There’s no day like game day at Syracuse University, and no game day is complete without a tailgate. It transports you to another world and a happier mindset, putting the monotony of daily life on hold.

On any other day, students have their head in a screen as they walk across the Quad. The world beyond the Hill is way more appealing and much more exciting than chilly, grim Syracuse. But at a tailgate, in a sea of orange, you are right where you need to be. Syracuse becomes the only world you live in, and everyone is your friend. So even though we’re at the end of football season, we should take the unity of tailgates back on campus with us.

There’s something about standing in an empty parking lot littered with beer cans and smashed glass. You can’t help but look around and think, “Man, I love this school.” And scientists know why. A 2012 study from Notre Dame University compares the practice of tailgating to harvest celebrations in ancient Greece and Rome. Sure, those ancient festivals featured chariot racing and games to celebrate a fruitful season, while we celebrate in open backlots near campus. But they all share the power to create communities through shared habit and tradition.

So while SU’s party school reputation has raised criticism in the past, the fact that thousands of us embrace Orange together actually ties us closer. Game days become more about coming together than they do about competition.

Chris Shegrin, a behavioral scientist at the University of Arizona, attributes this community to a phenomenon called attitudinal similarity.

“It’s one thing to enjoy a sports team on your own,” Shegrin said. “But when you get together with people who have the same feelings for the team, it elevates it to a higher level in your mind: ‘I’m part of something even bigger than my own self with this team.’”

When we celebrate in the freezing cold before games or after big wins, students from any crevice of campus are welcome — even if tailgaters usually end up being white members of Greek life.

 Conversations about reconciling identities are important ones to have, but on game day, who you are doesn’t matter: We’re all Orange. And on campus, it shouldn’t matter, either. But after a tailgate, the unified student body reverts to its niche groups on campus.

As humans, we pay most attention to what’s on the radar screen in front of us, Shegrin said. So, this sense of coming together loses its salience once we’re apart. It’s out of sight, out of mind.

We should be giving out high-fives, making small talk and fostering community every day. As students, we need to push ourselves to go out of our way to extend the same kindness and acceptance that we do at a tailgate. Everyone’s favorite day of the week during the fall semester can extend into the weekdays if we let it, and we absolutely should. It’s healthy.

“In terms of self-esteem, happiness, combating loneliness, those kinds of community events are extremely beneficial because they validate our self-worth,” Shegrin said. “In terms of sports, if the team you’re rooting for is successful, all the better, but even if not, misery loves company. It’s really valuable to people’s self-esteem and happiness.”

Those kinds of benefits are invaluable at a university. When students of all walks of life connect with each other on — or right off — campus, they create a connection with their college and care about its future. When students, faculty, alumni and friends come to SU to partake in the traditions, to celebrate our sports teams, we all leave more connected and proud to be Orange.

Joanna Orland is a junior newspaper and online journalism major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at jorland@syr.edu.

 

Published on December 9, 2017 at 6:24 pm