THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 2, 1994 TAG: 9411020579
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOB MOLINARO
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
A week in which Virginia has four teams ranked in the I-A and I-AA top 25 is as good a time as any to salute the state's reasonable, mature response to college football success.
Perhaps no state takes a healthier approach to college football than Virginia.
Nebraska has the Huskers, Pennsylvania the Nittany Lions and Florida a trio of over-sized football assembly lines.
Virginia has something these other states do not: people with a sane appreciation for the sport.
As a rule, Virginians do not schedule weddings around football games. They do not postpone funerals so that the grieving family can be in their seats in time for the kickoff. They do not hang coaches in effigy or call in death threats. They do not do most of the weird and wacky things fans in other parts of the country are known to do.
When I read about the over-the-edge zealousness of Nebraska boosters and the certifiable insanity of fans from the Southeastern Conference, I wonder where Virginia went right.
Probably, it had something to do with Thomas Jefferson.
``Games played with a ball are too violent for the body,'' T.J. said.
In one short sentence, Jefferson not only anticipated football's creation but put it in perspective for the entire state for all time.
For many years, Jefferson's non-violent approach to the game was practiced all too faithfully at his university. Losing has a way of making people question the value of mere games.
That was quite a while ago, though. Today, U.Va. football is perceived to be such a success that the Cavaliers may actually be overrated by the rest of the nation. Virginia (6-1) is No. 13 in this week's Associated Press poll, and an improbable No. 10 in the coaches' poll.
Enjoying a strong resurgence of its own, Virginia Tech (7-2) also is drawing attention to the quality of state football. Even with its loss at Miami, Tech is No. 17 in the AP pecking order, No. 16 with the coaches.
In the I-AA poll, James Madison (7-1) is No. 10, while William and Mary (6-3) rests at No. 20. Meanwhile, Division II Hampton University is second in the Black College ratings.
In the I-A and I-AA polls, Virginia has more ranked teams than Alabama, and the same number as Florida and North Carolina.
Some of the year's best college football is being played for the enjoyment of the least irrational fans. There's something nice about that. It's as if Virginians are being rewarded for their reasonableness.
Not that prosperity hasn't changed the Virginia fan. It has.
Spectators at U.Va.'s Scott Stadium used to express their approval by rattling ice cubes in their cocktail glasses. Now, on a good day for the Cavaliers, they will loosen their blue and pink oxford cloth collars for a loud, but never raucous, shout.
It's different for Virginia Tech. Hokie fans are more conventionally rabid, and more easily discouraged.
But while Hokie hardliners might think they are crazed, might even wish to be truly demented, they can't compare with the wackos who follow Auburn, Notre Dame or Florida State.
Virginians want their state teams to win and go to bowls just like anybody else. But what is most remarkable about them is their self-restraint, which the untrained observer could easily mistake for apathy.
Virginians like their college football. They just believe that there are already enough organized religions without adding another one to the mix.
Amen to that. by CNB