CAA Gets Fans Into Football

With tons of parents coming into Chapel Hill for the weekend designated for them at UNC, CAA members are making sure the visitors see a well-represented student body at Saturday's game.

"CAA is for the students -- there are going to be a lot of students out there cheering," said Sarah Davis, the CAA's secretary.

During this weekend's game against Georgia Tech, Davis said parents and alumni in town should expect to see lots of hyped-up, enthusiastic UNC fans out screaming for the team.

And that means everything from students waving blue and white pompoms to painting their faces and bodies the same colors.

Alumni are generally receptive to this behavior, Davis said, and usually join in. "It does kind of send out the sign that we're there for our team and that there's high enthusiasm," she said.

Davis said she hopes parents will see this weekend how dedicated to supporting the team students can be.

This is especially visible in Carolina Fever's activities, Davis said.

Carolina Fever, a school spirit group regulated by the CAA, has about 700 members who go to varsity sports at UNC and sit in blocks for the games.

"I think that something the alumni see is that ... the people in Fever that go to games do sit together," Davis said.

"I think it's pretty neat that they see all those people together."

One thing that will help parents and alumni heading out to the game cheer on UNC is a new, temporary addition to Kenan Stadium.

Department of Athletics officials announced in August that 1,000 extra bleacher seats would be added for three football games during the 2002 season, including this weekend's against Georgia Tech.

Officials said the bleachers were added after tickets for the Texas and N.C. State games, set for Oct. 12, quickly sold out.

"All the tickets were sold out, and a lot of people were still calling about tickets," Kirschner told The Daily Tar Heel in August, "so we decided to add some more seats to the stadium."

Perhaps some would say that the additional seating might attract more alumni to Kenan Stadium for this game.

But Davis said large numbers of parents and alumni frequent football games anyway. "It seems like a lot of alumni come no matter what," she said.

Just seeing everyday students in the student section Saturday could impress alumni -- and because of recent changes, it might be easier for alumni to catch a glimpse of them.

The student section has been moved to the lower level of the stadium. It now occupies more than 12,000 seats in sections 113-124.

In addition, the student block seating sections, which were located in the upper levels of Kenan Stadium, have been moved into the corner in sections 118 and 119.

While the CAA doesn't have any specifically parent- or alumni-targeted programs for this weekend, Davis said, the group hopes to get the word out to them about an upcoming event for the game against N.C. State called "Blue Blitz."

Davis said the CAA wants students and parents and alumni -- any UNC fan -- to wear as much blue as possible that game to "drown out the red."

"That's definitely geared toward alumni as well as students," she said.