Collegiate Times

He said

Each year during the fall semester, a Thursday comes along where you get to spend time with the ones you love, eat lots of food and be thankful. I’m not talking about Thanksgiving.

As Hokies, we seem to be blessed with two glorious events every year: bowl games and Thursday night games — what I spoke of above.

The idea of a Thursday night game doesn’t sound that appealing. Go to a football game when you have class the next day? In reality, it is one of the most electric games in Lane Stadium each year. Productivity grinds to a halt for one night — and maybe into the next morning — as our school and community come together to see our guys run through the tunnel and prove why they are a Bowl Championship Series top-10 team.

There is something about the fireworks going off in the sky, the extreme cold once the sun sets and the anticipation building up all day — hell, all week — that makes Thursday night games something special.

Still, there are always those pesky classes. Last year, I had a class that went until 6:15 p.m. It was not canceled for the Thursday night battle with Georgia Tech. I love multivariable calculus and all, but I think I would rather be getting ready for the game. I understand we come to Virginia Tech to learn and academics are the number one priority, but it is only one day out of the semester that I’m looking for a little leeway.

Sitting through that class last year was one of the toughest experiences of my life. Eyes would shift to the clock every 15 seconds, hoping it would get one minute closer to 6:15 p.m. Every break in the teacher’s speech was a sign he just might say, “OK, that’s all for today,” but alas, it was more triple integrals. I didn’t participate, but some of my fellow classmates were definitely drinking some questionable drinks that made our teacher’s jokes a lot funnier than usual.

When he asked if anyone had any questions, you bet we didn’t. As soon as we were free to go, we fled the scene faster than if there was a fire. Exiting the class I yelled “Let’s go” only to hear a reply of “Hokies” from my classmates, who were all in maroon and orange.

Just as bad as late Thursday classes are early Friday classes the next day. Few things are worse than getting up for an 8 a.m. after a loss. Hailing from
North Carolina, my phone lit up when my Tar Heel friends from high school were able to finally brag about beating us in our sport. It was a tough weekend for me, and needless to say, I refuse to let that happen again this year.

I can understand why teachers continue to have class during this sacred holiday, but I just ask that you reach into your heart and think about your students. This is the one day out of the year we ask for — at least with a real reason.

Whether you have classes, get your warmest maroon and orange clothes on, get your keys ready and warm up the grill. This is the last home game of the season, and you can bet I won’t let classes get in the way of enjoying it. Go Hokies.

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A version of this article appeared in the Nov 11 issue of the Collegiate Times.