{"id":7339,"date":"2014-11-19T21:57:13","date_gmt":"2014-11-20T02:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=7339"},"modified":"2014-11-19T21:57:13","modified_gmt":"2014-11-20T02:57:13","slug":"open-letter-to-jmu-students-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=7339","title":{"rendered":"Open Letter to JMU Students Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"

Note: This is adapted from a similar post a couple years ago.<\/p>\n

Dear JMU Students,<\/p>\n

We’re not mad about low student attendance. And we’re not preaching that football is everything. Most weeks, we get it – the Dukes haven’t been good in a few years, none of you were in school for the last home playoff game, the wifi is non-existent in BFS and you can’t even get a tweet out and there’s free beer literally everywhere else in your corner of the ‘Burg. So we’re not gonna sell you on the importance of football on why you should stay late this weekend and come back early the next in the event of a home playoff game. We’re gonna sell you simply on the crappiness of being back home and the absolute beauty of having extra weekends at JMU – only the kind of rare weekends where you have no set plans and ZERO responsibilities. Face it, even the nerdiest among us isn’t actually doing work of Thanksgiving Break.<\/p>\n

As for the football, just get your tickets and do it. \u00a0The dorms are staying open and most of you don’t live there anyhow. \u00a0And the truth is, as much as we love football, this isn’t even about football. \u00a0It’s about sucking every ounce of marrow out of one of life’s juiciest bones – your time as an enrolled student at JMU. \u00a0In fact, you should stay every break you get the chance. \u00a0We’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.<\/p>\n

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. \u00a0No classes, no homework, not even any major parties to host, attend, or plan for. \u00a0Just a weekend with your friends who have the shared spontaneity and passion for good times to seize a golden opportunity\u00a0when it’s presented.<\/p>\n

Oh, we hear your excuses and they are pure bullshit. \u00a0What, 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\u00a0serious drama in their life<\/em>. \u00a0Trust us, they aren’t going anywhere. \u00a0If 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). \u00a0If they are currently at NOVA, Tidewater, or John Tyler, no need to worry, they’ll still be in your hometown whenever you get there.<\/p>\n

But your parents are just really expecting you and looking forward to seeing you and they won’t understand.<\/em> \u00a0Grow up. \u00a0Tell them to grow up too. \u00a0Neither 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. \u00a0You 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. \u00a0What will you really be doing that’s so wonderful. \u00a0Fattening up eating from a full pantry, stressing over exams but not actually studying, and spending half the day Snapchatting with what will suddenly occur to you are your closer, and cooler, JMU friends.<\/p>\n

But I’m from out of state or somewhere like Northumberland County and it’s tough to find a ride<\/em>. \u00a0Just shut up. \u00a0Somehow we got by with nothing but a Ride-Board in Taylor Down Under. \u00a0You 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.<\/p>\n

As for all that great stuff you’ll do back in your hometown.<\/em> \u00a0If 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.<\/p>\n

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 tv and they are missing the point that taking two classes at New River doesn’t give you a license to be a diehard Tech fan.<\/p>\n

Seriously, just do it. \u00a0If 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. \u00a0Even 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. \u00a0Even if the weather looks cold, 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<\/a> is something that will stick with you decades longer than whatever the hell else you’d be doing back “home” that weekend.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

You can thank us later for this early holiday treat.<\/p>\n