Collegiate Times

October 23, 2003, likely marks the lowest point in my life. They say that, “When in Rome do as the Romans do.” So there I stood, high on the “hill” at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville dressed in my white button down shirt and tie, singing the “Good ‘ol Song,” and cheering on the Cavaliers to an easy homecoming victory versus the Troy State Trojans.

As I stood there that day, my fellow well-dressed statesmen had no idea that I was not even a fellow student, and certainly wouldn’t have guessed that I was a student at their bitter rival school, 150 miles to the southwest.

I did have another reason for attending that day, as weak as it may be, my now ex-girlfriend was a student there. I am ashamed at this also, and thankfully that was the last game at Scott Stadium that I have ever attended.

The roots of these shameful loyalties can be traced back to the first couple of weeks after my family moved from Atlanta, GA to Virginia when I was seven. Moving to Bluefield, a town of such close proximity to Blacksburg, naturally exposed me very early to the Chicago Maroon and Burnt Orange that now I wear so dearly.

Naturally at first, I was taken aback, even at church, by the overly-zealous fans. I could not seem to escape them. Maroon and Orange shirts, ties, jackets: Seemingly everything when I had never even heard of this school.

It was at church that I met perhaps the greatest blue and orange influence on my life, my best friend, Bryan. He moved away in the ninth grade, but we managed to have plenty of good years together openly supporting UVa while adamantly opposing the swarms of crazy Tech fans.

High school came and went, by which point I had a 2001 National Championship Virginia Lacrosse shirt to wear around. When it was time to apply for college, my family visited UVa, and I loved it. It is at this point that I am going to claim a little divine intervention, because despite my SAT scores being high enough, my anti-Tech upbringing, and pro-UVa sentiments, I chose to apply to only one school, Virginia Tech.

My first semester here went smoothly, and I followed suit and enjoyed what everyone else was doing, attending the football games, though still hrefusing to buy into the whole “dress in orange” thing.

The summer after my freshman year, I met the aforementioned “UVa girl,” fell madly in love, blah blah blah…well not really at all, and thankfully that only lasted six months. I attended three home football games that year … for UVa … and I would like to say that was fewer than the number of Tech games I attended, but I really am not sure. One thing I do know is that I was in the middle of the over-packed north end-zone for the greatest Tech football game that I can remember, our 31-7 shellacking of the No. 2 Miami Hurricanes. I charged the field that night for the first time, and even though I cheered the Cavaliers to victory over us — an ironic bet with the UVa girlfriend, whose granddad played football for Tech — just a few weeks later, I definitely experienced what the 60,000 other fans had long cherished.

All along, I have said that the number one reason for my newfound and continued Hokie love is the basketball team. I cheered on the Hokies in the vast majority of their games that second year, and was right there at every game for their late push towards the post season of their final year in the Big East. I found the intimate setting of Cassell Coliseum much easier to get involved with, and was hooked on hoops for life.  The next season, my roommate and I joined the “Hollerin’ Hokies,” the athletic fanatic group on campus, in order to have front row seats for all of the basketball games.

That season, the team’s first in the ACC, we beat Duke, just in case you don’t remember, and the look on poor JJ Redick’s little face after the game will remain with me forever. Still my greatest memory as a Tech student was charging the floor that night, finding some high school friends of mine and celebrating such an incredible win.

So before I get too carried away with how many incredible times I have had at the basketball games, I hope my 180-degree turn around from a UVa fan to a proud Hokie is clear.

For the last two years, I have not only attended the vast majority of the basketball and football games, I have enjoyed countless other matches of men’s and women’s soccer, lacrosse, women’s basketball, softball, baseball and women’s volleyball. These other sports are really what Tech athletics are about to me now, so please do them a favor next season and attend their free games.

In short, I sit here now in my Tech gym shorts, surrounded by 15 Tech posters on my wall, hreflecting on my last four years as a Tech student. I check Hokiesports.com multiple times a day, and have absolutely fallen in love with Virginia Tech athletics, Tech Triumph, the Hokie Bird and everything maroon and orange. I remember that Miami football game in ’03, and couldn’t be more thankful for the transformation that I experienced on that magical Saturday night in Blacksburg.