Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the college football season is about to get underway.  Sure, the games are a few weeks away, but conference media days and team practices - and therefore, coverage by newspaper and TV - are about to kick in.

On Tuesday, August 4th (tomorrow), the Big East will hold its yearly media day, which means that the Big East media scribes will pull their usual brilliant stunt of lining up Tech/WVU/Syracuse/Miami in slots 1-4, and BC/Rutgers/Temple/Pitt in slots 5-8 (not in that order).

Of course, I'll probably do the same with my predictions, so maybe I should shut up now.

Then on Friday, August 7th, Tech's freshmen report to practice, and on Tuesday the 11th, the upperclassmen check in.  The Hokies' media day will follow promptly on Wednesday the 12th, and then the serious practices and scrimmages will start.

So, in the next nine days, you'll be inundated with everyone's predictions and prognostications, and after that, news and rumors will start to trickle out of the practices.  Here at HokieCentral, as I prepare my own preseason reports and predictions, we'll also have scrimmage reports and updates.

In the next few weeks, many questions will be answered:

• How is Al's knee, really?  (If I were a betting man, and a sarcastic person, I'd wager that the coaches will say he's "85 to 90%," but that's just me.)

• What freshmen are going to play?  Who's going to redshirt?   (From what I hear, Whitaker and Houseright fit the former category, and just about everyone else fits the latter category, with T.J. Jackson sitting on the fence.)

• Which of our prized recruits will pull an Adrian Pressey, bail out, and go home after one week? (Hopefully, none.)

• Will there be any academic casualties?  (No clue there - you'll just have to wait and see.)

As for me, I'll be formalizing and announcing plans for the HokieCentral tailgate, which will occur on the day of the ECU game, September 5th.  Game time is 4:00, and the tailgate will run from 12:00-4:00.  This year, I won't be selling any goods at the tailgate, and I won't be taking membership applications - I'm just going to hang out and have fun with you guys.  But I won't dance, so don't ask.

For those of you who would like to contribute monetarily to the party, I'll be taking donations for the party starting next week, or as soon as I can set up a contributions page for it.  I'd like to have the entire affair catered, so no one will have to worry about bringing food or drink, or what to do with the leftovers, etc.   The perfect party is one where you can just show up when you feel like it, eat and drink, and split when you feel like it.  So that's what I'll shoot for.

Till then, if you've got any suggestions, then email me at [email protected].  Depending upon the volume of email that I get, I may not answer, but I do want to hear your ideas, so send them to me.

During the football season, I'll try to stick to a News and Notes update schedule of Monday/Wednesday/Friday, with game reports posted on Monday nights, and other material will be posted as I get a chance.

Sunday night against the New England Patriots, Jim Druckenmiller played about two quarters.  The game wasn't nationally televised, so I didn't get to see it, but according to a few message board posters who did catch it, Druck was so-so.  His stats reflect that:  10-14, 100 yards, 2 INT's (both tipped balls), and no TD's.

As usual, Channel 10 covered it (although I tuned in too late to catch the video), and no other TV stations did.  I'm telling you, folks, for Hokie coverage, Channel 10 is it.

By the way, the Niners won, 14-13.

• In other www.hokiesports.com news, they report that the Voice of the Hokies, Bill Roth, will be writing a weekly column called "Press Box View" for the web site.  This will inject some much-needed zip into the web site, which is a pretty good source of information but needs more of a personal touch.  This may be a precursor to The Hokie Huddler being offered on-line, or at least some of its content, so keep an eye on www.hokiesports.com for any future doings.

• Meanwhile, Jack Bogaczyk of The Roanoke Times took time off from the Redskins' training camp to snag an interview with, or at least get some quotes from, former Hokie Cornell Brown, who is now with the Baltimore Ravens.  Catch Jack's article at It's Better the Second Time Around.

• The Campus Construction Web Site, which I have linked to here before, has been updated for the first time in a couple of months.  Check it out - it's very interesting stuff.

• More Druck, this one from the San Francisco Chronicle:  Druckenmiller Makes the Most of First Full Camp, dated 7/31/98.

• Mitch Vingle of The Charleston (WV) Gazette continues to be one of the best reporters on Big East football.  His latest update, from Friday, July 31st, is in the middle of his article titled Harrick Jr, Owls May Be Booted, WVU.

• Dell Curry and Bimbo Coles both visited Page Moir's summer basketball camp last week and spoke to the kids. Doug Doughty took the opportunity to talk to Dell about his future in Curry is no lock to stay a Hornet after lock-out, which ran on 7/31/98.  Dell factoid:  he's the leading scorer in Charlotte Hornets' history.

Consider yourself up-to-date.

TSL News and Notes Archives