Getting even, feeling good

Last July, I wrote a column in which I said I was “finally over Bill Brill.” I was wrong. I wasn’t over Brill at all.

I realized it on Saturday when the Virginia Tech Hokies defeated the University of Virginia Cavaliers at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg. I was elated that the former sports editor for The Roanoke Times was wrong in his prediction that the Hokies would not win an Atlantic Coast Conference championship in his lifetime.

On Saturday afternoon, that’s exactly what the Hokies did.

They won a share of it with a chance to stand on the podium alone if they defeat the University of Miami this coming weekend.

If Brill is still kicking around Durham, somebody better check his pulse.

Doug Doughty, Roanoke Times sports writer who reported Brill’s words, gave the Hokies two options: “get angry or get even.” Saturday afternoon, we got even. It felt good.

That’s what is so great about college football: It’s good for what ails you. It mends both body and soul.

Heywood Hale Broun, another major league sportswriter, understood this when he wrote, “Football is, after all, a wonderful way to get rid of your aggression without going to jail.”

He may have been talking about players hitting and tackling each other on the field, but his statement applies to fans, too. You might be filled with angst, anger, or frustration. You might have some mental soreness, but the players’ actions can snag your imagination, taking you right into the game. You lean into the people sitting on either side of you, your elbows digging into their sides, as you block for the runner to get through. I’ve blocked a few people and have had to work hard to keep from falling when someone next to me leans into me too hard. Vicarious blocking and tackling can work as well as the real thing to dissolve psychological tensions.

Football watching is an aerobic exercise, too. Faye Marcum of Blacksburg spoke for many fans after the game. “I’m worn out,” she told me. “It began in the first quarter.”

“Ditto,” I said. That’s because at VT, the term spectator sport doesn’t mean sitting calmly watching a football game like you would a movie. Spectator sport means what it says: it’s active participation in the game. 

Most walk a good distance to get to the stadium. Then they have to find their seats, which can be high up in the nosebleed section. Climbing steep steps can rival climbing Mt. Everest’s Hillary Step. That’s when you wonder if an oxygen tank might not be more useful than the Coke you bought before heading to your seat. When you get there, you think twice about drinking it, for that might result in a restroom call, which would require going out and climbing the stairs again. You can’t look forward to sitting either. On Saturday, everyone around me stood for four hours. Sitting was in brief spurts only -- during TV and coaches’ timeouts, which were few and far between in the second half.

You don’t stand idly either. You have to jump, high-five, shout, shake your keys on key plays, clap, stomp and whatever else it takes to help the team win. It’s a workout that rivals anything you get at a gym and is as intense as what the players endure on the field.

Watching a football game is a life lesson, too. It was former University of Alabama coach Paul “Bear” Bryant who said, “You can learn a lot on a football field that isn’t taught in the home, the church or the classroom” and “In life you’ll have your back up against the wall many times. You might as well get used to it.” He was talking about the players’ on-field education, but his statement refers to the fans, also.

Coaches tell their running backs to keep their feet moving. You never know where you will end up, they say. It’s only when they stop moving that they are defeated. It’s these little battles that determine whether the team wins or loses the war. It’s what the VT coaches and players have done this season: they’ve not let down, they’ve kept moving to get from a middle of the pack team to first place. They won enough of the battles on Saturday to put the war in their win column. Fans realize that they can do the same thing: By continuing to act they give themselves a chance to succeed.

Both the VT and UVa teams schooled fans in the spirit of sportsmanship. From their meeting midfield to shake hands before the game to their handclasps after the game, they fought a clean, tough contest. With fresh images of pro-basketball players leaping into the stands to punch fans, of two college teams’ players hitting and kicking each other, fans found this game was different. Using Bryant’s words again: the teams honored their responsibility to “show class, have pride and display character.” “If you do,” said Bryant, “winning takes care of itself.”

He also said something else that would put Brill and Hokie fans at odds with one another once again, “I know one thing, I’d rather die now than to have died this morning and missed the game.”