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Victory Over Syracuse, 1995
by Greg Zesinger (HokieZ)
posted 4/21/98 - written November, 1995

Note from Will:  before he graduated and ran off to California to make video games for a living, HokieCentral member HokieZ wrote sports columns for the CT (Collegiate Times).  HokieZ sent me some columns to use as Members Forum material, and I thought you might like this one.  He wrote it in 1995, after the Hokies defeated Syracuse 31-7 to take the inside track to the Big East championship.

Saturday's Victory could be Sugary Sweet
Greg Zesinger

Following the victory against Syracuse, I joined hundreds of other loyal Virginia Tech fans as we made our way down to the field to celebrate and take another crack at the elusive goalposts.

The police were down there once again, but seemed content to watch the happy horde of Hokies make another attempt. Just to make sure, I asked one of the officers if they were planning to use their pepper spray once again.

"Nope," he said, presenting a bucket of steaming chicken. "This time, if things start to get rough, we'll force you to eat an entire order of Sharkey's 911 hot wings ... in fifteen minutes or less!"

Pointing at the poultry, I asked, "Don't you need a permit for that?" The cop scowled and waved the bucket of chicken at me menacingly. I backed away and continued towards the goalpost, but I wonder if I could have won the free T-shirt had things gotten ugly.

Halfway there, I encountered two guys busy pouring orange juice into cups made out of a Syracuse helmet and handing it out to the crowd. Handing me a cup, one said, "Try some ... it's delicious. Freshly-squeezed from the Orangemen."

I took a sip, and asked what they thought of the game.

"We really beat them to a pulp!" said the tall skinny one.

"The fruit of today's labor should be a major bowl bid," added the other (Stop groaning).

I tend to agree. There is a lot of speculation about which bowl game the Hokies could play in. Tech can't overlook Temple, but right now, if things go according to plan (and especially if Miami loses another conference game), Tech could end up in either the Sugar Bowl (wouldn't that be sweet?) or the Orange Bowl (A game with appeal!).

My favorite scenario has Tech traveling to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans to face Notre Dame. I'm still mad at Irish quarterback Ron Powlus for comments he made about Tech last year after his squad lost to Boston College.

Basically, he wondered how BC could have lost last year to "a team like Virginia Tech". Now, the

Hokies may finally have a chance to teach him firsthand, or at least they would have if he hadn't gone and broken his arm Saturday playing Navy.

If for some reason Tech doesn't receive the top bowl bid in the conference, it would likely end up in the Gator Bowl again, possibly facing Virginia. Outside that, the Hokies could end up at the Carquest Bowl (I hope not ... no good puns for this one!) or the Liberty Bowl.

Getting back to the story, I finally made it to the uprights, and watched as the Hokie faithful once again tried to bring the post down. All kinds of characters clung to the crossbar. There was Crazy Pumpkin-Head, a guy with a hollow Jack-O-Lantern on his head.

"Most people were born with a regular head," he said, "but not me ... I have a damn pumpkin. But just because I have a pumpkin for a head don't mean I don't like candy!"

He lost his "helmet" to the crowd as he tried to help topple the mighty uprights and I swore not to reveal his secret identity. Crazy Orange Ski-Mask Man was there too, and who could forget Crazy Drunk Dumb*@% Man? This guy just did not have a clue ... at that moment, I wished the scoreboard would have flashed him a message.

"HEY MR. DUMB*@% ... WE WILL MAKE YOU EAT AN ENTIRE BUCKET OF CHICKEN IF YOU DON'T STOP BEING ANTI-SOCIAL AND HANG FROM THE LEFT SIDE OF THE CROSSBAR LIKE EVERYONE ELSE."

"NO, YOU DUMB *@%, YOUR OTHER LEFT!"

Thank God the mob was there to pull him off, or they may have never been able to get the uprights down.

But they did, and carried their Crisco-smeared trophy (mmm ... butter-flavored) deep into the night. Where did it end up? Is it in the Duck Pond? Is it on display in College Park? I'm not really sure, but there is definitely a spot reserved next to it for a University of Virginia goalpost.
Copyright ©1995 The Collegiate Times

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