Thousands of cards will be carefully arranged as the first card show in almost two years will be performed at Saturday’s homecoming game against Stanford.
During the show, students will be given a two-sided color card along with instructions. When prompted, they will hold their cards up, and the varying colors of the cards will create a design.
Previous designs have included Joe Bruin and a giant rose for a past homecoming game.
Mike Sabes, the chairman of the Rally Committee that puts on the card show, said that if the show goes well tomorrow, they might be able to do more card shows in the future.
They are keeping the design simple this year, he said.
“The quality was terrible when the card shows were stopped in 2006,” said the fourth-year economics student. “We’re going all out this weekend, and it’s kind of nerve-racking.”
Card shows are one of the oldest traditions at UCLA, and have been performed at UCLA football games since 1922.
Meggan McGrath, the 1st vice chairman of the group, said that UCLA was known nationwide for its card shows in the 1960s and 1970s, but interest has died down in recent years.
McGrath, a second-year, grew up around card shows. Her parents, UCLA alumni, met at a social event for members of the Rally Committee, and her older brother was also a member of the group.
“I’ve grown up with the Rally Committee,” she said.
“It would be kind of heartbreaking to see it not work, and I want to bring back something I’ve grown up around.”
The cards will be distributed to students in the lower part of the student section, Sabes said.
He believes that the most intense football fans will be sitting in the lower student section, ready to participate and wow the audience.
Sabes joined the Rally Committee two years ago and said that the energy was low and members of the group lacked motivation.
But he recruited a full board of six people this year and is using a new recruitment process to help the committee live up to its potential and to perfect the show.
“We made an application and interview process and make a big deal out of our new members,” Sabes said.
“The committee got over 100 applications, many more than we can take, and people were begging to get in.”
Besides recruiting new members and increasing interest in school spirit, the Rally Committee has been working hard to ensure the card show goes smoothly this weekend.
The committee thinks homecoming is the best opportunity to make it work.
The group worked all summer to gain permission to perform a card show at this game.
If it goes well, the committee plans on asking for permission to perform them at games next season, McGrath said.
Scott Mitchell, an assistant athletic director, said that the card show really is a great tradition, but students have to participate to make it work.
“We want it to be a job well-done,” Mitchell said.
“There was a dwindling interest that led to a lack of participation by students on game day, which impacted the quality of the show,” he added.
After the game this weekend, the football game day program will evaluate if the card show was a success.
This is the only game this season for which a card show is planned, but if it’s successful, it could happen again in the future.
“This is our one shot to revitalize a tradition that makes UCLA such a great athletic institution,” said Sabes. “Let’s show the alumni what we can do.”