Student Buzz

I have never seen this school this excited about a football game. Ever. Normally I can walk up to the Student Union Building (SUB) ticket office at any time and be pretty much the only one in line to get a ticket for the upcoming football game. And that is usually the Tuesday or Thursday before a Saturday game. Also, if I wanted to get a promotional shirt, I would be the only one there getting one of the shirts from a nice lady who pulled out a medium from the box they had at the one 6ft table set up to take care of anyone who wants a shirt. Not anymore.

I went to pick up my ticket yesterday for the OU game, because I heard they already on sale at about 1:15 and I had to wait in a line about 15 people deep for it. When i walked back past the ticket office 30 minutes later, the line was still 15 people long, probably upwards of 20-25. When I went to go grab a shirt, there were no more for that day. There were supposed to be selling from 11-2, it was 1:20 and they had been sold out for a while. So already this seemed a lot different. Well, it did not really compare to today.

On Fridays I only have one class, and it ends at around 10, so I figured I'd stop by the sub and wait around to get my shirt that went on sale at 11. When I walked in the line for tickets was probably 100 people deep. It started from the ticket office, wrapped around Einstein's and spilled over on to the stage. This was a little before 10, and the ticket office had not even opened yet. It is six days before the game, and people were waiting in line to get tickets. It was quite the sight to see.

At about 10:30, people started lining up for shirts. I watched as a man brought in dolly load after dolly load of boxes of shirts that were about to be handed out to a line of students that was already growing. By 10:45 the line stretched for as far as I could see. When 10:55 rolled around, the line extended out the doors and was probably at least 100 people deep. (There is a picture of it on my twitter feed) They had 2-4 six foot tables set up in an assembly line fashion to get everyone the shirts that they wanted. Five-six people working behind the table, and more in the waiting preparing to get more shirts when necessary.  It was quite the scene.

I have never seen this type of buzz around anything Baylor sports related from students. There is definitely a buzz for this team. A big one. The look on people's faces when they would walk in and see the length of the line was priceless. Many "Oh my God" and "This is ridiculous" were uttered under the breaths of people following the shocked/confused looks.

I have to be honest, I didn't know how the students here were going to respond to the team's success. Let's be honest, the average Baylor student does not come to this school because of the football program. Well, not in the recent past anyway. Students have responded overwhelmingly to this football team. I don't even think Baylor properly estimated the student backing of this team. I know I'm pleasantly and excitedly surprised by it. Sure, it is a lot easier to support a team when it is winning, but realistically at the beginning of the year, who predicted that Baylor would garner so much attention and hype that we would get rid of the tarp? That would have been a very bold prediction.

There is definitely a buzz (I feel like that isn't a good enough word for it. There's definitely something in the air, maybe in the water, I don't know it is something awesome) around campus about this football team. Everyone is getting excited for a game that is still six days away. Now, it would be great if teachers got excited too and, oh, I don't know, moved my two tests that day to another date. Looking at you Christian Heritage and Microeconomics. That aside though, I have heard that one of the writing classes assignment that day is to not go to class, but to go to tailgate, enjoy the game and write a paper about it. Now that is my kind of teacher. It's even better when I hear people come up to me and talk about Ted's video and how awesome it was/is. Some teachers have apparently shown it in their classes. Not any of mine, of course, but something is a whole lot better than nothing. It has been all over my news feed. Our Daily Bears in general, has been all over my news feed due to shares and comments and "this is awesome"s.

If this is what the student support is now, SIX DAYS BEFORE THE GAME. Then my oh my, this is going to be a fun one next Thursday. And you better believe all in attendance will be #TURNTUP throughout the entirety of the game. Simply put, it's going to be amazeballs.

In case you needed evidence that Colby is right:

Through 2 days Baylor students have claimed 6,172 tickets for #SicOU. That's over 65 percent of total allotment. #EveryoneInBlack

— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) November 1, 2013

If my math is right, that means the overall ticket allotment for students was somewhere between 9,000 and 9,500, depending on the specificity of the tweet. Better get on those tickets, students!