10,000 strong for 32
Ryan McConnell, CT Sports Editor
April 17, 2007
I can vividly remember a night nearly three months ago when ice and snow covered Virginia Tech's campus. Tech's athletic department had opened the men's basketball game against Maryland to all students because older fans outside of Blacksburg couldn't get to Cassell Coliseum safely.
On Jan. 21, I remember feeling the energy from the concourse as my friends entered through the front door, mocking the futile efforts of the ticket scalpers and waiting to deride Maryland coach Gary Williams' every frenetic movement.
Every seat filled, every student cheering; that image of students collectively rallying from as low as courtside to as high as the rafters was burned into my memory.
It was the most electric event I have ever attended at this school. Students were giving off so much energy that the coliseum was noticeably warmer in temperature. The scene sent chills down my spine.
Today at 2 p.m., I expect the Cassell to strike with me with a much different, yet much more powerful, sense of awe. I don't expect thousands of students and members of the community to clap and chant in unison. I want to get those chills from the silence of the gathered masses.
Thirty-two victims. Chances are you've taken a class with one of them, sat next to them at a sporting event, been to a party with one of them, or simply passed them on the Drillfield sometime this year.
This is not something that happens on our cozy campus. Our biggest predicaments here aren't mass murderers - it's trying to stave off Girls Gone Wild and figuring out which quarterback will have the edge coming out of spring practice.
I was turned away from campus at around 10 a.m., and watched the rest from an off-campus apartment about a mile away. Now, back on-campus, I'm writing this column less than 300 yards from Norris Hall. But I've experienced most of this by TV and the Internet and it doesn't seem like it happened here. Technology has removed and desensitized most of us from our own immediate situation.
Remember and honor the fallen with your presence in Cassell today. It's convenient to handle the tragedy through remote interaction like Facebook, television, or e-mail, but technology can never replace the emotional power felt through human interaction and support.
Place yourself amongst those who still ring with disbelief and shock over what happened yesterday. As a nation, we thrived together after 9/11. After 4/16/07, I hope we do the same.
The eyes of a sorrowful and sympathetic nation are upon us. Let's fill those seats with our Tech brethren in remembrance of those who passed on yesterday.
I thought it would be a long while until I saw a scene that united so many Tech students. Sadly, the wait was all too short.