Wow... I always knew UC-Irvine was a different collegiate experience than a Big Ten university, but yeah, last night summed it up. My UCSB Gaucho alum wife and I went to the UCSB@UCI basketball game.
First, we planned to go hit the Anthill Pub & Grill on UCI's campus before the game. Figured it would be a fun time to go show up in UCSB gear and interact with the local fans, and they have a good beer selection. It (as far as I know) the only place within walking distance of the stadium to get a good beer. It was... Closed. Supposedly it's normally open until 1 AM on Saturday nights, but I guess since it was a holiday weekend they decided to just close up shop. Can you imagine an on-campus bar at any B1G school being closed an hour and a half before game time?
Second, the game was pushed to 9 PM because ESPN actually decided to televise it. So national TV, on a Saturday night, with the home team leading the Big West Conference, and with the school sponsoring a "white out" in the student section for the TV coverage. You'd think they could fill more than half of a 6,000 seat arena, wouldn't you? Nope... I think the non-student section was more full than the student section, and probably 25+% of the non-student section were Gaucho fans. It reminded me of what the stands looked like at Purdue football games 3 years ago, but that was because the team sucked donkey testes at the time. UCI is actually decent at basketball (by Big West standards, anyway).
But I guess I can't complain... Got to sit courtside behind the UCSB bench for $26/seat lol...


Would have been a lot more fun if UCSB had won, though...