NoVa. Web Warriors Battle for Charity

By Kyle Balluck,
Washtech.com Staff Writer
Thursday, January 25, 2001; 2:55 PM

Far from Tampa, Fl., and the hype surrounding Super Bowl XXXV, two teams will meet Sunday on a Northern Virginia football field for bragging rights between the old economy and new. The second annual Capital Cyber Bowl in Herndon pits Internet executives against their brick-and-mortar counterparts.
Dave Gardy, chairman of Chantilly-based TVWorldwide.com, and a wide receiver on the high-tech team, Web Warriors, said in an interview that the game sprang from years of friendly weekend touch football games between the executives, who range in age from 25 to 48. He said the teams divided along high-tech and traditional lines in the first Capital Cyber Bowl, raising $5,000 last year for the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE).

This year’s event will again benefit NFTE, which teaches low-income teens how to develop and run small businesses, often in the high-tech arena. One of the event's sponsors, CyberLearning, is donating $34,000 to NFTE. CyberLearning, headquartered in Alexandria, Va., provides IT training.

TVWorldwide, also an event sponsor, will Webcast Sunday’s game, beginning at 11 a.m. EST. Gardy said coverage of this year’s game will be a bit more sophisticated than during the first Cyber Bowl, and will include instant replays.

The Web Warriors downed the Bricks and Mortar last year 21-0, although Gardy predicts a closer game this year. He said the old economy team is much stronger this year and has been practicing for the contest.

Bricks and Mortar tight end Ray Kramer, a structural engineer, said in a statement that the “Dot-Com Trauma” has brought the Web Warriors back to earth, adding that his team plans to remind them that brick-and-mortar businesses are “doing just fine.”

Other sponsors include Reliacast, Rainmaker Interactive, Diamondback Vision, McDermott Will & Emery, CyberLearning, USA YouthSports.com, Base Technologies, BVB Advertising and Riverbyte Communications.

Reported by Washtech.com, http://www.washtech.com