Saturday before an afternoon football game is tailgating time. Fraternities blast music while Vandy men and women enjoy a time-honored tradition. Pastels and pearls abound.
Tyler Severance, Will Briggs and Ziad Aboulmouna stand in front of a Towers IV bathroom mirror. Beside them rests a laundry basket full of the tools they will need. At their feet, the floor is covered with newspaper. Tyler presses play on the iPod speakers.
They are ready to begin.
First, they use gold spray to cover their hair. Severance adds glue to his to add spikes before hardening it with a blow dryer.
Briggs mixes gold powder with solution for the paint, making sure it is not too thick or too runny. They use sponges to apply the paint to the fronts of their bodies and faces before helping each other with the backs.
Next comes the black paint they use to spell out words or write messages. “We try to keep it creative,” Briggs said.
“I know how committed and passionate the guys out there are,” Severance said as he runs the sponge over a cheek. “If they are going to fight for our university, then I got their back, through good times and bad. Besides, this is SEC football. I'm living the dream.”
An hour and a half before kickoff, Severance gets in his disabled scooter — he broke his foot recently — and motors over to Dudley Field. They get there as the stadium opens, and have time to share talk and paletas with the security guards in the otherwise empty front row of the student section.
Soon more gold-painted or Vandy gear-decked students filter into the front rows.
“I really love the atmosphere of the student section, especially with the band,” senior Liz Rogers said. “When you're in the front few rows, the energy is contagious and it's so much fun.”
As the teams take the field to practice, the student section remains empty except for the first few rows. Come game time, not much has changed. By the end of the first quarter, students fill perhaps a quarter of the section.
“I think most fans are very casual and use the games as a social event with a little football in the mix,” senior Preston Gordon said. “That's just the way it is, though — I wish it was more focused on the football and the sport, but I realize that's not as much of the culture at Vandy.”
But what about the losing record?
“I go to each and every Vanderbilt game because I've only got four years to experience SEC football as a student on campus,” Briggs said. “How many other times in your life are you going to be able to get into games for free and go absolutely nuts in the stands?”
As seniors, Severance, Briggs, Aboulmouna and Rogers have been doing this for four years now. Only Liz is part of the student rally group Vandy Fanatics. One does not have to be a member to get those front row seats, though — just get there early.
“Anyone who is a diehard fan is considered a ‘Vandy fanatic’ in my book. People think they have to join the organization, but it's really just a mentality,” Rogers said. “Anyone who paints up is a fanatic, no question about it.”
All four encourage students to try the front of the student section at least once, if only for the experience.
So try getting out there early this weekend for the 6 p.m. kickoff against Eastern Michigan, and hang around to sing the Alma Mater at the end. It is worth the time.
Vandy Fight Song, “Dynamite”
Dynamite, Dynamite
When VANDY starts to fight.
Down the field with blood to yield,
If need be, save the shield.
If vict'ry's won, when battle's done,
Then VANDY's name will rise in fame.
But, Win or lose,
The Fates will choose,
And VANDY's game will be the same.
Dynamite, Dynamite
When VANDY starts to fight!
Fight!
There is rarely a more powerful moment in a Vandy home game than staying until the end and singing the Alma Mater with the football team.
On the city's western border
Reared against the sky
Proudly stands our Alma Mater
As the years roll by.
Forward ever be thy watchword,
Conquer and Prevail.
Hail to thee our Alma Mater,
Vanderbilt, ALL HAIL!
Editor’s note: Will Briggs and Tyler Severance are roommates of author Oliver Wolfe.
