Miscellaneous thoughts and news....

Credit where credit is due:  the coverage of the WVU game by The Roanoke Times was nothing short of awesome.  The RT ran two large game articles, one by Randy King and one by Mark Berman, plus a column by Jack Bogaczyk.   They also printed five - count 'em, five - big pictures from the game, including Gildersleeve's punt block and Ike's end zone interception, as well as two small pictures.

The RT sent two photographers - Gene Dalton and Alan Kim to the game, and it was an AP photo credited to Kim that I copied into my game report (although the print version of the RT lists the photog as Dalton).

In short, they did a great job covering the game.  Nice job, guys.

Speaking of media coverage: the UVa player/Georgia Tech fan incident (see October 30th's News and Notes) is now getting covered by the mainstream media:  The Roanoke Times (two articles), The Washington Post, etc.  That was all I wanted when I posted my shrill tirade the other day, so I'm happy now.  I don't really care what UVa says or does about it, because it's their business.  I just wanted it to get covered, and it is being covered.  End of subject.

Speaking of media coverage: that widely rumored Sports Illustrated article ain't gonna happen.  An SI writer and photographer followed the team around the week of the BC game, and if the article had been printed, it would have run in the pre-Temple issue.  SI lines up a number of articles each week, and chooses to run some and not run others.

In their "wisdom," they ran an article on how low Northwestern has sunk in football, instead of the article on the Hokies.  How about that - when Northwestern is good, they steal coverage from us (1995), and when they stink, they steal coverage from us (1998)!

Where's Emmett?  Freshmen receiver Emmett Johnson was conspicuously absent from Tech's offensive lineup against WVU.  With the receiving corps depleted due to injury, I assumed that Emmett would play, but according to this week's Hokie Huddler depth chart, Emmett turned in only 5 plays, all of them on special teams.

By contrast, the diminutive Marcus Gildersleeve saw action at receiver for 21 plays.   What gives?  Well, Marcus is second on the depth chart at flanker behind Angelo Harrison, whereas Emmett is third on the depth chart at split end, behind Ricky Hall and Ken Handy.  So when Tech went to a four-wide, it was Harrison, Gildersleeve, Hall, and Handy, with Emmett left out in the cold.

Plus, Emmett was suffering from the flu last week, so that may be another reason why he didn't see time at receiver.  But to me, it's looking like the decision to take off Emmett's red shirt this year was a mistake.  He's not getting used at all.

"Hey, Will, what's the Big East tiebreaker?"  In one way, I dread this time of year, because I get that question a lot  That's the price you pay when your Hokies are finishing first or second in the conference every year, I guess (grin).  The problem is, I don't really know the answer.

But, if you really need to know, here's a link that goes into painful detail on it, from the official Big East web site:  http://www.bigeast.org/sports/football/releases/tiebreaker.htm.   There, now you're well-equipped for the last month of the season!

UVa game time set for noon:  the UVa game time has been set for noon.  Yeah, I hate it, too, but I'm not surprised.

Hoops is underway:  men's and women's hoops are almost upon us.  The men's team lost to Court Authority 102-91 on Wednesday night, with Rolan Roberts scoring 22 points and grabbing eight rebounds.

I'll try to update my hoops page this weekend, which will include women's hoops this year for the first time ever, with new schedules.  But I'll be honest:  this is a tough time of year for me, trying to cover two sports, and basketball usually loses out.

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