Virginia Tech athletics on hold for third straight day
Clark Ruhland, CT Staff Writer
April 18, 2007
After the tragic event Monday morning on campus, the Tech athletic department is taking a longer hiatus including spring football practice.
On Tuesday, Tech director of Athletics Jim Weaver and head football coach Frank Beamer decided to cancel the remaining practices, which includes the annual Spring Game this Saturday.
"There's never been a more important time than to care for victims and their families," Beamer said Tuesday morning on ESPN2's Cold Pizza. "There will be a time for football again, but right now we need to turn all of our attention to the victims and their families."
Along with football, tonight's baseball game against the William & Mary Tribe has been cancelled and will not be made up. However, baseball will be the first sport to once again set foot on a field in Blacksburg against Miami on Friday.
However, the first Hokies to compete will be the men's and women's tennis squads at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships in Cary, N.C.
Conference commissioner John Swofford issued a statement about the league's decision to memorialize Monday's events.
"In solitude and solidarity, we will remember those who have lost their lives and honor our friends, colleagues and fellow students at Virginia Tech with a moment of silence at each of our ACC Spring Championships," Swofford said. "Today, we are all Hokies."
Hokies, from the Golf, Track & Field, and softball teams will resume play this weekend, even before the athletes resume classes.
The only form of sports continuing in the area is the minor league Salem Avalanche baseball team, who postponed its Monday night game to yesterday. Those who showed up for the doubleheader were dressed in orange and maroon. Before the first game, fans paused for a 32-second moment of silence.
"It is at times like these when communities must join together in the face of tragedy and show a united strength and compassion for the victims and their families," said the public address system at Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium.
The Avalanche will play tonight and plan to once again hold a moment of silence for those involved with the tragedy.
Regardless of direct or indirect affiliation with the Hokies, those in the sports world are stepping back to realize the magnitude of the tragedy in Blacksburg.
"We've just got to move on," Beamer said. "The thing you have to know is that this is so unlike Virginia Tech."