Magic

And just like that, another home basketball season has come to a close.
It has been a very... confusing... season.
Utah State has been spoiled these last few years, so when things changed, it came as a shock to everyone.
Rather than ending the season at 30-4, we'll be lucky if we can finish over .500.
That's what happens when you lose six seniors.
We had to start over.

The entire season has been a roller coaster ride.
It was one full of rebuilding.
Injuries.
Recovery.

It has been an interesting year for me, being on the other side of it all.
In the past, I spent so many hours waiting in the Spectrum, earning my second row seat.
In the three seasons I was in Section F, I made some great friends and lived my dream college life.
Now things are different.
I wear a dress to games.
I sit quietly on the press or scorers table.
I have to focus on specific things and can't yell and scream.
It took some getting used to, but now that is what I love.

I see everything from an entirely different perspective.

On Monday, I was preparing myself for tonight to be my last home game as a student.
Luckily, by Tuesday, that had all changed.
I can't wait for another two years.

For 45 minutes before every game, I stand at the door selling programs.
I see the entire range of Aggie fans.
There are the newborn babies who have no clue what is going on.
There are the young kids who are enthralled by everything that is happening around them.
They are decked out in blue, and just so excited.
There are the college students.
The high school kids who come, dreaming of the day they can join the college kids.
There are the young alumni.
The old alumni.
There is a man I talk to at every game who helped build the Spectrum.
He and his wife have sat in the same seats at every game for 45 years.

There is the man who always reminds me to smile.
There's Dale.
Dale isn't all the way there.
He is so friendly and chatty.
Every night, he asks if I have a boyfriend yet.
When I say no, he tells me I'd better get on it.
There are the "regulars."
The ones who buy a program every week.
There's the university president.
The football coaches.

We know each other.
These people represent what it is to be an Aggie.

It doesn't matter how the team is doing.
It doesn't matter that we've lost more times at home this year than we have in the last six years combined.
What matters is that we're there.
We love our team. We love our school.
That is the magic of the Spectrum.
That is the magic of Utah State.