Ready for Football

 

South Carolina at NC State - Thursday night, 7 PM on ESPN.

Early line has NC State by 4 points. Sounds about right - I expect a close, exciting game.

5 more days - I am sooooo ready for football.

Craig Anthony Miller Wingnut Asshat

Remember seeing this guy on the news?

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

He's Craig Anthony Miller; 59 years old - and guess what?

Living off the Guv' Mint.

Yep - government funded disability.

At the Town Hall Meeting he looked pretty healthy and energetic to me.

Maybe he should shut the hell up and get a job.

NCSU Ticket Math

My NCSU Football season tickets arrived today.

Also – I recently received a mailing from the Wolfpack Club alerting me that Basketball Season Ticket Renewal Packages for the upcoming season will be mailed shortly.

About this time each year I do a little math.

2009 Football Season Tickets were $1,456.00 for 4 seats per game for 8 home games (including a parking space).

2009 – 2010 Basketball Season Tickets will be $1,143.00 for 2 seats per game for 16 home games (including a parking space).

Plus, I have to pay $600.00 per year for my Life Time Rights – i.e. the “right” to keep the same seats in football and basketball year after year.

Plus, I have to “donate” $420.00 per year to the Wolfpack Club.

Anyway – it all adds up to $3,619.00 per year.


With me so far?


For football it breaks down like this –

$1,456.00 for tickets + $400.00 annual LTR payment for 4 seats + $210.00 (½ of my annual donation) = $2,066.00

$2,066.00 divided by 32 (8 games x 4 tickets per game) = $64.56 for each ticket


For basketball it breaks down like this –

$1,143.00 for tickets + $200.00 annual LTR payment for 2 seats + $210.00 (½ of my annual donation) = $1,553.00

$1,553.00 divided by 32 (16 games x 2 tickets per game) = $48.53 per each ticket


Of course, it doesn’t matter to me how it’s divvied up – I still have to pay the $3,619.00 regardless.

I'm a Get to the Point / What's the Bottom Line kind of guy.

So another way to do the math is to divide the total amount by the total number of tickets.

$3,619.00 divided by 64 tickets = $56.54 per ticket.


Chip and Nuke owe me some serious ass kissing.

At the very least they could bring me a lemonade or iced tea from the concession stand.

:-)

Waaaaay back when Boze and I graduated from State and started getting Football Season Tickets - I think it was something like $120.00 per season ticket and the Wolfpack Club Dues were $100.00 - which Dave and I split. Basically - for a long time I remember it was around $300.00 per year for football. I couldn't afford basketball tickets back then.

Now, just the parking space costs more than the Wolfpack Club Dues / tickets / everything was back then.

ROFL

Due to the Recession

My annual LTR payments and annual donation payments are drafted monthly from my checking account ($50 and $35).

Then – each year I’d have to write a big check in May for the upcoming football tickets and each September another check for the upcoming basketball tickets.

I have always wished there was a way they could draft ticket costs each month – sort of like a Christmas Club savings account thing.

Due to W’s recession / damn near depression - Starting this past spring – The Wolfpack Club offered the option to pay for season tickets in installments – 3 months for football (starting last May) and now 3 months for basketball (starting in September).

That makes it a whole lot easier than writing 2 big checks each year. Now they just charge your credit card.

Due to overwhelmingly positive response - I’ve been told that the Wolfpack Club is going to continue the installment payment plan even after the economy improves.

As Martha would say - That’s a good thing.

Sanfordstan Air Force

The B-17 Liberty Bell is in town this week. The Sanford-Lee Airport is about 2 miles from my house. So I popped over after I got home from work and took the following photos.

Click on the photos for a much better look.

From the Parking Lot

Front View

Close Up

9 Cyl Radial Engine

Pristine Restoration - Inside the Wheel Well

Control Cables Inside the Wheel Well

Rear View

Sanfordstan Air Force MIG in the Background

Piss On The Devil

Path to the Devil's Tramping Ground

Devil's Tramping Ground

Anyone who grows up in NC hears of The Devil’s Tramping Ground.

I’ve lived out here in the country for over 10 years now and I decided it was time to finally go and see this thing.

On the way I stopped at The Old Place for breakfast. Pretty busy. Naturally, I had some homemade biscuits with country ham.

Then on down NC 903 to Harper’s Crossroads which is where the infamous spot is located.

Yep – it’s a natural perfect circle in the woods. It’s like a circle of dirt and gravel surrounded by woods.

The gravel is the clue. From the looks of the gravel, which is quartz and granitic and the fact that it’s only in the circle surrounded by clay and soil – my guess is the spot is a small igneous batholith or laccolith from which the overlying sedimentary structure has eroded away. The top of the batholithic structure has also eroded down to a flat top. The surrounding sedimentary erosion resulted in the rich soil outside the circle. So, you have a granitic circle which doesn’t support growth surrounded by rich sedimentary soil which readily supports vegetation.

Not sure if the devil walks around it, but from all the litter and debris it’s obviously a party spot for the local kids.

Of course, being a guy, in the woods, and having had several cups of coffee – naturally I . . . .

NC State Football

The fan “Blog of Record” for NC State athletics is StateFansNation.

Started by one guy, it now has multiple contributors and is the place to go for good articles and links along with the usual chat and criticism.

One contributor, LRM, has written a series of articles about the recent history of NC State football. LRM sums up almost perfectly how I’ve viewed and experienced NC State football over the past decade or so. The hopes, dreams, highs and lows.

I, of course, was at the home games he describes – such as when we first beat Florida State at Carter-Finley. And I was at many of the away games - the Gator Bowl victory over Notre Dame and the game at UNC where the refs gave the game to the Tar Heels. I was also at the ECU Peach Bowl (and both ECU brawls at Carter-Finley), the cow bell Peach Bowl, the Florida Gator Fog Bowl and the thrilling triple overtime game at Ohio State.

Along with the hiring and firing of Amato, implementation of Life Time Rights, the facilities investments and building program, Phillip Rivers – LRM describes everything pretty much as if he were writing for me personally.

Part I – The 1990s

Part II – 2000 to 2006 (Chuck Amato)

I want to add to something that LRM touches on in Part II. He mentions the inconsistency caused by assistant coach turnover.

Actually, I think there was more to that than just inconsistency.

Assistant coaches under Amato left – every year. Far more than typical attrition.

It’s one thing if you have a great program and assistants get hired away for promotion type jobs – like coordinators or head coaches. But that wasn’t the case here. Coaches were just plain leaving. Every year.

Was it mismanagement? Could they tell the program wasn’t being run well? Or was it they wanted to get away from difficult working conditions?

I think they wanted to get away from their boss – Amato. My, off the cuff, not at all informed, and totally unsubstantiated opinion is that Amato was a dick to work for. Possibly emotionally unstable. Probably personality disorder. Which would go along with his outsized personality and ego.

Even before things began to disintegrate on the field – I was watching the yearly coaching exodus and I wandered what the hell was going on.

Part III – Phillip Rivers

Part IV – TOB

Part V – 2009 and Beyond

I agree with TRM 100% on this year and the future. We’re going to be a very improved team. I’ve been telling folks that this year we should be 7 and 5. With a break here, a little luck there - maybe 8 and 4.

One thing for sure – we’re going to be IN every game we play.

The important thing is – TOB has laid the groundwork. Each year we are going to get fundamentally better and better.

Improving from, say, 3 and 9 to 6 and 6 is a lot easier than going from, say, 8 and 4 to 10 and 2 or better.

I don’t expect the breakout to happen this year. I think 2010 is the year NC State will take its place on the national map.

And from there – anything is possible.

August 2 Weekend Update

Not much to blog about.

So here's a couple of pictures.

There's this guy who rides around downtown Raleigh on bicycles outfitted with American flags. And sometimes POW flags. He's been around for years and years. I drive by his house on my morning commute. I snapped this photo this week while waiting at the traffic light.

 

Sunday, Nuke and I went to the The Old Place restaurant. It's way out in the country. It's been there for years. The food is served buffet style - and it's all homemade. A bit pricy as buffets go - around $14 per person - but it's like going to Grandma's for Sunday after church dinner.

BTW - follow the link to the restaurant - click on their menu link and take a close look. Yes - they really do have "that" on the buffet.

LOL

 

We went late - around 6 PM. If you go there right after church on Sundays - prepare to sit around outside and chat with all the other waiting folks as it's totally packed.