Before this week, many of you may have had a less than intimate familiarity with Wake Forest football. Do not consider yourselves deprived. A good analogy may be Virginia Tech basketball. Mediocre-to-bad over vast swaths of their history; rose to the level of above-average in the mid-aughts under a new coach. Now, I would hesitate to personally compare Jim Grobe with Seth Greenberg, since by most accounts Jim appears to be a gruff but relatively nice guy, despite playing for Virginia back in the day. But even after bringing Wake an ACC championship and an Orange Bowl berth, Wake regressed and he resigned at the end of last season.

Thanks to scobeard I started singing the chorus from the Rage Against the Machine song The Ghost of Tom Joad1, but with Tom Joad replaced by Jim Grobe. I annoyed myself after a couple of minutes because it was just a snippet and the words didn't flow and so I decided that, yes, the entire song needed to be rewritten. So. Here you go. If you need a refresher of this awesome song or some music to sing along to:

Man walks along Tobacco Road

He's goin' some place with no R.J. Reynolds

Basketball season comin' up over the ridge

Wake fans creepin up close to the ledge

Opponents scoreline stretchin' around the corner

Welcome to the new ACC Order

Students sleepin' in their seats out in the stands

No wins, no hope, no bowl, no fans. NO FANS!

And the Groves alive tonight

Nobody's foolin nobody that there's any hope

I'm sitting down here in the stadium light

Searchin' for the Ghost of Jim Grobe

Loses Mauk, Grobe pulls Skinner out of his ass

Throws that misdirection offense straight in the trash

He's waitin' for the time when the Deacs shall be first and the Noles shall be last

Play for the ACC against the Yellow Jacks

Tortured Reggie Ball, beat em nine to six

Now they gotta sell some Orange Bowl tix

Now he can't get the players to make it work

Never had this problem with Ben Mauk

And the Groves alive tonight

Nobody's foolin nobody that there's any hope

I'm sitting down here in the stadium light

With the Ghost of old Jim Grobe

Now Jim said; Deacs, whenever you see a team beatin' the Noles

Wherever a hungry Micah Andrews rolls

Wherever there's a chance to run a misdirection offense

Look for me, Deacs

I'll be there

Wherever a recruit is strugglin' for a place to play

For a decent shot on Saturday

Wherever somebody is strugglin' to fill stands

Look in their eyes, Deacs

You'll see me

You'll see me

You'll See Me!

You'll See Me!

YOU'LL SEE ME!

YOU'LL SEE ME!

YOU'LL SEE ME!

YOU'LL SEE ME!

And the Groves alive tonight

Nobody's foolin nobody that there's any hope

I'm sitting down here in the stadium light

With the Ghost of old Jim Grobe.

1YES, I know that Bruce Springsteen wrote it. If you sit there and tell me you prefer the Bruce version to the Rage version, I can't help you because you are failing at life.2

2Plus, who better represents an old money East Coast private school, Bruce or Rage?3

3I mean, yes, Rage is a loud, extremely politicized group of musicians from Los Angeles, I get that.4

4But Bruce, a Yankee, was so good at disguising his anti-war message in song that it was adopted by patriots more than Lee Greenwood.5

5As Randy Quaid said in Days of Thunder, "If you're from California, you're not a Yankee."6

6A bunch of rich East Coasters at least know what they're getting with Rage, and it ain't a Yankee.7

7Lastly, Rage just rocks. I'm sorry if you disagree.