My nephew applied early decision to VT and has been deferred to spring. If he gets in, he really wants to join The Corps. Given that we are in Northern Virginia for the holidays, I offered to take him to the bowl game, and he jumped at the chance. His grandfather (my late father-in-law) was a colonel in the Army and is buried at Arlington. My dad served in the Navy in WWII and was a '49 Hokie. We have lots of military tradition in the family, so I figure The Military Bowl should have good karma. I know what to do at Lane Stadium, but I do not know anyone going to the game, and this will be my first bowl game ever. Ryan has never been to a bowl game, VT game...not even a college football game. You can tell the kid really wants to do this if he is willing to go with his middle-aged aunt to his first VT game. Apart from the Hokie Club tailgate that is open to everyone, do you have any suggestions for how I can make this a great experience for him?
Bowl Initiation
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Buy him some swag and teach him the traditions (key play, songs, etc). It might just be me but stories like Sam Rogers' are part of what makes VT so special to me.
If that fails teach him the shmoney dance and tell him to watch Bucky do Bucky things.
+1 for the Shmoney Dance. Shoulda taught him that ABOUT A WEEK AGGGGOOOOOOOO
Take him to parade tomorrow. See the MVs do the Hokie Pokie. I don't know if Highty Tighties are included in allotment of Corps tickets, but they could be there too
If you are in DC area tonight take him to tech talk live tonight at team hotel. Also just walk around and meet other HOKIES.
I hope your nephew has an awesome time! This is my first bowl game and my last game as an undergrad so I'm pretty pumped! Take him out for some Maryland blue crabs!
He will find out about the tradition of the Radford girls all on his own.
"He will find out about the tradition of the Radford girls all on his own."
30 minutes later I'm still LMAO! #homebrew
Not sure they would Maryland crabs this late in the season if they are fresh. Probably those Texas or Louisiana ones. But I get what you are suggesting.
My aunt used to live in Maryland, and IIRC, their rule for eating crab is "only months with an R"... so, maybe?
No, that's oysters.
Crabs migrate in and out of the bay.
Water is too cold this time of year, they have moved out into the ocean.
They'll follow the warm water back into the bay in the late spring.
Ah, ty. Vague memories about some sort of seafood rule, lol!
I hope you guys had a great time, picked the perfect game to go to!
We had a great time! Per your suggestions, I bought Ryan some swag, though we didn't get to Annapolis early enough to see the parade. Like the rest of the Hokie faithful, we stood for pretty much the entire game yelling our heads off. I asked him afterwards if the experience was what he had expected, and he said no--that he really didn't expect to feel the excitement and be caught up in the spirit like he was. What an introduction to Hokie football!
By the way, as we exited the stadium with the sense of exhilaration still filling the air, we walked past a group of students, and I recognized Brandon Facyson on crutches. I called out to him--"Good luck with getting better, Brandon"...then as I started to say, "we'll see you next year," he shouted back "I'll be back next year!" He clearly looked pumped to get back in the line-up and was just as giddy as we all were for the bowl win.
Best Aunt ever? Best Aunt ever.