My 5-year-old nephew came with me to the Virginia men’s basketball team’s 75-78 loss to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg Sunday. In a feeble attempt to make conversation about sports with a 5-year-old, I asked him what I thought was a rhetorical question. “There weren’t a lot of U.Va. fans at that game, were there?”
Without pause, he responded, “That’s because Virginia Tech wins all the games.”
How poignant. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh, cry or punch a hole in the wall.
Because he is right! In the last three years, Virginia is 1-7 against the Hokies in football and men’s basketball; the last time Virginia beat Virginia Tech in either sport was two years ago, when the men’s basketball team split its two contests with the Hokies; the Cavs’ home win was one of 11 conference games they won that year on their way to a four seed in the NCAA Tournament. That seems way too long ago.
I don’t bring up these facts to depress the U.Va. fan inasmuch as I would like to admit the following: When it comes to sports, Virginia Tech gets the clear nod.
This year in football, the Hokies won the Orange Bowl; next year, they return a peaking Tyrod Taylor at quarterback and a blossoming group of wide receivers. Virginia, after losing four straight contests to choke its way out of bowl eligibility, loses nearly its entire starting linebacker corps, its two best wide receivers, its starting running back and yet another NFL-bound offensive lineman and returns one quarterback who sat out all of last year and one quarterback with a career 1:2 touchdown-interception ratio.
In men’s basketball, Virginia Tech has nearly its entire team back this season after winning nine games in the conference and falling just short of the NCAA Tournament last year. They return essentially the same nucleus of players for the next two years as well; last season the Hokies finished fourth in the conference while giving big minutes to four freshmen. Virginia, meanwhile, comes off its worst season in the Dave Leitao era with five conference wins, despite having one of the best players in the history of the program in Sean Singletary playing at his peak. After Singletary’s graduation, the Cavs certainly have been a pleasant surprise this season — in that they have been competitive thus far in conference play thanks to the freshman from the Big Apple, Sylven Landesberg — but a trip to the Tournament ain’t happening.
As for next season, the return of Landesberg along with some other key cogs to go with two promising recruits in next year’s freshman class offers hope, but Virginia Tech’s youth is deeper and has proven that it can win.
Don’t give me Commonwealth Cup; I know we win it every year. As the now infamous Colin Cowherd once said about U.Va. on his radio show, “I’d rather win football games.” He’s absolutely on the money; except, now also add, “and men’s basketball games.”
I have all the respect in the world for the other athletes at this university, and I cheer my heart out for them. But, let’s face it — win all the baseball, field hockey, lacrosse and swimming that you want, I’ll take the school that goes to the Orange Bowl and makes the NCAA Tournament.
And that’s not the only reason why, when it comes to sports, it’s better to be a Hokie. Go back to the question I asked my nephew: “There weren’t a lot of U.Va. fans at the game, were there?”
No, there weren’t. When Tech took a free throw, there was one guy — a Virginia fan, I would hope — screaming his head off. If he had gone to get popcorn, the silence would have been palpable. At both the Virginia-Virginia Tech football and men’s basketball games last year, Hokie sightings — and noises — were numerous. Why? Because they travel; because they care more.
At Cassell Coliseum, meanwhile, Tech fans are loud; yes, louder than Wahoos at John Paul Jones Arena. Cassell is built to hold noise; JPJ is built to offer comfort to alumni. Scott Stadium is loud; Tech’s Lane Stadium is a frenzy.
And then there are the fans themselves. Put it this way: If a firework went off over Lane Stadium versus Scott Stadium during a football game, the fans at Lane wouldn’t notice not only because of the decibel level of the crowd but also because they’d be intently focusing on the game. All it takes to distract your average Wahoo is a girl in a sundress.
Want to hate me more? In the two revenue sports I have been discussing, I’ll take the coaches at Virginia Tech against their counterparts at Virginia. That’s not to say I don’t have a soft spot for both Al Groh and Dave Leitao, because I do; however, I find the Frank Beamer philosophy more agreeable to college football, and I can’t get enough of Seth Greenberg. If I were a basketball recruit looking at schools, Greenberg would be the coach in the ACC I would most want to play for. He is one of the few coaches, for example, who I have ever seen that will turn and raise his arms to get the home crowd fired up, and his obvious passion for and patience with his players is exactly what I would look for. While Leitao certainly knows basketball, his quick trigger in his substitution patterns and his in-your-face confrontational coaching would absolutely ruin my confidence.
Let me be clear: I attend U.Va., and there are many reasons why. I hate Blacksburg; engineering isn’t for me, and liberal arts at U.Va. easily takes the cake; etc, etc.
I don’t want to be a Hokie. But if it came down to the performance, personnel and atmosphere surrounding the athletic programs, I absolutely would.
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