A Day with the Football Fans

Heading out to the Furman game, I see tens of thousands of avid Virginia Tech football fans clustering around numerous gates and entrances into the beloved Lane Stadium. They range in age, from small children with painted faces and candy bars to alumni who seem old enough to have been the first graduating class at Tech. Young and old, male and female, student and alumni (and hopefuls), the crowd of Hokies chatters excitedly about crushing the enemy and jumping to Enter Sandman. 

After the fans pass through security guards, bag checks, and flights of terrifyingly steep stairs, they find their seats with friends do a number of curious acts.  One might strip off a shirt revealing the traditional maroon and orange chest coloring.  Another might put on an orange wig, or paint the face of a friend with a giant “VT” symbol. 

Seats continue to fill until well after fans have welcomed their home team onto the field. Overpriced food and drinks lure customers at every turn.  As the game begins, nothing else exists in the world but the players and the coaches. 

Tradition is essential to the game. Keys jingle at the gobble of a Hokie, a canon is fired for every point scored, and fans stand, and never sit, out of respect and fanaticism for the game. 

There are rules to being a Hokie football fan, however. Excitement and spirit are necessary, but there is a possibility of going overboard. I watch an over zealous, intoxicated fan being led down the stadium stairs by two police officers and get handcuffed at the stairwell. This fan will likely be eradicated from the football fan community and never allowed to attend another game. 

Even after the last minute winds down, the game really doesn’t end for hours more. Late at night, crazed fans yell “Let’s Go!” to no one in particular, and there doubtless will be someone at 3am within earshot, who yells back “Hokies!” Being a Hokie football fan is not to be taken lightly—it is a lifestyle for everyone who enters Lane Stadium on a Saturday or Thursday. So White Out, Orange Effect, Maroon Effect, whatever game it may be, the football fans will be there and ready for a day of tradition and Hokie culture until the last post-game party goer finally rests in bed at 9 am the next morning.