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> to really mean just most popular college football team.

No, I took it to mean total number of active fans of any sport, which is thoroughly dominated by football and men's basketball. But I certainly also count fans of the men's tennis teams, all 200 of them.

> VT used to be just a mid-size school of average-to-good academic stature like JMU, Radford, VCU, or ODU today. Like many other higher ed leaders and boards, they started putting money into the football program in the 80's which increased applications and enrollment. With the increased enrollment they were able to grow the school and be more selective in admissions.

I am surprise you managed to be 100% incorrect for this paragraph, though I applaud your success in getting a perfect 100%.

VT history is something of a hobby of mine. I'd say it never resembled JMU or Radford or VCU. Historically it was a senior military college which was overwhelmingly undergraduate focused and primarily concerned with STEM and agriculture. API (now Auburn) has the most similar origin, not a SMC but has a strong ROTC. VT changed in the late 1960s under the plans of T. Marshall Hahn who sought to become a comprehensive university with extensive graduate programs and multiple campuses with a flagship in Blacksburg. He intended to merge with the existing Virginia State University (Petersburg) and take the name, a move which was blocked in the General Assembly. Nevertheless, the school added numerous colleges, liberal arts, social sciences, a vet school. It also greatly expanded the graduate school, and enrollment in the corps of cadets fell drastically as a proportion. It then began to focus on sponsored research, becoming an R1 in the late 80s - that was all decades before any serious football success, which started in 1993. There's actually a fascinating book on this entire transition.

Aside from some major research institutes, the medical school in Roanoke is the only major addition to VT since Beamer's early successes, and I would argue the school is simply larger version of what existed in 1985. In fact, it has been the largest research university in the state for decades, and that income ($500m per year) dwarfs the income generated by football.

I have no idea where this nonsensical rumor that football made the university more selective or improved its academic rank came from. I love VT football, but we've been about as selective and about the same rank since I was in middle-school in the 1990s. I remember buying printed copies of the old US News rankings guide from the bookstore every year, and VT has always been about 15th in engineering, about 25-30 among public national universities. The overall rank fell from mid-60s to mid-70s due to US News' decision to move some high performing master's colleges from the regional to national rankings (e.g. Villanova was #1 NE region for a decade, now ~50s national).

If anything, I'd argue VT's research institute infrastructure has done more to change the nature of VT, which for the last 30 years (well before football success) has been a large R1 research university. JMU and Radford are undergraduate focused masters-colleges, VCU is an amalgam of an undergrad career institute and a fantastic medical school, which today is also an R1 but of a very different character. ODU is an R2 which historically was a satellite campus of W&M.

> Yes, VT football is more popular than UVA football, as it should be with all the money and support VT gives to it.

Actually not true, UVA has spent more on football over the last decade, including paying more for their coaches and assistant coaches. They also have a larger athletic budget. If this year is any indication, that may be paying off.

> But if you stop disregarding the bigger picture of their athletic programs, then UVA is more popular to the average sports fan.

Maybe, but I'd still be surprised if that were true given the substantially larger living alumni base and the popularity of football compared to non-revenue sports like lacrosse, volleyball and wrestling. UVA has probably closed the gap though given their incredible basketball success.

You said earlier, UVA students don't care as much because they're so much more engrossed in academics. I don't entirely buy this, but if true, then where are all these fans coming from? Are they just bandwagon fans in rural VA who really love the UVA men's soccer and golf teams???

> Like I said earlier, I don't have a dog in the VT/UVA fight. I went to art school.

Ironically, I am affiliated closely with both schools and currently work for UVA (went to VT obviously, hence the username). I'm well aware of how fantastic UVA is as a university and its history; we spent 80% of the faculty orientation discussing it.

My son is the product of an out of wedlock birth. I was never married to his mother. Divorced fathers do not have any more empathy or caring for their children than unmarried fathers. We have a system in America now that rewards mothers by forcing fathers to pay them monthly. That is a very heavy incentive. Of course, there are going to be fathers who, married or not, do not want to have anything to do with their children. And there are mothers who are the same. But to say that it is the majority or even a large part of the populace is untrue. The state wants people to think that fathers are abandoning their children but, in truth, the children are being taken from their fathers. Out of the hundreds of fathers I know who are in this situation, only a small handful are fine with the limited access they have to their children. Fathers love their children as much as mothers do. Do not let anyone fool you into thinking otherwise.

You appear to be blaming the fathers for this vicious circle of sons growing up fatherless. Please, do me a favor, read some books (Taken Into Custody by Dr. Baskerville is a good one) and articles on how it is not fathers but a system set against them that is causing all of this. I can guarantee you that if you search into this issue you will have your mind changed.

25% of all children in America are under the umbrella of the Office Of Child Support Enforcement. This number goes up every year. Child support was originally intended to be a replacement for single mothers on welfare. However, it has creeped into every part of family now. Every father now has only the kindness of his partner that keeps him from being barred from his children and forced to pay child support. With the ever encroaching authority of the government into our lives, it will not be long before all children are under the umbrella of the OCSE. Please do not let the government convince you that fathers are bad and do not care for their children. It makes the state's job easier when they take the children away.

There is absolutely no need for another person to be raising my child and for me to have limited access to him and his rearing decisions. The state has decided that, as a father, I am nothing more important than a paycheck. It is that simple. The state has removed me from my son's life. I did not abandon him. My story is not abnormal but is the norm. And, as far as popular culture goes, I have watched Teen Mom for years and I can honestly say that the problem is no where near all the father's fault.

That one certainly isn't it. I've looked online, and it seems they made the toys in two sizes. Beanie Baby size (that one) and Beanie Buddy size. I think I found the site that OP was talking about (here!) where it says the product number is 90138 and gives the 18in measurement.

on amazon, I found this (here!) that says it's 13in tall, but it has the right model number! I'd be willing to bet that this is the right toy.

If the OP doesn't find it, and lets you buy the toy for her and her family, send me a PM and your paypal and i'll chip in 10 bucks. I'd love to help if I can!

Oh, is it bigger than this one? amazon.com/dp/B007A6RHTO

Not knowing how old she is or anything, I'm not sure whether it would be wise to honestly tell her it's a new one, or try to present it as the original. You'd know best!

[Here is a good book] (http://www.amazon.com/Journey-James-Three-through-Virginia/dp/0813921198) by Earl Swift who canoed the entire length of the river. "Journey on the James." It has a lot of good information in it.

Earl Swift, and many others, have paddled the entire length.

Here's his book:

https://www.amazon.com/Journey-James-Three-through-Virginia/dp/0813921198

Paddling the whole river is known as The James River Rundown. (Which is also the name of a James River Race series)

>James River Rundown Challenge

>At least 1,400 different climbers have climbed Mr. Everest … just a handful of people have paddled the entire length of the James River.

>Modeled after the Appalachian Trail’s “2000-Miler” recognition program for people who hike the full trail, the Full James River Rundown consists of paddling the entire length (approximately 340 miles) of the James River from its headwaters at Iron Gate to Fort Monroe at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. You can travel the river straight through or do it in sections. Take as long as you need.

>The rules are simple: one person (or go with a friend) on one river for the experience of a lifetime. Track your progress on our official Full Rundown chart. Full James River Rundowners receive an official certificate from the James River Association marking their achievement.

>https://jrava.org/explore-the-james/james-river-maps/


This guy did it last year, if you want to ask him about specifics of the section you're going to deal with.

http://www.stevehedberg.com/jamesriver

A taste of what you'll experience in the lower James.



Just as an FYI, the dams can he portaged around. (I've paddled from Charlotteseville, down the Rivanna to Palmyra, and then down the James to Rocketts Landing. Bowshers Dam requires portaging, as does the Z Dam at Pony Pasture. The whitewater through Richmond proved challenging in a 15' touring kayak filled with gear.... We commando camped and were very focussed on leaving no trace on our 3-4 day trip.

https://www.amazon.com/pawpaw-paw-paw-Asimina-triloba-Repellent/dp/B00AXBVLKO

Agreed it's bad, but sadly necessary. Would a mount like this work instead?

Right and now in the U.S. we are starting to have people who are questioning the system of Capitalism. 'Trying to organize coups or revolutions, etc is just a try for control. It is a positive action in the big picture'. Who are we in the U.S. to be financing coups and revolutions in other countries we have no control over? Just look up who Flugencio Batista was where he was a U.S. backed dictator. Yes he was a political prisoner just read the book The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. he was arrested for violating the laws of segregation and was labeled a 'communist' on multiple occasions.