I was asked yesterday morning to write about the tragic events that took place in Blacksburg Monday.
I'll be honest, I don't really know what to say. I've said before that I have difficulty with the idea that sports have much real impact in the world. Sports are sports.
Yet, because sports play an integral role in the community established at Virginia Tech and other schools that have achieved athletic success, it does seem possible that sports and the bonds associated with them may assist in the communal healing process.
Rooting for a team -- particularly at the collegiate level -- creates a sense of community among fans. You gather on game day and root for your team. The guys behind you that you didn't even know are suddenly your best friends. If your team doesn't win, you console one another. If it does, you celebrate. And when another game is played, you do it all over again.
This inconsequential routine creates a community amongst the fan base, though you may not realize it at the time. And on some college campuses, this type of community can be very deep, because athletics have become so embedded in their institutional identity.
In that way, it seemed appropriate to me that the Hokie community met at Cassell Coliseum -- where they normally cheer for a basketball team -- to mourn Monday's tragic events. Athletic facilities are the largest buildings on campus, making them ideal for holding a ceremony to accommodate as many members of the community as possible. But they are also places where community is inherently evident, if only by the colors and the cheers.
By all accounts, yesterday almost looked like game day in Blacksburg. The colors were right. The venues were right. But the emotions were very different. Thousands dressed in maroon and burnt orange, not to support a team but to support one another. They gathered in Cassell Coliseum and Lane Stadium to mourn and to begin the process of healing. It was fitting that at the conclusion of the ceremony, the crowd chanted "Let's Go... Hokies," as they do when athletic teams take the field. That athletic cheer was a symbol not only of an intention to eventually move on, but an effort to band together and carry one another through such a heartbreaking reality.
The Virginia Tech community is still mourning such unthinkable tragedy, but with every repetition of the cheer, you could hear their resolve. The chant -- most often shouted with little consequence at football games -- was a reminder to everyone in Cassell Coliseum that the Hokies had many others rooting for them.
And it isn't just those in Blacksburg who are rooting for Tech. Literally and figuratively, we all wore maroon and burnt orange yesterday.
In Charlottesville, we stopped in remembrance as the bells in the Chapel clanged after 2 p.m. We gathered in the evening as a community to mark innocent lives lost. Across the country and around the world, others are doing the same.
We will continue to remember Monday, when the peaceful undertakings of higher education were deeply wounded.
We will remember Monday, when sports in large part were proven rightfully frivolous.
We will put aside our petty rivalry and hope for the Hokies to prevail.
But we will also remember that communities band together to overcome tragedy in the ways that they know best. At Virginia Tech, where athletics unite a community, this is particularly true.
If you listen closely, you can almost hear the staccato cadence of "Let's Go... Hokies" echoing back from supporters near and far.
The chant, inspired by fervor for athletic teams, has taken on a new meaning as the Hokie Nation comes together to support each another in a way that they know best.
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