by Walter Smith
There is a new conservative meme loose in the land. It is profane and disrespectful, and it does nothing to elevate the civic discourse. But it gets the point across. It seems that crowds in football stadiums around the country have taken to chanting, “F— Joe Biden!” Hilariously, one sports commentator mistook the vulgarity as, “Let’s go Brandon!” Now the phrase “Let’s go Brandon” has taken on a life of its own.
At a recent football game at Virginia Tech’s Lane Stadium, students broke out in just such a chant, and, apparently, the Tech administration did not approve. According to WJHL News, following displays of “selfish, inappropriate and embarrassing student behavior” that “falls short of Virginia Tech standards,” the administration restricted student attendance to season ticket holders and student lottery winners. As examples of objectionable behavior, the university mentioned students entering the game illegally or violating line protocols. The communique did not mention the profane mantra, but the Media Research Center blog, reading between the lines, viewed the crackdown as a rebuke of the anti-Biden chants.
I don’t know the truth of the matter, but based upon memories of my own sordid behavior as a University of Virginia undergraduate, I offer some advice to the Tech students.
I seem to recall an incident when UVa was hosting the University of North Carolina Tarheels Saturday one night long ago at U-Hall. This was back in the day when the Atlantic Coast Conference had seven schools and we bore a fond brotherly hatred for all our rivals. (As much as I relished trouncing Tech, I rooted most heartily against Carolina, followed closely by that cheating Yankee school, Dook.)
The game was telecast regionally on Raycom, with Billy Packer and Bones McKinney… starting at 9 p.m… on a Saturday night. Well, UNC had more talent, as it usually did back then, and Dean Smith did his usual take-the-air-out-of-the- ball four-corners strategy with about 12 minutes left in the game. The student section – did I mention most were drunk by the time the game started, and that we continued to imbibe Pepsi and bourbon during the game? – started a resounding chant which echoed off of the U-Hall roof – A$$h0!e…A$$h0!e… over and over.
Bones said he couldn’t quite make out what the students were saying, but the entire Raycom audience knew!
The next week featured much stern criticism from the administration, probably the Daily Regress and even the Cavalier Daily. Fearing that the student performance would be repeated the following Saturday night with Lefty Driesell and the evil Maryland Terps coming to U-Hall, to be broadcast …at 9 p.m… the forces of decorum were all over it. Students were handed a sheet of paper with numbered chants. We were also given a church fan like contraption – basically a paint stick with a big picture of Lefty’s head and a gas gauge pointing to empty on his forehead. I can’t remember if we won, but I do recall it was awful fun and UVa avoided further embarrassment.
In that spirit, I offer this advice to Tech students for all sporting events.
F Joe Biden = Let’s go Brandon
F the Tech Admin = Let’s go Brandon
F the mask police = Let’s go Brandon
F the Covid vax Nazis = Let’s Go Brandon
F Fauci, the CDC and the FDA and the horses they rode in on = Let’s go Brandon
F lockdowns and social distancing and squashing normal student fun = Let’s go Brandon
F the indoctrination and everything being about race all the time = Let’s go Brandon
F squelching our speech = Let’s go Brandon
F UVA… Hey, have some respect for your superior in-State school! Do you think you’re Hira Azher?*
Walter Smith is an attorney residing in Henrico County.
** Hira Azher had every right to express her opinion profanely. The outrage was that displaying her “F— UVA” message on a Lawn door was inappropriate for a World Heritage site frequented by tourists, families, etc.
Update: This column has been updated to reflect the fact that the person who voiced the term “let’s go Brandon” was not a football commentator.
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