I'd like to take this opportunity to thank many of you for your patience and understanding while we worked through some terrible problems we were experiencing with our server the past five weeks. While we had upgraded to a much more powerful server, pages were loading slower than ever before. The ability for fans to interact on the message board, shop in our store and visit other pages of the site was limited. It really had us scratching our heads.

We worked endlessly during that time to find a solution, and even contracted out to another technician to try and find answers to the problem. Just two nights ago, the needle was found at the bottom of the haystack. Our server is now running as fast as we've ever had a server run in the six years we've been hosting the UVa athletics fan community.

Needless to say, we will continue to work to make things smoother and more reliable in the coming months. The heavy recruiting season is almost upon us, and we want to ensure that you can get to TheSabre.com and get the info you need without issue. We also plan to add more bandwidth so that we can allow as many visitors as possible to the site.

Again, thanks for your loyalty and patience through the bad times. We hope it makes it worth it for the good times.

I wish you all a Happy Holiday season. Go Hoos!

While many online stores cannot deliver too close to Christmas morning, TheSabreShop.com can take orders and ship overnight almost up to the day.

If you're looking for quality Wahoo gear at reason prices, with reliable packing and shipping, then look no further than TheSabreShop.com. And if you've experienced problems ordering to the server issues we experienced the last few weeks, give us another try. Our server is running smoothly and your order should get through easily.

Lastly, if you're a it confused with ordering online, please send an email to [email protected] and we can arrange to take your order over the phone.

Coach Al Groh and company have done it again. They've landed yet another top out of state recruit. This time, it's Pennsylvania's Jonathan Stupar. Stupar, a 6-4, 240-pound All American from State CollegeArea H.S. is ranked 6th at his position nationally by both ESPN and Rivals.com.

Stupar is Virginia's 17th commitment of the 2003 recruiting season. For more on Stupar, as well as the other 16 commitments, please see our recruiting section of the Sabre Edge.

Another recruit on board

Virginia football added another commitment to their list this week when Shannon Lane announced his decision to come to UVa.

Lane is a 6-0, 190-pound wide receiver from Salem H.S. in Virginia Beach. Lane had offers from Michigan, Michigan State, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia Tech to name a few.

Let's go bowling, shall we?

Virginia finally got the bowl invitation they deserve when the Continental Tire Bowl came calling over the weekend. The Hoos will face the Mountaineers of West Virginia on December 28th in Charlotte, North Carolina. Virginia has not faced West Virginia since their meeting in 1985. The Hoos won the contest 27-7 at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville.

For more information on how to purchase tickets for this event, please contact the Virginia Athletic Ticket Office toll free at 1-800-542-8821. For more information on the bowl game itself, please visit the official site of the Continental Tire Bowl.

Hoo doesn't travel?

Virginia fans are gobbling up tickets for the Continental Tire Bowl as if they were $50 million lottery tickets. Virginia's initial allotment of 12,500 tickets sold out in less than three days. Virginia fans are currently tearing through the second allotment of tickets, so quickly that the Virginia Athletic Ticket Office is already submitting a request to the bowl for a third allotment of tickets. As of Thursday morning, well over 14,000 tickets had been sold from the UVa ticket office site. That does not include tickets sold at the bowl site itself.

As stated before, Virginia fans are encouraged to purchase their tickets from the University of Virginia Athletic Ticket Office so that UVa gets credit for those purchases. Bowl sites often make determinations on invites based on numbers of ticket sales generated from the institution's ticket office, not the overall number of tickets sold for the event. Do your part to ensure top bowl games in the future.

The ticket office is currently running on extended hours to meet the demand. These hours are good through December 15th. The ticket office will resume normal business hours on the 16th (M-F 9-5 EST).

Friday, December 13th - 8am-6pm
Saturday, December 14th - 12pm-4pm
Sunday, December 15th - 12pm-4pm

Blackstock named freshmen defensive player of the year

Chalk another award up for Virginia linebacker Darryl Blackstock. Darryl has recently been named Freshmen Defensive Player of the Year by CollegeFootballNews.com.

Full report

Nine Virginia freshmen on Sporting News list

The Sporting News announced its top ACC freshmen for 2002 this week, and the list was dominated by UVa. Nine of UVa's football players made their ACC All-Freshmen team.

Full Report

Starting times changed for two men's hoops contests
UVa Media Release

The starting times for two upcoming University of Virginia men's basketball games have changed.

Virginia's game at Rutgers on December 21 will start at 8:00 p.m. The game was originally scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.

UVa's game at Virginia Tech on January 21 will start at 7:30 p.m. The game was originally scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m.

The Rutgers game will not be televised, while the Virginia Tech game will be televised by ESPN2.

Hoopsters back in action next week

The Virginia men's basketball team returns to action next week for two home contests. On December 17th, the Hoos face East Tennessee State at 7:30 at University Hall. On December 19th, the Hoos will take on Gardner Webb, also at 7:30 in University Hall.

Whether you are coming into town to watch the Hoos at U-Hall, doing some Christmas shopping in the 'Ville or just need a break in the routine, Keswick Hall's "Winter Escape Special" is a great opportunity to experience elegant signature hotel accommodations for an incredible rate. Contact them today to learn more.  

"Winter Escape Special" - Elegant signature accommodations and breakfast for two from $175. Per room, per night, plus taxes. Winter Escape rate based on availability Sun-Thurs through 12/30/02. Other restrictions may apply.  

Please contact Holly VandeWater at 434-923-4372 or e-mail her at [email protected] to make reservations.  

Keswick Hall is one of America's most beautiful and luxurious resorts, located just five miles east of Charlottesville. To learn more please visit their website: Keswick Hall

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