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State Champions


     September 20 - NC State vs East Carolina - (W) 34-20 (OT)
     November   8 - NC State @ Duke           - (W) 27-17
     November  15 - NC State vs Wake Forest   - (W) 21-17
     November  22 - NC State @ UNC-CH         - (W) 41-10

There may not be any official award for being the "State Champion" in college football, but when you beat all other teams in your state, I think that's something you can claim. They've been doing it in Florida for years.

The past couple years, my expectations for NC State football have been low.

Coming into the Tom O'Brien era, I hoped that NC State could beat Carolina and go to a bowl game. Last year, in the first year of his tenure, we accomplished task number one. We beat the Tarholes, 31-27 in Raleigh. We fell short of goal number two when we finished the season with a 5-7 record, one win shy of being bowl eligible.

This year, we started off with even lower expectations. People were picking us to finish last in our division, and the beginning of the season gave us no reason to believe any different. However, much like last year, the Wolfpack have put together a series of wins late in the season to put us on the verge of being bowl eligible. The extra benefit of the late wins this year is that they have all been against in-state rivals.

So, whether whether we win or lose this coming Saturday against Miami, I consider this season a success, but it sure would be nice to accomplish task number two this time around.

Parting shots...
You can buy your very own "State Champions" t-shirt from the Go Pack store.

The NC State ticket office is running a "Thanksgiving Special", where you can get a ticket to the football game this coming Saturday against Miami and a ticket to the NC State vs UNC-G the same day for just $30.

Labels: basketball, football, nc state, sports

Athletes and Activism

There's an interesting video today on ESPN.comabout athletes, specifically NBA players, and their role in international human rights issues. The video speaks on China's human rights history and their involvement with Darfur. It's about eleven minutes long, but I thought it was worth watching.

Description:

Shelley Smith explores an athlete's responsibility to take a stand and why many refrain from discussing political issues publicly.

What do you think?

Labels: activism, sports, video

2008 AIDS Walk+Ride Recap

Saturday was the big day. It was the day of the 2008 AIDS Walk+Ride. The walk and ride is an annual fundraising event for the Alliance of AIDS Services - Carolinas and ten other organizations that serve the HIV/AIDS community.

This year the Visio Dei team rocked it. We had eight people show up for the ride. Five people did the 30 mile ride, one guy did about 60 miles before his legs cramped up, and Scott and I did the entire 100 mile ride. We had about 25 people come out to do the walk, some of which had already participated in the ride earlier in the day. All of our walkers took part in the three mile walk, even Joye who was walking with a boot on her foot.

Our team not only rocked it in participation, we also brought the cha-ching. We came in third in overall team fundraising. We only trailed to the Alliance team1 and the St. John's MCC team2. Those two teams are traditionally the front runners in fundraising. We had set a goal of raising $5,000 and when it is all said and done, we will have raised just over $6,000. Next year, we aim to take out the big dogs and raise the most money out of any team.

For me, it was a very long day. The 100 mile ride took us about nine and half hours to complete. We were on the bike for seven hours and forty-two minutes of that time. The remainder of the time was spent at the seven rest stops, where we refueled with snacks, refilled water bottles and stretched.

It was a great time. I look forward to doing it again next year. Go ahead and mark your calendars for the first Saturday in May 2009 and start training for that 100 mile ride.

back The team from the organizing organization.

back The MCC is a primary outreach to the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender community.

Labels: activism, aids, sports

Bracketology

It's that time of year again. The field of 64 is now set. Tip-off for the first round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament is a little over a day away.

I've set up a group in the ESPN tourney challenge called "People who know Shannon Smith". If you are reading this, you are invited to fill out a bracket and join.

Group Name: People who know Shannon Smith
Password: turtlesoup

Come join the fun.

Labels: sports

Half Court Heroics

Yesterday, our friend Tim Catlett sank a half court shot, live on College Gameday before the Duke-UNC game. He won $17,500. $10,000 went to Duke and he got the other $7,500. Afterward, he ran straight to his family and celebrated with his son, Coleman.

ht: Daniel

Labels: sports, video

Farve hangs 'em up

Today, Brett Farve announced that he is retiring. If this doesn't bring Jeff out of his blogging retirement, nothing will.

Labels: blogosphere, sports

One World, Two Wheels

I'm looking for opinions here.

I'm in the market for a bicycle. I've actually been window shopping for a bicycle for about two years. Now, I am actually thinking about spending the money to buy a bike to call my own.

I want a road bike. I want to be able to use the bike in triathlons and charity rides, but more importantly, I want to have the bike to use as transportation around town.

The two main places I have been looking are on craigslist for a used bike and at Cycling Spoken Here for a new bike.

I've heard varying opinions about buying a new bike versus buying a used bike and I thought I would see if there were any more opinions out there that I had not yet heard.

So, let me know what you think.

Labels: questions, sports

My weekend was amazing...

Friday, I took the day off work and it was probably the best day of my life. I know that sounds a bit over dramatic, but it very well could have been. I stayed at home and spent all day with Kim and Palmer. We just hung out at the house. At one point our entire family took a nap. Palmer in his crib and Kim and I on the couch. It was beautiful.

It was the most Sabbath like day I can remember. Palmer was amazing. He was so chill it was scary. He ate when I wanted him to and he slept when I put him down for naps. Kim wondered what had happened to our son that she spends every day with. Between eating and sleeping Palmer played, laughed, and didn't fuss. He even took a crap without getting it all over his clothes.

Saturday morning I left to go skiing with six other guys1. We went up to Ski Beech, which is a little over three hours away. We skied from about one o'clock until nine o'clock. I was surprised that after six years or more away from the slopes, I still had it. Well, I "had it" as much as I ever had. I fell about three times: once after trying to go big off a jump2, once coming off a box, and once right after I sprayed Mike, who had just fallen. That last one was probably karma.

Sunday, we decided to not go skiing because of the weather. It was cold and windy, which makes it seems real cold. Instead, we went on a hike, sort of. We visited what one person described as a rock colony. It was a place in the river where the water flows downhill through hundreds of car sized rocks. We climbed the hill rock-by-rock and then descended by jumping from one rock to another. One of the guys called it an adult sized jungle gym.

After playing at the river, and almost getting hit by a falling branch on the walk back, we drove home. I got home around five and spent the rest of the night with the family. I got to feed Palmer and give him his customary bath before bed. Then, Kim and I capped off the weekend by catching up on some television. We curled up on the couch and watch an episode of The Biggest Loser.

It was a great three days filled with family time and time with some great guys.

back Barry, Matt, Rowe, Daniel, Mike and Jeramie

back Big is relative. I was probably going to get two feet off the ground, as compared to my previous one foot jump.

Labels: family, sports, travel

Roll to Riches

My wife hates to go bowling. Well, that's an overstatement. More aptly, my wife is not the biggest fan of going bowling. Ironically, her cousin likes to bowl so much that he does it for a living.

Chris, i.e. "C.J.", and Kim grew up together. They are only about a year apart in age. He has been bowling his whole life and bowling professionally since 2003. We've gotten to see him bowl on ESPN a few times, which is pretty cool.

This year, he has an awesome opportunity to participate in one of the biggest tournaments of the PBA season. It is sort of their "post-season" tournament. It's called the Motel 6 Roll to Riches. The Riches part is that there is a $150,000, winner take all prize. It features the winners of the four PBA major events and two other bowlers that are voted on by the fans.

This is where you come in. I need you all to go here and cast a vote for Chris Loschetter.

Thanks for the support.

Labels: family, sports

Surprise. Surprise.

The Patriots not winning the Super Bowl is about the same as me not winning my fantasy football league this year.

Tom Brady
LaDainian Tomlinson
Edgerrin James
Maurice Jones-Drew
Randy Moss
Steve Smith
Jason Whitten
Steelers, DST

How do you lose with a team like that?

Speaking of our fantasy football league, Jason and Jeramie, your checks are in the mail, seriously. And Jeff, when can I expect to see a check from you. Don't make ask your wife for it.

Labels: sports

Triathlon

I signed up to do the White Lake Sprint on May 4, 2007. Two years ago, this was the first triathlon I had ever done. I thought I was going to drown. Hopefully, this time things will go smoother.

Someone else should sign up to do this, too. I'd hate for Kim to have to stand around by herself waiting to see me drown. Matt? Matt? Traci? Anyone?

Labels: sports

B+

The NC State football season came to a close last Saturday with a thorough, thirty-seven to nothing thumping by the Maryland Terrapins. The team finished the Tom O'Brien's inaugural season with a respectable 5-7 record. On the whole, I would give the team a B+.

I had low expectations coming into the season. Some of the high points were: we did better that 3-9, which was our record last year, we seemed to improve throughout the season, and most importantly, we beat Carolina. Had we managed to make it to 6-6, and gone to a bowl game, I would've given them an A.

Overall, I'm pleased. What are your thoughts on the 2007 season?

Labels: sports

Who are your parents?

NCSU vs Maryland - 2007
Originally uploaded by rshannonsmith

My mom and dad were married, had two kids, and had gotten divorced before I could remember anything. A few years later, my mom remarried. For the rest of my life, my stepfather became my dad, and my "dad" stepped into the role of Bobby.

For as long as I can remember, Bobby and I have had an interesting relationship. He has been more of an older friend than a parent. Sort of a guy twenty years older than me that I just happen to know. We've done lot of cool things together most of which have something to do with sports. We've been to Atlanta to see the Braves play a few times and we've been to see the Carolina Panthers play a few times.

Well, this past weekend we renewed our do things related to sports tradition, and he and Brian, my brother, came to the NCSU vs Maryland football game. Kim and I go to all the home State games, and one of our friends had some extra tickets to our final game of the 2007 season, so I invited Bobby to come out with us.

As always, we got to the parking lot a few hours before game time for some tailgating. Just like any good tailgate, this one was filled with food, football tossing, and cornhole.

Trying to be inclusive, I invited Bobby to throw football with us. At some point, it hit me that this was the first time in my nearly twenty-eight years of life that I had ever thrown a football with this man, who had a part in my creation. Bobby is definitely the source of my height and my athleticism. He played several sports in high school, and by what I understand, he went on to play some sport in college.

After the game, we were walking back to the car, and we got to talking about playing sports. We're both "has beens", and that's what "has beens" do. We talked about playing sports in high school, and he said something that hit home with me. He said, "Yeah, I played basketball, baseball, and football in high school. i ran track on the weekends, and I even got talked into wrestling one season, but if I could do it all over again, I would just pick one. I was good at everything, but never great at anything." I bet I've said that a thousand times.

Since then, I can't help thinking about how little I know about him. I've also been thinking about how little I know about my mom. These two people somehow met, got married, had two kids, got divorced, all before they were twenty-two, and I know next to nothing about how all that happened. It just hit me that I am quickly approaching thirty, and I don't know very much at all about the lives of my parents when they were my age or younger.

i'm making it my goal that over the next year, I am going to learn my parents' stories.

Do you know who your parents are? Better yet, do you know who they were?

Labels: family, sports

That's my boy...

On Saturday, I came in from playing basketball to find Palmer in his swing, intently watching the Michigan-Ohio State game. Kim was upstairs doing something. So, it was funny to find him sitting there watching the game. It was like he had come down, turned on the TV and plopped down in his favorite chair to watch the game.

In other news...

NC State lost, both in football and basketball, this weekend. Boo.

We held our 1st Annual Visio Dei vs. Hope Turkey Bowl. Visio Dei came out on top 57-44. For those that may not know, Visio Dei was planted out of Hope Community Church last year. So, obviously, we couldn't let them beat us. Aside from a few disputes about the amount of contact that was allowed, we got through the afternoon without much of the bickering that usually comes along with twenty-five guys running around on a field. Overall, I think everyone had a great time. Here are some pictures.

Labels: baby, sports

Your Tax Dollars Hard at Work?

Yesterday, this was announced: "A US federal grand jury has charged baseball record breaker Barry Bonds with perjury and obstruction of justice over an inquiry into steroids use."

In my ignorance, I am annoyed by this1. Can someone please explain to me why my tax dollars are being wasted on an investigation into whether or not some athlete "cheated"?

I do not support lying to a jury while under oath, or even while not under oath. I think people that are found to be lying while giving sworn testimony should be charged with "perjury and obstruction of justice". The problem I have is this, I don't understand why Barry Bonds was even under oath, giving testimony on whether or not he "knowingly" used steroids.

Someone please help me see how this is a good use of my tax dollars.

back This is not a statement of my position on the "Did Barry Bonds cheat?" issue. I'm not even sure that I have an official position on that. If I did, it might look like indifference.

Labels: politics, sports

Crazy Weekend in College Football

NC State dropped another one yesterday, but honestly that isn't all that surprising. It was surprising how long we were in the game. The crazy part was how many top 25 teams lost. Numbers 3, 4, 5(Friday), 7, 10, 11, 13, 21 and 22. I think two of those losses were to other top 25 teams: Southern Florida(18) over West Virginia(5) and Cal(6) over Oregon(11). But, that leaves seven upsets. You just don't see that every week, otherwise, NC State may have more wins.

Labels: sports

Palmer at Carter-Finley

State vs. UCF
Originally uploaded by danielglennsmith

Palmer got to go to his first ever NC State game. He was one day short of three months old. It's never too early to start with the brainwashing,

Labels: sports

Thoughts on NC State vs UCF

Dear Palmer, Welcome to Wolfpack nation.

Man, we stunk it up in the first half.

Through one quarter, it didn't seem much different than last year.

We went for it on fourth-down five times, 3-5. Incredible.

Marcus Stone = Leading Reciever?!?

12 men on the field coming out of a timeout = coaching mistake?!?

Toney Baker just wanted to be fresh for Anthony Hill's senior season.

Labels: sports

Countdown

Last night I was up late, mainly working, but at one point I took a break and went to espn.com. When the page loaded, my heart skipped a beat. Right in the center of my screen was a second-by-second countdown to the start of the 2007 College Football season.

Some might view this as a problem, but I love football, and it's almost here.

On a side note, happy birthday to Matt Rowe, who spends a lot of time on the internet, but rarely reads my blog. Thanks best man.

Labels: sports

Beginning

Tonight, I saw something that brought a sense of joy to my heart.

It was an eight yard run up the middle by a Seattle running-back against the San Deigo defense. There was nothing special about the play. It was an insignifigant play in an insignifigant preseason NFL game, but it was the first play I had seen of the 2007 football season.

It has begun.

Labels: entertainment, sports

Memory Lane

Awhile back, my mom gave me five boxes of "my crap". So far, they have just been sitting in my garage collecting dust here instead of at her house. Well, this morning, I was standing in my garage waiting on Daniel to come pick me up1 and I decided to take a peek into one of the boxes. What I found excited me.

I really only examined the top three items in the box. The first item was a scrapbook with all sorts of news paper clippings and other items from my football career. I'm not sure who kept up with that. Then there was another scrapbook sort of thing that I, and all other seniors on the basketball team, received from our coach, which documented a season.

As eager as I am to relive the glory days, it was the third item that caught my attention this morning. It is a day planner2 from my senior year in high school. I started off strong keeping up with what I had going on, and even using it as a sort of journal by not only keeping track of what was to happen, but also keeping track of what had happened. Here are a few of the high lights...

Tuesday, August 26: Pec cut my hair; paid him with Kool-aid.
Friday, October 17: Homecoming game vs McMichael (9 Tkl, 5 Ast, 3 TFL, Blk(Punt), FR)3
Wednesday, November 12: Basketball Tryouts; Ran 6:08 mile4

I wish I would have kept up with this longer. I have my stats from several of the football games which is pretty cool. Oh, the memories of a has been.

Shalom.

back We carpool to work, which has been enjoyable. We save money on gas; We reduce the number of cars on the road; We help preserve the planet, and, for the most part it is better than riding in the car alone.

back It is a Brain Quest Planner, which let's you know that "It's O.K. to be smart!" It has a trivia question for every day. My version happens to be for "Grades 3&4". I'm not sure why I had this.

back That's a pretty good day. I don't remember doing that well. I do remember they had a running back the size of an offensive lineman.

back I don't remember ever being that fast. I guess I wasn't as lazy as I remember.

Labels: indiscriminate, sports

ESPNU

Per the cable bill,

On August 31, ESPNU will be added to Digital Cable Channel 140.

Just in time for football season. Nice.

Labels: entertainment, sports

Fielder's Indifference

I have played and watched baseball since I was five. The other day, I saw something that I had never seen before.

This season, I joined a fantasy baseball league with a few guys I know. This has led to me keeping track of MLB more than I ever have. Nightly, I start the ESPN Game Tracker and monitor the happenings in all the games.

Game tracker is awesome. It allows you to keep up with all the games at once. For a given game, it will show you who's pitching and which player is batting. Pitch-by-pitch, it shows the balls, strikes, and outs. It also shows you in text format, every play that takes place, e.g. "Ken Griffey, Jr. homers to right.", "David Wright steals second.", etc..

Well, like I said, the other night I saw something that I had never before seen. At some point, late in a game, team A was up big. Team B was batting and had runners on the corners, Joe on first and Schmoe on third. The next play says, "Joe advances to second on fielder's indifference."

Fielder's Indifference what the heck is that?!? Come to find out, when you take an extra base1, and the defense does not try to get you out, it is scored as a fielder's indifference. It's a form of fielder's choice. Who knew?

back This also applies when a throw comes in from the outfield and the defense allows a runner to score without trying to get them out at the plate.

Labels: entertainment, sports

The Deuce

I don't know when it happened, but Time Warner added ESPN2HD to our local programming. Check out channel 289.

Sweet!

And don't forget that this is the weekend when you get free HBO. You have to go to channel 490 to activate it. Then, channels 400-412 will be available for your viewing pleasure.

Double Sweet!

Labels: entertainment, sports

Every (under)dog has his day

Well, I guess it's just that time of year. Just like every year, madness abounds in March. Yesterday, every game in the ACC tournament was won by the lower seed. Given that I'm a State fan, I have a propensity to root for the underdog1. So, needless to say, yesterday's outcomes made me smile.

Last night, the Wolfpack managed to take out the Dookies, and now have to face the Virginia Cavaliers, tonight at 7. Dan Kesler just called me and invited me over to watch the game with a bunch of folks. He said I could invite anyone I wanted. So, I am inviting all of you. If you don't know where the Chappell house is, just ask someone. Come one. Come all. Come root on the underdogs.

Go Pack!

Including this underdog, as well as, orphans and widows.

Labels: sports

This past weekend...

Looking back, this past weekend was, for lack of a better term, rad.

Let's see, starting with leaving work on Friday...
I talked to Corey for about half an hour about the non-profit he is starting. We talked about his short term goals, long term goals, plans, and dreams. I am excited to see what the future holds for Hope Athletics - Raleigh, and I am pumped to be a part of it. I have already started to see God at work for the success of it.

Kim and I hung out on Friday night. It was fun to just hang out at the house. We had dinner and caught up on our TV from the week, just the two of us. We watched Earl, the Office, Grey's, and a few Nothing But Trailers. I really enjoyed our night.

Saturday was eventful.

I played basketball in the morning, but not until ten. It was nice to be able to sleep until I woke up, and still be able to make it to the gym. Afterward, Matt came over and we cleaned up some leftovers for lunch. We made it over to the Ramsey/Gore house (I need to come up with a better way to reference this dwelling.) just in time to unload the last five items from the truck.

We did actually do a little work. Matt and I went with Jeff in "the original U-haul truck" back to his house to get all the stuff from around the yard. Jeff had a lot of fun driving the huge U-Haul. I think he is already planning a sabbatical where he plans to take a job driving a truck across the country delivering various freight for a month.

We got back to the new house just in time to see the Wolfpack do the unthinkable. Way to go guys. Great Win. I guess we bought the wrong mini-pack. I saw this article linked on the Mitchell's blog. It is somewhat humorous.

Saturday night we had people over. The boys played football on the xbox and the girls watched TV and talked about what ever it is that girls talk about.

Jeff's talk on Sunday morning was great. It was about defining who in your neighbor. He used the story of the good Samaritan. Something he mentioned that stuck with me was how we have gone from a big front porch society to a big back deck society. If you get the chance you should listen to the podcast, but first someone needs to work on getting the recent ones up on the site.

Sunday afternoon I took a nap at the Smith's house while watching some DiscoveryHD. Did you know that it takes years to build a Destroyer? There is a lot of welding involved. I guess it takes a long time to get 200 tons of metal to float.

Sunday night we went to the house for a Super Bowl party. The pig was excellent, the game was great, the commercials did not disappoint, but the best part was the people. There were over fifty people hanging out eating together, laughing together, and staring at a box made of plastic that magically displays moving pictures together, if that is possible.

It was a really good weekend.

Labels: church, entertainment, sports

Chuck's going home

It was announced today that Chuck Amato has been rehired by Florida State. He will be their Executive Head Coach and Linebackers Coach.

I kind of wondered what would come of him. I feel like the move to coach at your alma mater can be a really good one or a really bad one. If you go there and don't do well, people might look at it like they gave you a chance because of your ties to the university, but another school might not take the same chance on you. On the other hand, if you go there and do well, you become a legend.

I'm glad he got a job. I would hate to have seen him end up as a regular at the Amedeo's bar, mumbling to himself about the good ole days.

On another, unrelated note...
The entertainment news for today is...
Jason Bateman must have been busy in 2006. I saw trailers for three movies starring him that are releasing the first half of 2007. They include Fast Track, Smokin' Aces, and The Kingdom.

Labels: sports

Tom O'Brien, Aye.

So, the four letter network is reporting that current Boston College coach, Tom O'Brien is to be the next coach of the Wolfpack.

Links:
ESPN
StateFansNation

Labels: sports

Sunday, November 23, 2008

State Champions

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Athletes and Activism

Monday, May 05, 2008

2008 AIDS Walk+Ride Recap

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Bracketology

Sunday, March 09, 2008

Half Court Heroics

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Farve hangs 'em up

Friday, February 29, 2008

One World, Two Wheels

Monday, February 11, 2008

My weekend was amazing...

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Roll to Riches

Monday, February 04, 2008

Surprise. Surprise.

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Triathlon

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

B+

Who are your parents?

Monday, November 19, 2007

That's my boy...

Friday, November 16, 2007

Your Tax Dollars Hard at Work?

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Crazy Weekend in College Football

Monday, September 03, 2007

Palmer at Carter-Finley

Thoughts on NC State vs UCF

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Countdown

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Beginning

Friday, July 13, 2007

Memory Lane

Thursday, July 12, 2007

ESPNU

Monday, July 02, 2007

Fielder's Indifference

Saturday, April 07, 2007

The Deuce

Friday, March 09, 2007

Every (under)dog has his day

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

This past weekend...

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Chuck's going home

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Tom O'Brien, Aye.

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