Football Fraud Fraud?

I’ve had season tickets to Virginia Tech football for, gosh, I guess about 9-10 years now.  About once a year I also attend an away game.  I’ve traveled to three different bowl games.  I’ve paid $250 for a ticket to the National Championship game in 1999.  And during the 2001 season, I attended every game (home, away and post-season).  Yet still, deep down, I don’t feel like I’m a true college football fan.

I’m not devastated when we lose.  I don’t cut my hand punching kegerators and I certainly don’t break my ankle trying to tackle away my frustration from a loss.  I don’t spend my mealtimes for days afterwards rehashing individual plays, criticizing calls or analyzing our offensive line.  I can translate very few numbers to player names.  And I never seem to notice holding until someone starts shouting and pointing.  So sometimes I feel like my days are numbered.

“One day they will figure out I’m a fraud!” I often joke, “A Football Fraud!”

I was almost caught red handed in 2001.  We were leaving the stadium in Charlottesville when some folks stuck in the typical post-game traffic inquired about the game.

“Who won?” they asked.

“Tech,” I said.

“What was the score?”

“Uh…” I absolutely had no idea, not even the slightest clue, what the final score was!

Luckily, one of my companions answered quick enough that my ignorance went unnoticed!

This week marks the beginning of Virginia Tech’s 2006 Football Season and I’m starting to suspect that maybe my affection for football is stronger than I realize.  In the past few weeks, I’ll catch a brief moment where the temperature and the wind hits me just right to remind me fall is on its way.  Involuntarily, like Pavlov’s dogs, I get excited thinking about the upcoming games and tailgates and all the excitement and energy that accompany them.  I don’t quite salivate, but I have a large amount of anticipation.  I’m anxious for football season to begin!

Then more telling– this weekend I wrote a letter to my cousin Adam.  I start off the letter innocently mentioning that football season was starting soon and then before I realized it I had written multiple pages on the things I enjoy about college football.  I even reminisced fondly about the Texas A&M game we played during the rains of Hurricane Isabel. 

The William Morva news only got a couple of paragraphs.  Great Uncle Chuck only got a couple of paragraphs.  News on Carolyn and Jay got a paragraph each (Sorry Carolyn and Jay).  But Virginia Tech football— that warranted the bulk of the communication?

Somehow, somewhere along the line, it seems my claim to be a “football fraud” has turned out to be…fraudulent.