With Thanksgiving season just around the corner here's a little story I'd like to share with you about a recent game I attended. It took place about a month ago when I paid a visit to Chestnut Hill to watch Boston College take on visiting Florida State.
(Note: the decision to attend this game was purely based on having a free ticket. I had decided ahead of time that there was no way for me to enjoy this contest as BC is the #1 team on my shit list and Florida State is #3. And in case you're wondering, Virginia Tech is #2.)
Let me get this out of the way up front: As an anti-BC guy, any trip to "The Heights" is likely to piss me off. Whether it is their completely pussified "tailgating" scene, the perception among BC fans that their gameday environment is in line with the rest of the college football world, or simply that the stadium generally lacks enthusiasm for the majority of their season, I usually find myself annoyed from the get-go when I attend BC games. Knowing this, I did my best to arrive with a positive attitude and make the most of it after we opted for the BC game over the Holy Cross @ Northeastern game earlier in the day due to the previously-mentioned free tickets we scored (in hindsight this was a great call as Holy Cross bitchslapped the Huskies all day).
Upon arriving at the game, my friends and I witnessed a BC campus cop doing his best Paul Blart impression as he enforced campus law regarding ticket sales. Apparently it was a slow day because Officer Blart felt the need to ID my friend and grill him about the ticket he ultimately gave away for a game that had already kicked off... Look, I know everybody's got a job to do and Blart was just doing his, but come on man. The kid wasn't harassing walk-up customers, the game had already started, and he certainly wasn't going to be able to sell it for anything close to face value since it wasn't a packed house. Cut him some slack, Jack.
After the run-in with Johnny "Law," we found our seats and settled in for a 1st half that was dominated by BC. Then, with less than a minute remaining in the half and FSU driving, the skies opened up with a hard rain. This wasn't out of the blue, mind you, so people at the game were already dressed in their foul weather gear. But that didn't stop the hordes of fans who rushed for cover despite FSU's gameplan being on life support, desperately trying to eke out whatever sort of momentum they could. Now freeze the game. FSU is pulling out all the stops, trying to get some points- any points- before the half because they've shown no signs of life and have played like shit thus far, resulting in a 21-3 deficit. They complete a couple of passes and for once there is a belief that the Seminoles might do something offensively. All the BC defense wants is a stop, and they've got both time and mother nature on their side. So what do the BC "faithful" do? They crank up the noise and make a tough situation for the Noles even tougher, right?? Wrong. They run for the hills because of the rain and their defense ends up letting FSU march down the field and squeeze out a field goal before the half. That, my friends is the BC fan base in a nutshell. And don't think they didn't go unheckled by yours truly. Did the Beav hit home when he hurled various insults at the retreating fans? Probably not. But it felt good to get it all off my chest, nonetheless.
The second half produced a comeback from FSU, all the way back to tie the game, and finally BC took the lead with minutes to go and held on for the win. After the game we caught some great heckling courtesy of one FSU fan to another on the train when a drunk FSU coed was in tears over someone being mean to her at the game. With the girl's friends all huddled around her telling her that said mean person was an asshole, the real hero of the day showed up in the form of a 40-something unfunny but unrelenting FSU heckler. This guy rode the group of girls about crying the entire 15 minutes or so we were all crammed together on the train.
The moral of this Thanksgiving tale is that if you are offered a free ticket to a game you should probably go even if it is shitty weather and you hate both teams playing because, who knows, you could run into some people (see Paul Blart, the literally fair weathered halftime fans, & losing fans in tears bickering with each other) who help you realize that its good to stop and give thanks once in a while that you're not part of their fan base. And even if your team is having a losing season and your nemesis is bowl-bound, it still feels pretty damn good. The Beav is living proof.
Happy early Thanksgiving.
Beav
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