I will say, having the opportunity to get to go to a white out at Beaver Stadium and root against tSUN excited me. For years now it's an environment I've wanted to witness in person, albeit my initial opportunity was offered against tSUN and not Ohio State.
The pre-game environment is pretty cool, but also pretty atypical of most large college football environments. It's no different than any SEC school or Ohio State tailgate environment with rows of cars and people enjoying pre game adult beverages and playing cornhole. The stadium was pretty impressive too, at least I thought so. Living in this part of the country, and coming from flatland you certainly develop an appreciation for the mountains, and especially when they look like they're on fire from the fall color change, so the scenery is borderline breathtaking.
Here's where it gets weird for me though. The environment of the stadium, with all the white and cheering, is almost, dare I say...corny. Maybe it was the fact that I was curious what they were cheering for as the product on the field wasn't all the impressive. Maybe it was the "We Are" chants followed by a "Thank you" and "You're Welcome", but to me it just wasn't all that "intimidating". It reminded me of an Eastern "Auburn", a place thats bought into a big load of mediocrity. Honestly the field play was average.
I walked away being grateful to get to sit in that environment with good friends, but overwhelmingly not worried about playing either school in the coming weeks. Not that they're incapable of beating us, but more like just not on our level in terms of speed, talent, and all around play. I'll be anxious to see how my feelings change next year when I get to go back donned in Scarlet and Gray. I'm sure it'll be different experience.
The pre-game environment is pretty cool, but also pretty atypical of most large college football environments. It's no different than any SEC school or Ohio State tailgate environment with rows of cars and people enjoying pre game adult beverages and playing cornhole. The stadium was pretty impressive too, at least I thought so. Living in this part of the country, and coming from flatland you certainly develop an appreciation for the mountains, and especially when they look like they're on fire from the fall color change, so the scenery is borderline breathtaking.
Here's where it gets weird for me though. The environment of the stadium, with all the white and cheering, is almost, dare I say...corny. Maybe it was the fact that I was curious what they were cheering for as the product on the field wasn't all the impressive. Maybe it was the "We Are" chants followed by a "Thank you" and "You're Welcome", but to me it just wasn't all that "intimidating". It reminded me of an Eastern "Auburn", a place thats bought into a big load of mediocrity. Honestly the field play was average.
I walked away being grateful to get to sit in that environment with good friends, but overwhelmingly not worried about playing either school in the coming weeks. Not that they're incapable of beating us, but more like just not on our level in terms of speed, talent, and all around play. I'll be anxious to see how my feelings change next year when I get to go back donned in Scarlet and Gray. I'm sure it'll be different experience.
