Game day

October 16, 2025

“There are moments that are made up of too much stuff for them to be lived at the time they occur”

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. John le Carré. P. 354 

We’re late. Fully decked in black, but we missed the kickoff. And based on the sound coming from the stadium as we walk towards the student's entrance, it seems they have made a touchdown. I missed it, but it doesn’t matter because my attention is drawn to the crowd of people watching the game, and the energy they radiate.

You feel like you have passed to a different realm, the air thickens, your ears hear everything and nothing at the same time, and a constant hum starts beneath your skin. You are part of something now, like getting underwater and feeling the ocean engulf you.

I don’t understand the game at all, so my friend Chloe has to explain it to me. At the same time, we’re both beginning to pick on the social queues and the rituals to follow now that we’re here. The third down signal, the cheering, everything begins to make sense and before half-time we know the routine.

Now that I understand the basics, I begin to pay attention to the game itself, and I see my first tackle. Brutal is what comes to mind, I had seen it on TV, but live feels more dire. And I start to wonder about the things this guys, whose names I don’t know, are doing to keep playing, but Chloe snaps me back to reality pointing out what a beautiful day it is, even the sun came out.

After half-time, a lot of people have left. “If they have been pre-gaming since 8am, it makes sense” Chloe says. The game has also cooled-off, the Bearcats are winning, on a big margin at that, and the time is running out for UCF. And although things have settled in the stadium, the hum hasn’t gone anywhere. I am acutely aware of the people around me, their reactions, I understand the game, and I am wondering about plays and strategies and once I catch myself doing this I know it's over, I am hooked on football now. The Bearcats won, We won.

After sitting down with the experience for a few days, I am able to acknowledge the ways in which my understanding of this social world has changed. I had been to sports events before, but never have I been so in tune with the social dynamics in and outside the field. It has both made me more invested in it, but at the same time more emotionally detached. It got me out of my head and into the crowd.

Inadvertently, I was scanning the fans for their reactions towards violence, their expectations and appeal (Why Do We Accept Violence in Sports?, n.d.). I was also taking mental note of the races and ethnicities of players, coaches, referees and linking it to how it may affect the positions they hold (McGovern, 2021; Reid, 2017). At the end, sports are social constructs that talk about what we value (Coakley, 2021), and in one way or another we participate in these structures. I know now that the vibration under my skin, was not only the energy of the crowd, but also the excitement in seeing new possibilities in what was happening around me.

Coakley, J. J. (2021). Sports in society: Issues and controversies (Thirteenth edition). McGraw-Hill.

Le Carré, J. (2020). Tinker, tailor, soldier, spy. Penguin.

McGovern, J. (2021). Are Latinx youth getting in the game? The effects of gender, class, ethnicity, and language on Latinx youth sport participation. Latino Studies, 19(1), 92–113. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41276-021-00307-6

Reid, J. (2017, April 26). The NFL’s racial divide. Andscape. https://andscape.com/features/the-nfls-racial-divide/

Why Do We Accept Violence in Sports? | Psychology Today. (n.d.). Retrieved September 12, 2025, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/be-in-the-know/202310/why-do-we-accept-violence-in-sports