Despite our Success, MB411 Still Not Respected by Virginia Tech Stadium Security

My old friend Dan is now the sports director at some local station in West Virginia, and as part of this role he gets two free media passes for Virginia Tech home games. So when he texted me last Tuesday asking if I’d like to be on the sideline for this past weekend’s Miami-VT football game, I packed my Miami Tour Company polo and drove ten hours to Blacksburg, Virginia. What I forgot, of course, is that it is September. And in September, apparently the rest of the country begins to experience temperatures below 80 degrees . This did not make for a fun afternoon.

I met up with Dan on my way from the UM tailgate up a long hill in a freezing (ok, 58 degrees, but to any Floridian that IS freezing)downpour to Lane Bryant Stadium, or whatever they call it. On the way we passed a group of UM fans who looked like they’d just been beamed from the old East End Zone at the Orange Bowl. The Virginia Tech fans, apparently familiar with Miami’s demographic makeup just kept yelling, “Cuba! Go back to Cuba and your boy Castro!” Who knew Virginia hilljacks were so versed in Latin American politics?

NO LOVE FOR THE SITE

The game, as most of you know, was an unmitigated disaster for the ‘Canes. I spent most of it completely soaked and shivering, but still repping MiamiBeach411 in my Company Man polo. Dan even called over Sebastian the Ibis to show him the insignia on my right sleeve. To which Sebastian gave me a muted shrug. Sadly, he is apparently not a regular reader of the site. But because the rain was so awful, and the game even worse, Dan opted to head inside to the media room about midway through the second quarter. So I thought I’d take this chance to do a lap around the sidelines.

I didn’t make it halfway through the UM sideline when about four security guys stopped me demanding to see my sideline pass.

“Who are you with?!” he demanded. I didn’t want to dime out my boy for hooking me up with a pass, so I told him the only media outlet I could possibly belong to.

“Miami Beach 411.com. I’m here covering the game.” The security guy looked puzzled.

“I never heard of ya,” he told me. He then took my pass and called in the number “upstairs,” to ensure the pass was legit. “Who gave this to you?!” he demanded after upstairs called back down. “Was it Dave?”

Assuming Dave was their media relations person, I agreed.

“Ok, then, come over here and stand with Dave.” With that he walked me over to the marching band and introduced me to Dave, the head of The Marching Virginians. “You have to stand with Dave. Don’t leave Dave.”

Given that I was beginning to border on hypothermia, I begged to just go back to the media room and help Dan set up for the post-game press conference. But apparently the number on my pass matched the series issued to the marching band. I was very confused. So was Dave.

“I’ve never seen this guy before in my life,” Dave told security. He grabbed my sideline pass and looked at it. “Hey, genius,” he told the security guy, “this is a media pass. Ours are sideline passes. Get this guy outta here!” With that, Dave shook my hand, wished me the best, and I was sent on my way.

WORKING LIKE A REAL-LIVE SPORTS REPORTER

I suffered through about another quarter before heading inside for good midway through the third. The game was a blowout, I was cold and miserable, and the media room at the stadium had a nice fried chicken and brownie spread. Like a real-live sports reporter, I got to watch Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer’s post-game press conference, and held a microphone in several Tech players’ faces while Dan interviewed them for the 11 o’ clock sportscast. 

I must say it was kinda cool feeling like a real sports reporter, but I’ll also say that it takes a lot of the fun out of sports. Like this was a ton of fun for me, but it was a novelty. I think doing it every week would get to be laborious. I’ll limit my time in cold weather to weekends in the fall, and stick to commenting on sports from the warmth of my air-conditioned apartment.

Related Categories: Miami: Local News, About the Author: Matt Meltzer is a featured columnist at Miami Beach 411. See more articles by Matt Meltzer. See more articles by Matt Meltzer Was This Post Helpful? Please Share It With Others! Tweet

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"Despite our Success, MB411 Still Not Respected by Virginia Tech Stadium Security"

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