Amidst the usual sounds of “Go U! NU!” and jingling keys at Saturday’s football game against Central Michigan, I heard people saying things I never expected to hear at a Northwestern game: “This is absurd.” “How are we ever going to find seats?” “This is the most crowded it’s ever been. Ever.” As everyone kept passing by me, already in the “nosebleeds,” they couldn’t even see empty seats ahead of them.

At 10:45 Saturday morning as I took a near-empty shuttle to Ryan Field, I was formulating an idea for my column this week, intending to use the space to lament the state of students’ support for the football team. Very few of my friends were going, leaving me with little energy to excite myself for the game.

The athletic department has launched its first-ever marketing campaign in an effort to raise attendance at home football games. The idea is that by creating an NU Football brand, and portraying the team as Chicago’s Big Ten team, residents of the area will feel like a part of the Northwestern community and pledge allegiance to the football program.

A very tangible effort to unite Northwestern with its community was Thursday night’s pep rally in downtown Evanston. While a good idea, I think the pep rally missed the point. There were very few students in attendance, so instead of uniting the school and the town, it just brought together Coach Fitzgerald, President Shapiro, Mayor Tisdahl and some football fans from around town.

This failure on the part of students led me to expect lower than average crowds when I walked into Ryan Field. We weren’t playing a Big Ten team, kick-off was at 11 AM, and we were feeling the first hints of chilly weather.

So when I walked in just after kick-off, and got my workout for the day climbing up the stands, I was blown-away by the mass of purple filling the stands. It has been my experience that you can sit in the first five rows if you get there by the end of the first quarter, but by the time I arrived security was in place to direct me to much higher seats.

I don’t know what it was that got everyone there. Maybe our new freshman class was better trained in the art of college football fandom, or maybe everyone was excited to see a team with three wins already under its belt, but the student crowd was without a doubt the biggest I’d ever seen.

My favorite thing I heard during my eavesdropping was, “Is this is a joke?” Because for a veteran NU football attendee, the only way to explain the crowd was that it couldn’t be real. Luckily, this wasn’t the case. For the first time I can remember, students treated this game like we treat our academics and activities, and rallied for our team.

Though this destroyed my original idea for a ranting column berating my peers for not coming to games, I can only express my gratitude for the atmosphere created by thousands of student fans and enthusiasm and hope for the rest of the season. I hope that as the athletic department continues to push for involvement of Chicagoans, students can also live up to the challenge. Our commitment is the best indication that the Wildcats are worth cheering for.

Meredith Wise is a Weinberg junior. She can be reached at [email protected].