Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 5, 1995 TAG: 9511060073
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``Dedication is when two grown men cuddle under a blanket and don't care what anyone thinks."
That was according to Virginia Tech alumnus Ralph Kopera as he curled under a plaid wool blanket with fellow Hokie devotee Mike Taylor. The two Roanoke residents sat at the top of Lane Stadium - the very top, under one of those orange-and-maroon flags that frantically fluttered in bone-chilling wind throughout the three-hour game.
All this, just to watch their Hokies pummel Syracuse.
"With every touchdown," Kopera said, "it gets warmer."
The fact that this was Tech's last home game this season wasn't the only reason the icy bleachers were filled. This, said Mary Ann Collins, was about saving face, and gaining grace.
"There's too much at stake here for them not to win," she said while dancing a kind of heat-generating jig during pregame festivities. "They remember last year when Syracuse came back in the fourth quarter to beat them."
Making it to a large bowl game such as the Sugar Bowl, Collins said, would be a "big payoff" for the athletic department.
Collins and her family - die-hard fans who travel from their home in Chesapeake for Tech games - cooked hamburgers for warmth and drank Coors beer for superstition.
"Every season, we pick a game beer for luck. We tried Simpatico, Pete's Wicked Ale ... Those were bad years, though, so we dropped them," she said.
Others tried a different approach to ensure a Tech victory. Mac Culbertson and his friends grilled oranges in honor of the Syracuse Orangemen. Then, they stomped them into the ground.
By the beginning of the second half, with Syracuse trailing Tech by 10 points, many fans had shed their blankets, extra coats, even plastic bags, to stand and cheer for their team.
A group of Tech students from South America, standing smack in the middle of the Syracuse bleachers, annoyed every Orangemen fan around them with their revelry.
They pounded drums, tooted whistles, sang "Ole" and danced on the wooden bleachers each time a pass was intercepted, yardage was gained, or just to keep warm.
Even with the shutout, the cold got to the fans. As the final seconds ticked away to a 31-7 victory for the home team, many had left the stands for the comfort of car heaters and tailgating leftovers.
Even the swarm onto the field was relatively calm compared with the Miami game a few weeks ago. Police officials used Mace to defend themselves from a trampling crowd.
Still, a few brave and ecstatic souls tried to be the first to master the ultimate sign of football victory: the collapse of the goal post.
As they slid and struggled with the white pole, greased earlier that day with lard, one Virginia Tech officer questioned whether they should step in.
"Naw," answered another, laughing at the scrambling mass, "let them have it."
by CNB