Cameron felt a little different today.

I Am A Wrestling Fan.

I'm from New Jersey and my closest friends and I had season tickets to 美国罗格斯新泽西州立大学新布朗斯维克分校 Wrestling for the past several years. Rutgers is consistently ranked in the top five in the NCAA wrestling attendance, so it gets packed. Wrestling matches at Jersey Mike's Arena have become the un-official meeting place for the central Jersey wrestling community. Since the high school and college that I wrestled for were in NJ, and I grew-up in the New Brunswick, NJ area, Rutgers wrestling matches to me were always a big reunion of friends, teammates, coaches, and sometimes former opponents. It's always so much fun telling old wrestling stories, talking about the current teams, athletes, and of course being a part of one of the most raucous crowds in Big 10 Wrestling.

At the beginning of the pandemic, my company relocated me and my family to Virginia. Now that fans are permitted to attend matches live again, I needed to find a new local team. I chose the University of Virginia . I don't dislike Virginia Tech . In fact the Hokies currently have a better team as well as a returning National Champ from NJ! I just didn't want be a "Front Runner" and thought this would also be a way to earn my fandom. Besides it seemed to me like there are way more supporters for Virginia Tech and I felt like UVA might need me more. So, I've been following UVA on TV; but, today was the first time I had the opportunity to actually go and see them wrestle live.

This morning, I put on my UVA wrestling shirt and my wife Suzanne and I headed down to Durham to see UVA take on 美国杜克大学 in the storied Cameron Indoor Stadium. This wasn't my first time there. I did see a sold-out basketball game in November of 2019 when the Blue Devils took on the Panthers of Georgia State University

Cameron felt a little different today...

I knew it wouldn't be standing room only, but, I was a little surprised by how barren the arena seemed and by comparison to my prior visit, it truly was empty. I didn't mind it at all. We got there early enough to wander the hallowed halls, and take pictures of the basketball memorabilia and award displays. It was pretty amazing to have such a legendary sports venue almost entirely to ourselves. If you have never been, it's very impressive. I do have to admit, I did love seeing a wrestling mat cover the hardwood of arguably the most famous basketball court in the NCAA . However; this wasn't the most surreal part of the day.

The seats were free, which was well over $100 cheaper than one I purchased for that basketball game in November of 2019. The seats we selected were adjacent to approximately 25 other "Visitors" all decked out in blue and orange. The UVA faithful noticed the crossed sabers on my chest and a few of them walked up to me to say, "Hello." Coming from NJ, I could immediately tell they were trying to feel me out. ?After a few pleasantries, one?of them said to me, "I don't think I have seen you around before, do you have a son on the team?" I simply stated, "No." The immediate follow up question was, "Did you go to UVA?" My reply was, "No, I'm just a fan". This time a different person with a puzzled look said, "Who are you here to see?" I could feel the tension of the group rise as they awaited my response. ?I paused for a second and my answer was one that only Garden State native could appreciate, "Listen, I'm from NJ.?I was a Rutgers season ticket holder; but, I moved to Virginia for work. Other than my job, I really don't have any ties to Virginia; but, I'm a Hoos fan now!"?

The Cavalier congregation stared at me for what may have only been a couple seconds; but, seemed a whole lot longer. One of them shattered the silence with the accusation, "So, are you saying you adopted us?!" My effortless reaction was, "Yeah, I guess so." I could see the tension ease, as many smiled, a few shook my hand, other fist bumped me and welcome my wife and I into their community. It turned out that this was a collection of the parents of the wrestlers on the team. Apparently, UVA doesn't travel well, so fans at away matches are pretty rare. For the next three hours we talked all things wrestling! The exchanged opinions on the ACC, Big 10, SEC, EIWA, and I was fortunate to get to hear the backstory of every student-athlete on the team. When the match ended, I exchanged numbers with a couple of my new wrestling friends and made plans to meet-up next Friday at the "Commonwealth Clash" when the University of Virginia takes on Virginia Tech at HOME!

I could not think of a better way to spend an afternoon. In retrospect, I can appreciate the Wahoo wrestling parents, being a bit wary. Anything worth having doesn't come easy and I think confirms that I choose the right team for me.

JPJ is not the RAC and Charlottesville certainly isn't New Brunswick; but, I guess it doesn't really matter. It's just nice to have a home team again.