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Had your eye on this fella? Sorry, gals (and guys), Matt Schaub is taken. His 2 big purchases since signing a 6-year, $48 million contract with the Houston Texans, the former UVa quarterback told a rapt media gathering at halftime, were a new house and an engagement ring for his new fiancee, Laurie. They met in Atlanta, Schaub said.

Matt, as usual, was pleasant, polite and intelligent, and totally uncontroversial. Doug no doubt will fill you in tomorrow on his thoughts on his new starting role with coach Gary Kubiak and the Texans. AOL Sports already likes the Schaub era.

Matt did say, though, that he was glad to spend 3 years backing up Michael Vick (MV1) with the Falcons. "It means three years on the end of my career, because I haven't been getting hit," Schaub said.

Today's overcast weather wasn't unfamiliar, either. "The last one I played in," Schaub said of the 2003 spring game, "was the same type day as this."

Schaub talks with his favorite UVa beat writer. (Doug's the one on the right.)

Still 7-0 for the gents in blue, still chilly. Rumor has it NFL starting quarterback Matt Schaub will grace the ink-stained scribes with his presence shortly.

But it's starting to drizzle. Rats.

Looking ... sparse, Cavs fans!

And damp.

Keith Payne and Raynard Horne, hard runners both, should be fun to watch at tailback this fall. Could Cedric Peerman be even better?

"The legend of Keith Payne," Pilot beat writer Ed Miller remarked, half-jokingly, about the redshirt freshman from Herndon.

Scott Deke's crossing pass goes through the hands of Blue WR Simon Manka around the 15-yard line. Manka comes through on the next play, beating CB Brandon Jarvis, a walk-on from Rockbridge County High School, on a post-corner pattern for a 24-yard touchdown.

7-0 Blue as we tick under 7 minutes left in the half.

What is going on out there? It's hard to tell. These spring scrimmages are a mess of unfamiliar jersey numbers, quick changeovers and totally inconsequential happenings. I'll try to find you something mildly interesting.

Until then, some linkies:

Doug Doughty filled us in on former UVa coach Dick Bestwick, who's battling a painful condition but made it back to Charlottesville this weekend for a celebration of his six-year tenure with the Hoos. (Check out the 1981 photo of then-Wake Forest coach Al Groh.)

Today's rosters, in pdf format.

Also:

The official 2007 Virginia football wall poster -- you know, the one with the schedule of games on it -- features QB Jameel Sewell and DE Chris Long. Howie's boy will be everywhere this fall. Including opposing backfields. UVa is glad he stayed four years.

Someone just won a baseball signed by Washington Nationals third baseman and former UVa star Ryan Zimmerman.

Speaking of baseball, former pro-caliber outfielder John Bivens is proving as unblockable at linebacker as Groh predicted. Bivens just broke through to sack White QB Marc Verica, followed closely by DL Nate Collins.

No score through 1 quarter, 3rd-and-35 for the White team ... Blue CB Vic Hall opens the 2Q with a juggling interception on a deep out thrown by Verica.

Greetings from a sodden Scott Stadium, where the Blue team just finished a relatively productive opening drive and I just had to restart my laptop.

Only a few thousand folks have joined us on this dour Saturday afternoon. They've seen Raynard Horne start at tailback for Blue instead of Keith Payne. They've seen LB Antonio Appleby and OL Eugene Monroe earn "most improved" honors and DE Chris Long, TE Tom Santi and OL Branden Albert announced as 2007 captains. They've seen the White team go backwards on its first few plays.

Just more than 6 minutes left in our first quarter. Back in a few ...

The Avalanche roster was released today. Opening day is Thursday.

2007 Salem Avalanche
Pos. Name Hgt. Wgt. Age Hometown 2006
LHP Chris Blazek 6-0 195 23 Litchfield, Conn. Lexington
LHP Brian Bogusevic 6-3 215 23 Oak Lawn, Ill. Tri/Lex
RHP Nick Cavanagh 6-2 210 25 Redlands, Calif. Lexington
RHP Raymar Diaz 6-7 190 23 Isla Verde, PR Lex/Salem
RP Samuel Gervacio 5-11 160 22 Sabana De La Mar, DR Lexington
RHP Brad James 6-2 200 22 Prosper, Texas Lexington
RHP Ryan McKeller 6-5 220 23 Austin, Texas Lexington
LHP Ryan Owens 6-1 185 23 Summerville, S.C. Green/Lex
RHP Sean Walker 6-1 175 24 La Mesa, Calif. Lexington
RHP Rory Shortell 6-3 205 25 Portland, Ore. Salem
LHP Chris Salamida 6-0 180 22 Watervliet, N.Y. Tri-City
RHP Sergio Perez 6-3 230 22 Tampa, Fla. Lexington
C JR Towles 6-2 195 23 Crosby, Texas Lexington
C Jose Lopez 5-11 195 22 Maracay, Venezuela Lexington
1B Mark Ori 6-4 225 23 Niles, Ill. Lexington
1B Ole Sheldon 6-4 210 24 Roseburg, Ore. Lex/Salem
2B Wladimir Sutil 5-10 135 22 Guatire, Venezuela Lex/Salem
2B Eric King 5-9 175 24 Antioch, Calif. Lexington
SS Thomas Manzella 6-2 190 23 Chalmette, La. Lexington
3B Billy Hart 6-2 215 24 Tustin, Calif. Salem
OF Mitch Einertson 5-10 178 20 Oceanside, Calif. Lexington
OF Joshua Flores 6-0 195 21 Chicago, Ill. Lexington
OF Eli Iorg 6-3 200 24 Eureka, Calif. Lexington
OF Ryan Reed 6-4 210 23 Eunice, La. Lexington
OF Orlando Rosales 5-8 180 22 Dade City, Fla. Green/Tri

Mark Berman here with an update on Baltimore Orioles telecasts. We had this update in Saturday's paper but it didn't get online, so here it is:
Here's some more bad news for Orioles fans in the area.
ESPN intends to blacak out throughout Virginia any Orioles telecasts on ESPN or ESPN2 this season, including Monday's season opener on ESPN2, a spokesperson said Friday.
That's tough for many Orioles fans in this area. The Orioles are moving all their games to the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network this season, but the channel will only be available in Southwest Virginia to customers of Cox Communications or DirecTV.
Washington Nationals games will also be blacked out in the commonwealth on ESPN and ESPN2.
For more on MASN, you can read my story from Friday's paper online under the baseball category.