"but when recovering from a mass murder becomes another story line to be lumped in with the Bowdens attempting to quiet their critics or a criminally underrated wide receiver? Ick."

/golf clap

Think of it this way. The parents of the students killed know that VT winning football games made their kids happy. I think everyone should rout for VT this year because the victims would be doing if not for the tragedy.

Think of it this way. The parents of the students killed know their children would be routing for their team to win football games because that made them happy. We should all rout for VT because thats what those students would be doing if not for the tragedy.

Yeah, I basically agree. If someone had walked into the Va. Tech football team's locker room and shot 30 of the players, or if Frank Beamer had personally wrestled Cho to the ground and taken his guns away last April, then I could understand why we all should root for Virginia Tech's football team. Otherwise, it does seem a little much.

"The parents of the students killed know that VT winning football games made their kids happy."

Yeah, because everybody who attends a school derives their happiness from said school's football program.

I don't know. Part of me agrees that it just seems false and sensationalized for people to look to how the Hokies perform as some kind of healing-rallying point. But, the cathartic power of sports (maybe, really just giving ourselves over to something that we really have no control over) is undeniable.

I think the piece that leaves the bad taste in my mouth is the knee-jerk manner in which sports pundits will point to the Hokies all season as playing for something more than the sum total of their record. Granted, as a nation we watched in horror as the events unfolded in Blacksburg, but we're no more a part of the healing process than our distance and disconnectedness allows us to be.

Root for the Hokies, by all means. But, know that there's a grieving and a healing that, much like the football team and its exploits, belongs exclusively and solely to the Virginia Tech community.

Well done, Dan. I hope plenty of folks (including most of your fellow sportswriters) see this.

Sports aren't what heals. It's the return to normal, to routine. And yes, breakfast at the dining hall and History 101 are part of "routine" too, but that's an individual's routine. Football is part of the community's routine, and that's why it's different. "Let's go Hokies" chants were lound and clear during the memorial service held on campus. That came from a renewed sense of community. Football is a natural extension of that. Sports are ways that communities have always naturally come together even in normal times, so it only makes sense that a greater sense of community born out of tragedy leads to that community rallying around sports. It's no different than the Yankees games after 9/11 or the Iraqi soccer team in the Asian Cup. Yes, people are going to go overboard writing about it, but people go overboard writing about everything. No, I'm not going to root for Virginia Tech any more than I used to. But it is a story, whether anyone likes it or not.

More than anything, I think it's a way to try to bring normalcy back to a campus that won't have it the way they once knew it.

I think its good the football team is openly embracing their role in preserving the memory of the families who suffered in this family, and in strengthening the family that is the Hokie nation.

"The world of sports is the world of sports, and reality is reality.

Sometimes sports mirrors society, sometimes it allows us to understand the larger society a little better. But mostly, it is a world of entertainment, of talented and driven young men and women who do certain things with both skill and passion."
-David Halberstam

Inspired by Dan's mini article, I googled "do sports heal?" and got this wise article from David Halberstam: http://espn.go.com/page2/s/halberstam/020911.html.
All should read.

Go Wahoos

If sports heal, why did Frank Beamer cancel the remainder of spring practice and the spring game back in April?

Anyone know where I can get some sort of memorial sticker/magnet for this season for my car on game days? I want to make this season special.

Amen.

Excellent column. I, like the rest of the nation, was heartsick after the massacre, but to be honest, I thought it was ridiculous that VT students turned the memorial service into a "Hokie Nation" pep rally.

I'm a Virginia Tech student, and I wholeheartedly agree with you, Dan. We at VT love our football team, but at the end of the day, it's nothing. We would give up football forever to have the lives of those 32 students and faculty members back.

That being said, I'm appalled by Muckraker's comments here. You have no idea of the pain and suffering all of us went through. Don't critique us for our reaction to a pain you could not even comprehend.

I wish you had kept your thoughts to yourself - I have never knowingly read any of your blogs. However this one was printed in today's paper.
Mr Steinberg,
The only redeeming piece of your article was that you have no connection to VA Tech or Tragedy. Until you do - you should have kept your trap shut. Here is something I guess you just don't understand...
When tragedy strikes it is natural to look for something you take comfort in. Take 9/11, when it happened I am sure most people wanted to be with their families. Something they take pride and comfort in. If you don't understand why a community such as VA tech can take pride and comfort in football, then you know nothing about the pride and comfort VA Tech fans have for there football team. The familiarity for the community may be that it takes pride in football.
Let me remind you that this tragedy was THE WORST on U.S. soil. THE WORST! ON UNITED STATES SOIL! I am not suggesting that anyone in the country back the Hokies. However being against or bothered by it is disgusting.
Anything, be it an article, for comfort and support in any form should be taken for what it is - an article of support. The fact that you don't want to see it falls just short of kicking something while it is down.

I applaud your piece, Dan. It shows a lot of courage to write about that issue when responses like "disappointed reader" are predictable. The value of sports in our society is vastly overstated and I say that as someone who is an avid fan of college basketball and the NFL. Sports is entertainment, nothing more. It does not heal. At best it simply allows people to forget and how is that different than any number of things that would allow people to forget for a time, like going to a movie or reading a book in a quiet place or hiking along a beautiful trail in the woods? People at VT who enjoy their football team are certainly entitled to go to the games and support their team, but nothing that happens on that football field has anything to do with the murder of 32 people. To be fair, a lot of the sentimental nonsense about sports is being written by sports writers who have nothing to do with VT and that is where the bulk of the criticism should be directed. As Dan said, leave football out of it please.

Disappointed reader, freestater said it better than I could.

The thing is, if you or your VT friends feel better by going to football games, that's fine. More importantly, if football actually makes the friends and families of the victims feel better, that's a great thing.

I just wish the media wouldn't milk one more sports storyline out of mass murder.

Amen, Steinz.

We attach additional importance to these games so we don't feel like dicks while we're sitting around watching them and avoiding our familial responsibilities.

At least, that's why I do it. And then there's the whole "I have to have an excuse to write about it" monkey on my back.

Hold up: "Sports aren't what heals. It's the return to normal, to routine."

If that's the case, then shouldn't we all pretend that there's NO extra significance to this season? I'm a tad confused.

I have to say I agree with this article. If it helps the Va Tech community heal by rallying around their athletic programs, more specifically football, then by all means do it. What happened in Blacksburg on that terrible day in April is something that will take time to overcome, and anyhting that will help in that process I am all for.

That being said, I don't see how being "America's Team" or the media darlings is going to help overcome the tradgedy. You want me to cheer for Hokies? Fine, I'll cheer for the students and teachers that were terrified in the classrooms and hallways on that day. That's the real "team" that needs this nation's support.

At least the football team can rally around this, rather then the fact that they turned a blind eye to Michael and Marcus Vick in college, and contributed to what those brothers are today.

Hey, at least Vick took em to the Sugar Bowl..he would give it all back for some discipline.