I am going into my senior year here at Michigan State. For my first three years, I purchased season tickets. At first, I mainly bought them to go to the big games and sold the tickets for games that I was not particularly interested in. There are so many reasons I found to not attend the games personally. Now as a senior, I am not interested in attending any of the games personally this year.
Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of Michigan State athletics and college football in general. However, I have found that there is so much going on in East Lansing on game day that makes college football so special. There are also so many other games around the country that grab my attention as a fan that I simply don't want to miss. For example, if MSU plays Purdue at 1530 but Alabama plays Tennessee at the same time, as a college football fan you could be missing out on a marquee rivalry with huge implications in the national scope of things to watch MSU beat up on Purdue. For a lot of Spartans, they're just fine with missing out on other games to watch the Spartans, and there is nothing wrong with that. But for me, I enjoy watching the wonderful slate of games from around the country.
My favorite part of game days in East Lansing would definitely be the tailgates. The atmosphere of East Lansing is spectacular on autumn Saturdays. I thoroughly enjoy being around EL during prime tailgating hours. Even during games, I enjoy settling in with a case of Natty Light in front of a TV or radio with my friends (most of whom do not have tickets either) watching/listening to games around the country and talking about the week that we just had. College football is very much a social event and sometimes the best way to enjoy that environment is to get together with your friends to watch or listen to the game.
Furthermore, under NCAA regulations, college venues are prohibited from selling alcohol. For an organization that has proven that it is strongly committed to making money, the NCAA has made a puzzling move here. Why not sell alcohol? The NCAA is missing out on so much money by not selling alcohol and students that are twenty one and older are being deprived of one of the best aspects of watching sports: drinking (responsibly) with friends.
The other alternative to going to the game is going out to the bar with other friends who are, of course, twenty one. The bar is a completely different place during games, let alone during the day. Bars can be a very fun place to watch a game from as well as a robust social environment. The glaring downside to doing this is that the bar certainly can get expensive if you're not careful.
I have had three unforgettable years of going to games at Spartan Stadium. Hell, I'll probably end up at a game or two this year. However, I have had my fun with season tickets and I have found that there are so many different ways to experience game day and all of them are so much fun. However you decide to spend your Saturday, make sure you root for the Spartans.
