My First Homecoming
As Mizzou took the field in their homecoming game against North Texas, faces young and old filled the stands, and the latest installment of MU’s 110 year tradition kicked off. Spirits were high throughout the game, and chants of “Z-O-U”, egged on by the announcers' “M-I-Z”, could be heard throughout the stadium. Marching Mizzou kept the student section riled up with MU-specific game songs like Eye of the Tiger, and the crowns on the heads of the homecoming king and queen seemed to shimmer a little bit brighter, fueled by the energy in the stadium after a pandemic-induced, two-year delay.
As the game drew to a close, and eager young Tigers got a headband or high-five from their favorite player leaving the field, the crowd began to slowly filter out, still riding the high of the homecoming win, ready to commit another successful year of homecoming into history.
Though, as the night slowly drew to an end, the din of buzzed students returning to their dorms was interrupted by tragedy; two people were injured in a shooting just after midnight outside the Silverball bar. Though the copious police activity didn’t slow the steady stream of students, it did cast the rest of the night in an eerie light, not least of which was caused by the flashing reds and blues coming through the blinds well past 1am.
Football coverage for: The Maneater // Shooting coverage for: The Columbia Missourian