Wanting
to see the population of Las Cruces outside of their natural habitat, I ventured
down to El Paso this weekend to watch the football game. Commotion everywhere as people weave back and
forth, jumping in and out of lines, hats
and shirts for sale, popcorn, hotdogs, and bobble heads line the vendors
stands.
Even at
the entrance, I am overwhelmed and swarmed with a mass of young adults. Orange and blue everywhere, no matter where I
looked, orange and blue, fitting the colors of UTEP. Spread scarily throughout this mass was the
occasional splash of crimson
Walking
to my seats, I soon discovered that I was right next to the UTEP band. Immediately I looked over and was highly
intrigued. The band was as diverse as I could
have ever imagined. Males, Female,
various heights, sizes, and ethnicity filled the stands. All of them were between the age of 18-23
probably, and all stood wearing the same band uniform, in a straight line.
Within
the band, I noticed several individuals that wear doing more than just playing. A larger, and slightly older man, who I shall
refer to as “Sax man” Sax man was getting very into the football game once it
started. After every play he was able to,
or whenever during a song had a break in it, Sax man would lean back as fall as
he could and shout “GO MINERS!” At
first, it was a normal thing, but as the game progressed, and Sax guy shouted
more and more, the other patrons that were sitting around him started to get
more and more visibly irritated.
Also in
the band, was a short dark haired girl who was holding a clarinet. I noticed her as she was the closest on to
me, and quickly caught my attention. I
say she was holding it as she never actually played, but instead spent most the
game looking at her phone. Whenever the
band would play, she would raise her clarinet to her mouth, but would never put
actually play.
Directly in front of me was an older, Caucasian couple who
was sitting quietly. However once the
rest of their group arrived; two other couples fitting the same characteristics
as the original couple, they went crazy.
Beers flying everywhere, screaming and yelling as they continued to
celebrate the way that the game was going.
During half time however, the group got up, saying that they had to go
to the restroom, and never returned.
As the
game started, mini football teams poured into the stands. All wearing their jerseys, these aspiring
young players all below the age of probably 10 cheered, screamed, and danced as
much as they could. With eyes glued to
the field, and reactions all in sync.
