by Watching/Betting on Sports
This is an obvious one, but it’s a staple to college life. Let’s be real, a vast majority of college students watch sports on a weekly basis, and with gambling gradually becoming legalized across the states, it’s becoming even more prominent. Nothing beats finding yourself motionless on a couch with your buddies for seven hours, solely relying on Doordash and Pedialyte to revitalize your cognitive function and help pull your life together after a night out. Saturday and Sunday afternoons are supposed to be stress-free, but it turns out your under on the Chiefs-Ravens game is three points from history and Pat Mahomes is trotting onto the field with :48 left in the 4th. At the end of the day, watching and rooting for sports teams can be a magnet to human connection. It can create lifelong friendships and memories that will stick with you forever. Sports can also induce astronomical levels of anxiety and an anger equivalent to a coal miner coming home to a cold meal in the 1950s.
Intramural Sports
Intramural sports are a great way to unwind and bond with your friends. They also give you a three-to-four-month window to reminisce on your high school sports days and feel like a washed up 21-year-old at the same time. The third-string soccer goalie calls you guys “NARPs,” which is ironic since he can’t top a 5.6 40-yard dash, but you don’t care because you’re having a damn blast. Most are there to have fun and compete, but a select few take it wayyyyy too seriously. You know, the ‘I wear a mouthguard, run 25 hitch routes pregame, and threaten to fight you for accidentally tugging my $15 silver chain’ type. Even though nobody cares about what happens, you drop 350 passing yards and 5TDs in a flag football game and feel like Caleb Williams vs. UNLV in Week 2. If you’re looking for something to do in college, I 10/10 recommend joining a league.
Drinking Games
Whether it’s playing pool, darts, or some activity that will air on ESPN2 on a random Thursday night at 11 PM, I consider it a part of this list. Most party games wouldn’t make the cut, but beer ball requires pinpoint accuracy when you’re seven lukewarm Busch Lights deep and beer die requires underrated agility and hand-eye-coordination when playing on muddy terrain. All of these games are a good time, a great time even.
Pregaming/Postgaming to Random Sports Compilations
This may be unrelatable to some, but it’s something me and my boys did at school when there was nothing to put on TV. Nothing gets the blood pumping more than watching NFL hospital pass videos on YouTube that consist 60% of Ryan Clark highlights during a pregame as The Spins by Mac Miller blares through a speaker that’s seen better days. When the night winds down and you get home from the bars, you guys decided to chill out and turn on a 20-minute home run compilation consisting of behemoths like Giancarlo Stanton hitting 500-ft piss missiles to left center while stuffing your face with bagel bites. Just another Friday night.