Thunder-Mob

Mob mentality and organized sports - how would we see the beauty in one without the presence of the other?
Picture a large, intimidating group of people screaming obscenities, gesticulating, and chanting. Not at you, mind you, because that would be terrifying. No, you are caught up in a crowd, at an organized sports-type thing, and there is nothing else to do but yell, scream, shout, and roar. Even if you don't quite what's happening. College football ("university football" does not quite have the same ring, nor is it as entertaining) is one of those such events in which mob-mentality and humanity's more basic instincts come into play in a near poetic fashion.
All it takes is that one person who is SO INTO THE GAME. It's about bringing the intensity, because as soon as everyone sees how into it you can get, everyone wants a taste. Although everyone else may think it weird, personally I think it's a fun game to sit in the center of a crowd at a sports event that I'm not overly interested in and just sit there and watch them cheer. Every single time, it follows a sort of pattern...
You know that person I mentioned before, the one who is just really into the game? Well, they're usually there with a group of their equally rowdy friends. It's usually them who starts it - something particularly noteworthy happens, and they go absolutely nuts. I should mention that these people are usually knowledgable about sports in general.
People around them, catching on that something has happened believe they, too, should cheer, and proceed to do so. This creates a chain reaction that spreads from the Rowdy Epicenter of actual fans to the rest of the crowd. It goes back to the days of the Colliseum, when a cheering crowd determined the life or death of innocent people. Except in football, the crowd simply deems how satisfying a play has been. You don't even have to know what is going on, or what you are deciding; the mob gives you the excuse to act blindly.
Have you ever experienced the thought that you don't actually know what you're cheering for, but that it must be important, so you just go with it?
Happens to me all the time. Therein lies the beauty, and supposed danger, of mob-mentality. No conscience, no decision, just going with it.
Of course the formula goes beyond just the basics, as there is always the element of competition: who can be louder, or clap the longest, or "woot" for the longest... or chug a beer the fastest, or invent the greatest victory dance. That's where things get entertaining, because that's where the Drunken Fan comes in.
The last sporting event I attended was a football game, and there I met my hero. Aside from the dancing mascot, of course. I like to refer to him as Random Drunk Fan in Kanye Glass or RDFKG. RDFKG was taking on all the responsibilities of the Rowdy Epicenter, and then some. Dancing with the mascot, dancing by himself, marching around pumping people up. A very large part of me wanted to BE this guy. Not one other drunken fan could top him, not even the fist fighters and the Crazy guest-official-fan (who, quite frankly, was just simply terrifying).
In the end, even though it is these memorable individuals who start the cheers, and make up the memories, it is the crowd in general that makes the event.
The collective cheers, the group chants... no one, not even the players, would be as into it if the mob wasn't a part of it. Everyone becomes part of the mob to avoid thought, to remain anonymous but still expressive - so I leave you with this dare - become my hero, the one who starts, it, the one not afraid to be an individual in the face of the mob.