As someone who went to a small school without a football program, it’s unfathomable to me that in some parts of this great pigskin nation, colleges still struggle to put butts in bleachers on crisp autumn afternoons. I would have given anything for that opportunity, and yet some students are simply too busy studying or taking in the arts to care. It’s shameful really.
One such school is Portland State, who, at 0-2 on the season, has watched ticket sales for this weekend’s big tilt with Western Oregon slow to a crawl. Thankfully, however, head ball coach Bruce Barnum (what a damn name, by the the way) has a surefire plan to reignite the Vikings fanbase's passion and pageantry:
He’s going to buy them beer.
That was Barnum on John Canzano’s BFT podcast this week, sweetening the deal for Portland State students who are still on the fence about doing what all college students should be doing on Saturday afternoon.
“I’ve got to get people to see my kids. I like my team,” said Barnum. “I’ve got a deal for you: Anybody who heard me on your show… just say ‘I heard Barney on the BFT’ at the Barney Beer Garden and I’ll buy your beer.”
“I don’t care if you’re watching the Oregon (or Oregon State) game,” he continued. “Watch them on your phone. Buy your ticket and come to the game, I think you’ll like what you see.”
Will it work? Who knows. Do kids only care about hard seltzers these days? Maybe so. But free beer is a universal language—a currency accepted by every fan in every stadium across the world. So while it may not be a sellout, expect Hillsboro Stadium to be rocking nonetheless.
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