Collegiate Times

He said

I’ve spent 5,820 hours stalking ESPN for any blurb about Logan Thomas or David Wilson. I’ve spent 349,238 minutes talking to any man, woman or child that will listen to me ramble on about how great we will be this year. I’ve spent 20,954,280 seconds thinking about that sad end to a great season and the chance for redemption. At kickoff tomorrow, it will have been 242 days, 12 hours and 38 minutes since Virginia Tech took the field to play a football game. I don’t know about you, but that has been far too long by my standards. At last, the wait is over.

For those of you who have never attended one of these sacred events of the sporting world, you are in for an experience of a lifetime. There are only a few places that exhibit Hokie spirit more than a Saturday afternoon in Lane. You get up earlier than you did for class all week to throw on your maroon and orange and start grilling with your fellow Hokies. You yell, “Let’s go,” to people you have never met only to be answered with, ”Hokies!”

It’s about jumping as high as you can when you hear that first chord of “Enter Sandman” come on. You get a shiver down your back as you see your boys slap the piece of Hokie stone as they run out of the tunnel. All of these fantastic traditions let you know that football is back.

You may be asking, “Dane, it’s just a football game, what’s the big deal?” I apologize for my bluntness, but you are sadly mistaken. Tech football games are an expression of love for one’s school. This expression is vocalized by yelling, high-fiving, throwing your friend in the air after touchdowns, doing the Hokie Pokey, and of course, jumping up and down to “Enter Sandman.”

A few things define every school. For the University of Virginia, that happens to be dressing up for football games and being inferior to their rival — the South. But here at Tech, we have created an environment of respect and service for our school, our community and even our biggest rivals. Our school motto, Ut Prosim, and “Hokies Respect” demonstrate this.

These two staples of the Tech atmosphere are in full force at football games. Where else is it cool to treat the opponent with respect? I was confronted by opposing fans after one of our biggest wins against Nebraska two years ago and one of our biggest losses against Boise State last year. They told me how respectful and passionate my fellow Hokies were. These two instances made me prouder to be a Hokie than any other win — well, at least until we get that national championship.

So be excited, as we have been waiting months for this day to come. Go to the spirit rally Friday on the Graduate Life Center lawn. Welcome an Appalachian State fan over to your tailgate, and tell him or her what Hokie respect is all about. Eat a turkey leg at the game, even though I always found that to be a mild form of cannibalism. Embrace these times no matter if you are first row of the north end zone or top row of the east. You have no place to complain when you are spending a Saturday afternoon with 66,000 of your friends.

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A version of this article appeared in the Sep 3 issue of the Collegiate Times.