While some gnomes were in Clemson taking in the rout that was the La Tech game, I was in Charlottesville watching the #2 ranked men’s soccer team get completely outplayed by #5 Virginia.  The game was not nearly as close as the 1-0 score.

UVa attracted a 7,000+ crowd for the game because of the high rankings of the teams and the unveiling of HooVision or some “Jumbotron” thing that made most of the action look smaller while not providing any replays — money well spent.  From my POV, 1000 of those in attendance were little kids running wild.
Clemson was sharp for about 5 minutes until they knocked one into the goal and started celebrating… only to realize that none of the officials had noticed the ball that was still resting over the line.

After that the team didn’t show very much potential.  Three quarters of the way through the game UVa was attacking without very little counterattack from a Clemson team that seemed intent to hunker down on defense and force a 0-0 tie.  Obviously that didn’t work and as my buddy wisely noted that “getting lucky isn’t a strategy.”

When the final whistle blew, we hightailed it to the pub to watch the remainder of the football game.

I would like to offer a congratulatory “FUCK YOU” to the guy sitting behind me at the game who through high advanced education has learned only how to say “You know what’s stupid?  Clemson.”  And “cheaters.”   I kid you not.  He spent all game calling us cheaters.  This is why the world would be a better place without assault and battery laws.

In continuing the “baseball’s just a crazy game” theme, here’s the ACC component of the latest pseudo-RPI:

        Division I   Overall
Rank Rating   W   L      W   L    Team   

1    0.637   37  13     37  13   Clemson
4    0.624   37  13     37  13   Georgia Tech
10   0.609   40  10     40  10   North Carolina
12   0.607   37  13     37  13   Florida State
13   0.604   33  16     33  16   Miami, Florida
14   0.603   34  16     34  16   North Carolina State
15   0.602   40  10     40  10   Virginia
20   0.595   32  16     32  16   Wake Forest

Those will (in all likelihood) be your 8 ACC Tournament teams. It looks like it will be a close proxy for the national championship.

The first game of the tourney is May 24th, with play the championship game to be played on the 28th. Who’s going to buy me a plane ticket to Jacksonville?