Blacksburg, VA - The Hokie Bird

11/4/2010 - Virginia Tech Hokies - Lane Stadium

Blacksburg, Virginia is a tiny college town in the southwest corner of the state. To say it is in the middle of nowhere is really to underestimate how far out "nowhere" can be. Located just off the Route 81 corridor, the closest major cities on that road are Harrisburg, PA (323 mi) and Knoxville, TN (236 mi). So, it begs the question - why venture all the way out here in cold, rainy November? Four words - Thursday night in Blacksburg.

It is synonymous with atmosphere and emotion and it is where ESPN's Thursday night telecasts gained their popularity. While the yearly tradition was originally seen as a way to get additional exposure by being the only game on TV Thursday night, it has evolved into a yearly event and we were excited to finally get it into our travel schedule.

Unfortunately, we only had the day to spend in town so we weren't able to scope out any local eateries or activities this time through, but we made it through the sea of tailgating just in time for the Hokie Walk - their version of the popular team parade into the stadium, complete with band, cheerleaders, team and of course, Hokie Bird.

If you've never been to Lane Stadium before and enjoy the adrenaline rush of the team taking the field, make sure that you are in your seats in plenty of time because no one does it quite like the Hokies. The team gathers in the tunnel as the first few notes of Metallica's "Enter Sandman" begins blasting through the PA System. The crowd begins jumping up and down, shaking the stadium and, well, just watch for yourself. The game itself was a nail-biter with the Hokies picking off a late pass to survive 28-21 against the GA Tech Yellow Jackets. In fact, it was so exciting that we barely had time to leave our seats to get food. Fortunately for us, the concession stands sold Turkey legs that were enough to feed both of us without any return trips to the concourse.

The campus is a beautiful, rural setting and I'm sure that there are plenty of good local eateries (Zeppoli's, The Cellar) and activities. Hopefully our next trip to Lane Stadium will be more than a one day affair and we can see all that the Blue Ridge Mountains have to offer. However, even staying just the one day, we had a great time. And while I can't speak for weekends or day games, there truly is nothing like Thursday night in Blacksburg.