Senior kinesiology major
When it comes to the football gameday experience, college athletics offer a fantastic atmosphere. Apart from the pride associated with wearing your Terps gear while you watch your team play, there are other elements of game day that are simply awesome. You have virtually free tickets to a massive sporting event and live within walking distance of the stadium. Not only are the tickets included in your student fees, they are also in the stadium’s lower level. As an avid sports fan, that’s a mindbogglingly good deal. Also, living close to the campus adds a level of convenience to getting to the stadium; it makes the day so much more enjoyable. Living near the campus eliminates the possibility of facing Metro delays or getting stuck in the mass exodus of cars after the game. Those two factors alone make college football game day so enjoyable for me.
Another fantastic element of college game day is the lack of assigned seating. This reduces the stress associated with trying to plan to sit together. I can’t tell you how many times I have struggled getting seats together at a nonuniversity sporting event. Most of the time I ended up sitting next to complete strangers because it was impossible to find seats together, which definitely takes away from the gameday experience.
The one major drawback for college game day is the kickoffs that have been scheduled so far this year. A noon kickoff is simply not acceptable. Such an early kickoff requires waking up at the crack of dawn to begin your gameday rituals if you wish to tailgate. The weekends are about relaxation, and the last thing I find relaxing is getting up before the sun. If this one quirk were fixed, game day would as close to perfect as I can imagine.
Ian Lacy is a senior kinesiology major. He can be reached at ilacydbk@gmail.com.
