Opinion: Farewell To Saturday

By Michael Hippchen
December 2, 2008 

Farewell Saturday.

I'll miss you more than you know next year, when I'm sitting on my couch or sipping on a fresh pint at a sports bar back home in Richmond.

Farewell "Enter Sandman", five-pound turkey legs, and Tech Triumph.  I remember you all fondly, and will continue to praise you and your ways.  However, you must know, it will never be the same.

I attended my last home Virginia Tech football game as a student on Saturday.  It was a glorious, chilly Saturday, topped with a cherry in the form of a victory over eternal enemy Virginia.  The win sent us to the ACC Championship game in Tampa, UVA home disappointed, and me away with a feeling that I knew I would never experience again. 

For four years now I have stood loyally in the North End Zone stands right behind the Marching Virginians, screaming my heart out and wearing my colors proudly as I supported a team that meant more to me than just sports.  They weren't just the Virginia Tech football team; they were MY team, with players I had class with, or ate across from in a dining hall, or even met before.  They were my age (or younger), and dealt with the same problems I did: homework, tests, and finding something to do on a Friday night.  I felt close to the players and to the team because I was in their realm.  Like me, they were students; they just had the added "athlete" in their title.  I was as much of a student here at Virginia Tech as they were, and I felt like I was in the same world as the stars that I viewed as larger than life.

Alas, I am graduating in May, and will no longer enjoy life as a college student for the rest of my days.  Every bit of the college stereotype has been true for me, and I wouldn't trade my experience for anything.  This has been the best four years of my life, chock full of memories and moments that will stay with me forever.  I'm glad to say that the Saturday afternoons and evenings (and the occasional Thursday night) I've spent in Lane Stadium with 66,233 of my brethren joining for one cause has given me some of the best snapshots of my time here in Blacksburg.

I have come to terms, after much sad realization, that when I come visit my friends next year on weekends and pay $40 for a guest ticket, it will not be the same experience.  Sure, I still will don the maroon and orange proudly while tailgating with my best friends, but I'll be doing it as a real, legitimate adult with a real job and real life outside of chemistry midterms, fraternity parties and Bud Light.  I will be an alumnus.  I'll get the Alumni Newsletter, reminisce on my glory days and have a 9-5.  There's just something different about being a student on a college campus.  It's our world and we know it.  So does everyone else.

After the final seconds ticked off the scoreboard on Saturday, I stood and applauded my unpredictable team like they were my brothers.  I sat on the bleachers while the rest of the North Stands milled like ants towards the exits and soaked in the final moments of Tech Saturday's.  The senior football players, who I have watched for the past four years, proceeded to take a slow lap around Worsham Field in a final wave and thank you, not just to the crowd that remained, but to ME.  I stayed.  I clapped till my hands were red and knew this was my last Saturday. 

Oh, I'll still watch the games in my jersey, screaming at bad calls and stupid penalties, cheering at touchdowns, and wishing I were there in the North End Zone with my friends.  It'll just be from my couch.