Fight Fight Fight!
This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to attend an SDSU football game at good ol’ Qualcomm Stadium. As I watched the hometown Aztecs take on the visiting Washington State Cougars, the one feeling I couldn’t shake throughout the night was wonder, and jealousy, towards how electric the atmosphere was for this collegiate sports event. Back at UCI, campus pride in our sports teams was pretty much non-existant, and as such, attendance for every game that didn’t feature the baseball team ended up being pretty horrendous.
This, however, was not the case for SDSU, whose successes in collegiate football and basketball have earned invites to BCS title games and the NCAA tournament in the last few years. For three hours, I immersed myself into the crowd, screaming and chanting along with students and alumni as the Aztecs scored, and joining the chorus of boos whenever a yellow penalty flag was thrown. Even though I’ve been to several Charger and Padre games in the past, watching the SDSU game was unlike anything I’d ever seen. You couldn’t help but join in and have a good time watching the team wearing your school’s colors take the field in their desperate bid for glory.
To put it simply, it was magical.
As much as I enjoyed the years I spent at UCI, I somewhat regret not going to a school that has a major sports program. I regret never having the opportunity to sit/stand in a raucous student section and scream until the point of losing my voice, all for the sake of screwing up a kicker’s extra point attempt or game winning free throw. Sure, I could choose a college football team and make them my own, but there’s just something about supporting your own school’s squad that no “adoption process” could ever fill.
While my graduate school ambitions could send me to a university with a major sports program (2/3 have Division I NCAA basketball teams), I’ll bide my time and continue cheering for SDSU. Luckily, the hometown Aztecs aren’t doing too badly!
