Thursday, September 06, 2007

Mountaineer Football 2007



Mountaineer Football 2007, originally uploaded by chanchanchepon.
Well, this past weekend I spent one hot Saturday afternoon sitting in the sun and enjoying Mountaineer football with my good friend Matt Thorn. He and I are veteran fans, and it was really cool to kick back and enjoy the game while sitting in the sparsely populated (at least by them) Western Michigan section. Matt is going to law school in Michigan, and he drove over to WMU to pick up some tickets for himself and a few friends (including me) from their ticket office.

This fall's game marked the first time since my undergraduate days that I have made it into the stadium before gametime. During grad school, I would hang out with friends from Mylan and other places before the game only to come to a massive conglomeration of students waiting to get into the stadium. Sometimes it would take as long as twenty minutes to get in through the student gate--but it was always worth it.

If you aren't familiar with WVU football, or "the pride of WV" (the WVU marching band), that's them in the shape of our great state on the field.

It's funny because as I grow older, I enjoy different aspects of game day. I used to solely be about the game and getting as loud and as rowdy as possible. And while I'm still loud and totally enjoying the talent displayed on the field, I find myself enjoying game days for different reasons now.

Gameday brings people together. As I walk through the tailgates and the stadium, every game I run into dozens of people whose path I would not cross otherwise. Every game, I find myself catching up with old friends and making new ones. Every game becomes a celebration of this state, of family, of friendship, and of community.

While some of my fellow fans get a bit excessive in their celebration, there is something to be said for the fact that for a few hours on a saturday a mass of people gathers to participate in something larger than any one tailgate or touchdown run. There's something deeply spiritual going on, and for the most part we are oblivious to it, but just the same it is undeniable.

1 comment:

The Awesome Tom said...

Sounds like you had a pretty good time. I'm really not into football, so well I don't think I'll be caught at a game anytime soon.