10.9.07

UVa Has No Class (or at least, only has as much class as any other school)

Approximately one year ago, I rousingly gave my approval to UVa's policy of wearing ties and/or sun dresses to football games. At that time I did add the qualification that this policy is being replaced by another, much less classy dress code of orange T-shirts, but noticed at the games I attended, the tie and dress wearing students still represented a respectable percentage of the crowd. This year, however, I am sad to report that significantly less students opted on continuing that noble tradition, and even the stadium's giant score board sent out an overt t-shirt promoting message to the masses. Now, this might not seem like a big deal to you, and I myself will gladly admit that a t-shirt, whatever the color, will keep any football fan much cooler than a dress shirt and slacks, but I see this change as yet another step away from the romantic age of yesteryear and towards an uncreative, conformist and overly informal future. What happened to individualism? Where did our sense of style go? Alas, it appears to have washed away in that ever encroaching sea of orange that is so vigorously promoted by UVa's athletic department, which, having already sucked a fair amount of class from this scholarly institute already, is probably now planning up ways to add more evidence against creationism by encouraging sports fans to hoot and hollar and generally act very similar to our less-evolved simian relatives. But, then again, I guess sports fans already do that...

And speaking of apes, as you may have deduced with you expanded capacity for rational thought, Theresa and I had the pleasure of attending UVa Football's home opener this Saturday, if for no other reason but to introduce my Canadian wife to the spectacle that is (American) College Football, which I myself had only first experienced last September. All and all, it was an enjoyable afternoon, despite my previous comments, and as was observed to me, you haven't really experienced the USA until you have experienced College Football.

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