Mere hours after San Francisco QB Steve Young signed a restructured deal, the Niners finally inked Jim Druckenmiller to a contract. Different numbers were quoted from different sources in the days leading up to the actual signing, but the official numbers for Druck appear to be $5.7 million for 6 years, with - and here's the key, in my opinion - a $2.8 million signing bonus (reported in the media as being anywhere from just over $2 million to $2.5 million to the $2.8 million I quote here). Druck reported immediately for work on Thursday and took some snaps in practice.

One bright spot of Druck's lucrative new contract is that you can be sure some of it will be coming Virginia Tech's way, perhaps a $50,000 donation the likes of what has been given by Dell Curry, Bruce Smith, and Frank Beamer (twice). Druck's love of Virginia Tech is well-known, and I think he'll always look back fondly on the time he spent at Virginia Tech. Not like someone we all know who goes by the initials of Antonio Freeman.

(Disclaimer: I don't dislike Antonio Freeman - I'm glad he's doing well, and every TD pass he catches in the NFL is good for Virginia Tech. But I think his public statements on the time he spent at Tech, in which he has complained about the fact that he didn't get much recognition because it all went to DeShazo, proves that he is very much a "me-me-me" type of person and does not fit my definition of a true Hokie. But back to Druckenmiller, who is a true Hokie through and through....)

Unfortunately, the late signing has done irreparable damage to Druck's rookie-year learning process. I read one quote that said that the first ten days of training camp are the most important part of this process. Those days are long-gone for Druck (he missed about two weeks), and he will be installed as the #3 QB, instead of the hoped-for #2 spot. This means that he won't get many reps, and he will be learning by observing and carrying the clipboard, not exactly the quickest way to learn how to be an NFL quarterback. The Niners, however, remain committed to Druck as their QB of the future.

They showed Druck on TV tonight, and he's sporting a fashionable goatee these days. Very cool-looking on Jimmy D.

Extensive discussions and feedback on the message board, as well as some further fact-finding, have revealed that while the signing of WMJS in Prince Frederick, MD is indeed an improvement in Virginia Tech sports coverage in Northern Virginia, there's still more work to be done to make all of the NOVA Hokies happy.

Here are the pro's and con's of WMJS as hashed out on the message board:

Pro: Virginia Tech now has a station that provides coverage for some NOVA Hokies.

Con: the station will not carry the first four Tech football games this year (Rutgers, Syracuse, Temple, and Arkansas State), due to a more-important commitment to broadcast Orioles games (what college are the Orioles?).

Pro: WMJS, according to the posters on the message board, can be picked up with varying degrees of success in Merrifield, Burke, Woodbridge, Eastern Prince William County, Springfield/Franconia, Alexandria (by some people, some of the time), Largo MD, and Bowie MD. Basically, the station covers the southern suburbs of DC, and some other places (disclaimer: I don't know much at all about NOVA geography. I'm just repeating what message board posters reported).

Con: according to message board posters, WMJS cannot be picked up in Fairfax, Loudon County, Tyson's Corner, Crystal City, Arlington, Bethesda, Foggy Bottom (?), Oakton, Falls Church, and Annandale.

Thanks to the message board posters for all of their feedback and information.

It was Big East Media day at the New Jersey Meadowlands yesterday, and the Big East media once again went out on a limb by picking Miami #1, Syracuse #2, Tech #3, and WVU #4 (after that comes the four-headed monster of BC-Rutgers-Pitt-Temple, and who really cares what sequence they line up in?).

It appears that when the order was given to use the same balloting box as 1994, 1995, and 1996, whoever is responsible for the voting thought they meant to use the same ballots, too.

A brief clip of Coach Beamer was shown on Channel 10, but naturally, Channel 7 dispensed with the Big East media day rather quickly and hurried on to their report on the ACC media day, cleverly dubbed "Operation: Football" for those of you who are too stupid to realize that helmets and cleats aren't used in basketball - although they will be needed in the NBA soon, at this rate.

Beamer was his usual self. Instead of saying (in perfect A-Line form), "The Big East media is insane. Miami and Syracuse are both coming to the House of Lane, and lemme tell you, one of 'em might get out with a win, but there ain't no way both of 'em are going to. To pick Virginia Tech third is just stupid," Beamer instead genuflected and said that Miami and Syracuse deserved to be picked 1-2. All the while, Coach Beamer must have been grinning inside and imagining the imprint John Engelberger's helmet will make in Ryan Clement's chest this November.

Notice that I'm not dumb enough to pretend that any Hokies will get a clean shot at Donovan McNabb. We'll have to settle for tattooing the Orangemen's receivers, running backs, linebackers, etc. instead.

So the TV reports were pretty lame, but so were the regurgitated "predictions" of the Big East media. My advice is to check out today's newspaper reports for more details.

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