Who should be on VT's Mt. Rushmore?

I am blatantly ripping off the guys over at BC Interruption, who in turn borrowed the idea from ESPN.

Basically, ESPN is doing a Mt. Rushmore of sports for all the states by picking the four most important sports figures they have to offer. So who should be on a Mt. Rushmore for Virginia Tech sports?

My Hokie Mt. Rushmore:

Frank Beamer. Made Virginia Tech football. This one is a given.

Bruce Smith. The Hokies' first No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft. Was a beast for the Hokies and had a Hall of Fame career in the NFL.

Angela Tincher. The most dominant player in their sport in Hokie sports history.

BomboBimbo Coles (apparently I decided to mate Bimbo Coles and Bombo Rivera). Beloved Hokie hoops player that had a solid pro career.

Also Considered: Michael Vick, Brad Clontz, Joe Saunders, Jim Druckenmiller, Dell Curry and of course Will Muthafuckin' Furrer.

The Michael Vick Question

Should Michael Vick be put on the Hokies' Mt. Rushmore? I say no. For something like this, you have to consider how the person has represented Virginia Tech even after leaving the university. Vick is no longer representative of what being a Hokie is about and I don't think he belongs.

So who would you put on the Hokies' Mt. Rushmore? Would you put Michael Vick on there? Let me know if I'm wrong.

Heisman gets it right for once

OU's Sam Bradford was named the winner of the 2008 Heisman Trophy Saturday, beating out Texas' Colt McCoy and Florida's Tim Tebow. To be honest, I thought it was going to go to Tebow again. Thankfully, it didn't. We don't need to give Gary Danielson any more fuel for when he broadcasts Gator games next year. It's already unbearable to listen to Danielson verbally blow Tebow. If the golden boy had added a second Heisman before his senior season, it would have been unwatchable.

Because I'm biased toward people from Oklahoma and biased against any and all things pertaining to the state of Texas, I believe the Heisman should have gone to Bradford and not McCoy. However, the Heisman doesn't always go to the most-deserving player. Sometimes it's almost a career award. Here's my opinion on who should have won each trophy since 1990.

2008: Sam Bradford, Oklahoma
Deserving: Bradford.

2007: Tim Tebow, Florida
Deserving: Darren McFadden, Arkansas. McFadden was the best player in the country, but was on an average team.

2006: Troy Smith, Ohio State
Deserving: Steve Slaton, West Virginia. Smith was the quarterback of the best team in the country, but wasn't spectacular. Slaton was.

2005: Reggie Bush, USC
Deserving: Vince Young, Texas. Young had maybe the best season by a quarterback of all time. If the vote had been after the Rose Bowl, it might have been a different story.

2004: Matt Leinart, USC
Deserving: Adrian Peterson, Oklahoma. Peterson is the best college running back I've ever seen.

2003: Jason White, Oklahoma
Deserving: White. Larry Fitzgerald was only in the running because that's who ESPN wanted to win the award. Eli Manning was more deserving than Fitzgerald.

2002: Carson Palmer, USC
Deserving: Brad Banks, Iowa. Banks came out of nowhere, which is why he didn't win. The fact the vote was relatively close tells you the kind of year Banks had.

2001: Eric Crouch, Nebraska
Deserving: Sex Cannon, Florida. The Rexstacy had better numbers.

2000: Chris Weinke, Florida State
Deserving: Josh Heupel, Oklahoma. Weinke got it as a career award.

1999: Ron Dayne, Wisconsin
Deserving: Michael Vick, Virginia Tech. Another career winner. Vick had the most spectacular freshman season in the sport's history.

1998: Ricky Williams, Texas
Deserving: Williams.

1997: Charles Woodson, Michigan
Deserving: Peyton Manning, Tennessee. Yes, it can be argued that it would have been a career award for Manning, but I still think got robbed.

1996: Danny Wuerffel, Florida
Deserving: Wuerffel.

1995: Eddie George, Ohio State
Deserving: Tommie Frazier, Nebraska. The '95 Nebraska team was the best in college football history (I won't listen to arguments otherwise) and Frazier had the best year for an option quarterback.

1994: Rashaan Salaam, Colorado
Deserving: Salaam.

1993: Charlie Ward, Florida State
Deserving: Ward.

1992: Gino Toretta, Miami
Deserving: Marshall Faulk, San Diego State. Worst Heisman winner in history?

1991: Desmond Howard, Michigan
Deserving: Will Furrer, Virginia Tech. Overlooked by everyone. Conspiracy theories abound.

1990: Ty Detmer, BYU
Deserving: Will Furrer, Virginia Tech. The original screw-job. How it didn't go to Furrer I'll never know.

Road Trip No. 6: VT vs. Maryland

Gobbler Country Road Trip No. 6
Football: Maryland at Virginia Tech
Lane Stadium
Blacksburg, Va.

Miles Round Trip: 2,200
Total Dollars Spent: $320 ($200 gas, $50 food and drink, $40 ticket, $30 souvenirs)

Yeah, I cut this one short and came home on Friday. Needed to save money for the trip back for Thanksgiving and the UVa game. I still hit most the stops I wanted to, as you'll see below.

What Impressed Me
- Corky's BBQ. That's a given.
- Cody Freaking Grimm. Damn, son, damn.
- Maryland fans. Not as big of ass holes as advertised.
- My car's gas mileage, which was better than ever.

What Didn't Impress Me
- The weather. The fact I wore short sleeves at Lane in November is unacceptable.
- Maryland's defensive line.
- Corky's new bread pudding. I'm the world's biggest fan of bread pudding, but theirs was overcooked. I like my bread pudding creamy, not crispy. I'll stick to their pe-can pie from here on out. That's what I get for breaking from tradition.
- My ability to not be a belligerent drunk during the game.


The traditional pit stop at Corky's.


Hokie House.


TOTS. Rails, FTW. I had two rails on an empty stomach at 1 p.m. on gameday and was hammered.


Greatest license plate ever?


Outside of Lane.


The World Famous Clubhouse Tailgate.


Communion call for Maryland. My first home game communion.


Hokies take the field. There's a reason the photo is slanted and it has nothing to do with me trying to be artistic.


Lane at night.


OMG!!1 Our hero was in the house! Will M.F.-ing Furrer returns to Blacksburg!


Points on the board means girls in the air.


Hello, win column!


Car on fire on 81. About a 20 minute delay on the drive home.


The Appy State equipment truck on its way to Chattanooga.

Hall of Fame: Will Furrer

My first college football game was Sept. 28, 1991. The Hokies traveled to Norman, Okla., to face the No. 6 OU Sooners. Virginia Tech was 1-2 going into the game and would finish the season 5-6. They were two seasons from their first Beamer Bowl Berth and were in their first season in the Big East.

OU was 2-0 going into the game and would end up having a typical Gary Gibbs season. The Sooners went 9-3 with losses to Texas, Colorado and Nebraska, the same three teams they lost to almost every year Gibbs was coach.

The Sooners were quarterbacked by Cale Gundy, a sophomore, local legend and brother of current OSU coach Mike Gundy. Cale would go on to re-write the OU passing record book, partly because he played almost from the moment he arrived on campus and mainly because it had almost been illegal to pass at OU for the previous 40 years.

The Hokies were quarterbacked by Will Furrer, a lefty from Central Pennsylvania. It was his senior year and he had thrown for over 2,000 yards the year before. Furrer also played almost from his arrival at Virginia Tech from Fork Union Military Academy.

The Hokies were huge underdogs, but fought valiantly on the road, losing 27-17. Tech trailed, 13-10 at halftime, but two third quarter touchdowns did in the Hokies. Furrer threw for 268 yards, but also threw three interceptions.

Furrer was exciting to watch in that he could scramble and had a big arm, but he also threw a lot of interceptions. His career may not have been very accomplished, but he gets in to the Gobbler Country Hall of Fame because he was a gunslinger and was the quarterback for the Hokies when I first became a Hokie fan and for my first Hokie (and college football) game.

Notes: Furrer started Mike Ditka's last game as Chicago Bears head coach, a 27-14 loss at Dallas on Dec. 27, 1992...according to the Virginia Tech media guide, Furrer and Steve Casey are the only two quarterbacks since 1952 to lead the team in passing four consecutive years...Furrer was drafted by Chicago in the fourth round of the 1992 NFL Draft...he is currently the president of IF Marketing and Advertising in Georgetown, Texas, a suburb of Austin.