My wife’s aunt recently bought my daughter a statue of a Maryland themed Santa with a little girl in a Terps Cheerleading outfit sitting on his lap.  On her list is written “Beat Virginia”.  Though I totally agree with the little girl, I also have a few other things I would like to add to that list.  So with that, I give you a Terps Christmas Wish List: 

-I wish this Locksley Hire was official. The more I read about the local high school coaches reactions, the better I feel about it, and I crave closure in my life.  Having this up in the air just drives me nuts. 

-I hope Alex Len is as good as everyone is expecting him to be.  I am VERY apprehensive about a big European guy coming to America.  I’m worried we are setting the bar to high too soon.  But I’d be more than happy to be wrong, in fact I’m wishing for that very thing to happen.  

-Look I can write a million things about the Football team that I want, but you all have been reading those thoughts all fall.  But for now just a small concession by Randy Edsall would be nice.  And all I’m asking is to put the players names back on the Jersey’s.  That is a Maryland tradition, we started it.  In most of these cases it takes a family to get a kid to this level, put the family name on the Jersey. 

-I really like Mark Turgeon and I feel the long term outlook for the Basketball Program has no ceiling.  Dear Santa, let me be right. 

-I want people outside of the State of Maryland to stop making fun of the “Pride Uniforms”.  This is our flag, it’s different, but we love it, it has a story.  75% of State Flags are the state seal slapped on a blue background, but our flag symbolizes the unity of the state.  The Baltimore Colors (Red and Black) symbolize the Union soldiers in the Civil War and the Crossland Colors symbolize the Marylanders who fought for the Confederacy, the flag is the “sewing back up” of the state after the war.  We know the uniforms were ugly, but they got people talking Maryland Football, so in that regard they were a complete success (about the only success we had on the grid iron). 

-I want the ACC to do well in the Bowl games.  I may be alone on this one, but I do pull for, in most cases (Certainly not Duke Basketball though) the ACC school in out of conference match ups.  Besides what else am I going to cheer for this Bowl Season? 

-That we get a verbal commitment from the Harrison Twins. Oh how sweet would that be.  If so I won’t have to waste a spot on this wish list for #4! 

-I want to see Comcast FULL this year.  Not for Duke games, not for Carolina games, but for all ACC games (I won’t waste my time calling for a sold out Albany game, though I will be there that night doing MY part).  There is no reason for this not to happen.  Things are on the upswing people, now is the time to buy in! 

-Oh and I want a suite at Byrd Stadium.  No reason I can’t materialistic too. 

With the football team floundering around, I thought it would be a good idea to take a look around the rest of the cash strapped athletic department since there was so much going on over the weekend.

We might as well start with football since it is the least interesting.  The Randy Edsall era seems to be hitting new lows each week, and this weekend was no different.  UVA went up on the first play from scrimmage when Perry Jones busted one open.  I am going to say I was busy all weekend with a wedding and visiting my inlaws  in Pittsburgh, so I haven’t seen the game yet, and I am not sure I am going to bother watching it.  Suffice it to say football made another point of why they should be the program that gets cut.  While I was waiting to board by plane back to Dallas I saw some interesting quotes:

• When asked about improving Danny O’Brien stated “In certain areas, we’re getting better,” and “I don’t know if we’re getting better or not”.  Well it’s about time someone inside the program noticed because Randy Edsall Tweeted this:
• “I want to thank all the fans that came out to Byrd this year and showed your support. We will keep moving forward and keep getting better.”   Is his idea of getting better losing 5 in a row against some perceived lesser quality teams.  If by getting better he means having one win against a D1 school, he has a warped sense of improving.

The University of Maryland Men’s Lacrosse team isn’t exactly a high flying production with jaw dropping goals and lightning quick attacks, but man can they play some suffocating defense.  In fact, how appropriate was it that the game was played in M & T Bank Stadium, where 11  years ago the Baltimore Ravens won their first championship based, just about solely, on their ability to shut down opposing offenses?

The Terps took down the hated Duke Blue Devils yesterday 9-4.  Even despite the big lead late, I was getting anxious watching the time click off the clock.  Then it hit me.  Even if Duke scored every shot they took, there still wouldn’t be enough time for a comeback because Duke couldn’t get any shots off to begin with.

Despite being down and desperate, the Blue Devils continued to work the ball around the net waiting for that patch of daylight to show, which never did.  On the other end, the Terps walked the delicate line between holding the ball too long, and being lured into taking questionable shots.  In hindsight, the Blue Devils never had a chance.

The Terps will take on rivals UVA in Monday’s show down.  Though the ACC doesn’t have but a hand full of lacrosse programs, you would have to think the Conference Office is pretty happy with 75% of the Final Four, and 100% of the Championship.

On the other side of the gender coin, the Terps Ladies will be playing Northwestern today.  I don’t think you can find a better example of a “Clash of Titans” like game as these two schools have won (after today) 14 National Championships in 17 years.  Holy Cow!!

Good luck ladies, let’s see if we can’t claim both trophies for the University of Maryland.

Don’t forget to check in at 6:30 to watch the Maryland Men’s Lacrosse team try to do what the woman’s lacrosse team did last night…..which was beat Duke.  As a Marylander from one of the poorer counties who did not have Lacrosse growing up (though they now do), I can’t claim to be any kind of expert, but I do like to tune in for the big games, and since 2006, none have been any bigger than this.

Maryland has always had the reputation as a lacrosse school, however, success has been few and far between lately.  Sure they are constantly ranked (but in Lacrosse who isn’t?) but can you believe it has been 30 some years since they have taken home the crown?  The Orioles have won more recently than that!  The unseeded Terps who reached the Final Four by knocking off #1 Syracuse will rely on their defense to take down the defending champion Blue Devils.

And though Duke is the reigning champ, this is hardly a Blue Devil team that can’t be beaten.  Duke themselves are a little surprised to find their squad in the Final Four as they were a 5 seed who had lost 5 times during the year, including once to Maryland.  Heck the whole Final Four is wide open as the University of Denver (which sounds like a made up school from Mork and Mindy) take on UVA on the other side of the bracket.  So for those keeping score, the Lacrosse 2011 Final Four is 75% ACC schools.  And not just ACC schools, but the two most hated rivals of the Terps.

The Terps today will be leaing on their defense and Freshman goalie Niko Amato to get them to the Championship on Monday.  In the NHL it is well known that a hot goalie can carry a team to the Stanley Cup, let’s hope the same holds true for lacrosse as Amato has only allowed 11 goals in two post season games. 

So if you hate Duke, and Love Maryland, and enjoy lacrosse, there is no where else for you to be tonight than in front of the TV.  Let’s cheer for our Terps as they try to bring one more National Championship home to College Park.  We don’t want just the lady’s to have all the fun!!

Maryland Lacrosse wins a sudden death game against Syracuse to advance to next weekends Final Four in Baltimore.  Maryland lead 5-3 (yes 5-3) going into the fourth quarter before Syracuse tied it with about 1:30 left.

In OT Maryland dodged a bullet as Syracuse missed on a fast break, but the Terps actually got the possession back as goalie Niko Amato was closest to the line as it went out.  Senior attach Grant Catalino scored the game winner on a rising shot in the upper 90 for the victory.  The Terps took down the number 1 seeded Syracuse team and will face the winner of Duke and Notre Dame later today.

I know this is a Maryland sports blog, but give me a break.  When you have a plan to save an event as lovable as the Super Bowl, you don’t hold it in, it has to be heard.  Plus I promise to somehow tie this back to Maryland.  So just hold tight.

But before we can move forward, let’s address the issue.  Every year every one complains about the Super Bowl halftime show.  They have tried everything, the Boss, Rolling Stones, Prince, the Who, Black Eyed Peas, none of them seem to work.  Is it because they aren’t talented?  Of course not, these are Rock N Roll Hall of Fame performers, if they can’t entertain you no one can.  So let’s take a step back.  Maybe a music number isn’t the way to go.

They say that the eyes are the window to the soul.  That’s bull.  The iPod is the window to someone’s soul.  You want to know someone, look at what music they download.  Believe me, you can tell a lot.  That’s why I struggled putting “Rainbow Connection” on my iPod for my daughter.  If someone finds my iPod, see’s that on there, my reputation is crushed.  It doesn’t matter that it’s solely for my daughter (ok…mostly for my daughter).

The fact is, you can’t please everyone with music.  Scroll through the stations on the radio, the selection is as varied as the makeup of our country.  So let’s scrap musical acts.  Well then what are we going to do?  I’m glad you asked, here is the answer…..Maryland Gymkana!!

What is the greatest halftime show you’ve seen, remember music is out, and thus we can’t use marching bands for the Halftime show.  Without a doubt if you are a Maryland alumni or season ticket holder it’s Gymkana.  Going to a basketball game and finding out that Gymkana is the halftime show is like being at a wedding and seeing a sticker under your place mat meaning you’ve won the centerpiece (note to self, go back and insert a more manly analogy).  You need to use the restroom?  Go while Gymkana is performing, it will be emptier than a Duke Football game in November!

Look college kids flipping through a ring of fire crosses cultural boundaries, I don’t care if you love Justin Beiber, Johnny Cash, U2, Fifty Cent, or Amy Grant, EVERYONE will be captivated.  Of course like all my good ideas, I’m sure nothing will come of it, but still I have to get it out there.

I have a rule that I use for myself and in the future my children.  It goes as follows “Do not complain about anything unless you have a better idea, because unless you have a better way to fix the problem, you are just whining and the world doesn’t need more whiners”.  I have a better idea, so now when I complain about the halftime show, I’m not just whining, I’m the kid in the back of the room frantically waving his hand so that the teacher calls on him.  At least that’s how I see it.

Coming up in Part 2*, why do we set our expectations for the Super Bowl Halftime Show so high in the first place?

*There really isn’t a part 2, but if there were, that’s what I’d be discussing.

Now on to the other Football. Congratulations to Coach Sasho Cirovski and the Men’s Soccer Team for their 1-0 victory over North Carolina today down in Cary, NC. Matt Kassel put away a penalty kick in the 14th minute to give Maryland a 1-0 led and eventually the ACC Championship. Zac MacMath led the way in goal as the defense was able to hold on for the shutout. Though the Terps came out strong and dominated Carolina early, UNC seemed to gain mometem after a red card sent off their own Michael Farfan. The rest of the way it was all Carolina, who dominated the second half.

Lucikly for the Terps Soccer matches are determined on the pitch and aren’t scored like boxing or else this one my have had a different outcome. I shutter to think what would have happened had it been the Terps who had to send a man off. Despite the man advantage the Terps curled up in their shell and took repeated blows from the Tar heels, however each attack in the end came up naught for UNC. As the clock wound down, the Terps swarmed onto the field to celebrate their hard fought title. Next up for the Terps will be the NCAA’s where they hope to keep the good times coming.

That was not a pretty game.  It wasn’t even a well played game, but in the end, Maryland wore down Virginia and now have two of the biggest home games at Byrd Stadium in years for a chance to win the Atlantic Division.  It is like Ralph Friedgen is Obi-Wan and the Terps are Luke Skywalker.  I can see the Fridge now in his brown robe telling his forever young team ” It is your destiny.  You must face Darth Vader Florida State”.   Think about it for a second.  FSU is kind of the Sith of the ACC.   Of course if the Terps lose to FSU, the NC State games loses some of the luster, but is still a big game in terms of the climate of the bowl game you could be traveling to.  Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves though.  Today is a big day for Maryland fans everywhere.

I don’t want to really go into a lot of details on the game, but here are some quick thoughts.

• ESPN3 is brutal.  Sure it is better than the alternative of not watching the game, but the second half was so blurry it was like watching through my glasses if I walked into a sauna directly from a walk in freezer.  I could barely follow the ball.  The dagger was the the same four commercials were crystal clear.  Do you really care about the family that has passed down 4 Camry’s to their children?  The one girl seemed kind of miffed she didn’t get the newer model!
• Torrey Smith is still not 100% healthy.  He hasn’t been nearly the threat on kick offs everyone expected.  He is still fast, but that catch he made on the sideline, and then stopped and cut it across the field, he had those guys toasted, and they caught him.  Still, it is hard to complain about his play, though he did drop a perfect over the shoulder pass from O’Brien.  I will take Torrey at what ever percentage of healthy he is.
• O’Brien can throw a nice deep ball.  He threw a couple right on the money, and threw a couple where the receiver had to slow down just enough it and allowed the defender to catch him.  Still it has been a while since Maryland had someone who could throw it out there with touch, and more importantly keep the ball in bounds on the sideline routes.
• LaQuan Williams may have made the difference today.  That catch he made on the deflected pass on third and 14 I believe it was,  kind of took the air out of UVA.  Up until that point the game was still a nail bitter, but that catch and first down was the beginning of the end for the Hoos.
• D.J. Adams, is the toughest runner Maryland has.  Goal line situations he should be in there.  Though, it was a nice play call getting Da’Rel Scott lined up outside on the one TD pass.  Back to Adams though, if there is a tough yard to get, he is my man.
• While I am all for supporting our Military, the Camo pants the UVA coaches wore looked bad.   I actually really liked the hats, and if Maryland gets something like that out there, I would grab one of them if the proceeds went to the Wounded Warrior Project or something.  But, the pants just didn’t do it for me.
• Within minutes of winning the game, I had an email saying Saturday was a Black Out.  Personally, I don’t think it really ever works for football games at night in November.  Sure I can pull out some form of black Terps gear and be warm, but 60% of that stadium will be in a purple, or green ski jacket if it is cold enough.  Now putting a nice little bow on the black out and the Wounded Warrior Project, this black out is the game where Maryland will wear the special camouflage uniforms.   So maybe I will be able to get a nice camo hat after all.

Now if you remember me saying this was a big week for Maryland Athletics.  First, we just ended a three game losing streak to UVA.  Let that percolate for a second.  Three straight loses to a team that Colin Cowherd continually blast on his show for being an apple-tini drinking school.  Three straight to a team whose fans still wear ties to games.  I don’t care what you think about UVA, but the truth is they have had the better of Maryland lately.  Secondly, this sets up a huge week for Maryland athletics across the board, and it starts today.  The Men’s soccer team faces UNC at 1:00 for the ACC Championship.  The 16-2-1 Terps are the two seed and UNC is the one seed.  The game will be broadcast on Comcast Sportsnet Plus at 1:00.  With the Eagles playing the Skins on Monday night, and my wifes Steelers playing tonight, there is no reason not to tune into that one.  If you have Directv  or live outside the Mid-Atlantic States, the game is on Fox Sports Carolina/Fox Sports South.  If you live in Boston like me, but don’t have Dircetv NESN is playing a delayed showing at 4:00 PM.  Then at 2:00 the Maryland Basketball team faces Maine on Comcast Sportsnet.  Now this game is not a huge deal, unless the Terps lose.  Still, I am very excited to watch this team grow before our eyes.  With six new players, and some seniors finally getting a chance to play starters minutes, this is truly a work in progress.  This game is a tune up for the big showdown on the week in New York.  Maryland will face off against Pitt on Thursday at 8:00, and then could face Illinois or Texas on Friday.  Now I have a dilemma.  I have a flight into BWI on Friday that gets me in about 9:00 for the FSU game.  Now depending on what the outcome of Thursdays game is, will determine the time of Friday’s game.  Unfortunately, I won’t know until 10:00 on Thursday, so that leaves me little time to change my flight.  The real kicker is my friend/ground transportation/accommodations provider, doesn’t have a DVR.  So if things get really screwed up and I can’t get on a flight that gets me on the ground in time to watch Friday’s basketball game, he is going to have to dig around to find a VCR tape!  Ugh, can you imagine that?   Anyway, I may try and crack into his account and pay for a DVR for him if that becomes a necessity.  Then, we have the big show down on Saturday night.  This tailgate is going to be one for the ages.  A night game, that matters, and we have some good non Maryland friends coming down to enjoy the tailgate with us.  It is going to be a long week waiting for this game, but there is a lot of action to keep me occupied this week!  I haven’t looked yet, but I am pretty sure the highly ranked women’s soccer and field hockey teams will be playing this week in the their respective NCAA Tournaments.  So there is a lot to be excited about if you follow Maryland Athletics.  And if you read this abomination of thoughts, my guess is you are!

One last thought.  Apparently we are thought of well enough to have our opinions posted on the ACC.com’s Blogger Roundtable.  Check out Bob’s thought this week.

With this being a bye week for the 4-1 Football Terrapins, I figured it would be a good time to check in on the other fall sports in College Park.  I checked a while back and they were all top 10, so lets see where they are now.

Starting with Sasho Cirovski’s men’s soccer team, the Terps are currently #6 in the country, and just took down #2 UConn last night at Ludwig field.  Prior to that game, they defeated then #9 Duke.  The Duke game was an important ACC game as the Terps were just 1-1-1 in conference play.  The win over UConn was important if they want to prove they are again a title contender.  Overall they are sitting at 6-2-1, and should have no problem qualifying for the NCAA Tournament again this year, but they may not even be the best team in the ACC this year as they sit behind UNC at the moment.  They are led by Junior Matt Kassel (4 goals), freshman Patrick Mullins (3 goals), and senior Jason Herrick (3 goals).  My highlight of the season so far, was the record crowd of 7,260 that showed up to watch the Terps take down Duke 2-0 last Friday.  I think that was about the same number of people that actually showed up for the Florida International football game.  I can’t believe I went there.

Women’s soccer has been nothing short of spectacular in their own right.  Currently they are ranked #5 and face #2 Boston College on Thursday night up in Chestnut Hill.  Maybe I should go over.  Anyway, they are 9-1-1 overall and just lost their first game of the year to Virginia Tech over the weekend.  In conference play they are sitting at 1-1-1, which is good enough for 6th place at the moment.  So you can see the importance of this game with BC.

The final sport we will look is field hockey.  They were ranked #1 before a loss at Princeton last week, but currently are number two behind North Carolina.  They are sitting 10-1 overall and 3-0 in the ACC.  It is pretty much Final Four or bust this year, but keep in mind the ACC has 3 of the top 4 teams in the country and 6 of the top 15, so they will be well tested.  It could be a banner year for the ACC in the field hockey world.  The same can’t be said for the football world.  Wow, I am piling on today!  Of note this season, coach Missy Meharg won her 400th game overall with the last win over Michigan.

There is your Terp Fall Sport Update.  Things are looking pretty good in all the olympic sports, which is great.  Now if we can get the football team ranked like these other fine programs we could be into something big in College Park.  As the season progresses, I promise I will keep you posted as these teams all deserve some attention going forward.

With Debbie Yow’s move to NC State, an era has ended at the University of Maryland.  Obviously this is pretty big news and as such, I feel we here at Turtledroppings.com should have some sort of opinion on it.  I mean if you have a blog you have to be passionate one way or the other, right?  You either praise or bash, but to tell you the truth the word to best describe my disposition tonight is “apathetic”.

Kind of weird, our AD is leaving for NC State, that should pull some kind of emotion out of me, but I just can’t find it.  Should I feel betrayed?  I don’t know, I kind of understand where she is coming from.  If I were the AD at NC State and had a chance to come back to my native state of Maryland, I probably would too, so I can’t blame her for that. 

Debbie Yow has sort of been a polarizing figure here at Maryland.  There have been some great accomplishments under her reign.  I think it’s been…what …19 NCAA Championships since she has been here?  Including Men’s Basketball, Men’s Soccer, Woman’s Basketball, Field Hockey, and of course Woman’s Lacrosse.  That is certainly quite a haul for the old Trophy Case.

But there has also been some questionable moves.  First and foremost the selling of Football games.  This is a particular thorn in the side of this group of Maryland fans since this occurred during our time at Maryland.  Sure it may help to balance the budget, but selling games doesn’t just raise the white flag, it takes away memories that we never got to have as students. 

Also though I am not a big Lacrosse Fan, nor Lacrosse Expert, the whole Dave Cottle hiring seemed to be handled poorly.  That hire aggravated a lot of people and in the end turned out to be the wrong decision, so you can put that down as a black mark.  Finally there have been the feuds she has had with Gary Williams and Ralph Friedgen.  Though neither man is perfect, they are two people you want to be in sync with your AD.

So I guess all there is to do is wish Debbie Yow good luck.  It is often hard to tell from reading whether or not sarcasm is being used, but I assure you that wish is sincere.  The Terps now need to shift their focus to finding a new AD.  And that is the fun part.  I haven’t heard too many names mentioned and though the search is to begin immediately, I don’t see this wrapping up anytime soon.  And it shouldn’t.  This is a great job and we should hold out for as long as possible until we find our dream candidate.  After all, it is June, it’s not like we have Homecoming and Midnight Madness right around the corner. 

So with the loss of Yow, I’m kind of indifferent, but hopefully whoever ends up replacing her can generate a strong response from the fan base.  Preferably a strong POSITIVE response, but when you write a blog, as long as people are passionate with the reponse, business will be good!