My husband and I are season ticket holders, which means we go to all 6 home games every year. it's a surreal experience. The games normally start around 5pm, but people typically arrive around 6:30am to tailgate. Parking spaces are at a premium, which means that if you don't arrive early (like we didn't for last week's heartbreaking triple-OT loss to Stanford), you park wherever you can. It's quite a bizarre sight-- people paying random South Central LA residents $20 for the privilege of parking their luxury cars on the lawn and saying (only somewhat jokingly), "Well, hope my car is still there when I get back!"
We've had these particular seats for 7 years, and over that time we've gotten to know the people who sit around us. We're a family of sorts, despite only seeing each other 6 times each year.
I may not know as much about my Trojan family as I do about my real one, but somehow that doesn't seem to matter during the 4 hours we spend sharing an intense experience. We exchange high-fives and hugs when our team scores. We shake our heads in disgust and share expletives when they once again let their opponent convert on 3rd and long. We watch each other's kids grow up, our parents get older, our jobs change. We get snapshots of each other's lives every fall. We're bonded for life. And I consider these people family.
Fight. On.
