Football fans flock to Western weekend game


More than 17,000 attend football game, “The crowd seemed to be pretty well behaved,” CMUPD say


attendance
Students cheer on the Chippewas during their 32-20 loss to Western Michigan University on Saturday in Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

Central Michigan University's own self-professed Van Wilder, Dalton Olivarez, lives for Western Weekend. 

Armed with his best friends, good cheer, and a Stormtrooper helmet painted maroon and gold, Olivarez stated that he would come for the game no matter the weather.

“It’s Central-Western,” Olivarez said. “It’s school spirit. It’s Michigan-Ohio State! It’s the rival that we go to.”

He’s not alone in his feelings. According to CMU Athletic Communications, Olivarez is just one of the 17,265 people who attended the rivalry game.

Lt. Larry Klaus, Central Michigan Police Department, stated that this year’s Central-Western game was relatively tame compared to those in years past. By his estimation, nearly 5,000 fans were present in Lot 63 East before noon.

“The crowd seemed to be pretty well behaved,” Klaus said. “I (didn’t) see any extraordinary issues. No one’s being disorderly and throwing bottles, which is our biggest concern. Fights – haven’t seen any of that.”

The biggest cause of disruption for CMUPD seemed to be largely alcohol related.

“We’ve had a few MIPs that officers have cited,” Klaus said. “Short of that though it looks like (the crowd is) pretty well behaved.”

Largely, attendance seemed to be based on a mixture of school spirit, both from Central and Western students alike and alumni pride. Despite a heated rivalry between the Chippewas and the Broncos, the attendees were good natured.

Kevin Oliver, a former Western Michigan alum, says that it’s this kind of crowd which makes him come back to the rivalry game with other Western alumni.

“We’re Broncos,” Oliver said. “Now that our kids are at Central and at Western, we’ve been coming up for the past two years but before that it was hit and miss, kind of.”

For Klaus personally, as well as the rest of the CMUPD, Central-Western weekend means long hours.

“I’ve worked at CMU for about four years, but what (Central-Western weekend) means for (CMUPD) is that it’s a day that we do a lot of preparation,” he said. “We put a lot of time and energy into preparing for the game–and it’s a more active game–it depends on what we run into here today but (CMUPD) just knows that it’s going to be busier for us.”

Klaus cites the calmer crowd as a by-product of a mixture of poor weather and increased visibility of police officers.

“The weather plays a variable in what we’ll see today,” Klaus said. “It’s cold and kind of misty-raining so (CMUPD) is anticipating it’s not going to be as active as years past, just due to the weather and the coldness.”

“It’s a long day,” he continued. “We start at eight in the morning and a lot of (the officers) won’t leave (CMU) until ten, eleven twelve o’ clock at night or later. It’s a long day for a lot of the officers.”

Klaus cites this year’s turn out for the game as similar to the Central-Western rivalry game two years ago.

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About Jordyn Hermani

Troy senior Jordyn Hermani, Editor-in-Chief of Central Michigan Life, is a double major ...

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