The roar of the crowd on a Saturday night, sitting on the edge of the couch watching the big game, and being surrounded by the people you love and cheering for the team you love is the most special American experience. Whether it’s a college your parents went to or a team you found yourself, everyone’s day looks a little different.
Kate Anderson, a sophomore here at St. Pius X, has a particularly unique game day ritual. She cheers for Notre Dame, saying her mom went there and multiple family members work at the school. She said she needs to wear her favorite Notre Dame shirt the entire day and if things go south for the Fighting Irish everyone in the room must switch shirts. Everyone knows – one wrong move and all the shirts are coming off.
“It’s crazy. When we all get down my dad makes the call that everyone has to change, and we immediately sprint to take off the unlucky shirts,” she said.
Not only must they all wear their lucky shirts, but if things are going well, everyone has to stay in the same spot – no one can move a muscle.
“One time we were doing so good that my dad had to stay in the bathroom in the same spot for 30 minutes,” recalled Anderson. She doesn’t exactly know when or where this tradition came about, but she knows it’s all they’ve ever done.
However, not every family at St. Pius relies on their lucky t-shirts and crazy bathroom rituals – some find their traditions in the pre-game experience. Senior Grace Flowers has a bit of a different Saturday.
Anytime she can, Flowers makes the trek up to Auburn, Alabama cheer for the War Eagle. Surrounded by friends, she makes the mile and a half walk to the stadium to watch the Tiger Walk. Flowers said,“I prefer the night games because the atmosphere is so lively.” But day or night, she said that the most important thing are people she’s with and the memories they make together.
Junior Georgia Tech fan, Ashton Baker, starts his Saturdays a little bit earlier that most families would.
If it’s a home game, Baker said that his family gets to the stadium hours before kickoff. With low seats and great view of the field, he said, “it always a good day.” However, an away game doesn’t stop their love for the game over at the Baker house.
Before the game day starts, Baker said,“the neighbors are at our house at 9 o’clock setting up around 20 chairs and six TVs to have games running all day.”
As the day progresses, neighbors, family, friends, you name it, everybody shows up and everybody loves it. But most of all, his family loves doing it.
Whether it’s extreme superstitions, like the Andersons, hanging out before the game, or insane setups for watchparties, every tradition is special no matter what. Surrounded by a great environment always elevates a game day. Anderson said, “it makes me feel closer to my family, we’re all cheering for the same thing, lifting up our team.” No matter how different the days look, finding the joy in the time to bond with their families and create lasting memories is what Anderson, Flowers, and Baker all mentioned what it was all about.
While cheering for a team is always special, nothing matches the feeling of family. A game is a reason for everyone to stop the chaos in their lives, get together, and cheer for one thing. We love it when our team pulls through and wins, but is it really about that? Or is it about the person sitting next to you?
