University of Colorado Boulder alumni making their way through the crowd of college students for an attempt at appearing on television on Nov. 16, 2024. (Ainsley Coogan/CU Independent)
This is a satire piece. Real names and the events surrounding them may be used in fictitious ways. Opinions do not reflect the CU Independent or its editorial board.
Early morning Saturdays in Boulder generally represent the city’s leisurely, outdoor lifestyle away from the bustling energy of a night on the Hill. Nov. 16 changed the common morning atmosphere when Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff visited the University of Colorado Boulder with students rising early and gathering at Farrand Field to kickstart the weekend activities.
The students, unbeknownst to them, would be met with trials and tribulations in their attempt to appear on TV at Fox’s pregame show. They would not be the only ones to gather on campus at 5:30 in the morning. In fact, many of them would be shown up by the biggest threat to live television: the 40-year-old alum.
Many of the alumni present didn’t care that their days at college were well over.
1994 graduate Michael Oldie explained that the idea of day-drinking and chanting anti-Utah Utes slogans at 6:30 in the morning was incredibly appealing to him, despite being in the middle of an audit at his accounting firm.
“Temporary fame and football were the only things I could think of to get me through the work week and that is ultimately why I decided to come,” Oldie said.
For current students, many of them expressed their grievances when it came to trying to participate in the college game day activity.
“I came to Big Noon to meet more students my age, but all I was met with was a bunch of 40-year-old dads and their toddlers,” freshman Johnathan Pledge said, explaining the confusion he felt when he arrived at Farrand Field at around seven in the morning.
Pledge felt that – at seven in the morning – they should be mowing their lawns or feeding their children breakfast, not moshing in front of Rob Stone, the Big Noon host.
Freshmen on campus, in particular, were caught off guard by the intensity that the alumni brought to the show.
“One of them pushed me down and used me as a stepping stool so he could be better seen on camera,” Sarah Freshie said. “I guess I was just happy to be involved. I hope my mom can tell that the balding man on TV with the ‘Utes ski in jeans’ sign is being supported by me.”
In general, upperclassmen stayed away from Big Noon this year, having had the experience of last year’s alumni raid for fame upon Farrand. There was a general consensus that the field would become crawling with alumni as soon as it opened.
Post-show, Rob Stone mentioned that he was surprised to see so many familiar-looking faces in the crowd.
“You would think I would recognize most of these people as students who attended last year’s Big Noon kickoff, but I actually think I helped with the interview process for someone in the crowd back in 2016, about the last time the Buffs were as good as they are now,” Stone said.
Much of the crowd thinned out towards the end of the morning as gaggles of the older crowd left to ‘find daylight,’ leaving Big Noon to the students.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Ainsley Coogan at ainsley.coogan@colorado.edu.
