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The
Right Message
A great weekend for Virginia
collegiate football started with handshakes on the
50 and the defense of final exams.
In the wake of unprecedented violence between players and
fans at an NBA game and two on-the-field brawls
between South Carolina and Clemson football
players earlier in November, it would have been
easy to imagine trouble when the University of
Virginia traveled to Virginia Tech for the annual
Commonwealth Cup rivalry game Nov. 27. Adding to
the pressure was Tech’s move earlier this year
into the Atlantic Coast Conference and equal 8-2
records that left both the Hokies and the
Cavaliers with a shot at a piece of the conference
championship.
But in a week in which Sports
Illustrated featured “Sportsrage” as its
cover story, athletic directors at both Virginia
universities suggested something a little
different immediately before the kickoff. Instead
of pushing and shoving, taunting and talking
trash, offensive and defensive team starters and a
bevy of coaches from both UVa and VT walked to the
center of Worsham Field in Lane Stadium before the
game to shake hands.
Many of the players had played against one another, some
with one another across top high school programs
in
Virginia
as well as in past VT-UVa games. The simple
gesture of meeting at the 50-yard line signaled to
players and fans alike that the competition would
be hard, but fair and without what euphemistically
are called “extracurricular activities.”
Such sportsmanship isn’t rare in college athletics, where
thousands of student-athletes compete each year in
dozens of different sports, but its simple
expression is often overlooked where winning is
considered the only measure of success.
Sportsmanship is particularly important in
football, where high-speed collisions are the
norm, rage always is in danger of growing as a
motivational tool and the mind-boggling roar of
the home crowd can be an advantage. The intensity
to establish who deserves to raise the “We’re
No. 1” foam finger is no greater in any other
sport.
At their best, such sporting contests are “strong mind,
strong body” exercises for the athletes
themselves, but they also have extraordinary value
as gathering points for students, alumni and wider
audiences. The recognition given Virginia Tech
football seniors in their last home game, for
example, was followed by recognition of the death
in Iraq of a former member of the Tech Corps of
Cadets and of the Virginia Teacher of the Year,
also a former student at Tech. Sixty-five thousand
fans gave a moment of silence to the memory of the
soldier and a roar to the teacher before rising to
a deafening welcome for the football teams.
The presidents of the two universities, John Casteen of the
University of Virginia and
Charles Steger
of Virginia Tech, set the tone of “coopetition”--both
cooperation and competition--for the day in brief
remarks to Virginia business, community and
political leaders at a Commonwealth Day brunch
before the game. Steger welcomed the ‘Hoos to
Blacksburg and expressed his pride in joining UVa
in the prestigious Atlantic Coast Conference.
Casteen complemented Virginia Tech’s leadership
in research and science, which have become
priorities at UVa more recently, and expressed his
interest in closer collaboration between the two
universities.
Across the state, meanwhile, on a football Saturday that
The
Washington Post described as having a
“Virginia flavor,” the football teams of two
other great Virginia academic institutions, the
College of William and Mary and Hampton
University, took the field in the Division I-AA
playoffs. James Madison University was in action
in those same playoffs in Pennsylvania against
Lehigh. With hard-fought wins and no
unsportsmanlike incidents, William & Mary and
James Madison advanced to the next round with
victories.
For the record, Virginia Tech also won the football game in
Blacksburg 24-10 over the Cavaliers with a second-half
offensive explosion and now has the chance to win
the ACC championship outright by beating the
University of Miami Hurricanes on December 4. But
Tech and UVa have clinched appearances in
post-season bowl games, which will give both
another opportunity to compete at a high level,
gather their fans and showcase their
sportsmanship. William and Mary and James Madison
have similar chances in round two of their
playoffs.
UVa went a step further on Saturday, however, by announcing
that it would not consider participating in a
football bowl game that could interfere with its
final exams Dec. 13 to 21. “It is important for
the University to send the right message to its
students, faculty, and alumni that academics come
first at UVa, and that we cannot disrupt the final
exam schedule for a sporting event,” said
President Casteen in a written statement. Amen.
On
and off the field, Virginia universities continue
to send the right message at the right time.
All-American presidents, rectors and boards of
visitors are seeing to that.
--
November 29, 2004
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