1996 Week 7
November 3, 1996
I was watching the Pitt vs. BC game last night and was dismayed at the number of empty seats in the stadium. Now, I have been hard on Notre Dame for their high number of unsold seats, but those are all at the top of the stadium where the view isn't so good. What concerned me about Pitt was that the unsold seats were scattered all over the stadium. They have got to do something to promote their team. Maybe they could take a hint from the baseball teams and have a free gift night.
I remember the first free gift night at a college. It occurred at Wabash College in Indiana during the Depression. I think it was 1937. Wabash was playing Depauw College. Recent fan support had been dismal so the Administration thought that they could attract fans by giving away a free chicken to every spectator. So they worked out a deal with a local chicken farm for approximately 3000 chickens. The game came and the farmer drove up with truckloads of chickens - still alive!! No one had told the farmer that he was to kill and dress the birds. Well, the game was just 2 hours away so Wabash decided to still hand out the chickens.
Soon the stands were filled with 3000 screaming fans and 3000 clucking birds. Some people just let their birds go becuase they got too fussy. Others took off their belts and made leashes for their birds. Some stuffed them under their coats to keep them quiet. Of course, they got a huge surprise sometime during the second half. Others, fed up with the noise and the mess choked their chickens.
Wabash won, but it was not a fun game to watch. Needless to say, no one has ever handed out free food at a game since. Still, I prefer my chicken on a bun.