Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 19, 1994 TAG: 9411230085
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
I recently woke with a smile, because I'd been dreaming that someday young Hokies and 'Hoos will gather together at the table of brotherhood and live in mutual respect and admiration, realizing their common heritage in the shruburbs of Northern Virginia, Richmond and Tidewater.
But it's just a dream, after all.
Meanwhile, we awaken today to the reality of the annual Battle of the Old Dominion: The University versus Blacksburg's Cow College.
Actually, I'm getting too old for this. I last cared about college football when last in college, nearly nine years ago. But they told me if I didn't write something it would be back to covering - in detail - every local sewage and water authority board meeting in the region, most of which meet at 7:30 Saturday mornings. So, you see, it's either down to the salt mines of journalism or violate T.J.'s dictum.
It's not difficult, really, but don't expect any tired cliches about cow-tipping. I've lived in Blacksburg for a year. I've lived elsewhere across our glorious commonwealth, including four years of college in Charlottesville, and growing up in NoVaLand. So I've seen enough to know the truth about the alleged UVa-Va. Tech rivalry.
My conclusion? It's much ado about nothing, a big fat hairy deal. Like an annoying mosquito at a late-fall picnic, Tech fans and the compliant media machine crank up the rivalry about this time every year. Meanwhile, up in Charlottesville, everyone yawns; just more ankle-biting from the partisans of that glorified high school in a one-horse town that's so very far off the interstate highway.
Like petulant children demanding a trip to McDonald's, Tech fans will stomp their feet and insist upon the gridiron superiority of their football team, nicknamed after, I've heard, some type of neutered fowl. UVa graduates and students will chuckle indulgently, perhaps utter a mildly reproachful "tut-tut," and go back to reading Proust in the original French.
Or, in my case, I'll take a break from rereading Dumas Malone's "Jefferson the Virginian," lean back in my chair and resume my daydream. It's a vision of a day when Virginia's young collegians will be judged not by their alma mater, but by the quality of their lives.
Of course, for the Tech partisan, that will mean getting a life, first.
Brian Kelley lives in Blacksburg but asks that you direct your retorts to 381-1668. Or write P.O. Box 540, Christiansburg, Va. 24073.
by CNB