Fresno faithful flock to local hubs to back team
Maurice O. Ndole / The Collegian
While Fresno State fans shown on television cheer from the Los Angeles Coliseum, junior math major Ryan Atchley supports the Bulldogs back in Fresno.
Tension, and a short attention span, filled the Doghouse Grill Saturday as fans waited for a Bulldog touchdown to be reviewed. |
By Laban Pelz
The Collegian
Bulldog fans who didn’t travel south for the football game against USC packed Fresno sports bars wall to wall Saturday night.
Across Shaw Avenue from the Save Mart Center, the Doghouse Grill two hours before kickoff offered its customers standing room only.
By the second quarter manager on duty Matt Billingsley said the restaurant was at its fire code capacity of 350.
Co-manager Greg Mathis said the game drew the most people ever to the establishment.
The cheering came loud and early, and the management had to request over the intercom for patrons to keep their clothing on in the event of a touchdown.
By the fourth quarter every yard gained and every tackle or extra point made by Fresno State drew a cheer from the crowd, with some patrons standing on their chairs in celebration.
But the restaurant quickly cleared after the game’s final interception sealed the Bulldogs’ fate.
“I thought we had it with the fourth-quarter turnaround,” Fresno State alumnus Mike Griffin said as he was leaving.
Griffin said his hopes of a Bulldog victory came early in the game.
“Going into halftime I was confident, but USC always comes back,” he said.
Robby Heinrich, a junior accounting major, was reluctant to talk.
“I’m kind of sad right now,” he said.
Like Griffin, Heinrich said he thought the Bulldogs could win, “but the refs didn’t,” referring to calls some fans thought should or should not have been made.
Though the Doghouse Grill cleared out soon after the game, the World Sports Cafe in the River Park shopping center still had about 30 patrons an hour after the game was over.
“The crowd was here at 5 (p.m.), and you could not get a seat,” bartender David Pyrooz said.
He said the restaurant was the busiest he had seen in three years.
“It was wild,” Pyrooz said, “And I’ve worked all the Bulldogs’ games.”
He said it took employees between five and 10 minutes to walk from one side of the establishment to the other because of the crowding.
“There were six people working behind the bar and we couldn’t keep up,” said Pyrooz, who reported no problems, though there were “a lot of drunk people.”
One customer still at the restaurant after the game was Fresno City College student Nyka Dove, who was one of the few customers who rooted for USC.
“They told me to be quiet because I was ruffling some feathers,” she said. “It felt like you were at the game.”
Will Bible, a Fresno State senior kinesiology major, said the game’s results did not bother him.
“They played their hearts out,” he said. “This is a win. There’s nothing to be sad about.”
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