Fans are wearing red and black, grilling burgers and drinking chilled beer from coolers. The Saddle Tramps, an all-male booster club, are ringing their bells. The Goin’ Band from Raiderland is playing the fight song. Tortillas flung from the student section litter the AT&T Jones Stadium field.
These scenes are typical for Texas Tech home football games, but tomorrow the team is playing Baylor University in Arlington, Texas, 330 miles away.
Lubbock fans are still planning to be present—if not in person, then in spirit.
Sierra Welch, a first-year pre-nursing major at Tech, will be watching the game from home and cheering along. But she will miss her tailgating routine.
“I get ready, and I tailgate and then I go to the game,” Welch said. “My favorite part about tailgating is the food.”
Welch’s friend, Kira Wilson, will be rooting for the Red Raiders tomorrow from a game-day party.
This is only somewhat different from her regular routine. At home games, Wilson said, she and her friends usually tailgate before the game, stay for the first half and tailgate again diring the second half.
“The stadium is like 1000 degrees,” Wilson said.
For some, Tech football is not merely a college tradition but a hometown point of pride.
Curtis Sharp, a Tech sophomore who grew up in Lubbock, Texas, has watched the Raiders his entire life. Nowadays, he doesn’t always have the time to attend games. Last week, he watched the Raiders play Texas Christian University from home. But he has many joyful memories, such as seeing Tech’s 2008 winning game against the University of Texas.
“I was cheering when Crabtree made his big catch against the Longhorns,” Sharp recalled.
Away from the stadium, Welch, Wilson and Sharp say they will still be on the same page in tomorrow’s game-day celebration: they hope the Red Raiders win.
About Allison Terry
