The year has finally wound to a close (I think that most of the non-revs are done - to find out for sure, keep an eye on www.hokiesports.com for all the "official" news on Tech sports).  It's been an extremely busy year, and one that most Hokies wish had produced better results on the field, at least in the marquee sports of football and men's basketball.  In other sports, baseball didn't fare too well, barely finishing above .500 overall in a weak Atlantic 10 conference, but on the bright side, women's basketball had a stellar year, with a bright future ahead, and most of the Tech non-revenue or "Olympic" sports fared well, at least in the A-10.

It is now time for me to take a couple of much-needed weeks off.  There are some big doings around HokieCentral house these days that I need to allocate some time to for the next 1-2 weeks, but then I'll be back, and loaded for the summer.  For the next couple of weeks, I'll be processing memberships, checking emails, posting on the message board, and handing out message board passwords, as always, but there won't be any updates to any of the web pages on the main site.

That won't last long, though.  Around HokieCentral, summer time is typically a time of year that sees the News and Notes updates slow down, while the Special Features, Sights and Sounds, and other updates pick up steam.  This summer will be no different.

I already have some ideas on the back burner for a couple of Special Features, and the tradition of interviewing key figures in Virginia Tech sports that started with last summer's interview of Bill Roth will continue this summer with at least one interview.   I've already got one interview lined up for mid-June (which means the interview will run in late June or early July), and I'm working on lining up at least one other.

So just because the sports have stopped, don't think that the action at HokieCentral will stop.  Stay tuned throughout the summer to the main page and the message board for updates and some neat new stuff.  Until then, check out the next item for something you can read now.

Without a doubt, one of the most popular Special Features ever here at HokieCentral was last summer's hilarious "Football 97" by Jim Alderson of A-line fame (who stays continually mad at me because, unlike other people, I don't give him anything for free anymore).

Jim and his dry wit are back with "Football98: Imagine That."  Note that Jim has removed the space between "Football" and the year, to which I can certainly give my stamp of approval.  After all, I switched from "Hokie Central" to "HokieCentral" over a year ago - eventually, all great webmasters realize that spaces are no longer a necessity, and in fact are to be feared and despised, despite Microsoft's attempts to encourage us to use them in the "long file names" that were introduced with Windows 95.

Hopefully, the space is all that's missing from Jim's work with regards to last year, because "Football 97" was a comic tour de force that created many new A-line fans and subscribers (many of whom Jim chased away with their first A-line, but that's another matter entirely).

Oh, there was one other change in Jim's writing that manifest itself in "Football98" - he finally took a cheap shot at me, which I must say is a welcome change from the constant bowing and scraping he's been guilty of in the past.  Thanks for making fun of me, Jim.  Now I feel normal.  "Crass commercial items," indeed!

Jim has just recently started posting "Football98:  Imagine That" on the web, and you can catch it at his A-Line web site.  The address is http://www.gamewood.net/%7Ejmal/index.htm - you may have to type it into your web browser manually, because for some reason, I was having trouble getting the link to work when I created it on this page, despite the fact that the address I was typing in was correct.  Trust me on this - just type in the web address that you see above, instead of clicking on it, and it will work.

Enjoy Jim's work, and that'll keep you busy until my return.

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