At Fairfield University, sports are not insanely huge, but we sure do love to represent our home teams! Fairfield’s sports culture predominantly revolves around our basketball program as the women’s team has won the MAAC championship back-to-back. Though we lack a football team, we have plenty of teams to cheer for, including our football teams at home. As an Eagles fan, I am always sure to wear my lucky green when they take on their competitors, especially the Chiefs. Repping your hometown is the best way to feel close to home even when at school, so I took a notice at what teams I have seen the most at school, and asked some students what team they root for!
Fairfield’s student population is dominated by New England students, so seeing Patriots jerseys and fangear is not strange to witness on campus, especially during football season. I asked my friends from Massachusetts if they own any Patriots gear and if merchandise was something they saw in their everyday life. In Philly, Eagles gear is seen everywhere I go! We are very proud of our team winning Superbowl LIX and have a lot of pride wearing our kelly green.
Sophomore Maeve Cronin is from Attleboro, Ma, outside of Boston and close to Gillette Stadium where the Patriots play. I asked her if she often saw people in her town wearing Patriots gear, especially during the season. “I definitely saw many people wearing Patriots jerseys. I went to private grade school so we had dedicated ‘dress down days’ for Patriots games, with students often opting to wear jerseys and navy blue to support the team!”
I related to Cronin’s answer as I recall having many dress down days dedicated to the Eagles, and days off on Monday after their wins on a Sunday afternoon. Cronin expressed, “The Celtics have been doing great, so where I am from I would say the majority of jerseys I see are for them and not necessarily the Patriots.”
I asked Fizz, the anonymous social networking app we use at Fairfield, “What is your team?” putting the choices of Giants, Jets, Patriots and Eagles. Overwhelmingly I got my answer, the Patriots fans prevail at Fairfield with 398 votes! A close second was the New York Giants with 250 Fizzes. I was not surprised about that, due to the dominance of New England fans here.
Sophomore Emily Matos is an outspoken Eagles fan from Doylestown, Pennsylvania. When I asked her about wearing Eagles merchandise on campus she said, “I love wearing my kelly green and my Eagles apparel whenever I can!” After the Eagles won against the Buccaneers, she said “I was so excited to walk around campus repping my team.” Students are not afraid to be open about the teams they favor, as I see many more teams than just the ones on the East Coast.
At Fairfield, sports do not dominate campus life, but they bring students together and bring about pride that everyone carries for their hometown teams. Whether New Englanders are showing off their Patriots jerseys or Eagles fans like Matos proudly wearing her kelly green, these are the little things that help us stay connected to where we come from.