My mom warned me that going to a Big 12 school...in Oklahoma...was going to be rough during football season. As much as I have tried to enjoy football, I've simply never found any joy in it. Perhaps I associate it with my mom screaming at the TV, or maybe it's because I've never liked sports. Whatever the case is, I know I'm not alone. Football season is a scary time for us in the minority, so here's some tips for surviving until the winter.
1. Stock up beforehand.
Go grocery shopping at least two days before the game. If you run out of milk or bread during the game, it's going to be a long weekend. If you have the ability to go to Walmart or Aldi or wherever you shop before the crowds invade your town, by all means do it! Plan for the footballpocalypse accordingly. Whatever you will need for the weekend, grab extra. You'll be glad you did.
2. Don't go ANYWHERE on the weekend.
Study session on Saturday? Cancel it. Rehearsal on Saturday? Cancel it. Shopping trip Saturday? Cancel it. Friends coming over on Saturday? Cancel it. Nobody will be able to make it across town in less than an hour. You may have already discovered this, but campus will be unnavigable and half the roads in the city will be closed. Don't try to go anywhere.
3. Keep tabs on the scores.
This one is more a piece of advice. Know who is playing your team. If you've got friends and family who stake their emotional well-being on the success of a bunch of twenty-somethings tackling each other on national television, you'll be glad that you were prepared with the knowledge that your team lost this weekend.
4. Invest in a traffic cone.
Whether you live on or off campus, you know parking is a nightmare and it only escalates during football games. People can and will park on your property, or in front of your house, in the limited space of the garage attached to your apartment complex. People are funny in that we generally obey traffic signals and signs without question. Use this to your advantage and save your self a spot in front of your abode and keep strangers from parking in your yard. Get a traffic cone or five and place them accordingly.
5. If you MUST go out...avoid wearing colors of the opposite team.
This goes along with knowing who is playing. Arm yourself with a basic knowledge of team colors. If you're playing a school whose team colors are purple, don't go out wearing a purple shirt. Save yourself some dirty looks (or possibly more depending on how crazy the fans of your school are) and just wear a shirt from your school. We all have at least a sliver of school spirit, don't we?
6. Maybe... just maybe...go to a football game.
Unless you're like me and just can't handle the chaos of crowds, maybe give football games a shot. You don't have to know much about football to get excited about your team winning. You did choose to go to a school in the midwest, so you might as well make the best of it.
