Fight Night at Vandy
It was every red-blooded male's dream night at Vanderbilt yesterday evening.
Eating contests. Boxing matches. And Texas Hold 'Em Tournaments.
Welcome to Fight Night, part of the Homecoming festivities this week at Vandy. Yesterday, we experienced the first ever Fight Night, as a few hundred students, both young men and young women, piled into a large white tent on Alumni Lawn to compete or watch the competition.
Fight Night, set up by Vanderbilt's student government, is designed to boost school spirit by allowing fraternities, sororities, and other campus organizations to compete against each other. The winners of the events earned points toward the Spirit Cup - Homecoming's glorious prize.
First, it was a chicken-eating contest. Seven tables. Three contestants at each one. A plate of 30 chicken nuggets in front of them, and of course, a cheering section urging them on the entire time.
"On your mark! Get set! Eat!"
And just like that, they were off. In only a few minutes, it was over. Chuck, representing Phi Kappa Psi, dominated the contest, and he looked like he could have downed 30 more if he wanted to.
"Did you train for this?" he was asked.
"Every day," he said.
My pick was Dariun Maxwell. He looked like he was up for the challenge, but he fell a little short.
"The texture was the toughest part," Maxwell explained. "It wasn't tender. It was real thick going down."
Now for the main event...the boxing matches. There were two rings set up. The one on the left was for the guys. The one on the right, which I found more compelling, was for the ladies. CAT FIGHT!!!
The boxers wore head gear and ridiculously oversized gloves. So the guys went first, and the first fight was a two-minute battle that featured some right hooks, some uppercuts, and a lot of running away by the much smaller contestant. In the end, the underdog lost, as he was knocked out by a vicious blow that drew the oohs and aahs of the crowd.
Then the girls were underway. Not so many punches thrown in this fight. Really it was more like pushing each other around, but everyone was into it and the event was a huge success.
Off to the side, a few games of Hold 'Em started up, and it seemed like everyone had something to do under the big white tent. Not bad for the first ever Fight Night.
"I think it's amazing because it gives a chance for all these organizations to come together," Emily Kubitskey said. "It gives us a chance to bond with university spirit because we're all going towards one common goal - to beat South Carolina."
