John's Game-Day Apparel

You can't call yourself a true, honest-to-goodness psychotic football fan unless you've got some great game-day costumes lined up. You've seen them at the pro games: those guys with the cheese heads; drunk frat boys in college paint their chests in sub-zero weather. Whereas I tend not to be so insane, the game-day getup is an important part of my preparation for each game.

As early as 1994 I had considered a truly "crazy" getup in the form of a VT-carved pumpkin on my head for the UVA game; when no TV picked up the game, I nixed the idea.

Miami at Blacksburg (2003): #11 VT 31 - #2 Miami 7

(that's me on the far right)

Tech at UVA (2003)

UVA's fans tend to wear shirts and ties to their games, as if to say, "We're better than football fans." Heck, students routinely publish editorials about how they don't want real fans because it's not their "tradition." I decided to mock them with the following game-day garb for the 2003 game at UVA:

• Long-sleeved orange button-down collar shirt
• Maroon VT-logo tie from the bookstore
• Maroon blazer
• Custom-designed Hokie shoes from Customatix.com