Frank Beamer is the Coolest and the BCS Is Dead (Almost)

The head coach of the Hokies isn't the only one dancing today as a presidential oversight committee, led by Virginia Tech President Charles Steger, finally granted approval to a four-team playoff system for college football.

In an interview with the Daily Press, Steger told David Teel, “The ACC presidents were unanimously in favor of the four-team playoff, and I wanted to be sure they [Athletic Director Jim Weaver and Beamer] were comfortable with it. Frank’s the one who’s got to coach the team. Not me. He’s very supportive."

And why wouldn't he be? The Hokies are consistently on the cusp of being a top team, but usually fall just on the outside of the national championship picture.

Therein lies the biggest criticism of Beamer, he can't win the big one.

You know the rest of the drill, Frank Beamer is class personified. He's nice to a fault in the minds of many, and there aren't a lot of public sports figures these days criticized for being loyal and considerate of one's opponents.

Those detractors are few and far between, a product of the semi-professional SEC and the envious eyes fixed upon its success by the rest of the college football world.

Hokies certainly aren't immune to that, and there is a crazed group of folks who whisper too loudly for my tastes that Beamer will never win the national championship and can't get Tech to that level during his last handful of seasons in Blacksburg.

I get that to some extent. I want a national championship too and Frank wants it more than anyone. There have been plenty of eggs laid by the Hokies on the big stage and maybe he won't win the big prize, but that's no reason to hasten his retirement.

The man is Virginia Tech football. His record is 209-98-2. He has never had any recruiting violations or academic scandals. If anything, maybe you could say he's given troubled athletes too many second chances. Oh for shame!

There's only one thing hanging over his legacy, and it's the empty trophy case in the Merryman athletic center reserved for the national championship trophy.

This case overlooking the practice field is reserved for the national championship trophy.

People are quick to blame Frank for that emptiness, but they forget he's the only reason it's there in the first place.

Now, the four-team playoff format brings new hope to those not confident in Tech's ability to finish in the top two spots of the BCS.

The BCS is dying and we will all dance on its grave and welcome the purer playoff that gives more teams a chance to win the national championship.

Really it's all about money, but don't tell Frank. He's first in line to dance a jig.

Remember Fiona Apple? This And Other News

When last I posted, I painted a rather bleak portrait of the mainstream music scene as it stands today.

I insinuated that the youth of the world are vapid people that listen to strange, disposable sounds. That they possess the attention-span of a gerbil after having their brains warped their entire lives by the warm glow of modern technology.

This is true.

But that isn't to say that there isn't a lot of good music still being put out there.

I'd like to take this chance to re-affirm some faith in the current music industry by highlighting some upcoming releases that are very exciting.

------------------

Fiona Apple is best known for the controversial music video for her 1996 song "Criminal", from her debut album Tidal. 


Subsequent releases saw her evolve a unique style featuring her soulful, emotive voice alongside tasteful piano playing and arranging.

Her latest album, The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver Of The Screw, And Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do, features some bare arrangements that serve to highlight Fiona's voice and emotion.


It's a very powerful album and also very weird, both of which are good things in my book.

Her single, "Every Single Night" is beautiful and arresting while the music video is at once the coolest and strangest thing I've seen in a while.



Another promising project comes to us from Glen Hansard.

Formerly of The Frames and The Swell Season, Hansard marks his solo debut with the release of Rhythm and Repose. 

Sepia tones and suspenders mean folk gold and hipster cred.

It's a very folksy album with fairly restrained vocals that give way to some powerful moments such as on the song "High Hope". 

Hansard has melted our hearts before with his work in the film Once, and his other collaborations with former love interest Markéta Irglová.

Glen's distinctive Irish voice lends a certain tenderness to everything he sings and he's still playing that old guitar with the hole in it. Very folksy indeed.

Both albums will be released 6/19. In the meantime, you can stream them both over at NPR's First Listen.

Memorial Day Hangover Music: Nineties Edition

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Memorial Day filled with grotesque self-indulgence as only America can serve up.

Hopefully, somewhere between adult beverages and ill-advised water sports you had a chance to think of those who currently and previously served in our armed forces. You know, the reason the banks were closed?

Anyway, I'd imagine most people don't feel in top form today if they went all out yesterday, and there's nothing that fixes...well, anything like music.

I've chosen songs from the nineties because (excluding the very end) it was arguably the best decade of the modern music era. I've casually defined that as anything post-1975 in my own mind because tunes from before that are virtually untouchable in a critical or artistic sense.

The music of the first half of the nineties was a complete turnaround from the glossy, over-produced filth of the eighties.

Gone were the "Phil Collins drum sound" and the excessive synthesizers, replaced by angst-ridden wailing guitars, esoteric lyrics and jeans with holes and flannel shirts.

In short, people stopped being stupid and started rocking again.

I do find it odd that after getting away from the pop nonsense of the eighties, the end of the nineties and the subsequent decade saw a return to the over-polished bubblegum pop of before...but WORSE.

We can only hope these things are as cyclical as they've been in the past, but I worry as the coming generation is clearly filled with impatient knuckleheads with the attention span of goldfish who are want to babble incoherently in some kind of bastardized Internet-speak. I'm not even sure most kids today know how to use a pen and paper.

But I digress. I realize this was a bit heavy for curing hangovers.

I've tried to avoid enormous hits with these songs with some obvious exceptions. I love how nineties videos didn't need a plot or obvious meaning. Just loads of weird imagery. That should calm the nerves, eh?

Irish Lax Reaches NCAA Tournament for Seventh Consecutive Year

This Sunday at 5:15p ET on ESPNU/ESPN3 the Notre Dame Men's Lacrosse program will play host as a #4 seed to the visiting Yale Bulldogs in the NCAA Tournament.

After an opening season loss the Irish won 10 games in a row, including the program's first ever victory over the Syracuse Orange. Head Coach Kevin Corrigan couldn't refocus his team after the momentous win, though. In the quarterfinals of the first ever Big East Lacrosse Tournament as the Irish squandered countless opportunities to St. John's.

Despite the loss in the Big East Tournament, the Irish did manage to win the Big East regular-season title with a perfect 6-0 record.

What is more, they have higher hopes at returning to the national championship game over Memorial Day weekend. Two years ago they lost in their only previous trip to the title game in a low-scoring battle with the Duke Blue Devils.

The road back to the title game starts this Sunday, and here's hoping the Irish look more like the team in the highlights below than the one that fell apart against St. John's.

Former Hokie Star Austin Wates Makes a Great Catch

Austin Wates was one of many Tech baseball players I covered during my time as the "Voice of English Field".

Austin was an important part of turning Tech's ACC baseball fortunes around, and his play in college led to him be selected in the third round of the 2010 MLB Amateur Draft by the Houston Astros.

Wates hit .300 with 6 home runs and 75 RBI during his first season of minor league ball for the Lancaster Jethawks of the California League.

Those numbers earned Wates a promotion to AA ball this year where he's currently hitting .295 for the Corpus Christi Hooks.

The other day, Austin pulled off this impressive over-the-wall catch that has made him a viral star.

Tenacious D and the Rize of the Fenix

Brian and I have a special relationship with Tenacious D.

We've never met Jack Black or Kyle Gass, but it was the intensely rocking and hilariously profane stylings of their 2001 eponymous debut that inspired us to create our own comedic rock duo, and eventually, a real band.

We played that album constantly, shaking Brian's little white Honda and belting out every single lyric while shuttling back and forth between school, golf practice and local pizza joints. 

Calling ourselves "The Deuce"—likely because there were two of us and you can make a bathroom reference from it—we would get together in our free time and Brian would play riffs he came up with or actual songs by artists ranging from Green Day to Van Morrison and I would freestyle silly lyrics over them.

Windows Sound Recorder was the medium of choice at the time. Even then it was an archaic program with few features beyond the record button, but we used it to make several albums of songs such as "I'd Like to Bang the Olsen Twins" and "Putt-Putt Prostitute". 

It's a long way from GarageBand and ProTools.

It was crude and kind of good, and from those humble beginnings rose a real semi-professional band, Cutting Room Floor.

That was all thanks to the D. 

And so we followed their career as Jack Black became a big star and eventually got a movie  and album made called Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny. 

Despite being a critical and financial failure, fans like us found it to be typically gut-busting and the music was outstanding. 

Now we have been given the next chapter in the D saga, Rize of the Fenix.

The album is set for release May 15, but you can stream it all now on their SoundCloud account and watch the video for first single "Rize of the Fenix" below.

Kage (left) and Jables (right) will rock your socks off once again.

Everything about this album screams vintage D, from the extremely phallic "Fenix" on the cover  to the silly little skits between JB and KG sprinkled between songs. 

After giving this album a couple of listens I think it's very solid indeed and fits nicely with the other albums in their catalog. 

"Senorita", "The Roadie" and "The Ballad of Hollywood Jack and The Rage Kage" are outstanding tracks steeped in the flavors of the D's best work.

Jack Black shows off some truly powerful vocals and utilizes a number of styles to change the mood of several songs.

Black's vocal range is truly terrifying. He can softly croon then scream over a guitar and it all sounds beautiful. Plus, JB's classic vocal fills are back in full force.

Kyle Gass provides his delightful harmonies and adds tasty guitar while Dave Grohl's drumming is top-notch throughout. 

All in all, it makes for a well-rounded, wholly inappropriate album that will more than please any fan of the group.

At this point there's simply no denying it, Tenacious D really is the greatest band in the world.