Aviation in Sports

You might think that aviation and sports have nothing to do with each other. How do you think Auburn got to the national championship game in Phoenix? They, along with many of their fans, took charter flights to the game. I’ve been interested in airplanes since I was a kid living in Baltimore. My annual Thanksgiving flight to Chicago was always a highlight. Passing through security and having my identification checked made me feel like I was going on some official, secretive trip. I remember standing by the windows of the airport, watching the planes taking off, landing and taxiing. The flight attendants always made a special effort to be very welcoming to young children. They would give you playing cards, extra packs of food, and little airplane models to keep you entertained.

When I moved to Champaign, I became friends with the people at Flightstar, the business that charters planes at the airport. Since I live near the airport, flights pass over my house at a very low altitude. While some people might find the noise to be a nuisance, I find it pleasant, and strangely soothing. Champaign is a small college town with around 125,000 people, so the airport doesn’t get much traffic. As a result, American Eagle (the only scheduled airline here) flies Embraer ERJ’s, a midsize regional jet. The biggest planes come here to transport the Illinois football team across the country, and the basketball teams will occasionally take a large plane. Typically a Boeing 737 or 757 is used by the football teams.

The cool thing about the airport here is that I can get right on the tarmac without a hassle. At a big airport like Chicago O’Hare, tight security would make that nearly impossible. As an avid sports fan, I recognize many of the players and coaches, so it is neat to watch them play on TV or in person and then be able to stand next to them at the airport. For example, when the North Carolina Tarheels basketball team came into town, I stood next to the plane and watched them deboard. I saw Harrison Barnes, the first freshman ever on the preseason All-American list. On another occasion, Terrelle Pryor, notorious quarterback for the Ohio State Buckeyes, walked right by me.

At the airport I film the planes landing, taxiing and taking off, and I usually go into the planes and talk to the pilots. My favorite trip to the airport was definitely Christmas Day 2010. The Illinois football team was flying to Houston to take on Baylor in the Texas Bowl. During bowl season, teams generally fly widebody planes so that they can bring all of the players, support staff, and families with them. A World Airways MD-11 was in town, and it was my first time seeing a widebody plane here. Everyone at Flightstar is very friendly, and all of the employees there have an interesting story to tell. For example, when Bill Clinton’s Air Force One 707 literally got stuck in the mud here, my friend helped remove it, and he even got to see the President. Aviation is a perfect complement to my love of sports, and Champaign is a perfect town to pursue these interests.

You can watch my videos from the airport here.

Why I love College Sports

When I moved to Champaign, IL 5 ½ years ago, I was worried about making the adjustment to live in a small town in the Midwest. I had lived in Baltimore, MD for over 10 years and was used to urban life. Although it was initially difficult to adjust to the relatively small size of the community, I quickly found something that captivated me, college athletics.

My Dad took me to a football game against Rutgers at Memorial Stadium on September 3^rd, 2005: http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=252460356. I had never been to a football game before, although I had watched many Ravens games on TV. I was amazed at the sheer size of the stadium, and the energy of the fans at the game. My Dad wanted to leave in the 3rd quarter because of the heat, and I reluctantly agreed. From this point forward, I was hooked on college sports. In Baltimore, I had attended many baseball games of the perennial cellar dwelling Orioles, and although they had a beautiful stadium, it got old seeing the Yankees and Red Sox fans descend into Baltimore and watch their teams pummel the poor Orioles.

Since then, I’ve attended many more football games, basketball games at Assembly Hall, the 2008 Rose Bowl, the 2010 Texas Bowl, and the 2010 Final Four in Indianapolis. I’ve come to realize how big the differences are between college sports and professional sports, and I now have a strong preference for college sports over professional sports.

This isn’t to say that I don’t like watching the NFL or the NBA, rather I prefer attending college sports. First, and perhaps importantly are the fans. Love them or hate them, the fans are what make the event. The passion of college fans is far and above that of fans of professional sports. They’re louder, and they’re what make games so much fun to attend. A big part of why they’re so passionate is their youth, but their sense of identity with the school is also important. There’s the idea that my school is competing out there, and there’s no way that they are going fail. It’s the mentality that everyone has a stake in the game. If you go to an NBA game, the fans feel detached from the game. It’s a hobby for them, not a passion. The players there are celebrities, while the fans are just average Joes. In Champaign, it feels much more like I’m on equal footing with the athletes. On several occasions, I’ve talked with the basketball and football players, and they’ve always been very friendly to me. The NBA and NFL feel much like a business. Generally, I don’t think athletes there are playing for the names on the front of their uniforms; they’re playing for the money and the fame. College athletes play because they love the game and they all feel personally invested in it.

Another reason I love college sports is the brush with fame that you get. There’s always one guy that you know is a special talent when you see him play, and sure enough, a few years down the road, you see him in a heated playoff game on TV, or you his name plastered on the web and in the newspapers. It’s neat to be able to say, “I say him play when he was younger, before he made it onto the big stage.”

In upcoming posts, I’ll share photos and videos that I have of games that I’ve attended, and many interesting stories from them.