The Lost Weekend - Virginia Tech vs. Clemson

As we do every year, we've made plans to make our way down to Blacksburg for a couple of Virginia Tech football games. When the schedule came out we decided one of the games we attended was either going to be the Clemson game on October 1, or Miami on October 8. We picked the Clemson game, mostly because it was a week earlier and might have a better chance of warmer weather. Also, we have seen Miami play a lot more than Clemson, so Clemson was the choice. As it turns out, we’ve made better choices in our days.

We were up early for our flight from Boston to Charlotte. In the past couple of years we had flown into Raleigh, but we discovered that JetBlue has added flights to Charlotte now, and that’s a little more direct drive to Blacksburg than Raleigh is. We parked at an off-site lot, and sat on the shuttle bus waiting for a guy to park his car and get all his grip organized. Sage made a comment about “this moron who can’t park”, but when he, his wife and son got on the shuttle, the wife looked at us (wearing our Virginia Tech gear) and said, “Hey, are you going to the game?” We said yes, and they said, “So are we!” We found out that they have twin daughters who are freshmen at two schools: One at Virginia Tech, one at Clemson! He said it was his first trip to a football game there, so we gave him some tips on parking, tailgating, and game day activities. I knew he was going to be in trouble when he asked, “What time should we get to the parking lot to tailgate? About 2 hours before kickoff?” I let him know that for a 6 pm kickoff, if he showed up later than Noon he might be missing out. We wished them well, and I hope they had a good time. We went through security with no problems, and our flight began to board on time. While waiting in line to board, another Hokie came up to us and started talking, as he was on his way to the game as well. In fact, he ended up sitting in the same row as us, albeit on the other side of the aisle. Hokies are everywhere!

We landed in Charlotte on time, made our way to our car, and headed up the highway to Blacksburg. Even though we heard that it was going to get cold the next day, on Friday the weather was sunny and warm. As we’ve done in the past, we rented a cabin/house instead of a hotel, and this one was on the New River near Radford, only 15 minutes or so from VT. The house was a little bit old but nice enough, and it had TV and cable, which is all I wanted. After settling in we headed up the road to Blacksburg to find dinner. Our first stop in town was the Campus Emporium, the best off-campus store for Hokie gear. We bought more than we should, as we do every year, but when you find Hokie Bird dinner plates, how can you not buy them? After shopping we headed downtown where we found a parking spot off main street, right next to the Fiji Frat House. The Fiji house's basement was a regular stop for me in my younger days, as it was not a very popular frat, so me and my friends were always able to get in on Friday night parties. True story: my name on "the approved list" to get into parties at Fiji was Dave Wilson. (REALLY long story about why that is.) And who is the best player on Virginia Tech's team this year? David Wilson. It's like we're brothers!

The Fiji House at Virginia Tech

We headed toward campus and spent some time walking around the drill field. I took Sage into Burruss Hall for the first time and through its massive auditorium, in which I once had a freshman Calculus class AND saw UB40 perform (sadly, not at the same time). After enjoying the warm Autumn weather we headed down to College Avenue and dinner at Souvlaki’s, our regular go-to spot for gyros and marinated chicken pitas.

"Souvlaki: Great Food With Flair!"

With time to kill, we stopped at the London Underground Pub on Main Street, a real find in town. It has professional-style dart lanes, great beers on tap, and a dark, wood décor. While watching one of the baseball playoff games we found out the news that the Red Sox and Terry Francona were parting ways. The weekend was beginning to take a dark turn. On the way back to the house we stopped at Kroger for provisions, then back to the house to watch some Friday night football.

Provisions

Saturday morning dawned cold but clear. In the morning we took a trail from behind the house down to the banks of the New River. There wasn’t much going on down there, though we did scare a small deer on the trail. We headed out to campus around 1:00 pm, and when we arrived about half an hour later, it was already crazy. Plenty of tailgating going on, tons of RVs flying VT and Clemson flags, and the grills were lit all over campus. We parked and walked across campus to our other favorite food spot in town, Mike’s Grill. There was a wait to get in, of course, and even when we did get a table the service was somewhere between slow and slower. But the pizza is worth the wait, the $3.75 pitchers of Yuengling can’t be beat, and the crowded chaos of Mike’s is part of its charm. We finished up there around 3:30, and we killed some more time in Squires Student Center. By this time the clouds had moved in, and when we made our way over to the stadium around 4:30 it was starting to sprinkle. By the time we got into the stadium the temperature was in the low 40’s, and a soft rain was falling, which endured almost the entire game.

Before the game smiles were aplenty

Entrance video of the Hokies with Enter Sandman

I have no memory of the game itself, so instead I thought I’d give an update on an old blog. If you remember from last winter, Sage and I went around Boston taking photos of the Hokie Bird in front of Boston landmarks for a poster of the Hokie Bird across America. We sent in our photos and waited. Sure enough, right before the season started, we received the poster in the mail, and 2 of our photos were featured! To be honest the poster was pretty weak, with very few photos, and most uninspired. But we’re happy to have helped out in the project.

The full Hokie Bird poster

Close up of our photo from Fenway Park

Close up of our photo in front of Paul Revere's statue

The next morning we had to get up early, as our flight left Charlotte around 11:00 am. We made the 2:45 drive without any problems, and got the airport in plenty of time. Going through security, the TSA agent saw my VT shirt (yes, I show my school colors even in defeat), and mentioned how his good friend plays for the team, Alonzo Tweedy. We love Mr. Tweedy, so we were glad to hear from a friendly voice. And then after security another person who works at the airport saw my shirt and said, “Um, excuse me sir. There’s a surcharge for wearing that shirt here.” I replied, “Yeah, trust me, I paid it last night.” He laughed, and it just proves that people in the south are always friendly. We made it home a little late and feeling beat up, but overall no problems in our travels.

So back to choosing the Clemson game to go to instead of Miami. The Clemson game had a kickoff temperature of 43 degrees, a windchill of 37, it rained the entire game, and the Hokies lost by 20. The Miami game had a kickoff temperature of 70, it was bright and sunny, and the Hokies won one of the most exciting games ever played at Lane Stadium with a last minute touchdown. Yeah, I’d say we picked the wrong game.