It’s college basketball season, if you didn’t know from word-of-mouth or our 16 pages of sports this week. But this year, basketball season is not going to be something that just happens and then we lose, and lose again, once more and then it’s over. This year, Bearcat basketball is going to be different.
We’re bringing school pride back to our campus.
There’s reason to believe this year’s men’s basketball team will be the best one we’ve seen in quite some time. Jordan Reed piqued our interest with the most impressive freshman season in program history, and now he has more options around him.
Rob Mansell’s back after missing all of 2012-13 with a knee injury. Rayner Moquete is eligible. And a promising class of four scholarship freshmen will provide Tommy Dempsey’s squad with energy and more scoring threats.
Yes, we’re still in rebuilding mode. But that makes it all the more fitting for us to rebuild our school spirit, too.
We’re not the only ones calling for more enthusiasm from the student body. Riana Moriello, vice president of programming for the Student Association, is chartering a shuttle called the “Pride Bus” to basketball games designed to amp up students. BU Zoo, a student group dedicated to attending men’s basketball games and cheering from the stands, is gaining a lot of popularity on campus.
We don’t want to get all “be the change” on you guys, but instead of complaining about how no one goes to the games, just go. Tell your resident assistant to make an event out of it. Pre-game beforehand. Where do you think the term “pre-game” comes from?
It’s not that our basketball games are poorly attended; people from the community flock to the Events Center every time the Bearcats take the court. Binghamton University led the America East Conference in home attendance in the 2010 and 2011 seasons. Locals know how fun our sports are, we just need to convince ourselves.
So we might not be a Michigan. Or a Duke. Or even a Syracuse. But that doesn’t mean we have to totally abandon our sports program.
Imagine how our athletes feel? In a way, they’re supposed to be heroes of our school. Instead, our heroes are a dilapidated former Playboy and an English professor whose popularity and Rate My Professor score rises and falls with his beard length.
Right now we have this culture on campus where supporting our teams isn’t actually cool. If you ask someone if they’re going to the game on Friday, you’ll get one of two responses: “Why would I go to the basketball game?” or “What game?” Going to basketball games are a lot of fun, and let’s be real, what else are you doing at 8 p.m. on a Friday other than digesting dinner and waiting to go out?
We’re serious about this one. We think it would be a lot of fun if more people just committed to having a good time at ball games this year. This isn’t little league — we’re a D-1 team, for Baxter’s sake. It’s time our fans started acting like it.