There were multiple games played on the plains Saturday October 23, 2010. Of course there was Auburn vs LSU, and Cam Newton’ race for the Heisman, but then there was also the See and Be Seen game, and the Sharkes Eating the Fish game.
I’ve never seen so many people dressed in orange, and most were quite stylish and tasteful. It was ha happy crowd, the 70,000 Auburn fans and the 10,000 LSU fans, and the Auburn fans for the most part were gracious hosts; other then accusing the LSU fans of smelling like corndogs. I don’t understand what that was all about.
I enjoyed the football game; the spectacle reminded me of the film the Gladiator with Cam Newton playing the part of Maximus, the apparent front runner for the Heisman Trophy. But the most interesting part of game day to me was the human drama played out both inside and outside the stadium.
More Buyers then Sellers
The buyers were the people who came to the game without tickets, the sellers were the scalpers. The “face value” of a ticket for the game was $60. Those, I’ll estimate 2,000, people who showed up without tickets walked around the perimeter of the stadium with fingers in the air indicating how many tickets they needed. Moving among them were the “sharks”, the scalpers, with their fists full of tickets raised towards the sky. No interchange took place unless a finger waver tired of their search and approached a shark; never the other way around.
“How much do you want for two tickets?”
“$300 apiece.”
“Are you crazy?” “You’ll be taking $30 once the game starts”
What I came to realize was that although the buyers were better dressed, had more education, and were far more worldly, this was a game of the professional’s vs the amateurs, and the sharks would eat the fish before the day was over. It was all about supply and demand, and there were far too many fingers in the air; after all this was the premier College Football Game of the weekend.
See and Be Seen
There was a recognizable group of people attending the Auburn vs LSU game and although what was happening on the field was important there was far more important gaming being played 100 feet above the playing field.
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Teenaged girls, dressed out of fashion magazines, sitting in prime seats showing no interest in the game in front of them, infants asleep in premium seats, children running to the free food being offered behind the seats, and women in deep discussion as the apposing quarterback was being sacked, only raising their voice so as to communicate over the roar of the crowd. This is where futures were being determined, business deals were being forged, and marriages were being envisioned, and I suspect Alabama’s political future was also being planned.
I loved “Game Day on the Plains” it’s a memory that I’ll value and there are more stories, “I’d rather stand here then sit in my season ticket seats”, or “I’ll rent you my house for $1800 for the weekend so your rowdy friend can party” or “I’ll get you into the stadium and you can pay me after you’re in” or “we’ve been on this green spot since 4:15 AM Friday so we could tailgate here and watch the game on our 42in flat screen TV.”
The football game is only a small part of what happens on campus on “Game Day”.
Tags: Auburn Football, Auburn vs LSU, Game Day