A Hoosier Football Game

"What are you doing on Saturday? Do you want free tickets to the football game?" asked Teresa. "YES!!" I replied, somewhat disbelieving. Free tickets? When does that happen? We have gotten to know Bill and Teresa Welch through a friend of Katie and Kyle's, and they have been very welcoming to us these first months. As it turned out, they had some friends attending the game who had 2 extra tickets (which happened to be "one adult" and "one student")! Jim had been hoping to get to a game this fall but our schedule has been busy and the tickets are expensive, so we hadn't attempted it yet. But thanks to these friends we got to go!!

On Saturday 7th November we had breakfast with the Welchs and their friends, and then headed over to the stadium. The game was set for noon and we arrived at 10 AM, and already lots of community people and students were set up for tailgates in the parking lots, cooking their breakfast/brunch and just enjoying the atmosphere. Kids were running around wearing jerseys and playing catch, radio stations were blasting music at their stands, and the sun was bright and warm. We were so early that we got to watch the Marching Hundred (college band) practice and then we wandered around the stadium. Since this was the first "big college" football game that either of us had attended, we were amazed at all the festivities.


As you can see, LOTS of fans wore red. Jim followed suit but oops, I forgot.

Just before the game began, the band marched out onto the field and performed some pep songs and formations - SO AMAZING!!! (I think this pre-game and their halftime performance was probably the highlight of the event.) Can you tell what letters they have formed here??

Then some fireworks were set off and the team ran on to the field, through the band's formation.

Actually by the time the game started, the stadium (which is huge) was more full than what you see in these photos. I guess at this point people were still getting to their seats and buying popcorn and hotdogs at the concession stands.

We had great seats, towards the top of the stadium and close to midfield. We tried our best to follow along with the pep songs and shout out "Go IU!" at appropriate moments. And hey, we wore our IU hats! (which we got free at a men's soccer game earlier this semester) Unfortunately the Hoosiers lost the game by 3 points to Wisconsin, 31-28. (They are currently 4-7.) They had a chance at the end of the game to convert on a 3rd down and score but didn't complete it. Oh well. (That's IU football for you.) It was a fun day though!! We are feeling more like official Bloomington residents.