How many ‘ pigs in a poke ...?’
Northwest Arkansas sportswriters, with help of their colleagues in the central part of the state, are delving into a sidebar story to the Saturday, April 21, Razorback Red- White game in Fayetteville.
A record crowd of 45,220 was on hand to watch a sterling performance by quarterback Tyler Wilson, who completed 31 of 41 passes for 467 yards.
But, as has come to light since last week’s game, representatives from an apparently newly formed, underground sect in the area have questioned university officials’ attendance figures.
To date, members of the media investigating the contentions of this group have learned that during the contest, a number of unidentified persons wearing T- shirts emblazoned with the phrase “I Count,” were seen milling about Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Witnesses reported that these individuals also were holding in their hands smallish devices that made annoying “clicking” sounds.
A Lowell man, who went to the game with his two young sons, related to a local journalist that one of the “clickers” admitted he belonged to the Gotcha Going Good- niks, an activist association that has as its main goal challenging the estimated attendance at sporting events around the state.
Saturday’s spring game was purportedly the kickoff for the GGG’S activities in and around the communities closest to the U of A.
The perplexed father went on, “I asked this guy why that count thing was important and he just shrugged his shoulders and commented, ‘ It’s what we do. It’s something the public needs to know. We are very scientific about our approach. We use a methodology developed in the United Kingdom. There’s a formula that involves maximum density, the number of people per square meter and so on. In any case, we’re out to quell controversy. And we have all this leisure time so what better way to spend it than calculating, calculating, calculating?’”
A Fort Smith father and mother, long- time Razorback ticket- holders and rabid football fans, told one news outlet that they noticed some of the “I Count” members were armed with fold- up yardsticks and metal tape measures. They said that when they expressed curiosity about how such implements were allowed inside the gates, a head clicker said “State Police were briefed in advance about our mission, but they didn’t even ask us to fill out any paperwork. Come to think of it, the trooper we talked with seemed a bit distracted – he said there’d been a lot of stuff to deal with over the past three weeks.’”
A 12- year- old boy, who was sporting a Hog hat while interviewed just yesterday, said that after the game was over, he saw “some fellows” out in the middle of the field with some kind of sticks and long strings on rollers.”
He related to the lady reporter that when he asked one of the men what was happening, one of the adults said, ‘ Son, this is serious business. We have work to do here. We have to make sure the field is of regulation size and all distances correct. We have to be sure that that Tyler Wilson did throw for 467 yards.’” The young man than asked several questions of his own. “Why did this man want to know where I lived and how far me, my mom and dad were from where the Razorbacks play? Why did he want to know how we got to the game. Why did he wonder if we were tourists? What’s a tourist?”