Sunday, September 16, 2012

The Green Side of Tailgating

I love football. Therefore, I had to go to the Utah vs. BYU game. Enough said. But in case you haven't heard of or seen the MUSS (the Mighty Utah Student Section)... well, all I can say is that I did not want to be trampled, sprayed with beer, or molested in any other way. Luckily, my good friend Timone invited me to recycle with him at the game. Apparently, if you can get on the green police list, you get into the game for free, and I love trees so that was a done deal.
I'm just glad that Maren couldn't come; she literally would have died. Our responsibility as the green police was to go through all the rows of tailgaters and collect the aluminum cans, plastic and glass bottles.We had gloves, and I find drunk people to be hilarious so I didn't really mind. I also had Timone with me and we met another girl who tagged along with us.
Generally, the fans weren't too drunk, and they also were strangely eager to recycle. I never realized that tailgaters would openly enjoy recycling, but people kept coming up to us and thanking us for doing such a great service. I was also pleased that I only got sprayed with beer once and it was completely accidental: the girl who tagged along with us meant to throw a can into the trash bag I was holding but it hit me instead and it was not an empty can. Ah, c'est la vie.
The only problem I really had with the whole affair was just that I think it is very stupid that parents are content to smoke and drink- whether to be social or to get drunk- around their kids when they know their kids are learning in school not to do either of the two. It made me think of block parties and Halloween during my childhood in Maryland; the other kids' parents would be social and drink with each other despite the fact that their kids were right there or despite the fact that they were handing out candy to little children. I'm just very glad to be able to call my parents my parents because they have high standards. They kept us a safe distance from that without sheltering us and letting us be oblivious and naive. I'm lucky and happy to be part of the one percent.
So after getting beer on my only pair of jeans, reaching into trash can after trash can, and inhaling endless streams of cigarette and cigar smoke: was any of it worth it? That statement was definitely overdramatic. Yes, it was worth it! Without paying a cent, I got to sit on the back of the BYU football truck right off the field while watching my favorite sport. I have to admit that I thought we would lose, but I am happily surprised. I also have to admit that I left at half time, but it was because I didn't want Maren to ride the TRAX home from work alone. I also don't like people enough to leave at the very end of a football game with the rest of the fans.
All in all last night was a fine night for football and the ecosystem. I got to help save a few trees and though the Utes still aren't very good, we still beat BYU 24 to 21.
Go Utes!

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