryland grad so this weekend was also a great time to catch up with the ACC’s newest Video Director, Will Brown of Maryland, where Tom once worked in the Video Office.    I have known Will for a number of years at his previous stops of UCONN and Middle Tennessee State.

Tom Long (left) and Will Brown

 

Hud Jordan, not pictured, is the assistant Video Director at NC State, but is essentially in charge of the day to day operations for the team in Raleigh.  Hud arrived late but he was able to enjoy our mini CSVA convention.  Since we are all DVSport users, we also got to talk about features of DVSport’s Gameday application, issues we have been dealing with that piece of software, conference and NFL video exchange, and future non-conference teams video we all needed to find this off season.  We also had a good discussion about our iPAD DVSport application called Shuttle, as Duke, Maryland, and UNC have used it this season.  All in all, it was a great night to catch up with friends in the video business.

Victory Bell fought between Duke and North Carolina Football

 

Duke’s Video Director Tom Long and I have become really good friends since we both took similar jobs in July of 2008 here in North Carolina.  Our wives are pretty good friends and we both have 2 boys (Megan Long is pregnant with their second and is due this spring) For the 3^rd and final time this fall I drove my opponent’s Video Director to work on game day.  I did this earlier in the year for Luke Goldstein at Virginia and Stewart Cramer at Miami as I live in the RTP near all the host hotels.  My wife Sabra and Megan Long brought our boys later and sat inside the 5^th floor of the Kenan Football Center where my office is located during the game.  UNC kept the Victory Bell, one of the few trophy games in the ACC, for an 8^th consecutive year by a score of 37-21. 

Kenan Football Complex, home to North Carolina Football

College Football Week 12

A look back at College Football's week 12.

Go Beavers. All Big Ten members but Penn State will be cheering for Arizona this Saturday as the Wildcats host Oregon State. The Beavers looked impressive in their win over California and now travel to the desert. OSU is two wins away from playing in the Rose Bowl. Penn State has to like its chances playing the Beavers again instead of Southern California in their backyard. However if Oregon State makes the BCS, most likely that will send only one Big Ten team to the BCS party and each conference team will drop down the bowl selection list.

Fear the Turtle. Maryland has certainly improved as the season progresses. It opened the season by squeaking out a 14-7 win over FCS power Delaware. A week later lost at Middle Tennesse State 24-14. Following that upset the Terps haven't lost at home and their two losses came in the Commonwealth of Virginia to UVA and Tech. This past week they upset what was perceived as the best team in the ACC in North Carolina. They end their home slate this Saturday against Florida State and then end the season at Boston College. Two wins are definite possibilities.

The Cubs win the Pennant. No, this past playoff season wasn't a bad dream, but the Chicago Cubs have won a World Series more recently than the storied Michigan Football program has had a season with eight losses. The Wolverines have gone 129 without losing eight or more games in a season. If anyone tells you Rich Rodgriguez was left with the cubbard bare, don't believe them. WRs Mario Manningham and Adrian Arrington had eligibility remaining but left, and a starting offensive lineman defected to The Ohio State University last spring.

This little Piggy went to Iowa. No, the above picture is not of the Iowa Football team holding a Minnesota Cheerleader. That is Floyd of Rosedale, the travelling trophy awarded annually to the winning team in the Iowa - Minnesota football game. Floyd has lived the good life in Iowa City over the past 12 months. Game time is 6pm on the Big Ten Network. Wayne Larrivee and Chris Martin have the call. As always, tune into the Hawkeye Radio Network with Gary Dolphin and Ed Podolak.