Ditto for me. Is this not happening any longer? Thanks to the inconspicuous wine skin back in the day (and having a roommate who sold programs at MS before the game, with the ability to smuggle alcohol inside) I'm speculating that I probably didn't recall walking home after 80% of games I attended. Perfect attendance over 4-1/2 years on campus btw!
Before reading all of these comments pertaining to student attendance/participation, I would have naively speculated that 20,000-30,000 current students are buying discounted tickets and attending each game. The rationale:
- What else is there to do on game day? Basketball games are often on week nights, but 98% of our home FB games are on Saturdays.
- School spirit?
- Tailgating and alcohol?
- Fun and entertainment?
- An all day mega party?
- Doesn't this constitute at least 10% of the reason that HS students choose to go to Champaign-Urbana? (It certainly was for me.)
Since my days on campus, I've always assumed it was alumni sitting in the West stands, students & band in the East stands, with the casual fans nabbing tickets wherever they could get them --- and then recently perhaps the equivalent of Orange Crush in the north end zone (not sure when this change was made). Is this generally how our seating capacity is disbursed?
30k - East side
20k - West side
5k - NEZ
5k - SEZ