OT - Snowy times at Tech

Today's snowstorm in Richmond got me thinking about a couple memories of the white stuff in B'burg.

Freshman year I was unaware of the corps vs. civilians snowball fight. They should really tell you at orientation. Anyway at that time Pritchard like a lot of older dorms had radiant heat (maybe it still does) and as I recall once the heat kicked on for the winter we didn't have much control over the temp in our room. Maintenance, however, apparently felt that "inside a volcano" was what they were going for. So on many days, including the day of the first big snowfall that year, we left our window open with just the screen up. This would prove to be a significant tactical error. A phalanx of cadets had successfully overpowered a much larger group of civilians on the front lines and forged their way through the nearly foot of snow to the prairie quad. And as I soon sat at my desk wiping from my face the exploded remnants of a torrent of perfectly placed snowballs delivered by a few rocket-armed VTCC snipers, as Ron Burgundy says, I wasn't even mad. Just impressed. Whoever you are, you warriors, I salute you.

The second memory is of "the snow game" against Maryland that same winter. A particularly icy storm made I-81 even more of a life-or-death proposition than usual and the university therefore took steps to discourage travel, possibly even shutting down Cassell to outsiders (I can't 100% remember.) But it was also the thick of ACC play, we looked like a team that could make a deep tournament run, and Maryland was pretty good that year. So an empty Cassell wasn't an option. In one of Jim Weaver's better moves it was determined that any student with a valid ID would be allowed in, and most if not all seating would be general admission. I have never been in an environment more unhinged than that night surrounded by 8,000 snowed-in, liquored-up students. When Sandman hit it felt like the place was going to collapse. One Maryland player - a relatively unknown but cocky freshman named Greivis Vasquez - bounced, clapped and nodded along. Most of his teammates were less enthused. Some were visibly shaken. The madness never stopped from the tip to the horn and of course we won the game. I don't think the '96 Bulls would have beaten us that night.

Share your memories if you got them. I have nowhere to go today.