Trip Report - Inaugural ACC Championship Game

Trip Report - Inaugural ACC Championship Game
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The drive - from Allenhurst, GA to Jacksonville, FL is a fairly short
drive.. about two hours.. and most of it is either on I-95 or getting to
I-95. We saw a lot of Virginia Tech fans on the road, and two Florida
State vehicles, one of which cut me off at about 80 mph. Along the way,
we encountered an odd car.. with Florida Gators license plates and "F*CK
FSU, GO VT!" on the windows. The people inside were decked out in
Gators jerseys and apparently on their way to the game specifically to
root against Florida State. Very strange. As we got closer to the
stadium, two things became apparent. One, Floridians can't drive for
***. Two, the city planner/traffic engineer for the city of
Jacksonville needs to be eaten by wolves. There are no signs indicating
where anything can be found... or almost none, really. We ended up
driving down some convoluted road by the stadium that hairpinned on
itself to get around an off-ramp from I-95 (don't ask me), ending up in
the middle of a HUD development for a brief time where we were
approached by two exuberant youths with an apparently unhealthy interest
in our car. After a little bit of muddle and confusion, we ended up...

Parking - someone else from the city of Jacksonville that needs to be
eaten by wolves is whoever is responsible for allowing the incredible
$30.00 price for parking a car on a disused asphalt lot. Holy ***. We
got lucky and found a private house near the stadium where the owner was
charging a mere $15.00 to park in the yard, and we were grateful. The
owner informed us that for the Gator Bowl, the parking everywhere else
will be $50.00! FIFTY DOLLARS.. to park your car for four to eight
hours.. that's simply insane. While we were in the parking area for a
bit, we ended up cracking a few cold ones with a couple of other fans,
including two Seminoles fans who were good guys to chat with.
Interestingly, these guys were Seminole undergrads and are both
currently at Florida for their graduate work... hrm. Anyway, one of
them saw my "Iraqi Freedom Veteran" sticker on the back of the Taurus
and asked about the war and such, and we ended up talking about that
sort of stuff for a while. I'd end one bit, and the guy would literally
ask for another story or memory if I could think of one and didn't mind
talking about it. That guy wouldn't stop thanking me for serving, and
to be honest with you it felt just really surreal and almost
embarassing. We disengaged ourselves from the parking area gathering
and moved toward..

Alltel Stadium - the stadium is pretty nice on the outside, and not bad
on the inside (more on that later) .. there was a FanFest ($10
admittance.. no thanks, Jacksonville), and music playing, etc. We ended
up going to a bar near the stadium called "Tail Gate" where I got an
overpriced italian sausage sandwich with ketchup that apparently had
been mixed with beer (really) while Stacy got a gyro and we sat down to
watch the Big 12 Championship Game. We left at 42-3. I suspect Teh
Gary left substantially before that point of the game. Around this
time, I got a call from..

Harry Everhart - we met up with Harry and his wife Nancy at their
tailgating spot to which Harry had graciously invited us, and we had a
good time there chatting with folks, talking football, watching the U
$C/UCLA game, etc, etc. Harry is one of those people who is always
smiling.. literally. I don't think I saw him at any moment the entire
afternoon without a smile on his face. He ought to be smiling.. Nancy
is a charming lady who looks far younger than her age (I initially
thought when walking up that she was his daughter.. no, really.), with a
quick wit and an engaging personality. As I mentioned, we got a
lot of enjoyment out of spending some time with the Everharts and their
friends, one of whom was an interesting combination - Seminoles and
Trojans fan.. go figure. Thanks again for inviting us over, Harry.
>From the tailgate, we headed into..

Inside the Stadium - very, very strange mix of people inside the
stadium. There were Miami fans, in Miami jerseys.. who apparently had
tickets and couldn't get rid of them, I guess. Also at the game, I met
a West Virginia fan decked out head to toe in WVU gear. I asked him
what he was doing at the ACC Championship game and he said he was down
in Jacksonville and just wanted to attend. That's pretty cool. As we
started to get around more of them, we started to notice that many of
the younger Seminoles fans are very aggressive people.. some are
downright nasty. I began to hope that I was seeing the bad eggs, the
drunks, etc... and found out that in some ways, I was, as we headed to..

Our Seats/The Game - our seats were great.. we were on the 50 in the
upper deck (I like to sit up there so I can see everything, see plays
developing downfield, etc). In front of us were Hokies fans including
two beautiful co-eds, and behind us were quite a lot of Florida State
fans, including one who was extremely belligerent and was warned by
Alltel Stadium personnel to cool it or be kicked out (around the 1st
quarter). The Warchant is something to behold, particularly if you've
never seen/heard it. I was impressed. Some of the fans around us, and
in many directions within our line of sight.. were things to behold, as
well, but not in any kind of good way. I was dismayed to see that the
assholishness seen in the concourse extended to most of the fans in
garnet and gold below the age of thirty. Many of the FSU fans seemed
delighted to be able to talk smack at the VT fans.. more delighted in
that than at the fact that their team was ahead on the scoreboard..
silly, childish, ridiculous really. There was one mother and son near
us who left the area (possibly the game) after the tenth comment from
the *** behind us about his "***", his "hairy ass", or the
"pussies" on the field, etc. No less than three older Seminoles fans
came over and apologized for this clown's behavior, as well as that of
those with him. One younger guy said to me, "Don't think our whole
school is as much of an *** as this guy.. don't judge the whole tree
by a few bad apples." Fair enough, but F$U fans reminded me an awful
lot of WVU fans.. and that's not a compliment, as anyone outside of
Morgantown without a rooting interest in the Mountaineers knows very
well. Speaking of which, I forgot to mention that the WVU fan we saw
there made mention of WVU being known for having the worst fans in
college football and that they were proud of said reputation at WVU. As
for the play on the field itself.. heh.. there's only three words to
describe what transpired.. though I know the responses to this are
inevitable..

WE WUZ ROBBED. In the first half, we got a taste of what it's like
playing Florida State in Florida in a game that matters. The officials
are completely and utterly incapable of seeing them commit pass
interference. On many occasions (at LEAST 8), a Virginia Tech receiver
was wearing a Florida State defender for a backpack way before the ball
got to the receiver.. and not until late in the fourth quarter was a PI
ever called on the 'Noles. It reminded many in our area of attempting
to get a foul called on Duke in Cameron Indoor. I spoke to a Seminole
friend on the phone during halftime. Quoth the friend, "I'm sorry.. I
wish I could say otherwise, but you guys are getting HOSED." The
(older) Seminoles behind us agreed with those of us in maroon and orange
on more than a few of the calls. It was just brutal, and it played a
definite (and deciding, in the end) factor in the outcome of the game,
which is troubling to me. I've seen games on TV where I was pretty sure
the officiating had changed the outcome.. even games involving my team.
This game was the first time I can remember leaving the game feeling
that my team had just beeen cheated out of a win by the officials. I've
been to losses before.. they happen. This one was aided by the zebras
in a very big way. A few examples: the many PIs committed by Florida
State but not called, the 2-point conversion where the receiver clearly
got one foot down and had possession of the ball but it was ruled
incomplete, and one that I couldn't believe Coach Beamer wasn't on the
field to scream about: with less than 3:00 to go in the game, Virginia
Tech moved the ball to just about the first-down line. The officials
didn't stop the clock.. about 2:55 left at this point. They set the
ball.. then eyeballed it.. then stopped the clock for a measurement.
About 20-25 seconds expired between the placement of the ball and the
stoppage of the clock for a measurement, which ruled that the Hokies had
in fact achieved a first down meaning that the clock should have been
stopped all along. The officials didn't go back and add the missing
:20-:25. FSU got the ball back with 1:45 left.. short enough to kneel
their way to a win, something they wouldn't have been able to do with
the time put back on the clock. Dammit.

Anyway.. getting out of there wasn't too big of a hassle, and we drove
home.. slightly dejected, but knowing that we've still got a bowl streak
alive, that we got cheated out of a second-straight conference
championship, that if we didn't have a conf.champ game that'd we be
going to the BCS same as three other schools who played to 7-1
conference records (USC/PSU/WVU).. VT's record in the ACC before today..
and that therefore no fools from those conferences will have any
business giving us any *** about not making the BCS this year. Nothing
is ever certain, and upsets definitely happen.. but this one is going to
smart for a while, as it seems the Hokies have to play well enough not
only to overcome the winningest coach in Division I history, but also to
put the game far enough out of reach to make sure the officials can't
screw them over. That's really a shame.

All in all, we had a pretty good time.. spent a great day together with
the kids at the sitter. We saw some great plays, some plays that were
only good, and some that were not so good.. but it was a fun time.
Someone's got to go home not having seen the result they wanted. This
time it was those of us in maroon and orange. That sucks, but better
now than later when a trip to the Big BCS game is on the line, I
suppose. To the Seminoles fans, all I can say in the end is, see you
next year.. same time of year, same stadium.. different outcome.


--
Bryan S. Slick, onyx_hokie at yahoo dot com

"To those who have fought for it,
freedom has a flavor the protected will never know."
.