Mid-Week night games used to hold a special quality for me and my brother, Rex Steele. Before the game, we’d park our cars at that weird gravel space behind Wolflife Campus Ministry, crack open a beer from a six pack and conduct our bullshit in the shadow of piousness and teetotalism. Beers consumed, we’d hike to Centennial Bank Stadium, select a space on those ass-cracking steel bleachers and watch the gridiron drama unfold.

Few of these games or their outcomes have gripped my memory. The mid-week game I remember most was a miserable loss to Louisiana. Not only was the game a dispiriting blowout driven by the Cajuns’ relentlessly boring run game, a state trooper slapped with a speeding ticket on my way up to Jonesboro. I was guilty, too. Rex Steele and I silently sat through that game stewing in our own chagrin. Still, it was good times.

I never really worried about the attendance numbers of mid-week Red Wolves games. The mid-week nature offers a neat, baked-in excuse. Unless your son plays on the junior high team, Thursday night football is a bizarre fit, like a set of off-brand Crocs. Just wiggle your toes and accept it. Any crowd is a good crowd. The people surrounding you were your brethren.

This year, Arkansas State hosts a single Thursday night game, and ESPN’s SportCenter is dropping by. Rightly so, the A-State sports information department is stoked. Per the press release:

ESPN anchor Matt Barrie and members of the Thursday night broadcast team will host the show live from Heritage Plaza outside of the Carl R. Reng Student Union at 2501 Aggie Road in Jonesboro. In the event of inclement weather, the show will move indoors to the Red Wolf Center off Aggie Road. The show has been traveling the country ahead of ESPN’s Thursday night game broadcasts, drawing large crowds of students and fans for the hour-long program. 

Students and fans are invited to gather on the Heritage Plaza Lawn by 12:30 p.m. to be part of the national broadcast of the network’s flagship sports news program. The show will feature an appearance by head coach Butch Jones, crowd participation games with show hosts, and giveaways. The Sound of the Natural State, Howl, Scarlet, and the A-State Spirit Squads all will be in attendance. Students and fans are encouraged to bring creative signs – similar to the scene on ESPN’s Gameday broadcasts – and get involved in the fun. 

This is great exposure for Arkansas State, the state of Arkansas, the Red Wolves, for A-State students, for alums, for football fans, and for the program’s recruiting efforts. Heritage Plaza is a nice setting, and the event should raise an eyebrow of even the most aloof member of the student body. There will be homemade signs and the waving of flags. Tuba players will toot their tubas. The Naked Guys will lose their shirts. The dance team and cheerleading squad will join forces in an uneasy alliance, and I’m pretty certain Shane Broadway will be there doing what he does best, which is knowing everybody.

Then there’s the game itself. Despite the loss to Southern Miss last week, Arkansas State still has plenty to play for on Thursday. A win triggers bowl eligibility. Also, most of us despise the Ragin Cajuns. Plus, Southern Miss and Troy both have plenty of opportunities to lose. We take care of our business against Louisiana and Appalachian State, and maybe we slide into a division title.

Bottom line, we should view this Thursday night event as a gift. We’re not just students or fans or a middle-aged guy writing a blog. We are fellow renegades of the college football community – citizen Red Wolves united by a unique shared experience. We’ve met in Mobile, Orlando, Montgomery, Tucson and New Orleans, and everywhere we go, we leave an indelible mark (usually in the form of an outrageous bar bill). We’re proud of our Fainting Goats, our Five-Coaches-in-Five-Seasons, our Indians past, our Fort Perkins and our elite bowling team. Call us “Arky State” once and we’ll let it slide; say it twice and you made an enemy for life. We were all there for the Miracle on the Bluff (even the people who weren’t). Who among us has not been boiled alive by the end zone flames? If only Freddy Knighten hadn’t gotten hurt in the Missouri game! Did you know we tied Mississippi State in 1993? How many teams can say that a fan give his right arm for Gus Malzahn? Damnit we are Red Wolves and we will let SportsCenter know all about it.

Remember the ancient poem: Even a man who is pure at heart, and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when Cajuns come, and the ESPN lights are bright.

IMAGE: WEIRD AI MONSTROSITy