Competing with the likes of Dan Obenchain and Omar Solomon for the ultimate Panther fan is not easy. Your lungs most likely won’t outlast Solomon’s and the autumn chill discourages Obenchain’s scanitly clad antics. Maybe the best way to show your Panther pride is to wrap yourself in Eastern gear. Positively 4th Street Records and the University Bookstore provide everything blue you will ever need.

Imagine yourself as a male using one of the urinals at O’Brien Field for a much-needed game break. You hear from behind you, “Ladies first, gentlemen.”

Suddenly you turn to witness a full-bearded, blue-wigged man with a hair-speckled gut constrained by an undersized blue and gray female cheerleading uniform.

Don’t be appalled; it’s just senior chemistry major Dan Obenchain showing what it means to bleed blue.

“Whenever I go to the bathroom at a game and I walk into the men’s bathroom, I just go to the front of the line,” Obenchain said. “They don’t even check my Panther Card anymore when I go to games. I seriously think I could get into the beer tent without showing my ID.”

What started as a joke has now turned into the routine outfit Obenchain wears to every Eastern football game he attends.

“I’m not a big fan of my own birthday, so my mom always tries to get me something fun for my birthday,” Obenchain said. “So, I came up with the idea of getting the cheerleading costume.”

“I was sitting with a couple of my friends and my mom called me up and was like, ‘What do you really want for your birthday?’ I was like, ‘Cheerleading costume.’ I told [my friends] that I told my mom I wanted a cheerleading costume for my birthday. They were like, ‘Don’t you want to tell her whether you want a guy’s or a girl’s one?’ I was like, ‘no, my mom will know what I want. It’s cool.'”

The day before the last home game last season Obenchain received a package in the mail containing the cheerleader’s uniform with blue eyelashes and even a pair of matching spandex spankies.

“The first picture I really got with anyone was with President Perry,” Obenchain said.

“He was laughing. I walked up to him. I have a Miller Lite in my hand, and I walked up to him and was like, ‘Let’s get a picture.’ He’s got his blue wig on, and I wrapped my arm around him and said, ‘Let’s do this.’ He comes down like he does every second quarter at the home games and sits with the fans, and he always comes down and shakes my hand every time.”

Obenchain has thrown around other ideas of costumes he hopes to strut at the games, but revealing them now would spoil the surprise.

Certainly there will be fans like Obenchain who go to extremes by using costumes or paint in order to show pride in their teams. Some students choose to show support in other ways, like simply going to sporting events or showing off with a boisterous voice.

“It’s about the spirit man. It’s contagious,” said Omar Solomon, a senior communication studies major. “I want people to feel the same spirit that I have for my school, and hopefully all the students and all the faculty feel the same spirit and it just overflows with blue pride.”

Solomon is a highly active student on campus, and he claims he makes it to all the home games and tries to make it to all the away games he can.

“People will come up to me, ‘Hey you’re the EI-EI-EIU guy,'” Solomon said. “You could say it’s the bread-and-butter cheer because when all else fails, you can always lean on EI-EI-EIU. But for this year, especially for Panther Nation, we created a lot more creative cheers. We try to add more excitement to the game.”

According to Solomon, the number of Eastern fans in attendance has steadily been rising the past couple years. The football team got off to a great start, which helps get fans to go to the game, but something else is a little different this year.

“This is by far the loudest I’ve heard O’Brien since I’ve been here at Eastern,” Solomon said. “That’s credit not only to Panther Nation but also to all the students, all the faculty and all the fans that come to the game.”

The Panther Nation is influenced by music among many other avenues of life as it continually looks for new ways to cheer for the home team.

“You never know what is going to happen,” Solomon said. “You may meet new friends. You may even meet your girlfriend. Take advantage of EIU. You are paying for it. If you just go to one game you will feel the spirit. You will be EIU.”

Obenchain and Solomon will test their Panther spirit as the football team faces off against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at O’Brien Field.

Brad York can be reached at 581-7942 or bayork@eiu.edu.

From University Bookstore

Striped scarf $16.95

Eastern turret tie $26.95

Eastern sweatshirt $41.95

Eastern reversible shorts $32.99

Eastern hat $14.95

From Simply 4th St. Records

Navy sweatpants $32.95

Under Armour Eastern jacket $79.95

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Foam Eastern football $6.98

Eastern major T-shirt $9.95

Eastern mittens $34.59

Eastern beanie $24.85