I had a great time tonight at an amazing basketball game. #7 Texas Tech vs #23 Oklahoma came down to the final minutes and I had floor seats. Started walking to the stadium @ 3:30 pm, doors opened @ 4:30 pm to get seats, the game started @ 6 pm. Waited in a line with thousands of people with a friend and as the time passed more and more people started cutting up the line and shoving to hurry and wait.. pointless IMO. Kinda like in traffic when people speed up to slow down. Standing in line, this guy walked past 85% of the mass of people (I was near the very front) and decided to jump the railing and stand actually inches in my personal space. I am not a small person @ 6'4 250LBS and it really bugged me to start off my experience there. I asked him " do you have some friends to go to?" and he replied "yes and pointed further up the stairs in the group of people". I then followed up with "then go ahead and go stand with them" (nice way of me saying please get out of my personal space you originally invaded, to begin with). He then walked maybe 2 baby steps out of my range and got in my friend's personal space, which was not what I wanted either. My friend turned, gave me a look and I laughed and said: "my bad bro, I thought he'd get way out of our space". The disrespect and ignorance @ a place where the people here are supposed to be the future members of society blows my mind. The line shifted a few times and we gained back our surroundings. When the event staff finally let us through people were actually sprinting and knocking over females and smaller males to then be filtered through 3 doors, which was a cluster f**k. People were making it as if everyone suddenly turned into penguins and started to walk accordingly with how little space there was but once I got clear on the other sides on the doors I followed my bud to where we could claim our good seats. This was my first game so I didn't exactly know what to expect or what the "rules" were. He led me down to the floor seats for students and after making a quick round he decided on a row behind the glass of the backboard, great seats. My friend is already seated, I was lagging behind as I am swerving through the people coming and going, and see him and go to sit next to him with half of an entire row of untaken seats. I see all these people standing in the aisle, kinda looks like security but I know they are not. I go to sit down and am in my seat. These females look to my friend and I and say "um no these are taken" I looked at her and said "I don't see any bodies in these seats, I am here now" These two girls were attempting to reserve the entire damn section for their whole crew. Long story but the looks I received, the verbal bickering loud enough so I could hear it from all the people she was with, and getting pieces of food placed on my head periodically throughout the game just gave me many emotions I didn't know how to cope. I was really into the game and focused on being a good and appropriate fan but they were trying to ruin my experience for petty reasons. The guys they were with kept yelling trashy profanity directed @ one of Oklahoma's best players Trae Young, most likely a future draft pick, as if they could hear their weak insults over a stadium full of crazed cheering fans and clapping excessively loud, right behind me in my ears. A few things that made me think of first was how so many people strive to make an outside image more important and to fit in. All the hand gestures and chants that are all familiar to these people gave off a cult vibe and I could hear that group behind me saying things to try and bug me as if I was the one out of line. It all seemed weird to me at various points throughout the event and kinda hypocritical. All in all, I wanna say it was a hell of a game and those guys played hard on both sides. Proud to be a Red Raider other than the moments where the crowd started a chant "OU sucks balls", not very classy representation from a big name university, but I guess you can't fix stupid.
