Virginia Tech vs Georgia Tech, September 13, 2008

As frequent readers of these pages know, one of the biggest sacrifices we made when moving to Boston was knowing we wouldn't be able to attend every Virginia Tech home game. We missed the first game of the season last week, but we made the first of our two trips to Blacksburg this past weekend to see the Hokies take on the Yellow Jackets of Georgia Tech.

We started out very early Friday morning. While the closest airport to Blacksburg is Roanoke, about 40 minutes away, flying into Roanoke was quite expensive. In order to keep our expenses down, we needed to fly Southwest from Manchester (about an hour from our house) to Raleigh-Durham (having to change planes at BWI), and then drive about 3 hours to Blacksburg from there. Not ideal, but over $500 cheaper than flying from Boston to Roanoke. In order to make our flights, we were up before 5:00 am, ready for the long day ahead of us. Thankfully the flights were all on time and uncrowded, and we landed in Raleigh around 11:15 am.

Before we could hit the road to Southwestern Virginia, we needed to make one important stop. No, not at my old company (if it's even still afloat). We had to stop for lunch at Sarah's Empanadas. You might not think that the North Carolina Triangle would have some stellar South American cuisine, but you'd be wrong. Sarah's makes Bolivian empanadas, and serves them with her homemade salsa that is absolutely incredible. (We even have a jar that we bought before we moved, and still haven't opened it...knowing we may never have it again.) Sarah's is a small place, in a strip mall right next to the RTP, and is only open Mon-Fri, 11-2. Considering the small window of opportunity, we knew we couldn't pass up a chance for a quick, cheap and tasty lunch before heading out on our drive. Suitably stuffed, we made one last stop before hitting I-40 West -- the old homestead in Durham. It was pretty much the same, although the blackberry bushes we planted when we moved in looked huge. I bet they had a ton of berries this summer, even after only one year. Jealous!

The drive was uneventful, and we checked into our hotel in Dublin (about 20 miles south of Blacksburg) around 3:30. After Sage took a quick nap, we headed to Blacksburg. After first stopping at Tech Bookstore and buying a few items, we looked for a place to eat. After mulling over our options, we decided on Big Al's Sports Bar on Main St. This is a new-ish spot (and definitely wasn't around when I was in school), and while it wasn't anything special, it was enough to fill us up, and quite cheaply as well. After dinner we walked around the drill field. It's nice to be back on campus on a weekday, when the students were out and about. There were plenty of kids on the drill field, playing soccer and football, and the Highty Tighties were practicing as well. With a gorgeous day leading into a warm evening, the campus felt as welcoming and serene as I'll always remember it.

Nothing better than a soccer game on the Drill Field.

The Men's Soccer team had a game against Duke at 7:30, but Sage, still feeling the effects of the bad head cold I gave her earlier in the week, wasn't feeling up to hanging around much longer, so we decided to head back to the hotel. We did some reading and I watched the USF/Kansas game (though like and idiot I turned it off before the end and missed one of the better games of the year).

Saturday morning dawned foggy, but the forecast was calling for mostly cloudy skies with just a chance of rain. We left for campus around 10:00 am and found a good parking spot in our new lot this year. Normally we love to tailgate before the game, but since we had no cooler, no chairs, and no grille, we didn't feel like just taking a bucket of Kroger Fried Chicken and a six pack of beer and sitting on the ground. We walked through some of the other tailgates (quite a few were in high gear already), then headed downtown again for lunch. We decided to hit Mike's Grill, famous for their burgers and pizza. It seems that most people do go to Mike's for the burgers, but we've always been partial to the pizza.

Doug enjoying a morning beer. I'm actually not even drunk yet.

Our "tailgate". I can't stop laughing because when Sage went to take this shot, the waiter tried to jump into the photo. Not sure why I thought it was so funny.

Everything about the pies -- the dough, the sauce, the cheese -- is really top notch, and is some of the best we've ever tasted. One of the waitresses stopped by after our meal, and joked about how it's such a tough choice for alumni who only come back once a year -- pizza or burgers? It's so true, and we wondered if we should have gotten both just to tide us over. Oh well, Mike's isn't going anywhere, so there's always next time.

After lunch, we had some time to kill before the 3:30 kick off, so we hung out at Squires Student Center for a bit, reading the latest Collegiate Times. We then headed over to Lane Stadium in time to see the pre-game walk of the team and coaches, heading to the stadium.

The Highty Tighties lead the cheerleaders and team to the stadium.
Defensive Coordinator Bud Foster. Right after I took this picture he dropped his bags and came after me. I barely escaped.

Afterwards we sat in the shade and people watched for a while outside Lane. While sitting there, I looked up at the South End Zone stands, where at the very top the school flies flags of the other ACC teams. I was just looking at them all for wont of nothing else to do, and I thought that the Georgia Tech flag looked funny. Then I noticed -- it was upside down!

No respect for the visiting team.

I can't imagine that someone in the VT athletic department would have done that. I have a feeling that some students jumped the fence the night before, went up and turned it upside down themselves. Probably a frat prank. I was worried that there might be some bad karma from the stunt, and thought for sure someone else would notice and they would turn it right-side up before the game. Turns out, they never did. Maybe I was the only one who noticed after all. After hanging out for a bit more, we headed into the stadium.

The day turned out to be a hot one, with mostly sunny skies and the temps into the mid 80's. In the shade the day was great; in the sun, it felt like 100 degrees. We loaded up on the suntan lotion and watched the teams warm up. People started filling in the seats around us, and we noticed that everyone from the last few years were still in the same seats. One guy who sits to our left started talking to me, and I mentioned how we moved to Boston and can't come to every game any more. I was shocked that he knew I was an English major, which I must have told him last year at some point. Nice memory on that guy!

The pregame had a couple nice moments. First, Angela Tincher, a pitcher from last year's VT softball team that won the ACC and advanced to the Women's College World Series, was presented with her National Player of the year award as well as having her number retired. Then we were treated to a flyby of 2 F-18 Hornet jets -- 1 flown by a VT grad, 1 flown by a GT grad.

The 2 F-18's heading toward the stadium.

After the flyby, "Enter Sandman" hit the PA, the fans started jumping, and the team hit the field. Game on!

The team takes the field, led by the cheerleaders and Hokie Bird. It was Orange Effect day, so everyone (including the players) wore orange to the game.

And what a game it was. While VT held an 8 point lead heading into the 4th quarter, Georgia Tech tied it up late. Thankfully, due to some mistakes by the Yellow Jackets, the Hokies were able to get a field goal in the 4th quarter, and then their defense held on for the win, which came down to the last play.

The final score.

Any win is a good win for the Hokies this year, especially against one of the tougher teams in the Coastal division. After the game we high tailed it back to our car and shot out of campus ahead of most everyone else. The trip back to Raleigh was uneventful, and we were able to check into our airport hotel around 10:30 pm. After a quick check of emails and the rest of the day's games (my week 3 recap will be up later this week), we hit the sack for an early alarm the next day for our flight home. We were out of the hotel by 8, and thanks to a quick connection in BWI, we were actually home before 2:00 pm.

Overall, it was a real fun weekend. While it was a bit depressing afterwards, knowing we'll only have 1 more game this year, I'm not going to complain considering I still have a chance to go to games. As the old saying goes, half a loaf is better than none. And sometimes, even just a slice will suffice.