Junior government and politics major
Let’s face it: The Terrapins football gameday experience is pretty bad. If you need evidence, you just needed to glance at the stands during the fourth quarter this past Saturday against Ohio State. Students tend to find games boring, tedious or depressing; however, regardless of the reasoning, they frequently leave early or don’t show up at all. I really had been looking forward to game days entering this university, but at this point, I am hardly motivated to go. Obviously, winning keeps fans in the stands, but I can’t control that. However, here are a few simple ways to improve the Terps gameday experience:
First, put the lyrics to the alma mater and fight song on the big screen for students and fans alike who don’t know them, especially the former. Many other Big Ten schools, notably Penn State, have rousing renditions of their alma maters and fight songs. Our alma mater is played to a largely indifferent crowd. Perhaps if everyone knew or at least read the lyrics, we could better demonstrate school pride.
On a related note, the gameday experience could be dramatically improved if students took an active role in the game. We are largely quiet, except during the biggest plays, and even then, our 10,000-strong section isn’t fully into the game. It’s perfectly within your rights to go to the game and not pay attention or make noise, but it’s a college sporting event: Support your school and peers. If you go to the game, make some noise when we’re on defense. It’s not that complicated.
Other conference stadiums seat up to 100,000 fans, including larger student sections than ours. Yet we cannot always fill our student section of 10,000. While we could never be as rowdy as Ohio State or Penn State, the least we could do is stay loud while the game is within reach. We need to make Byrd Stadium a home field — not a neutral site. And with our move to the Big Ten, more visiting fans have appeared at our games, so we really have to defend our turf. If we all work hard to make Byrd a more fearsome home, we will surely enjoy game day more — and stay longer.
While the university has tried giveaways, free food and other gimmicks to persuade students to go and stay at football games, it’s clear that students are disinterested in remaining at games and are easily discouraged when the Terps struggle. The Ohio State game gave us a taste of Big Ten play, and it might further discourage the student body. If we want to improve our gameday experience, we need to play an active role in the game.
Matt Dragonette is a junior government and politics major. He can be reached at mdragonnettedbk@gmail.com.
