A comfortably warm Sunday afternoon in late September could have held many wonders for me last fall. A month into school, my roommates and I had developed a system- wake up by 10, brunch by 11, Super Smash Brothers immediately following brunch. Maybe then we would go outside and throw a frisbee or football. We would sometimes play xbox. Usually by 1, we would turn on NBC or Fox to watch football and keep up with the fantasy football league that we all played in together. Many people had unfinished homework or studying, so friends would come and go as they please from my room, which was deemed the unofficial hangout spot for the year when my roommate Justin bought a 37 inch flatscreen the second day of school.
On this particular day, we had finished watching all the afternoon football we cared for and had already eaten an abnormally early dinner. We sat passing an Xbox controller around with Modern Warfare 2 popped in the console. Small talk was in no short supply as we jumped from topic to topic, when my good friend Brian asked me a hypothetical sports question that was sure to be controversial from the moment it left his mouth.
"Chase, if JMU ever played West Virginia in football, who would you cheer for?"
I opened my mouth to respond, but no answer came to mind. It was a difficult question, one that I was surprised I had never thought about before. We had all just experienced the euphoria that was 21-16, JMU upsetting Virginia Tech in vaunted Lane Stadium. We all remembered what it felt like to slay Goliath. It was even more personally exciting for me because I have loathed Tech ever since I was running around tailgating WVU-VT games as an 8 year old- but an upset of that size feels good no matter who you're besting on the astroturf. I was never prouder to be a JMU student than on September 11, 2010.
And yet... could I really cheer against West Virginia, the University I grew up living around and driving five miles down the road to their home games? Could I really cheer against my heritage, having descended from a family that is 100% born and bred from the country roads of the 35th state in the Union? When it came down to it, would I be capable of betraying my past for my present?
And yet how could I not cheer for JMU? It's the school I love to be a part of, my home, the place where I feel safest... Harrisonburg and the university that resides there is the Hogwarts to my Harry. How could I wish them to lose when the benefits of a second epic upset would be undescribably monumental?
Lost in thought, I guess I hadn't realized that the whole room was waiting for my answer. My friends will be the first to tell you that my love of West Virginia sports sometimes blurs the tight line between diehard fandom and creepy obsession, so my answer to this supposedly hypothetical question would be as interesting a conversational topic as could be found.
"I... I'm not sure." It was a total copout. I know the answer all of my friends were waiting for, but I honestly wasn't sure which way I would lean. "I don't think I could ever know for sure until I was in that moment, you know? I think if I was at the game, I would know what I was feeling, but not until then." Satisfied with my answer, I went back to my game... but I think I was the only one that was satisfied. I took solace in the fact that I would probably never have to face a situation where I would have to choose which of my two schools I would cheer for, and more importantly, which one I would cheer against...
Probably.
That is until this week, when it was officially announced that WVU will play JMU in football on September 15, 2012 at FedEx field, home of the Washington Redskins. There have been pretty solid rumors floating around for a couple weeks now, but the confirmation came early this week that the game will definitely happen. The good news, regardless of my feelings or who I wish to cheer for, is that both teams will come out of this game with significantly heavier pockets. Both teams are guarenteed a flat rate, which additional incentives available depending on the amount of tickets sold. FedEx, which is actually the largest NFL stadium in the country with something like 95,000 seating capacity, will be hard to fill for a college game which will see a regional powerhouse play an FCS powerhouse. And yet... WVU fans travel very well, and JMU alumni are all over the Washington DC area (if you need proof, think about how hard it is to go out on a weekend and NOT find someone from nova). Will this sell out? Still, probably not. But don't underestimate the turnout for this game. Most importantly, JMU students, fans, and alumni, make sure you buy you're tickets through a proper vendor (such as the school), as opposed to scalping them or buying them the day of if it's not sold out, etc... remember, the school gets extra incentives if we hit a certain mark, so make sure you're ticket is counted as a JMU ticket!
Anyway, back to me. What the hell am I going to do? I haven't heard from my buddy Brian because we've both been busy this summer (and Pennsylvania isn't within reasonable driving distance for the 60 hour a week worker), but I'm sure a big smirk lit up his face when he heard the news. September, 2012? That's my senior year people. I don't want to be dealing with this kind of conflict my last year of college! Possibly more importantly, it's WVU quarterback Geno Smith's senior year. Smith is considered even as a junior to be a fringe Heisman contender- a loss to JMU would all but eliminate him from Heisman consideration. WVU would also be eliminated from National Championship contention, a possibility starting this year and, as far as I'm concerned, continuing every year as long as high-octane Holgorsen is around as Head Coach.
But of course I want JMU's program to flourish! I can't cheer against them!
Of course my friends from school are putting all kinds of pressure on me to cheer for JMU. Meanwhile, I'm getting texts from family members like "don't forget where your roots are!" or "remember, you were in morgantown 10 years before you were in harrisonburg!" It's clearly an impossible situation; unless they bring ties back to college football, I'm stuck between a mountain and a hard place.
They say old habits die hard. But until I can bring myself to make that decision, I plan to make a custom shirt for this game. Blue will be on the right, right next to old gold, which will fade into regular gold, which will be next to purple. I'm still working on the words.
For now, I have spent two years in Morgantown and two years in Harrisonburg. I have one foot firmly planted in each city, and I don't expect to step either way any time soon... but I do wish each school the best of luck. I can promise that, come Spetember 15, 2012, I will be the loudest one screaming in all of Landover, Maryland- though for who, I still don't know.
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