Dan Ryan tries to escape his ride



Wake Forest Coach Jim Grobe climbs out of his car

Jim Grobe exits his car

One of the events was a tire change challenge between the head coaches. Wake's Jim Grobe has a bad back, so he was replaced by assistant coach Keith Henry. Henry was beaten badly by UConn coach Randy Edsall. Only once has the winner of the tire change challenge lost the bowl game. That distiniction belongs to former West Virginia Coach Rich Rodrigue in the bowl's first year.

The teams got to ride along in stock cars today. Everyone had fun and later one I will post a bevy of pics and videos to prove as much.

I'm in Charlotte and have finally escaped from the Turkish prison that is Tweed airport.

How well equiped was it? Well the same guy who issued my boarding pass also loaded my luggage and guided the plane out of the gate. With the next flight not leaving for another three hours, how my flight was delayed is amazing.

And the vending machines -- they had the selection of five sodas. I put a dollar in the machine and made my selction. I was prompted to make another choice. Ultimately, I was 0-for-5.

When I got to Philadelphia, I found myself with a gate change -- which was one over -- but the bigger issue was another delay. Forty-five minutes worth. Oh, and I was in what seemed like a glorified high chair in which I could fit a leg, an arm and my head.

The drive from Greensoboro was longer than I remembered, but it's good to be here.

Tweed Airport. What a masterpiece. What a hole.

If airports were dive bars, Tweed would be the crown jewel. It makes the fictional airport on "Wings" look like the first-class cabin on an international flight.

If Tweed was any more void of life and color, it could serve as a stunt double for a port-o-john. The need for employees is lacking to the point of having a "ring bell for service" button on the check-in counter.

Needless to say, this trip got off to a memorable start.

It's time for the Huskies and Demon Deacons to get down to business. UConn's players arrived in Charlotte today from their various destinations. They won't be wasting too much time, as they have a team practice at noon tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, Merry Christmas!

If you haven't already, check out the interview with Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe. You can find the link in a few posts below this or on the Norwich Bulletin website. Also, I will be sending postcards appearing in the paper every day starting Wednesday. And don't forget to pick up the paper Saturday for all of the coverage we'll provide.

Here's the link to the interview:
http://www.norwichbulletin.com/multimedia/x603825932

The audio clip of my interview with Jim Grobe has been up on the Norwich Bulletin site. If you haven't listened, go check it out.

Also, look for me feature on Huskies coach Randy Edsall in Sunday's paper. I sat down with Edsall recently for a one-on-one interview.

Right now the players have gone home for a few days before they regroup in Charlotte on Tuesday. Interesting side note, Darius Butler and Larry Taylor aren't flying to Charlotte -- they're driving. So for all of you hitting 95 South to 85 South to 77 South, keep your eyes out for the pair of Huskies.

I mentioned D.J. Hernandez's participation in halftime events next Wednesday at the Charlotte Bobcats' game. He will be joined by teammates Darius Butler and Cody Brown. While the details are still unclear, it appears to be a cooperative contest featuring three players from each team.

Check out Norwich Bulletin.com tomorrow for a one-on-one interview I conducted with Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe. It's lengthy, so don't expect a quick listen.

When the Huskie shead to Charlotte next week, they will attend the Charlotte Bobcats game against Washington on Wednesday night. At halftime, D.J. Hernandez will take on a member of the Wake Forest team in a battle of the teams. D.J. is considered one of, if not the best, basketball players on the team, so it will be interesting to see that side of him.

If you read Sunday's Bulletin you saw my look at Charlotte and a list of places to eat, drink and have fun.

It's a great city and if you are attending the game, I think you'll find that out for yourself.

Also, with West Virginia's Rich Rodriguez bolting for Michigan, I want to know how many of you think the Mountaineers are going to see how much interest Randy Edsall might have in the vacancy. So check out the newest poll.

ESPN is reporting that Randy Edsall is a candidate for the head coaching position at Michigan. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming days, especially with Edsall signing a new contract with the Huskies after his flirtation with Georgia Tech.

UConn fans should give themselves a good pat on the back. The team has sold 10,500 of the 12,500 tickets it needed to sell for the Meineke Car Care Bowl on Dec. 29.

There was a lot of doubt whether the team and its fans, most importantly, could sell that many tickets. This shows that it can. Why this matetrs beyond thsi year is next season and beyond when UConn is being considered for a bowl game, bowl committees can look at what the Huskies' fan base was able to accomplish, making UConn more attractive.

Some more honors for UConn... Freshman linebacker Scott Lutrus was named to the Freshman All-American team and teammate Lawrence Wilson, a linebacker, was named to the second team.

Boy, do things change quickly. Published reports out of North Carolina are saying that Jim Grobe is not leaving Wake Forest for Arkansas.

Looks like Wake Forest head coach Jim Grobe will be leaving for the same position at Arkansas. If this proves true, great hire by the Razorbacks.

The Huskies will be heading to Charlotte for the Meineke Car Care Bowl to face Wake Forest. It doesn't seem like a sexy game but I think it will be a good game. A rematch of a game last season that UConn should have won but didn't, might as well as be a road game and not neutral site because Wake is a hop, skip and a jump from Charlotte.

Personally I get the feeling the Huskies are licking their chops over facing the Deacons. A game with Florida State or Maryland would have been tougher and I think Wake is a good matchup for UConn.

Sorry I have been absent for a few days...there's lots to discuss. Some of which will have to wait for a later time. But let's start with the news of the day.

Four Huskies are named to the All-Big East team with oniy two on the first team. Linebacker Danny Lansanah, who will be playing on Sundays, and offensive lineman Donald Thomas were named to the first team. On the second team were tailback Andre Dixon and kick returner Tyvon Branch.

The most shocking bit of news is that Randy Edsall wasn't named the conference's coach of the year. That went to Cincinnati's Brian Kelly who took a bowl team to...another bowl. Whereas Edsall took a team the COACHES (same folks who voted on the award) picked to finish seventh to a share of the conference title.

Statement from Randy Edsall on the team's co-Big East championship:

"This is another great landmark to achieve in only our fourth year in the BIG EAST. It is something that nobody thought could have happened four years ago or even at the start of this season. To have it happen in year-four in the league is a great compliment to the hard work of our student-athletes, assistant coaches and staff. It has been a season of milestones for us with our first national ranking, first undefeated home record, first win over a ranked team, the winningest regular season in school history and a bid to a great bowl game in Charlotte. Our first BIG EAST title is yet another incredible milestone on top of the many others that we reached during the 2007 season."