Two sports, different crowds
David Eisenberg
Issue date: 10/23/08 Section: Op/Ed
At the candidate forum for the student body elections a couple of Wednesdays ago, one of the prospective freshman representatives told us that we needed more school spirit at our football games. As someone who goes out of his way to see sporting events, I somewhat doubted this, as the crowd that we had against Wilkes was pretty loud. That Saturday was the homecoming game, and I realized that he was right. For a stadium that was packed on both sides with people from both schools, the place was quite dead in the bleachers where the Muhlenberg fans were (though, thankfully, we were about as loud as the Gettysburg fans on the other side of the field).
Though the people got louder in the fourth quarter when we were already wiping the floor with the Bullets, I reached into my memory and remembered how sedate the fans were compared to last year. At every home game that I went to last season - especially the playoff game that we hosted - the crowd was constantly cheering, stomping their feet, and yelling. During this game, I moved around the bleachers with some of my loud friends, and I felt like I was an outcast because I dared to show my school spirit with them. Admittedly, I did accidentally spit on one girl's face while attempting to get the crowd fired up, but isn't watching sports about showing support for your team?
At the candidate forum, that same person also said how the people who watch our men's soccer team home games were loud and very supportive. This has always been the case since I got here. The bleachers are loud and cheery when we score a goal or make a nice play, but the real fans are in the roped section on the other side of the field. It's the same crowd during every home game, and we taunt the other team and their players (not to mention their mothers) on a constant basis. We're so rowdy that two campus safety officers have to keep us in line, so we can't be as vicious as we like. Still, I'm sure that no one likes to be at the mercy of the rowdies of Varsity Field.
Though the people got louder in the fourth quarter when we were already wiping the floor with the Bullets, I reached into my memory and remembered how sedate the fans were compared to last year. At every home game that I went to last season - especially the playoff game that we hosted - the crowd was constantly cheering, stomping their feet, and yelling. During this game, I moved around the bleachers with some of my loud friends, and I felt like I was an outcast because I dared to show my school spirit with them. Admittedly, I did accidentally spit on one girl's face while attempting to get the crowd fired up, but isn't watching sports about showing support for your team?
At the candidate forum, that same person also said how the people who watch our men's soccer team home games were loud and very supportive. This has always been the case since I got here. The bleachers are loud and cheery when we score a goal or make a nice play, but the real fans are in the roped section on the other side of the field. It's the same crowd during every home game, and we taunt the other team and their players (not to mention their mothers) on a constant basis. We're so rowdy that two campus safety officers have to keep us in line, so we can't be as vicious as we like. Still, I'm sure that no one likes to be at the mercy of the rowdies of Varsity Field.