Everyone has been to his or her college football game where there was a 4th quarter comeback or a winning field goal with time expiring. However, it is the whole college gameday experience that people want to know about. This means from the time you wake up and head into town to the time you leave the bar at night and head home.
People will have different experiences based on their age (teen, college student, alum, or grown adult). I personally am a college student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. For all of you that don't know, this is home of the UW Badgers football team. It is true that our school is known for acdemics, however, it is also known for being a top-notch party school with die-hard fans. I will tell an experience I had this 2007 football season when the Badgers hosted the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday, September 22nd.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - -- - - - -- -
The official start time of this game was 7:00pm, which meant the streets and stadium area were full of action around 12:00pm--a full seven hours before gametime. Wisconsin fans, both students and adults, are known for their great displays of tailgate ability. You'll see anything from an old woman doing a four-story beer bong to a thirsty group of reckless college students doing an octobong (which basically looks like a big octopus with a large beer container in the middle flowing out through 8 hoses) to even a grill the size of a pickup truck. But what makes Wisconsin unique? It might be the fact that almost what seems the whole campus, even the unfortunate without tickets, participate in the pre-game festivities, game action, and post-game festivities. It is like a whole-day event.
--Around 10:00am on the Iowa-Wisconsin gameday I woke up and turned on the TV to see ESPN's College Gameday and eventually watch Lee Corso put on the head of an Alabama Razarback mascot. Around 12:00pm I went across the street to a pre-game party. Low and behold, the people hosting the party had family from Iowa. I walked around and noticed that roughly half of the people present were parents and the other half students. What amazed me was that I saw parents playing beer-pong, doing beer bongs, dancing to music, and talking smack to the opposing fans. These "childish" acts are supposed to be student-only things; however, this was not the case. All the p
arents and students were wearing either all red or all-yellow clothing. You could tell everyone was very supportive of their team and thier respective university. As game-time approached, I left the party around 6:00pm and went for my usual walk around the stadium. It's a breathtaking sight to just walk around the stadium and see so many people of all ages wearing red and getting ready for the big game. Since this was the Sat. night prime time game on ESPN, there were many cameras inside the stadium and a big blimp hovering around the stadium. When entering the student section it is almost like a procession going the the Mecca as so many students flock through the gates and begin cheering for the Badgers immediately. Once gametime hits, the students seem to screem chants every minute and continue singing songs played over the loudspeaker. The MOST famous part of Badger football games when the students bounce to "Jump Around". Imagine a whole student section full of thousands of youthful bodies jumping up and down for a minute. It is insane.
I can go on and on about Wisconsin football but this is a good start.
Hopefully other bloggers can share their great college football experiences.
0 comments:
Post a Comment