We’re wrapping up the first round today and taking a look at the bottom of the Blue Fox Region. We’ve got JMU’s own Puddleduck and 3 other bands with ties to other Virginia colleges. Let’s jump right in and take a look at the 3-6 match-up.
#3 Puddleduck v. #6 Slackjaw [polldaddy poll=5150492]
Puddleduck – I saw these guys play at JM’s on many a Thursday night back in my junior year. The routine was always the same. I’d roll out just after dinner at D-Hall with a couple of buddies. Since most of us weren’t yet 21, we’d walk down the train tracks memorizing all the info on our fake IDs, swearing to each other that if one of us got rejected, we’d all go home together. Then most weeks someone would get denied at the door (usually JMUSB commenter Tedward) and the rest of us would pretend like we didn’t know him, walk right in, and belly up to the bar for some dime drafts (not a typo, beers were 10 cents.) We’d spend the next few hours drinking lots of very bad beer, chasing girls, and listening to Puddleduck before wandering our way back down to the row for a late night party. And while I don’t think anyone is going to argue that the band was particularly gifted or musically complex (Exhibit A the lyrics to Row Psalm), they were the JMU band for a time. They even secured a coveted gig at The Bayou in Georgetown over winter break, which turned into a mini-JMU reunion of sorts. Puddleduck brings back a lot of really good, yet slightly beer hazy, memories for me.
Slackjaw – I always kind of considered this band to be UVA’s version of Puddleduck. That’s not to say that the two bands had anything in common musically. They didn’t. The band consisted of guys from UVA who started out just playing parties and bars around their campus, just like Puddleduck did at JMU. Of course this means that Slackjaw’s early shows probably had crowds with an overall higher average SAT score and an overall lower average personal attractiveness than Puddleduck’s. I really dug their music though and to this day it takes me days to get the guitar riff from AFH out of my head every time I hear it. I only saw them live a couple times, but the parents of a group of girls we were friends with got Slackjaw to play their graduation party our senior year. Maybe this sort of thing was normal with your circle of friends. To me however, it was like some sort of 1990’s JMU version of the Royal Wedding. I’m easily impressed I guess. I’m telling you though, a couple of kegs of Beast Lite, 3 sleeves of red solo cups, and a college band in the backyard was high society to me back then.
# 2 Pat McGee Band vs. #7 Emmet Swimming [polldaddy poll=5150493]
Pat McGee Band – Todd and I were in the same fraternity in college and these guys played one of our big parties my senior year. We held it at Melrose to accommodate a larger crowd. The band was really hot at the time, so of course we all used the fact that they were playing as leverage to bring much better looking woman than usual to the party. There was one girl in particular that at least one of our friends invited with hopes of elevating his game for the occasion. As soon as the show ended however, Pat jumped on the bus back to campus with us and promptly spent the night with girl. The lesson, join a band folks. Join a band. I also was at one of their shows at the Bayou once when John Popper from Blues Traveler showed up and played the entire set with them. I sincerely thought I was watching musical history unfold before my very eyes that evening. I walked out of there convinced I had a story that I’d be able to wow people with for years to come. Swing and a miss with that one. Still though, songs like Girl From Athens and Rebecca could bring the house down back in the day.
Emmet Swimming – OK, I might as well just come out and say it. I’m pretty sure I never even saw this band play once at JMU. I don’t think I even went to one of their shows anywhere actually. They had that one kinda, sorta recognizable song, Arlington, that I remember. I also recall them getting some decent buzz and folks talking about their potential to blow up. Well, I did a couple quick searches and that definitely didn’t happen. They are playing a free show in my neighborhood a week from Saturday though. Yep, Emmet Swimming is playing the Del Ray Music Festival. I love my neighborhood. I love this annual festival. Coachella it is not. In fact I am quite certain that if you went back 10 or 15 years and asked any band in this bracket, “Where do you see yourselves in 2011?”, that “playing a free show in Del Ray for a bunch of families on a Saturday afternoon while a herd of toddlers line up so Bubbo the Clown can paint their faces and make them balloons shaped like a wiener dogs” would not be the first words out of their mouths.
Moving over to the Blue Fox Region we’ve got two potential upsets on tap today. First, the top seed and JMUSB favorite Agents of Good Roots try to defend their home turf of Roanoke against the severely underseeded interlopers from Charlottesville, Baaba Seth. Next, the younger alumni faves from Virginia Coalition take on the bracket’s only bluegrass act and a name that will make everyone smile in Magraw Gap.
#1 Agents of Good Roots v. #8 Baaba Seth
[polldaddy poll=5144137]
Agents of Good Roots – Look, we loved these guys. And more impressive, this is the one non-friend, non-DMB band in the bracket that still got the smile of approval from my wife, who happens to be lightyears ahead of the two of us in sheer music/hipster cred. I mean really there’s only one question: Where you’d get that vibe? To their credit, Agents didn’t sound like anyone else in this bracket and definitely brought their own unique and at times funky style. One minute they sounded like an edgier version of contemporaries Rusted Root and the next they sounded like they might have been a decade ahead of their time with some hip-hop style crossover jams. But surprisingly, upon throwing this album in for another spin this week, it didn’t hold up nearly as well as I imagined it would. Sidenote: Listening to these old albums on cd has definitely been a highlight of this project. Found a great Gibb Droll song on an old compilation cd from The Pit in Nags Head. Incredible album also featuring solid outputs from Babyfat and Mudcat Jones while also containing absolute dreck from The Ernies and of course, Sev.
Baaba Seth – The truth is these guys slightly predate us and definitely are more of a UVa-centric band, but they’re a) awesome, b) still playing fabulous occasional reunion shows in Charlottesville, and c) were two decades ahead of their time. World music was years from being mainstream cool, but this huge, eccentric band was cranking out creative material throughout the 90’s. If all of these bands were starting over today, these guys might have the best shot at larger success of the non-mainstream acts in the bracket. That said, they just got a sweet write-up in the UVa alumni mag so feel free to vote against them on general principle.
#4 Virginia Coalition v. #5 Magraw Gap
[polldaddy poll=5144133]
Virginia Coalition – VACO gets points for a number of reasons. Mainly, they have a cadre of songs I still enjoy listening to and are are still mildly relevant. As our reader Jamie (who is apparently now a quotable source for the Wash Post – what has journalism come to?!) pointed out, they are a real sleeper, especially given that Dukes alum from the classes of the “aughts” are likely to be more familiar with, and supportive of, these guys. Also, this is the only band on the list who played a basement party at a house I lived in and that was damn cool (thanks Scooter P!), not to mention an appearance or two at The Lodge (now that’s an old school reference I hope will provoke a comment or two, preferably from a few of our favorite female readers). On the other hand, they lose points for palling around these days with the overrated OAR crew and because I once saw them play a hideous set at Champps in Fair Oaks mall during some type of Redskins Late Night show during one of the joke-to-even-call-them-playoff-runs under Gibbs 2.0. During this debacle, they appeared to be making nice with one Larry Michael, also known as The Curse, The Cooler, Danny’s Fluffer, and Bill Lumberg.
Magraw Gap – Yes, I was also sure the name was McGraw Gap, but a very brief search of the interwebs revealed my just how hazy my memory was. They were a good time at JMU, mainly because I had no real exposure to bluegrass prior to college and was in love with it by the time I left. These guys were my first live introduction to the genre and for that I’m forever grateful. Featuring a fairly young Larry Keel and later being tapped to back Keller Williams, MG was actually way more legit than I realized at the time. I always thought it was a cute gimmick and never really appreciated how fortunate my timing was with this rocksolid group, but I certainly do now. If you enjoy an all-string lineup and can track down their self-titled album, you won’t be disappointed.
Let’s jump right in here and pick up where we left off Friday. We’re taking a look at the bottom of the JM’s Region today. Vote early, vote often. We’ll keep the polls open until we post the next match-up later this week.
#3 Fighting Gravity v. #6 Gibb Droll [polldaddy poll=5137453]
Fighting Gravity – I was a poser ska fan throughout much of high school, so this band really appealed to me when I first heard them my freshman year at JMU. At the time they were known as Boy O’ Boy, but they changed their name to Fighting Gravity a short time later. The rumor was that they had some sort of dispute with another band who claimed to have the rights to that name. If true, they learned nothing about trademark law from the experiences because searches for “Fighting Gravity” exclusively return pages about some weird Blue Man Group meets Cirque du Soleil type performance troup from America’s Got Talent. It’s kind of a bummer, because I was hoping to find some music of theirs to link to. I also Googled Boy O’ Boy, but thanks to a rather unfortunate typo there is a good chance Chris Hansen is going to come knocking on my door. So, we’re just gonna wrap this one up. Good band though.
Gibb Droll – Is it just me or were this guy and his band virtually inescapable in the mid to late 90’s? I’m not saying that their music was universally adored or even widely known. It’s just that it felt like you couldn’t go see any band play without some random dude wandering up rambling on and on about Gibb Droll. It sucked. Tailgating at a Phish show? Some dude selling devil sticks was bound to spend 3 hours explaining why Gibb Droll was a better guitar player than Trey. Checking out an open mic night over winter break? Big mistake. Someone was bound to try to play a Gibb Droll song, fail horribly, claim the sound guy screwed up, and then lambast you and the audience for not appreciating the blues. I’m telling you, his fans were the 1990 college campus equivalent of hipsters. If you could ignore them though, you’d realize the guy was (and still is) a pretty amazing guitarist.
# 2 Everything vs. #7 Shannon Worrell [polldaddy poll=5137455]
Everything – My senior year of high school some friends of mine took a trip down to JMU for the weekend. I’m not sure why I didn’t go with them. I think it was either because I had a lacrosse game or because they didn’t like me and weren’t really my friends. In any case they returned with an Everything tape (yes, a tape) and stories about how all the students on campus were listening to the band. So when I decided to go to JMU, I somehow believed that every weekend the entire student body just went to one big party where Everything played. I also had equally realistic expecations about how successful I’d be with woman, because one of my friends (who eventually became my roommate at JMU) told us all that getting girls at JMU was “just like catching a frisbee.” This was either 1. the worst analogy ever or 2. evidence that I really suck at frisbee. Anyway, if you were on campus in the early to mid 90’s, you probably think it’s an outrage they’re not the #1 seed in this ridiculous little bracket. And if you didn’t, then please trust those of that did when we tell you that Hooch is no Soulfish.
Shannon Worrell – Let’s first say that she had an absolutely beautiful voice. Her fans however, largely fell into one of two camps. They were either people who were way too into to Dave Matthews Band and liked her because Dave sang back-up on Eleanor on her first album, or they were guys with no game who thought that being a Shannon Worrell fan would make them seem sensitive and more attractive to women. If you fell into the first category, girls were probably freaked out by the way you reacted when your roommate accidentally lost your tape of Dave’s 1994 show at The Flood Zone with the 8 minute version of Two Step. If you fell in the second category, you probably had a lot of fun hanging out with girls all night at parties, before they abruptly left to go sleep with their boyfriends when the night came to a close. If you were unfortunate enought to fit into both categories, then you were me. Again, she had a absolutely beautiful voice.
Well, at long last, the Bracket is back. Last year, we looked back at the Best Eats in the ‘Burg for our first bracket o’ nostalgia. In that contest, Gus’s Taverna managed to hold off serious challenges from Luigi’s and the Little Grill and an unexpected strong showing from Mr. Gatti’s to take the title. This year we’re back with a retro look at the bands Rob and I both loved and made fun of during our tenure (matriculation would’ve been to much credit for my academic career in the ‘Burg). At one point or another during the “heyday” of the following acts, I’d venture to say one or both of us probably tried to float a test-balloon to a young lady or two that each of these bands was “really good, you gotta check them out.” Of course we’d never admit that today for most of them, but don’t let our attempt to go all Cusack/Gordon on the criticism fool you into thinking we actually knew what the hell we were talking about then or now.
So here’s the deal. We’ve seeded 16 bands and broken them into two 8 band regions, the JM’s Region and the Blue Fox Region. Every couple of days we’ll trot out new matchups for you to vote on. We tried to seed the bracket as fairly and objectively as we could based on the bands’ various impact and larger popularity as our beer-pong ravaged brains can remember. We’re not saying we actually thought the fifth seed was the fifth-best band, just that they deserved a five seed based on those rather loosely applied criteria. As you might imagine, we’re actually kind of partial to some of the lower seeds for sentimental reasons, including today’s huge underdog in our first matchup. We also may have made some rather serious omissions and we’d love to hear stories of those long-lost musical stylings in the comments as well. Lastly, thanks to frequent contributor and former Blue Fox headliner Uncle Ron for a good bit of help and material for this series!
Now, the Bracket in it’s entirety:
Click for larger image.
That’s a wrap folks. With the Diamond Dukes bowing out of the NCAA tournament on Sunday, the JMU sports year is officially completed. And now Todd and I move on to the dreaded offseason. Not the football offseason, or basketball offseason, but the entire damn JMU sports program offseason. A JMU sports blogger’s nightmare. Somehow we made it through it last year. We’re slightly less clueless now, so we’re pretty sure we’ll emerge on the other side unscathed this year. At least that’s what we’re telling ourselves.
Looking back, I have no clue what we found to write about last summer. We tend to be a little light on the planning around here and heavily reliant on the “sit back and hope stuff worth writing about happens” approach. We’re breaking the mold slightly though this summer. While we haven’t exactly hashed out a real plan, we did toss around a few ideas around over beers. It’s debatable whether the beers or the ideas gave us confidence, but we walked out of Dogfish Head a few weeks ago fairly certain this was going to be a good summer for the blog.
Nothing is set in stone, but we’re definitely going to bring back the team by team CAA football previews. We had a lot of fun with them last year and are looking forward to writing them again this summer. It will be much more interesting now that we have readers and all. We’ll also be finally getting Todd’s pet project off the ground, the JMUSB Battle of the Bands Bracket, later this week. We are really excited about it and hope that old guys like us will love it. We also hope that younger, cooler readers don’t find it too perplexing and sad.
We realize the internet might break today as millions of people attempt to decide if Grantland is the greatest thing ever to happen to sports journalism, or just a sellout project worthy of nothing but snark. Assuming it doesn’t break though, we’ll be here. (Ed. note – You’re telling me I can read content from this lineup of writers and editors in one place? Yes please. Why so many people seem to be rooting for it to fail is beyond me.) And we’ll be open to suggestions for things to write about. So leave a comment or drop us a line at jmusportsblog@gmail.com if you have any tips. We’re all ears. And thank you very much for reading. We really appreciate it.
JMU Baseball closed the 2010-2011 athletics year in the ‘Burg with a strong showing at the Chapel Hill Regional of the NCAA baseball tourney this weekend. Although the Dukes took out Florida International and Maine, they were unable to overcome the powerful UNC Tarheels in two matchups. After getting shelled on Friday by UNC, the Dukes played tough in the second of two games Sunday (they beat Maine in the early game) and even had the game tied in the 5th after the last of Catcher Jake Lowery’s record-setting homeruns. But they ultimately failed to push across any more runs and the tired pitching staff finally caught up with them late as the Tarheels pulled away. But a huge congratulations to Coach McFarland and the squad on a fabulous season that included the second-straight CAA title!
And the silver lining? The Dukes get another shot in Chapel Hill in just 77 days! Well, different sport, but that’s right, we’re under three months away and the countdown is ON till football season opens. (Also means we’re only 84 days from Bridgeforth’s grand unveiling – have I mentioned that before?). Just guessing, but I’ll bet the normally reserved Tarheel fans will be slightly more nervous when the Dukes roll in for that one than they were this weekend! Reseating appointments are underway for ticket holders and the momentum is only building. Whoever takes over for TJ Yates down at Carolina better start looking for DJ Bryant right now.
On the blog front, be sure and stop in Wednesday when we launch the Late 90’s JMU Music Scene Bracket of the Bands!
REMINDER: JMU Baseball enters play in the Chapel Hill Regional of the NCAA Baseball tourney today at 1 p.m. Free audio coverage (you can listen at work) will be available on MadiZone beginning at 12:45. The winner will advance to take on the winner of the UNC v. Maine game. The Diamond Dukes will be led by their freshly minted All-Americans! Catcher Jake Lowery was named to first team All-American and Shortstop David Herbek made the second team.
Enjoy the tourney now, because it’s curtains for the 2010-2011 JMU Athletic year after it’s over. Of course, the silver lining is we can go whole hog on the stadium and football season after this (what, you thought we already had? you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!).
In the meantime, we’ve been boning up on the sweet stylings of Gibb Droll and the insanely atrocious suburban hip-hop of Sev in preparation for the launch of the music bracket this weekend. Don’t forget to come back and vote for your favorites. After all, we wouldn’t want those diehard Slackjaw fans to feel like they didn’t get a fair shake.
The Diamond Dukes are red hot, fresh off CAA regular season and tournament championships, and headed down to Chapel Hill, NC to play in the NCAA tournament. It sounds like the perfect time for fans everywhere to jump on the bandwagon. At the risk of offending all of the hard-core fans out there, here is just enough info to help you fake your way through this weekend’s regionals or bask in the glory as the Dukes march on to Omaha.
CAA Tournament Victory
JMU capped an outstanding regular season with a dominating performance in the CAA tournament last weekend. The Dukes’ offense led the way all season, but pitcher Sean Tierney threw a complete game shut-out to help JMU defeat Georgia State 4-0 in the tournament opener. JMU advanced to the winners’ bracket to face UNCW in game 2. The Dukes offense overwhelmed the Seahawks in a comfortable 13-7 win. Catcher Jake Lowery and Johnny Bladel each had 4 hits to pace JMU and fellow slugger Dave Herbek knocked in 5 runs. The victory meant that JMU moved on to the championship to face ODU. Because JMU entered the final match-up without a loss, ODU would have to beat them twice to take the title. JMU took all the drama out of it and crushed them 10-1 to win the CAA Championship in one game.
How the NCAA Tournament Works
The Dukes secured an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as a result of their CAA Championship. While it all culminates with the College World Series, the tournament actually involves 64 teams. The tournament can be sort of confusing for folks who aren’t familiar with it, but it’s actually pretty simple. The first round, called the Regionals, involves 16 double-elimination tournaments of four teams each. The winners of each Region move on to the Super Regionals, with the other 48 teams heading home. The Super Regionals consist of 8 head to head match-ups between the winners of the Regionals. The teams play a 3 game series, with the 8 winners moving onto the College World Series and the losers eliminated. The World Series uses the same format as the Regionals, with the teams divided into 2 four team brackets for a double-elimination tournament. The winners of each tournament play a 3 game series for the National Championship.
The Dukes’ Strengths and Weaknesses
So, now that we’ve cleared that up, here is what you need to know about JMU. The Dukes’ regional bracket consists of UNC, Florida Interational, and Maine. The Dukes will start things off with a game against FIU Friday afternoon. JMU will likely go as far as their bats take them. The team was an offensive juggernaut all season. Their team batting average of .321 was fourth in the nation. They scored 522 runs which lead the nation and worked out to a ridiculous 9.15 a game. It’s a good thing, because the pitching wasn’t as impressive. The staff ERA of 5.77, good enough for 242nd in the nation. But, and there is always a but, the Dukes pitching was much better down the stretch. They gave up fewer than 3 runs in 6 of their last 8 games.
Name to Know
With a .321 team average, lots of guys in the lineup can hit. The Dukes’ big star is catcher Jake Lowery however. He was the CAA Player of the Year and was named a finalist for the 2011 Golden Spikes Award, given to the nation’s top amateur baseball player. He led the nation in Runs, RBI, and Total Bases. He also was second in homers and had a eye-popping 1.240 OPS. In short, the guy can flat out rake and he could easily get hot in Chapel Hill and lead the Dukes on a run to Omaha.
The above picture was posted to Facebook by Todd last Friday afternoon. Nobody has seen or heard from him since. As many of you know, Todd was really excited about the new stadium. Really, really excited. He’d been looking forward to last week’s trip down to campus for months. He claimed that he was just stopping through the ‘Burg on his way to some race he was running in West Virginia. The truth was that he just had to see the upper deck with his own two eyes before last Saturday. You know, in case that whole rapture thing came true.
Todd set out for JMU last Friday morning with bright eyes and a clear mind. It was a drive he’s made hundreds of times. He probably arrived on campus about lunchtime, parked his car, and headed directly to the steps to take the picture. I can just imagine him standing there on the steps, full of pride like a man about to summit Everest. His hands were probably trembling as he brought the camera up to take the shot due to the massive amount of adrenaline rushing through his veins. And then he got it. The perfect shot was his. And I haven’t heard from him since.
I’m not sure what happend to him. Maybe he’s still there, unable to look away and determined to stand by until gameday in September. Maybe he was so overcome with joy by the experience that he’s wandering around the bowels of the stadium with an ear to ear grin mumbling “Bridgeforth…Bridgeforth.” Maybe he’s drifting through campus hugging complete strangers. I really don’t know. I miss him, but I know how much it meant to him to see the stadium. And because he saw it, I know that wherever he is, he’s at peace.
A few months ago I was fortunate to get together with some folks from the Duke Club staff for lunch. It was a unique opportunity for me to spend time with some of the only people are earth who don’t roll their eyes at the mere thought of my overly enthusiastic interest in JMU sports. Quite to the contrary, they actually seemed to appreciate it. So it was a fun afternoon. It also was quite informative as they told me all about the Duke Dog Pride campaign they were just getting ready to roll out.
For those that don’t know, the Duke Dog Pride campaign is a plan to add 2,011 new Duke Club members in 2011. It’s an ambitious goal and one that could give JMU a big leg up on some other athletic programs it competes against, like Richmond, Appalachian State, ODU, and Montana. Each of those schools currently have more athletics donors that JMU. I recently caught up with Brian Powell, Assistant Director of the Duke Club, and asked him for an update on the campaign. He provided me with the info below that shows things are going pretty well. Dollars are tracked according to the fiscal year (July 1 – June 30) and member numbers are based on the calendar year.
New Members to date (Jan – present): 836 Previous All-time Record for New Members (2007): 769
Dollars raised to date: $1,403,068
Projected dollars raised: $1.55M+
All-time dollars raised record: $1,303,410
Football Season ticket sales: 6,138
Renewal Rate: 71% to date and expected to finish closer to 80-85%
2010 Season Tickets: 5,128Club Seat Sales: 702 of 1,0000
It’s impressive that just 6 months into the year, they’ve already added more members than in any other year. There still is a ways to go however. If you’ve been thinking about joining the Duke Club, but just haven’t done so yet, now would be a great time to sign up. If you’ve never really thought about joining, I’d encourage you to learn a little bit about it and take the plunge. And if you’re a particularly persuasive person, then hound your friends until they sign up. That stadium ain’t gonna pay for itself. And most importantly if anyone of you are one of the 702 lucky individuals who have purchased club seats, feel free to invite your favorite JMU bloggers to sit with you at the opener.
