Hokies Prepare for Yankees Visit

By HANK KURZ Jr.
AP Sports Writer
Published: March 17, 2008

    BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) - Like most major leaguers, the New York
Yankees don’t get too excited about Grapefruit League games,
especially when a bus trip is involved.
    Tuesday’s spring training road trip will be different.
    Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees will board a bus at
their Tampa, Fla., training complex to catch a flight to Virginia,
then bus to Blacksburg for an exhibition game they all want to
play. The Bronx Bombers vs. the Virginia Tech Hokies.
    “All the players are looking forward to it,“ Jeter said
Monday. “The players that can’t go want to. I’m sure it will be
emotional, especially for the student body.“
    It was 11 months ago this college town became the focus of a
horrified nation after a gunman killed 32 people on campus, and
then himself.
    People around the world rallied behind Virginia Tech and the
community, and the Yankees were among the organizations that
offered overwhelming support, donating $1 million to the Hokie
Spirit Memorial Fund and asking if they could come play a game.
    They’ll do it Tuesday afternoon in a stadium packed with 3,000
students who won a lottery for tickets, 1,000 faculty and staff,
and victims of last April 16th.
    Virginia Tech coach Peter Hughes still gets choked up when he
thinks about that day, and the one coming.
    “Everywhere in life we’ve got guys that talk and guys that do
things,“ the second-year Hokies coach said. “And when the Yankees
call and say, `Hey, we want to help out. We’ve got to do something.
Here’s our idea: we want to come play and here’s a million
dollars.‘ How proactive is that? It blows you away, their
generosity.“
    The Yankees have their own history with massive tragedy, playing
in the same city where the attacks on the World Trade Towers
claimed thousands of lives on Sept. 11, 2001.
    “I really had a new appreciation for life after that,“ Jeter
said. “I think it brings attention to how precious life is. You
realize it’s going to be a special trip and you can’t take anything
for granted. This really puts things in perspective.“
    The Yankees aren’t just coming to the ballpark. The first stop
their bus will make on campus will be at the memorial for the
victims of the shootings.
    “I think it’s important for guys to see it,“ first-year
manager Joe Girardi said. “I get emotional thinking about it. Wake
up in the morning, it’s a blessing.“
    The Hokies baseball team was the school’s first team to play
after the shootings on April 16.
    Nearly a year later, Hughes said, the pain for many is still
fresh and new.
    “It’s part of everybody’s daily actions and thoughts,“ he
said. “You know, you’re looking at 32 victims, but you’re looking
at 32 times the sets of parents and children and friends and
relatives. It’s so encompassing, and to have the Yankees want to
come be part of the healing process and do it on your campus, ...
it’s unbelievable.“
    That’s surely how it will be for the Hokies players, too,
getting to schmooze with and compete against some of the biggest
names in the major leagues.
    “It will be a lifetime memory,“ Hughes said. “They’ll be
leaning on the batting cage 2 feet away from Derek Jeter and A-Rod
taking BP. You can’t even make that up.“
    For Hughes, a Brockton, Mass., native and avid Red Sox fan, the
lighter side of the day - the game itself - will present
challenges, not the least of which is how to cope with the request
by his Red Sox fan sons to be the bat boys for the visiting team.
    “It’s going to be hard,“ he admitted, “to root against the
Yankees ever again.“