Saturday, February 24, 2007
Lay off Burchette for speaking his mind
Randy King
Randy King's Tech Insider is exclusive to roanoke.com and is posted by 5 p.m. Thursdays in season.
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OK, sorry for checking in late again this week. Legitimate excuse this time, though.
Sure, I knew a couple weeks ago that I was down to cover the Old Dominion Athletic Conference men's and women's basketball tournaments Thursday through Sunday. That said, I had not envisioned that I was going to be basically living at the Salem Civic Center for four days. I've heard of people getting hijacked. Well, I'm in the middle of being ODAC-jacked.
Four first-round men's games Thursday. Four women's first-round games Friday. Now as we roll into Saturday's semifinals, I've got three of the four teams we cover still dribbling -- the Roanoke College men, the Roanoke College women, and the Washington and Lee women.
It took three first-round upsets for that to happen. Shoot, the Roanoke men hadn't beaten first-round foe Randolph-Macon in six years ... the W&L women hadn't won a game in the tournament in seven years ... and the Roanoke women were the lower seed in their game. Oh, I figured one out of three may win. Two out of three? A long shot, at best. Three-for-3? No way, Jose.
Oh, well, should have known better. Hey, whatever can occur to create the most havoc, the most chaos, the most work is bound to happen with me. Longtime associates of mine are familiar with that law of the land. It's called the Nappy Factor.
All right, enough, OK! Nobody takes pity on me. I do pity others, though. And right now, I pity one of my favorite guys, Virginia Tech defensive end Noland Burchette.
Why do I have pity for Burchette? I mean if he makes an NFL roster next fall, he's going to be making $250,000 right off the bat. For the uninformed, that's about five times what I'm making after 30-plus years in my paper game.
So what. As an old associate of mine, Nick The Greek, told me one day, 'son, money ain't nothing. They make the stuff everyday. Don't worry about it.' "
So why do I have this soft spot for "Big Noles" right now? Well, the guy has been raked over the coals the past week by numerous Tech fans who post comments on the popular TechSideline.com football message board. The flames were sparked by some comments made by Burchette to me in a phone interview for last week's Insider that obviously were deemed as "incendiary" by the majority.
Oh, I'm not going to lie to you. As soon as I heard Burchette's response to a question I asked about the Hokies' quarterback situation for 2007 -- a touchy subject that has enough prongs to bury the peg on the touchability meter by Sept. 1 -- I knew there were some be some folks flying off the handle.
For those who may have missed Burchette's comments regarding the not-soon-to-end debate concerning Tech's perceived QB quandary, let me hit the rewind button. Here's Burchette take:
When asked about first-year starter Sean Glennon, whose turnover-plagued meltdown in the fourth quarter of Chick-fil-A Bowl helped fuel Georgia's come-from-behind 31-24 victory over the Hokies, Burchette responded: "Oh, yeah, you know me ... I'm going to always tell you what I feel. I feel like [the coaches] should have been playing Ike Whitaker a long time ago, and, at least, giving Cory Holt a shot.
"I feel like they kind of gave Sean Glennon a couple too many chances. I mean there were a couple of games that Coach [Frank] Beamer would say something ... like after the Boston College [loss], talking about how we're going to have to make some changes because we're going to have to get the ball out of there faster and stuff like that.
"And you play Ike Whitaker the following week a couple of series [against Southern Miss] ... he takes them down there for a touchdown, throws a key block that helped us score a touchdown. Then the following week, I mean, he's done. So you don't give him a shot, but you tell him you're going to give him a shot. I feel like that's something that people need to work on.
"I still keep in contact with the guys up there. They say Ike has come back strong [from alcohol rehabilitation in December] and is working hard. I feel like if he can keep up there's no reason he shouldn't be starting [this] year."
Some very candid comments, certainly. Sure, Burchette could have taken the high road and fed me a stock response such as "oh, Tech has two good quarterbacks, and whoever is the starter next year it's fine since both are very capable of getting the job done."
But Burchette -- and I will now confess I prefaced my query by duly noting, "hey, you're out of there now, so you can say what you really think" -- opted instead to speak his mind. Did I dupe the guy? No. The bottom line? Personally, I give a guy who is sharp and opinionated kudos for saying what he really thought.
Hey, last time I heard, it's a free country, isn't it? Folks are still allowed to air their thoughts on most whatever they choose, especially in relation to a subject that Tech fans -- may or may not realize -- ranks at least one rung below the ongoing U.S.-Iraq crisis on the ladder of really significant world issues.
When asked last season to point out the "true leaders" on his squad, Beamer routinely mentioned Burchette's name either first or second among guys he could bank on the guidance department. One reason for that, of course, the coach realized Burchette was a guy who wasn't going to side-step or beat around the bush. If there was something wrong happening in the players' inner circle, Burchette was one of the few guys in the locker room -- and Beamer knew it -- who wouldn't hesitate to confront and take the guilty party to task.
While I'm 100-percent certain Beamer cringed when either reading or being informed of Burchette's comments, my response is: so what. I guarantee you that Burchette had a more accurate read on what's on the mind of the young men he went to battle with everyday in practice and games than the 63-year-old coach did. By no means is that a rip at Beamer. That's just real life people.
At least, Burchette aired his feelings without hiding behind the cloak of total anonymity. He didn't say anything that hasn't been already said, by say, "HokieJoeBlow" -- my sincere apology if there's an actual poster with that handle -- or any other faceless, anonymous, know-it-all soothsayers of college football knowledge who regularly opine on TSL's message board.
So lay off Noland Burchette, people. He didn't shoot anyone. He didn't wind up in the police blotter.
Bottom line on all this: Frank Beamer is going to play the quarterback whom he thinks is the best fit for Virginia Tech to win football games. Personally, I like Sean Glennon. I like Ike Whitaker, too. Dittos for Cory Holt, too.
Whichever one is Tech's No. 1 QB next fall is OK with me. It's not your call. It's not Burchette's call. It's not my call. It's Beamer's call.
Don't wet your pants because Noland Burchette aired his true opinion in this space. What was originally planned to be a feel-good story on a unhyped guy who is working his buns off in order to have a shot at keeping playing a game he loves somehow got spun totally "out of whack," borrowing a Beamerism.
So drop all this BS reaction to the candid words of "Big Noles", people. Hey, there are some other 'Noles coming to Lane Stadium who you'd best be worried about beating down.
Still not happy? Fine.
I know none of you want a piece of the 6-foot-3, 270-pound Noland Burchette in a back alley somewhere. But, hey, since I can't help but feel like somewhat of an accessory in this egregious crime of someone voicing their opinion here in the United States of America, I've decided to leave myself openly available to all comers.
If you want to assign blame for all this overblown nonsense, pick on me, if you want. I'm available ... simple to find. Just come to the Salem Civic Center this weekend and ask for the ODAC hostage.
Talk about an easy target. I'm pretty much an immobile statue, too. But like another guy you know with that rap, I'm smart, too. No wonder I bought some more life insurance five days ago.
