Photos by Lidia Bayne
Students and clubs gathered near Firestone Fieldhouse on Friday, Nov. 11 to celebrate the first home men’s basketball game of the season against Cal Poly. Fraternities, sororities and clubs served different types of food and played cornhole and catch.
The tailgate began at 5:30 p.m. and lasted until just before the game at 7 p.m. Students lined up for free food from It’s In the Sauce BBQ; by 6:30 most of their food had run out. Fraternities and sororities gave out pizza, tacos and soda at their tents. The Latino Student Association had a tent decorated with strings of lights and colorful “papel picado.”
Near the front of Firestone, tables were set up with blue and orange tablecloths for students and game attendees to sit and eat. The Riptide Crew, sporting their signature orange jumpsuits and face paint, handed out foam fingers in the shape of the “Waves up” sign. Willie the Wave danced to the music and took pictures with students in front of the photo background next to the Riptide Crew’s table.
Students said they heard about the event through Greek life and word of mouth.
“I heard about it through my sorority,” junior Pi Phi MacKenna Waggener said. “I also heard about it through the Board, and just word of mouth. I came for all of that.”
“A fraternity member told me to come down and hang out so then we got a bunch of guys that wanted to come down and hang out and we did,” junior Sigma Phi Epsilon member Ryan Larocca said.
Both students said they enjoyed the event and wished for more events like it.
“I thought it was really awesome, super fun, and definitely should happen more often,” Waggener said. “I walked around all the booths. I ended up getting some tacos in a bag from Pi Phi. I wanted some barbecue but they ran out.”
They both said that future tailgates could draw more students to sporting events.
“I would like to see Pepperdine throw this more often because it definitely brings a good group of people out here,” Larocca said. “Maybe twice a month, would bring a good amount of people out and have a good attendance at the games.”
Just before the game, students entering through the back door of Firestone received free T-shirts.
A list of future events can be found on the Pepperdine website. A calendar of athletic events can be found on the Athletics website.
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Follow Lidia Bayne on Twitter: @lidiabayne
