College Football

Buzz Buzz!!
Snort
Buzz!!
Damn it!
Buzz Buzz!!
Smack!!
ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!

That’s the sound of the alarm going off at 6am on a Fall Saturday morning all across the greater Morgantown area, as fans wake up from a solemn (and in some cases alcohol induced) slumber in preparation of another day of Mountaineer Football.

On game days, Morgantown becomes the largest city in West Virginia as 60,000 plus students and fans and thousands more tailgaters converge on parking lots all across campus to begin the age-old tradition of pregame partying. Grills are lit, flags are flown, beer and drinks are iced down, and a sea of gold and blue take over the city waiting in anxious anticipation for those famed words “Let’s Bring on the Mountaineers.”

Stereos start blaring the sounds of John Denver’s “Country Roads,” which has become the state anthem. Recordings of the fight song, the alma mater, and other WVU pregame songs are played, until we’ve had enough and various other rock, country, and hip hop tunes take over the airwaves.

Some fans have been in the parking lots since the evening before when they could drive their campers and RVs into spaces which they have paid dearly for and some have kept for years. Many of these same fans have yet to close their eyes for even a little nap. That is the sign of a die-hard tailgater…or someone who is trying to relive those precious college years.

Over the course of the next five or six hours, since kick off isn’t until 12:15, beers will be shotgunned, bonged, and even sipped. The occasional bloody mary makes an appearance and many “handles” of “The Captain,” Crown Royal, and some other suspect clear liquids are passed around to hesitating stomachs. All told, some could say that Morgantown becomes the largest liquor and beer retailer on the East Coast on these Saturdays.

A group of 15-20 of my fraternity brothers, spouses, and friends all gather at the designated time and in our designated spot to start our own tradition. The canopy tents go up. Someone brings snacks; someone else brings donuts; pepperoni rolls might show up; sometimes a bucket of cold KFC; burgers and hotdogs come out of packages; and during hunting season, various deer-meats are thrown onto the grill. Everyone is required to bring a 30 pack of Miller Lite. No questions asked. We just do it. And somehow, it always gets drank.

What I enjoy the most about this time of the year is that for five or six weekends, I get to see my best friends from college and we get to relive the glory days. Or at least, we try to relive the glory days. We are introduced to girlfriends, who then become fiancés, who become wives, and before we know it, future Mountaineer fans are brought into this world. Recently, we’ve welcomed Grant Simms and Grant Stansbury into our lives.

That is what Mountaineer Football is really all about. A family. No matter how much time passes or what the distance is between all of us, four quarters of a pig skin being thrown around the field brings us all together. We drop whatever we have going on in our lives and head to Morgantown and life becomes good, again.

We make friends with the tailgaters next to us and the people walking down the street into the game. We heckle the opposing fans as they cheer and taunt, but then drink a beer with them after they lose. We stand shoulder to shoulder in the stadium and sing every word of the Alma Mater, the Fight Song, and the Star Spangled Banner. We echo the response to the famous "Let's Go..." "....Mountaineers!" cheer.

We laugh; we tease; we joke; we argue; we cry.

But, most importantly, we remember the good memories of the past and we celebrate what the future holds—many more seasons of good football teams, good parking spots, and great friends!

Be well, friends. Let’s Bring on the Mountaineers!