Cornell Appears to be Okay After Injury

Cornell Brown threw a scare into Tech coaches, fans, and players Friday by suffering what appeared to be a fairly serious injury in practice on Friday, but his injury was ultimately diagnosed as a mild sprain, and he was able to undergo a light workout on Saturday.

The injury occurred when an offensive lineman rolled on Cornell's leg (no, it wasn't Billy Conaty). The All-American went down in pain and was eventually helped off the field, but he was back on his feet and was participating in drills on Saturday. Unless the leg falls off, Cornell will play against Nebraska, and even in a one-legged scenario, he might be good for about 80% of the plays.

Also on the injury docket, Myron Newsome is expected to play after suffering a sprain of his own earlier in the week. Shayne Graham's bad back appears to be close to 100%, and since I haven't heard anything about Antonio Banks's late-season groin injury, he is probably completely healed, as well.

I don't have much hard news, other than that, because like many of you, I've spent the week traveling, out of touch, and generally busy with Christmas. I hope you've been able to keep up with things through the Roanoke and Richmond newspaper links.

Would You Kill to Have Mack on Your Team, or What?

Miami DB and special teams whiz Tremaine Mack continues to amaze me. He single-handedly beat UVa in the Carquest Bowl Friday night. In a game that Miami won 31-21, Mack scored 14 points on turnovers (a fumble return and an interception return for TD's), and blocked a UVa field goal attempt. Count it up - Mack was responsible for a 17-point swing in a game that the Canes only won by 10.

Guess who the MVP was? That guy only knows how to make big plays in big games, and without him, Miami's decent 9-3 record could be 8-4 or even 7-5. The WVU game would have been a loss if Mack hadn't blocked the fateful punt, and what he did in the UVa game speaks for itself.

Switch to U.S. Internet Progressing Nicely ... So Far

I have been able to log on successfully to my new ISP, U.S. Internet, and I'll be transferring my Hokie Central pages soon, probably on January 2nd. So if you're trying to access Hokie Central that day, and you get some weird results (like images missing and links not working), you've probably caught me in the middle of the switch. Be patient, and I'll get it worked out.

My "[email protected]" email address will still work, and that's what I'll continue to use on ths page, but if you like trying new things for absolutely no reason whatsoever, you can try to email me at "[email protected]" as well. The results should be the same.

Feeling Sarcastic Here at Hokie Central

If you recall, The USA Today (and others) hung us out to dry pretty good when the arrests of Edmonds and Crawford occurred recently. The story itself made the front page of The USA Today's sports section, and they included a box in the back of that section that detailed all of the arrests and problems that have occurred in the last year.

Well, buried deep in Saturday's New River Current, which is an add-in section of The Roanoke Times for their New River Valley subscribers, there is an article about Jim Druckenmiller taking time out of his busy day to visit with Josh Woods, a 10-year-old fifth grader at nearby Elliston-Lafayette Elementary School. Josh was seriously injured in a car accident in July and was not able to attend school this fall. He thus became the student of 22-year-old Amy Jones, who teaches homebound students in Montgomery County.

Amy knew Josh is a big fan of VT football, so she called up Druck to see if he could spare a few moments for a visit. Druck agreed, and he dropped by Auburn Middle School Dec. 13 to meet the school's students at a pep rally and to chat with Josh. There's a picture accompanying the article which shows Druck posing with Amy and Josh.

Naturally, that started me reflecting on the fact that the kind of thing Druck did never makes the front page - only the rape and shoplifting stories do. So I imagined myself opening up The USA Today to find this story featured on page 1 of their sports section (remember, this is, of course, only imagination!).

Can you picture it? The article would describe Druck's visit, and then it would say things like, "This incident is only the latest in what has been an unending string of acts that Virginia Tech football players have committed to increase the quality of life for youngsters in the surrounding area. As recently as five months ago, during summer drills, eight Virginia Tech football players, including All-American Cornell Brown, visited children in a local hospital, giving away presents and spreading good cheer all around.

Star running back Ken Oxendine routinely visits kids at local middle schools and has even been known to tutor local kids. It is rumored that Virginia Tech football players often visit local schools and speak to students about the dangers of drugs, as well as how to develop personal qualities that will ensure your success, such as hard work, dedication, and persistence."

Then the article would have a quote from Beamer. Something like: "Well, you know, we can't watch over these kids 24 hours a day, and sometimes they commit these acts of community service without our coaching staff even knowing about them. We don't raise them and teach them values. Before they come to our school, someone else has been raising them and teaching them morals and values for 18 or 19 years, so there's only so much we can do after the kids arrive here. Most of our kids had no record at all of this kind of community-enriching behavior before they came to Virginia Tech, so I can't explain they they're doing it now."

And then the article would have a note pointing you towards a box at the back of the sports section which details a list of about 20 nice things Hokie football players have done in the community in the last year.

Yeah, I know, I know ... it'll never happen. Newspapers have too much fun reporting rapes, assaults, shoplifting, and the like. Going around to hospitals and handing out stuffed animals to sick kids just isn't big news, you know? But let me know if you ever do see an article like that in The USA Today, because if you do, I'm going to have to start watching out for flying pigs.

Take care, everybody. Have fun at the Orange Bowl, and let's meet back here afterwards!

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