Commentary - Natives and C'meres

I write this as a C'mere.

There are two kinds of people in our area: Those that were born here and those that located here from elsewhere. In Richmond, all transplants were known as "C'meres," a contraction of "Came here," as opposed to "born here." (And, no, those folks are not known as "B'rneres." They are just plain Richmonders.)

I haven't heard the C'mere term used here. However, for the sake of simplicity, I'd like to use it in pointing out the differences between locals and transplants when it comes to sports.

C'meres bring their loyalties with them. They can proudly fly their Minnesota/Penn State/Auburn flags without fear of retribution. To Natives, all that flag says is "I am a C'mere." If a C'mere tries to hop on the UVa or Tech bandwagon, he must be prepared to answer questions such as "Who led the team in tackles at the 1992 Continental Tire Bowl?" C'meres are better off not even trying.

Natives are fans of either Virginia Tech or UVa. Period. Such folk are firmly in the camp of the Hokies or the Cavs. If a Tech fan, then your arch-rival is UVa. If a UVa fan, then you despise Va Tech. If the Hokies were playing for a national championship against North Korea, Bedford-raised UVa fans would have a tough time picking who they would want to win. That shoe also fits Va Tech fans, were UVa in that situation.

C'meres try to maintain their allegiances to their NFL teams, but suffer through a television slate that is heavy on the Redskins and Ravens, while being short on those hometown favorite. In the two years I've been here, my Buffalo Bills have been on the tube exactly four times.

Natives, for the most part, are Redskins fans. However, there are some natives that are fans of other NFL teams, usually the Cowboys. I don't know this for a fact, but I'm willing to bet that any Bedford native who is a Cowboys fan was the hellion of the family, and developing an affinity for Dallas was another way of sticking his thumb in Dad's eye.

C'meres volunteer as assistant coaches until their kids are done with that particular sport.

Natives go through the following sports life cycle: playing rec ball, playing high school ball, coaching rec ball, coaching high school ball, coaching rec ball for the kids of the kids they previously coached in rec ball, death, coaching rec ball in the after-life.

C'meres can identify some of the neighbor kids on some of the local teams.

Natives can identify every player on a team roster, who his father is, what record his father's team had in high school, the store his grandfather owned, details of the scandal in which his great-grandmother ran off with a traveling salesman and which brigade his great-great grandpa fought for in the first World War.

C'meres observe the traditional sports calendar. They focus on football in the fall, basketball in the winter and baseball in the spring/summer.

Natives observe a different sports calendar. They focus on football in the fall, the football off-season in the winter and football's preseason in the spring/summer.

Here's an additional guiding point for you, if you are attending a local sporting event: Any player with a name on the back of his jersey that reads "Orange," "Overstreet," or "Dooley" is a local. As an aside: I believe Bedford County is the only place on earth where Smith and Jones are odd names. There are more Oranges than Whites, Blacks or Greens.

There is one similarity between the two groups. C'meres are smart enough to have located to the Bedford area. Natives are smart enough to have stayed.