For the last three years in Charlottesville, a debate has raged about the culture and traditions of Virginia football.
This debate was spurred by coach Al Groh's request that fans wear orange shirts, rather than ties and sundresses, to football games.
Bear with me here, because I have a confession.
I went to the Virginia Tech game last Saturday.
Yep, I donned neutral colors, woke up at 6 a.m., sat in the sixth row and watched the Hokies squeak by Cincinnati.
I had a good time seeing again how they do things down there.
Now give me a few more words before you fold up the paper and put it under your chair thinking this is another "Virginia Tech football is better than we are because its culture is a better football culture" article.
I have never been able to discern that a difference in dress code added up to a substandard football tradition.
At Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, every fan wears maroon and burnt orange on game day.
When I go to a Virginia football game, I don't wear a shirt and tie.
I have no problem with people who do; in fact, most of my friends choose to don their Sunday best on Saturday afternoon.
If that is what Virginia's football tradition is, then by all means, go ahead.
In imploring that fans wear orange, Groh was attempting to combat his perception of apathy in the Virginia fan base.
The implication, however, was that fans in orange are more supportive, and ultimately more knowledgeable, than fans in ties and sundresses.
The first problem with that was that fans took offense to the suggestion.
The second was the implication that Groh connected a fan's support for the program to their attire, inherently dividing the fan base.
Virginia football is at a crossroads on the field this year -- a situation very different from Virginia Tech.
Off the field, I believe that Groh had it wrong in 2003 when he tried to peg apathy on the culture of football in Charlottesville, asking fans to wear orange to support the Cavaliers.
Virginia's traditions were a little different but not definitively apathetic.
Just like any other program, when things were going well, Virginia fans charged into the stadium two hours early.
Just like any other program, when the team is struggling, Virginia fans come to games later and later.
By bringing the issue of dress code to the forefront three years ago, Groh not only divided the fan base but implied that if Virginia fans would just put their ties and sundresses back into the closet in favor of orange shirts, the team would be all the better for it.
I'm not so sure about that.
For three years, Virginia fans have battled an inferiority complex and tried to decide if their football traditions were good enough to be those of a "big time" football program.
Many fans effectively told the coach that they would wear orange but only as long as the team was winning.
The problem now is that the team is not winning, and one of the program's primary traditions was undermined by its head coach three years ago.
Saturday, I heard some of the same commentary from frustrated fans in Blacksburg that I had heard in Charlottesville during the last few weeks.
"We need a quarterback change."
"Our playcalling sucks."
"I'm not sure about this coaching staff."
I didn't hear any debate, however, about traditions or stadium attire.
Virginia Tech, like many other programs, developed their traditions as a way to define themselves as a college football program.
And now that they have decided who they are, Hokie fans never question "the way they do things" and neither does coach Frank Beamer.
In Charlottesville for the last three years, Virginia fans and their coach have done exactly that.
Virginia Tech fans instead debate their team, not their culture. Their solutions come by winning, not through a change in stadium attire or program tradition.
Hokie fans just act like themselves, cheer on their team and focus on results.
No wonder they've been so successful.
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