My First Football Experience: USC vs. Washington

I haven’t posted for nearly two weeks. So much happens every day that I just don’t find the time to write =]. Let’s see what I might want to write about:

• Building government meetings
• Google pizza party
• TCF Builders meetings
• The Invisible Computer
• USC vs. Washington
• VSC Funding Board
• Engineering Career Fair
• Parkside/Southside Game Night
• ACM (Association for Computing Machinery)
• An Inconvenient Truth
• Walnut Family Festival

Let’s pick… USC vs. Washington.

Last weekend, I went to the USC vs. Washington football game, right here in the Coliseum. I’m a sophomore this year, so I’ve been around– but last year, although I did buy a Spirit Activities Card, I didn’t actually go to the games. I went to about 2 of them, I don’t even remember which ones, and I didn’t get into it at all. But since I’m rooming with Theo this year, who is just about the biggest football fan around, I decided to give it a real try. That means putting effort into it and making sure I get the full experience. So, I borrowed a friend’s spirit card (thanks, Michael L!) and went to the game, sitting between Theo and Tony C. In case you don’t know, those two are some of the loudest guys alive.

Theo is awesome, and Tony was in the Trojan Marching Band last year. So they know what they’re doing. I mostly followed their lead. Two things I’d never known about: holding up the Victory sign on every offensive play, and “1, 2, 3, 1st down Trojans!” When Theo yelled, I did too. When Tony started a chant, I followed. The crowd got particularly loud at the end, when we had only a 6-point lead and Washington had a good possibility of winning the game. It was so loud that I couldn’t hear well for hours afterward. But it was worth it.

It gave me a sense of the school spirit and such that makes football games fun. What’s most fun about them, though, is getting to know the other people– talking with them and enjoying the game together. There’s not much point in someone going to a football game alone, but going with friends is one of the best things you can do. On the other hand, I don’t think I’ll go again. I’ve had enough football for one year =].