As a senior, I have never missed a home football game and this past Saturday I was surely not going to let a little heat ruin my record. Like many others I stayed till the end of the game so I could sing our school song. However, on the way out of the stadium I started feeling sick. I almost threw up before a nice tailgater gave me a bottle of water and a cold wet towel to put on my neck. During the game I bought the $4, 20-ounce bottle of water, though I am sure we all sweated more than 20 ounces before the game even began. I found out after the game that the entire stadium ran out of water and Gatorade during the game. In a stadium with 58,000+ and a few hard-to-find water fountains, what is the stadium doing to keep its supporters safe?
During the second quarter of the game, a girl near me passed out. My friend’s grandmother, who is 88, got dehydrated and was barely able to make it up to the first aid station during half time. At the first aid station, she and her daughter saw people everywhere lying on the floor. They were told they could only stay for 15 minutes because there were too many people. The attendant also told them that it was the calmest the first aid station had been all day. After the water and Gatorade ran out, they tried to charge my friend $4 for a cup of ice. In the past ice has always been free, and to take advantage of the dangerous heat and try to make a profit off of it shows a lack of integrity for those in charge of the concession stands.
Hopefully the health and safety of the fans in attendance will be reconsidered and made a main priority at future games. There should be coolers with water in them set up at every hot dog station. The small price of filling coolers with hose water and setting out cheap cups would be worth it for the safety of the fans. Even theme parks, which charge outrageous prices for their waters, give out free water on hot days. We all want to go to the game and support our team and we hope that in the future they will learn from their mistakes and be more prepared.
