Michael Litos was one of the first real, live, non-imaginary people we met through this humble haven of dipshittery. As first the author of Cinderella: Inside the Rise of Mid-Major College Basketball*, and then the proprietor of caahoops.com, he found common cause with our futile W&M hoops superfandom, even as his alma mater, VCU, ascended to the game's highest heights. Through caahoops.com, Litos kept us up to date on the conference's doings, while illuminating the details that let us know we had it better, and entertaining insiders with a plethora of nicknames (some that we even invented - see, Beasthoven), predictions, and phrases turned just right (see, rockfight, Drexel University version). Beyond that, he introduced us to characters near and far, ensured we were taken care of at CAA Tournaments, and even dropped our name once or twice, which brought Eric Angevine, Jerry Beach, Gary Moore, and a number of other great hoops bloggers into our orbit. Hell, I think he got the Teej a job.
Recently, our man MGL reached one of those Frostian forks in the road. His knowledge of CAA basketball is second to none, and so is his love for the league, its history, and its characters. So when VCU headed to the A-10, we ribbed him good-naturedly about remembering the little guys on his way to fame and fortune with atlantic10hoops.com, even as he assured us he'd still be keeping the lights on in his online home.And then the Rams made him an offer he couldn't refuse. As VCU begins its inaugural season in the A-10, Litos will be along for the ride, serving as the Rams' radio analyst. As a writer with a knack for a story, sitting shotgun as Shaka Smart's team steps up in weight class is an opportunity too good to pass up. We're impossibly jealous, happy for our friend, and a tiny bit bummed out that our gateway to CAA information is changing.
Changing, but not going away. Litos calls his new gig a sabbatical, so instead of shuttering the site, he's turned the reins of caahoops.com over to Kevin Warner, the basketball SID at JMU. Warner also teaches a sports communications class, and caahoops.com is a terrific vehicle for his students, and hopefully for those of other schools in the CAA. We've made sure they know where to go for insights into the travails of W&M fandom.
In his farewell (for now) post, Litos ponders what's next:
What does the future hold? I don’t know. Six months ago VCU, ODU, and Georgia State were part of the Colonial Athletic Association and that took about three months to change. But I’ll tell you what doesn’t change: the CAA has the best damn community in college basketball. I’ll put you up against anyone.We know. Terrific work on A-10 hoops and VCU's 2012-13 season, at the very least. And the occasional nugget about our very own Wrens that makes us smile. Start the damn games already, and godspeed, MGL. Thanks for being one of the big reasons we have it better.
You haven’t heard the last of me. Too many relationships and friends in this community. I’ll still write a weekly column for collegechalktalk.com that is CAA-specific this year. After that, who knows?
* If you haven't read this yet, we're not going to give you the password when we turn G:TB into a pay site.
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82 comments:
right on cue, litos dropping vcu science: http://www.vcuhoops.info/
question for tr: my company postponed our q3 earnings call today due to the storm. does this give us extra time to cook the books, or should i sell all my stock in a panic-driven frenzy?
i do not like being stuck in the house. i get very stir crazy. i've already been kicked out of the park by our house by the ranger. i am trying to learn to use twitter.
i think TR forgot the theme.
thanks for mentioning us by name, tr. can't wait to explain this one to my corporate overlords.
and customers love our content, not so much our market approach. we're working on it.
William & Mary has a basketball team?
I'm still bitter VCU left us for the A-10.
And, I just realized I'll be in Maui for vaca during the Maui Invitational--I think I'm going to go see Butler play!
One of the MANY highlights from Sat tailgate...
http://tinyurl.com/95a6qot
First, this is one tailgate party, and where a buddy of mine from NC who came down with family and I spent our time from roughly 10 until 3. the guy in the pj's is connected w/the jags hence the bel-air status real estate/size. (the white & blue pj's, not the blue & orange) f'ing STELLAR.
so yes, it's october. yes, this is a tailgate at the fl/ga game. yes, that is xmas music. yes, that is a giant inflatable santa claus. and yes, santa is performing anal on one of the guest of the tailgate who, by the way, is donning a GM seatbelt for a belt.
he also has ripped jean shorts held together by duct tape.
three hours in and i'm already stir crazy, even though i've got an internet machine and the power's still on. in a few hours, i'm gonna lose my mind. how did laura ingalls wilder survive?
once we lose power/internet, i am going to lose it
Power returned at 4am for us. Flickered a few times since, not confident at all that we'll have it long.
Concerned about the Martha Wood Cottage. Avalon Pier just got waxed. Ocean washed over the road in Nags Head.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
If I lose power, I'm going to sleep until it comes back.
Best wishes for the Martha Wood. I'll wear my hat as a measure of support.
For those with DirecTV, channel 349 is now called the "Hurricane Sandy Information Channel"
Weird - so is Channel 325. And it is awesome, as it is all the local news feeds with local reporters getting pummeled on the coast.
I for one appreciate the Little House on the Prairie analogy but I am not down with living that lifestyle. A guy in my neighborhood made everyone collect their leaves (a good idea) so that they don't clog the gutter and flood the street (a good idea) but instead of bagging them and bringing them to the mulch pit in town (a good idea) he had everyone dump the leaves in the runoff creek behind everyone's house (a fucking hideously bad idea).
hey, NYC GTBers...stay safe up there. looks like you folks might get the biggest f**kstick
Hopefully by this afternoon the hurricane coverage will be integrated with the programming on every channel.
328: "Martin" makes observational racial-based jokes about Sandy
318: Tony Horton, on how the ripped abs you get from P90x will help you survive the storm
Bloomberg just suggested people not go to the movies...and have a sandwich
/what a boob
At least he didn't rip Reuters.
damn right. reuters journalists are doing god's work. also, stories about lollipops.
clarence - by waxed, you mean the pier is gone, or just heavily hit?
What Reuters comments? I don't see any comment from me.
Jersey Shore/Long Island is already looking very bad. The real scary part will the high tide surge around nightfall. Neap tide seems a long way away. Not relevant to the story, but I love using that word.
And what's a good drink for the occasion? I don't have the fixings for a dark-n-stormy. If I had OJ, I'd be in screwdriver or mimosa mode. May have to go with Leinenkugel Sunset Wheats for now...
And with the postponement of Halloween inevitable, I am now eying our bag of Halloween candy like Miggs eyed Clarice Starling's genitals...
the wife just made a white sangria comprised of moscato, apples, cinnamon and vodka
i'll let you know how it goes
also, I find this Sam Adams Winter Lager better than I remember...
No bacon in that sangria?
the bacon is being saved for sandwiches. all the food in the freezer and fridge that could spoil was cooked yesterday...including tons of bacon
holy shit, Dave knows how to use his twitter feed for more than just automated tweets
I am in shock
well played, tr. now say something defamatory about bloomberg and lexis nexis and we'll be all set.
those motherfuckers cancelled our halloween parade. romney's involved with this, isn't he?
The #Frankendrunj white sangria is fucking phenomenal...
Mrs. Marls questioned our decision to stay in the apt. as we watched water begin flooding the building a block up the river from us. I told her that Mark assured us from Florida that everything will be fine. I'm not sure that did much to assuage her concerns.
Mitt outsourced your parade to India. Apparently Hindus love mini peanut butter cups.
My sump pump just kicked in. Nothing makes me more nervous than the sound of my sump pump in a rain storm. I'd rather try to pry a drink from Teedge's hand than face the ire of my sump pump.
my company has too many fucking lawyers. no offense, zman, mayhugh, and anyone else barristerially inclined.
RIP Atlantic City
I've never heard anyone say "My company has too few lawyers."
Just saw footage from a hometown friend of a guy jet skiing down a road in Manasquan. If we're using Bruce sings to narrate the storm, we're on this trajectory: Sandy -> Atlantic City -> City of Ruins.
like a butterfly flapping its wings in africa, i just caused a song to be played on a radio station in minnesota. we are the world, friends.
Greetings from the House of KQ. We just busted a move playing Just Dance 4. So there's that.
#countdowntodaydrinking
just lost power for a moment. then it came back. but we're gonna lose it. i need to drink all my beer in the beer fridge before it spoils.
I've always thought of rob as a butterfly, probably because of that butterfly tattoo on his lower back, but his last comment cements his lepidopteran status.
it's a butterfly with fangs.
I am officially #Frankendrunj
TJ--you have bacon???
When this wind dies down, I'm walking over.
work just got cancelled again for tomorrow...
pray for the Martha Wood
i fear our NYC/NJ fellas are without power
and it's about to go here
so basically these comments will just be Mark making fun of the weather for hours/days
Still holding on to power here. However, the water is rising. We have about 1.5 feet until the east river begins spilling into the park in front of my apt. and about 5 hours until high tide. This math is not good.
I'm trying to be very understanding Teej. I'm used to hurricanes and tropical storms and everything that comes with them. If it snowed though, I'd lose my fuckng mind. It's all a matter of perspective.
Also, I was so bitter that all of you assholes weren't working today. I want a hurricane day.
Good luck to all of you. Especially the New York & New Jersey folks.
Mark: If it makes you feel any better, I had to work all day, albeit from home.
I also worked all day, from home.
I could really get used to this "work from home" thing...
as did i. my fucking kids are awesome during conference calls.
squirrel, you're having a neighborhood #Frankendrunj party?
um, Marls, ConEd might be shutting off your power soon
indeed. last time we had one of these was during snowmageddon. all the wives wound up epically shitfaced. good times.
I'm working from home too.
And who was watching Chris Christie's presser?
Basically, he said "hey assholes who didn't evacuate on my orders--you're screwed and you'll be sorry"
It was awesome.
I'm aware of this CoEd issue Teej. Needless to say, I'm not thrilled.
Anybody still have power?
Prob will jinx it with this tweet, but as of right now yes we have power
We're also one or two more gusts from the tree in the backyard ripping out of the ground and fucking up something
Half a foot of water in front of my building being held back by sandbags. Two hours until high tide.
Teej, can you and Jess bring some sangria by the house? We may need that.
I still have power, although it flickered and caused the security system which i thought was deactivated when we moved in to reset. So now there is just a bunch of beeping and I have no idea how to make it stop. As of now I am rooting for a power outage - the beeping is the second worst sound I've had to tolerate for an extended period of time.
Shipping white sangria by speedboat now, Marls
I still have power and am enjoying a Long Island Medium marathon on TLC. This show is AWESOME
Footloose (original) is on CMT.
i had coed issues, too, marls. but they got better as i got older. desperation on their part, mostly.
I'm sure Marls apprecaites your humor rob as he fights off a flood at his apartment building...
humor makes everything better, teej. a man who's worthwhile is a man who can smile when his pants are too tight in the seat.
Ahoy, polloi
Lobby flooded. Power is out. Drinking champagne and having grilled cheese on the 10th floor.
Shlara, please tell the Long Island Medium to go fuck herself. She could have told me that this storm was going to be this bad. I stupidly listened to Mark.
Two bottles of red, 4 bottles of champagne, 2 grilled cheese, and half a bag of goldfish. Listening to Toto and the Old 97's. Go go Toto go.
Need a Marls update. Sounded like he was having his last meal before going under.
Drank our way through the ass end of Sandy. (No offense, Dave.) Blended fruity rum drinks for the tropical storm, and it went from there.
Wind report Bruce says the Martha Wood Cottage may have dodged a bullet. Looks okay at first glance. Thank you for your prayers.
Marls and the Marlsette survived. Glad I live on the 10th floor. We ended up with about three feet water in the lobby. The neighborhood is a fucking mess and most buildings don't have power. That being said, I'm just glad it wasn't worse.
marls!
i have no idea why my office is closed today, but i'm going with it.
Oh, and we have power. I don't know how they did it, but it is on in our building. Every other building on the street is out. Winner.
So did anything happen in DC? We had a few puddles in the gym in my apartment last night. It seemed like it rained a little bit and I have a few leaves on my balcony.
Everything seems OK in my complex, and I too am surprised I don't have work today.
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