ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, November 29, 1996 TAG: 9611290010
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: ANGIE WATTS STAFF WRITER
AS MUCH COMPETITION and trash talking can be found off the field today as on the grass at Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium. Alumni, fans and casual observers alike will break out the jokes they've accumulated the past 364 days.
Today is the day. The 78th clashing of in-state rivals.
The big one.
The day when Virginians stop, align themselves with one school or the other, forget all pretenses and just act like fools. All over the state debates are being started, bets are being placed and the more than 50,000 lucky ticket holders are finishing their travel plans and tailgate menus.
It's Virginia Tech vs. the University of Virginia.
The Cavaliers vs. the Fighting Gobblers.
The Wahoos vs. the Hokies.
As much competition and trash talking can be found off the field today as on the grass at Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium. For the fourth consecutive year, these teams will meet as nationally ranked opponents, raising the stakes a little more. The Cavaliers' record stands at 7-3 as they prepare for a postseason date in the Carquest Bowl. The Hokies are 9-1, a feat they haven't accomplished since 1905, and for the fourth straight year are headed to a bowl game as well.
And again, alumni, fans and casual observers alike will break out the jokes they've accumulated the past 364 days for this once-a-year event.
Have you heard the Hokie Bird is an 8-1 favorite over the Cavalier? or Women at VMI, what's next? Men at UVa? and how about How do you get to Blacksburg from Charlottesville? Go west till you smell it and south till you step in it. and Does anyone know what number Joe Gieck is wearing?
For those of you who've forgotten, Gieck is the Virginia trainer who tried to trip Tech defensive back Antonio Banks on his interception return for a touchdown at the end of last season's game.
Ah, the pleasures of tormenting rivals.
It's a safe bet there won't be any Tech jokes surfacing at the very biased McDonald house this weekend. All six brothers and sisters are Tech alumni, and despite taking up residence across the world from Christiansburg to Saudi Arabia, all have remained avid Hokie fans. Four of the six McDonald siblings are making the trip to Blacksburg for today's game.
"We've had season tickets since 1975," said Pete McDonald of Christiansburg, Tech class of 1969. "At one time we used to travel to Charlottesville for the game, too, but one time we bought tickets to a game and when we got up there they had double-sold a big block of tickets. ... We didn't get seated until the end of the first quarter."
Of the six McDonald siblings, Pete says two of his sisters have even fonder recollections of Tech games than he. That's because his older sister, Maureen, was a Virginia Tech cheerleader when Frank Beamer was a player instead of the head coach. His youngest sister, Denise, was a member of Tech's dance team, the Techniques - better known now as the High Techs.
Did any of the McDonald clan marry UVa grads or spawn UVa-attending children?
"Are you kidding?" said Pete, overcome with laughter at the absurd notion. "Do you think they'd still be alive?"
Well, in at least one family they are. And undoubtedly there will be many families like the Graves clan of Mechanicsville at the game today.
The Graves are both fourth-generation Tech and third-generation Virginia. Today, the family will be divided: half cheering for Wahoos; the other half rooting for the Hokies.
"We have season tickets at both places," said Harry Graves, a 1971 Tech graduate. "Last season I had gone to all of the UVa games with my wife, who graduated from there, and sat with all their fans. Then when Tech came to town I brought with me a big sign that said, 'I'm a '71 Hokie' and showed it to the people I had been sitting with all year. ... They threw a little ice at me and booed, but it was all in fun."
Even Virginia Tech President Paul Torgersen has some Wahoo tendencies in his family. Torgersen's son received his engineering degree from UVa nearly 15 years ago. Having grown up in Blacksburg, his son wanted to attend Tech, but he and his father decided in light of the fact Torgersen was dean of engineering at the time, it wouldn't be appropriate.
"With a name like Torgersen that is so unusual, we knew it would stand out in every class," Paul Torgersen said. "So when he asked me what he should tell the people in Charlottesville as to why he wasn't going to Tech, I told him to say, `I applied and couldn't get in.'''
All jokes aside, Torgersen said his son does pull for the Cavaliers ... all but one day out of the year. Today, his allegiance will be with the home team.
"He's a strong supporter of UVa any other time," Torgersen said, "but when it comes down to it and it's Tech vs. UVa, the whole family supports the Hokies."
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: STAFF This postcard shows a picture of a bonfire inby CNBfront of Lane Hall that consumed "only" 21 cords of wood according
to the sender's count, presumably to celebrate Virginia Polytechnic
Institute's 11-0 victory over Virginia Nov. 4, 1905. KEYWORDS: FOOTBALL