It's another blistering hot home game for the Virginia Tech Hokies, and like so many games before this one, the crowd is roaring with excitement at the prospect of another Hokie victory.
Just before the half, the eager crowd pauses and directs its attention to Hokie Vision. We see a poorly drawn, cartoonish figure, beer in hand, heckling his neighbors and berating the other team. A buzzer sounds, and JERK ALERT appears in bright letters above his head. Hokie Bird has had enough of our disruptive animated antagonist, and he is promptly removed from the stadium. Our stadium has yet again been freed from the hassle of "jerkdom," and the game continues as energetically as ever.
However, our most recent "JERK ALERT" alarm has been sounded, not because of disruptive, drunken fans, but in response to our faithful leader, Jim Weaver, director of Virginia Tech athletics. This week Weaver formally announced that our tried and true "stick it in" cheer is no longer appropriate for use at football games, and that we, die hard Virginia Tech fans, must refrain from using it at future events. This is in response to, as Weaver has said, approximately eight to 12 annual complaints concerning the crude language within the cheer. These complaints are old news, as Weaver notes, but after our opening game against ECU, the athletic department felt it necessary to strike the traditional chant from the Marching Virginians' songbook.
Eight to 12 complaints annually? Let me remind you, there are about 66,000 cheering Hokies at any given home football game. Eight to 12 of them express their dissatisfaction with "stick it in" yearly. We have seven home games this year, which equals roughly 420,000 people entering and exiting Lane Stadium this season. Out of those 420,000 people, eight have complained. Obviously, the anti- "stick it in" movement is much larger than we had previously feared. How, as respectful Tech Football fans, can we expect to enjoy one of our favorite cheers when we know that eight people might be offended? Who will make sure these poor, dejected individuals see their dreams of ruining our end-zone fun fulfilled?
I'm not a university administrator, and I don't have any experience in the bureaucratic quagmire that is administrative policy, but I can comfortably assume that Virginia Tech receives many more than 12 complaints annually concerning topics that are actually relevant to the operation of this school. Striking one of our favorite cheers from the books at the behest of an extreme minority of disgruntled people takes us to the summit of defeatist policy in our athletic program's administration. I am extremely disappointed in this turn of events.
So Jim, I wish to offer you fond, heartfelt congratulations. If your goal is to ruin a time honored cheer at the whim of a dozen complaints because you can't stand up for the remainder of the school, then you're right on target. I for one will be shouting as hard as I can at our upcoming game against Ohio, and I can guarantee that "stick it in" will resonate loud as ever from the proud members of the Hokie Nation on Saturday.
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Well put. It seems that once again we can never please all of the people all of the time. It also seems, that we can never please Jim Weaver. Period. Would you be surprised, though, that if the dozen or so people whining about this happen to be somewhat influential alums who make substantial donations each year? If not, it seems that Weaver continues to have a vendetta out for things that HE does not see as appropriate. In either situation, it is very sad that someone with such an important position as Jim Weaver's will use his University-given authority to either be swayed by a couple of bucks or by his own personal opinions. You are not employed for such reasons Jim Weaver, and I suggest get off of your soapbox and move on.
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Jim Weaver's time is up. This year he started off by outlawing throwing footballs at tailgates. Now he's trying to get rid of a great tradition. Jim Weaver, it's time to move on my friend.
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Appears I'm in the minority in thinking this cheer needs to go. I for one am not insulted by the cheer or the movements that go with it but I do think it is low class and reflect badly on our university. Weaver stated during the Hokie Hotline last Monday that it was clearly the movements that got this cheer banned. It doesn't take a college grad to figure out what many are thinking when doing those movement and how it comes across to those watching either via TV or just sitting in the stands. While there is no great analogy for this imagine if the band chanted "lets go get drunk after the game". That is not inherently that big of a deal but to the outside viewer it certainly says a lot about the people who attend university. If the goal is to keep Virginia Tech a high class university and not get the image of WVU fans then I am all for it. Good to Weaver stick to his word here.
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I graduated in '02 and can't remember a game where the cheer didn't take place. Give me a break. Why does a football game have to be PC? It's not low class, it's tradition. If you don't like it, transfer to UVa so you can wear a shirt and tie to the game. The Hokie Respect campaign shouldn't take away things that made the program what it is today.
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Steve, I see you point towards the movements as your main complaint as did Weaver. I'm not sure how your bedroom activities work, but I don't see how the movements that take place during "stick it in" are any more gyrating than some of the movements used during the "Hokie Pokie". This isn't the St. Joe's Boy's Choir, it's NCAA football at it greatest. Sit back, relax and learn how to have a good time.
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Greg, traditions can be low class. Take a look at the non-extinct UVA pep band. . . .low class, and a tradition. I think you give the cheer too much credit anyway - great players and great fans have made Virginia Tech football what it is today. It isn't like the dawn of 'Stick it In' suddenly inspired Beamer to start coaching his teams to victory; it was the goal all along. I think in the end you will find that we still will have a reputable football program (and likely, we will continue to win games!) without the cheer. But to reduce the honor of the football program to having been reliant on a silly pun created by the drumline. . . .is plain ignorant.
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Just because a dozen people complain that you have to walk a long way to get your car from the cage doesn't mean they should build the dorms closer to the lots. Just Because a dozen people don't like the Maroon and Orange together doesn't mean we should change our school colors. Or maybe some people don't like the HOKIE mascot... maybe Tech should be the EAGLES... or Bruins... Why should we change because a few people don't like it? Who is actually offended by the "STICK IT IN" chant?!? If they are so offended with it why not just don't Scream with us, or better yet, just watch the game on TV. This is just another great example of PC-ness. 12/60000.. thats 0.0002 percent of the people at any given home game. How ignorant indeed...
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And what happens, Brock, when people watching the tv see the crowd gyrating lewdly? Part of the deal with having a nationally-recognized sports program is realizing that you need to have nationally recognized fans. It isn't a question of likes and dislikes, it's a question of image. Stick it In has a tendency to maks us look like oversexed hoodlums. Is it fun? Absolutely! Does it fit with the marketing image of the university? Not in the slightest! And that, I think, is why the decision was made. I don't like it any more than you that people are so easily offended these days, and I like it even less that people who do get offended by things that JUST DON'T MATTER are often the ones who see changes made to their liking. But this is the way the world works - quit complaining and find a cause that really matters, because a single football cheer, frankly, doesn't.
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This cheer is done at my old High School's football games and no one's complaining back home about a bunch of high school kids doing it.
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Stan - the debate, though, doesn't really concern outcry at OTHER venues, we are only really concerned with the outcry it generates HERE. The fact that it doesn't offend one set of people when high school kids do it doesn't have any sort of logical bearing on whether or not it might offend a different set of people when college kids do it.
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Hi. I'm Kyle Minor and I need to be in every single opinion article comment because my opinion matters. However, in fact, when people read my comments, all they see is jibberish and a big head.
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To the person who falsely attributed a satiric opinion to me - I don't know whether my opinion matters or not. That isn't the point of an opinion; the point in these forums is to stir debate and discussion. You may not like my opinions, and that's well within your right; it does not, however, give you creedence to mock me. If you want to contribute to the debate, please do; otherwise, keep your pointless drivel out of everyone else's way.
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