#OccupyTheSpectrum

Once upon a time we referred to the gathering of people waiting
for games as the town of "Morrillton"... this is more like a city.

If there was ever any thought that excitement about the basketball team might drop off with the graduation of the winningest senior class in school history, forget it. If you thought people wouldn't be as stoked on a team that now carries underdog status, you're wrong. And if you thought that the USU student body wouldn't keep on outdoing itself with every passing year, you clearly have no clue who you're dealing with.

Two years ago when BYU came to play in The Spectrum, they came with baggage. This was their first game back in Logan in five years after they had refused to come the last time around. This was a game that we'd been foaming at the mouth over for several years, and for a couple hours on a Wednesday night in early December that year, The Spectrum was louder, more frenzied and more chaotic than any riot, war or sporting event in the world.

For those of us anxious to secure our front row seats for that game, some of us arrived as early as 9 a.m. Tuesday, an entire day before the actual game. Pretty hardcore, eh?

But in the spirit of the USU student body, things always get crazier and more dedicated over time. This year is as good of an example as there's ever been with the #OccupyTheSpectrum campout taking place this week. And yes, I said "week." Rather than just camp one night before the game, this time around the Utah State students are making a week of it.

Now, since there's probably a critic or two who have already said to themselves that Duke students do this all the time, every season, the projected low in Durham, NC tonight is 34 degrees. In Logan, UT, 19 degrees, and chances are it'll feel a lot colder than even that being as high up in the mountains as Logan is. In other words, USU is camping out under MUCH more harsh conditions.

But that's how Aggie fans are wired. We don't care what we have to go through to back our teams, we just come together and make great things happen. Being freshly graduated just a few months ago, I can honestly say I'm jealous that I am not out there roughing it with the rest of the students. Sure, I'll walk up to the door an hour before tip-off with a ticket in hand and walk right in, but that experience will be nothing compared to the excitement and thrill that every USU student who has been a part of #OccupyTheSpectrum will experience.

This is just another reason why Utah State University is the amazing place that it is, and I can't wait to see what the students get together and do next!