Richmond Sports

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

Well, it's official, folks....

Michael Rao has officially announced that the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams will be a part of the Atlantic 10 conference with Butler, U of R, and a bunch of other b-ball loving schools.

As quoted in the article, he says it made "sense from every angle" for the Rams to join the A-10.

Here's that article from the RTD:

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports/2012/may/15/17/amid-word-conference-move-vcu-sets-130-pm-news-con-ar-1916011/

And if you wanna hear Jim Miller's take on the topic, here's his full, enthusiastic outlook on VCU's new A-10 membership:

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports/2012/may/15/urs-miller-believes-vcus-move-10-benefits-both-sch-ar-1916412/

Jim Miller is the athletics director for the University of Richmond. VCU had just lost it's star athletics director Norwood Teague to the University of Minnesota not a month ago. It has already started searching for applicants. The new nationwide news of THIS probably will draw some more applicants.

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

It looks like the heavily troubled SportsQuest development is finally seeing the beginning of the end.

This time it concerns the artificial turf fields and their developers.

The developers of the turf, the SHAW INDUSTRIES GROUP, are trying to get the foreclosure processed, which would throw ownership of the 150 acres of turf up in the air.

From today's BizSense:

http://www.richmondbizsense.com/2012/05/16/sportsquest-facing-foreclosure/

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

On the heels of VCU's CAA departure, Mayor Jones sees it as a positive reinforcement and actual encouragement to keep the CAA tourney in RVA.

After last year's wild Final 4 run, VCU packed up ALL of it's home games at the Stu. Mayor Jones notes that more fans wanted tickets, but were denied it because of the full house. He hints that the Richmond Coliseum can be the site for a few games here and there, an idea he slid in a conversation with Michael Rao.

The way I see it, the electric rivalry between now conference-mates VCU and UR can probably pack all the seats in their annual "Black & Blue Classic" if held at the Colisuem.

VCU has played all home games at the Coliseum before the opening of the Siegel Center in 1999.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/news/2012/may/16/tdmain01-richmond-looks-to-keep-caa-conference-exp-ar-1917447/

[HopHead]

^I hate to say it, but I think VCU leaving the CAA could actually open the door for the CAA tourney to go somewhere else. Interesting post from Andy Katz at ESPN: http://espn.go.com/b...g-times-for-caa. Apparently Baltimore may be in the mix for next year. From what I understand VCU is automatically ineligible for the CAA tourney next year since they are leaving the following season (part of the conference bi-laws). You'll probably see Norfolk try to make a run at it too (if ODU stays in the CAA). The good news for Richmond is that the tournament has done well there the last several years (mostly because of VCU, but Richmond isn't a bad place to be either for those looking at a weekend get away). Also, nobody that I can think of has a brand new shiny arena as an incentive either. Perhaps now is a good of a time as any for the city to work on getting a new one built. VCU going to the A-10 is the right thing for the basketball program, but at the same time it's a bummer. The CAA has come A LONG way in the last 6 or 7 years and had a lot of momentum.

Edited May 16, 2012 by dbull75

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

^I hate to say it, but I think VCU leaving the CAA could actually open the door for the CAA tourney to go somewhere else. Interesting post from Andy Katz at ESPN: http://espn.go.com/b...g-times-for-caa. Apparently Baltimore may be in the mix for next year. From what I understand VCU is automatically ineligible for the CAA tourney next year since they are leaving the following season (part of the conference bi-laws). You'll probably see Norfolk try to make a run at it too (if ODU stays in the CAA). The good news for Richmond is that the tournament has done well there the last several years (mostly because of VCU, but Richmond isn't a bad place to be either for those looking at a weekend get away). Also, nobody that I can think of has a brand new shiny arena as an incentive either. Perhaps now is a good of a time as any for the city to work on getting a new one built. VCU going to the A-10 is the right thing for the basketball program, but at the same time it's a bummer. The CAA has come A LONG way in the last 6 or 7 years and had a lot of momentum.

Yeah, I know.... it indeed is a wise decision for VCU to take the spot in such an elite conference, I totally agree on that 100 percent, but.... I just feel bad about the impact that it will have on the poor CAA. It's hard to imagine that the star team is leaving.... I wonder what step ODU will take now that they know their biggest rival is out of the conference....

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

Well, besides the whole basketball fiasco, on another note.....

An employee benefit at my lovely job just made my day a whole lot better.....

I just scored tickets to the Flying Squirrels game tomorrow.

The first pitch is at 6:35 tomorrow. Plus: anything else? Yep. Fireworks afterwards.

The whole note on baseball suddenly restarted my thoughts on that new baseball stadium thing.... any new news on that?

Here's the Squirrels website:

http://www.milb.com/index.jsp?sid=t3410

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

Well, it looks like one turn deserves another....

although it probably is more news for Norfolk than RVA, the CAA is based here, so I'll just break the news here anyway:

ODU is moving to Conference USA in 2013.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports/2012/may/17/10/odu-appears-headed-c-usa-ar-1921660/

That is about all as much I can say without weeping. The CAA is over.

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

Well, the game I went to apparently was won by the Squirrels (which I'm happy for), but the game was scoreless for 13 innings. It was getting late, and I knew I needed to return home for work tomorrow, so we: me and my friends (who went to the game, no Carrie didn't come ) left at the bottom of the 11th, when the Squirrels were at bat. Apparently, according to the Times-Dispatch article below, the game went until 14 innings before the pitcher for the Harrisburg Senators (who we played last night) threw a fourth ball, which gave a runner at third base the walk to home, giving us the 0-1 win. Did we mention the game was scoreless?

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports/sport/2012/may/17/squirrels-senators-tied-00-after-three-at-the-diam-ar-1923019/

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

Looks like Belle Isle's bike skills course has been opened.

http://www2.richmond.com/lifestyles/2012/may/25/outdoor-notes-ar-1939869/

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

Looks like the Flying Squirrels are hot stuff right now.

They have ranked in the top 25 nationally (for the second consecutive year) in terms of Minor League Baseball merchandise sales. I myself have a Squirrels cap and shirt.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports/flying-squirrels/2012/may/27/tdsport01-squirrels-merchandise-remains-hot-proper-ar-1945624/

Meanwhile, the Squirrels beat Trenton today, 5-2.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports/sport/2012/may/27/heston-flying-squirrels-top-trenton-5-2-ar-1946967/

[burt]

VCU's move to the A-10 Conference may help its recruiting efforts.

Here's Aaron Williams' take from today's RVANews:

http://rvanews.com/s...-new-rams/61357

[Downtowner]

Burt believe me it's gonna do wonders for VCU recruiting wise. I think this could take off VCU even higher. I hope it doesn't do it for just basketball but for all sports foe VCU. The baseball team could definitely use a boost in recruiting too.

[Downtowner]

Speaking of Baseball. The MLB Draft is today and local guys that played high school baseball in Richmond that are now in college could be drafted sometime within the next couple of days. Here is my list of players that could be looking to get drafted that played high school ball in Richmond but are now playing college for schools in and outside of Virginia

Blake Hauser (VCU) (Manchester High School)

Ronnie Shaban (VA Tech) (Cosby High School)

Reed Gregnani (UVA) (Godwin High School)

Seth Greene (VMI) (Deep Run High School)

R.C. Orlan (UNC) (Deep Run High School)

One other guy who will be drafted today is Branden Kline of UVA but was born and raised in Maryland. The MLB Draft runs for 3 days up until Wednesday and features close to 50 rounds of draft picks all across the United States. Also something else I would like to point out but the only guy on this list that I played against in high school on this list is Reed Gregnani. Most of the other guys are about 3-4 years younger than me and were on JV when I was on the Varsity level at Douglas Freeman High School. Doulgas Freeman has only had one guy ever get drafted in pro baseball but that was way long ago a guy by the name of Jim Pankovitz.

[burt]

Although dates are not yet available, The VCU Rams will go up against some formidable opponents in the A-10.

Butler will play at The Siegel Center, and The Rams and UR's Spiders will meet twice.

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports/2012/jun/05/vcu-butler-meet-siegel-center-coming-season-ar-1967444/

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

It looks like the 'Skins are moving their training camp to RVA!!

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports/news/2012/jun/06/16/redskins-will-move-summer-training-camp-richmond-ar-1970038/

Another economic impact for us

[burt]

The search is on for a new Athletic Director at VCU.

Norwood Teague left the position to join the University of Minnesota.

Current interim AD, Daviid Benedict, is a strong contender for the job.

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports/sport/2012/jun/08/tdsport02-vcu-hopes-to-have-new-ad-in-place-by-lat-ar-1974226/

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

WTVR reports that the Redskins ENTIRE team will move to RVA for around 3 weeks. That means the players. And the coaches. And the directors, and all the other people involved with the Redskins. With that, CBS6 notes that there will be a need for new buildings to "house" the players during the period, and not to mention the elusive search for the ultimate training camp in RVA. So, does this mean that we'll see new buildings going up? And will we get a Redskins store downtown?

http://wtvr.com/2012...-training-camp/

http://wtvr.com/2012/06/07/what-type-of-economic-impact-will-redskins-bring/

The person in the first article also uses the Siegel Center as an example of an excellent facility: concerts, games, practicing, robotics, and graduations are all activities balanced around at the Stu. And, the second article also use the Carolina Panthers' training in Spartanburg, SC as an example for the economic impact on the city when they come in for training, not to mention that nearly 34,000 fans come along with the team, as well. So, I think this is a really good thing for Richmond.

Edited June 9, 2012 by RVA-Is-The-Best

[burt]

RVA, those CBS6 stories about the impact of The Red Skins coming to Richmond for their summer training are very interesting. It never occurred to me that it could be such a boost for the economy.

It's reported that they will need two adjacent football sized fields. I don't suppose the Coliseum and the Convention Center could work (even though they have arena football in the Coliseum.) And the Convention Center has volleyball championship games on numerous courts in the Exhibition hall.

And the players could stay cool in air conditioned splendor.

Well, just thought I'd mention it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the second CBS6 piece there's a very interesting TV report about the spooky power plant on Bell Isle. Check it out.

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

It's officially June 10th! (as of half an hour ago)

And so, RTD has released today's paper.

And it seems like City Stadium may finally realize it's true destiny after all: a sports-entertainment mix complex. Apparently it won't necessarily be built to accomodate the Redskins, but of course city officials throw that in especially considering it's a major announcement (judging by all the posts about the story above)

So, what would YOU like to see for City Stadium? It has seen mixed use proposals, stay-the-same proposals, and even retail proposals come and go by it. But now, a sports-entertainment MIX. That mixes the stay-the-same and the mixed-use! So this could get interesting.....

From (today's) RTD:

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/news/2012/jun/10/tdmain01-sports-complex-weighed-ar-1978284/

One more thing about the proposal above! In the "related box" is a PDF file on the proposal.

Haven't read it yet. About to.

[burt]

Is this site on the demolished Reynold's South property big enough for two football practice fields?

Great view of the city and nice breezes off the river.

Photo by Phil Riggan at Richmond dot com (click photo to enlarge:)

http://www2.richmond...rum-ar-1948611/

[burt]

Let's face it. Richmond is not among the majors, but it is unquestionably the largest metro with 1,270,000 area residents in the Double A Eastern Baseball League.

The Squirrels have drawn over 30,000 in the past four nights and about 240,000 so far in the 2012 season It is leading the league in attendance (click on related stories in today's RTD.)

It may have its problems but I, for one, like the look of the Diamond Ballpark. You would be surprised at the number of pass-throughs on I-95 who mistake what they see as an impressive baseball stadium.

Today the Flying Squirrels won over Portland (Maine) before 8,000+ fans in a 9,000+ ball park. (It used to seat 12,500 when it was Atlanta's triple A team.)

From John O'Connor in today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdis...ark-ar-1993208/

[burt]

Pix of The Diamond:

http://www.google.com/search?q=pictures+of+The+Diamond+in+Richmond&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=D2neT8HTIaaA6gH36NytCw&sqi=2&ved=0CFgQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=538

Edited June 17, 2012 by burt

[burt]

The Mayor named a committee of 18 to study sites for The Red Skins practice facility in Richmond.

Meanwhile, rumors swirl about a possible location.

Here's a CBS6 video that was posted today at RVANews by Richard Hayes:

http://wtvr.com/2012...-places-listed/

[burt]

David Benedict, the interim athlectic director at VCU, has accepted an offer to join his former boss Norwood Teague at The University of Minnesota.

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdis...inn-ar-2006589/

Benedict was one of the 18 committee members Mayor Jones had named to study potential sites for the Red Skins practice fields (see posting on the subject immediately above.)

[burt]

Bruce Bochy, General Manager of the San Francisco Giants, and Bobby Evans, the Giant's Vice President of baseball operations, were among the sold-out crowd at The Diamond last night.

They watched as their double A farm team dropped Binghamton 9-4.

From today's RTD (click on the Related box and hit "Gallery" for pictures:)

http://www2.timesdis...-gi-ar-2034908/