Students watch Bills get bowled over

It has been called the biggest sporting event of the year. It consistently ranks in the top 10 television programs watched in history. And for one night, it even takes University students away from their school books. Super Bowl XXVIII pitted the Buffalo Bills against the Dallas Cowboys, but it also pitted students against their peers. "We've been making fun of each other more than watching the game," said Wharton sophomore Ben Frost, a Cowboys' fan. Frost, who watched the game with about 10 friends in his High Rise North dormitory room, said he was surrounded by mostly Cowboys' fans, along with a few Bills' fans who received the most grief. The Cowboys won the game, 30-13, marking the fourth consecutive Super Bowl loss for the Bills -- a record unbeaten in any professional sport. Though many Super Bowl-related events were planned around campus, most students preferred to hang out with their friends in private quarters. In fact, at one point in the game last night there were no students at HRN's Underground Cafe Super Bowl party, and only one student watching the game on Houston Hall's new 52-inch television. The Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity had the bravest fans, as brothers and their friends watched the game outdoors. Huddled under "layers and layers" of clothing and heavy blankets, about 25 die-hards sat on couches outside the fraternity and watched the game on Phi Sig's brand new big-screen television. "We do it every year," said Wharton junior Dan Margulies. "But there was a big debate this year about whether to do it because it was soggy? [and] we thought there would be a lot of snow." College sophomore Charles Stewart said he enjoys Phi Sig's Super Bowl tradition. "There's nothing like watching a game outside," he said. "[This is] real football weather." In W.E.B. DuBois College House last night -- among potato chips, soda and at least a dozen pizzas -- 35 rowdy fans were screaming at almost every play. College junior David Wright said during his three years in the house people have always gathered in the "Uchoraji Gallery" -- a TV lounge in the lobby -- to watch the Super Bowl. "You've got a lot of people yelling back and forth -- a lot of people who think they know their game talking most," he said. "[There are] people jumping all over each other." Wright, a true Chicago Bears' fan, was rooting for the Cowboys last night. But, he said, he wouldn't have minded if the Bills had won, for one reason. "One reason I would really want them to win is so they would stop coming to the Bowls," he said. Even with the Bills' loss, though, Wright added, "This is their last year." The Bills' record-setting Super Bowl appearance was the topic of many football conversations last night. "They're going to be done if they lose this one -- never again," said Stewart. "It's now or never for the Bills." "They'll go down in the records," said Engineering freshman Stanley Cantave. "They did go to the Super Bowl four times, so they're not that bad of an organization." Though many University students were glued to their television sets last night, there were many people who could not watch the Big Game because they had to work. Skolnik's worker Damon Benson said last night he did not mind working because he could hear the game on the radio in the back of the restaurant. WaWa employee Tony Ward said he was "glad" not to be watching the Super Bowl because "I don't like either team." But co-worker Vaughn Scott said he would have been watching the game if he did not have to work. "I need the job, I need the money,' he said. "Work is more important that watching the game."