Fright Night on Rocky Top

After watching the Vols drop a heartbreaker to #1 Alabama last week, my gal and I were pretty stoked watching the Vols beat the Gamecocks on old hallow's eve, 31-13. We were especially amped seeing the Vols wear black and orange jerseys, something they hadn't done since 1921. It was particularly wild because the team was wearing its traditional orange jerseys during the pre-game activities. As the band formed the T and the team charged onto the field the crowd went bananas seeing them clad in the black and orange. I like to believe that it had a particularly chilling effect on the Gamecocks because they turned the ball over their first two positions; each time the Vols scored too. Montario "the Nightmare from New Bern" had a particularly good night too scoring 2 TDs for the Vols.

Mase in your face

One of the local beach newspapers published my editorial rant regarding surfers and Masonboro Island. A little background ... Masonboro is a not-so-secret barrier island off the southeastern NC mainland that is popular among many local surfers. Last week there was a meeting - which I attended - hosted by the NC Division of Coastal Management and North Carolina National Estuarine Reserve (NCNERR) to discuss future options for public access and management of the island. The island is part of the NCNERR system and has been preserved from development. While a priority of the island's management is focused on conservation along with research and education, part of its mission involves "compatible traditional use" (i.e. low impact recreation).

User groups concerned with preserving public access to the island were given the opportunity at the meeting to their mind. I felt that surfers, a significant user group of the island, were noticeably absent which I found disappointing and irritating. I'm sure you'll find my rant stimulating and a good slap to the face. Much like a slap that you'd get when you've been caught looking where you shouldn't be looking.

Cool Blue

I stumbled across this cat's Flickr page containing stickers for PBR's beer guy, "Cool Blue." Surfing has gone retro in the last few years. I think the next rage will be wearing the digs "Cool Blue" is sporting. I can't wait.

If I remember correctly, PBR was the first beer I ever tasted. I was about 5 years old and my kick ass grandpa gave me a taste much to my mother's dismay. I still remember the image in my mind.

Fort Apache

I just finished reading the CNN news article about the battle over the weekend at FOB Keating in Afghanistan. I'm certainly no military tactics expert; actually, I'm far from it. However, to the lay eye, it doesn't appear that military folks thought this one through. Or maybe they need to watch "Fort Apache." It's a classic John Ford flick starring John Wayne and Henry Fonda. Wayne plays the frontier-seasoned Capt. Kirby York who advises Fonda's character, Col. Owen Thursday not to lead a charge into a remote canyon because the Apache, under the leadership of the chief, Cochise, have the taken the high ground. It's basically, a suicide charge, a meat grinder, and the troops quickly find themselves pinned down with little room to maneuver and surrounded on all sides by the Apache who are sheltered above them in the canyon walls, nooks, and crannies. The battle over the weekend in which militants apparently nearly overran FOB Keating seems remarkably similar and eery.

Down to the sea

"All loose things seem to drift down to the sea, and so did I." - Louis L’Amour

I found this quote on the Kurungabaa site recently and it resonates well with me. Just the other day, my gal and I drifted down to the sea with two friends and took a stroll on the beach at Shell Island. There was a little south wind blowing which carried us up to the inlet where we found the "kindred spirit mailbox." Someone anonymously placed the box here a few years ago and since then visitors have agreeably scrawled thoughts to the notepad found therein. I wanted to jot down the L'Amour quote but it escaped me at the time. I guess that can be expected when you tore up the town (and the bottle) the night before. Good times.

Shooting the waves at Vah Beach

I've been meaning to post this for awhile but haven't for various reasons. A few years back, I came across an article by Tony Lillis in Eastern Surf Magazine mentioning an article from 1912 about "wave shooting" in Virginia Beach. It appears that Mr. Lillis had been doing some research on east coast surfing history and had several articles published on the topic. After utilizing an age-old yet still wonderful service called Interlibrary Loan, I was able to obtain the microfilm for the newspaper that published it and after some time going through it I finally found the article in question. It's a really fascinating article and represents the earliest article from an east coast publication (that I have found to date) that not only mentions surfing but also acknowledges that east coasters knew about surfing. The first sentence reads,

"The fame of the Hawaiian wave shooters has spread around the world and thousands of tourists who have visited the beautiful Pacific Islands have returned home with wonderful tales of the skill the natives show in riding a giant comber to shore on a plank."

Not to be outdone by the "natives," the article goes on, "There is something of the same sort of feat done here every summer day after day that is equally as thrilling to see and far more dangerous and difficult to perform but there is little heard about it. This is shooting the waves in dories and canoes by young men of the cottage colony at Virginia Beach." The article further describes some of the differences in these canoes which along with "wave shooting contests" to be held using these canoes at the beach. I've also read and seen other accounts describing canoe surfing and it seems like this was perhaps popular on the east coast around this time period. I'd certainly like to explore this more when I have the time.

I couldn't help but wonder if the author was writing this to help promote resorts and activities at the beach (why go to Hawaii when you can have all this fun and more much closer to home!) along with suggesting a little bit of neocolonial ideology that folks at home could do things equal to or better than the "natives" and that the skill required to surf a canoe is much more rigorous than riding a plank to shore. Anyway, that's all speculation on my part. If you're interested in reading the article here is the citation:

"Planning Regatta at the Va. Beach Casino; Dory and Canoe Races and Wave Shooting Contests to be on Program." Virginian-Pilot and the Norfolk Landmark. Friday, June 21, 1912, pg.4.

As an aside, for those of you interested in historical research you know the painful tediousness and patience required to stare at the microfilm machine for hours on end; looking for that little needle in a large haystack. The net generation or "Millenials" as they are often called, don't know how easy they have it being able to use databases and search engines to find what they're looking for with the click of a mouse. Of course, if they want to do this kind of research they'll have to roll their sleeves up and get dirty if they want to earn their research stripes.

Anyway, this was a very cool find. Cheers.

Touchdown Big Orange

My gal and I watched the Ohio-UT game last night on PPV. It was pretty cool - the game was on the Vol Network and we were able to patch in through Time Warner Cable and ESPN GamePlan. Plus, the commentating had a special UT vibe with Randy Smith on play-by-play and two former Vols, QB Jeff Francis (1986-88) providing the color, and CB Terry Fair (1995-97) reporting from the sideline. The game itself was sketchy though and I was disappointed with the number of fans that turned out for the game. In my day at UT there would never have been seats available. These fairweather fans need to get off their butts and get to the stadium. While we won 34-23, the Vols never seemed to get on track and was inconsistent throughout. Montario Hardesty (I call him the "New Bern Nightmare" since he's from up the road in New Bern and has the ability to give defenses problems) looked good and the play calling appeared to allow J. Crompton to make easy short passes, but it would have been nice to see the o-line dominate the line of scrimmage. Defense looked good, but gave up a couple busted plays. Most seriously, it appears linebacker Nick Reveiz is out for the season with a blown knee. This guy is an incredible player; as a walk-on, he had earned a scholarship and became a starter at middle linebacker. The Vols start a three game homestand against 3 tough SEC opponents and then go on the road to Bama. We definitely to fill in the injuries and play more consistently. Most importantly, the fans better get their butts over to Neyland because we're gonna need it as much noise as possible during the homestand.