Home Field Advantage

"We just like getting caught up in the spirit of it all," says Kelly White of Burke, who, with her husband and three kids all younger than 10, attends at least one game a season.

For kids, going to smaller games means a chance to get close to the players. Nowhere is this more true than at Gallaudet University in Northeast Washington, where kids get in for $3 and adults for $7. Players at Gallaudet walk through the crowd to get to their locker rooms and will sometimes pause to high-five their young fans.

"It's a very intimate school here," says faculty member Dan Wallace about why he skipped watching ACC games on television to come to a game.

Gallaudet offers a unique way to watch football. The majority of the players are deaf and use sign language to call plays, and they will keep playing until the other team stops, regardless of the whistle. Gallaudet players invented the huddle in the 1890s as a way to prevent the opposition from reading their signals.

There is plenty of clapping and cheering when the Gallaudet players complete a good play, but often hands fly up in the air and silently shake back and forth, sign language for applause.

As for hearing fans? Well, it is a bit quieter than other college games. Though there is no announcer or marching band, fans "enjoy it just like a regular football game," says Gallaudet staff member Ben Baylor. Staff and hearing family members of players often fill the stands and are happy to talk about the team.

The best local marching band in the area can be found at Morgan State University in Baltimore. This isn't your momma's show tunes or "Stars and Stripes Forever." The Morgan State band could teach a lesson about skill and quality to any big-school marching band.

For one, the Morgan State band is louder. Much louder. Taking up an entire section near one end zone, the band fills the stadium with its sweet melodies. Even in the middle of a play (a big no-no in Division I athletics), it will continue to perform. No one seems to mind; the Bears are that good.

Pregame and halftime are when the real show happens. At halftime the band plays on the field, and the crowd sings along to Sean Kingston's "Beautiful Girls" and Rihanna's "Umbrella," among other popular tunes, which can change from game to game. The musicians don't just stand in formation. This band moves. Legs in the air, horns waving from side to side, the members dance in rhythm. Toward the end of halftime, the band refuses to yield the field, and no one -- not even the players waiting on the sidelines -- seems to mind.

"The other reason I came was for the band," says Baltimore's Lance Randall, at the game with his 7-year-old daughter, Lydia. "I figured it was Morgan State, they had to be good."

Randall was unsure about how long Lydia would be interested in the game, so he made sure to sit close to the band. Neither of them was disappointed, and Lydia made it through the entire game.

She had been begging her father to take her to a football game, and Randall knew the Ravens and the Redskins were out of the question. He had never watched a Morgan State game but chose the team for its "more relaxed" atmosphere. He attended a Redskins preseason game and knew that it was no place for his daughter. Plus, he wouldn't feel guilty about spending a ton of money if she wanted to leave after halftime.