Episode 9: BC's Near Embarassment

By this point in my job, I'm finding the events less and less engrossing. They're still interesting, and fun to attend, but I'm less overwhelmed by them. My writing has become more about the random things that happen to happen at an event, rather than about the event itself.


Reading these all again, I like how much more personal my writing style is getting. Not only am I telling more personal stories, and including my own reactions and emotions. But the actual writing is getting more inviting to the reader. I'm telling a story, not describing a fact.


I was also really lucky to start doing this job when I did. My first season at Gillette Stadium saw the Patriots nearly go undefeated. My first season at BC saw the football team rise as high to #2 in the country. Then I saw their hockey team's regular season before they won the NCAA title.


This was originally written October 2, 2007.


With the Patriots on the road, my only ushering of the weekend came at Boston College, as the Division I-AA Massachusetts (UMass) Minutemen came to Chestnut Hill. It was either work this game or the Revolution game at night. I picked this one because I find MLS to be uninteresting, even though I’m a big fan of soccer. I also wanted to keep my night clear because I figured Auburn/Florida would be a good game. I think I was right in that prediction.


This game was the most intense home game for Boston College this season. It was also the closest and most exciting game they’ve played all year. UMass is only 90 miles from BC, which makes them the closest team the Eagles will be playing. Funnily enough, UConn, UNH, and URI are all closer to Boston then UMass.


Anyway, there was a bit of a mix up by my employers. I had signed up to be an usher (green shirt) but they said I was listed as event staff (orange shirt). Event staff leans more toward the security aspects of what we do. At BC, the line between green and orange is blurred since we’re not actually security there. I wound up ushering, which is ironic because had I worn green, I wouldn’t have been an usher.


They originally assigned me to take tickets, but the supervisor had too many people so I eagerly volunteered to be reassigned. I got pretty excited as my new supervisor said we would be working the student section. The student section at BC is quite visible on TV. It’s the section that is all yellow. It is also the only area in the Stadium in which an extremely intense college football atmosphere exists. The student section isn’t part of Boston, it’s a very small part of Tuscaloosa, College Station, Rocky Top, and Columbus.





But I didn’t wind up in the student section at all. I wasn’t too badly disappointed, though. The student section is the hardest to work. There are stories of TeamOps employees entering it, being consumed by the sea of upper middle class kids in yellow shirts, and coming out with broken bones. So I didn’t really mind working in one of the corners, in a section occupied mostly by retired alumni and families.


UMass came into the game ranked #2 in D-IAA (I refuse to call it by that other name). Honestly, I thought BC was going to lose. There’s no way BC would be coming into this game with as much intensity as UMass. And Boston College has a tendency to drop an egg right when they’re riding high.


I’ll quickly summarize the game, because with all that happened on Saturday, I doubt it was given much time on SportsCenter, and it was only broadcast on ESPN360. BC struggled to go up 17-0 by half-time. Then UMass came screaming back in the 3rd quarter to make it 17-14. BC nearly killed themselves with turnovers. A fumble on their own 30 yard line was reversed, and Matt Ryan threw an interception in the end zone that was nullified by an offside penalty. BC eventually pulled away and won 24-14.


I figured a near loss to a D-IAA team would result in BC dropping in the polls. Of course, I didn’t know what had been going on in the rest of college football until I got home. After beating UMass by only 10 points, Boston College rose to 6th and 7th in the two polls. They’re pretty much up there by default.


This game had more visiting fans than any other game this season. I would estimate that 1/3 to 1/4 of the crowd were UMass fans. Normally, this would be a cause for concern for us, but this isn’t much of a rivalry. Furthermore, everyone was still glowing from the Red Sox clinching the AL East the previous night. I didn’t have any problems whatsoever in my sections. There was one moment when UMass fans were chanting “Bullsh*t.” Since the fans were dispersed throughout the section, it was easy for me to put a stop to this behavior by staring down the individuals partaking in the chant.


I only went on one power trip when a couple of UMass kids were standing on my platform. Other than that, the event was hassle free.


One bright spot of the day was when a group of BC cheerleaders went through their routines in front of my section in the 1st quarter. One of them had previously caught my eye at the Army game. She was a redhead with a tan (I’m an absolute sucker for that) and she was the top of their pyramid. So she’s got that going for her. I think I’m in love.


This job has given me a new appreciation for cheerleaders. Not only do they look good, but that’s some hard stuff they do. I used to think cheerleading wasn’t a sport, but I was wrong. They do some difficult and athletic stunts and routines. And they look great doing it. So here’s to cheerleaders!


There was a bizarre fan in my section. He was dressed up as some sort of Native American, with orange shorts, an orange tribal looking shirt, and a pair of Armani sunglasses. He also had a strange little flag that was red with a blue stripe across it. He spent the entire game rain dancing in the last row. It was wicked weird. He looked like he belonged at a Florida State game, not Boston College.


In my previous article, someone asked how to outsmart an usher, or get on an usher’s good side. Well, I have an answer. #1 You should be polite. #2 You should be understanding of the fact that I have a job to do. #3 You should be a wicked hot girl. Simple, right?


With 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter, these 3 smoking hot UMass coeds came walking into my section. I never saw the word “Massachusetts” so beautifully stretched out as it was on their snugly fitting shirts.


They walked up to me and showed me their tickets: Section LL. I was at sections A and Z. LL is in the upper deck on the other side of the field. But they knew this. They also knew the power they had over me. Their leader spoke. “We know we’re in the wrong section, we were just wondering if there was any place down here we could sit.” She had #1 down, she was being polite.


Then she slammed down #2. “Could you just pretend to look at our tickets and point out some empty seats as if they were ours?” I was really impressed by this. She knew the situation I was in. She seemed to know that people are watching me. And since she and her friends also fulfilled requirement #3 in spades, I decided to help them out.


I know what you might be thinking. Rob went soft as an usher just because some hotties were nice to him. Let me just explain that I wasn’t even checking tickets by that point. These girls could have come into my section and walked right past me without showing me their upper deck tickets. There were 5 minutes left in the game, people were leaving, and I figured there wouldn’t be any harm done.


I told them to go to a spot of bleachers that had been unoccupied all day. But one of them had a problem. “You mean right next to that guy staring at us?” I looked over and this dude wasn’t even trying to be discrete. He was fully ogling these girls. Understandably, they decided not to go there. They found some place else to sit, then left 4 plays later, saying “Thank you” to me on their way out. You know, UMass begged me, and I mean BEGGED me to go there. They offered me a scholarship, a huge dorm room my freshman year, first dibs at picking classes, but noooooooooooooo, I had to go to film school at Ithaca. What an idiot I am. These 3 girls were just a small representation of what is out there at UMass.


Anyway, it was an easy and fun game to work. I know it wasn’t as glamorous as some of the other games I’ve worked, like Pats games, or Brazil vs. Mexico, but it was a nice payday, a nice game, and even though I have a sunburn on half my face, whereas the other half is still a bright Irish white, it was worth it.


One problem, though, is that I’m sick and tired of hearing “Shipping Up to Boston” by the Dropkick Murphy’s. The BC band plays it, their sound system plays it, it’s played multiple times at Gillette, it’s jammed into my head like a diamond bullet and it is driving me insane. I’m shipping up to Boston, woah oh oh, I’m shipping up to…..AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


That song had just become hugely popular in Boston. Every sporting event came along with the song. Here's all I have to say about that song...