That right there is a picture from an actual JMU Football ticket poster back in the day. And we’re quite confident in saying it’s the most 80s thing we’ve seen in ages. Maybe ever. Seriously. If you stare at it long enough, we swear you’ll actually hear REO Speedwagon in the background.
If there were three more appropriate people to build an 80s era football ticketing campaign around, we’d be shocked. If there were three more appropriate people to build an 80s era campaign for anything at all, we’d be shocked. The head cheerleader, captain of the football team, and um, I don’t know, girl ready to party? It’s almost too perfect.
But don’t be fooled. If the 80s (or more appropriately 80s movies) taught America anything, it’s that everyone is different than they appear. The cute head cheerleader who’s the most popular girl on campus and engaged to Mr. Perfect? Yeah, she’s actually miserable and won’t find her true self until she flees graduation with some John Cusack like plucky little underdog dude. Yes, that guy in the middle plays football, drives a Camaro, drinks all the beers, and beats up nerds. But deep down inside, he just wants to write poetry. And party girl on the right with a chip on her shoulder and a bad reputation? Wrong. She’s actually a straight A student who’s crafted that bad girl image to hide her elegant beauty. We just won’t notice it until the cheerleader gives her a makeover.
Yeah, at first glance this poster might look a little dated. Some might go so far as to say it’s kind of wrong by today’s standards. But if this picture is wrong, then we don’t want to be right. We don’t know if it helped sell tickets decades ago. But we’ll be damned if we didn’t renew our JMU football season tickets today. So it works now.
h/t @MikeChatburn who posted this picture of the poster he actually has
No guarantees here, but we’re gonna try and give you a daily update (at least on gamedays) for as long as these rare, late post-graduation runs from Lacrosse and Softball last. We’re starting now because our high hopes for softball in particular will be greatly enhanced if the Dukes handle their business in the CAA tourney (and conversely will suffer a bit of a blow if they get knocked out of the top 8 and potentially hosting a Super Regional by falling to any of these also-rans in the conference tournament in the ‘Burg these next few days). So stay tuned to this ambitious plan (and be ready to more disappointed than you’ve ever been in Benioff and Weiss when we miss out on something big of course).
Today Lacrosse flew cross-country to get ready for their first-round matchup with Stanford coming up on Friday. So cool they’re playing in the LA Coliseum, home of a few moments you may have heard of like two Olympic Games, Super Bowl I, USC football in all its forms, NWA-era Raiders, more WideWorldofSports motocross events than you can count (what? we’re old), and of course the new Rams just to name a few.
Softball on the other hand got their postseason run off to a solid start with a 2-0 win over the Delaware Blue Chickens after working around two rain delays. Senior Pitcher Jailyn Ford (winner of the fan-voting portion of the Senior Class Award nationally though we know what happens when a JMU/CAA rep does well in that “portion”) threw a Scherzer-esque one hitter to put the Dukes into the winners’ bracket where they’ll play possible the key game of the tournament against #2 Towson at noon on Thursday. Go Dukes! (and warm up those bats though it was good to see Hannah Hayes and Jess Mrozek involved in the offense outside of the usual suspects!)
Brian Hansen is back with another guest post about JMU’s juggernaut of a softball program. The ladies finished the regular season 43-4. Here Brian breaks down phase 1 of the postseason, the CAA tourney.
At the start of this season, I wrote about how I thought this could be a special team and that they could have a special year. I mentioned that Oklahoma City and the College World Series was a goal for this team, but even I did not expect this team to go out there and claim a top 10 ranking and go 43-4 against a really tough schedule. I had high expectations for this team and yet they still managed to exceed them. This team is doing something special and I’m excited that we’ve finally reached the postseason and Coach Dean and his team can start their run. read more…
(Update: unfortunately, the Giants decided not to sign Vad.)
Word broke late last week that Vad Lee had earned an invitation to the NY Giants Rookie Minicamp. As a diehard Giants’ fan, this was pretty exciting for me personally. But it’s not about me. It’s about Vad, an all-time great Duke, getting his shot at the NFL.
The Giants already signed Josh Woodrum out of Liberty to an undrafted free agent deal after the NFL Draft. In addition, they gave Vad and South Florida’s B.J. Daniels tryouts over the weekend. It’s unclear if either one of them played well enough to earn an undrafted free agent contract of their own. One of the three might have a legit shot of making the final 54 man roster. The Giants only carried two QBs last year. In addition to two time Super Bowl MVP Eli Mannning, Big Blue had former Syracuse signal caller Ryan Nassib as the only other QB on the roster. He’ll be on the final year of his rookie deal this season, so the team is expected to consider keeping a third QB.
Interestingly enough, Vad and the entire JMU football program have a connection to the Giants. One of Vad’s backups last year was redshirt freshman QB Jerry Reese Jr. Reese is the son of Giants’ General Manager Jerry Reese. That’s not going to give Vad any advantage whatsoever, but it’s an interesting connection that I somehow had completely missed.
Much like with Dominick Richards and Washington, the odds against Vad making the team are pretty steep. But nothing is impossible. In fact, Lee and Richards only need to look toward their former JMU teammate Daniel Brown for proof that guys can go from minicamp tryout to playing on Sundays. Brown did it last year with the Ravens.
Former JMU offensive lineman Domick Richards will be given a chance to defy the odds and make an NFL roster. He announced yesterday that he was invited to participate in the Washington Redskins minicamp. If he performs well, he could be signed as an undrafted fee agent for the preseason. These types of minicamp deals/tryouts don’t often lead to a spot on the roster in the Fall, but as Leicester showed us, anything is possible.
Richards played center at JMU and started all 12 games as a redshirt senior last season. He was also recognized as All-Conference Academic team and recently was named to the National Football Foundation Hampshire Honor Society. He anchored an offensive line that helped the Dukes average 44 points and over 520 yards of offense per game.
Richards is the only JMU player to be picked up by an NFL squad this season. Fans were hoping Vad Lee would get a shot someplace, but he hasn’t thus far. We have no clue if it’s due to his injury or the perception that he’s a “system quarterback.”
Congrats to Domick. We’ll all be pulling for you.
We’re dating ourselves here, but bear with us. Years ago, the Duke Dog qualified for the Capitol One Mascot Challenge. We don’t remember the particulars, but it was some sort of bracket to determine the best mascot in college sports. There was an online voting component and Duke Dog crushed. And we mean he absolutely ran away with the vote. He lapped the competition. Without going back to research it, we’re pretty sure he got 459,374,119 more votes than the next closest competitor. And then he lost.
He lost because Capitol One had completely rigged the stupid and utterly worthless competition implemented some unusual scoring procedures that minimized the impact of the fan vote. It sucked, but it proved on thing beyond any doubt, JMU people are the best at stuffing online ballot boxes for fellow Dukes.
While we’re not over the Mascot Challenge debacle, we believe we have a way for JMU to avenge the travesty and flex its online voting muscles. We need to get out and vote for The Founding Fathers to qualify for The Basketball Tournament (TBT).
Who are The Founding Fathers and what is The Basketball Tournament? First up, The Founding Fathers is the name given to a team of JMU Basketball alums who are trying to qualify for TBT. Former JMU Basketball Manager, Joe Kuykendall, along with former Video Coordinator Kevin Albright, assembled the team. It aims to compete in the Northeast Region taking place in Philadelphia this July. So far, the roster is made up of Ron Curry (2016), Rayshawn Goins (2013), AJ Davis (2013), Julius Wells (2012), and Kyle Swanston (2009).
This is the second year TBT has been in existence and it’s a pretty cool idea. It’s a 5 on 5 hoops tourney open to 64 teams. It’s free to enter and anyone over 18 and willing to forego amateur status is eligible to compete. This is not some random local tournament for weekend ballers though. For one thing, most teams will feature former college and pro standouts. For another thing, it has a $2 million grand prize.
So anyone can enter. But here’s where it gets interesting. Teams will qualify for the bracket based on the number of online votes they receive. Which is where you come in. The Founding Fathers need help. Help in the form of online votes, which is something of a JMU specialty. In order to play in Philly, they need to be one of the top 12 vote getters in the Northeast Region. Before you go any further, you need to VOTE NOW.
This is guaranteed not to be some Capitol One Mascot Challenge screw job folks. There’s no other factor to consider for a tourney bid. If The Founding Fathers finish in the top 12 for the Northeast Region, they’re in. It’s that simple. There will be no random other “factor” that leads to a Duke Dog Mascot Challenge like catastrophe. So get out and vote for The Founding Fathers. And encourage everyone you know to do the same.
Eric Striker has absolutely no connection to JMU football. He played linebacker for the Oklahoma Sooners and was good enough to earn All Big 12 and All America honors. Like many college players, he hoped to hear his name called during the NFL draft. But he didn’t.
After the final picks were made, he gave this amazing speech to his family and friends who’d gathered to follow the draft with him. It’s hard to watch a guy fight back tears like that, but at the same time it’s pretty damn incredible to witness someone with such wisdom and perspective.
We said that Striker has no connection to JMU football, and he doesn’t. At the same time, his experience as a standout player from one of the true power programs in college football gives us even more appreciation for the Dukes who’ve beaten the odds to make an NFL roster. The odds of anyone playing on Sundays are pretty steep. That holds true if you’re Eric Striker from Oklahoma, and even more so if you’re Deane Marlowe, Daniel Brown, Earl Watford, Arthur Moats, or anyone else from JMU.
Striker signed with the Buffalo Bills as an undrafted free agent. Since we’re saps, we’ll be rooting like hell for him to make the team. And hoping that more JMU Dukes continue to defy the odds and play in the NFL as well.
As the NFL draft kicked off tonight, we thought we’d touch on this year’s small class of Dukes with realistic hopes of playing at the next level. With no disrespect intended towards any other JMU players that may be working their butts off, there really only appear to be two guys with a shot at being picked up by Sunday evening – QB Vad Lee and OL Dominick Richards. Neither player seems likely to actually be drafted, but as we say every year, being signed as an undrafted free agent (UFA) by a team with a need that actually wants to bring you in is WAY preferable to being snagged late by a team that may not have a spot. If you’re looking for examples you need only go back to last year when Dean Marlowe was signed as an UFA by the Panthers and went all the way to the Super Bowl and Daniel Brown was brought in by the Ravens and after bouncing around a bit, got a real shot late in the season when the depleted Ravens’ WR corps had a need for a guy that had learned the system back in camp. It’s also nice to know that Richards and Lee are two of the best all-around Dukes we’ve seen in years and will be just fine no matter what happens. Check out this article on Richards and this great piece by WHSV on Vad’s comeback from injury and hopes for this weekend and beyond:
http://www.whsv.com/content/sports/Vad-Lee-The-Comeback-377364911.html
News broke a few days ago that Eastern Michigan University (EMU) faculty and students officially came out in favor of the school dropping FBS football. They made their voices known by publishing a report stating that “getting rid of Division I football is a moral imperative – it will save students money and lower student debt.” Of course long before the report was published, students, faculty, and alums had voted with their feet by simply not going to football games. EMU’s season high attendance last year was a whopping 6,513 when Army came to town.
What does this have to do with JMU? Well, as soon as the news broke that EMU might be exiting the Mid American Conference (MAC) for football, eager JMU fans saw an opportunity for the Dukes to finally make the leap to FBS football. There have long been suspicions that while JMU “passed” on the Sun Belt, it is standing by ready to jump to the MAC, CUSA, or nearly any other league. Whether or not that’s a common belief of everyone in the administration or not is up for debate. Regardless, it doesn’t seem to matter because EMU is not dropping FBS football.
The university President and Board of Regents firmly stating their intent to keep FBS football is a good thing for the hundreds of EMU fans who care and several thousand others who randomly attend games because their is nothing better to do in Ypsilanti, Michigan in the Fall. It is less encouraging for JMU fans who finally saw a window of opportunities for the Dukes to exit FCS football once and for all.
We have no clue whether or not EMU leaving the MAC would mean JMU got the call up. Logic dictates that JMU is probably the most well suited FCS school to make the leap in terms of resources and support. With TV revenue declining for all but the P5 leagues however, the flavor of the month seems to be a shift to regionalized conferences. In that sense, a school like Youngstown State might get a call from the MAC before JMU should a slot ever open. Or maybe UMass would be suddenly welcomed back into the fold.
Here on JMUSB, I’ve shied away from the FCS vs. FBS debate, and largely let Todd weigh in on the topic. I’m slightly less concerned on the matter, but mainly am just sick of worrying about something that we clearly have no ability to influence.
While I get the decision to pass on the Sun Belt, I’ve actually advocated for a MAC move in the past. Admittedly, I arrived at that position with virtually no analytic rigor. For some reason I just thought some of the schools were a good “fit” for JMU. Dig into the numbers however, and it seems like there might be a case to be made that the MAC isn’t really much different than the Sunbelt. My reluctance to get behind an FBS move full bore, has always been that the perceived low ROI. The thing is though, with JMU’s $40M+ athletic budget, the powers that be either calculate ROI differently, or they fail to consider it at all.
Regardless of where you stand, recent developments show that conference movement is not dead and will probably never die. That could be a good thing if you’re holding your breath waiting for JMU to move. It could also be recipe for massive frustration with an admin that appears content to wait around forever looking for the perfect fit.
CJ Sapang scored again for the Philadelphia Union this weekend. The goal, as seen above, put the Union up 2-0 over NYCFC and moved them to the top of the table in the Eastern Conference. It’s still early in the season, but the JMU soccer alum, is off to one hell of a start. Through seven matches, Sapong leads the Union with 4 goals. That total also puts him in the top 5 of MLS goal scorers.
Last year was a rough one for Sapong. He battled injuries on the field and was also arrested for DUI. Despite those set backs, he managed rally and score a career best 9 goals. This season, he’s on pace to blow past that total.
His efforts have not gone unnoticed. In fact, they’ve lead to some folks calling for Jurgen Klinsmans to call Sapong up for US Men’s National Team Duties. And the calls for CJ are being led by none other than Taylor Twellman. Sapang has previously played with the USMNT only during the January session, which is never really the “A team” and usually a chance to give below the radar players a look-see.
While the seemingly tenured USMNT striker Jozy Altidore has battled injuries this year, he still has yet to find the back of the net in 5 games of action. CJ’s supporters rightly point out that he’s scoring at a greater rate than Jozy, but also has improved by leaps and bounds holding the ball and creating scoring opportunities for his teammates. Of course, performing in MLS doesn’t always equal a call up to Klinsmann’s squad (cough, Benny Feilhaber, cough). If CJ keeps improving like this, Jurgen is going to need to give him a shot.
