Summertime cannot end fast enough as far as I am concerned. I miss the excitement of seeing all of my friends again, navigating Add/Drop week, and I can’t wait to hit Dingus for the first happy hour of the semester. But more than anything else, I am overwhelmed with excitement for football season. The first game of the season in our beautiful Paulson Stadium is September 12, against the Western Michigan Broncos. That means that there are only about 60 days until we get to watch the Georgia Southern Eagles kick some serious ass.
Georgia Southern football has a legacy of excellence. Our team has established itself as a formidable opponent. We went undefeated in our conference for our first year with the Sun Belt, and we can expect more amazing football this fall.
This fall, as we go into football season, we Eagles will tailgate harder (in style), cheer harder, and get even more hyped. What our football team really needs from us is the support of the student body at every home game. Our attendance record as a whole is not excellent. This fall, the goal of every Georgia Southern Eagle should be to make it to the game, and stay for the whole time.
Long Snapper, number 45, Jake Abraham, is a redshirt junior on the team. He believes that the larger the crowd at games, the more hyped the team gets.
He says, "The more people at a game, the more exciting it is for us to play. The fans and students bring the one of a kind atmosphere at Georgia Southern, and it really can mess with our opponents. It's just something that helps us remember why we work so hard all year long."
So why is our attendance a little low? I think it comes down to one big thing: cockiness. We Georgia Southern Eagles are cocky. We know we have an excellent team and we assume it’s going to be a win. So when it comes to choosing between getting to the games or continuing our tailgating, we stick with the party. When it comes between being in Statesboro for a home game, or going to Athens for a big UGA game, we go to Athens. When it comes to leaving the game early to get to the bars, we go- especially if we are already whooping the other team’s butt by half time.
While drinking is fun, and while we might have allegiances to bigger schools like UGA, Georgia Southern is home and Georgia Southern is our team. You only have four years (maybe five or six) of undergrad football games to attend. If you’re itching to go to Athens that badly, wait until the Georgia Southern v. UGA game (Saturday, Nov. 1) or go during an away weekend. You’ll never look back on college and wish that you had gone to fewer home games.
Georgia Southern did not expand Paulson Stadium because it is supposed to be half-empty all season long! Let’s show up this year, and give our team the support, love, and crazy chanting they deserve. Our team works year round to make us proud, so we need to show up and give them our dedication.
G.A.TA.
