OU-HSV
4/17/2007, 04:42 PM
Just read this on Foxsports and I didn't see it posted on here yet. Sad times at Va Tech, as we all could expect, sports has been effected. I don't blame them one bit for taking some time off football or any other sport to deal w/the horrible situation.
Va. Tech tragedy touches sports programs, too
Story Tools:
FOXSports.com
Posted: 41 minutes ago
BLACKSBURG, Va. - Virginia Tech canceled spring football practice and the team's annual spring game because of Monday's campus massacre.
Tragedy in Blacksburg
The nation continues to reel from a senseless tragedy that left 33 dead at Virginia Tech. While many questions remain to be answered, we'd like to get your thoughts and allow you to offer your condolences.
The intrasquad game, which usually draws tens of thousands of fans, had been scheduled for Saturday. The school on Tuesday also postponed a baseball game against William & Mary that was to have been played Wednesday.
"How could one person cause so many senseless deaths? I'm in shock," head coach Frank Beamer said Monday, according to ESPN.com. "This is such a caring, friendly place. This is a college town.
"It's hard to say how this will impact our community or our team. It's senseless, all so senseless."
Meanwhile, head basketball coach Seth Greenberg's reaction to the tragedy echoed what many were thinking and feeling in the wake of the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.
"I'm numb," he told the Long Beach Press-Telegram. "This is sickening."
Greenberg first learned of the tragedy shortly after breakfast Monday morning when his daughter, Paige, a freshman at Virginia Tech, called him and informed him of the first of the two deadly shootings.
Greenberg advised his daughter to meet him at his office in Cassell Coliseum, but she temporarily ended up at her boyfriend's off-campus apartment when the second round of shootings began just minutes later. Eventually, she made her way to the Greenberg family home roughly two miles from campus.
"It's all been just a blur," Greenberg said.
According to the report, Greenberg spent much of the day making sure his players had contacted their families to let them know they were safe. He also spoke with a school psychologist who will help counsel students and faculty members.
"All of those kids just sitting in their classrooms, doing what they're supposed to be doing," Greenberg said. "Seeing the parents coming onto campus now to identify their children ... it's just devastating."
In related news:
The athletic department canceled all games and practices for Monday and Tuesday;
Five spring sports teams will participate in ACC championships as scheduled, the school said;
Hokies QB Ike Whitaker, who found himself just 30 feet from the building in which the second shootings took place, recounted his harrowing tale that can only be described as mass chaos.
"I couldn't tell whether people were hurt or not," Whitaker said in an interview with The Washington Post. "I was kind of on the move. The whole time, I wasn't really trying to figure what was happening or where the shots were coming from. I was just kind of on the move, looking after my friends."
Whitaker and the two friends with whom he was walking to class escaped unharmed;
Tiki Barber was sent down to Blacksburg to cover the shooting for NBC, according to a report on Newsday's web site. Barber, who attended the University of Virginia, is from Roanoke, a 30-minute drive away. His parents met at Virginia Tech, where his father was a running back for the Hokies in the early 1970s;
Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella, whose son Derek played football at Virginia Tech from 1998-2000, had this to say about Monday's tragic events:
''(Frank) Beamer is a good man, good coach,'' Piniella told the Chicago Sun-Times. ''Derek really enjoyed the experience and the school. That tragedy [Monday], it breaks your heart. It's a wonderful campus, and they've got a great administration over there.
''Boy, that's something that tears you apart when you hear about that situation.''
Former Virginia Tech players were in varying states of shock and grief following Monday's shooting. Browns safety Justin Hamilton, who was drafted in the seventh round by Cleveland in 2006 and spent five years in Blacksburg, was overwhelmed by one thought.
"I would have been in that building if I was still a student there," he said Tuesday. "I really have been struggling with what I would have done or what it was that decided those people's fates."
In his final three years, Hamilton attended classes in Norris Hall, where most of the killings took place.
He was at the Browns' facility working out early Monday when he first learned of a problem at his alma mater. After showering, he was on his way to breakfast when he began getting more information on the unfolding tragedy.
"I started getting text messages and phone calls, and immediately I knew something was going on that was really bad," he said.
One message Hamilton received was from a close friend, a SWAT team member.
"He said he was dispatched to Virginia Tech, which is three hours away," Hamilton said. "When he sent me a message, I knew something was really bad. I went straight home, turned on the news and basically I have been watching for the last 24 hours."
Hamilton watched in disbelief as a video taken by a Virginia Tech student with a cell phone was shown repeatedly. On it, police are seen working their way up to the doors of Norris Hall, which authorities said were apparently chained shut by the shooter.
"There were chills all over my body because I have seen through the eyes of that camera," the 24-year-old player said. "Almost every day of my career I was in that area. It was just like I was watching a normal day on campus except there were guns shots and SWAT teams and police everywhere.
"To think that we might be hearing the last moments of some people's lives. ... I could not get that out of my mind, how it could have been me. I don't understand why I was spared and those people weren't and that has really bothered me."
Va. Tech tragedy touches sports programs, too
Story Tools:
FOXSports.com
Posted: 41 minutes ago
BLACKSBURG, Va. - Virginia Tech canceled spring football practice and the team's annual spring game because of Monday's campus massacre.
Tragedy in Blacksburg
The nation continues to reel from a senseless tragedy that left 33 dead at Virginia Tech. While many questions remain to be answered, we'd like to get your thoughts and allow you to offer your condolences.
The intrasquad game, which usually draws tens of thousands of fans, had been scheduled for Saturday. The school on Tuesday also postponed a baseball game against William & Mary that was to have been played Wednesday.
"How could one person cause so many senseless deaths? I'm in shock," head coach Frank Beamer said Monday, according to ESPN.com. "This is such a caring, friendly place. This is a college town.
"It's hard to say how this will impact our community or our team. It's senseless, all so senseless."
Meanwhile, head basketball coach Seth Greenberg's reaction to the tragedy echoed what many were thinking and feeling in the wake of the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.
"I'm numb," he told the Long Beach Press-Telegram. "This is sickening."
Greenberg first learned of the tragedy shortly after breakfast Monday morning when his daughter, Paige, a freshman at Virginia Tech, called him and informed him of the first of the two deadly shootings.
Greenberg advised his daughter to meet him at his office in Cassell Coliseum, but she temporarily ended up at her boyfriend's off-campus apartment when the second round of shootings began just minutes later. Eventually, she made her way to the Greenberg family home roughly two miles from campus.
"It's all been just a blur," Greenberg said.
According to the report, Greenberg spent much of the day making sure his players had contacted their families to let them know they were safe. He also spoke with a school psychologist who will help counsel students and faculty members.
"All of those kids just sitting in their classrooms, doing what they're supposed to be doing," Greenberg said. "Seeing the parents coming onto campus now to identify their children ... it's just devastating."
In related news:
The athletic department canceled all games and practices for Monday and Tuesday;
Five spring sports teams will participate in ACC championships as scheduled, the school said;
Hokies QB Ike Whitaker, who found himself just 30 feet from the building in which the second shootings took place, recounted his harrowing tale that can only be described as mass chaos.
"I couldn't tell whether people were hurt or not," Whitaker said in an interview with The Washington Post. "I was kind of on the move. The whole time, I wasn't really trying to figure what was happening or where the shots were coming from. I was just kind of on the move, looking after my friends."
Whitaker and the two friends with whom he was walking to class escaped unharmed;
Tiki Barber was sent down to Blacksburg to cover the shooting for NBC, according to a report on Newsday's web site. Barber, who attended the University of Virginia, is from Roanoke, a 30-minute drive away. His parents met at Virginia Tech, where his father was a running back for the Hokies in the early 1970s;
Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella, whose son Derek played football at Virginia Tech from 1998-2000, had this to say about Monday's tragic events:
''(Frank) Beamer is a good man, good coach,'' Piniella told the Chicago Sun-Times. ''Derek really enjoyed the experience and the school. That tragedy [Monday], it breaks your heart. It's a wonderful campus, and they've got a great administration over there.
''Boy, that's something that tears you apart when you hear about that situation.''
Former Virginia Tech players were in varying states of shock and grief following Monday's shooting. Browns safety Justin Hamilton, who was drafted in the seventh round by Cleveland in 2006 and spent five years in Blacksburg, was overwhelmed by one thought.
"I would have been in that building if I was still a student there," he said Tuesday. "I really have been struggling with what I would have done or what it was that decided those people's fates."
In his final three years, Hamilton attended classes in Norris Hall, where most of the killings took place.
He was at the Browns' facility working out early Monday when he first learned of a problem at his alma mater. After showering, he was on his way to breakfast when he began getting more information on the unfolding tragedy.
"I started getting text messages and phone calls, and immediately I knew something was going on that was really bad," he said.
One message Hamilton received was from a close friend, a SWAT team member.
"He said he was dispatched to Virginia Tech, which is three hours away," Hamilton said. "When he sent me a message, I knew something was really bad. I went straight home, turned on the news and basically I have been watching for the last 24 hours."
Hamilton watched in disbelief as a video taken by a Virginia Tech student with a cell phone was shown repeatedly. On it, police are seen working their way up to the doors of Norris Hall, which authorities said were apparently chained shut by the shooter.
"There were chills all over my body because I have seen through the eyes of that camera," the 24-year-old player said. "Almost every day of my career I was in that area. It was just like I was watching a normal day on campus except there were guns shots and SWAT teams and police everywhere.
"To think that we might be hearing the last moments of some people's lives. ... I could not get that out of my mind, how it could have been me. I don't understand why I was spared and those people weren't and that has really bothered me."