Sir,

I went to Hampden-Sydney, but it has no Division I-A status. I had to chose some team to root for. Unfortunately, it was Virginia Tech. For years, they have been disappointing.

VPI has no football tradition. It's not a USC, Notre Dame, Texas, Miami or Florida State.

Its players do not have that unique football knowledge, commitment, dedication and, most of all, talent. These gimmicks of the lunch pail, Beamer Ball and Hokie Nation are good PR but are useless. In over 100 years of football, VPI had its 15 minutes of fame in 1999. No more.

In an athletic building on campus a space is reserved for the BSC trophy. What a joke! A team ranked 114 out of 120 in total offense beat them [last] Thursday night. We better accept the fact that VPI is mediocre. It can't recruit the exceptional athlete or staff -- even with one of the best facilities in the country.

Harvey S. Lutins

Roanoke

Time for Beamer to go

Dear Editor,

I have been a die-hard Hokie fan since 1960, and I know they can't win them all.

But other than 1999, Tech loses every year to teams that are not nearly as talented -- especially this year.

I can understand losing to Alabama. But to Georgia Tech and North Carolina --as talented as the Hokies are --they were out-coached and outplayed.

This Tech team has no leaders and don't play as a team. It all boils down to coaching.

Frank Beamer is like Bobby Bowden, the game has passed him by. If Tech wants to reach the top, Beamer should turn over the coaching duties to Bud Foster and send Bryan Stinespring to UVa.

Joseph Bates

Buena Vista

Williams' actions unnecessary

Ryan Williams emphatically blaming himself for the loss to UNC last week is beyond enough.

And please don't take offense. I respect his sentiment to accept his part of the responsibility, but football is a team effort, not an individual endeavour.

Understand this: You win as a team or you lose as a team. Your teammates, coaches, and fans support you regardless, as long as you're playing to the best of your ability -- which you've already proven to have more than the norm.

What impresses me about you and the thousands of athletes who play the grueling sport of football is you still get up every day, go to class, face your peers, and essentially live under a radar much of the time.

If you really want to blame yourself for something, do it when you could've studied just a little more to obtain the B-minus instead of the C-plus. Blame yourself when you fail to be a role model for the hundreds of youth who idolize you because you play football for the Hokies.

Stop beating yourself down. There are enough people out there waiting in line to live the dream that you're favored to live. Just use that "fumble" as your testimony to encourage others to get up and try again.

Corwin Casey

Roanoke