Important!  MCB Tickets Are Almost Completely Gone:  if you're not sure whether or not you want Music City Bowl tickets, you better make up your mind and order them now, folks, because you've only got 1-2 days left, tops.  See today's Hokie Hotline Notes for important details.

Note from Will:  HokieCentral member, columnist, and message board poster "Nova Hokie 95" came up with a great idea for expressing our appreciation to the football players, and I agreed to give it pub here at HokieCentral.   Read on for this special message from Nova Hokie 95:

Okay, we did it for others last year with the ticket drive, now it's time to do it for our own. Charity begins at home, some say, and while this isn't exactly charity, the recipients are just as deserving.

Too often at HokieCentral, we find ourselves p-and-m'ing, concentrating only on what went wrong, on the negatives. In the excitement of the games, it's easy to forget that these are just college kids, and that they're giving up a whole lot -- study time, leisure time, and this year, the holidays, too.

It's time, now, to say Thank You to the players for all they do. For the hours they put in in the weight room, in the class room, and on the field. For the good times they bring us, the sense of school pride, and the increased exposure they bring to our alma mater (or current school, for some).

The idea is simply to let each and every player know that we, the fans, appreciate them, and the effort they put in year-round, with a simple thank-you note.

Here's the plan behind "Project: Thank You."  I have a list of the football roster, from Big East Defensive Player of the Year Corey Moore all the way down to the redshirts and walk-ons. Anyone wishing to participate, email me at [email protected].

Important:  if you have a question, please put "question" in the subject field. However, if you simply wish to sign up, just put your message board alias there (or your real name if you don't post). If there's only an alias there, I'll cut and paste and WILL NOT read the rest of the email, which would make things a LOT easier for me.

I will try to read and delete emails as fast as possible, but if your email gets bounced back because my mailbox is full, PLEASE try again.

At the end of the week (or sooner if emails flood in at the start and then dwindle), I'll randomly assign posters to each player. Depending on the amount of participation, each player will have X number of posters "assigned" to write to them. I must stress here that, if you tell me you're going to participate, you MUST write to whomever you're "assigned," even if you know nothing about them. Each player gives their best effort, and what I don't want is this turning into a third-grade Valentine's Day contest about who's loved most.

Early next week, then, I'll post the chart showing who writes to which player, and then it's all up to us. I've been informed that the players love to get fan mail, and I think a flood of fan mail thanking them for all they do and wishing them well in the Music City Bowl will let them know we're behind them 100 percent. Obviously you can write more than that if you wish -- if you happen to get your favorite player, by all means tell them why; if you were amazed by your player's effort this season, tell them that as well. But remember, even if you don't know a thing about them, they still put just as much sweat into the team as the next guy.

Again, that email address is [email protected].   So email away! Let's show the team just how much we appreciate them, and show people that there's more to HokieCentral than Monday-morning quarterbacking!

-- Nova Hokie 95

Will here: sounds like fun to me, folks.  So what are you waiting for?

As I posted on the message board yesterday, I have teamed up with Eleven West in Radford to offer some great-looking Music City Bowl T-shirts.   To see the shirt design and place an order, click on the link.  I'll let the sales pitch there do the talking.

One comment:  I'll be placing an order with Eleven West on Thursday, December 10th, and if you get your order in before then, I'll include it then.  I hope to receive those shirts from Eleven West by December 16th or 17th, and ship them the next day via U.S. Priority (2-day) Mail, which means you'll get your shirt on the 19th or 20th, the 21st at the latest.

As the order form says, I'll do another order on December 16th for shipping on the 23rd, so you can wait a little bit, if you'd prefer.  There will be subsequent orders, but if you want yours before the bowl game, you'll have to be a part of one of the first two orders.

(And let me just add two words:  Christmas presents!)

I announced the shirts on the message board yesterday, and the response has been great, so jump on the bandwagon and snag yourself a great-looking T-shirt to wear in Nashiville (or, if you're not going, wear it in front of the TV)!

Starting January 1st, HokieCentral message board passwords will no longer be free.   Instead, you will need to become a HokieCentral member in order to get a message board password.  Believe me, I never wanted to make HokieCentral into any sort of "Members Only" club, but message board traffic has reached the point where I have to.

Before I go on, listen clearly:  if you already have a message board password, it will continue to work, and you will not have to pay to keep it going.   In fact, between now and January 1st, passwords will still be free, and can be requested by emailing [email protected].

Why the change?  Simple:  there are currently approximately 2000 message board passwords in existence, and we have been handing out 5-10 new ones per day.   Traffic on the board this football season started to get out of hand, and I have to start limiting the traffic.  This is the best way I know how.

As I told one person on the board, "Two people is a chat.  Three people is a conversation.  Ten people is a group discussion.  A hundred people all talking at once is just noise.  And the HokieCentral message board is starting to turn into noise."

I will probably institute a "guest" policy which allows members to request a temporary password for a guest.  This will enable fans from opposing schools, or prospective HokieCentral members, to post on the board for a limited time period.

Sorry for the change, but it simply has to happen to control the board.   And I'll be honest:  the behavior of some of the posters after our losses this year was a little ridiculous, and I figure that making HokieCentral membership a requirement for receiving a password will help ensure that those who do post on the board are not stopping by just to vent their frustrations for free.

In the future, I'll know that new passwords are going out to people who respect HokieCentral enough to make an investment in it and use it properly.  Sorry to get preachy, but it's a valid point that I wanted to make.

I'm sure many of you will have comments on this, so feel free to email me.  I anticipate that this announcement will generate tons of email, so I won't be able to answer it all, but feel free to give me your thoughts at [email protected]. 

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