Virginia Tech Football 2009

[Spartacus87]

Originally Posted by SkinsHokieFan

Its the whole body of work over a decade, lack of player development and the inability to pick up the slack when needed

Here is a sobering stat. In the GT and UNC games, VT had 9 first half offensive possessions within the opponents 50 yard line

Total points- 3

Getting 3 points, on 9 drives that go into opponent territory is terrible. That led to being down 7-0 and 7-3, when chances were there to put up 2 TDs in both those games, which leads to a better 2nd half

Last night VT was up 13-3 at halftime, which had a clear impact on how the game was played in half 2

Yeah, I get what you're saying, especially concerning the overall development. It's no secret that VT, for the most part, doesn't get the top tier 5 or 4 star recruits, but Foster's able to make guys look like they should have been rated 5 stars, while Stinespring just can't get that out of most of his players.

Still, 7th ranked for the season so far is pretty good.

[DarrellsMyHero28]

So here's my story.

Left at 8am with two friends, got down there and started tailgating in a random lot next to the stadium. Hardly any Tech fans, certainly very few in our lot and the ECU fans were loud and obnoxious but didn't say much to us at first.

Later we headed over to talk to some fans that had an octobong (8-man beer bong) and wanted to join in. I brought my own beer over and most of the fans were nice but a few of them just started screaming and cussing at us and telling us to leave. I ignored them and kept talking to the guy with the bong and they told us we had to scream "Purple, Yellow" or whatever their chant was before we bonged. I told them my soul wasn't for sale and they didn't appreciate that too much. They let us drink but we left soon after because one girl in particular wouldn't stop harassing us.

It was nearing game time so we decided to give away some leftover food and my friend Emily walked over to give some chips and dip to a few guys sitting on a truck nearby. The guys were apparently exceptionally rude, and when she made a comment they said "We gave you a check for that stupid shooting so we can do whatever we want." I don't need to tell you that this struck a nerve with her and the other people I was with especially since we're all seniors and were here on April 16th. I about lost my **** but decided against saying anything considering how outnumbered we were so we packed up and headed out.

We get close to the stadium and get the usual boos from other fans, which I expected but a girl stumbled past us threw a beer can and screamed "**** you you fat ***** (female dog)" to my friend who had stopped to hide a flask. The girl's friends pulled her away and we continued.

No real problems in line, but on the way up to our seats a fan stole the flag I was carrying and threw it on the ground and ran off. We got to our seats and the real fun started. You would have thought Tech and ECU were some huge rivals. We were cussed at as soon as we sat down, told to leave etc. There was a Tech fan in front of me who I tapped on the shoulder when the ECU fans were shaking their keys for kickoff, and I said "Hmm that sounds familiar, wonder where they got that from." He looked at me and said "just because we went to the same school doesn't mean you can touch me." Judging by the accent, he was a local. The entire section was yelling at me, trying to egg me on and being astoundingly rude to us for standing and yelling when Tech was on defense, which I ignored.

Later on, a lady in front of me with ECU gear on turned around and got in my face making a turkey call and I said "That's right! That's what a Hokie sounds like!" A guy who was my parents age who was sitting about 10 seats down from me stood up and said "You can't ****ing talk to her like that!" I looked at him in surprise and said "What?" and he immediately ripped off his jacket and came after me, threatening to kill me. He was restrained, but literally the entire game he kept yelling in my direction and cussing at us.

The fans directly behind us in handicapped seats were nice and at one point I turned to them and asked why everyone was being so rude. They shrugged it off but while we were talking a lady behind them started screaming at me. "**** you you piece of **** get the **** out of here!" I had had enough but I kept my cool and said "What the hell is your problem, why would you say that?" She responded with something to the effect of "Because you go to ****ing Virginia Tech go the **** home!" Most of the section cheered her and a few more things were thrown our way. This was enough for me so I got out and found a police officer. I explained what was going on and he lead me out and I pointed out the people that were giving us problems. They warned the fans and after they left the same guy that had come after me said he was going to throw me off the balcony (we were in the upper deck).

I left later to get a soda and as soon as I stepped into line, a student in front of me turned around and shoved me and said "**** you you piece of **** get out of here!" The same cop I had spoken to came over and pulled him away and I told him that this was what I had been talking about.

Throughout the rest of the game the fans harassed us, cussed at us etc and I watched as Tech fans below us were assaulted by students and the police/security had their hands full with pulling people out of the stands.

After the game we booked it out of the stadium, a few more things were thrown our way but at that point I was too drunk/tired to care.

In my defense, despite my intoxication I really didn't say much at all to the other fans because I was literally scared for my life. The biggest thing was that the worst offenders were in their 40s/50s, adults who were coming after me.

May not be as bad as WVU/Pitt, but Greenville, NC is the worst city I've ever been to in my life. Be loud, be proud but **** even for the big rivalry games in Lane I've never seen fans (especially not adults) act like that.

In short, **** ECU.

[SkinsHokieFan]

Originally Posted by DarrellsMyHero28

In short, **** ECU.

Yeesh, thats awful man. Sucks that happened, in particular because in 2007 we went out of our way to treat those fans well, and I didn't have any issues with them in Charlotte last year.

I'd suggest you post that on TSL as well and I would really suggest you email the AD at ECU (he was VT's former AD before Weaver)

[DarrellsMyHero28]

Originally Posted by SkinsHokieFan

Yeesh, thats awful man. Sucks that happened, in particular because in 2007 we went out of our way to treat those fans well, and I didn't have any issues with them in Charlotte last year.

I'd suggest you post that on TSL as well and I would really suggest you email the AD at ECU (he was VT's former AD before Weaver)

I'm not a TSL subscriber but I might start, how much is it?

I'm going to probably write a letter and demand that he give me my money back. It was despicable.

[SkinsHokieFan]

Originally Posted by DarrellsMyHero28

I'm not a TSL subscriber but I might start, how much is it?

I'm going to probably write a letter and demand that he give me my money back. It was despicable.

TSL is 4.99 a month, or 50 dollars for the year if you pay at once

I actually posted your story on the free side of TSL.

Hand written letter probably would have more of an impact, in particular with the ECU AD

[DarrellsMyHero28]

Woops now its posted twice.

[ixcuincle]

Rough story. Again I've never been out of the safe confines of Lane Stadium when attending a VT game so I don't really know the experience of going to a hostile road game...and that's kind of the reason why. Not trustworthy of foreign unfriendly environments, I can watch safely from home without being yelled or harassed

[Spartacus87]

Wow, that sounds like a terrible game day experience.

Originally Posted by DarrellsMyHero28

There was a Tech fan in front of me who I tapped on the shoulder when the ECU fans were shaking their keys for kickoff, and I said "Hmm that sounds familiar, wonder where they got that from." He looked at me and said "just because we went to the same school doesn't mean you can touch me." Judging by the accent, he was a local.

What do you think this part was about? Just an issue with some of the fans stemming from a local thing, or what? Really strange that a fellow VT guy would tell you off like that. At the very least, it sounds like he would go for safety in numbers.

The only time I've heard of any stories on that level of terrible behavior was when a bunch of my friends went down to Miami for the FSU/Miami game in 2008.

[SkinsHokieFan]

Originally Posted by Spartacus87

Wow, that sounds like a terrible game day experience.

What do you think this part was about? Just an issue with some of the fans stemming from a local thing, or what? Really strange that a fellow VT guy would tell you off like that. At the very least, it sounds like he would go for safety in numbers.

The only time I've heard of any stories on that level of terrible behavior was when a bunch of my friends went down to Miami for the FSU/Miami game in 2008.

My friends had a terrible experience at the VT-Pitt 2003 game. Literally from the time they arrived for Gameday in the morning (10:30 am), until they left the stadium that night (this was the Saturday night game) it was non stop **** talking and nearly getting into fights

My experience with the 50/50 Hokie-ECU crowd wasn't bad at all last year, but sometimes you just run into a terrible group of fans one after the other

At least the U no longer plays in the OB, that was wannabe gangsta central.

Its funny, because I have never encountered jackass visitor fans at Lane that a) ever deserved to be yelled at or b) actually tried to provoke something. And this is with playing all sorts of teams, WVU (always a good size contingent) UVA, Miami, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, NCSU, UNC, FSU (who were very nice people)

So personally, I just don't understand why fans ever actually get into it and let things get to the stage that DMH28 had to deal with

And BTW DMH28, I am not surprised people on TSL are skeptical, its a bit of an "older" crowd that posts on there, Id bet the median age is 40+ on that site and it takes years to build any type of credentials (hell, people were asking if I am a regular and I have posted on there since 2002)

[Spartacus87]

Originally Posted by SkinsHokieFan

My friends had a terrible experience at the VT-Pitt 2003 game. Literally from the time they arrived for Gameday in the morning (10:30 am), until they left the stadium that night (this was the Saturday night game) it was non stop **** talking and nearly getting into fights

My experience with the 50/50 Hokie-ECU crowd wasn't bad at all last year, but sometimes you just run into a terrible group of fans one after the other

At least the U no longer plays in the OB, that was wannabe gangsta central.

Its funny, because I have never encountered jackass visitor fans at Lane that a) ever deserved to be yelled at or b) actually tried to provoke something. And this is with playing all sorts of teams, WVU (always a good size contingent) UVA, Miami, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, NCSU, UNC, FSU (who were very nice people)

So personally, I just don't understand why fans ever actually get into it and let things get to the stage that DMH28 had to deal with

Your VT/Pitt story sounds just like the Miami crowd.

Not playing at the Orange Bowl anymore certainly helps, but from what I heard from my friends who went to Dolphin Stadium (or Landshark Stadium now I suppose) for the game in 2008, it was miserable. Miami fans constantly coming up to their tailgating spot getting in their faces, with one particular group of tough guys making repeated trips by, just looking to instigate an all out brawl with threats towards them, towards their girlfriends that were with them, etc. After the game, when they came back to their cars (they went in two groups), one of the guys who drove found the two front tires of his truck slashed, with his truck bed full of broken beer bottles and empty beer cans, like someone had dumped out their tailgating trash.

And then of course this year, where I couldn't make it up to the Miami game, but I heard our tailgate ended up getting shut down by the police because there were three fist fights that broke out between random Miami fans and several of my fraternity brothers, and the police preferred to close the bigger tailgates down than risk having large targeted areas for people looking to fight.

It's funny too, because the relationship between UF fans and FSU fans, and Miami fans and FSU fans is the polar opposite of how the programs view each other. Miami fans, from literally every encounter I've personally ever had with them (outside of a few boosters/alumni, but that's not really the same), and all the stories I've heard, are extremely volatile and are trouble making morons the majority of the time. On the other hand, I have a decent amount of friends who go to UF, we have our own friendly rivalry jokes about the teams, and whether we're playing in Gainesville or the UF crowd comes to Tallahassee, it usually works out pretty well.

When Tebow and company came to Tally last season for that blow out game, one of my friends got way too drunk tailgating and was relentlessly picking on a couple guys from UF standing in front of us, and I kept telling him to keep it cool but he wasn't listening (of course, he could also barely stand up straight so there's not much he was listening to at that point). Finally this girl from FSU next to us started ripping into him for being a jerk and having no class, and then people around us starting joining in with her against my buddy. Then I felt like kind of a jerk, sort of guilt by association, and I just told him that I better take him back home before he gets beat up or something (plus we were already down 4 scores or so and it was a game in the heavy rain and my phone broke as a result).

But you'll NEVER see FSU fans stick up for Miami fans like that.

On the flip side of things, the programs, and really the athletic departments for the most part, view each other where FSU and Miami have a longstanding good relationship, but Florida is the one that nobody gets along with. And that's just gone back for a long, long time, and I don't see any reason why that would change anytime soon.

Everyone likes to trash talk for their teams and get into the college rivalries, sure, that's a big part of what makes college sports so great. But it amazes me how seriously people can take it, to the point of acting out violently or vandalizing another fan's property. It's just a sports game people.

I'd like to think DMH28 just got stuck in a bad tailgating area and a bad seating section, but judging on the rest of his observations it sounds like it could be a lot more than that.

[Major Harris]

what are your experiences in morgantown, shf?

[ixcuincle]

Originally Posted by SkinsHokieFan

Its funny, because I have never encountered jackass visitor fans at Lane that a) ever deserved to be yelled at or b) actually tried to provoke something. And this is with playing all sorts of teams, WVU (always a good size contingent) UVA, Miami, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, NCSU, UNC, FSU (who were very nice people)

So personally, I just don't understand why fans ever actually get into it and let things get to the stage that DMH28 had to deal with

True...VT has the whole "Hokie Respect" thing. In my last 2 years there they used to throw up some video where the Bird would talk about Hokie Respect and then do a little dance. They also have the banners flying from the lamp posts in the parking lot.

[SkinsHokieFan]

Originally Posted by Major Harris

what are your experiences in morgantown, shf?

Never had the pleasure Maj. But I was a senior the night we got our asses handed 28-7 in Mo'Town and plenty of people I trusted ALL came back with the same stories. It had enough of an impact that Jim Weaver was going to refuse the 2005 game UNLESS it was a noon kickoff (which it was).

Clearly enough people at VT were pissed off that this game isn't happening again, which is too bad

[Major Harris]

Originally Posted by SkinsHokieFan

Never had the pleasure Maj. But I was a senior the night we got our asses handed 28-7 in Mo'Town and plenty of people I trusted ALL came back with the same stories. It had enough of an impact that Jim Weaver was going to refuse the 2005 game UNLESS it was a noon kickoff (which it was).

Clearly enough people at VT were pissed off that this game isn't happening again, which is too bad

i wasn't there in that time frame. i know we had the reputation when i was in school, and i never saw anyone get beaten up or cussed out (and plenty of OSU fans in '98 deserved it; as well as an away game at maryland).

heckled for sure. a bit over the top at times? yes, but never physical or threatening.

i do know they've been trying very hard to clean that up, and the atmosphere does seem a bit different nowadays, so there had to be some truth (or "perception is truth" in action)

and good job not taking the bait. you know i was discreetly calling you out as too big of a va-j-j to venture into morgantown.

[SkinsHokieFan]

Originally Posted by Major Harris

and good job not taking the bait. you know i was discreetly calling you out as too big of a va-j-j to venture into morgantown.

We have been going at it too long in this forum

I think that particular night (2003) was the perfect storm of events

Night game, VT #3, all of the nonsense that had just gone on with the ACC expansion 4 months earlier, WVU winning big, it wasn't gonna be a good night to be a Hokie in M'Town