Dave from Carter-Finley

My reaction to Clem Johnson's interception that sealed the Pack's 28-27 win over the Tarheels.

No words can describe how good it feels to beat the Tarheels.  The picture says it all.  Major props to Mrs. DFCF for capturing the moment.

Way beyond the Raleigh ditches,

there’s a place like hell,

where twenty thousand sons of bitches

call it Chapel Hill.

Oh, they’re bastards born,

and they’re bastards bred,

and when they die,

they’ll be bastards dead.

So, piss on Carolina ‘lina.

Piss on Carolina ‘lina.

Piss on Carolina ‘lina.

Roll on State!

*Sing to the tune of Carolina’s fight song.

The day after Thanksgiving begins the Christmas shopping season. Here's what to get the State fan that has everything.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!  I’ll be spending the day with family, eating lots of turkey, and watching lots of football.  And in true DFCF fashion, if you don’t know what to get that Pack fan you know that has everything for Christmas see the above picture.  It doesn’t get any better than that.

Celebrating the Pack's 31-27 win over the Heels back in 2007 with game MVP Jamelle Eugene and others. Check out my highwaters ... HOT!

So this weekend the hated Tarheels come rolling into Carter-Finley with a little payback on their minds.  The Pack has won the last two in this series including last years 41-10 romp that still ranks as the most awesome NC State game I have ever watched.  In 2007 the Pack weathered two Daniel Evans pick sixes to pull out the 31-27 win.  Jamelle Eugene had his career day with 159 yards rushing and 3 TDs.  After the game yours truly celebrated with him, Curtis Underwood, DeAndre Morgan, Ray Michel, Darrell Davis, Javon Walker, and Wayne Crawford at the Hillsborough Street Applebee’s (see above picture).

A lot of other college rivalries get more press for being hated and ugly, but for me the Tarheels are the Mecca of Hate.  Words don’t describe how much I hate the Tarheels.  Still to this day I can’t understand how a Wolfpack grad/fan could marry a Tarheel grad/fan … more like fan right, because let’s be honest, less than 1% of Tarheel fans actually went to school there.  Screw that house divided crap.  I puke a little in my mouth everytime I see one of those license tags or bumper stickers.  My wife applied for grad school at Carolina and it’s safe to say we probably wouldn’t be married right now had Carolina not dropped her program.  Whew, dodged a bullet there!

I’m holding onto a little bit of hope here.  Carolina is currently a 5.5 point favorite and the underdog has won something like 8 of the past 12 straight up.  Knowing that stat I still don’t have a good feeling about this one.  We’ll be replaying last year’s 41-10 beatdown at my tailgate to try and bring some good karma to our boys.  It is Senior Day so we will be saying goodbye to the likes of Willie Young, Alan-Michael Cash, Ray Michel, Jamelle Eugene, Jeraill McCuller, and many others.  It will also be my brother’s last game as a manager.  I’ll probably shed a tear or two.  Hopefully these guys can go out on a high with a win over the hated Tarheels.  Go Pack!

Last Saturday I was in Blacksburg rooting on the Pack. The team pulled a Dana Bible … didn’t show up. Coach Bible had a valid reason, though. As most of you are probably already aware, he has been diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia. I’m no doctor, but that sure doesn’t sound good. He will be undergoing treatment for the next 30 at the UNC Hospital. Everybody please keep Coach Bible and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

Back to the game, the story was told in the first four plays with the Pack fumbling the ball three times (losing two). The Pack played a decent first half and was down only 17-10 late in the 2nd quarter, but it never really felt like the Pack was in the game. The second half was more of the same uninspired play that we’ve become all too accustomed to seeing this season. I couldn’t take it and left at the start of the 4th quarter sadly setting a new record for the earliest I’ve ever left a State football game.

It was my first visit to Lane Stadium so here’s a few of my observations. The Hokie fans were all real nice. I even bellowed the “Piss On Carolina” song* with a confused Hokie fan … more on that in a minute. The stadium was a beautiful setting especially with the weather that was the absolute best it could be for a late November day in Blacksburg. The “Enter Sandman” entrance was cool, but I’ll be honest I was expecting a little more. I’m sure it’s better for bigger games. The bathrooms still had troughs so apparently the technology at Virginia Tech (isn’t it ironic) is a couple decades behind. The band doing the “Hokie Pokie” between the 3rd and 4th quarters was okay, but I thought the fans would be more involved. The coolest thing was the turkey call sound played over the stadium PA on every third down. All in all I thoroughly enjoyed the passion of the Hokie fans and the many Hokie traditions.

Game aside, the weekend was a blast … and it was spent with mostly Hokie fans. The highlights were Lil’ Cucci’s (pronounced coochies) and the “Piss On Carolina” song*. Friday night my group all met up at Lil’ Cucci’s just north of Roanoke. I had been hearing about this place for two years so it had high expectations to live up to. It was a quaint family owned establishment that seemed to fit our crowd of twenty strong quite well. I ordered the highly recommended pizza steak sub and, unlike the State football team, it did not disappoint. Maybe I should help them out with a marketing campaign. How does this sound? Lil’ Cucci’s … come eat your heart out! Wow, so I’ve officially passed into the PG-13 world. I just couldn’t resist. On to Saturday.

I still can’t believe what transpired just outside of Lane Stadium before the game. We had grabbed a few walking beers for the trek from our tailgating spot to the stadium. It was a surprisingly short walk so we had to stand at the edge of some trees and finish off our beers. Back in my heyday this would have taken no longer than five seconds, but I’m slowing down a little bit in my old age. Anyway, as we’re standing there a “confused” Hokie fan … and by confused I mean he was wearing a Virginia Tech sweatshirt with a Clemson hat and sunglasses … walked up and asked to sing the “Red and White” song with us. I thought that was cool so we all sang it and I figured that would be the end of that. Little did I know the best part was yet to come.

He then asked to sing the “Piss On Carolina” song*. I was immediately ready to go, but had serious doubts this guy actually knew what he was talking about. I turned out to be dead wrong and somehow I was the only person in my group that knew the song so me and the “confused” Hokie fan bellowed the song for all passersby in a half mile radius to hear. That right there was worth the trip for me. Other Hokie fans walking by stopped to listen and cheer us on. I even got several high fives after we finished. I was so pumped after singing the song that I didn’t even think to get my picture taken with the guy. Oh well. It still immediately jumped into my top 5 road trip memories of all time.

* If you don’t know this song (shame on you) check back Friday and I’ll post the lyrics so everybody can practice for the big game this Saturday.

Since I started this blog I’ve tried to keep it light and funny.  Well not today.  This entry is as serious as can be.  I’m always one of the most optimistic people when it comes to NC State football.  I guess you could say that I’m loyal to a fault.  Every year I think we’re going to be more successful than we actually end up doing.  Well right now I am the most depressed about NC State football that I have ever been.  And with the inside information I hear about the program I don’t know when it’s going to get better.

Nothing is more disheartening than watching the team you love play with absolutely no passion or sense of urgency.  This team has without a doubt taken on the personality of Tom O’Brien.  It’s also demoralizing as a fan when you walk into a stadium and feel like your team has no shot of winning.  I never once felt that way while Chuck Amato was here, but have felt that way too often under O’Brien.  Let’s look at the stats.  In seven years Amato had four losses by 17 points or more.  Through three seasons O’Brien has thirteen losses by 17 points or more and there’s still one more game to go this year so that number will probably get even bigger.

If Saturday wasn’t Senior Day and my brother’s last as team manager I might consider staying home and not wasting my time.  I can’t believe I’m writing this, but then again I can’t believe our team sucks so bad.  Is the sky falling?  Lord I hope not, but it sure feels like it.  I hate to be all doom and gloom, but some things are so bad you can’t sugarcoat them.  After the season I might go into a little more detail about some of the inner workings of the program.  It is 3:30 a.m. as I finish this entry so now that I’ve gotten it off my chest I’m going to see if I can actually get some sleep.  Goodnight everybody.

Uga VII

Sad day for the Georgia Bulldog fans today as Uga VII died suddenly yesterday morning.  I know this is non-NC State football news, but I just had to comment on what I think is one of the coolest mascots in all of sports.  Uga VII will be interred tomorrow in the mausoleum at Sanford Stadium with all six of his predecessors.  Rest in Peace Uga VII.

If you follow me on Twitter you would have found out about the NCAA granting Toney Baker a 6th year of eligibility a whole day before it hit the media.  As well as the inside info that puts his return at doubtful.

I’ve also been first to tweet about Jarvis Byrd getting his redshirt taken off, Koyal George moving back to WR, and the redshirting of Curtis Underwood, Marcus Kuhn, and Jeff Rieskamp just to name a few.  So follow me on Twitter for breaking news on NC State football.

Well it’s the last road trip of the season.  Can’t believe that the season has gone by so fast.  I wait all summer for the fall to get here and then football season is over in the blink of an eye.  Minus Winston-Salem’s dump of a town, it’s been a very fun year for road trips.  Boston and Tallahassee were both a blast.  I’m sure Blacksburg/Roanoke will be too.  My crowd is going to be about 20 strong (with over half being Hokie fans … hence the above picture) so this is probably the road trip I’ve been looking the most forward to.  It would be nice if the Pack can keep it close and cover the spread.  That’s all I really ask.

This will be my first Lane Stadium experience.  I’ve heard lots of good things about it so I hope it doesn’t disappoint.  I’m mostly looking forward to seeing the Hokies run onto the field to Metallica’s Enter Sandman.  I’ve heard that the Hokie faithful get so amped up for this that the whole stadium shakes.  I’ll make sure to get in there early enough so I don’t miss that.  The only problem is it’s a 3:30 p.m. kickoff and Virginia Tech doesn’t have any tailgating restrictions so I just hope to be sober enough to remember it afterwards.  The game … maybe not so much.

A month ago I thought that we would be able to give Virginia Tech a game because I felt we just matched up well with them.  Now I really don’t know what to think.  Virginia Tech is the better team and should take care of business, but as long as I’m alive and breathing I’ll always believe that State can win and I’ll do my part by rooting my heart out to help make that happen.  The weather forcast calls for a nice sunny day with a high around 60°, which is about the best you can ask for a late November weekend in Blacksburg.  I’ll be the guy in red.  Go Pack!