LSU football is entertainment for the city, a weekly unifier for the student body and a good ‘ole southern source of pride. When you decide to attend the University, it’s more or less expected that you’ll jump on the “Geaux Tigers” bandwagon and cherish every Saturday home game.
It’s nice that students and residents have so much pride in the team, but students shouldn’t feel pressured to make football games their priority. Friends shouldn’t give you a puzzled look or stink eye when you tell them you picked up an extra work shift or are going back to your hometown for the weekend instead of attending the next home game. Games are fun and a great way to spend the weekend, but it’s not fair to expect every student to exude the same amount of passion for the games.
Some students need to spend that day working because they need the money, and others want to go out of town or stay at home on game days. Maybe crowds might cause anxiety or you just don’t want to deal with getting to and from campus on a game day. Most recently, a Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur, fell on a Saturday and those students may have been in a temple
instead of Tiger Stadium. No matter the reason, it’s perfectly OK to miss a game or two, or even all of them.
Generally, there are six home games during football season. It may not seem like many, but not every student wants or can afford to give up that many Saturdays. For a lot of young women, they feel it’s necessary to get new cute outfits for tailgating, while the gentlemen might also spend a little bit of extra money getting new cowboy boots or another Saturday item.
Not everyone wants to put in the effort and participate. It’s great so many people thrive on Saturdays when the Parade Ground is mobbed with friends or family and you get to settle into Tiger Stadium. However, people don’t attend for a variety of reasons and all of those reasons are valid and acceptable, so other people need to stop acting like they aren’t.
The LSU football team has a reputation and so does the student body. As a large Southern school we love football, tailgating and having our Saturdays revolve around those things. However, not every student here is Southern and not everyone wants to partake in every Southern tradition. Participating or not participating doesn’t make you any more Southern, popular or fun.
Jordan Miller is a 20-year-old
elementary education junior from New Orleans, Louisiana.