Yes, it’s been a painful year to be a Bearcats fan, especially for those of us who won’t get another chance to see the green and black take the court next year.

Funny thing is, despite the turmoil that has embroiled this season, I’ve still loved every second of it.

If you are reading this column, chances are that you and I have some things in common. We both applied to college with academics in mind, but also eagerly awaited the chance to root for our team, no matter what it may have become. We decided to come to Binghamton, knowing there was no football team, but still waiting to come out and yell and scream to support our Bearcats.

And surely, for those of us graduating in May, we had wishes for our men’s basketball team, the same one we have lived and died with since we got here, to have done better in our swan song here at Binghamton.

Since the day we seniors saw our first game in the West Gym four years ago ‘ yes, we used to play there ‘ many of us were hooked. We loved the environment of college athletics, and we have been to every game since. Only night classes, and sometimes not even that, stood in the way of coming down to watch the action.

But something has been missing this season, and it’s not on the court, but rather in the stands.

For me, one thing that never kept me away from the Events Center was the losses. I never let them get in the way. Not my freshman year, when the smell of fresh paint could mask our inability to compete with top tier America East teams. Not my sophomore year, when it seemed that without a ‘wake-up call’ we could not beat Vermont, regular season or come tournament time. Not my junior year, when an 0-5 start had people calling for Al Walker’s head; and despite being ‘awoken,’ the tournament loss to Vermont hurt more than any other. And not this year, when last-second collapses and issues with team chemistry and defense couldn’t be fixed for more than a 20-minute span.

So even though losing never kept me away, it seems that this idea does not apply to everyone. While I can understand frustration that fans have felt this year, I try to be a journalist, but the fan inside me lives on. I urge anyone who will listen to never give up on their love of the Bearcats, and to continue to fill the BU Zoo, which has had even more empty seats than usual this season.

For this year’s freshmen it may be hard to see why this team merits a following. But as we have seen, fortunes can change in the blink of an eye. But when I first came here, I didn’t go because I had to, and I still don’t. Working for the sports marketing department for a year and Pipe Dream for another two did not mean I had to go to the games; I went ‘ and continue to go ‘ because I wanted to.

As the days to graduation now dip into double digits (we’re at 90 days and counting), I think not so much about what I’ve done at this University, but rather what the school will be when I leave it behind. And I hope, for all of your sakes, that the lack of interest we have seen in Bearcat basketball this year is an anomaly.

Attendance dwindling this season is fair considering the struggles we’ve seen. But what is unfortunate, given the incredible privilege we have to watch Division I athletics ‘ for free nonetheless ‘ is that people genuinely don’t seem to realize what they are missing when they don’t come down to watch our team in action.

It’s clear to anyone with a pulse that the winning is more enjoyable than the losing. Interestingly, I’ve come to realize that I really don’t care. Win or lose, we’re all Bearcats for life. We may as well get the most out of it that we can.

So I urge all of you who have put the Bearcats on the backburner while they have gone through their struggles to head back to the Events Center for Senior Night this Thursday, whether it’s the last of many games for you, or the first of many. And for those of you for whom it will be your first, let it start a trend of attendance that keeps going until you go to Senior Day when you are the one who is three months shy of commencement.

We are going to be saying goodbye to Steve Proctor and Duane James, as well as Troy Hailey, who defied all human logic by spending four years with ‘Bearcats’ displayed across his chest. Come out and give these guys their due ‘ discover the energy and passion you’ve been missing all year and never let that passion fade away.

It may seem like nothing now, but there will come a time when you realize you missed an opportunity to watch these games, all of them intense in a way you cannot define. They are played on the strength of nothing but heart and soul. We can see them for free; there’s no cost to watch players with love for the game as pure as the love can be. There will come a time when we will realize that if we could go back and do it again, the chilly walk to the Events Center would be a small price to pay.

Once a Bearcat, always a Bearcat. Same should be the case for all of you.