Monday, October 18, 2010

Supporting Your College Football Team As A Student



I say Football team, but many of these ideas can work with most any sport you like.

Dress Up
You can’t consider yourself a fanatic if you’re going to the game in just a team T-Shirt. Go ahead and paint yourself up or put on some crazy looking plastic jewelry! Have a good time with it! You may think you’re standing out and being weird, but I guarantee you’ll be seen as a hero.

Learn The Routine
Every team's fans have a way of going about cheering. There are certain cheers and chants you need to know in order to successfully support your team, including the "Fight Song" and the "Alma Mater". This fact goes out more towards the freshman reading this as well. If you’re heading to the game for the first time, ask whomever you’re going with if there are any chants and rituals you need to know before your first game. It might sound like a goofy question to ask, but it’s well worth doing to keep you from looking like a fool (a.k.a. a Freshman).

Get Loud On 3rd Down!
If you’re at a Football game, you better be screaming on the opposite team's 3rd or 4th down! If you're not on the edge of passing out blue in the face then you're not doing enough, Period.

Proudly Wear Your Team's Colors (Win or Lose)
Fair-weather fans are a dime a dozen. The Yankees and Cowboys fans double when they're winning. Fact! Not really, but it sure seems that way. Being a fan, win or loss, is what true support is. Even if your team just lost the most horrible last second upset in the world, nothing spits in the eyes of your opponents like sporting your team colors proudly the next day. You’ve always got to remember, it’s never as good as it seems and it’s never as bad as it seems, so buck up and take it like a man.

Join Your Student Athletic Club
I am from East Carolina University and the only reason one wouldn’t join the Student "Pirate" Club is because they are a freshman and don’t know any better. I have heard stories from people who transferred from other colleges saying that if you were in the Student Athletic Club there you were a loser, but it is definitely the opposite mindset of those at ECU...if you’re NOT a part of the Student "Pirate" Club then YOU’RE a loser. You really have to join early at ECU because spots fill up fast and they may sell out if you take your time about it. If your school has an unsupportive student body, you have to change the mindset of the students and probably your athletic department's direction as well.