Feb 10, 2013; Chestnut Hill, MA, USA; Boston College Eagles fans in the stands against the Duke Blue Devils during the second half at Conte Forum. Duke Blue Devils won 62-61. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

There you have it, you no longer need to run to the CTRC to print your ticket and if you don’t have a good fake “Gold Pass” you are not entering the student section with a twice copied student ticket.

The Heights Sports Blog, obviously the blog of the sports department of the Heights, is writing that BC Athletics is completely revamping the old ticketing system in an effort to get more Superfans to come to games and reward them for doing so.

This “gold pass” will cover all Boston College athletic games so that you won’t be purchasing any single ticketing packages for sports. The cost of the pass will be $175. Not too bad when football, men’s basketball and hockey combined to $315.

You can read the full details in the article by Austin Tedesco:  http://www.bcheightssports.com/2013/05/19/bc-introduces-new-all-access-gold-pass-for-student-season-tickets/

These are going to be very interesting changes that we will keep you updated on. One source inside tells me that this “is a step in the right direction”.

Hopefully it will increase attendance and get students there thirty minutes early(there are rewards for that), so we can avoid any Gene-like tweets from Brad Bates about the crowd at Clemson. (Blogger’s note: It seems that GDF’s Twitter account has been deleted so I couldn’t embed his gem on the page. Sad Face)

On a sunny, slightly brisk day at Chestnut Hill’s Shea Field, spirits were high. The first batch of students that attended received free Boston College hats(can’t say that I didn’t take up upon that offer myself). It’s too bad that I picked up a Large hat for my dome because when I realized that wearing it any further would give me a headache that is only saved for a Nickleback/Creed double bill, the XL hats were gone. So while braving a headache from the hat and other factors, I sat down to watch the 2:30 series opener between the Boston College Eagles and Virginia Tech Hokies.

Starting on the mound for the Eagles was senior righty Hunter Gordon, coming in hot with a 1-4 record on the season, with hitters batting .246 against him. Obviously W-L record really don’t matter for this team. Starter Eric Stevens’ record is 0-10 with a 6.42 ERA. On the other hand, John Gorman has an even more horrid ERA at 6.48, but has 3 wins. Take what you will from that but it is definitely seen that Gordon’s efforts on the hill haven’t been backed up by the Birdball offense.

I would make a joke comparing the probability of the Eagles putting up five runs to predictability of going out with someone with match with on Tinder, but after this game I’m pretty much convinced that Tinder sprouts more love than Coach Gambino’s crew puts men across the plate.

And oh boy, did the Eagles shortchange their pitcher!

Hunter Gordon came in against the No. 25 ranked Virginia Tech Hokies and throughly dominated. Virginia Tech came in with a stellar .286 BA with 310 runs(6.59 per game). For the purposes of comparison, Boston College is barely staying above the Mendoza line at .205, only driving in 150 runs(3.26 per game). Taking down a lineup like the Hokies with eight strikeouts while owning the outside corner should be rewarded by your teammates, the Eagles refused to help him or any of the other hurlers in 12 innings.

Now, if you are a Virginia Tech Hokie fan reading this blog for some reason(Obviously it’s for my humor and obscure references), don’t think that I am discounting SP Joe Mantiply’s outing. The senior has had a stellar career for the Hokies and he continued his solid season by throwing seven scoreless, but when a baseball team is unable to get three hits in 12 innings, there is a right for the fan to mock, without even considering their competition.

I will give a more full recap by the end of this weekend, as the series continues, but finals call me. I know you’re asking, “Kyle, how could someone as brilliant as you need to be studying on a Friday night?” I give you two words: Research Methods.

Anyways, have a great night you crazy, wild Boston College Eagles fans. Hopefully we’ll see you tomorrow(today) at 1:30 PM at Shea Field. But for now, have a good night.

Are there any more words you can spare on the Eagles at this point, without even being repetitive. Probably even that opening line has become cliche among the Boston College blogs. Obviously this is not my intention, but there is hardly anything enticing about the current squad in the Heights.

So today, after getting their first ACC win after 21 attempts, the Boston College Eagles baseball team attempted to put together consecutive wins for the first time since beating UConn and Harvard on 4/2 and 4/3. Prior to yesterday’s 1-0 win against the Miami Hurricanes, the Eagles’ hadn’t won a game since “beating up” on Ivy League Dartmouth 9-5.

Actually, aside from all of the negativity that is going to be expressed in this game recap, today the Boston Colleges Team supported the Wounded Warrior Project, which provides assistance to wounded veterans coming home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The team honored veterans prior to the game and several came out for the first pitch. The Eagles also wore commemorative Under Armour jerseys with the Stars and Stripes displayed on the sleeves.

The game started like most Boston College baseball games:getting off to an early deficit. The Hurricanes battered the Eagles starting pitcher Junior Eric Stevens(0-10), who is currently seems to be on track to challenge Anthony Young’s infamous streak, in the top of the second with Miami Sophomore CF Dale Carey doubling down the line in left driving in the runners on first and second, who had gotten on board with consecutive singles.

Stevens was able to last till the top of the sixth, where he was pulled after only getting an out. In total, he gave up five runs on ten hits and two walks. Sophomore Nick Poore came in for Stevens giving the Eagles 3 scoreless innings with an equal number of strikeouts.

The other end of the pitching bill couldn’t have been any different. Miami Sophomore starting pitcher Brian Radziewski, who is putting together an all-around incredible season with only an 0.95 ERA in 56.2 innings, pitched a complete game shutout only allowing 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 8. Considering yesterday’s Miami starter Chris Diaz’s only run was unearned, Miami pitchers haven’t given up an earned run in 18 innings against the Eagles.

Obviously that is not an optimal fact for these Eagles who have struggled to put runners across the plate all season. To put it in perspective, Boston College is trailing Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville in runs scored this season at 281st place among Divsion I programs coming into this weekend, having only 131 marks on the scoreboard. This problem is compounded by the fact that the team can barely stay above the Mendoza Line with a .208 batting average(294th out of 296 DI teams).

I don’t know what needs to be done with Boston College Baseball, because clearly where it is right now seems pretty hopeless. There is no fire or excitement right now. Freshman SS Joe Cronin bunting right after Blake Butera walked in the first inning was about the most interesting part about the game today. Even with a team so inept at the plate, at least a bit of scrappiness can be implemented to make game watchable, but manager Mike Gambino hasn’t been able to instill that sort of culture into the team. Maybe he isn’t even feeling like his team should do that. But when your team lacks extra base hit power, you must adjust.

Hopefully things will improve. Hopefully a proper stadium will be built that will attract more than the usual crowd of family and bros with tailgate coolers. But right now all we know is that we have a Boston College baseball team with a 7 and 35 record with a 1 and 21 line in the ACC. See you at the “rubber match” tomorrow 12 PM Shea Field.

Follow @KeganSTG

Nov 17, 2012; Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA; Boston College Eagles quarterback Chase Rettig (11) rolls out of the pocket during the fourth quarter against the Virginia Tech Hokies at Alumni Stadium. Virginia Tech Hokies won 30-23. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Coach Addazio has been talking about implementing the Tim Tebow type dual threat offenses he ran at Florida and the coach has finally got his man. Wade in his Junior season at Middletown High School passed for 2275 yards with 27 touchdowns, combined with 546 rushing, scrambling into the endzone seven times.

The story was first reported by 247:

Three-star QB Darius Wade has committed to Boston College. Addazio and Co. are rolling right now. #BCEagles…. bit.ly/Z4N3oE

— Boston College (@BCEagles247) April 9, 2013

And the interesting part of this story is that in addition to obvious effort that Addazio & Co. put into recruiting Wade, they got a bit of an assist according to 247′s twitter feed. In fact, Boston College’s first 2014 recruit, RB Marcus Outlow helped persuade Wade to commit to the Heights. And if you wouldn’t believe it the snowball effect(literally the only important term I have learned in Research Methods) might just continue.

Full interview/story up in the A.M. with Darius Wade. Here’s a teaser – he’s already targeting a four-star WR to join him.
#BCEagles

— Boston College (@BCEagles247) April 9, 2013

If this is true, the Eagles will have gotten off to a good recruiting start that was unseen under previous coach Frank Spaziani. Darius Wade is BC’s fourth verbal commit, joining 247 three stars Harold Landry, Marcus Outlow, and Isaac Yiadom.

Darius Wade also holds offers from Bucknell, Clemson, NC State, UMass, Nebraska, Delaware, Syracuse and Temple according to Rivals. Yes, we beat two ACC schools and Nebraska for a quality recruit. If you’re a true Boston College Eagle fan, you’ve got to be impressed with this torrid start to the recruiting season.

This Darius Wade’s recruiting video(link from BCI):

Anyways, let’s all welcome Darius Wade to the Heights!! He is on Twitter @Therealdwade4. His account is locked, so please don’t commit any NCAA booster violations in trying to get a follow(I mean don’t stalk him)!

Follow @KeganSTG

Apr 1, 2013; Minneapolis, MN, USA; A view of a baseball on the field during batting practice before a game between the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

With the brisk winds coming in from the Res, Boston College Baseball finally started off its home schedule against the Harvard Crimson by beating the Ivy Leaguers for their fifth victory of the year 8-6 at Shea Field.

Boston College pitcher Matt Alvarez started the first three innings, letting in two runs, while picking up his first win of the season. Harvard’s starter Peter Kaplan dropped to 0-4 on the year giving up seven runs in two and a third.

Boston College’s offense was on early in the bottom of the first filling up the bases with no outs only for Kaplan to put on his Houdini cape and escape the jam with two swinging strikeouts and a simple pop out.

But Harvard was able to come back in the top of the third, when Alvarez was starting to lose some of his control of his pitches on the outside corner. He had two wild pitches and after a bit of hard, boring baseball the Crimson were able to push two across the plate.

Now, as has been the case throughout the Eagles’ rough and tumble year, this could have been the time where the Eagles laid down and died but Coach Gambino’s squad came alive in the bottom half.

Left fielder Jimmy Dowdell, who came in for Gabriel Hernandez, tripled down the left field line driving in two runs. Freshman shortstop Joe Cronin followed him with a double to deep center. The Eagles got two more runs in the inning pushing the lead to five runs, at 7-2.

Harvard started to come back throughout the game, really making it scary for the Superfans who braved the weather at Shea Field in the ninth after the Crimson’s Kregel hit a bomb over the fences in left cutting the Eagles lead to 8-6. Harvard then got two on, with two outs but Eagles pitcher Nick Poore was able to slam the door, forcing Wineski to fly out to Tom Bourdon in center field to end the affair.

It was a good victory for Boston College over their safety school Harvard. Perhaps maybe Harvard should work on their play on the field more than making YouTube videos(yes, they made that Call Me Maybe video that got over 17 million hits) as their record falls to 4 and 17. The Eagles move up to 5 and 22, with a game coming up on Friday at home against Clemson. See you there!!!

Follow @KeganSTG

Mar 15, 2013; Greensboro, NC, USA; Boston College Eagles guard Olivier Hanlan (21) drives as Miami (Fl) Hurricanes forward/center Kenny Kadji (35) and guard Durand Scott (1) and guard Trey McKinney Jones (4) defend in the first half during the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament at Greensboro Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Alright here it is, the Soaring to Glory Bracket Challenge presented by Sports Illustrated. Despite the fact that we just lost today, it’s always fun to win some prizes and earn bragging rights about college basketball. Am I right? So, sign up for the Sports Illustrated Bracket Challenge and you might earn these prizes.

Third Place: Hear the story of how I met Dikembe Mutombo and Gheorghe Mureșan. Trust me, it’s riveting.

Second Place: Call play by play of a Boston College baseball game on WZBC. It’s fun.

First Place: Become a guest columnist on Soaring to Glory. You can literally write about anything!!!

So what are you waiting for? Sign up at this link. Once you’ve registered, type in the username/password which is:

Username: Soaring to Glory

Password: daveshinskie

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Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports

On Monday afternoon, the expanded Atlantic Coast Conference released its new schedule for the 2013 football season, finalizing BC’s schedule. The Boston College Eagles will face the following teams:

(1) August 31: vs. Villanova
(2) Sept. 6: vs. Wake Forest
(3) Sept. 14: at USC
(4) Sept. 21: BYE
(5) Sept. 28: vs. Florida State
(6) Oct. 5: vs. Army
(7) Oct. 12: at Clemson
(8) Oct. 19: BYE
(9) Oct. 26: at North Carolina
(10) Nov. 2: vs. Virginia Tech
(11) Nov. 9: at New Mexico State
(12) Nov. 16: vs. NC State
(13) Nov. 23: at Maryland
(14) Nov. 30: at Syracuse

A few things stand out:

• BC has two bye weeks and opens the season in August.
• A majority of the second half of the season is on the road.
• There is a rare Friday night game in early September against Wake Forest.

There are no Thursday night games for the Eagles yet again this season, with the last having been in 2011 against Florida State.

It was announced in the morning that the Stony Brook Seawolves, intended to be BC’s opponent in Week 1, have been dropped from the schedule and replaced with the Villanova Wildcats. Please note that the linked article has the season opening on August 30; BC’s official schedule says August 31.

Aside from any of these other considerations, it is impossible to know at this time how the schedule will play out for BC or what it could even conceivably be like. Spring practice only starts this week for the Eagles; venturing a guess at BC’s likely record would be pointless, especially given that there’s a new coach and system that we’ve not yet seen.

Jan 29, 2013; Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA; Boston College Eagles guard Olivier Hanlan (21) is guarded by North Carolina Tar Heels forward James Michael McAdoo (43) during the second half at Conte Forum. The North Carolina Tar Heels won 82-70. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

As Boston College Hockey goes into the weekend trying to shake off that pitiful series against lowly Maine, Men’s Basketball is attempting to redeem itself after 4 straight losses in the ACC. The team was close at times in four of the five last games(all losses) but couldn’t keep up the pace against teams with honestly, bigger and better players. With your only functional big man in Anderson(let’s get real: Dennis Clifford and Andrew Van Nest are not particularly making an impact for the team), opposing big men like Maryland’s Alex Len and most recently UNC’s James Michael McAdoo have gone through Boston College’s interior defense like this. That is the killer in some of these games.But now the Eagles have a chance to improve their 9-11(1-6 ACC) record against the Clemson Tigers who are 12-8(4-4 ACC). So what does Boston College need to improve on to beat the Tigers in the Saturday matinee?

1.If the three is working, keep going for it

Something that truly infuriated me after Eagles started around 5/10 from downtown in the early going against the Tar Heels, they didn’t even take another three pointer for around as long as Axl Rose took to release Chinese Democracy. If something is going well, why not keep going after it in the first half. Because if Andrew Van Nest and Ryan Anderson, the team’s two power forwards who combined for like 30 3PAs all season hit in the first two minutes, you know you have something special. After some initial success, the Eagles got cute and tried to drive against players that physically overmatched them.

2.If you decide to take a three, set your feet

This is literally basketball 101. Even J.R. Smith does it. Kind of. After that nice little spurt from behind the arc, the Conte Forum crowd was forced to endure some of the worst 3PAs from Lonnie Jackson and Patrick Heckmann. Yes, they did hit some of their attempts, but their occasional opposite side of the backboard misses were irresponsible and mindless. They looked me trying to play out my Steve Novak fantasies. The Superfans waited a while for Boston College to start shooting again, but then were disappointed like Guns N’ Roses fans after Chinese Democracy.(Perhaps I should stop bashing some things that people might like, such as Rocky 5 on Facebook. Nah!)

3.Why is Danny Rubin coming in so early?

I literally have nothing against the kid, but what is he bringing to the table? I don’t really understand what Coach Donahue’s game plan is with the 6’6 Junior Guard. He might knock down a three or two, however he looks out of place. By the way, I want to see more K.C. Caudil. Just a random thought.

4.I don’t want to see another P.J. Hairston

Before the UNC scorer went down with that gruesome concussion, the previously mediocre from behind the arc Tar Heel was knocking them down. Most annoyingly, Hairston was hardly met with any resistance. Boston College’s perimeter defense definitely needs to improve. They need to be quick to adjust and cover open men. Maybe switch to a man to man defense when opponents are consistently getting open shots would aid the Eagles in getting behind so quickly which happened in the first half when UNC went on an 18-5 run after BC started with a 10-5 lead.

5.Work on Free Throws

Looking at you, Ryan Anderson. 63.9%!?!?!!? I know that might not look so bad when Dwight Howard is air-balling a free throw every other game in LA. You don’t want to start become the target of a strategy  like Hack-a-Shaq or it’s current incarnation with the coach-killer on the Lakers. Anderson gets to the charity line more than anyone else on the team and needs to improve so that BC is closer in these ACC games. Also, Olivier Hanlan, who gets the second most attempts on the Eagles, should try to improve his 72.5%. With great free throw opportunities, comes great responsibility.
Follow @KeganSTG

Sam Sharpe-US PRESSWIRE

Yesterday, 2012 Boston College football was met by the ACC media corps with general preemptive disdain, as those gathered in Greensboro for the ACC Media Days selected the Eagles 5th in the ACC Atlantic. The full standings from first to last were Florida State, Clemson, NC State, Wake Forest, BC, and Maryland.

We are where we probably deserve to be at this stage. That does not mean Boston College is going to finish fifth; it just means that the bar is not set very high. This is a reaction by the media folk to where BC finished last year, and they’re essentially saying to us “if you’re better than this, prove it.”

If anyone is going apoplectic over these, don’t. For some historical reference, BC was picked fourth in the division last year with two first place votes and an ACC championship vote. Florida State was also crowned before the season started, and we all know how both of those turned out. The Seminoles lead the league in being hysterically overrated every year, but unfortunately for the boys in Tallahassee, you don’t get a trophy for winning the preseason. The good news for Boston College is that you also don’t have to throw up the white flag if you get picked near the basement of your conference in July.

The overall point we’re building to is this: these guys with votes can put BC wherever they want. Right now, they think we’re about the same as last year, and that’s their opinion. Based off of where we were, I can’t say I’d put us too much higher. Expectations aren’t high, and that’s a fact. It is incumbent upon the Eagles to prove them wrong.

Jeremy Brevard-US PRESSWIRE

In Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Austin traveled back to 1969 to retrieve his mojo, stolen by Doctor Evil. In his pad after arriving, he encountered an Evil operative named Robin Spitz-Swallows (the name alludes to exactly what you think it does, but that’s neither here nor there and we need not delve any further) who tried to kill the mysterious British special agent. In turn, Austin tried killing her, but it took a tremendous amount of effort. Towards the end of their battle, he exclaimed “Why won’t you die!?”

My friends, this is where we are with conference realignment in college sports. It won’t die; in fact, it’s not even getting sick.

It is the third summer in which the threat of a massive shift in the landscape of Division I has loomed over all of our heads. Stories about superconferences, television deals, new BCS playoff formats and all the rest are popping up out of the ground like ubiquitous garden weeds.

In this latest wave of realignment news, the ACC itself has been under threat. With the new ESPN television deal that was announced earlier this month, well, the cash flow to member schools won’t quite be what schools in some other conferences are making, which is where Florida State comes in to this picture. The Seminoles are reportedly looking into their options elsewhere, most notably the Big 12, and they $ure have plenty of rea$on$ why. If you missed the subtle hint, let me spell it out for you: it’s money, also known as cash, dough, bread, do-re-mi, smackeroos, mazuma, and dead presidents. The Big 12, which two years ago looked like it was on a respirator, has not only been reanimated sans Dan Beebe, but now passes out more Benjamins to its members than the ACC. Being fair, it might also be the Seminoles wanting to ensure they survive the superconfrapocalypse and be certain of their standing in a power conference when and if the playoff comes.

Let’s not single out Florida State, though many columnists have: Clemson and Miami have also been tossed in there. With the aforementioned Tigers saying that they’d also examine their options fully, you can bet a few people in Greensboro are behaving like the guy who nervously texts his girlfriend because he knows she’s flirting with other guys, all while lining up pain-dulling shots of Bacardi 151. In particular, John Swofford has been a target of ridicule from the ACC peanut gallery for agreeing to a TV deal that is far less lucrative than what other conferences have. Regardless of who is to blame for this mess, it’s a situation that now must be handled delicately or else the conference should shake apart.

Is there any reason for us to panic, however? We’ve been down this road in recent years, but instead of the SEC trying to poach Florida State, it’s the Big 12. As a matter of fact, is there a single team playing BCS football that has not been tied to a realignment rumor of some sort over the last two years, even if just to say their program will end up going rogue and drift through the interstellar football vacuum for all eternity? I know such a fate has been assigned to Boston College more than once since this chicken dance started a few years ago.

Something is quite clear about this story and why it won’t die, with all due respect to the International Man of Mystery — part of it is mental gymnastics by bored sportswriters, but this keeps coming up because schools keep ogling other conferences, for reasons we all know.

What I also know is that the conference realignment musical chairs game is getting tiresome. College football has a system now (the BCS) which is absurd, along with a bowl system for which I never really cared in the first place. Now it also has teams shifting conferences year after year en masse for a variety of reasons, but usually involve money and/or prowess. College presidents and athletic directors all say the right (noncommittal) things, but when the day is done, money talks and bullshit walks. They could all take a tip from the beauty queen below, who is at least honest about her primary motivation.

So, where will Boston College end up? I don’t know, do you? Probably not. It’s not deniable that with the current state of our athletic program, BC is not in much of a situation to dictate their terms when and if the superconfrapocalypse happens, but it hasn’t happened yet, and it’s probably not going to happen today. Until then, if it ever happens, we will probably have to endure many more “what if Schools A, B, and C go to X conference?” stories and the continuing threat of a pole shift in college sports.