It’s the final roll call at midnight.
Students emerge from tents and camping chairs and put down the footballs from games of catch. The sounds of dragging feet echo against the Pauley Pavilion walls, converging at Gate 10. Heavy lids shield the tired, stinging eyes of students who have been waiting as long as 14 hours.
The random roll calls were initiated by Den leaders throughout Tuesday’s campout.
Beginning that morning, an estimated 300 students spent the night awaiting the 6 a.m. handout of student section ticket vouchers for Wednesday night’s big game against USC, said Den leader Jamie Arneson, a third-year economics student.
During the hours between roll calls, huddles of shivering students watch televisions atop upturned UCLA laundry carts, while some lay amid a sea of ruffling Nylon sleeping bags telling stories or discussing Wednesday night’s matchup.
Arneson said that the purpose for campouts are twofold: While they provide a rigorous process through which each student must earn one of the 500 lower-level student section seats, they are also a time for Bruin fans to come together, get excited for the game and have fun.
Students who have both full and partial season-ticket packages can attend.
Camping out is not required ““ vouchers can still be picked up an hour before tip-off.
But for important games like Wednesday’s matchup against USC, all 500 vouchers will likely be snapped up by the end of the campout.
“You know you’re around die-hard fans because they were sitting here with you,” said Babak Mahdavi, a third-year business economics student. Mahdavi said he started camping his second year.
He said he used to sit in the upper levels, but he was hooked after his first experience in the student section.
“It was completely different,” he said. “I told myself I’d never sit up there again.”
For fourth-year history student Daniel Veselak, having to complete a paper by 5 p.m. did not stop him from camping out.
Veselak sat adjacent to Gate 10, racing through a handful of reading Tuesday morning.
“You just got to figure out when you’re going to do your work. And I realized that my work was going to be done on Bruin Walk,” he said.
For him, studying outdoors is worth being able to sit near the basketball court as he yells at the opposition.
“I want to be on the floor so that I know that the other team can hear me and my own team can hear me. I just feel more a part of the game,” he said.
In some cases, the convergence of midterms, schoolwork or jobs prevented regulars from camping out for Wednesday night’s rivalry game.
Josh Green, a third-year mechanical engineering student, was unable to camp out due to a combination of class, work at Young Research Library, club commitments on Tuesday and an 8 a.m. midterm on Wednesday.
Usually, Green sees campouts as an opportunity to relax during a hectic schedule.
“Class can be stressful, and going to games is important to me for maintaining morale throughout the quarter,” he said.
In contrast, statistics graduate student Sean Wang finds the friendships formed during campouts most important.
Now in his seventh year as a graduate student, Wang has spent the long nights waiting for vouchers since his third year as a UCLA undergraduate during the 1999-2000 season.
He recalls one of his worst campout experiences before the game against Arizona State in January two years ago, when it was 37 degrees outside. He and 20 other people camped out below the Gate 10 staircase.
Wang said being able to sit in the student section has been an important part of his 11 years on campus, and he still keeps in touch with many alumni that he spent endless hours waiting with outside Pauley Pavilion.
“There is a sense of community. You do build a lot of bonds at the campouts,” he said.