Moment #6 of 2021: Fans return to Alumni Stadium

We’re counting down the top 11 BC sports moments of the year, continuing today with #6. To catch you up:

#11: MBB win over Notre Dame on Senior Day under interim coach Scott Spinelli
#10: Men’s hockey’s first game with fans since March 2020 is a sellout win
#9: MBB wins in Earl Grant’s ACC opener
#8: Phil Jurkovec’s surprise return sparks football to win over VT
#7: Lacrosse makes the Final Four

#6: Fans return to Alumni Stadium for BC football’s win over Colgate

It’s easy (and not unreasonable) to be cynical about the early season “buy” games against FCS competition. They ultimately don’t mean much, the games are rarely competitive, we often have no history against the opponent... etc. etc. etc.

I know all of this.

And yet I personally am still always excited when Labor Day weekend rolls around and BC is hosting... whoever, usually an FCS team. Because it’s just about always a beautiful, sunny day; everyone’s looking forward to the first tailgate, so people usually go all out; there’s energy and excitement because nothing could happen to burst our optimism bubble about BC football yet; and it’s generally an enjoyable, low-stress day.

This was true for BC’s opener against Colgate this year, but also had the additional element of being the first time we got to do it in two years, as it was BC’s first home game with fans in any ticketed sport since COVID-19.

As such the usual early-season joy and optimism was ratcheted up a notch. The students were grilling and had the music going in the mods by 8 AM when the tailgate lots opened, there was an extra bit of energy in the crowd even for an FCS game, and watching Jurkovec ping the ball around the field was pleasant reinforcement of the belief that the 2021 BC football offense would be one of the best we’ve seen in a while.

The season didn’t turn out the way anyone hoped, but that afternoon? It was a good one.