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News With Commentary by TSL Staff
Wednesday, September 15, 2004 TSL Readers: With this News and Notes update, we welcome new TSL contributor Stefan Adams. Stefan will be doing a lot of behind the scenes stuff, in addition to providing the occasional N&N update and TSLMail. Welcome, Stefan!
The Atlantic Coast Conference has announced that the game scheduled between the North Carolina State University Wolfpack and the Virginia Tech Hokies will begin at noon on September 25. The game will be broadcast on ESPN and will be the fifth nationally televised game scheduled thus far for the Hokies. Tech’s games versus Georgia Tech, Maryland and Miami will also be played in front of a national audience. Tech’s 28-13 loss to the Southern California Trojans on August 28 was broadcast on ESPN. Broadcast plans and game times have yet to be determined for games to be played against West Virginia, the North Carolina, Wake Forest, Florida A&M and Virginia. Perhaps the most likely VT matchup to garner the national spotlight will be the game against West Virginia on October 2. The game could be picked up by ABC or ESPN depending on the other games being played that weekend. Match-ups such as Miami at Georgia Tech, Kansas State at Texas A&M, Michigan State at Iowa and Texas Tech at Oklahoma will be vying for television spots. Ohio State at Northwestern will be shown on ESPN2 that day, with a time to be determined, and Utah’s game at New Mexico will be shown on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. that evening. The ESPN Saturday prime time slot and ABC 3:30 slots are currently wide open. The networks have to select games ten days before game time, which means that the Tech/WVU issue should be settled by Thursday, Sep. 23rd. The Hokies’ game against NC State will be the 45th time the two teams have played each other. Tech leads the series 23-17-4, with their last game being a 13-13 tie in 1992 in Blacksburg. TSL's posted football schedules have been updated with the NC State game time.
Marcus Vick appeared in front of Montgomery County Circuit Court judge Robert Turk on Monday and pleaded no contest to three misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Vick, a redshirt sophomore, received the same sentence as redshirt sophomore rover Brenden Hill: 24 hours community service and a fine of $100. Judge Turk also prohibited Hill and Vick from contacting the victims in the future. Junior running back Mike Imoh was scheduled to appear in court on Thursday and present his case in front of a jury in hopes of reversing a May 20th decision that found him, Vick and Hill guilty of the aforementioned charges, but the Roanoke Times is reporting this morning that he is expected to take the same plea agreement. Vick, originally charged with four counts, was acquitted in the first trial of having sex with one of the girls and was sentenced to 30 days in jail and was ordered to pay a fine of $2,250. The agreements Vick and Hill accepted stem from a January 27 incident where teenage girls were served alcohol by the men and were asked to kiss and strip from their clothing, according to the testimony of one of the victims. Vick was arrested again in July in New Kent County for reckless driving and possession of marijuana after being pulled over on Interstate-64. The 20-year-old was found guilty of the misdemeanors and was ordered to complete a drug counseling program and perform 24 hours community service, plus he had his driver's license suspended for six months. Hill and Imoh are currently serving three-game suspensions from the football team, while Vick is suspended from the university this semester. The university will allow him to return in January if he completes his drug education course. Vick would not talk to reporters after his appearance in court on Monday, but his attorney Marc Long told the Associated Press: "Marcus has and does apologize for hurting so many people. I believe this is a life-changing experience for Marcus Vick. ... Hopefully he can make the best of it."
The Hokies will play their first-ever Atlantic Coast Conference game against Duke this Saturday. The athletic ticket office announced Monday that less than 800 tickets are still available for the game set to kick off at noon. Tickets may be purchased for $37 by calling the ticket office at 1-800-VA-TECH-4, or locally at 231-6731, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m., until 5 p.m. and are also available online at http://www.hokietickets.com.Tickets for Tech’s homecoming game against Florida A&M University are still available. TSL readers looking for tickets can also use TechSideline’s ticket exchange message board to find already purchased tickets that are for sale. The athletic department does not anticipate any changes for the game despite impending weather conditions from Hurricane Ivan. However, the weather situation will continued to be monitored, and fans will be notified immediately of any changes. |