As a student at the University of Illinois, the Illinois football team has always been an afterthought. Such was the case when I happened to plan a trip to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for a tailgate on October 11, the same weekend the Fighting Illini football team traveled to Madison to take on the Wisconsin Badgers.
Unlike Illinois, Wisconsin is a school that loves its football, which made the Illini football team far from an afterthought throughout the weekend. So for the first time I experienced the highlights, and the lowlights, of being an Illini fan on the road:
Highlight: Wearing Illini apparel at a tailgate.
I love my fraternity as much as the next guy, but wearing my
letters to block is beginning to make me feel a bit self-centered. I’d been
waiting for the right time to rock my vintage Illinois lacrosse jersey and what
better time to pull it out then when I brought my school spirit on the road
with me to Madison?
Lowlight: When no one cared that I had on an Illini jersey.
When I was getting dressed the morning of the tailgate, I
almost didn’t wear the jersey in fear of facing constant heckling throughout
the day. When I arrived at the tailgate, however, I quickly realized that
Wisconsin fans weren’t all that interested in heckling the fan of a team that
has yet to win a game in the Big Ten. At least until he opened his mouth…
Highlight: Gloating when the Illini took the lead.
With just over three minutes left in the first quarter of the
game, the Illini decided to validate my decision to wear my school colors by
scoring a touchdown to take the lead over Wisconsin 14-7. The Illini were
leading a powerhouse football team. It was awesome. And even though I knew deep
down that it wouldn’t last, I was sure to remind everyone around me in red what
the score of the game was.
Lowlight: The rest of the football game after the Illini
took the lead.
For as much fun as I had gloating when the Illini had the
lead, the many intoxicated Badgers fans around me had at least twice as much
fun tearing into me when their team proceeded to score the game’s next 31
points. Like I said, I knew the Illini lead wouldn’t last very long, but what I
didn’t know, and will never forget, was what it was like to feel the wrath of a
vindicated Wisconsinite.
Highlight: Bumping into friends from school at the tailgate.
Although I see them on a regular basis in Champaign, you
would’ve thought I hadn’t seen my friends from Illinois in years by how I acted
when I bumped into them at the tailgates in Wisconsin. What would be a head nod
and a fist pound in Champaign turned into heartfelt hugs and irrational yelling
from across a crowded street in Madison.
Lowlight: The Wisconsin clothing of the Illinois friends I
bumped into.
It was easy to get over the excitement of running into my
friends and fellow Illini when I looked at their apparel and found many of them
wearing Wisconsin clothes. I mean, I understand that Illinois students generally
have absolutely no school pride, like, at all, but supporting the other team?
Now that’s just cold.
Highlight: Getting into a tailgate party solely because of
my Greek affiliation.
Nothing says brotherhood quite like letting a stranger into
your party who goes to a different school and knows no one in the chapter. That
I can walk into a random house and be accepted by a bunch of frat dudes for no
other reason than that people they don’t know gave me a bid to a different
chapter still seems weird to me, but I’m wasn’t complaining about the free
party.
Lowlight: Knowing no one at that tailgate.
I wasn’t complaining about the free party at first, but the
novelty wore off quickly when I looked around and realized that I didn’t
actually know anybody. The brothers at my fraternity’s Wisconsin chapter had no
way of knowing that I was a member of their fraternity. And judging by all of
the dirty looks that I was getting, I don’t think they really cared to find
out.
