...And Those Maryland Fans

For a recent alumnus, I’m a fairly well-traveled Hokie football fan. I’ve been to UVa three times. I’ve been to Miami twice, including 2004 with an ACC championship and Sugar Bowl berth on the line. In the Big East days, I went to Pittsburgh twice. In 2002, I even went to Western Michigan, where I had to fend off a drunk student taking a run at me from Frat Row as I walked to the game. I’ve been to four different bowl games, partying with hordes of Auburn, Bama and FSU fans. But never before have I experienced such a poisonous football atmosphere, and been subjected to such vicious personal treatment, as happened Thursday night at Maryland.

Outside the stadium wasn’t bad; we were waved into the parking deck adjoining the Comcast Center, and walked through the Hokie-dominated Comcast lot before turning toward the stadium. My friend and I got a couple of snide comments and some drunken booing from Maryland fans, but that’s normal and acceptable. When you’ve just brought a #3 football team and at least 8,000 road fans onto campus, you should expect mild harassment within the bounds of civilized behavior.

Inside the stadium, though, those bounds were crossed with impunity. We reached our seats in the third deck at about 5:45 PM; a smattering of other fans, mostly Hokies, had already entered as well, but the only area of the stadium heavily populated was the student section. The cheers that rose from that section started with the obscene and migrated toward the sexually disgusting. At one point, a spirit squad came onto the field to lead cheers, joined by someone wearing a red #99 football jersey. During this stretch, the spirit squad led a group of four male students with the F word spelled out on their backs onto the field; they were cheered, then returned to their seats. During this rally, the Hokie team had entered the field to practice; as the VT offense huddled in one corner of the end zone, the students pelted the players with debris as #99 waved and yelled encouragement.

The student misbehavior continued throughout the game, but up in the third deck, I became more concerned with my personal safety once the Maryland fans arrived. I’m actually a Maryland season ticket holder; the eBay market for this game was so atrocious pre-season that my VT season ticket partner and I bought Maryland season tickets at $155 each and promptly re-sold the other games. Our gambit worked beautifully; instead of paying $100-$200 per seat, our net cost came down to $70. The seats we selected were in the lower half of section 305, immediately above the handicapped seating concourse in row G; the upper half of 305 and all of 301-304 are dedicated to visiting fans, so the odds were good we’d have Hokie neighbors.

Unfortunately, they were too far away to help us. The Maryland fans behind me started by echoing the profane and sexual chants of the student section, then proceeded to similar personal insults to us and then direct threats of violence (“Blondie here needs a kick to the head”). For three quarters I refused to even turn around and acknowledge their existence; the only let-up came when they finally left after VT’s third score, and one kicked me in the back as he walked out. Through the entire mess, event staff never ventured above the handicapped ramps, and I dared not call them in; there were too many Maryland thugs and only 4-6 Hokies in the immediate vicinity. There were good Terrapin fans to my left — a mid-30s couple recently moved to the DC area who had taken advantage of a great deal for season tickets to a good football program. Unfortunately, their good company ws overshadowed by the despicable behavior of first the students, then the fans one row up.

Tolerance of misbehavior breeds more of the same; we saw this escalation in the student-dominated North end zone at Lane Stadium from 2002-2004 before this year’s crackdown. And if that’s true, then what comes from encouragement of obscene chants and projectile assault by field-accredited university personnel pregame?

It’s twenty-four hours later as I write this, and I’m only now beginning to release the anger I held in check throughout last evening. All in all, it was a truly despicable game experience as a road fan. And there’s absolutely no reason Maryland should be this way. As I grew up watching the ACC, I knew Maryland as a respectable if non-descript athletic program, with civilized fans that supported good teams (more often so in basketball than football). In the past five years, they’ve won ACC championships in both sports and an NCAA championship in (men’s) basketball. This isn’t West Virginia; their school wasn’t victimized and condemned to irrelevance by the conference realignment escapades of 2003. There’s no long-standing rivalry here, built up by years of slights; before last year, Tech and the Terps had played twice since 1950.

It was just viciousness for viciousness’ sake. And that this behavior was encouraged by on-field personnel should be an embarrassment to the alumni, the school, and the state of Maryland. This is your flagship university — are you proud?

UPDATE 1956 EDT: Looks like Bret and his group had a similar experience.