Tuesday, December 02, 2003
Weekend Recap
Well, we just had Tech-UVA rivalry weekend, with the basketball teams playing on Friday and the football teams playing on Saturday. Both times, the Hokies lost, bringing both schools to 4-4 on Sports That Count during my undergraduate career. There is, of course, hope for a grad school sweep, as I've been accepted into the M.A.Ed program for next year, which I'll finish by the summer of 2005. Both times, we didn't play as well as I've seen us before, but the simple fact is that we lost. These things happen.
I'd like to compliment the UVA fans on their behavior (the sober ones, at least). At both the WVU and Pitt games, their fans treated us like scum and generally made the experience unpleasant (and in Morgantown, potentially dangerous). There was some more-or-less good-natured taunting, but nothing serious. I hope we treat visiting fans at least as well, and I think we do. So, again, their fans have my compliments.
I went down to Charlottesville on Friday with my friend Brian, who's a resident at the UVA Wesley Foundation, and stayed with him through Saturday. Now, one thing that could've potentially made this "interesting" is that his roommate, Dave, is the Virginia Gentleman (now in the Land O' Links under Millenials) whom I recently disagreed with over the Christian view of homosexuality. I was a little nervous about what his reaction would be, since his reply to my post sounded pretty upset, I thought. Well, no worries. We, along with the other roommates, Andrew and Will, got on like peas and carrots. We, perhaps wisely, didn't discuss theology, but we did talk about the Church, the schools' rivalry, and all sorts of other things. Will, Andrew, and I played a lot of Smash Brothers, and I have to say that Will is the best Link I've ever seen. I got thoroughly spanked.
Losing the game wasn't really so bad. It gave me a chance to be humbled and to be gracious, rather than vituperative, which I'm often tempted to be. However, despite a few penalties I didn't like, the game was pretty clean. I figured that, especially as they'd been kind to me, the decent thing was to simply congratulate them on playing good games, which was true. And you know what? It felt good to not have to worry about keeping up images and being able to let my guard down. The responses I got were polite, and they even offered up a few excuses as to why we didn't win. It was very nice of them, and I think the mutual kindnesses shown early on defused any possible tensions. Later, the four housemates, their friend Jeff, Andrew's family, and I headed over to the Ponderosa Steakhouse for dinner. They were all in various forms of UVA apparel, while I was wearing my VT sweatshirt. However, Dave made two mistakes. Firstly, he sat across from me. Secondly, he was wearing an orange shirt, rather than a blue and orange one or a shirt and UVA tie. Thus, the waitress, who was middle-aged, first began by hitting on him, and then changing her mind, declaring that he must be a Tech fan. She then called over a younger waitress, and the two of them started talking about how they thought he was cute, but as a Tech fan, was not worthy. He began protesting that he was a UVA fan, confusing me, him, and probably everyone else. As near as I can figure it, he wanted to be recognized as a cute UVA fan, but not be hit upon by the waitress. Well, whatever it was, I think they all made a pact to never eat there again after a game. Afterwards, before I left for Blacksburg, Will and I Smashed for a while, with the result being that, once again, I was annihilated.
To Brian, Dave, Andrew, and Will, I would say that you really are gentleman, and I appreciate the kindness shown to me. While I still maintain that UVA is scum, y'all are the good kind of scum. Or something like that.
For the UVA perspective on these events, check here.
Well, we just had Tech-UVA rivalry weekend, with the basketball teams playing on Friday and the football teams playing on Saturday. Both times, the Hokies lost, bringing both schools to 4-4 on Sports That Count during my undergraduate career. There is, of course, hope for a grad school sweep, as I've been accepted into the M.A.Ed program for next year, which I'll finish by the summer of 2005. Both times, we didn't play as well as I've seen us before, but the simple fact is that we lost. These things happen.
I'd like to compliment the UVA fans on their behavior (the sober ones, at least). At both the WVU and Pitt games, their fans treated us like scum and generally made the experience unpleasant (and in Morgantown, potentially dangerous). There was some more-or-less good-natured taunting, but nothing serious. I hope we treat visiting fans at least as well, and I think we do. So, again, their fans have my compliments.
I went down to Charlottesville on Friday with my friend Brian, who's a resident at the UVA Wesley Foundation, and stayed with him through Saturday. Now, one thing that could've potentially made this "interesting" is that his roommate, Dave, is the Virginia Gentleman (now in the Land O' Links under Millenials) whom I recently disagreed with over the Christian view of homosexuality. I was a little nervous about what his reaction would be, since his reply to my post sounded pretty upset, I thought. Well, no worries. We, along with the other roommates, Andrew and Will, got on like peas and carrots. We, perhaps wisely, didn't discuss theology, but we did talk about the Church, the schools' rivalry, and all sorts of other things. Will, Andrew, and I played a lot of Smash Brothers, and I have to say that Will is the best Link I've ever seen. I got thoroughly spanked.
Losing the game wasn't really so bad. It gave me a chance to be humbled and to be gracious, rather than vituperative, which I'm often tempted to be. However, despite a few penalties I didn't like, the game was pretty clean. I figured that, especially as they'd been kind to me, the decent thing was to simply congratulate them on playing good games, which was true. And you know what? It felt good to not have to worry about keeping up images and being able to let my guard down. The responses I got were polite, and they even offered up a few excuses as to why we didn't win. It was very nice of them, and I think the mutual kindnesses shown early on defused any possible tensions. Later, the four housemates, their friend Jeff, Andrew's family, and I headed over to the Ponderosa Steakhouse for dinner. They were all in various forms of UVA apparel, while I was wearing my VT sweatshirt. However, Dave made two mistakes. Firstly, he sat across from me. Secondly, he was wearing an orange shirt, rather than a blue and orange one or a shirt and UVA tie. Thus, the waitress, who was middle-aged, first began by hitting on him, and then changing her mind, declaring that he must be a Tech fan. She then called over a younger waitress, and the two of them started talking about how they thought he was cute, but as a Tech fan, was not worthy. He began protesting that he was a UVA fan, confusing me, him, and probably everyone else. As near as I can figure it, he wanted to be recognized as a cute UVA fan, but not be hit upon by the waitress. Well, whatever it was, I think they all made a pact to never eat there again after a game. Afterwards, before I left for Blacksburg, Will and I Smashed for a while, with the result being that, once again, I was annihilated.
To Brian, Dave, Andrew, and Will, I would say that you really are gentleman, and I appreciate the kindness shown to me. While I still maintain that UVA is scum, y'all are the good kind of scum. Or something like that.
For the UVA perspective on these events, check here.
