At every football game, fans are energized by passionate groups of the student body: the LT Weirdos and Lions Den. The Weirdos are a small group of six senior boys whose main goal is to inform students of important upcoming sports games, mainly football, and what the expectation is for the students, Weirdos member Jack Curran ’26 said.

Lions Den is comprised of a larger group of die-hard students who organize and run the student section at sporting events, making the fans more engaged in each game. The goal of both groups is to raise school spirit and bring more fans to football games.

“There’s nothing more boring than having no energy in a school, so I wanted to be someone who could help boost that energy,” Curran said. 

Each week, the Weirdos post a funny and uplifting video sharing details about the upcoming football game to their Instagram. The opponent, date, and time are provided, and the video also tells fans the theme for that game. The videos are usually wild and always creative, utilizing props like milk. For example, for the Hinsdale game on Sept. 20, the Weirdos did a WWE-themed video, cosplaying a Lion vs. a Devil in a wrestling match.

“The hardest part of the weekly video is coming up with the basic idea,” Curran said. “But, once we figure that out, it all comes together pretty easily, and we have a fun time filming it.” 

Lions Den directs the audience’s participation by leading chants and playing music to get them more excited about the game. The primary goal of the Den is to ensure the student section has fun, often ridiculing the opposing team. The Den helps bolster school spirit at football games, but it also creates themes to support other sports, such as soccer, flag football, basketball, and more. The club attends multiple sporting events to help lead the student section. 

“The club helps build community within the school and helps our players play better when they know they’ve got their peers behind them,” Lions Den member Justin Heydorn ‘26 said. 

Heydorn joined the Lions Den during his sophomore year and has been a leader of the club ever since his junior year. Lions Den helps come up with themes and is responsible for promoting all these events to the rest of the school through various channels, including social media and flyers, Heydorn said. The club usually meets every other week to plan and organize its approach for upcoming events. 

“Our job is to get people excited and to go to all sporting events at LT,” Heydorn said. “Football is obviously our main pull because it gets the most people, but we try to get good crowds for all of the sports multiple times.”