The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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102 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY TIM PEELER T here were some spectators at the first game at Carter Stadium 53 years ago who left at halftime to enjoy a beverage in their cars. But not many. It was Dedication Day, and each of the 35,200 patrons at the new home for NC State football wanted to see all its features after sitting for years in the rickety con- fines of Riddick Stadium, where — twice a game — the band, the crowd and the cheerleaders were completely drowned out by a passing freight train just beyond the south end zone. The long-awaited stadium, set two miles off NC State's main campus, offered a shiny new place to play, with modern fea- tures and plenty of parking. It was a far cry from the Wolfpack's previous on-campus home, which had barely 20,000 seats and never hosted more than three or four home games a season during and after World War II. "Wolfpack squads have lived an un- usual and unjust existence," wrote a Ra- leigh newspaper columnist before that first game at Carter Stadium on Oct. 8, 1966. "They have been football hobos, subjected to seven and sometimes eight games a year in somebody else's park. Most of the time, State has been a lonely team. "Playing before friendly faces and hear- ing the encouragement of allied voices of- ten makes the difference in winning and losing. So often in the past, State teams have been treated like lepers in a far-off land." That changed when the doors opened that afternoon, but only a little. Because ample parking was just a few feet outside the gates of the stadium, twin cultures of tailgating and halftime pass- outs took root with Wolfpack fans. Both have been entrenched for more than a half- century. For all those years, by state law, the school was not permitted to sell alcoholic beverages, except to the few folks who watched games from the 51 luxury suites and the 1,000 outdoor seats in the Dail Club when Vaughn Towers opened in 2006. Now, however, with the passage of a statewide law that allows beer and wine sales at college athletic venues, that has changed. For the first time since it opened, Carter-Finley can sell celebratory ales, sor- row-drowning lagers and other imbibables. Cheers. Wolfpack football coach Dave Doeren has been the most vociferous supporter of selling alcohol in the stadium, hoping it will keep more fans in the stadium after halftime. That's something that has bothered him since he watched the stands drain like a bathtub in his first State game, the 2013 season opener against Louisiana Tech. He's never gotten used to fans' habit of leaving for a quick trip to the parking lots. Doeren says he's lost recruits — major, program-defining players — because of the empty second-half seats. And the suc- cess of NC State football depends on both recruits and fan support. Look, I'm close enough to my college days to remember my friends saying "Beer: it's what's for dinner." And I'm also old enough to know there's more to the enjoy- ment of any event than access to alcohol. Selling beer and wine this season at Carter-Finley will generate more revenue for the athletics department, and by the Aug. 31 East Carolina game all the proto- cols should be in place to make the process run smoothly. Those who are excited about this addi- tion to the in-stadium, game-day experi- ence will have a variety of choices, in- cluding a specialty brew by New Belgium called Old Tuffy Lager. Having had press box duties for every game I've attended as a writer, I haven't drunk a beer in the parking lots of Carter- Finley since Tom Reed was head coach in the early 1980s. I've neither tailgated nor left the stadium at halftime nor felt a dimin- ished game-day experience for it. I understand college football is as much a social event as an athletic one. Sometimes people just like to be together on a sunny afternoon. The game is a sideshow, not the main event. Sometimes, especially against a weaker opponent, the game is clearly decided at the half, and friends like to re-gather in the parking lots to do their front-porch visiting in a foldout chair. There's nothing wrong with that. Sometimes, especially if your seats are on the East side of the stadium, those September afternoon games on aluminum bleachers get hotter than the bright end of a Fourth of July sparkler. Something out of an iced-filled cooler is downright necessary. And sometimes, after paying for a valid ticket, people just want to do what they want, as is their prerogative as long as they do not affect the enjoyment of others at the event. Folks on both side of this debate are pas- sionate about their stances. ■ ■ PACK PERSPECTIVE Statewide Law Leads To A New Era At Carter Finley Stadium Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. The Wolfpacker is a publication of: Coman Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 2331, Durham, N.C. 27702. Offices are located at 905 West Main St., Ste. 24F, Durham, N.C. 27701. (919) 688-0218. The Wolfpacker (ISSN 0273-8945) is published bimonthly. A subscription is $39.95 for six issues. For advertising or subscription information, call (800) 421-7751 or write The Wolfpacker. Postmaster: Send address changes to: The Wolfpacker, P.O. Box 2331, Durham, N.C. 27702. Periodical mail postage paid at Durham, N.C. 27702 and additional offices. First-class postage is $14 extra per year. E-mail: thewolfpacker@comanpub.com • Web site: www.thewolfpacker.com Fans in the stands at Carter-Finley Stadium have not been able to purchase alcohol since it opened in 1966, but the law preventing those sales changed this offseason. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN