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Our Spring Sale is still going on! Check out our sale items, including T-shirts (as low as $8), Fleece and Sweatshirts (as low as $14.95), Kid's Stuff (including T-shirts for $8), Gift Items (including jewelry and CSI Gold Medallion items), VT Khakis (from Khaki U), and TechSideline.com Gear (T-shirts $8, polos $21.95, and caps $9.50!).

Click here to see all the great stuff on sale at TechLocker.com!
Hurry, quantities are limited!

This week, TechSideline.com welcomes new TSL sponsor Foster & Associates!

Foster & Associates is a law firm specializing in all varieties of real estate closings, as well as excellent service with wills, corporate law and bankruptcy. Let G. Dean Foster and Susan Andrews assist you with your legal needs. They have been closing loans and contracts since 1986 and have the expertise to help you.

Foster & Associates strive to provide their clients with superior service for all types of real estate closings, whether they be residential purchases, refinances, or commercial transactions. They work with their clients' schedule and can close in their geographic location throughout the State of Virginia. Foster & Associates attorneys have been closing loans and contracts since 1986 and have the necessary knowledge to help you. They have developed an efficient, friendly staff whose only goal is to make your closing a smooth, pain- free experience.

For more information on their legal specialties, as well as contact information and an online contact form, see Foster & Associates' TSL sponsorship page. Be sure to let them know that you saw their sponsorship on TSL, and as always, keep an eye on our ever-growing list of sponsors on our TSL Sponsors Page.

Since the last TSLMail, when we told you about 6-10 Deonte Smith's intentions to attend Virginia Tech on a basketball scholarship, we have learned some interesting things about the qualification status of Smith and one of his fellow recruits, 6-6 forward Fabian Davis.

Both Smith and Davis have achieved the necessary grades and test scores for academic qualification, but that's only half the battle. Now they need to pass the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse, which is the final gate of approval on academic qualification.

For most athletes who have achieved the standardized test scores and grades, this is just a formality, but Smith (Mt. Zion Christian Academy in North Carolina) and Davis (Bonner Academy, also in NC) attend small private schools that are typically put under a microscope by the NCAA Clearinghouse. The Clearinghouse will take a long, hard look at both players' transcripts and other information and will determine if they feel Davis and Smith are "academically qualified."

Hokie basketball fans can only cross their fingers and hope that the NCAA clears Smith and Davis. Smith appears to be a solid post player, and Davis, as Bonner coach Shawn Brown told us in an interview, has the potential to be "a superstar." He has averaged close to 30 points in his two seasons at Bonner, which plays strong competition like Oak Hill and Mt. Zion. Davis is rated a Top 150 player (or higher) and could be a difference-maker at Tech.

Sources tell us that all of Tech's other recruits have been certified as eligible by the Clearinghouse. For more information on the NCAA Clearinghouse and academic eligibility requirements, click here.

Suggs and the Big East Record Book

Hokie tailback Lee Suggs, who will hopefully return from last year's knee injury healthy and raring to go, is at or near the top of the Big East charts for three rushing touchdown records.

Lee holds the Big East record for rushing TD's in a game with 5 (against Central Florida on 11/11/2000; six players have scored 4 TD's in a game, but Lee is all alone in first place), and he also holds the record for rushing TD's in a season, with 27 (in 2000; Darnell Campbell of Boston College is second with 19 scored in the 1993 season).

There is no question that when it comes to the career Big East rushing TD record, Suggs' knee injury last season cost him the opportunity to set a mark that would have taken a long time to break. Amos Zereoue of West Virginia scored 38 rushing touchdowns from 1996-98, and he holds the Big East record. Suggs is in fifth place with 31 career rushing TD's, and one can only wonder how many he would have had he stayed healthy in 2001.

As it is, a healthy, strong 2002 season will give Suggs a great chance to break Zereoue's record and take first place for that Big East mark, as well.

Other Notable Stats

A peek around the Web reveals the following notable stats for VT football:

1. Tech Coach Frank Beamer is now fourth in the country in coaching longevity at the same school. Joe Paterno has been at Penn State for 36 years; Bobby Bowden at FSU for 27; Fisher DeBerry at Air Force for 18; and Beamer at VT for 15 (all stats through the 2001 season)

2. The Hokies led the nation last year with 4 shutouts. Ironically, Big East foes Miami and Pittsburgh were second and third with 3 and 2 shutouts, respectively. Tech and Miami were 1-2 all alone, but Pitt shared the #3 spot with three other teams, and it's an odd list: Bowling Green, Central Florida, and Iowa State.

3. Tech's Kevin Jones finished third in the country in rushing by a true freshman. Jones had 987 yards, behind only Texas RB Cedric Benson (1,053 yards) and (get this) Kent State QB Joshua Cribbs (1,019 yards).

4. Tech is one of only eight schools in the country to have posted nine consecutive winning seasons. The others are Syracuse, Florida, Florida State, Kansas State, Michigan, Nebraska and Tennessee.

Will Stewart
General Manager and Managing Editor
TechSideline.com

June is TSL Extra Month at TechSideline.com!
This month, we're promoting the TSL Extra, with the goal of bringing in as many new subscribers as possible. Each Wednesday of this month (June 5th, 12th, 19th, and 26th) we'll bring you a "TSLX Spotlight" article, reprinting one article from a past TSL Extra here on the web site for free. If you're a non-subscriber, this will give you a chance to get a look at the great content available in the TSL Extra, letting you "sample the goods" before you buy. We guarantee you'll be surprised by the depth of coverage the TSLX provides and will wonder why you haven't signed up before now.

We'll also bring you quotes from the TSL Extra every weekday, Monday through Friday, starting next week. Look for the quotes in the "Quick Take" area on the home page and message boards, as well as in special message board posts we'll make.

To kick off TSL Extra month, we have revamped our TSL Extra Sampler. Just click the link to take a look at free mini-version of the TSL Extra. The Sampler is set up just like a real issue of the TSL Extra, to give you an idea of exactly what the TSL Extra is all about.

So if you're not a subscriber, try out the goods and come on board! The TSLX is only $24.95 per year. Click here to subscribe!

New Account Maintenance Area at TechSideline.com
Confused about how to change the email address for your TSL Extra account, or how to retrieve a forgotten password for your message board account? Finding information like that on TSL can be hard, so we have created a new Account Maintenance Page for TechSideline.com.

Click the link above to check it out -- you can manage all of your TechSideline.com, TSL Extra, and TechLocker.com account info from that one page. You can find the page in the future by looking for the "Maintain Your TSL Accounts" link on the TSL home page.

Football News and Articles:
TSLX Spotlight: A Look Back: The 1990 Tech-UVa Game
by Jim Alderson, 6/5/02
As part of TSL Extra Month here at TechSideline.com, we bring you a Jim Alderson article from TSL Extra issue #9 (July 17, 2001).

Virginia Tech May Expand Lane Stadium to 70,000 Seats - by Will Stewart, 6/3/02
Monday, Tech athletic director Jim Weaver proposed a modified design for the West side expansion of Lane Stadium that would add 5,000 additional seats and bring Lane Stadium's total capacity to 70,000 upon completion.