Saturday 14 November 2009

Albany: Yankees Fans Haven

I wrote this for the Albany Student Press, but sometimes newspapers mess up and have two people writing the same article.
Luckily, I have my own publishing means.

If you were wondering why there was toilet paper all over the fountain Thursday morning, you must have been one of the few to sleep through the raging Yankees fans’ celebration the night before.

Immediately after the win, students on Indian began running through the halls and cheering outside. The noise could be heard from the 21st floor of Mohawk Tower.

Fans were cheering, chanting “27!” and playing “Empire State of Mind" by Jay-Z outside the tower, toilet paper flying and energetic boys running around shirtless in the cold Noember air.

“More people joined as the chants grew louder, and more people showed up. Then all of a sudden everyone started running towards State Quad,” says Freshman Tim McGreevy.

At State, fans celebrating inside heard the noise and joined the mob outside, which continued to Colonial and Dutch Quads, and finally ended at the fountain. The rowdy crowd managed to cause some havoc, knocking over some garbage cans.
“They got pretty much every trash can on the way,” McGreevy recalls.

Singing Queen’s “We Are The Champions,” the middle ring of the fountain was packed with students, with more standing around it and on the stairs.

The celebration continued well past 1 a.m., when the ecstatic students finally began to return to their dorms.

“It meant the world to me, it ended all the frustration of no World Series wins since 2000,” says Jordan Schantz, a freshman.


Not everyone was elated over the win.

“It was hard to sleep through,” said an unhappy low-rise dweller.

What about the seemingly few non-Yankees fans on campus?
“Well I was kind of confused why they were yelling ‘Red Sox suck’ when they weren’t even playing the Red Sox in the first place,” Taylor Bulman, a Boston fan remarked.
“I only know one other Red Sox fan on campus,” said Bulman.

The large amount of students from downstate and Albany’s proximity to New York City makes UAlbany a haven for Yankees fans.
“I don’t think another team’s victory would bring on a celebration of that caliber, I don’t think that can be topped,” says Schantz.

Hometown pride was strongly displayed, as many native New Yorkers were especially passionate about the victory.|
“I’m not a bandwagon Yankee fan, I’m a true fan, so when I saw all those people out there a rush of adrenaline just shot through me cause I knew all those people felt the same way I did,” says Ronald Baez, who is from Brooklyn.
“All in all it was just a beautiful experience and I’m glad I got to see that.”

1 comment:

sam said...

did this not get published? that's too bad, it's a great piece! completely different from the reaction here... it's dangerous to be a yankees fan.