Emily Moyers
Mrs. Huff
DE English B
28 October 2014 Hokie Town USA
The path through campus that many may take to Lane Stadium at Virginia Tech is extravagant. The scenery makes me feel as if I am at home. The beautiful, colorful Blue Ridge Mountains in the fall make it all the more festive because of the cornucopia of colors of the season. The rural landscape with many farms and cattle gives me a comforting feeling. The tall, maroon bird parades around the field like a marching band. The bird is short-necked and has enormous orange feet. The costume has white and maroon puffy tail feathers on its behind. The tall Hokie bird bounces as he walks around the football games. He bounces as he walks; with swagger in every step. Wearing the thick Hokie bird attire can be treacherous at times, due to the weight of the heavy maroon and orange costume and the lack of ventilation. The inside of the mascot costume smells rancid like a locker room full of sweaty, week-old practice, jerseys and is hot as a jalapeno pepper. When the mascot takes the costume off, he is drenched like someone just threw him into the duck pond. Sweat bullets run down his face. The Hokie bird runs out to the song “Enter Sandman” and performs in front of the maroon and orange crowd at Lane Stadium. He hits the good luck Hokie stone while prancing out of the tunnel. The stone is Hokie limestone mined from Virginia Tech’s own rock quary, and is the same stone used to build all of Virginia Tech’s buildings. Then he frolics in front of the Virginia Tech football players on the fresh cut, green field. The mascot awkwardly dances and jumps to the roar of the crowd, getting all of the Virginia Tech Hokie fans stimulated for the exciting game about to take place in the passionate heart of Blacksburg, Lane Stadium. The mascot eagerly throws his hands up and jumps enthusiastically up and down with the crowd. Traditionally, when Virginia Tech scores, the cheerleaders carry out a bench and weights, and the Hokie Bird benches one bench press for every point Virginia Tech scores. Being the Hokie bird mascot is like being the super star at the football games. Everyone, and particularly every kid, wants to come up and give the coolest mascot a high-five and a hug. The maroon and orange enthusiasts go all out for football games. Hokie fans come in all different sizes from tiny infants to older alumni. The fans do many entertaining games and activities before and after the game. For example, they may play extreme corn hole tournaments on boards decorated with maroon and orange and the Virginia Tech logo or noisy, drunken beer pong games. Tailgates are social events. Everyone catches up with old college friends or meets new Hokie fans like themselves. Fans can go to the Johnson’s blue and white Winnebago camper and watch the sports pre-game channel on their black, flat screen, Sony television. The Wilson’s red and gray Bluehawk camper is right beside that and alumni can be found discussing politics of the university, such as the inauguration of the university's new president, Dr. Timothy D. Sands. Many Hokie fans tailgate with a huge assortment of delicious foods and beverages. When walking past one colorful maroon and orange camper, one may get a whiff of the juicy, all-beef hotdogs which are smothered in beefy chili and Momma’s homemade slaw. The visitors may pass another camper and encounter the pleasant smells of the slow-cooked, pulled-pork barbeque with homemade slaw and deep fried, browned to perfection, hushpuppies. The mouth-watering smells may engulf one when they stroll through the Virginia Tech campus on game day. The different fraternities have huge buffets of their favorite meats and kegs of their favorite foamy, ice-cold beverages. All of the tailgaters are cheerful and ecstatic for the game that takes place in a few hours. For twelve o'clock games, it is not uncommon to see people start tailgating at seven o'clock in the morning. Most of the people