THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, November 13, 1995 TAG: 9511130147
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Bob Molinaro
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
I'm trying to figure out why anybody connected with Hokies football would be insulted because a talking head from ESPN went on the air and said, ``Virginia Tech is America's least glamorous big-time program.''
Even taking into account the qualifying ``least glamorous,'' there is an obvious compliment buried in the rhetoric.
Can you remember another moment in time when someone not connected financially or spiritually to the Hokies used the words ``Virginia Tech'' and ``big-time program'' in the same sentence?
I can't.
Virginia Tech boosters should be hurling valentines, not brickbats, in the direction of Chris Fowler, the ESPN magpie. The valuable few seconds he spent Thursday night on the Hokies usually would go to hype Ohio State or Brigham Young or San Diego State.
There is no such thing as bad publicity.
``At least,'' Tech coach Frank Beamer had to concede, ``they're talking about you.''
That's a start.
When was the last time the national media cared enough to point out that Tech's orange and maroon color scheme is a fashion statement that never should have been released from the closet?
Not so long ago, few outside the commonwealth could tell you anything about Tech football. Today, a nationwide audience of ESPN regulars - shut-ins, prison inmates and various other sports nuts - has heard a discussion of the Hokies' laundry.
That is progress. Trust me on this.
As for the ``least glamorous'' part, Fowler's best defense is the truth. Isolated, rural Blacksburg will never be mistaken for South Bend, Ind., Lincoln, Neb., State College, Pa., or some other celebrated football outpost.
Fowler was beating a dead Hokie when he insisted that half the ``Big East opposing players . . . couldn't name Blacksburg, let alone find it on a map.''
Half the state of Virginia couldn't find Blacksburg. Nor would they want to.
Then again, as college towns go, Blacksburg is no more rustic than Auburn, Ala. Or Clemson, S.C. The charms of Athens, Ga., are Greek to most of us. At all these places, the football is fairly glamorous.
Geography contributes greatly to Tech's glamor shortage, but there is more to it than that.
Unless you are Notre Dame or Penn State, remaining unaffiliated with a conference for 25 years is a guaranteed formula for fading into the woodwork.
There is no better evidence of this in Blacksburg than the Bill Dooley era, during which the Hokies turned out winning teams while remaining a regional curiosity.
The Big East has helped Tech get noticed, not the other way around. Only the most provincial of fans would argue otherwise.
It's been my experience over the years that no fan in Virginia is as sensitive to perceived slights as a Hokies football booster.
Those who fit the description would not have noticed that Fowler's comments - obviously intended to entertain and amuse - contained the opinion that the Hokies may not ``get the big-time (bowl) bid they deserve. . . .''
In his own way, he was sticking up for Tech.
It's human nature to focus on slights and insults. But fans, coaches and players of a ``big-time program'' should recognize a compliment when they hear one. by CNB