University of Missouri-Columbia Top Questions

If you love sports, you'll love Mizzou. Football games are crazy! Tailgating begins early in the morning and sometimes continues after the games. The feeling you get when you're in the student section for the first time at a football game is amazing! Same goes with basketball. The basketball games are always lots of fun. I've also attended many other sporting events such as volleyball, women's basketball, gymnastics, and baseball. No matter what sport you're interested in you'll enjoy watching it. Besides college sports, there's also lots of intramural sports you can participate in through the recreation complex or sororities and fraternities.

Sports here are huge. Students bleed black and gold. Even people who weren't the biggest sports fans in high school find themselves somehow developing an intense hatred for the University of kansas within their first semester, and camping out for basketball tickets later on in the year. Both our football and men's basketball teams have done tremendously in the past couple years and this year we consistently had a sold out arena for home basketball games. Everyone gets really into the games and even if you can't attend a game, it's easy to find a group of people to go to a restaurant downtown to watch a game, where people get just as into it as they would if they were there.

I'm not a huge fan of popular sports like football, basketball, baseball, etc. Still, Mizzou is all about football and basketball, and I've been to games and had a blast. Tailgating is tremendous here. On certain football weekends, it's like the normal rules of society take a pause and people walk around wearing and doing crazy things. Like I said though, I'm not as into the mainstream sports, so I spent my time biking and throwing frisbees around. There is a tight-knit group of cyclists who do cyclocross and other races at parks around the city. There are some pretty cool bike trails not far from campus, including the MKT, Mizzou Rec. Trail, and ones out at Cosmo Park. There are also big fields and open areas where you can always see people playing ultimate on a sunny day. Stankowski field is on campus where most of the sports activities happen, but there's also Reactor field where the Ultimate Frisbee league happens. Check out the MUtants if you're interested.

A lot of people are involved in Rec Sports whether it be through Greek Life or intramural' s. They offer a variety of sports to play including soccer, flag football, basketball, and sand volleyball. They have both competitive leagues and recreational leagues so you can play intense games or you can just try a new sport. There are also many club teams which aren't sponsored by the school but they do travel and play against other colleges. You must try out for these teams and there is usually a fee you have to pay to be on the team.

Football season is a kind of a big deal. Games are always on Saturdays and it's easy to spend the whole day tailgating, watching the game and then going out afterwards. Mizzou claims to be the birthplace of homecoming and (whether true or not) we pull out all the stops for homecoming weekend. The entire downtown is decorated in black and yellow, the greek town houses put on displays and skits, there is a parade and tons of special deals. Everyone enjoys it, even the people like me, who can think of a million things more entertaining than watching men ram into each other on a field. Basketball and volleyball also pull a pretty big following of student fans, and each sport has a special student section where students can sit together, dress up and get a little crazy. Intramurals are also pretty popular, and you can join a team in just about any sport.

Sports at Mizzou are very important to a lot of people. The most popular sport is football. Before every game hundreds if not thousands of people tailgate. Tailgating here is the most fun you will ever have tailgating anywhere! It's so much fun because everyone is wearing school colors, playing tailgate games, cooking, and having a good time. However, it can get a little rowdy. As long as you are responsible, it's a lot of fun. Although, if you don't like body to body crowds, it is not the place for you!

Missouri fans get ready to face Kansas with a pep rally to get the fire going.