Oct Parents' Weekend

Nikara
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:20:46 +0000

I’ve already shared my feelings on the tailgate. but I do have a few comments on the rest of the weekend. My mom did it with me for the first time my junior year (she just went on game day the previous years). She really enjoyed sitting in on one of my classes- I chose the one that I knew would be most interesting for her (no science classes!). She went to several of the programs, and some were fun (we both love seeing Steve Sample), while others weren’t as much. We are planning on going to the graduation seminar this year (yikes!), and maybe some on the elections. The speaker or play is also always interesting- last year, it was Lily Tomlin, who I didn’t really appreciate, but most of the adults did.

Football games in college, especially at USC, are completely different from anything experienced in high school. The entire city seems to converge on campus to tailgate, everyone completely decked out in cardinal and gold (by the way, the cardinal is usually the primary color, with gold only used for lettering). The band plays in several different locations around the campus, then marches across the street to welcome the team to the field. Many people follow the band to their seats. The stadium will be full, and rather crazy- if you are in the student section, be prepared to stand for most of the game. Freshman quickly learn all of the proper cheers and sounds, and everyone plays along.

I had never appreciated a football game before going to USC, and I certainly wasn’t a sports person by any stretch of the term, but I still find football games to be incredibly exciting and fun. It isn’t all about the game, a ton of it is about the atmosphere. (disclaimer: Yes, I have enjoyed all of these football games sober- you don’t have to be a drunk frat boy to have fun!).