Not that my parents frown on alcohol, or that alcohol is directly linked to Hokie football, but my past experiences of football games seemed a far cry from my parents' typical scene. I felt a strange protective pang as we made our way to campus.
The social aspects that I enjoy about football games seemed irrelevant to my parents' happiness, but I didn't want them to feel out of place. I wasn't too worried about whether they would enjoy the actual game since my parents fell in love with all things Hokie the moment I sent in my acceptance letter. I must confess my mother is a bigger Hokie fan than I am, calling me at the end of an away basketball or football game to tell me how impressed she was with our team's performance, asking whether I caught the game, to which I usually try to resist replying, "What game?" My mother went to a small women's college and loves keeping up with a school with such enormous school spirit, and my father, a Wahoo in his day, has crossed sides and relishes cheering for a winning team.
They were pumped for the game, and I tried not to worry about the other football-related rituals that can plague a college campus. We proudly put on our finest maroon and orange, and my parents' eyes lit up once we reached Lane Stadium on game day.
My dad bought our tickets from a friend at his office, and in our seats in the lower East stands we were surrounded by more of his peers than my own. We sat down and I watched my parents as they looked in awe at the sea of maroon and orange that filled the stands. As I looked around to point out my regular season ticket seats to my parents, a young person makes his way up the stairs next to us. Just before reaching our aisle he cups his hands over his mouth and calls to his buddy, "Dude, I'm wasted as ----!" I look at the parents of a little girl in the row in front of me shooting him looks of disdain, and then to my own mother who is giggling nervously. "Sorry," he corrects himself. "I'm wasted as poop." There was a bloated pause before everyone within earshot started laughing. Thankfully everyone in the stands had a sense of humor and happily resumed taking in the scenery and waiting for the game to start.
The familiar beginning of "Enter Sandman" bounced through the stands and the stadium erupted in cheers as the team stormed the field. The energy was palpable, and even though I couldn't make out a single face in the stands, I knew that the expression of every other fan mirrored our own excitement for our team. I swelled with a sense of pride for the Virginia Tech community and was so happy to share this with my parents and thankful for the gift they have given me the past four years. The energy in Lane Stadium is something that my mother described as giving her chills.
Once the game began, I was surprised to find that I was enjoying myself more than I can remember at any other football game. I was reminded that the sporting event was the social event. We whooped and cheered with the best of them, jingled our keys during defensive plays and joined in every song. Between the little girl waving a pompom in front of me, the wasted-as-poop student in the crowd above, and my parents next to me, the spirit is the same. Just as my parents had vicariously enjoyed Hokie sports through me, I was reliving my first football game through them.
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