Photography by Ivan Morozov

Musings about Virginia Tech and ACC sports and anything else

The Return of the A-Line Board of Football Experts

Week 2

Virginia Tech- East Carolina Tailgate pictures at the Clubhouse Tailgate

The Opening Trip 09/01/08

All things considered, it was a pretty good trip. A football journey involving five days, four nights, two stadiums, two hotels and two games involving four teams was not a bad way to kick off a football season. There were some downsides, such as some seriously-high heat and humidity, plus the little matter of Saturday’s score. But, all in all, things went pretty well.

It had been decided that, for a few of us, simply one football game per week was simply not enough. We required two. Tickets to last Thursday night’s NC State- South Carolina game, as well as an invitation to join some Cocks in a luxurious Gameday condo adjacent to Williams-Brice Stadium seemed a terrific way to indulge ourselves.

Wednesday morning, we rolled out of Danville in cool weather and a pouring rain heading south. A few hours later, the first leg of the trip ended in Columbia in sunshine, a temperature around 90 and humidity higher than that.

When one is going to attend a football game in Columbia, South Carolina in late August, an air-conditioned condo is not a bad place to hang out before the game. Neither is having an air-conditioned end zone stadium club at one’s disposal during the game. It cut the humidity nicely.

Just about all of the Cocks we met were truly great people, starting with our host Earl Weaver, who offered his condo for our use [and we quickly learned how to use it to maximum advantage] and his sister Mary Ruffin Childs, who provided us with access to the stadium club as well as club seats. Mary Ruffin also went way beyond the call of duty when, by halftime, when the heat and humidity had proven to be just a bit much for a member of the group [me], she arranged for a golf cart to ferry me back to the condo, where I spent the Second Half rehydrating and watching the rest of the game from Earl’s sofa. Thanks again, folks.

Prior to the game we had discovered to our delight that Earl had lots of friends in the neighboring condos, fellow Cocks who always greeted us with smiles, warm welcomes and invitations to help ourselves to their lavish Tailgate spreads. They quickly found out that it was not necessary to ask us twice.

Among the great people was the guy whose condo was decorated with the memorabilia accumulated from over forty years of following college football, a collection he proudly showed off as he gave us a tour of his Gameday digs. It was like touring the Louvre.

Friday morning it was one game down, one to go. We were on our way up I-77 from Columbia to Charlotte for the weekend’s main event. A couple of hours later, we were in Uptown Charlotte, checking into our hotel and starting the process of connecting with a Clubhouse Tailgate that was scattered all over the Carolina’s from a Rock Hill RV park all the way to a Winston-Salem Hooter’s. It took a while.

When making reservations at the Marriott early last summer, they had neglected to inform us that the hotel was the ECU headquarters. Spying the banner over the front desk that proclaimed ‘Welcome East Carolina’ did provide a clue.

They also hadn’t mentioned that to the hundreds of other Hokies staying there, or to the couple we met on the elevator from the parking garage to the lobby who were there for a romantic weekend getaway, or to the young ladies who had a bridal shower scheduled there for Saturday night. In these tough economic times, I guess you grab whatever business is available.

 I’m sure the couple found her birthday dinner in the on-premises fine dining establishment that was crammed with football fans to be a delightful experience and the shower party enjoyed walking across the lobby being ogled by more than few male Hokies and Pirates. I know we did.

One thing we have noticed in our travels around the East, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast is that football fans tend to be exactly alike irregardless of school. Whether they be Tar Heels, Wolfpackers, Deacons, Tigers, Cocks, Dawgs, Jayhawks, or even Hoos [I would include Devils but we never seem to meet any when Tech plays at Duke], the people who actually go to the games are terrific people. The Pirate fans were no exception. There didn’t seem to be any message board loons from either side in the Marriott.

The Pirates were friendly people who enjoyed talking football and most anything else. I enjoyed my interactions with them, just as I do fans everywhere with the notable exception of the Hills.

The ECU fans want nothing more than to be included with all of the other fans traveling around the major college football circuits. They certainly have the fans and, as it turned out, the team to shine in. It is perhaps unfortunate that the limited opportunities afforded by CUSA along with the onerous travel costs associated with that league will one day lead to some hard decisions.

As for the message board loons, those in the ACC certainly had plenty to screech about. The sorry performance by ACC teams over the weekend certainly gave them a lot of ammunition. At least sports Webmasters got to see a lot of site hits.

Whether it was State demonstrating that Chuckie left very little behind, Tech getting the annual absurd MNC hype out of the way early this year, or Clemson jump-starting the Tommy Bowden Death Watch right off the bat, it was not the best football Saturday for Little Johnny’s teams. You have to wonder how miserably bad Baylor must be.

The Tech game demonstrated that this is indeed a very young team that will have problems this year. How many will depend on the success the coaching staff has in molding them. Frank throws out the ‘We have a lot of work to do’ line most anytime a member of the media is around; this time he really means it.

The Tech disaster against ECU was one of those games, that seem to be popping up quite a bit these days, that makes some wonder that perhaps the program has been shifted into overdrive as Frank winds down his career. While this was a completely different Tech team than was on display last January in the Orange Bowl, the constant was that Tech was beaten by an inferior team that seemed to be much better prepared.

The notion has crossed a few minds, again, that perhaps Frank needs to spend just a little less time relaxing at the lake contemplating his net worth or discussing business deals on the golf course and a little more paying attention to his team, particularly the offense. Just a thought.

In any event, there is almost a whole season of football left to observe the team’s improvement. The chances seem pretty good there will be some. The opening week of another season is in the books.

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