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Hokie200proof
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Only unique for college football fans in that it can come in any week of the season, annual "The Dream is Over" Week is upon us. It's the week where you realize there is no fucking way your team is going to win the national championship (Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cup... NBA trophy thing? WWE belt?) this season. It’s the time of year that you finally accept that Carl Crawford is the 2nd worst free agent signing of the year (1st goes to the White Sox and Adam Dunn… his dollars to production ratio looks worse than the Greek debt relief package). It’s when you realize that LeBron James is more of an “entertainer” than an actually basketball player. It's when you realize you are a Capitals fan and this IS what you do - lose dramatically and completely.
For college football fans, however, it's by far the most shocking and catastrophic end as it can come at literally ANY time. Whether it be in week 1, where you lose a high-profile out-of-conference game, or in the 4th quarter of the national championship game, TDO week is just one key injury, one ridiculous turnover or one uninspired, flat performance away... and it is the most heart-breaking time of year. It's the requiem for all of those lofty, most certainly unrealistic, hopes and dreams that you've had since the bitterness and regret of last season faded. It's the dropped ice cream cone, it's the painful ending of a relationship, it's the passing of a beloved pet... IT. SUCKS. It's a nine, ten, eleven or twelve month sentence of depression, second-guessing and pretending to care about other sports. Nothing can help you get over "the loss"... except time.
But… TDO week can also be a time of great renewal, productivity and even salvation. If I look back on all of the TDO weeks in my lifetime, I can honestly see improvement everywhere within myself outside of the category of "VT football fanaticism." From school and business work to familial and romantic relationships, TDO week is the annual reminder that you've been ignoring your own life for the sake of following your favorite team in every waking moment since week 1. In 1999/2000, it took losing the national championship for me to realize that the girl I was with wasn't Aphrodite and Athena come to earth... she was actually kind of a skank from New Orleans who would do anything you asked for a $2 necklace of Mardi Gras beads. In 2000/2001 the loss to Miami made me stop and realize I was failing ALL of my classes (from willful avoidance of attending said classes) and I was risking academic probation. TDO week helped me turn those F's into very respectable and hard-earned C-'s and D's.
The point is, TDO week is a chance to get back to what truly matters in your life. Most of us will realize this on a more subconscious level. For instance, if you're reading this for the first time and it's Thursday, you've already rededicated yourself to school/business work and I'm sure you're feeling better for it. Others might feel a sense of freedom, or a releasing of tension that you didn't know you had. The anxiety of the games before TDO week has been washed away, and now the rest of the season and the rest of your life can be taken for what it is and not what you wish it to be. It's that actualization of that profound Fight Club quote - "It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to accomplish anything."
I know it's hard. I'm there too. Our fevered support of all things Hokies made all of the preseason hype feel like dogmatic truth. We read that Logan Thomas was going to make us forget the name Tyrod Taylor and visions of sugar plums and Vick '99 danced in our heads. We watched David Wilson do 30 back-flips in a row while making a wedding cake and we booked flights to New York to see his Heisman ceremony. We watched Bud Foster cut down a redwood tree with a stare and we already feared the annual postseason dog and pony show entitled "what HC interview will Foster blow HARD this year?".
We were all there together on Saturday at 6pm, sharing the dream… … … and we were all there when it ended, shivering, cold and heart-broken. It was the dead of night, and the dawn seemed ten months away.
But today the rain has stopped (eh, figuratively… it’s a crappy day in DC). We are looking around and taking stock of our lives and assessing the REAL damage that has been done this past week... and we realize we have so much more to live for. It was an out-of-division loss, so the road to the ACC title game is still passable. The Redskins won. The Caps begin their season this weekend... or whatever bullshit other teams you like are doing something somewhat good… maybe. Life moves on. And so must we.
And so, I am wishing you all a very productive and safe TDO week. Make the most of it… and Let’s Go Hokies.
For college football fans, however, it's by far the most shocking and catastrophic end as it can come at literally ANY time. Whether it be in week 1, where you lose a high-profile out-of-conference game, or in the 4th quarter of the national championship game, TDO week is just one key injury, one ridiculous turnover or one uninspired, flat performance away... and it is the most heart-breaking time of year. It's the requiem for all of those lofty, most certainly unrealistic, hopes and dreams that you've had since the bitterness and regret of last season faded. It's the dropped ice cream cone, it's the painful ending of a relationship, it's the passing of a beloved pet... IT. SUCKS. It's a nine, ten, eleven or twelve month sentence of depression, second-guessing and pretending to care about other sports. Nothing can help you get over "the loss"... except time.
But… TDO week can also be a time of great renewal, productivity and even salvation. If I look back on all of the TDO weeks in my lifetime, I can honestly see improvement everywhere within myself outside of the category of "VT football fanaticism." From school and business work to familial and romantic relationships, TDO week is the annual reminder that you've been ignoring your own life for the sake of following your favorite team in every waking moment since week 1. In 1999/2000, it took losing the national championship for me to realize that the girl I was with wasn't Aphrodite and Athena come to earth... she was actually kind of a skank from New Orleans who would do anything you asked for a $2 necklace of Mardi Gras beads. In 2000/2001 the loss to Miami made me stop and realize I was failing ALL of my classes (from willful avoidance of attending said classes) and I was risking academic probation. TDO week helped me turn those F's into very respectable and hard-earned C-'s and D's.
The point is, TDO week is a chance to get back to what truly matters in your life. Most of us will realize this on a more subconscious level. For instance, if you're reading this for the first time and it's Thursday, you've already rededicated yourself to school/business work and I'm sure you're feeling better for it. Others might feel a sense of freedom, or a releasing of tension that you didn't know you had. The anxiety of the games before TDO week has been washed away, and now the rest of the season and the rest of your life can be taken for what it is and not what you wish it to be. It's that actualization of that profound Fight Club quote - "It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to accomplish anything."
I know it's hard. I'm there too. Our fevered support of all things Hokies made all of the preseason hype feel like dogmatic truth. We read that Logan Thomas was going to make us forget the name Tyrod Taylor and visions of sugar plums and Vick '99 danced in our heads. We watched David Wilson do 30 back-flips in a row while making a wedding cake and we booked flights to New York to see his Heisman ceremony. We watched Bud Foster cut down a redwood tree with a stare and we already feared the annual postseason dog and pony show entitled "what HC interview will Foster blow HARD this year?".
We were all there together on Saturday at 6pm, sharing the dream… … … and we were all there when it ended, shivering, cold and heart-broken. It was the dead of night, and the dawn seemed ten months away.
But today the rain has stopped (eh, figuratively… it’s a crappy day in DC). We are looking around and taking stock of our lives and assessing the REAL damage that has been done this past week... and we realize we have so much more to live for. It was an out-of-division loss, so the road to the ACC title game is still passable. The Redskins won. The Caps begin their season this weekend... or whatever bullshit other teams you like are doing something somewhat good… maybe. Life moves on. And so must we.
And so, I am wishing you all a very productive and safe TDO week. Make the most of it… and Let’s Go Hokies.
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