On March 14, 1996, I asked one of my seventh-grade teachers if I could turn on the television to watch Virginia Tech play Wisconsin-Green Bay in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. I figured it was no big deal, since just one week earlier all the televisions in the school had been turned on so everyone could watch the ACC Tournament, which was pretty much an annual occurrence in the southside Virginia school systems.

You know what happened next. No, I was told, we couldn’t turn on the television, and I pretty quickly figured out why. Sure, I had always known that in the southside you are surrounded by tons of bandwagon Duke and UNC fans who can’t even name a building on either campus outside of Cameron or the Dean Dome. Sure, I knew the aura of the ACC was huge down there. I knew all of that. But it hadn’t hit me until that moment that Virginia Tech sports weren’t considered important; not even an NCAA Tournament game. We were an afterthought.

I filed that away, and as such I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with the ACC. I always wanted Virginia Tech to be in the ACC. I always thought that was the right fit. I was ecstatic when it happened. However, I don’t think I ever let go of the hate side of the relationship. To all those bandwagon UNC fans who I grew up with who can’t name a single building on campus, I hope you enjoyed last night. The Hokies are playing for the ACC Title tonight, and…

Hokies in the ACC Title game! pic.twitter.com/0l5YMHHcRD

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