Collegiate Times

I?d like to take the time to commend all of our student athletes here at Virginia Tech. If you?re not a follower of Hokie sports, I?m not sure I understand what it is that you do during football season, but that?s your prerogative.

Let?s start with the football team. Our Hokies are 8-1. Throughout the course of this season, they have given us some amazing football games to watch. Not everything can be perfect all the time, but we?re Hokies ? we support our teams through thick and thin.

Basketball season is starting, and who doesn?t love March Madness? I know I can?t wait. The men?s basketball team got its season off to an amazing start Friday night when it took on Saskatchewan in an exhibition game. For those of you who weren?t there to watch a team that has seen amazing improvement since the introduction of head coach Seth Greenberg, who was hired in April of 2003, all I have to say is: wow. The team returns some amazingly talented players and has the good fortune of introducing some phenomenal freshman players as well.

The women?s basketball team is looking just as clean-cut as the men?s. Sunday, it took on Athletes in Action in an exhibition contest. The women defeated their opponent by 23 points, putting head coach Beth Dunkenberger to 3-0 in exhibition games during her two-year tenure, according to hokiesports.com. This, too, looks to be a team worth following in the coming season.

And who could forget about men?s soccer at Virginia Tech. The Hokies, who finished the regular season ranked tenth in the nation, saw some amazing competition this fall. The Hokies made their way up through the rankings to face second-ranked Maryland for their last regular season game, which went into two overtimes before ultimately ending unfortunately for the Hokies. Along with their accomplishments in the rankings this season, Hokie player Patrick Nyarko was named Atlantic Coast Conference freshman of the year.

So why is it that as soon as something goes wrong for one team, everyone forgets the accomplishments of the others? Maybe it?s time for a refresher course in what exactly it means to be a fan. I guarantee fellow supporters of Tech football, basketball, soccer and every other sport Virginia Tech has to offer aren?t canceling their orders for season tickets just because of a fluke happening.

The athletes here at Virginia Tech are finely recruited and help make this institution what it is ? a great place to go to school. I know most of you think they probably do little besides giving Hokie sports fans some dramatic sporting events, but I have a feeling there is more to being an athlete at Virginia Tech than the rest of us are aware of.

One of the most common criticisms I have heard of athletes at any school, not just Virginia Tech, is a lack of intelligence. I have to say this is the most retarded thing I have ever heard in my life. Whether athletes are on scholarship or not for the sport they play, they still have a responsibility to the academic side of college. Athletes attend study halls and are required to maintain certain grades in order to play their sport. Being an athlete doesn?t make you dumb, it simply means you?re good at what you do, someone has recognized that and now you have a chance to continue doing it at the collegiate level.

Many of our student-athletes are involved in various programs to help the community around Virginia Tech. Some are affiliated with the United Way. Others work in programs to help children be more motivated to read. No matter what the outlet, Virginia Tech athletes do help our community and frequently should be looked upon as role models ? not looked down on for ? to those of us too badly informed to realize otherwise, being unintelligent.

Virginia Tech encompasses some of the best sports programs to watch in the country. Who doesn?t love seeing an underrated football team hit the field with full force only to prove how much it truly deserved to be ACC Champions or a young basketball team that finished the regular season tied for fourth in the conference?

Virginia Tech is a great place to go to school. We are as lucky to have our athletes as they are to attend such an amazing university. Do your fellow students a favor: stop criticizing people for faults they probably don?t have that you know nothing about anyway. And get out there and support your Hokies this year; I promise, win or lose, they?ll always bring a great fight.