Bread, Circuses, and Spandex

Football games are fun, there’s no doubt about that. But branching outside of The Big House to other university sports results in a fundamentally different experience. For one thing, everything else is in a much smaller building. Cliff Keen arena, where volleyball is played, and Yost arena, where hockey is played, both provide an intimate experience. The smaller arenas don’t take away from the fun of being a spectator, they enhance it. Sure there aren’t 100,000 people around you, but the ones who are there can have a much greater affect on the game. In these smaller settings the role of the crowd becomes very apparent and the student section becomes almost Rousseauian.