Fall is the perfect time for Orange Effect.

Thursday 10/29/09 marked our first time going to a Hokies football game.  It was a night game, nationally televised on ESPN, and was against North Carolina.  Since the game was Orange Effect night, we got decked out in orange Hokie gear and headed over to the stadium.  We walked by a variety of tailgaters; the more hard core ones had multiple flat screen TVs and grills set up.  Our seats were up in the nosebleeds, but we still had a good view of the field and the rest of the stadium.  Unfortunately, VT played down to North Carolina’s level and wound up losing the game.  However, we did get to watch the Hokie Bird do his traditional “bench press” after a VT touchdown, and listen to the noise thousands of jangling keys can make when its third down and the other team has the ball.

Perhaps the highlight of the game was the “future aerospace engineers’” idea to make paper airplanes, and launch them towards the field.  Many airplanes didn’t make it more than a few rows.  Then, someone found a downdraft, and the entire side of the stadium got quiet as thousands stared at the airplane, willing it to get to the field.  When it did, cheers erupted, and many other paper airplanes got launched.  Several others made it all the way down; one hit a cheerleader in the tush (she apparently didn’t notice), and another landed just past the visiting bench.  One of their big guys, maybe a lineman, immediately picked the plane up off the field.  He got booed.

Even though the Hokies lost, we still had a lot of fun at the game.