Loyal fans line up hours before game
There are 10,270 seats in the Spectrum, and more than 7,000 people attend each game, according to Utah State Athletics. Finding good seats, then, can be a tricky thing. But some students have been taking serious precautions to make sure they get the perfect seat.
Take David Peaden. Peaden, junior in accounting, said he was the first one to the Spectrum Friday to wait for the ESPN Bracketbuster game, getting there at 7:20 a.m. Although the Spectrum doors don’t open until an hour before any given event, Peaden said there are ways to get around that.
Generally speaking, he said, the first person there will check all of the doors to see if they’re unlocked. Usually they aren’t, which is when he uses what he calls a trade secret, sneaking in by other means. The first person will then let others in until he or she feels the waiting area between the outer and inner doors of the Spectrum, where students can wait, gets too crowded, he said.
So, why line up close to 12 hours before a game?
Shawn Chatlin, junior in biological engineering, said it’s because he loves the team.
“How do you put this into words? Basically we love our team. We live and die with our team, especially our hero, Jaycee Carroll,” Chatelin, who got to the Specturm shortly after Peaden, said. “We’re like the sixth man.”
Aaron Scoll, a senior in public relations, agreed.
“We don’t view it like just going to a game, we feel like we influence the game. We prepare for the game like the players,” Scoll said. “We’re not just going to have a good time. It’s to help us win the game. We feel like we need to outdo ourselves every game.”
Kjerstin Parrish, junior in family and consumer sciences education, said although most of the seats in the Spectrum give a decent view of the floor, some seats are simply better than others.
“Once you go front, you can’t go back,” she said.
While waiting, students entertain themselves by playing cards, watching highlights of previous games on YouTube, watching movies on laptops or playing games like Catch Phrase.
Kyle Green, a junior in business and entrepreneurship, said waiting is more than just sitting around.
“It’s a party, an event in and of itself,” Green said.
Peaden said he gets about as much homework done while waiting as he would just studying in his apartment. Chad Wilson, Derek Christofferson and Matt Sonnenberg brought a big-screen TV and a game system to play video-game hockey Friday. People also bring pizza or other foods to eat while waiting.
Carson Alvey, a sophomore in education, is one of these people.
“We bring dinner because we don’t want to starve, and we know we’ll be here a while,” Alvey said.
Another popular pastime is reading a student-produced basketball newsletter called the Refraction.
Started by Sonnenberg and Kraig Williams for the first game of this season, the Refraction gives basic stats of the opposing team with a tongue-in-cheek commentary of the circumstances of the game and the proposed outcome, Sonnenberg said.
“The first time we made this, we went around to give them out and were like, ‘Please, take this,’ ” Sonnenberg said. “By the fourth game, people were flagging us down, demanding it.”
There is also a section in the newsletter called “The Petri Dish,” which examines some opposing team members more closely, giving readers an unofficial look at points of their personal lives. Written by Williams, the information in this section is gathered from multiple sources. In the edition for the Jan. 12 game against New Mexico, for example, it cited Paris Carter’s earlier arrest for indecent exposure, which resulted in the chant “Keep Your Pants On” during the game.
To collect the information for “The Petri Dish,” Williams said he first looks at the official team Web site and reads all of the bios. If anything seems funny on the bios – odd hobbies or majors, etc. – he said he runs a Google search on that. He said he also looks at their MySpace pages.
The Refraction is a satirical publication and may not be entirely factual, as is stated in the disclaimer at the bottom of each issue. Sonnenberg said he’s had two people express their disapproval to him, but he said he and Williams are just trying to have fun.
“You can’t please everybody,” Sonnenberg said.
Sonnenberg said they try to get the finished newsletter online the night before the game. All issues can be found at www.usustats.com/refraction.
Despite students sneaking into the Spectrum and camping out all day between its doors, they don’t usually cause a lot of problems, said Jared Jorgensen, Spectrum facilities coordinator.
“The majority of them don’t cause any problems at all,” Jorgensen said. “A couple of times we have to remind them to stay (in the doors),” he said. “It’s a courtesy that they let them into the building.”
Vickie Fonnesbeck, an usher for the games, said she doesn’t usually have much trouble with the early students either.
“They’re actually pretty nice kids,” Fonnesbeck said.
Ushers are in charge of making sure students stay between the doors until an hour before the game. The ushers were supposed to come at 5:30 p.m. on game nights but were recently asked to come earlier because some students were lined up in the Spectrum too early, Fonnesbeck said. The students are usually nice and listen to her, she said.
However, when they are allowed to enter the building, it can be a different story.
“It’s hell,” Fonnesbeck said. “It’s a madhouse when they let them in.”
Scott Ficklin, sophomore in psychology and English, said lining up and actually running down the stairs to get those seats is intense. Everyone’s trying to get in first, he said, and trying to secure their place in line by shoving elbows and feet.
Melanie Voshell, a junior in elementary and special education, said rushing for seats can be downright dangerous.
“It’s insane – it’s close. Don’t drop anything, and don’t fall down,” she said . “It’s like the bulls in Pamplona, that kind of thing.”
Peaden said it’s nice being the first one because it gives him an edge when it comes to running to get his seats. He said once he gets those coveted front row center seats, he can sit back and think about the actual game.
“It takes a lot, but it’s worth it,” he said.
-lisa.m.christensen@aggiemail.usu.edu