Many of you asked at the HokieCentral tailgate this past weekend about the status of HokieCentral's impending name change, so I thought I would pass the latest on to you.

First of all, the new name of HokieCentral.com will be TechSideline.com, and the name change will be made by November 15th. The 15th is the deadline that was set by the Tech Licensing department in the letters they sent out that requested the name change, and given that I'm up to my eyeballs in the football season, I'm going to need every last minute of that time to make the change.

So TechSideline.com it is. We'll use the abbreviation TSL, because I've been told by more than one person that "TS" stands for at least two other unpleasant things.

Once the changeover is made, accessing HokieCentral.com will take you to a page that will tell you that we have moved and will give you a link to the new web site. We'll continue to "redirect" you in that fashion for quite a while, probably forever, as far as I'm concerned.

The other most-asked question was about the availability of one last run of HokieCentral.com apparel. I'll check into that -- maybe I can talk the guys at TechLocker.com into doing a final run of apparel with the web site logo and "1996-2000" printed on the items. That would be cool.

Moving forward, once we make the name change, we'll design some TSL apparel and stock TechLocker.com with it, so you'll be able to pick up some web site apparel, if you so desire.

A potential name change is something that has been looming over HokieCentral for literally years, and I don’t mind telling you that it will be a big relief to finally get this issue resolved and put behind me. It will take a lot of work to make the change, but once it's made, I'll be a happy camper.

Ideally, I would love to keep the name HokieCentral.com, because it's perfect, but I like TechSideline.com a lot too, and before you know it, we'll all be used to it. And I'm sure that TechSideline.com will always be "Hokie Central."

The fourth (and last) annual HokieCentral tailgate went off without a hitch this past Saturday, and I wanted to thank everyone who came by, visited with me, ate some of the excellent food prepared by Catering Unlimited in Blacksburg, and pitched in to help pay for the tailgate.

The tailgates are always tiring for me, but they're a lot of fun, as well, because I get to put faces with the names, and you all get to come by, meet me, and say with that puzzled look on your face, "I always thought you would be older … and taller" (to which I respond: "Hey! I'm older and taller than Shyrone Stith and Andre Kendrick!!")

As most of you know, I'm a pretty private person who keeps to himself for the rest of the season, so the annual HC tailgate (to be called the TSL Tailgate in the future) is a once-a-year opportunity to be sociable.

At this point, the bill for the tailgate is just over $1300, and those of you who attended pitched in close to $1000. I'm still waiting on some payments that I know are coming by mail before I tally up the final totals.

Many of you attempted to contribute using an on-line system called PayPal.com, and you may or may not have heard that there was some trouble with that. Users reported to me that they attempted to pay via PayPal.com, and that it appeared to work just fine, but a check of my PayPal.com account doesn't show any money coming in.

Thanks again, folks, and I enjoyed it! See you at next year's tailgate!

I have felt all year long that all the Hokies needed to do was go 10-1 to make a BCS bowl and get that big fat paycheck. I was figuring that if Tech lost a game in the Big East (most likely Miami), they could still get an at-large bid due to the presence of Vick and the TV ratings that he would bring.

But when Michael Vick was carried off the field just before half time Saturday, I had a thought that his injury might cost the Hokies not just that game, but the Big East championship, a shot at the national championship game, and a BCS bowl slot as well.

It was a nasty scenario that I was envisioning: if Vick's injury was a season-ender, the Hokies would have to go with Dave Meyer the rest of the year. Even if the Tech made it through the Pitt game with a win, a loss to Miami would probably knock Tech out of the running not just for the automatic BCS bid that goes to the Big East champion, but for an at-large bid to a BCS bowl.

My thinking was that if the Hokies didn't win the Big East Championship and didn't have Vick at quarterback, the TV-ratings minded bowl officials would bump the Hokies completely out of the BCS bowls, down to whatever lies below.

Instead, Tech's Meyer-led win over Pittsburgh, along with the news that Vick's injury is a sprain and not a season-ending knee or ankle injury, keeps Tech in the running, at the very least, for an at-large BCS bid.

Of course, if the Hokies win against Miami, they're automatically going to a BCS bowl, but even if they don’t win, assurances that Vick will be present for the Hokies' bowl game could provide enough incentive for the big-money bowls to pick a 10-1 Tech team. That's assuming that the Hokies get through Central Florida and UVa unscathed.

So Tech is in a unique position, at least for them: the Miami game has Big East championship and national championship implications, but it may not adversely affect Tech's chances of making a BCS bowl. The BCS bowl bid may happen whether Tech wins or not.

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