| 21 September 2010
This past weekend, avid reader and possible Canadian DW went behind the scenes and visited the Hokies' locker room. Aside from being awesome, he ran into a few players.
After the jump, his adventure, including meeting the man, the myth, the legend: RMFW!!!
So myself (d_w) and NEZ reader/groupie Shitzel had yet another opportunity to spend the weekend at home. By home, I do not mean sitting on the couch watching TV... No, No, I mean home in the truest sense of the word... Blacksburg, VA.
Upon arriving in Blacksburg, the mood for most people was well below our normal amped up football weekend in attitude, and rightfully so (Did you see how we played the last 2 weekends?!?). Ok, but this is not the time to open old wounds, I’ll let CGally or Northender do that.
We cut out of work early on Friday to beat the traffic down to Blacksburg, which if you live in Northern Virginia you know exactly what I am talking about. We arrived in time to see the men’s soccer team take on Clemson. After watching a thrilling (??) game of soccer where VT ended up tying Clemson 1-1 in 2 OTs, we headed downtown to meet up with CGally, who was passing through town that night [Editor's note: Yeah, I was just passing through because of ANOTHER fall wedding. Seriously people. Why do you do this to me?]
Some people were in rare form that night, and because I have more faith in my fellow Hokies and their drinking abilities, I am going to say that they were from ECU. Maybe I'm just getting old, but the dresses at Hokie House seemed like they were straight out of Jersey Shore. I could go on about their drunken escapades, but that isn’t why you’re here, lets fast forward to Sunday...
The Hokies had captured their first win of the season, and the town is riding high. I must say, it was nice seeing the Hokie Nation not mourning another loss.
We loaded up the car and headed to campus for a couple more stops before skipping town, one of which was the new VT Football locker rooms and team area. Now, I know you all have seen the preview of the new locker rooms, but let me tell, you the pictures do NOT do it justice.
The facility is perfect. From the moment you walk through the doors, you feel as though you have stepped into a piece of Hokie history, and the team hasn’t even moved into their new digs yet. To be honest I am not sure where to begin describing the whole set up…
The first thing you see is the game day lobby with hokie stone walls, a place for the lunch pail to be on display, a time clock for each player to clock in with and a shelf that has a large "VS." on it, which will be used to display the two teams helmets on game day.
There are athletic trainer’s tables on the back wall of this room as well as large LCD TVs so that the players and trainers don’t miss a minute of the action.
From there you have three options, doors to the practice field, doors to the coach’s lounge, and doors to the locker room. Let’s go with door number 1, the locker rooms themselves.
Locker Rooms
A vaulted ceiling gives a lofty feel to the locker room, which is lined with rows of dark cherry stained lockers with the player numbers by each locker. On the end, metal plates are mounted displaying words like UNITED, FAMILY, TRUST, and TEAM. The Hokie Stone accents bring a true home feel to the locker room, which was silent during our visit but held an overwhelming sense of anticipation for future games.
You could picture the Hokies ready to take the field, gearing up in the finest uniforms Nike has to offer and psyching themselves up for the coming game.
As we continue on towards the coaches lounge/lockers you pass through the therapy/bathrooms. There are hot and cold tubs for post game soaks, as well as a sauna and a steam room. The showers and bathrooms are done with a combination of white, maroon, and orange tiles.
After seeing the bathroom/showers I now have a new vision of how I want my remodeled bathroom to look.
Coaches Lounge/Lockers
This room is like a dream basement for most football fans. There is a small wet bar area with fridges and cabinets which is still in view of the 47” (just guessing on the screen size) LCD TV and a set of comfortable couches for relaxing. The coaches also each have their own lockers, which mirror the design of the rest of the team. Because what coach wouldn’t need or want their own locker??
Team Lounge
This second floor room comes equipped with couches, tables, TV’s, cooking areas, a pool table and a back deck that overlooks the practice fields with a great view of Lane Stadium. Oh, and did I mention there are grills that are built into a Hokie Stone fire place out on the deck? I wonder if they would consider renting this place out for the next NEZ gathering…
Everything is Hokie in this lounge, right down to the giant VT that is on the ceiling to the muted orange and maroon coloring on the couches.
And then it happened...
RMFW Himself
After the locker rooms, Shitzel and I were hanging out in the training room with the training staff (The two guys you saw helping RMFW off the field during the game), and we were privileged to be there when Darren Evans, Dyrell Roberts, and RMFW came in for post game rehab.
Let me tell you, I was SHOCKED. Three of the biggest names on the team were there not more than 3 feet from me. And here I was, without my RMFW shirt. What the hell was I thinking?!
He seemed in high spirits after going off the field and being put on crutches for the better part of the game. He was walking with a slight limp, but was not using crutches which is a great sign for Hokie fans. Before we headed back north on 81, we watched some of the Eagles game with Mr. RMFW and a few other Hokies, which needless to say, made that drive infinitely better.
To answer your only question: No, I did not ask him about the RMFW nickname. He was there for the trainers, and I didn't want to be "that guy," like the adult asking an 18 year old for an autograph. Plus, without the shirt, it wouldn't have made much sense.
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Great story, DW. Now you've learned your lesson: ALWAYS WEAR YOUR SHIRT!!
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