Despite Policy Baker Still a Blast

Baker Blast, in a word, was ridiculous.

Trekking up to 218th Street to see my first game of the year, I arrived at the stadium right at kickoff. Instead of walking directly to my seat, I ventured over to the small tailgating area located to the right of the stadium. I wanted to see, first-hand, just how Columbia did tailgating.

What did I find? Beer everywhere. Students wandering around with 40-ounce bottles and cheap cans, aimless, not paying attention to the game. (Columbia was losing.) The ground was muddy, covering everyone’s shoes in thick muck, but no one seemed too concerned. At most, maybe 60 or 80 students filled the space, laughing and having a good time.

I wanted a beer, so I climbed up into the back of a covered U-Haul truck that was parked in the middle of the tailgating area—it seemed to have been rented for the occasion. Inside a few fraternity guys were victoriously standing by their supply, pouring beer for the crowd. Fighting my way toward the kegs, eventually filling up my cup, I thought to myself, “Wow, this was unexpected. But definitely cool.”

The year, of course, was 2004. Not 2007.

Baker Blast 2004 was the last occasion held at night, under the lights, with a lax drinking policy. Since then many changes have taken place in the atmosphere of the event, some of which erupted to cause the memorable alcohol policy student protests of 2005.

For starters, changing the kickoff time from evening to early afternoon altered the atmosphere tremendously, but from the administration’s viewpoint, most likely for the better. Instead of inebriated, unregulated students wandering around the stadium outskirts at night, this year’s Baker Blast drew a solid crowd of children, none of whom likely would have attended in 2004. From the standpoint of the administration, exchanging the large liability of having underage students drinking on their property for the minimal liability of sober children and other fans can be counted as a success.

Despite the conversion of the former wide-open, dirt-filled tailgating zone into simply a sectioned-off parking lot, industrious students still had the chance to try and sneak alcohol into the stadium. But with the kickoff slated for 12:30 in the afternoon, drinking at the game this year was basically nonexistent. Which, sad though it may seem, aptly fits the personality of Columbia students—besides, on Homecoming, most students don’t want to waste a Saturday afternoon nursing a bender, especially one that begins in the faraway land of Inwood.

Attendance this Saturday, though negatively affected by inopportune rain, was more or less the same as previous Baker Blasts, helping to show that the change in alcohol policy at Baker Field has effectually had no sizable affect on football attendance. With so many options facing Columbia students nestled in the hub of New York City, drawing fans up to Baker on a Saturday afternoon will always pose a challenge, no matter how many free buses are provided, how lax the alcohol policies are administered, or how competitive the football team may become. As usual, the Baker crowd consisted primarily of parents, fellow athletes, and friends of the players, as well a small crowd of first-years who probably attended due to curiosity more than anything else.

So in looking at the current state of the Columbia football fan experience, it would be easy to point to the alcohol policy change of 2005 as one of the reasons that attending football games is not a more significant part of campus life. That answer, however, is likely not true. The truth is that even with a lax drinking policy, as was the case during Baker Blast in 2004, attending football games has never been an integral part of Columbia life, and probably never will be.

Instead, Columbia football games of the non-Homecoming variety provide a type of experience that caters to a minority of Columbia students—the type who for some reason view attending collegiate athletic events as an integral part of college life, no matter what else the city may offer.

So for those of us in the minority who made the trek up to 218th Street on Saturday for Baker Blast—many of us for the last time as undergraduates—the day (except for the rain) could be viewed as a success: we watched good football, hung out with good people, and saw a Lion victory.

And while, sadly, no one was able to drink keg beer from the confines of a comfy U-Haul, Baker Blast 2007 was still enjoyable and memorable. Only this time, in a different way.