Arizona football fans disappoint

I've seen college football games in eight of the stadiums of the Pac-12 Conference, but I've never had the chance to see the Arizona Wildcats play at their home in Tucson. 

This troubled me. While Arizona has never had a particularly successful football team, I have long had the impression that they have a loyal and committed base of fans. I respected that and wanted to see it in person.

Finally, this past Saturday, I got my chance to watch football at Arizona Stadium. And to my surprise, Arizona fans were not at all what I expected.

It was Family Weekend at the University of Arizona, where my son is a sophomore, so my wife and I joined throngs of other parents from around the country in Tucson. The Saturday night football game against UCLA was the centerpiece of the weekend's activities.

Considering that the Wildcats had lost 16 straight times, it was surprising how much buzz there was on campus about the game. Inside the school bookstore, fans lined up to buy Arizona t-shirts and other spirit wear (the school had urged people to wear white shirts to make it a "White Out" night.)

Pre-game festivities

On the university mall, fans set up a sea of tents and started tailgating a full six hours before kickoff. Music filled the air, along with the smell of barbecues. Fans bedecked in Arizona jerseys and hats played cornhole, tossed the football around and played drinking games. There was tingling sense in the air, that maybe, just maybe, the Wildcats could pull off a big upset that night.

Come game time, more than 43,000 fans filled Arizona Stadium for the game. That wasn't a sell-out but was pretty impressive considering that ESPN had labeled the Wildcats the third-worst team in the nation.

The large crowd was even more remarkable considering the unfriendly reception fans got at the stadium entrance. You would think that a team with the worse losing streak in college football would be thrilled that anyone would come to its games. I imagined something like this:

"Oh, thank you, dear sir for coming. Here’s a velvet pillow to sit on and a souvenir tankard with the beverage of your choice."

In fact, fans at Arizona stadium we’re greeted with all the warmth of a TSA body cavity search. First, there was the long list of prohibited items. No sandwiches. No cookies. No grapes. No purses. No diaper bags. No fanny packs. Once you got that message, you then had to empty all your pockets, go through an x-ray detector and be prepared to be patted down. 

Nothing like treating your fans — some of whom had paid hundreds of dollars for a single ticket —  like criminals.

Despite this, the stadium was buzzing with excitement as the game neared. A rousing pregame video featuring Arizona sports highlights had the crowd cheering.

The Wildcats seemed to be charged up as well — yes, fan support does make a difference — and drove down the field on its first drive to take a 3-0 lead.

UCLA responded with a touchdown, but Arizona came back with a field goal to make it 7-6.  The underdog Wildcats were going toe-to-toe with the heavily favored Bruins. On key plays, fans roared to exhort the home team.

In the closing moments of the first half,  Arizona scored a touchdown on an electrifying trick play, and that was soon followed by an interception of a UCLA pass. The visitors led only 14-13 as the half ended and the crowd was vibrating with the thought of victory. On ESPN, which was broadcasting the game, announcer Dave Flemming said, "You're feeling the energy start to build in this stadium."

And then the strangest thing happened: People began to leave.

It wasn't apparent at first because a lot of people go the concession stands and the restrooms at halftime anyway, but by early in third quarter it was clear that 20% to 25% of the crowd had left midway through a close game.

I understand leaving a game when your team is getting blown out. But this was far from that. Arizona trailed by one and was besting UCLA in total yards and first downs. It remained a one-point game until late in the third quarter, and even after UCLA took a 24-16 lead, Flemming said, "It's still definitely a ballgame here."

Even well into the fourth quarter, the Wildcats could have tied that game with a single touchdown and two-point conversion. 

Somehow this didn't matter to the fans, who were rushing out of the stadium as if they'd just heard that chicken strips were half-price at Cracker Barrel. The stadium's energy deflated like air rushing out of a balloon. 

With seven minutes left in the game, there probably no more than 5,000 fans remained in the stadium. Some doggedly tried to maintain the enthusiasm, but it was no use. If you were watching on TV, it might have seemed that Arizona's football team ran out of gas in the fourth quarter (UCLA won 34-16). But the crowd quit on the team first. While it's hard to say how much the dwindling crowd support affected the team, it certainly didn't help.

I get that following a losing team can be frustrating. I wouldn't blame anyone for simply not coming out to see such a team play. But once you've bought a ticket, commit yourself. Sure, you can walk out of "Fast and Furious" and no one will care. But at a sporting event the energy of the crowd is part of the experience. Arizona fans, you can do better.