Football season, DIGS bring Winthrop students together
Wednesday, October 5, 2011 at 10:58AM 
Two football fans enjoy their lunch while watching Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton battle the Chicago Bears. The Panthers would later lose 34-29 on Sunday. Photo by David ThackhamBy David Thackham
thackhamd@mytjnow.com
They’ll tell you they’re friends, but when it came to football this past Sunday, Monique Haynes and Jessica Singleton sat on opposite ends of the couch near two flat-screen televisions in the DiGiorgio Campus Center. On one screen, Haynes was rooting for her Pittsburgh Steelers against the Houston Texans, while the other TV entertained Singleton, enthralled by her Carolina Panthers versus the Chicago Bears.
“Don’t you even start,” Haynes warned a smiling Singleton after the Steelers’ 30-yard field goal was blocked to end the game’s first half. “We still have time left to pull it out.”
A new culture has emerged since the DIGS was born: More and more students are flocking to watch football in the glow of the campus center’s multiple 60” BRAVIA EX500 Series HDTV’s.
“I like the big TV’s,” Singleton said. “I like being able to watch two or more different games at one time. Even if I had the same screen in my own room, I’d still come to the campus center.”
Although Haynes is a self-professed Carolina fan, she can enjoy any game she watches.
“This is the best game on right now,” she said. “I really like to watch the South Carolina Gamecocks, though.”
“Too bad they lost last night,” Singleton quickly added with a grin, bringing up memories of USC’s gritty 16-13 loss to the Auburn University Tigers.
Don’t worry, though. Singleton soon got her comeuppance when Chicago exploded for the Bears’ second touchdown of the night. Haynes only smiled.
Hundreds of fans have surrounded the televisions since the beginning of the year and the fan mania is expected to increase as the football schedule heats up. Count on Haynes, Singleton and many other football friends to give the teams an audience.
