Bison Gameday Guide for Incoming Freshman

FILE PHOTO | THE SPECTRUM
NDSU football games are crazy, so embrace it and have fun.

Alright incoming freshmen, listen up. Here are the things you need to know about game days here on campus.

The two main sports that are important to go to and that have rules are football and basketball.

With football, there are a couple of major rules that you 100 percent need to follow. The first one is to get in line very early.

First things first, you actually have to reserve tickets to football games. They become available at 8 a.m. on the Monday before the game. Sleep in at your own risk because they may be gone quickly.

Second, take advantage of the Fridays before the games at the bookstore. They are scratch-off days and you have a chance at a good discount for Bison gear.

If you can’t get there early, make friends with someone who will get there early and then you can cut in line once you get there. And if you are a real friend, bring them food as a thank you.

The doors open an hour and a half before the game. I recommend you get there two to three hours before the doors open.

Once you get inside the dome, the experience is nothing like you’ve ever had before. Here is where the recommendation of getting in line early comes in to play. The earlier in line you are, the better seats you will be able to get.

While saving seats is an option, please don’t expect to save 10 seats with two people. A good rule of thumb is to have at least half of your group there early and sit in every other seat.

So now you’re in your seat and waiting 90 minutes until kickoff. The first hour might be slow, but in the last 30 minutes the action will start to happen. There are football tosses and the drum line plays, as well as the entire band. Finally, the intro video plays. From this point on the action starts and it doesn’t stop.

After the national anthem, you are loud for almost the rest of the game. You are only quiet when the Bison are on offense.

When the Bison are on defense, you yell and scream as loud as you can.

As the great Brick Tamland said, “Loud noises!”

You must also stand the whole game, unless it is a commercial break or halftime. If you leave the Fargodome with a voice, you are doing it wrong.

Finally, don’t leave the game until the game officially ends. I don’t care what the score of the game is, you stay the whole time. There is no party worth leaving a game for, even one celebrating the presumptive Dakota Marker win. Besides, that is the only time you get to dance to “In Heaven There is No Beer.”

Now over to basketball season. Try to get there as soon as the doors open, especially if they are handing out giveaways at the door. They will run out in a hurry.

Also, getting there early serves a purpose with getting a good seat. I recommend not sitting directly in the middle of the student section because you won’t be able to see with the basket in the way.

If you sit to the side you’ll be able to see better and you won’t notice the scoreboard hanging above the court is not centered. This is a big distraction from the game.

During the game, make sure that you are loud again. When there is a three, a big slam-dunk or a big block you have to do a little dance or just get as hype as you can.

At the basketball games, they do T-shirt tosses and other fun things of that sort. Being loud during the game is fine. You can be loud at any time of the game. Don’t be loud the whole game, be loud when the rest of the student section is.

And like with football, don’t leave the game until the final buzzer. No matter what the score is, you stay.

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