The road to Anaheim: The ultimate Spring Break
A true Aggie fan supports his team.
Anywhere.
Anytime.
Even as far away as Anaheim, Calif. Even during Spring Break.
“I’ve done all the Spring Breaks, you know, I went to California, I went to Mexico, Las Vegas, I did the cruise thing, but I’ve been able to have more fun at the Big West Tournament than anywhere else,” said Tyler Olsen, athletics vice president of the Associated Students of Utah State University.
That’s why he’s trying to get as many Aggie fans as possible to go down to the Big West Tournament in Anaheim to support their team. Last year, about 1,500 people showed up to cheer the Aggies on to the title. This year, Olsen is already expecting 3,000.
“It’s a home-court advantage in Anaheim,” he said. “Some of the other schools are as far as 10 to 15 minutes away. And we drive 10 hours and we’ve got 10 times the fans.”
Of course it also helps that USU has been playing a great season so far, undefeated at home, and the fans have turned the Spectrum into a nightmare for the visiting teams. So, for Olsen the equation is easy.
“Last year the funnest game I went to was at the Big West Tournament. And then this year, the energy’s been so high, it’s like the Big West Tournament every game,” he said. “So the actual tournament this year must been even better.”
One of the main reasons the games at the tournament are so different, but also so much fun, is the competition between the fans, Olsen said.
“Just imagine going to a basketball game where all of a sudden not only the other team shows up, but also their band, their fans, their cheerleaders,” he said. “It is just an all-out blast just to be able to mock them, to try to get in their heads. It’s that competitive mode that comes out.”
Kevin Arrington, a senior in finance, also remembers his trip to Anaheim and “that competitive mode” vividly.
“Last year we’d take on the other fans, we’d be cheering at them, they’d be cheering back at us. We were actually waving dollar bills at their cheerleaders,” he said, laughing.
But of course, with two blocks of fans and all that competitiveness under one roof, things can also get out of hand, Arrington remembers.
“One of their fans got pissed because we had a doll that looked like their mascot and we acted like we were hanging it,” he said. “And he got mad so he came over to take it and there was a little scuffle. But other than that everybody just has a good time with each other.”
And, always an important issue for students, it’s cheap, too. All-session tickets are available for $20 at the ticket offices in the Taggart Student Center and the Spectrum. The team that sells the most tickets gets the best seats.
Olsen has also seen that USU students can get a place to stay all together. The rooms cost $64 for two people and $94 for four.
“I’m basically trying to get everyone in one of the two hotels that have given us pretty good deals,” he said. “I think it’d be fun if we all just went in the same hotel.”
Those two hotels are the Portofino Inn & Suites and the Jolly Roger Inn, both adjacent to the Convention Center Arena, where the tournament will take place, and literally across the street from Disneyland.
And Disneyland is only one of all the activities apart from the games waiting for USU spring breakers.
“The best thing about Anaheim is that there are tons of things to do. By day we go to Disneyland or Tijuana, or San Diego, or we go to the beach or to Six Flags, all that’s within one to two hours away,” Olsen said. “And then at night of course we all come together and go to the games.”
Tied for the leading spot in the Big West Conference, Utah State’s men’s team won’t be playing until Friday. However, there might be some action earlier in the week for Aggie fans.
If the women win their final game on Friday against Idaho, there is a good chance they will play on Wednesday in the first round. Also, there will be a mascot competition at the ESPN Zone on Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m.
“We’re trying to get all of our fans down there to support Big Blue,” Olsen said. “Last year he took second place and nobody was there.”
And of course, so far away from home, the popular game-day T-shirts are going to play an even more crucial role in giving the Aggie fans a unified look, Olsen said. A group of USU students is even planning to go to the game show “The Price is Right” in their Aggie outfits.
“It would be awesome if we would all wear our game-day T-shirts all around town. Just so that everyone in that whole town sees our support,” Olsen said. “It would be so cool if Anaheim could just see how much basketball fever we have up here at Utah State.”
-mattpetry@cc.usu.edu