Thinking back to the Pitt game on Saturday...we are barely winning against a team that has beaten us the last four times we played them and the student section started the freakin' wave. Really. They did. At Lane Stadium. Not only were fans not watching the game, they were cheering and stomping while we had the ball - while we were supposed to be quietly watching our team. What kind of message does this send to our team?? Not one that I am proud of.
And then there are the airplanes. This nonsense started on October 29, 2009. It was my birthday and we were playing UNC on a Thursday night. We were losing. And then it started - airplane after airplane flying over my head. Unbelievable - people weren't supporting the team - they were waiting for the stupid planes to land on the field. Yeah, I'm still bitter about that night, not Danny Coale bitter, but bitter. Can't the university make a statement that any students whose tickets are found will receive a punishment??
Yes, I know - the crowd gets loud and Hokies fans are the best - but we could be SO MUCH BETTER!!!
Comments
As an alumni sitting in North via student guest season tickets, I feel your pain. I was getting mad at the wave and the paper planes. I was getting mad at the idiot in front of me that wasn't even facing the game so he could talk about how drunk he got last night. I was mad at the girl who said she wanted to go home because "sleep takes priority over football."
Then I decided to just let it go. For every little thing that "fake" Hokie fans did that annoyed me, I just yelled louder on defense. I started yelling when Pitt was in the huddle to encourage the other students to start yelling (it worked). There is nothing I can do to change the mind of students nowadays that either don't care about the team or are spoiled with our continuous success. Not everyone is going to bleed Maroon and Orange like I do. Not everyone is going to realize that you only get a max of 6 of these events per year.
Those of us who live and breathe Hokie Football on Fall Saturday's (and sometimes Thursday) just need to do everything we can to set an example for what everyone in the student section SHOULD be doing and after that just let it go.
Near halftime, when the band was lining up on the field, a friend and I took it upon ourselves to get the "nah, nah, nah, nah, nah-nah. HEY! WE JUST SACKED YOU!" chant going. The people behind us had never heard of it. It felt good to educate newer members of Hokie Nation.
Everyone needs to know this song!!!!!!!!!
Can't say I've ever heard that myself.
Hey We Just sacked You!
Hey We'll do it again!
Hey I think he likes it!
No one in my section ever has any clue as to what I'm yelling. Depressing...
that's gotta make you feel like this guy
Educate the masses.
We really starting this discussion again?
Sorry, Horse
Oh man...not more deceased equine flagellation.
This would be really annoying and stupid... if the arm wasn't moving so comically fast.
At least its fitting. And yes, that arm is moving comically fast.
You dudes cannot be serious, the paper airplanes are great. VT has had halftime competitions of who could get the airplane to hit a target on the field. What you guys need to realize is that not all 65,000 people in the stadium are diehard Football fans. Lets just keep this board to football talk. Now how bout that D-line!
"edit" WOW, never seen so many Downvotes, especially for my opinion on Paper Airplanes. C'mon fellas, lets lighten up and just be happy we are bowl bound.
We shouldn't downvote opinions, as this is Hokiejoe's opinion. But I will tell you this, Hokiejoe, from the diehard fans who do care about the team and the game, we honestly wish everyone who throws a paper airplane would never show up to another game. You can throw paper airplanes off the top of Slusher Tower and try to get them to the drillfield. You can throw paper airplanes across Torg Bridge.
But when you go to a football game, you're there in support of your team. Not to take selfies, not to instagram the jumbotron, and you're sure as hell not in Lane Fucking Stadium to throw a damn piece of paper onto Worsham Field. Support your team. That's what you paid your ticket for. Act like a Hokie, not a dumbass Wahoo who doesn't care about their football team.
Since when did throwing trash (or anything else) at games become acceptable!?
*BTW, I upvoted ya about throwing planes (which I disagree with) but I don't think you should have -22 turkey legs for stating your opinion.
I saw a poor old Klempson fan get srtuck by random airplane bottles and turkey legs one upon a time in '06, '07?
I got hit in the head with a can of dip last year...yeah, people (especially drunk students) are pretty stupid
im with ya man, why does this get under the skin of so many people? why is it impossible to be a diehard fan AND have a little fun at the game? i have a friend on the team ive mentioned it to him before and he said it doesnt bother him or the team in general at all. just drink another beer and chill out.
The FUN at the game is the GAME!!!! It's going home with no voice and knowing that you had a part in creating the most disruptive atmosphere possible to help the defense!! Throw airplanes the other 164 hours of the week.
There are several problems here...
The competition WAS at halftime. Not in the second quarter, or third quarter, or last 5 minutes of a close game. If it sanctioned by the school at half, chunk away. Otherwise, put them away and go to the drill field.
There are enough fans looking for tickets that would happily fill the seats and enjoy the game, without having to fill their ADD time by throwing stuff onto the field. If this is the only way that you will attend, and the manner in which you justify the action, then please pass your ticket along to someone that will stay the entire game, root for the Hokies on every Key Play, and pay attention to what's going on on the field without doing something that offends other Hokies in the stands.
And yes, we are serious. And don't call me Shirely.
I am serious, and don't call me Shirley.
First off, as someone else said, do we really have to go over this again?
Secondly, that quote isn't actually true as exhibited by the end of the sellout streak. I think some of our fanbase needs to stop alienating fans who don't spend their entire weekend watching football and instead come up with creative ways to make the games more engaging for those fans.
I was at the game and when the fans did a wave (and made a lot of noise) while we had a 3rd and long (we didn't get it by the way and ended up punting) I texted about it to a friend of mine who was watching the game on TV. He said that the announcers were commenting on how bad the fan support was. This is NOT the Virginia Tech fanbase I thought I knew. :(
very disappointed.
The thing is, other than that, support was pretty good.
Wasn't a lot of noise during offense but, I thought the noise on offense was not what we really wanted until after the snap.
Am I wrong here? I know those guys need the adrenaline rush too but, isn't it a problem for snap counts and audibles?
I thought the noise level after the snap and during defense was pretty respectable especially for a slightly rainy overcast day.
Yell on defense, shut the eff up on offense. That's how it goes for the home team (for good fan bases anyways). Then cheer like hell when LT3 puts the team on his back and makes stuff happen all by his lonesome (with occasional help from his receivers).
For any trolling UNC fans,
Cheering when your team's on offense is a great strategy.
Ok thanks, I needed a reality check. Load on defense erupt in obnoxious praise when we make a good play on offense.
Check.
I'll get downvoted to hell for this but I don't mind the paper planes. Maybe it's cause they've been a thing since I got here 2 years ago and I can't remember a time before them. But in general they're only thrown during long breaks in the action (timeouts/between quarters/directly following a score) and aren't usually a distraction from anything important going on in the game. I don't personally throw them but I have no problem with those who do, and get a real kick out of when the crowd goes nuts when one come close to landing on the field. I'm someone who loves football and hates when people leave early/sit down/ stare at their phones and do other things that take away from the gameday environment and make our student section an embarrassment, just as most posters here do, but the paper planes are something I've just never personally had a problem with or understood why people hate them so much.
I do hate the wave though, especially since we were on offense. That was stupid. Student section got ridiculously loud for an offensive 3rd-and-long situation which was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen.
You didn't deserve all the negative turkey legs for stating your opinion, especially since it placed football over the wave and the airplanes. But people do however throw the airplanes at inappropriate times which is why many people (including myself) don't care for them.
Precisely, timing is everything. Plus, I was there when the paper airplane thing started, when we played UNC and lost in 2009. It was awful, and I blame the paper airplanes and those fans more excited about cheering on little paper planes than cheering on their team.
Wave or not, you guys sounded pretty loud through my tv.
LANE is getting better each week. Still too many folks leaving early but it's looking a lot better than it did some of last year and much of this season. I know when I'm there for the maryland game, I'm going to try to get in that section of the north to the top right that seems to be scarce every week.
If people really want to throw paper airplanes, someone should organize a throwing event for AFTER the game. Then the throwers have to stay all 60 minutes, and it can't happen during a play. If the school sponsored it, they could track anyone who threw early. It would be something, although the best option would be to sack up and give real tickets to students.
Ok, weighing into the paper airplane debate...
I have never experienced the paper airplanes. Last game I was able to see was against Central Mich several years ago, and I saw no planes. Before that time had not been back for a game since '99 when I graduated. (Living overseas makes it so damn hard to see live games... sigh... )
But my 2 cents is this: I think gameday traditions change and evolve over time. I am not sure when shaking the Keys started exactly (mid-1980's I know) but it caught on. And we do it on 3rd downs. Keys make noise, shocker, while our offense is playing. I have talked to other older fans that find the "key play" tradition exceedingly stupid, or at least did when it started. But it's our tradition and as this website's name proves those new fangled ideas by younger fans catch on and become something more.
So on its merits I am not opposed to the airplanes, but I wish it could symbolize something more than apathy or disinterest. For example, when Logan delivered the airmail to the Paperboy for 83 yards, then the bombers go flying. Or if our kickers boom a punt or make a long FG, then the bombers come out. Or perhaps its part of our timeouts, tv timeouts, half time... something.
Right now the planes are used as something negative. If the students really enjoy the planes then give it meaning and let it become something more. New traditions help new generations of fans become diehard Hokies, and I think everyone on this site is for more of those.
What he said
Key plays are only supposed to be when we're on defense, at least that's what it was when I was there.
The difference between key plays and paper airplanes is that key plays make it noisy for the opposing offense to work. Paper airplanes offer no such advantage, and makes our fan base look amateurish and disinterested on tv.
Hear, hear. Throwing a paper airplane is a universally understood symbol of, "I'm bored." That's what it always meant in grade school - boredom and (minor) rebellion. If people really find it entertaining, let's do what VTrumpet said above. We're an engineering school for crying out loud, if you want to express that by building paper airplanes, then let's make it a contest after the game. Toss from the top of the East Stands and the one who makes it closest to the middle of the big VT at the 50 wins a pair of tickets to the next home game. It means you have to stay the whole time and think a bit creatively.
All that said, these debates are getting tired. Everyone complains about the fans. My opinion has always been, and will always be: act like the fan you want to see. Teach the people around you the cheers, the fight song, when to pull out their keys, etc. Chant "Stick It In" when appropriate, and make hellacious noise starting during the opponents' huddle (a tradition long since forgotten, it seems).
Perhaps now it is only for Defensive plays but when I was there we did for both.
According to VT website on traditions it for Offensive plays:
http://www.unirel.vt.edu/history/students_alumni/traditions.html
I see. I don't get it, though, I always figured we should be quiet when our offense was operating.
Same here. When I was new in Lane, the upperclassmen would bark at the n00bs who got their keys out on offense. Quiet, offense at work!
Yeah I can mostly remember defensive play but I have one clear memory of students taking keys out all game for offense. But this is what I mean about traditions evolving. It may in fact now be exclusively for Defense and that's totally cool. Better in fact. So I think we can find a way to make new things into traditions as well. Whether that be paper airplanes or not is still up for debate though.
But please just find a legitimate reason to throw them.
I greatly commend you for the first constructive post/idea on this topic. I personally think it's a great idea.
For people who say a paper airplane is universally understood as boredom, I wholeheartedly disagree that it can't be made into an interesting and unique gesture/tradition. I'm confident the broadcast folks would catch on to when the airplanes are thrown rather quickly and mention it as being interesting rather than a sign of fan malaise. They are all about different/wacky traditions and conveying the "local environment" at the games, as that's much of the appeal of the college game anyway (why do you think Blackledge does Taste of the Town segments?).
Personally, I think we lack cheers, chants, and engaging events during the course of a game. Just think about how excited people get for the 15 seconds of Hardee's shuffle (or whatever it is these days). We don't even use the old Hokie cheer at all on gameday, which depresses me, and have lost Stick It In. Fernleyhokie came up with a unique idea on how to turn something that happens at games into a show of support for the team, which seems pretty cool to me.
thanks. I agree with what you said too.
Let's take something annoying and turn it into something unique. OK, so this plan is a 3 step process:
Step 1: TKP straw poll because if any segment of fans should decide what the definition of this new tradition is then it's TKP diehards. (I personally vote for long touchdown passes over 40 yards, but that may not be as often as fans like.)
Step 2: Someone informs the new meaning of the planes to the general student body. Do we have any cheerleaders or spirit squad members on TKP?
Step 3: Throw planes! (but only on the appropriate time)
FYI, the ESPN commentators mentioned that the wave was going around. That never looks good to a national audience.
And they said it in a very negative tone...made Lane look weak. Like they were downvoting the stadium.
Actually, I thought the context was more that we were dominating the game and therefore the fans had lost interest. Still doesn't look good on us, and I might have been the only one to take it that way...but that's how I took it.
I think a good compromise would be to replace the paper airplanes with paper sail boats. This could create a cool effect when the wave comes around.
Someone in the AD department should just make up a story about a student getting hit in the eye with a paper airplane and that students will be reprimanded if they are seen throwing them. Problem solved.
Yeah I love when the cops tell people to stop throwing girls in the air too. Thats so dangerous!
sarcasm.
Why the hell did I waste my time with this forum
Yeah really. If they banned the "Stick it in" chant, at least do everyone a solid and cut out the paper airplanes.
The paper airplanes create a 12th man effect. Us die hards need to step up our game so we can be the 13th man!
The normal Hokie fan throws paper airplanes in attempt to distract the opposing team as they are in constant fear that they will get hit by an airplane. Nobody wants to get hit by an airplane.
The wave was a brilliant idea as it was meant to throw off the defense as the whole stadium is mimicking the ocean. This shows they're in unfamiliar territory, therefore once again putting them in constant fear, this time of drowning. Our offense, on the other hand, is smart enough to know that this is merely a ploy and that they will not actually drown in a sea of Hokies.
So these "disinterested" fans created the 12th man effect on Saturday's game, what will do you... I for one am for a 13 vs. 11 competition
orange effect 2014 ideas?
Winds up, brah!
I was about to be pissed about this post, but then realized it has to be a troll post. Waves at Lane are awesome.
Timing is everything. Halftime or a TV timeout: great! 3rd and long on our own 30ish, not so great.
Some people take watching a football game way too seriously. Can't we just have some fun?
Really Bro!? Why don't see how many zimas we can pound and then brag about our recruiting class as we grind out the good old song? #FUCKTHAT! Show up, down a handle, JUMP SANDMAN!, Yell on D, shake my keys on 3rd and shut up on offense. That's what I fucking do!
How'd you get downvoted for what has culminated alongside the rise of BeamerBall for the last two decades? C'mon people...
I made it to my first game, the BC game I think in 2011, where DW did that flip into the endzone. I saw the paper airplanes about the 3rd or 4th quarter, a lot of them, and I had no idea it wasn't a tradition. I thought "that's cool," I'd never seen anything like it. Full disclosure, I actually got up the nerve to make & throw one near the end of the 4th (wife was trying to convince me I'd get in trouble if it hit the field, which I was pretty sure it wouldn't make from where we were sitting).
Of course, JMU fans throw party streamers after every touchdown, even at away games. Even saw them on TV when they were in the playoffs a few years ago at that indoor stadium.
Why don't we ask what SAM ROGERS has to say on the topic?
Going out on a ledge here...
I think it is possible to both scream my head off at all appropriate moments... and make paper airplanes. This is a three hour plus sporting event. It's not soccer, there are tv time outs and lulls in the action. It's not like people are doing homework in the stands, folding a piece of paper into an airplane takes like, 30 seconds.
I've just never understood why people are so vehemently against it.
Leaving early though... that's unjustifiable.
Well, when people are more inclined to cheer on a paper airplane heading slowly towards the field than to cheer on the players on the field, that's when it gets obnoxious. Plus, 95% of those things just end up hitting other fans in the face anyways.
I think the BC game two years ago, one of the airplanes hit a BC player in the helmet, it was pretty hilarious.
If you hit an opposing player in the helmet with a paper airplane I think you should get a pass. I'd pee my pants out of laughter if I ever saw that.
"It's not like people are doing homework in the stands"
And that's why paper airplanes aren't thrown at Georgia Tech
It starts with the paper airplanes my friend...and then boom. Homework in the stands.
I. Hate. The. Wave.
To me, The Wave means, "My cell phone battery is dead, entertain me! WOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
The wave should only be considered when we have our second string QB in for mop up time. That is all.
I just watched the replay again. Starting at about 3.5 minutes left in the first half, they mention 3 times the crowd being a factor. the mention it once, then there's a false start penalty on PITT then they mention the noise again.
There's a TV timeout and the wave starts because the TV timeout seems to go on sooo long. I was looking at the TV timeout guy because it seemed to drag. they did the normal commercial break then a game update and some commentary so, it was long.
The wave is assisted by everybody, band, highty tighties, cheerleaders, the crowd.
Then play starts again and the TV commentator makes mention. I think the TV guys overblew it a bit.
The crowd was loud in the background.
I didn't participate but, it wasn't a matter with the crowd not paying attention.
hokie confession: i dont mind the wave. hell i've been to games where we booed the west stands for letting the wave die. and as far as the pitt homer announcers who were nitpicking every thing they could think of from loeffler's time management to how loud skipper is, i say who gives a shit? i swear some people treat espn like the kids at the cool table in high school, "i hate them they're such snobs, but oooh wait what did they say about me? do you think they like me?
paper airplanes: maybe, maybe, maybe the very first time one flew over my shoulder i chuckled because it got to the sideline but once it was a veritable barrage i was quickly over them. no littering children.
hell, i think the "o" during the national anthem is offensive and i smh every time i hear it. some folks disagree citing precedence at baltimore. personally i could give a shit what they do at orioles games but that's just me. i'm not gonna come on here and bitch and moan after every national anthem.
I don't really mind the national anthem thing since I'm from that area. However I do take exception to all the people who aren't from that area who still yell "O".
I'm with you on the national anthem bit especially. It's not a time for you to show pride in your hometown baseball team (and seriously? Baseball? Who cares about baseball anymore? What is this, the 20's?). It's a time to be proud of your country and what it stands for, in theory anyway.
Also, your comment about ESPN/high school could not possibly be more accurate.
I had a guy give me crap because I didn't remove my cap during the anthem.
I was rendering a hand salute and Navy never salutes without a cover. So, the hat had to stay on to perform the salute. The guys heart was in the right place but, I thought it the correct forum to perhaps educate. Navy salutes with hat on (outdoors), some other services can salute with hat off.
The paper airplanes are a joke. Serious football fan or not, throwing paper airplanes like a 5th grader, no matter where you are, is immature. Plain and simple.
If paper airplanes and the wave are the biggest things being discussed in mid-october we must be doing something right.
^THIS.
You bitches need to hug it out
I can't believe that the complaining about airplanes continues.
When I was at games back in the day, I was hit with empty cups, pizza box tops, ice, airplane bottles, and more. If you sat in the student section, it was almost expected to have to dodge something during the game. Cause guess what, it was the student section. Students tend to do stupid shit. I remember bringing my parents to the UVA game one year and thinking to myself that they may be coated in soda before the end of the game. A paper airplane would be the least of my worries.
And the wave? Seriously, there are complaints about doing the wave? That was something else that happened all the time when I was in school. In fact, I helped start a wave that went like 20 rounds during one of the Miami games. The wave is in fact a sign of cheering your team on. Yes, timing is everything (ie, don't do it during a play), but its a universally accepted cheer at just about all sports.
Everyone is different. We all experience the game in different ways. Some of you hate the airplanes and waves, but guess what, some of us hate drunk people at the game (I don't know why anyone would want to sully the game day experience by standing there in a haze the whole time). People say that you should be there to watch the game and not throw an airplane. OK, I get that, but if you are drunk off whiskey, do you even remember the game?
Anyway, people enjoy games differently. We should have more forum posts about game play and recruiting and drop these constant complaints about the fans. Like it or not, we are all Hokies dammit.
Agreed, but WHAT ABOUT ALL THE DOWNVOTES?!?! SOMEONE NEEDS TO HOLD THE INTERNET RESPONSIBLE!!!
It has gotten a bit out of control, hasn't it?