The Rocky Mountain Collegian

April 18th, 2007

Today, We’re All Hokies.

You, faithful reader, are probably sick of hearing about the Virginia Tech shootings.

You’re probably exhausted with the media coverage of the shootings.

But this situation hits a little closer to home than most realize.

The similarities are striking between VT and CSU.

-Both are land grant universities.

-VT was founded two years after CSU.

-Blacksburg, much like Fort Collins, is regarded as a tight-knit community.

Delve closer with me:

-Myron Guillory, former recruiting coach for the Ram’s men’s basketball team played four years of basketball at Tech, 1994-1998.

-Marquie Cook, who had a short stint with the Ram’s basketball team, was a transfer student from Tech.

-Colorado State just last year played Tech on our home floor of Moby Arena.

Though Virginia Tech is miles and miles away, we as college students, as people are all affected by the shootings.

I implore you to never forget what happened at VT. I know I will never be able to shake this from my memory, and I can’t even imagine how the students at the university feel.

Now, because you are all smart, you’re asking me, “Cole, what does this have to do with CSU Sports?”

Well, little to nothing. This does have an affect on the collegiate sports community as a whole. Imagine, God forbid, that something like this happened in laid-back Fort Collins.

Imagine, no Green and Gold game this Saturday.

Imagine holding a memorial at Moby for your fallen comrades, students, and faculty.

Imagine having all you’re classes cancelled, when all you want to do is return to normalcy.

These are all things that Tech students are dealing with right now. They cancelled their spring football game, which is a huge deal in Blacksburg, as is anything to do with the football team there.

The university held a memorial service for the slain Hokies in their basketball gymnasium.

The university cancelled classes for the rest of the week.

For the normal hindrances in my life, when school gets too tough, or when money is tight, I turn to sports for a quick distraction. Nothing can take me out of my life like sports can. CSU football is one of those sports that alleviate worry from my life. Three hours of collegiate football atmosphere.

September 1^st. One hundred thirty-six days from today. One hundred thirty-six days before the Virginia Tech Hokies can escape into collegiate football. One hundred thirty-six days until life can return to relative normalcy for the Hokies, even if it is for three hours.

I never had a particular affinity for Virginia Tech. I’ve never really thought Mike Vick was that good, nor his brother Marcus Vick, I’ve always thought Kevin Jones was overrated. I liked the University of Virginia, because they always seemed to be the underdog to Tech.

I’m a Ram. I’m a Hokie now too, as are all of us here at CSU.

So September first, grab a beer, take a seat in your recliner, and escape with the entire town of Blacksburg, Virginia, a town much like Fort Collins, and just escape.

Go Hokies.

Take care of each other.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 18th, 2007 at 12:21 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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