MAYBE if you've been born and raised with the intention of heading off to U.Va. after high school, the University's football games - and the traditions that accompany them - seem normal to you. To me, they were possibly the weirdest part of what had been a week and a half full of new experiences.
Living with someone I'd only ever talked to on the phone? Fine. Classes in auditoriums with professors who would never know my name? Okay. Suddenly being 10 hours from anyone I knew (something I'd managed to avoid thinking about since I got my acceptance letter)? I could handle that, but now I was expected to wear a dress to a football game? Weird really is the only word I could find.
Where I come from, football means sweatshirts, big defense and the Rose Bowl. I couldn't quite figure out how I ended up at a school where I showed up at the game in a sundress. To make matters worse, it seemed much more important who was watching the game than who was playing in it or how they were doing. And the defense? It looked a size small and a step slow.
U.Va. is a school steeped in tradition and the football games are no exception. But again, that tradition seems to have very little to do with what happens on the field. There are reasons for that, though. The University's crowning football achievement was the defeat of Florida State in 1995. As I was told by a recent graduate, the two most significant dates in the University's past are 1819 and November 2, 1995.
But the team's history holds few victories remembered this finally. George Welsh raised the level of play at the University and led his teams to victories in several bowls, including the Citrus, Peach and Cotton Bowls. But the recent, embarrassing loss in the MicronPC.com Bowl and low expectations for my first season as a U.Va. fan had refocused attention to tradition in the stands.
Second only to dressing up, the Good Ol' Song also sets the U.Va. football experience apart. Again, my midwestern sensibility found singing and swaying a little bit too refined for a football game. In my mind, the song was only saved by the cheer at the end.
Despite my reservations, I dressed up for the first football game of my first year and headed out into the still unfamiliar 90-degree heat. What I found was a football team that fought but ultimately disappointed - and a tradition I quickly grew to love.
Despite the fact that the team lost to Brigham Young in the last few minutes, each touchdown that it did score was celebrated with the Good Ol' Song. Despite its being a little goofy, the song lent the crowd a feeling of camaraderie. I immediately felt united with not only the team, but also everyone in the stands despite the fact that I knew very few of them.
As for wearing sundresses: Our football team may not have won, but there's no doubt our fans were better dressed.
Tradition is a very big part of life at the University. In a lot of ways, it makes the University what it is. There are very few organizations or practices that come with out some sort of tradition. Football is no exception.
Not all of the traditions are accepted. This page will undoubtedly contain at least one column about the "Not gay" chant at football games before the season is over. But the traditions do have their place. Tradition is what unites us. At football games, that means dressing up and singing. It also means that even when the team finishes a disappointing 6 and 6, people like me don't miss a game.
This year hopefully new coach Al Groh can begin to build a successful program. He has a lot of things to work on; starting with no proven quarterback for one, but one thing he doesn't have to worry about is student attendance. Sundresses and singing have taken care of that for him.
(Megan Moyer is a Cavalier Daily columnist. She can be reached at mmoyer@cavalierdaily.com.)
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