An Open Letter to JMU Students
Dear JMU Students,
Make plans NOW to STAY in town for the ODU game on November 17th! Just get your tickets and do it. The dorms are staying open and most of you don’t live there anyhow. And the truth is, as much as we love football, this isn’t even about football. It’s about sucking every ounce of marrow out of one of life’s juiciest bones – your time as an enrolled student at JMU. In fact, you should stay every break you get the chance. We’re not saying don’t show up at Mom’s for actual Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas break, but we are saying that Fall Break, Easter weekend, and any other random weekend you might be considering going “home” for some R&R or just to do your laundry and eat tons of food, is a bad idea and you’ll have more fun at your real and glorious new home now.
There are few things better in life, and certainly none better from ages 18-23, than a weekend in the ‘Burg that is 100% free of responsibility. No classes, no homework, not even any major parties to host, attend, or plan for. Just a weekend with your friends who have the spontaneity and passion for good times to seize a golden opportunity when it’s presented.
Oh, we hear your excuses and they are pure bullshit. What, you’ve been texting all semester with your high school friends and really just can’t wait to catch up with them about that reallly serious drama in their life. Trust us, they aren’t going anywhere. If they’re currently away at other schools, they’ll understand what your time at JMU means to you, though maybe not as much as a fellow Duke would because wherever they are just doesn’t compare (especially if they’re in Blacksburg or Charlottesville or Fairfax). If they are currently at NOVA, Tidewater, or John Tyler, no need to worry, they’ll still be in your hometown whenever you get there (for the rest of your life).
But your parents are just really expecting you and looking forward to seeing you and they won’t understand. Grow up. Tell them to grow up too. Neither you nor your parents may realize it, and you may not say it to each other over the phone, but the truth is you’ve both probably adjusted to life without each other more than you know. You really want to go home and drag this break out to 10 or 11 or 12 days with the nagging and the it’s-not-a-curfew-but-we’ll-guilt-you-about-it-anyhow. What will you really be doing that’s so wonderful. Fattening up eating from a full pantry, stressing over exams but not actually studying, and spending half the day on Twitter talking with what will suddenly occur to you are your closer, and cooler, JMU friends.
But I’m from out of state or somewhere like Northumberland County and it’s tough to find a ride. Just shut up. Somehow we got by with nothing but a Ride-Board in Taylor Down Under. You all are way more savvy than we ever were about networking, or so I’m told, so pm someone or put it on FB to put you in touch with someone who’s from somewhere near where you are and isn’t heading home till Sunday and figure it out.
As for all that great stuff you’ll do back in your hometown. If you’re an underclassman without access to a lenient bar or a great id, you’ll go to lame house parties at some kid from the class behind you’s house with your high school crew where it will start to sink in you’re now the old guys and you have about 5x more chance of getting busted than you would in Harrisonburg at a party that you’ll realize the minute you walk in the door isn’t worth half the risk you’d be willing take with the door guy at Jack Brown’s.
If you’re an upperclassman, and of age, you’ll go to some stupid suburban bar where the dumbass kids you went to high school with are now working and they’ll mock the JMU game despite the fact it’s on national TV and they are missing the point that taking two classes at NVCC doesn’t give you a license to be a diehard Tech fan. Also, if you’re an upperclassman and haven’t figured out the ODU game, and that weekend in general, is worth sticking around for, you’ve missed the point of a JMU education and we pity you.
And lastly, if your Twitter handle has “JMU,” “DukeDog,” or “CAA” in it and you’re not going to this one, just know that we know you’re a Halfway Crook.
Seriously, plan this weekend now. If you’re really lucky, you might even get mom or dad to chip in an extra $100 if you’re really running low on Dining Dollars and then you can blow it on booze and JimmyJohn’s and Molly and things like that us old guys don’t even know about. Even if you don’t really care about football, use the free Friday and Saturday morning to go hiking somewhere amazing and then enjoy some cocktailing at whatever kind of tailgate you prefer. Even if the weather looks dicey, the feeling of warmth from the time you spend with good friends during a night in Bridgeforth without any hint of the real world creeping in to spoil the fun is something that will stick with you decades longer than whatever the hell else you’d be doing back “home” that weekend.
Sincerely,
Two Middle Aged Alums Who Can’t Recall a Single Thing from Getting Home Early for a Break but Who Feel Fortunate to Have Lifelong Friends and Memories Bolstered by Responsibility-Free Weekends in Harrisonburg
You can thank us later for this early holiday treat.
clap…. clap… clap… clap..clap..clap..CLAP..CLAP..CLAP..CLAPCLAPCLAP
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE heed this advice. Enjoy the no-street weekend. Instead of being in the ‘burg that weekend I will be spending the weekend with my fiancée and future father-in-law checking out potential wedding locations.
Best rant from you guys in a while!
Yeah, but how many students read this blog? We need this to be in the BREEZE or anywhere else on-campus that the student body pays attention to. But I endorse the sentiment!
“If they are currently at NOVA, Tidewater, or John Tyler, no need to worry, they’ll still be in your hometown whenever you get there (for the rest of your life).”
ATTENTION:
This is not a joke. NOT.A.JOKE!
Ditto!…but I wish you had also reminded them to actually stay for the whole game too!
I also agree that a letter to the breeze would be good. Any one got connections to get it published? Maybe a student that is a a Sports Blog friend could help disseminate it.
Great blog post, but what’s with the random potshot at community colleges? I went to JMU after graduating from one of the institutions you name here; I’ve since completed a master’s at a well-respected university and I have no intention of returning to my hometown as a resident. Don’t hate!
Nice post, but I agree please and please show up for the kickoff and stay for the whole game for once this season.
Jerry – fair point about CC’s. Definitely traded unfounded harshness for the cheap laugh. We don’t mean to discourage that route and it’s absolutely a brilliant decision financially for those like yourself that follow through.
Good suggestions on submissions to The Breeze and we’re seeing what we can do. Trust us, it’s more shocking to us than anyone, but a fair number of current students and athletes follow the blog fairfly closely already and have already helped us out enormously spreading the word on Twitter. Ah, technology!
Great post. I don’t recall any trip home from JMU (25 years later), but I sure do remember lots of fun weekends at JMU.
Where did you get the JMU Santa? I was in the band, so I attended all games but I am an alumni now and have season tickets. I have missed very few games since 1999. Go Dukes!
I agree that this needs to be sent to the Breeze. Very excellent points that will never reach the student body otherwise.
Its funny I have the same JMU Santa! I can tell you, my wife(who I dated during our time at JMU) and I would always stay on those weekends. In fact, in 2008 we came back early during Thanksgiving break to watch the JMU-Wofford playoff game, which was a really great game. The traffic is always awesome the weekend after a break, there’s no wait at restaurants, no getting disturbed by loud neighbors in the wee hours of the morning. If you are a true fan, there is no excuse for not staying. Check the schedule at the beginning of the year, and make arrangements to stay in town.
How does one get molly with dining O_o?
For everyone saying to email the Breeze or what not, just know that next to nobody even reads the Breeze anymore. More effective would be to just find the JMU pages on Facebook and post it there.
That makes me sad MRD2012…not too sad as The Breeze was in the business of rabble-rousing when I was there, but it makes me sad nonetheless.
There can never be enough rants from old guys about never leaving JMU while you’re young.
…..and if you’re not doing the Thursday crossword in the Breeze you’re either asleep or dead.
Wow, that really means I am getting old if the Breeze isn’t being read. Then I assume nobody cares about Pats and Darts? (that was sarcasm) Ha ha ha. It is a little sad that nobody reads it. But I guess that is just mirroring the trend in national newspapers (WaPost, etc).
this is way, way, WAY too accurate. dead on. and quite a few students check this blog, actually, i see people in class reading it weekly.
*standing ovation*
….AND IF YOU LEAVE THE GAME EARLY, CONSIDER YOURSELF EXPELLED.
PS- props to “Share a side” board in TDU. Nice throwback.
*ride
Best sports event I ever attended, ever: I transferred to JMU from community college in Roanoke, January 1982. Got there a couple of days before break ended, so I spent some time wandering around and fiogured out how to get tickets to the home basketball game vs. East Carolina in the old ECAC. Godwin Hall was packed with alumni and a pile of students who came back early from the break. For apparently the first time, students emptied their bathrooms of toilet paper and covered the floor when Linton Townes scored JMU’s first basket of the game, and the place was deafening the rest of the way, which was a walkover win by the Dukes. People were camping out for tickets against Towson a week later. The Electric Zoo was born.
Were the dorms closed yesterday for the homecoming game? The student turn out was pathetic. I am starting to lose hope of students staying over to attend the ODU game when they didn’t bother to turn out for yesterday’s game when everything was operational.
Spot on post. One of my fondest memories was hanging around JMU over Christmas break to watch us take on W&M in the semifinals of the FCS in 2004. Party at our place in foxhills complete with a keg of sierra nevada. Absolutely incredible watching us beat W&M that Friday night in December to get our ticket punched to the national championship. Foxhills went crazy that night as couches burned (not by us of course) and the fight song echoed across the valley.
Probably my 2nd favorite JMU football moment behind attending the VT game in 2010.
The Molly part killed me. You middle aged dudes are so cool (like me).
Disco Kid – Awesome Linton Townes/origin-of-Zoo-Cage story and thanks for sharing. I’m pretty sure Rob considers the Purdue upset and the Culucko shot among his best in-school memories. Alas, I was a year too late and had nothing similar while a student, but Furman ’04 at Rhodeside, going to the WM ’04 playoff game, RV’ing to Chatty for the NC, ’08 App. St., and Bailey’s for VT are all standouts now. I wish I could say I have good memories from all the CAA tourneys I’ve been too in Richmond since graduation, but there’s literally not a single positive moment. But on the bright side, only seven teams in the tourney this year, so we’ve got a better chance!