The Hokies Get Screwed....Again

Okay, I'm going to get the whining out of the way early.

Where have we seen this before? Was it two years ago, when the Hokies went 18-10 and weren't invited to the NIT? Or was it last year, when the Hokies won 20 games and were left crying at the alter by the NCAA's? Or was it last year, when the Big East decided Tech (and Temple) weren't good enough, and invited Rutgers, WVU, and later Notre Dame (aargh!) into the conference?

If you guessed "all of the above," you get another A in "Hokie 101."

What I'm talking about, of course, is the farce of seeding Tech 9th in the tournament. Shawn Smith cut straight through the niceties with a quote that pretty much summed it up: "We're ranked all year and then we only get a 9th seed? I don't understand that." Who does, Shawn?

I can see the selection committee drooling the day that Tech lost to Rhode Island in the A-10 tournament. Those good ol' boy insiders (half of whom seem to be affiliated with UVa or the ACC) must have been giggling with glee when the Hokies handed them the perfect excuse to stick it to us again. "Hee-hee," they were saying, "now we can seed them 8th or 9th so they'll get hammered in the second round! Yee-hah!"

Let's see now, who else is a 9th seed? Clemson? Oh, yeah, THEY'RE GOOD. Definitely as good as the Hokies.

To compound the problem, they pitted us against Wisconsin Green-Bay. WGB is an excellent team and will no doubt give us fits, but I can see the TV sets being turned off all over the country when THAT game comes on.

To sum up my whining, it could be worse. We could be GW. The Colonials finished tied with us in the A-10 West, had more quality wins (i.e., UMass), and advanced into the second round of the A-10 tourney. What's their reward? An 11th seed. Sheesh!

Come to think of it, I'd rather be them. At least they've got a chance of making it past the second round.

Okay, whining's over. We now resume with your regularly scheduled Web page, already in progress.

Hokie Stuff is Hot Stuff

There was an interesting article in the New River Current section of The Roanoke Times on Sunday about the marketing of Hokie paraphenalia (jackets, shot glasses, sweat shirts, you name it). The article talked about how popular Hokie stuff has become since we started going to bowl games regularly. And as you might expect, the heat has really picked up since the Sugar Bowl victory.

Some highlights of the article:

1. Tech Licensing Directory Martha Giesen Hale reported logo merchandise royalties for VT worth $159,219 for the last half of 1995. That's up 13% from $140,975 for the same period in 1994.  Before that? Royalties were $141,000 for the ENTIRE FISCAL YEAR that ended June 30, 1993.
2. Hokie Starter jacket sales have boomed 400% since the first jacket was introduced in 1993. Starter reports that in the state of Virginia, Tech jackets outsell UVa jackets 2-to-1 (boy, I'd hate to see that same stat for blazers and ties, wouldn't you? I think those wimpy Wahoos would beat us there...like it matters).
3. Starter and Nike are in a dogfight to see who will make the Hokie football uniforms next year. Starter thinks it's going to be them, but the bids haven't gone out yet, so stay tuned. You might see our boys trotting around next year with that little Nike swoosh stripe on their jerseys. Love it or hate it, at least you know you're big time when Nike's advertising on your football players.

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