Normally, the middle of January is when I finally get the bags unpacked from Tech’s bowl trip and begin to start paying a little more attention to basketball as played in the ACC and the rest of the country. Those that operate the football coaching wheel in the sky have put that off  a little. As [...]

Congratulations, Ivan! The A-Line Board of Football Experts Virginia Tech- East Carolina Tailgate pix at the Clubhouse Tailgate A win is a win is a win and Tech won. Considering how the second half of October had gone, it was nice to win again, finally. Style points don’t show up in the record. Virginia Tech ventured into the land [...]

05/24/09 I have often stated that my absolute favorite message boards are those devoted to the East Carolina Strawgraspers. They are flat loaded with the looniest of loons. For the sheer volume of nut cases that regularly post and the breathtaking stupidity contained in them, they can’t be beat. The Strawgraspers now enter their 20th consecutive year [...]

The respite between rounds of the NCAA Tournament does afford the opportunity to take a look at the sporting life goings-on around the rest of the region. From Hooville to Lynchburg to the land of sand, scrub pines and Strawgraspers, there is humor to be gleaned. Finding low comedy from Hooville might seem like RUTS, since [...]

The post-game conversations contained more than a bit of unease. Fans in attendance did not see what they expected. The big underdog had actually made a game of it. If the heavy favorite showed no more punch than this, what would happen when the heavier weights appeared on the schedule? These conversations were held outside a [...]

Finally, Game Week is upon us. For the first time since the last week in December, many of us are preparing to travel to actually watch a college football game. After a rather tumultuous off-season, it is high time. Few places will pre-game emotions run as high as they will at Virginia Tech. This is a [...]

The days of the Dead Zone are dwindling down to a precious few. Before we know it, another college football season will be upon us. When it does, so will the ACC’s new television contract. It will come in with a bang. Opening games used to be a time for the coaches of the powers to [...]

We continue to become accustomed to our new digs here at The A-Line. I also notice that once a fee is not required to read columns there seem to be quite a few new people interested in reading them. That, coupled with a bunch of new readers provided by my new buddy Bob Lee Swagger [...]

It started as just another Dead Zone weekend. I had begun my Friday afternoon at a local watering hole. I was with my buddy the Hoo Lawyer and we were engaged in a favorite pastime of swapping tales, wisecracks and insults. The Hoo Lawyer filled the void between his finishing of one Scotch and the [...]