Since 1995, the only Christmas gift I've officially put on my personal list has been a rain-check for the Virginia Tech football highlight video produced after the bowl game. This year, I may ask for two copies. BCS pooh-bah aside, this has been one terrific year.

Maybe it's remembering where you were, what you were doing, or how you felt when something really good happened, rather than at the time of some terrible tragedy. Whatever the cause, I'm a chronic re-visitor of these good memories. I buy (or beg for) the Tech highlight video, tape all games on the tube (another "Wowee" for this season), and watch 'um all again, sometimes start to finish, sometimes searching out the "Oh My God" plays. (There's this one on the '95 video where J.C. Price practically separates the Miami quarterback from his shoes. What a SHOT!).

The only problem is waiting for the darn video to come out. To pass this seemingly interminable time, I like to list my favorites for the year, good and bad, on and off the field. That's what I'm doing now and here's the list so far, by category. I would really appreciate suggestions – "bad choice", "here’s one you missed", stuff like that - but anyone who objects to my making up categories to fit the plays I like, should go find some other way to waste time.

Best Opponent West Virginia. Over and above the fact that this game won the American Cardiology Association’s "Thumper" Award, you have to give WVU credit. They left every ounce of everything they had on the field.

Biggest Surprise Game Day I and II. See guys, you can get to Blacksburg. Just head to Riner and hang a right.

Honorary Hokie Jack Ebling, Lansing State Journal. With us, start to finish. Never wavered. Will receive a HUGE raise effective one-five-double-zero.

Best Pass Play On the criterion of sheer beauty – a perfect throw / fly past the defender, in full stride, over-the-shoulder catch - the first Vick to Davis touchdown pass in the BC game wins hands down. Also, the most requested, "Let's do THAT one again" play, from us Couch Coaches.

Best Running Play Lots of Vick improvisations in this category, especially the turbo-blast, sidelines tightrope at the end of the West Virginia game. Film-at-Eleven stuff, for sure. But I award one point for having the play actually called in the huddle. Total team involvement and precision blocking also count (Roy Kramer has his system, I have mine; Live with it). So my pick is Shyrone Stith's 41-yard sweep around left end for a TD in the Miami game. If you like a well-blocked play, check this one out. Half the right side of the Miami defense is grazing Lane Stadium fescue while the other half studies constellations in the Blacksburg sky. Stith, meanwhile, plays his blockers like a Stradivarius and actually has three of them left over as an escort into the end zone. Wow!

Best Non-Play Maybe the weirdest category on the list, but hang with me for a second; sometimes, a "best play" is one that didn’t happen. So anyway, it’s early in the BC game, number 11, perfect season, butterflies on parade. The pitch is to Kendrick who runs right, but away from the line so you know it’s a pass. Then he looks BACK TOWARD Vick – incoming Couch Coach play – but it’s covered and he eats it. Four yard loss. This is what went through my mind: "Team is making good decisions; team isn’t forcing; team is focused; team is relaxed and confident; team will win, team is in …". Hold it! What was that last one? "Team will win?" Yea, that’s it. That’s the one.

Best Stick (Honorable Mention) Several contenders but I’m going with Jamel Smith’s wipe out of Clemson receiver Brian Wolford. In Bill Roth’s words, "Jamel hit him like a runaway freight train". On the replay, Smith stops this guy so quick, the cameraman pans past the action, realizes there’s no one in his lens, and has to pan back searching for the receiver. No big deal though. He’s right where Jamel left him.

Best Stick Ben Taylor's body part rearrangement on Temple wide receiver, Greg Muckerson, is a close winner based on the criterion of consecutive occurrence. The logic for awarding additional "consecutive" points is that 1) it makes a longer video clip for me and 2) also responds to requests from fans at the game for an instant replay ("Whoa-Ho, let's see that again!"; Hey, no problem).

Best Sack Consecutive occurrence points are awarded once again as Cory Moore creates two Tech touchdowns in approximately 1.3 nanoseconds at the end of the Clemson game. First, the Clemson quarterback wisely concludes someone else should have this football, like RIGHT NOW, even if it is Ike Charlton, then decides it’s only fair to give the next one to Moore, himself. Awesome!

Goofiest Play A second place tie to Cory Bird’s midair recovery of the Anthony Midget caused fumble to ignite the Syracuse whomping and Andre Davis’ kick/touchdown recovery (of the Andre Kendrick fumble) which continued the whomping. (Did Davis really play soccer? I wish I could get a golf ball to bite like this; that sucker was headed to downtown Christiansburg and just stopped dead). The easy winner, however, and one I still do not believe, occurred during the West Virginia game. You guessed it - the quick thinking toss of the football back onto the playing field to, I guess, prevent the kickoff from going into the end zone???

Best Kick OK, Duh. So Shayne Graham's game winner at WVU is an easy pick. But not an easy kick. This one had Hokie fans shaking like a dog crappin' peach seeds, as my granddaddy used to say. (Note: Although I never actually witnessed such an event, it sounds pretty reasonable if you think about it. So think about it. See what I mean?). A forty-two yarder for the game - scratch that - for the season; the dream season. A record high pressure center settles over Morgantown. The kick sails majestically into the night air, framed by thousands of stunned WVU fans, so absolutely dead center it should count four points instead of three. Perfect. The dream continues. Parteeee Down!

Guttiest Performance Anthony Midget - Miami game. My choice, even though Michael Vick's playing on a bum ankle all year gets lots of votes too. But think about Midget. The guy can hardly walk, plays multiple positions, covers every receiver they send his way, and makes THREE interceptions. You've gotta be kidding me!

Low Point Award All the caterwauling about dirty play after the Miami game which seriously detracted from a truly epic struggle. Requirements to qualify as a "great" football game are totally different depending on whether you are, or are not, a fan of one of the teams. But this one was a great game even if you had never HEARD of either team. Hey, a farmer in Kosovo could forget to milk his yaks watching this game. I wish we could have handled the whole "dirty play" situation differently and it certainly has been discussed enough. Which is why I am omitting the Cheap Shot Award for this year.

Best Quote Coach Beamer's response to the question, "How fast do you think Michael Vick was going?" at a post-game news conference - "Faster than the guys chasing him". Love it.

Dumbest Quote (Honorable Mention) John Markon, Richmond Times Dispatch, reporting on the Tech - Miami game. "If not for Hall's return, or Charlton's return, or all those turnovers, Miami could have been right in there." Hummm. Oh, I see. Erase 4 TD's for one team and the other team could be "right in there". How insightful.

Dumbest Quote Let's all thank Kellen Winslow for his probing commentary on the possibility of Virginia Tech making it to the national championship game. "[If Tech makes it], The boys at the BCS won't be spending much time on Bourbon Street. They'll be too busy back in their hotel rooms trying to tweak the BCS so a team like the Hokies doesn't get in next year". At the risk of confusing you with logic, Kellen, one could just possibly speculate that the BCS officials might prefer to wait and see who ACTUALLY WINS THE DAMN GAME! What a putz.

Most Ridiculous Team Promo We're Back Babeeee. Actually, guys, it's getting harder and harder to remember when you were last here. Enough said.

Most Tiresome Comment Award Multiple winners referencing the '98 Temple game as the greatest upset in college football since the Big Bang, yada, yada. Is it just me or does anyone else think this one is wearing just a tad bit thin?

OK. That's the list so far. Any suggestions?