The One with the Mountaineers

Saturday was the Appalachian Mountaineer's first home game of the season, against McNeese State who are a university from Louisiana. I didn't know a single thing about American Football before the game, so I was relying on Savannah and Alison to tell me what was going on (though to be honest, I don't actually think anyone really knows what's going on). First was a ritual the Americans call tailgating. This originated in parking lots and camping grounds when people would let down the tailgate of their pickup trucks and have a grill set up with music and drinks. This has evolved in universitied into an event where each sorority/fraternity and various other societies on campus set up their own tent and grill and have food and generally chill out around the tent. We went to the INTAPP tent (international appalachian) and hung out with the internationals and lots of other Americans who are involved with INTAPP. They were just introducing us to the phenomenon that is 'Game Day' - it really is a big deal here, and considering the game is so boring I think they tailgate and get drunk beforehand to make it more bearable. Alcohol is allowed at tailgating for over 21s, as long as it is only in cans (no bottles or kegs allowed) and the cans have to have a sleeve over them so you're not seen to be advertising the fact that you're drinking. They are pretty strict on the rules on alcohol, especially on Game Day where violence could easily break out, so no alcohol is allowed inside the stadium, and you're not allowed to bring your own drinks inside, even water.

Before the game, the marching band and the cheerleaders put on a show, which was quite spectacular :) The whole game atmosphere was pretty cool actually. There is a giant inflatable tunnel with a giant football helmet at the end for the team to enter the stadium through. Then there are fireworks and it was so pretty :) There are so many people on each team because the offense and defense switch pretty often, so it seems like hundreds of players are running out onto the pitch.

So the game is split into four 15 minute quarters. Somehow though, because of various rules and the fact that they have to get back into position every time the ball stops or goes out of plan, they manage to make a one hour game last over three hours. We were sitting on the grass bank, flanked on both sides by the stands which were pretty packed. McNeese state had a small section at one end, but the rest was full of people wearing various App shirts of different colours and designs, the predominant colour being yellow. It was a beautiful sunny day, so plenty of suncream was needed. We were having a good time just chilling and talking, not really paying much attention to the game because it was boring. The internationals were not impressed, and much as the locals tried to tell us it was good, we were hard to please :)

The last quarter was actually pretty intense though (it was almost dark by then the game had gone on so long). We were up, then down, then up, and then in the last eighteen seconds McNeese scored a touchdown with a two-point conversion, meaning they were up 40-35. After the last ten seconds had been dragged out to about ten minutes, the Mountaineers were defeated by the Cowboys. We weren't that bothered, but it would have been nice to win the first home game of the season, especially seeing as they were ranked about 14 positions below us in the table. We came back to the LLC and ordered in food, and sat around talking. We were all pretty tired.