College: It's All About Class

By Justin Cates
September 19, 2008

Each year in America, the arrival of the autumn months brings about a return to school for most young people. As students abandon their familiar stomping grounds and home-cooked meals, they return to a world wrought with credit hours, due dates and roommate squabbles.

All the while, students are buoyed by the promise of yet another college football season. Who hasn't buckled down during the week to get their work done early so they can enjoy the big game on Saturday?

It's a right of passage for the young adults spread across the country to enjoy the pageantry of college athletics, but there's an underlying problem that likely doesn't occur to most of the patrons.

Class. It doesn't mean you have to dress up in ties and sundresses to go to a football game. It just means that fans should carry themselves in a certain way and respect the opponent and their fans.

There were tales from Charlotte, NC surrounding Virginia Tech's season opening football game against East Carolina that are far from reassuring. 

There were reports of unprovoked heckling. Comments ranged from more innocent quips like "What's a Hokie?" and "Where's Michael Vick?" to outright bashing Frank Beamer, one of the classiest coaches in the game.

After East Carolina's victory, a disappointing loss for Tech and a great win for an up and coming ECU program, things got worse.

There was more heckling, a great deal of hollering and more than a few cases of taking things too far and getting personal.

So what's the point?

The point is, most college students don't think about it, but when they put on their school-colored gear and go to an opposing stadium they are representatives of their university.

Whether fair or not, people will assume that all fans of a school act as those they encounter acted. If you wear a Hokie jersey to a road game and yell curse words the whole time, the people sitting near you will assume all Tech fans are the same way.

The same goes for welcoming opposing fans into Lane Stadium. Sure everybody wants to see Tech come out on top, but that doesn't have to stop you from saying, "Welcome to Blacksburg, let's hope for a good game."

Virginia Tech has a reputation for having great fans. They are for the most part, knowledgeable, loyal and extremely loud. It's a reputation that is well deserved, but one that must be maintained.

So when Hokie Nation shifts this weekend to Chapel Hill for Tech's match up with North Carolina, enjoy the day. Engage in some good-natured ribbing with the opposing fans, but in the end, show some Hokies Respect. It can go a lot further than you think.