Tech Sports Blog

Due to the cancellation of the 2007 Spring Game following the April 16^th shootings, Virginia Tech is opening today’s scrimmage and next Saturday’s scrimmage to the public. A fan could easily consider today as the start of the Hokies’ fall football campaign, so I choose today to be the day I get back in Hokie sports blogging saddle. After a long mid-year layoff that began with tragedy, I am ready for some Hokie football.

There is a palpable anticipation by Virginia Tech fans to this fall’s football season. I believe the buildup is from a combination of grief from April 16^th and from the fact that Virginia Tech is truly an elite football program. Having won 10 or more games 3 years in a row, with USC being the only other Division 1A team to accomplish that, and having featured the top defense in the nation the last 2 years, there is no doubt that Hokie football has reached the big-time, and it only needs a national championship to round out its resume. Fan expectations have risen, therefore the excitement the precedes the fall has only increased during the last 5-10 years.

Additionally, the sadness and grief caused by the tragedy in April is still fresh, and the football season will provide an opportunity for the Virginia Tech community to heal as a whole. Don’t forget that many students left campus for the summer after the shootings, and not all alumni were able to make it Blacksburg after April 16^th. For many Hokies, their return to Blacksburg in the coming weeks will be their first trip there since the shootings. Because of this, the opening game versus East Carolina will be a special event that no Hokie should miss.

With East Carolina just 3 weeks away, I am beginning to prepare myself for this fall. I’ve already notified my management at work of the days I will be taking off for football games. I am planning on attending every regular season game (home & away) this fall, so I had conserve my vacation time this year. Next week I plan to attend the second and final open scrimmage at Tech, because even us fans need preseason training. And for the next 4 weeks I will attempt to find LSU tickets, because while I have airfare and hotel accommodations booked for Baton Rouge, I have yet to find tickets.

I hope everyone enjoys their last few weeks of summer, because the summer ends and the football season begins Labor Day weekend. With only one bye week the schedule (Oct 20), Hokie football will be going hard & fast all the way through Thanksgiving.

Categories: VT Football
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