Despite the triple digit temperature, the stadium is packed with spectators. The first group of men storm the grassy field dressed in their protective armor. They jump up and down, chant, and butt helmeted heads, fueled by adrenaline from the deafening cheers of the spectators. Another group, dressed in a different color storms the field, and the spectators cheers turn to boos that echo around the stands. Both groups line up face to face with their opponent, awaiting their leaders command to charge. In a blink of an eye they charge, clashing into one another as they fight for the upper hand, fueled by more monstrous applause… What may sound like a scene from the movie Gladiator, is actually the beginning of a college football game. The University …show more content…
of Arizona Wildcats to be exact, when they faced off against Utah at Arizona Stadium in Tucson Arizona. From the rowdy university students that fill almost the entire east side of the stadium, also known as the “ZonaZoo”, to the elderly die hard fans that attend almost every game on the more laid back west side of the stadium, all you can see when you look around is a sea of school colors; red and blue. I have never been a big football fan; in fact I know next to nothing about the sport. However, it has always fascinated me how people can get so involved in the sport, even watching it on TV. I decided to observe the U of A football fans in their natural habitat, knowing that football is a way of life for a majority of Tucson, and that it in turn can be used as a general reference for a majority of Americans that follow football from children’s flag football, all the way up to professional. Methods: My methods for my research were quite simple: observation! I did a lot of people watching. I also asked many questions about rules and technicalities of football to help me better understand the reactions of the spectators since I did not know very much about football going into this. All in all, the spectators gave me plenty to go off of just by watching them, and I tied up the loose ends by asking some die hard fans any remaining questions I had. Observations: The first thing anyone notices when walking into Arizona Stadium during a Wildcats Football game, is that almost all of the spectators are dressed in the same color. Radio and news stations broadcast the entire week leading up to the game what the “theme” is for the night, i.e white out, blue out, red out, black out, etc. From babies all the way up to the elderly, every fan wears the appropriate color in support of the team, creating a sea of uniformity against their opponent. The first part of the stadium to fill is the ZonaZoo, where the most die hard students congregate. Foam fingers, shirtless guys with letters painted on their chest spelling out “wildcats”, face paint, you name it, the ZonaZoo has it. They are loud, they are proud, and they are an intimidating force to be reckoned with. At the South end of the field, there is a giant screen that broadcast a countdown to kick off. After the kick off, the screen is dedicated to broadcasting the plays as they happen, play backs of current and past game highlights, player biographies, and anything else pertaining to U of A Football. Once the countdown is up, the U of A team takes the field to deafening applause, as fireworks go off above the stadium. The opposing team then enters, though they are booed or ignored. Any Utah fans are quickly silenced by the overwhelming presence of Arizona fans. While there is no alcohol aloud in the stadium, tailgating all around central Tucson has been going on since the early hours of the morning, further fueling the frenzy. Very early on, a group of Utah fans are escorted out of the stadium by Police. I did not witness their actions, but I was told by the officers that they were creating problems by starting verbal altercations with the Arizona fans. They may be the first escorted out, but they will not be the last. The raw emotion that is expressed by the spectators throughout the game is unparalleled in any other sporting event I have witnessed.
After a referee makes a call against Arizona, the crowd around me erupts with anger; booing and cussing at the referee, accusing him of cheating or being unfit for the job. In that moment I realize that the referees actually have a very stressful, and even dangerous job. The spectators take every call made against their team as a personal attack and reciprocate in return. When the same referee makes a call in their favor, he is suddenly a hero who can do no wrong. I asked multiple people what made them the football fans they are, and their answers ranged from, “It’s how I was raised” to “I’m American”. I never got a good, scientific explanation. No one could explain how they could go from being regular, soft spoken people outside of the stadium, to raging adrenaline fueled spectators shouting at players they don’t even know personally until they have no voice left. But at the same time, no one thought their actions were out of the ordinary or unwarranted. …show more content…
Conclusion: In the end, I really did not obtain many answers to the questions I had on the behavior of American Football Fans.
One thing I did learn, however, was that I definitely did not belong in that stadium. Being there as a health care provider I was able to observe unnoticed, but I had nothing in common with the football fans around me during the game. Even some of my coworkers had trouble containing their inner Arizona football spirit and I found them yelling along with the spectators on multiple occasions. I think when it comes down to it, the behavior of football fans across the country, behavior that is not normally accepted in society, has roots in mankind's raw, animalistic instincts. At the same time, I can respect the “safe place” that that stadium creates for the spectators. They are allowed to express themselves more than they are allowed anywhere outside their home, yet it is still a semi controlled environment. It also creates a camaraderie not found anywhere else, and that is something that I think might be unique to Tucson as a whole. Businesses around the county proudly display their support for the University Football team, more than any one professional team or sport. Despite the intimidating and borderline dangerous environment in the stands during a game, football pulls Tucson residences together more than any other major city I have
observed.
the wild antics of the die hard fans. In my essay I will try and attempt to describe as
The Odessa football players couldn't be objective about criticisms of football. Their total self-esteem depended on how they did on Friday night. This was the glorified culmination of their football career: wearing the black MoJo uniform in the stadium under the big lights. Football was more than just a game to them; it was a religion. It "made them seem like boys going off to fight a war for the benefit of someone else, unwitting sacrifices to a strange and powerful god" (Bissinger, p.11). Because football was so meaningful in their lives, to criticize it was to criticize everything they'd worked so hard for and lived for.
The author covers the most prevalent groups and events relating to football. Some of them are pep rallies, marching band, cheerleaders / pep squads, spectators / ex-players, and the brains / farm kids / nobodies. The pep rally is a school-wide event,
Where are the fans? That is the most commonly asked question at a University football game. During the past few years at University football games, the university has been lacking with their football fans. How come nobody comes to the games? At most universities, football season is the largest season of the year. People spend hundreds of dollars on season tickets and go out of their way to attend the games. What can the university do to attract more fans to their games?
Despite the age-old on field rivalry, the tension between Celtic and Ranger supporters runs much deeper than what takes place on the soccer field. The conflict between the fans has erupted into violence on many occasions, with games between the two clubs ending in some of the worst riots and greatest tragedies in sporting history. Despite the tension created through competition, the origin of hatred between clubs and fans is not just the result of bad tackles and endless taunting.
College football is a major part of many peoples' lives, especially here in the South. Whether we or someone we know is an alumni, we plan to go there in the future we think the uniforms are cute, or whatever reason, we always have one favorite team we cheer for. sometimes fans of a team will wear a shirt with the team's logo and that is as far as their loyalty goes. Others may attend a few games a season, but there are also those die hard fans that never miss a game or always tailgating, screaming at the refs, and have the team's fight song as their ringtone. While all that may seem a little overboard, there are people believe it or not, who take their team devotion as far as killing to show their devotion to their favorite team. Having team spirit is one thing, but when lines are crossed and people begin causing major problems, security should be tightened at games, even if colleges have to change a few things to pay for the extra help.
Football is a game of adversity and emotion. People who have not played a sport or follow one closely don’t understand the emotion behind game. They think that football is just a game, but for those who are involved with the team don’t think so. All those horrendous hours of countless preparation are for something players and coaches love. About a few years ago, a football player at the collegiate level was told that he wouldn’t be able to play another down of football again due to his banged up h...
Even though football players are aware of the dangers the game can bring upon them, they take part despite it. The passion, the joy it creates; for professionals it’s also the devoted fans and compensation they receive is what keeps the players motivated. Today players are much bigger, faster, smarter, bigger, better. The game is more physical. The sport has never been so competitive. The popularity has reached new peaks, as much that the NFL has thoughts of moving a team to London, England. Additionally, Super Bowl XLVII (47) was one of the most watched television events of all time; an astonishing 108.4 million viewers (The Associated Press). Fans worship their teams and love to see big hits. Football is a contact sport; injuries are no doubtingly part of it. Concussions are one of the many detriments caused by the ruthlessness, but one of the few with perpetual effects: consequence of the brutality.
...will decide how much tribalism they wish to get involved in, even if it is simply wearing the jersey; or getting involved in heavy duty teasing with the rival fans of their favorite football team; or even if they simply decorated their own home with every piece of team collectables available for purchase. Whatever an individual does or decides to continue to do I remain convinced that it is actually the tribalism that is more important that the football and if that tribalism dies, than professional football becomes starved of its founding roots and dies. And that my friends, is the scariest thought of it all. Even though I am a strong supporter of tribalism in football, I do feel as that the extreme football hooliganism violence that takes place in the book “How Soccer Explains The World” is unnecessary and the violence does not need to happen along with tribalism.
Everyone feels the need to belong. Some people find the answer to fulfill that need in sports. In the United States, the go-to sport is football. Following one’s hometown team or childhood NFL team through the regular season, playoffs, and hopefully, the Super Bowl has become a staple for today’s culture. Whether or not their favorite team makes it to the big Super Bowl game, they still find themselves cheering on one of the teams competing. T...
McMurtry, a former football paper, utilizes comparison, hyperbole, and juxtaposition to effectively develop the idea that American society accepts violence and brutality within sports, which reveals the sadistic side of the world. To repair this attitude, however, all of the violent aspects of sports cannot simply be removed. For example, if the tackling part of football was eradicated, the sport would change completely and, consequently, lose much of what gives the sport its redeeming qualities and entertainment for the audience. Tackling does not make the sport violent; it is the violent characteristics of the players and the coaches combined with the constant encouragement stemming from the audience. Violence is a terrible thing, and it will never be completely removed unless each person works together to suppress their behaviors.
In Jon Cooper’s article, “Auburn fan writes open letter about mistreatment in Athens”, he is going through the motions of what occurs on a game-to-game basis between Auburn and The University of Georgia (AKA UGA). Upon reading this, it pains me to see how people can be so cruel to one another. Attending football games should be about fun, spending time with friends and family, meeting new people, tailgating, and just having a great time. It should be something to look forward to doing, instead of worrying about being mistreated, ridiculed, or having to worry about the threat of violence. Cooper was trying to show the college football fans a whole new world that he and his friends experienced during one of their trips to Athens. The goal in this article is to get people to realize how some
When football it gets competitive, and especially when then parents get involved with the game, so that makes the players get more competitive along with the coaches and parents. Parents promotes toughness in football , and defiantly when the players score they will usually get too excited, rude, let emotions showed the most , and not showing sportsmanship. Parents and coaches tend to take the fun out of sports by viewing it as a way to bully the teams." The National Association of Sports official receives over 100 reports of sporting event violence per year, but believing the number of non -reported incidents are much higher reports involve parents, coaches, and players"(live strong). Players and coaches are influenced to kids’ performance and are very bad impact on why parents shoul...
Walking through the halls of school,grocery stores or at work I can't help to notice all the football teams backpack’s,tee’s and hats but why is this? Is Football so exciting to watch or since football has been around for a long time does it gives a certain unity to have a team. As well as gambling and the fantasy football leagues that might have the people on there feet. Football gives the people excitement because it moves quickly and requires the hard-hitting contact of the defensive line plus the precision skills and speed of the quarterback and running backs. Football combines what people like about other sports like the hitting of boxing, precision passing of basketball also the camaraderie of baseball. Some people enjoy football because
Two one thousand, three one thousand. Their quarterback quickly shouts out a play. I think to myself “Are my pads secure?” My thoughts quickly turn back to the game as I look up just in time to see two hundred and fifty pounds of blue and white running toward me at full speed. As the sweat rolls down my face my eyes start to burn. My legs suddenly grow weak with fatigue. My hands start to shake as I start to run towards my opponent. I feel a sudden breeze. I start to gag on my mouthpiece. I look up, but all I can see is a glare from the sun, which begins to blind me.