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There are two phases to the holiday shopping season: (1) the part where you buy gifts for everyone else; and (2) the part after Christmas where you buy gifts for yourself.

Now that the paper, wrapping, and ribbon have disappeared in a flurry, you can assess the Christmas gift status and see, once again, that something is lacking -- not enough Hokie stuff! And especially not that item you really wanted.

It's time to kick back and spend some money on yourself. Remember that $50 that Aunt Brunhilda gave you? Don't save that money -- that was a present, meant for you to use to indulge yourself. And the best place for a Hokie to indulge himself or herself is at TechLocker.com.

Surely you've surfed TechLocker.com and have your eye on something. For me, it's our football pilsner glasses. These 20-oz glasses (if you're a beer drinker, beers are 12 ounces; you do the math) have a football molded into the stem and are deep-etched with the VT logo. It's hard to describe how weighty and elegant these glasses feel until you hold one in your hands. And they're on special now at TechLocker.com, for just $14.95 -- so get yourself a set of four! I'll be jealous.

To buy the pilsner glasses, click the pic or the link below the picture. To take a look at all the great offerings in TechLocker.com, just click this link: TechLocker.com.

In all the pre-Christmas hubbub, you probably missed it, but there was a Dec. 15th hokiesports.com Kroger Roth Report on former Hokie basketball player J.J. Burton. The furnace in J.J.'s Newport News townhouse caught on fire recently, completely destroying all of his possessions.

Including his Tech letter jacket. Now that hurts.

That's tongue in cheek, of course, and not meant to make fun of J.J.'s situation. Coming home from work to a house gutted by fire is a nightmare that all of us rarely think about, but it exists as a possibility. That possibility has become reality for J.J., who played basketball for Tech in the early 90's under former coach Frankie Allen.

J.J. has a good job and a good family, but he could use the support of Hokies everywhere. The biggest thing J.J. needs is money to rebuild his life, as he had no renter's insurance at the time of the fire and must replace his possessions. If you want to help J.J. out, his temporary mailing address is 122 Whitewater Drive, Newport News, Va. 23608.

Save Up to 15% on Your Car Insurance with GEICO

As you know, GEICO has been a TSL sponsor for several weeks now. The focus of our GEICO campaign is to promote their 15-minute online rate quoting service. It's simple: you click through the link below, fill out their online rate quote forms, and they'll show you how much it would cost to get your car insurance with them.

The forms took me 13 minutes to fill out, so if you're at work and suffering from the post-Christmas blues, take a break and fill them out! You'll need your current car insurance info, because that will enable you to fill out the GEICO forms by specifying the exact same coverage you have now with your current insurer, and that will give you an accurate and fair comparison.

Filling out GEICO's online rate quote does two things: (1) you could save up to 15% on your car insurance; (2) it gives GEICO feedback that their TSL sponsorship is working, because clicking the link below and filling out the forms gives TSL credit for generating an on-line rate quote.

So, even if you think you're happy with your car insurance rates, give GEICO a run, and at the very least, you'll be doing TSL a favor. And it may pay off for you!

Click here to get your free GEICO rate quote.

*Please note, your quote is confidential and secure - your information will not be sold or distributed..

Recruiting: Hokies Lining Up Big Visit Weekend for January 24th

We've been watching the visit data accumulate, and it has become clear that the Hokies are setting up January 24th as a big weekend for official recruiting visits. So far, Tech has lined up the following players to visit that weekend: LB Xavier Adibi, ATH Chase Anastasio, CB Phillip Brown, S Cory Boyd, DE Chris Ellis, RB Rodney Kinlaw, and RB Alonzo Coleman.

Sharp-eyed recruiting fans will note that that list includes four of the top six players in the state of Virginia, as rated by TechSideline.com in the recently-released Postseason TSL Top 40: Adibi (#1, and recently named AAA Player of the Year), Brown (#3), Ellis (#4), and Anastasio (#6). The Roanoke Times Postseason Top 40 also has Adibi, Ellis, and Brown in the top four, with Anastasio at #5.

The only top-six players missing from that January 24th recruiting visit are linebacker Vince Hall (#2), who visited VT officially on November 29th, and #5 Terrell Golden, who visited VT on Dec. 13th and committed to Penn State the following week.

The presence of Adibi, Brown, Ellis, and Anastasio at the same time gives the four of them a chance to talk about playing together at Virginia Tech. With a solid recruiting class already put together, including four-star recruits OL Tripp Carroll, OL Matt Welsh, S James Griffin, and QB Courtney Denson, the quartet of Adibi, Brown, Ellis, and Anastasio, if they commit to Virginia Tech, would give the Hokies another strong, strong recruiting class to build on the classes of the last two years.

At the same time, out-of-state recruits Boyd (from New Jersey) and Kinlaw (from South Carolina) can meet the cream of the crop of in-state recruits, and Coleman (Halifax, VA) can get his first look at some of the highly-touted players in the state that he has no doubt heard about but has probably not met in person yet.

Worth noting is that the Hokies are in heavy competition with UVa for the services of Brown, Ellis, and Anastasio, and those three are visiting Virginia on January 17th, along with Boyd. So it's not as if the Hokies have a monopoly on get-the-recruits-together weekends.

Most Hokie and Hoo recruiting fans would dearly love to be a fly on the wall for the conversations that will go on between Brown, Ellis, Anastasio, Boyd, and Adibi the weekends of January 17th and 24th, as the two in-state coaching staffs roll out the red carpet and try to convince the players they're entertaining that their school is the choice to make in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

-- Will Stewart

Hokie Hotline Notes
by Will Stewart, TechSideline.com, 12/24/02, 2:25 pm
Jim Weaver gives out some interesting financial info about the Diamond Walnut Bowl, and QB Coach Kevin Rogers gives high praise to Marcus Vick.
in Hotline Notes

New TechSideline.com Top 40
by TechSideline.com, 12/20/02, 5:00 pm
TechSideline.com is pleased to announce the release of its latest ranking of the Top 40 high school football players in the state of Virginia. The list represents our first update since late September. The top four remain the same, but there is some movement in where they're ranked. Take a look.
in Football Recruiting