Caroline Lozano/ Assistant Opinion Director
For numerous colleges and universities across the nation, homecoming is a time for students and alumni alike to celebrate and demonstrate their school spirit — a long-held tradition that FIU has well cultivated.
The celebrations generally involve a number of engaging activities and events for all students to join in. In FIU’s case, events include a pageant, talent show, parade, and of course, a football game serving as the main attraction.
While it may be puzzling for some to have football as a prominent aspect, it actually makes a lot sense since the tradition owes its beginnings to the sport.
By inviting alumni to “come home,” it was a way for the coaches to ensure good attendance at a particular rivalry game between Kansas Jayhawks and the Missouri Tigers in the early twentieth century, according to Fastweb.
Many schools, for the most part, still hold the traditional football game, but some schools have been known to involve other sports for their game, such as basketball or soccer.
Because of homecoming’s origins, some students may believe that homecoming is or should be fully centered around football, as opposed to other sports, but I disagree.
On one hand, many universities and colleges lack a football team and so, other sports have served as worthy replacements — this, in turn, may seem blasphemous for diehard football fans or homecoming traditionalists.
But regardless of what sport a school decides to use for their homecoming game, centering homecoming around any sports game already allows it to live up to its origin.
Sports normally bring in excitement, energy and anticipation for the crowd of students and alumni attending as the pressure for the home team to win is on full blast.
Even if one’s home team doesn’t win, all of these factors bring the school’s community together and allows alumni to continue having pride for their alma mater.
It also gives out the message that although alumni are former students, they are still a part of a university’s family as they share and express this pride with current students.
This is what the first homecoming events evoked in their celebrations and the reason why it quickly caught on in other universities.
All in all, whether it’s football or any sport, homecoming lives up to its origin when it serves as a way for alumni to return to their alma mater, reconnect with old friends and celebrate the community that fostered their success as professionals.
DISCLAIMER:
The opinions presented within this page do not represent the views of Panther Press Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community.
Photo taken from Flickr.