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My family is a football family. Hooboy. My parents are never more fun than on a Virginia Tech gameday. My brother Adrian met us yesterday morning and we loaded up the car for our trip. We met my cousin Maria and her husband J in Troutville and all rode on together in their van. Maria is a little older than Adrian, I think, and definitely my parents' favorite niece, as she is a Hokie. My family loves to rib each other, and the banter was plentiful all the way to the game. We tailgated for a while, Tech won 38-0, I lost my voice from screaming...great day.

A note about Hokie football games. If you've never been to one, you can't possibly understand. They say the Hokies have the best home field advantage in college sports. It's true. Tech fans are incredible. Yesterday's game was never supposed to be a big deal, really - they just played I-AA Northeastern, but it was still a sellout crowd, and even though it was a complete blowout, all 67,000 fans were on their feet screaming for the Hokies the whole time. I'm not just saying this because I'm biased - ESPN dudes will tell you, you do NOT want to be the visiting team at Lane Stadium. Man, it's incredible.

On the way home, my brother taught me a car game that he and William used to play when they were little. It's called "Cat in the Window," and though my parents insist they didn't make it up, it sounds like a Bill Massie classic, and googling it didn't bring back any results, so I'm crediting my father with the invention of this game to shut my brothers up in the car. The rules:
One kid gets one side of the road, the other kid gets the other side. You count cows on your side of the road. Each cow is worth one cow (of course), but if you see a white horse, that's worth 5 cows. If you see a graveyard (on either side of the road, doesn't have to be your side), and you are the first to call it, your opponent has to "bury their cows." But the kicker - you can only win the game if you see a cat in a window (an actual cat in the window of a house). The cat sighting must be corroborated by others in the car, or it doesn't count (unfortunately for me, because I saw three unconfirmed windowcats). So where do the cows come into the final scoring? Well, they don't. They're just something to keep you occupied until someone sees a cat in a window, which my brother said had never happened in all the years he played this game. Think about it, how many houses do you really see on the interstate, anyway? Yeah. So we all played this crazy game all the way home from Troutville, and Adrian and I shit-talked each other the whole way. Unfortunately, he had the advantage of experience, and damn if he didn't see a cat in the window in my next door neighbor's house as we were pulling into the driveway. I hate losing.

My niece is here for five days now, so I'm going to go play with her now. Pictures are coming.

Peace.

Date: 2006-09-03 03:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pwylltwiceborn.livejournal.com
I can't speak to the cat in the window part, but my family (not so much my brother and me, but my mom and her sisters) have definitely competed in cow-counting. They reset their # of cows for some specifically colored cow.

Also: I'd rather visit Lane Stadium than the Horseshoe.

Date: 2006-09-03 03:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jianantonic.livejournal.com
Have you ever been to Lane? The ESPN guys swear it's the most intimidating place to visit. I can't speak for OSU, cause I've never been there...but I can't possibly imagine a more terrifying away game than at VT.

Date: 2006-09-03 04:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pwylltwiceborn.livejournal.com
no. But, if all else is close to equal, 110,000>67,000

also:
http://www.sportingnews.com/experts/matt-hayes/blog/20060807.html
Both of us sort of lose.

Date: 2006-09-03 04:33 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pwylltwiceborn.livejournal.com
you'll have to scroll to the bottom.

Date: 2006-09-03 04:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pwylltwiceborn.livejournal.com
if I could edit comments, this would be easier.
These guys favor your place:
http://www.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=1014&CID=444097

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