Well, it's been official for some time now that the VCU Rams are Richmond's baby. The kind of stuff going off around here due to the success of this team exists in a vacuum where the school's trip to the second round of the NCAA tournament along with the now-ailing UVA program. That's where all the money came from to enlarge the school to it's all-consuming pseudoplasmodium-like self as it exists today. the location of the celebration on Broad Street is quite proximal to my house (I live near there). It used to be a no-man's land. I played weekly gigs with my funk/fusion band at a bar on the edge of the fan, mostly for VCU students, and it was like being on the edge of town...to the west and to the north of Broad lurked nothing good. Nowadays it's Extreme Pizza (a name I really did predict in 96 when the term "extreme" became as ubiquitous as a volvo stationwagon was) Five Guys (which I am not ashamed to say I frequent after running or long nights) Chili's (no shit) and student housing lining the street, coliseum lofts and shit like that. all wrapped around the Seigal Center. and all brought about after the swing in enrollment and success of various sports teams years ago. It feels weird, is what I'm saying. I took two undergrad classes at VCU in 98 during the summer and enjoyed both of them. I took 4 grad classes there to complete the requirements for my Virginia teaching certificate. My fiance is about halfway through her courses for her Masters in Special Education. We have given them tons of money. wifey still is...and yet I can't really connect with the utter desperation with which the actual city and its Gov't is treating the national attention. It's like a really shitty SS getting called into the game because the other 2 went down and your bench has the trots from the plane food. He's practically jumping in the air when the batter locks and loads. It makes me feel farther from my city, and protective of my neighborhood mere blocks away from the tear-gas and impromptu horizontal co-ed tossing (which is extremly freakin dangerous when drunk). God I hope we lose this game. My city has so much more than a mid-major with the worst color combo ever.
Banner seen by incoming and outgoing traffic at RIC international airport 
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