Football... Look, an eagle!

Another Saturday, another home football game. Everyone comes out for game day. People start pregaming long before the game starts at noon, some people partying in their dorms, while others go to the bars for Breakfast Club. Even though everyone acts hyped for the game, when they all finally get into the stadium, they seem to lose interest in the game. People in the stands, especially student section, tend to pay attention to just about anything except the football players in front of them.

Take today's game for instance. Purdue versus Iowa. I got to the game about half an hour early and watched the student section swell up to maximum capacity. The game started out well with Purdue quickly scoring. Everyone was really into it, high fiving and cheering with every yard the Boilers gained. However, this enthusiasm soon died off. By the end of the second quarter, people were losing interest in the game, half-heartedly chanting and waving with everyone else. While their interest in the game waned, their interest in other things waxed.

The students started paying more attention to the people who came from breakfast club dressed in outlandish costumes. Two guys dressed in rabbit costumes caught the eyes of many and their dumb little antics caused more cheers than the game did. Another guy was dressed in a red hawk suit. It soon became obvious that he wasn't an Iowa supporter though, and he started leading the crowd in the wave. Whenever the wave starts, no one in the student section pays attention to the football any longer. They have something much more interesting to watch. After the wave went around a few times, it died out, causing the hawk to have to start another one. Then came the slow wave. Once people were tired of the wave, they turned their attention to other things. Someone brought maybe 10 beach balls to the game and threw them out into the crowd, entertaining the students to no end. Finally, when there were more distractions to be had, many people just left the game to do other things, not even waiting to see how it ended.

Why do so many in the student section lose interest in football while they are at the game? I think it is because it gets so repetative. The game is interesting when it is close, but usually one side shuts out the other. Then it is just cheer after cheer for the students. There is no appeal in cheering for the team when they are obviously shutting out their opponents anyway. Also, football games are so long, almost 4 hours on average. That is a long time to sit doing anything straight. Maybe if games were shorter or closer, they would better hold the interest of those in the student section.