Michael Ventre

I’ve never been to Blacksburg, Virginia, nor do I know much about Virginia Tech. To me, the face of the school has been that of Frank Beamer, the football coach. He put Virginia Tech on the map by rebuilding the school’s football program into a national power.

The Hokies haven’t been a contender for the BCS title game every single year under Beamer, but they’re in the mix more often than not. And they have a significant impact on the opposition off the field, before games. They’re in the Atlantic Coast Conference. If you gaze at the schedule of, say, Florida State to gauge its chances for a national title or a major bowl game, the phrase, “Watch out for Virginia Tech” is often uttered. If you look at Miami’s schedule, the meeting against Virginia Tech is almost always viewed in bold-faced type, even if it’s not printed that way.

The Hokies are a force to be reckoned with in college football.

I couldn’t say the same about their basketball team until fairly recently, around the time Seth Greenberg arrived as head coach. In his first three seasons, the Hokies were a ho-hum 45-44. But this season they broke through, finishing 22-12. They beat Duke on the road, North Carolina at home and went on to earn a berth in the NCAA tournament, where they advanced to the second round before being eliminated by Southern Illinois.

Virginia Tech may have a Florida situation on its hands — a football school that is also developing a basketball reputation. It only helps a university when it has two prominent, high-profile sports programs experiencing success.

While the football and basketball teams steal the headlines, Virginia Tech also fields respectable teams in baseball, track and field, golf and tennis.

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I’m sure Virginia Tech is a splendid academic institution as well. But like Ohio State, USC, Florida, Texas, Kansas, Kentucky, Duke and many other famous American universities, sometimes the excitement, passion and pure fun associated with sports can overshadow other elements of a school’s existence in the national consciousness.

I never really thought that was a good thing before. I do now.

Right now it’s officially O.K. to go overboard when it comes to sports, and particularly when it involves Virginia Tech. It’s all right to pay way too much attention to whether Sean Glennon can get the job done at quarterback, or to talk incessantly about whether Kenny Lewis or Branden Ore should get the majority of reps at tailback, or debate whether defensive end Chris Ellis is an NFL prospect.

When the basketball team begins practicing in the fall, it will be perfectly acceptable to dwell on the exploits of Deron Washington, Jamon Gordon and A.D. Vassallo, even if it means nitpicking after turnover-plagued losses.

On Monday, something happened at Virginia Tech that will never be forgotten. It staggered the world with its senselessness. It left the eloquent without words to describe it. It brought sorrow to a lot of people, and that won’t go away anytime soon.

It also threatens to create a new image for Virginia Tech. When people think of the school now, the face of Frank Beamer may be obscured by that of an angry loner. The statistics produced by Seth Greenberg’s charges may be shoved aside by a death toll.

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