I don’t know how many of you have seen the movie Necessary Roughness, but it’s a good watch. It’s about a college football team – the Texas State Fighting Armadillos – that had all of their scholarships revoked because of NCAA violations. They were only allowed to play with walk-ons, and they only have 17 players, so each player had to play both ways.
In the opening game of the season, they were facing a team who dressed more than 100 players. When that team took the field, the procession of players from the locker room to the field looked more like a parade. When Texas State’s turn comes to take the field, the radio announcer (Rob Schneider) called it like this: “And here come all 17 of your Texas State Fighting Armadillos!” 17 against 100. It wasn’t fair.
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That’s what Virginia Tech’s basketball team reminds me of when they run out on the court after their opposition. The Hokies are dressing nine players for games, one of which is a walk-on, and one of which doesn’t play at all. Syracuse had 15 or 16 guys dressed for Saturday night’s game, most of which were taller and “looked the part” more than Virginia Tech’s players. If the game had been decided by which team looked better getting off the bus, then the Orange would have won by 20 or 30 points.
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