Virginia has plenty in football

JOHN MARKON

POINT OF VIEW

The sports editors of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution chose to celebrate the imminent arrival of autumn with a list of "50 Things We Love" about collegefootball in the South. It sounded like a promising idea until research revealed that only one of the 50 things -- the annual "Silver Shako" game between Virginia Military Institute and The Citadel -- was in any way related to Virginia.

Either the Atlantans have somehow excised our state from "the South" or they just don't think the commonwealth has too much to offer on Saturday afternoons.

Whichever way you approach it, they're wrong. While I contemplated compiling "50 Reasons Why Spending a Day in Atlanta Always Seems Like a Week to Me," I compromised on a list of 10 things I've always loved about collegefootball in the Old Dominion:

Rivalries Without Enmity: In Virginia, we leave to others the idea that despising your opponent is the essential ingredient in anyfootball rivalry. Most of the state's great old games Richmond vs. William and Mary, Randolph-Macon vs. Hampden-Sydney, Virginia Union vs. Virginia State, Norfolk State vs. Hampton, VMI vs. The Citadel, etc. -- are played with an underlying, Army-Navy sense of ultimate brotherhood. At the final gun, players hug each other rather than slug each other.

Real rivalry: If you actually prefer fans who revel in each other's misery, there's always the Virginia-Virginia Tech game.

'Glory Days' Coaches: Every college has an iconic figure who'll always be recognized as the best man ever to blow the Big Whistle at that particular school. Think: Knute Rockne at Notre Dame, Bear Bryant at Alabama, Red Blaik at Army, John McKay at Southern Cal, etc.

Two of these "best ever" guys are currently active in Virginia, Frank Beamer at Tech and Jimmye Laycock at W&M. James Madison's program is relatively young, but Mickey Matthews has a national title in his pocket and could be considered a third. When the Glory Days are now, it's a good time to be alive.

Nicknames: What's a Hokie? Who's a Hoo? Why are they the "Key"-dets? With all the insects in the world to choose from, why did they pick Spiders? Singular, colorful nicknames dominate Virginiafootball.

"From the blue waters of the Chesapeake Bay to the hills of Tennessee, the Virginia Tech Hokies are on the air": Bill Roth's tenure as the radio voice of Techfootball roughly parallels Beamer's, thus coinciding with the school finally gaining the athletic identity many fans and grads had awaited for decades. Roth's signature opening line means far more to most Hokies then just the start of another game.

Old Grads at Scott Stadium: From the early 1950s through the early 1980s, U.Va. football was caught in an internal tug-of-war. There were always loyalists who felt the school could pursue excellence in football without compromising its elevated academic reputation. When they look around the stadium these days and see the 60,000 seats, the marching band and theNFL-caliber talent on the field, these guys have to smile.

It was a long fight. They won.

Virginia State at Virginia Union: While the game's fine entertainment when played at State, it blooms as the Gold Bowl on VUU's urban campus, where it serves as the centerpiece of a twilight street festival that gradually morphs into an all-night blowout. There's always an overflow crowd at Hovey Field, but fans tend to leave early -- not to beat the traffic but to start the party.

The Woo-Woos: Virginia State's cheerleaders. If you can chirp like a bird, vibrate like a tuning fork and dance like a drop of water on hot cooking grease, feel free to try out.

The Doxology: Moments after the end of every game, all VMI players and students come to attention to sing a short school song based on this familiar hymn. The last line is "God bless our team and VMI." It takes less than a minute, often long enough to recenter an athlete after a win or reaffirm him after a loss.

Michael Vick: We saw him before he ever saw Atlanta.

© 2005, Media General, Inc.