This week's champ is Clint Sintim, one of a select few virginia football players that are excelling this year. The chump? Clemson's coach Tommy Bowden.

Welcome to a new semester fellow Fanatics! It’s great to be back on Grounds enjoying the sun, dining hall food (maybe not), class (some) and FOOTBALL SEASON! Wait? What’s that you say? “Virginia is terrible this year”? Yeah, I guess I will just have to follow field hockey and men’s soccer instead. I’m going to spare you all a tirade about the state of the program; I’ve already torn enough of my hair out over it the past couple of weeks. The Wahoos have produced several Chump-worth candidates since the end of last semester. The magic from last season is obviously gone. Oh, here I go. There are other things to discuss, things that won’t cause me to have a brain aneurism.

It looks like I am going to have to reach back. Way back. Back into the deepest recesses of my memory to find one of my teams that is having success this season. Before Virginia, there was a little bit of Wake Forest loyalty. Epic collapse against unranked Navy. Before either of them, it was my brother’s alma mater Clemson. Seriously? SERIOUSLY, TOMMY BOWDEN? More on that later. So, whom do I root for? What team in my litany of bizarre loyalties could I conceivably cheer on this season? The answer came to me in a flash of Carolina Blue. Go Heels? This is a team I was forced to cheer for from the day I was born until age eight when Clemson became all consuming. WHY NOT? In this season of madness, where Peter Lalich transfers to Oregon State days before they upset Southern Call, why shouldn’t the Tar Heels be ACC contenders? Why shouldn’t they be the team I hinge my hopes on this season? Everyone else has let me down thus far.

The loss to Duke was somewhat expected. I never expected Yannick Reyering to be the team’s only scorer in said match-up. I also should have expected Al Groh’s look of sheer confusion on the sidelines. However, I didn’t foresee Marc Verica’s four interceptions and one fumble. I live and die on every play, and it was too much to handle. I must say that the epic collapses from UVa and Clemson may have shortened my life span by about 13 years.

This weeks Chump of the Week, in a week full of Chumps, is Tommy Bowden. This man must be an absolute mental case. With two, count ‘em, TWO NFL caliber running backs, Clemson still manages to choke big time and lose to Maryland. Yes, the same MarylandDelaware, and who also had their own epic collapse against “powerhouse” Middle Tennessee State. James Davis, Aaron Kelly, and the other guys should have cut their losses and left for the NFL last season. They returned because Clemson was supposed to go all the way this year. This was the year Bowden was finally going to acquit himself. This was the season Clemson was supposed to shake off their choke-demons and finish the job. Those hopes went out the window when no one showed up to play against Alabama in the Georgia Dome at the beginning of the season. All of this, the poor attitude, the lack of success, the craptastic breakdowns… all due to one thing: Coaching. Forget Al Groh for one second. Forget Phil Fulmer. Tommy Bowden is a man who needs to lose his job right now.

I must say that I am quite impressed with Jim Zorn at Washington. Beating the Cowboys at home in Dallas? Jerry Jones nearly convulsed afterwards, what with him building his new gajillionsquillion dollar stadium. Never mind that Wade Davis had to go eat a few emergency tubs of popcorn afterwards to calm himself down. Speaking of fat coaches, all has been quiet on the Mangino front lately…wonder if he has eaten someone and it has all been hushed up.

This week’s Champ of the Week, is the one bright spot on Virginia’s lineup. Senior linebacker Clint Sintim was responsible for holding off the dreaded Blue Devils almost single-handedly during the first half of the game on Saturday. When he had to leave the game due to cramps in the second half, Virginia began its inexorable slide to defeat. It doesn’t say a lot about the team that one player is the difference between 3 points and 31, but it sure does say worlds about Sintim. We can only hope that he doesn’t cramp up again. Ever. Or else we are completely up the creek without a paddle. Good job, Clint. Maybe you can teach some other people how to defend. Then maybe you can play quarterback as well?

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