Football is very influential in United States.
If you walk in the streets in Athens, you will see bulldogs everywhere, not the real bulldog but the statues, pictures, logos of bulldogs. Why? Because bulldog is the nickname of their UGA football team and it is also the mascot of their team.
When you take buses, you can see slogans such as “Go Dawgs!” “Beat Kentucky!” on the screen of the UGA buses. The University even made a special holiday for students to watch football game. A professor told me this story. When there was a game in Florida vs Georgia Bulldog, many students dropped the class to go to Florida to watch the game. So the university decided to make this Friday a holiday for students.
The football game is a full day events on Saturday. When there is a home base game in Sanford stadium, many people come to enjoy the game, the road becomes very crowed and it is so inconvenient and expensive to park that many people nearby decide to walk nearly an hour to get the stadium. People usually wear some red, such as red T-shirt or hat. A home base ticket cost 50~200$ according to the position of the seats. So it is not cheap, and most people would go game for five or six times in a year, which means they will spend about 500$ for game. Why they would like to spent so much money and time on football? Well, the answer is it is not only a game.
Before entering the stadium, people often bring there lunch and eat together siting somewhere. This is called “Tailgating”. Some people even use their car to make tent and bring their TV set and have a barbecue in their auto tent. In the tailgating, every people prepare some dishes, and share with each other, it is not only a time to eat but also to chat with leacher other and get known to each other.
Every time I went to the football game, there are some events. Sometimes they are honor events. University professors, athletes or players, all the outstanding people in many field come to the ground to show up in front of audience, it is a great honor to be on the green ground. Sometimes they are surprising events. The first time I went football, I saw a solider appear in the ground and gave his family a big surprise after honored on the ground. The mother ran to his son and hug him, it is so touching, tears welled from many audience’s faces.
In the second game I visited, the senior students were going to leave the game ground, so they come and give a performance of instrumental ensemble, the audience flag “Once Dawg always Dawg”, the cheer team print “Georgia Senior” and “Senior” on their T shirt or bodies. The flags were small; One or two people can held them; People might made them by themselves.
The game is interactive and full of passion. The stadium is full of red people raising their flag or hands and sing the same song at the start of the game. During the game, the players would encourage the audience to make noise to cheer for their offence or defense. There is also some game for audience to guess which cup contain the food on the big screen. Many photographers stand around the stadium not only record what happen on ground but also in audience seats. They would project audience on the big screen, such as little boy, girl, beauties, man, old women. People become very exited when their image is on the big screen. There are lots ways for audiences to cheer for their team including both lingual and body lauguage.
In fact, Saturday football has become a part of American life, just like Sunday church. On Monday class, students usually greeting each other by asking “Did you go to the game?” And then they start talk about the game.
