That's not UVa dancing...that's Northeastern dancing

A big moment happened on Monday. No, I didn't get the letter from Pendant Publishing saying they're going to publish my cookbook on kielbasa. Even better: My Virginia Tech Football season tickets arrived.

If you've seen the Jimmy Fallon/Drew Barrymore version of the movie "Fever Pitch" then you get the idea of what it means when season tickets get delivered to a sports fan. While I didn't run out and hug the UPS driver, that's only because I was in the basement when they arrived. The rest of my routine with the tickets has been solidified over the years. The first thing I do, once I open up the package, is to smell the tickets. Yes, this might seem ridiculous, and borderline insane, but there's something about the smell of freshly printed perforated paper that makes my head spin. After the closed-eyed sniffing, I look immediately at the seat location. Normally this is unnecessary as my seats don't move year to year. Last year, however, the Hokies decided to reseat everyone based on longevity and dollars given to the athletic program. This led to our seats being moved from our preferred section 5 to our horrible new section 17, which I talked about in a blog last year. This year I requested our seats be moved back to section 5, but as soon as I glanced at the tickets I noticed that we're back in the same seats in section 17. Hopefully we'll have some better folks around us this year. The next part of the ritual is to see where our assigned parking lot is. There are 20 on-campus parking lots for Hokie Club contributors to park at, and the competition for the best lots is starting to get fierce. Last year we had lot 7, which was a great small lot, close to the highway and with plenty of spots along the grass for good tailgating. This year we got relegated next door to the on campus student parking lot, known as "The Cage". It's nothing but a huge paved lot, but we've been there before and can make do as long as we get there early enough. I guess I'm not keeping up with the Jones's on my donations.

Next on the list of duties with the tickets is what I call the "bursting and compiling". This is where I fold and detach all the individual tickets (we have 8 home games this year, so it could take minutes), then sort them with the corresponding parking pass, and then paper clip the tickets and pass with any print outs of hotel reservations I've made. (Hotel reservations need to be made well in advance. Many VT fans make reservations at Blacksburg hotels for every Friday and Saturday from Labor Day to Thanksgiving as far in advance as possible. I wait until the schedule is released, and then guesstimate if the game will be an early afternoon game (in which case I need a Friday night hotel) or if it'll be a Saturday night game (then I'll need a Saturday hotel). In the past we usually have to settle for a motel in Salem, about 30 minutes away. Lately though we've been staying at a Super 8 in Radford, only 10 minutes away. It's actually very quiet there, which, as readers of my summer blogs know, is extremely important.) Once the tickets, parking passes and hotel reservations are all checked and double checked, they are placed in the folder where all Virginia Tech tickets are kept, just waiting for the season to begin. On game weekend we simply grab the clipped bundle for that weekend and we're off.

The season looks to be a good one, though not one I'd venture putting a bet on in Vegas for the Hokies to win the National Championship. (Okay, I definitely would if I had gone to Vegas this summer, but i didn't so I didn't. So there.) Our defense looks to be very strong, as ever, and we have good running backs and wide receivers. But our offensive line is young and thin, and we're going to be starting a sophomore QB who has only worked mop-up duty. If we can get by a tricky game at North Carolina the second week of the season then we'll be looking at 8 to 9 wins. Road games at Boston College and Miami, and a tough Thursday game at home against Clemson will be the major road blocks. Look for updates throughout the season.