Today, on the most romantic holiday of the year, Ben (@TheDevilWolf) and I look back on UNC’s impressive recovery against Virginia, preview Wednesday’s big clash in Miami, examine whether the ACC is the most exciting conference in the country, and even, against everyone’s wishes, spend two minutes on Georgia Tech-Wake Forest. You’ll want to skip that part.
This is part one of the podcast. Wednesday evening, I’ll post the Duke-centric part two. Enjoy, and feedback is appreciated as always.
If you missed part one, where Ben and I obsessively dissect the last 2.5 minutes of the game, check it out here.
In part two, we discuss the aftermath of the game, dish out some (dignified) gossip from the locker room, speculate on where Duke and UNC go from here, and analyze the outlook for the ACC. We also enlist your help for a podcast name.
Thanks to all the people who are downloading, and we’d love to hear your feedback. Enjoy!
In Part 1 of our recap of Duke-Carolina, Ben and I obsessively pick over the minute details of game’s last two and a half minutes. Our wide-ranging theories are the capstone on the greatest Duke victory of the year.
My written takes on the game can be found at Grantland here (serious, stayed up til 5am writing it) and here (a lot of jokes, took me about 10 minutes).
Ben’s take can be found here, at the Oxford Public Ledger.
Enjoy the pod! Part 2 up later tonight or tomorrow morn.
I’ll link my magnum opus on Grantland in a second, but at the end of the Ryan Kelly interview, when all the other reporters had trickled away, I couldn’t resist asking him one last question.
Me: You like the nickname ‘White Raven’?
Kelly: (laughs) I’ve heard that one before. Someone actually- someone was just telling me the other day, that now the Cameron Crazies all say that every time I make one, and flap the wings.
Me: What do you think?
Kelly: It’s pretty good.
Amigos,
The Devil Wolf and I had ourselves a chat about an upcoming game you might have heard of- DUKE-CAROLINA. THE ONLY SHOW IN TOWN.
Let the Tobacco Wars begin.
Thanks for listening. Click here to download the episode to your hard drive.
Hey my friends,
Big news here at Tobacco Road Blues. You may have noticed that the posting has “slowed” a bit, meaning that I’ve basically ignored the site for a couple weeks now. Posting here takes more time than I’ve got, unfortunately, and nobody has sent me $1,000 in unmarked bills to keep me interested. So the paid work takes precedence.
However, the site will not die. Instead, it will serve as a temporary home for two podcasts I’ve hatched.
The first, which will start next week and live here permanently, is a college basketball podcast. I don’t have a title yet, so if you’ve got something good, lay it on me. It won’t be just about Duke and UNC, though of course we’ll talk about them a lot. But we’re also going to take a more general look at what’s happening in the college bball world, from the Big Ten to the SEC to the Pac-12. (Don’t worry, just a few minutes on the Pac-12.)
The second podcast, which will likely have a new home eventually, is called “Selfish Young Americans.” It’s a comedy podcast, because we need more of those in this world, hosted by me and a rotating cast of characters. I made the first one this morning with my pal Stephanie, and it is now available for download. Soon, you’ll be able to subcribe on iTunes and everything like that. I apologize in advance for this episode, because I was out late the night before and had a bit of a hoarse voice. I’ll try to be more responsible in the future.
Anyway, I think it came off okay, and I know we’ll get better as time goes on. Here’s the description:
Stephanie joins Shane to chat about peacocks, Mayans, the beauty of the German language, and the Jonestown Massacre. At various points, you can hear her eat almonds. If that’s your kind of thing. There are a few swear words interspersed throughout this episode.
I have no idea what an RSS feed does, but here’s ours: http://syapodcast.libsyn.com/rss
You can follow us on twitter here: @SYAPodcast
The only other thing is that you’ll probably have to turn the volume pretty high to get it a decent level. My mistake on that one, it’ll be better next time.
Thanks for checking it out. Please feel free to give me feedback, because I’m sure we need it. Always say something nice before you start to get down to business and tell me that I’m a no-talent hack. If you like it, send it out to your friends and grandparents. And hey, enjoy the Super Bowl tomorrow. BUT BE SAFE, YOU GUYS!
Hey guys, I just got some new audio equipment, and I’m psyched to present my first ever podcast: Predictions. I think you can listen at the link below. I’m still figuring this out. Leave comments if you agree with my predictions.
But not like John Henson trying to make a post move. We’re off the rest of this week, for the most part. Apologies!
Thing former athletes get over the mistakes they make on a big stage? Ask Dan Dakich.
I have a piece going up about the game later on Grantland, but I thought this was a rare and fascinating insight into the athlete’s mind. All those years later, it still stings. You can hear it in the details- “On my dad’s birthday.”
And it should come to no surprise that while Dakich still thinks about the worst game of his life, Jordan still thinks about Dakich’s best. The great and mediocre alike never forget.
(First – Grantland piece up today about Virginia basketball. Are they the new Third Team in the ACC?)
I don’t know about you dudes and dudettes, but I’m finding it harder and harder to take pleasure in late December/early January basketball as I get older. Which is totally selfish and unfair, because the college basketball season is at least 75 percent awesome, as the following mathematical ‘chart’ illustrates:
25% – November, early December – Awesome, and Fun
25% – Mid-December to early January – Horrible
25% – Conference play – Awesome, and Tense
25% – Postseason play – Beyond Awesome, and Terrifying
And this little rough patch is more like 10% than 25%, so I shouldn’t moan. But I can’t help but envy the Big Ten, which has had awesome conference games for a week now. Meanwhile, Duke’s playing Greensboro, and Penn, and Western Michigan, and Temple, and every game is like a week apart. UNC is on a similar path. I know that’ll change when Cuse and Pitt come aboard, but I can’t wait. Sorry, but it’s too much to ask of entitled fans. We deserve more.
But tonight, it ends. This is the last game against a crap opponent where we’ll have to watch Miles Plumlee and Tyler Thornton get praised to high heavens by an announcer who is seemingly unaware that they’re both about to become irrelevant. Because after this…
ACC!
Here’s the schedule for the weekend.
Saturday:
No. 3 Duke at Georgia Tech
Boston College at No. 4 UNC (NEVER FORGET LAST YEAR!)
Miami at No. 4 Virginia (Weirdly, I’m pretty psyched about this game.)
Virginia Tech at Wake Forest (snooze.)
Florida State at Clemson (also a very intriguing game.)
Sunday:
Maryland at N.C. State (again, weirdly excited to see what happens here.)
It’s all gravy from here. This is the best, best, best time of year. And I know I can make it there. I spent most of my childhood suffering through church, so there’s no reason I can’t spend one night suffering through Temple.