Column: Cheer on Tigers both at home and away

By Spencer Engel
Dec. 4, 2008

MU football fans, listen up! If you have yet to travel to an away game (not including a neutral location like St. Louis) to cheer on your Tigers, let me tell you what you're missing.

You're missing out on being in enemy territory. It's not fun to do this if you're a soldier — ask Owen Wilson in "Enemy of the State" — but as a football fan it's a blast. I love receiving stares from opposing teams' fans when MU makes a good play and, as we MU fans cheer loudly or sarcastically, thanking Nebraska's fans for the interception they just threw.

You're missing out on eavesdropping on opposing teams' fans. A few weeks ago, I overheard an Iowa State fan attempt to make a joke about how dumb people from Missouri are, only she lacked the mental capacity to remember how the joke went.

You're missing out on silencing the opposing teams' fans. Obviously, this didn't happen if you went to the Texas game, but if you went to last year's Colorado game, this year's Nebraska game or this year's Iowa State game, as I did, then you witnessed three slaughters that MU won by an average score of 53-16. Also, you witnessed the rowdy Colorado and Nebraska fans make a lot of noise in the first quarter and then eventually become quieter than Ellis Library on a Friday night. (The Iowa State fans seemed indifferent, plus it was below freezing.)

You're missing out on the fantastic road trips before and after the games, which include hilarious jokes, reading confusing maps, getting lost and paying way too many tolls in stupid states like Texas. It also includes getting sidetracked in Oklahoma, where the legal gambling age is only 18, to visit a casino.

You're missing out on other schools' tailgates and how they rank compared to Missouri's. For example, Nebraska's was so-so; Colorado's pretty cool, and from what I heard from my friends, Oklahoma and pretty much all southern schools had no tailgate to speak of. Boring!

You're missing out on exploring other schools' campuses. Does the campus you're visiting have its own version of Shakespeare's Pizza? How is their downtown? What are their Greek houses like? The list goes on.

I know money is tight for most of us, but if you form a group of four or five people, split gas, possibly crash at a friend's place or a fellow Greek house (or otherwise split a hotel) and find relatively cheap tickets — no more than $50 — then you're looking at a $150 weekend, tops.

Admit it, that's probably cheaper than driving three and a half hours to visit your girlfriend. It's also a hell of a lot more fun unless you date a model or a college-aged celebrity like Hilary Duff.

Basically, if you don't travel with MU at least once a year, you're missing out on yet another college experience you won't be able to fully regain after graduation. Sure, you can still go to away games as an alumnus, but you can't sit in the student section unless you want to be "that guy."

The good news is that it's not too late to at least go to a neutral site game because MU is playing in the Big 12 Championship and will most likely play at a warm location for their bowl game. For those of you who think Oklahoma is going to murder MU, you're not alone, trust me, but just know that the road trip can be as fun as you want to make it.

P.S. Kansas City has some great tailgates.

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Column: Cheer on Tigers both at home and away

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