A Saturday afternoon in Hanover, New Hampshire. The air is crisp and fresh. The sun is out, washing over your face. You hear a deafening cheer, a roar if you will, from the other team's cheerleaders. Welcome to Dartmouth Football.
It's pretty pathetic if you think about it. Dartmouth is a Division I football team. It's the fall. My only question is where the heck are the fans? For the third straight home game, I've sat in the student section and felt like Rocky after the death of Apollo Creed in Rocky 4: lonely and isolated. Where are the cheers? Where are the jeers? Where are the beers? It sucks. Actually, it's disappointing.
The players are our fellow Dartmouth students. They work an incredible amount of hours a week, perfecting their routes and working on blocking schemes. The players do this not only for themselves, but for the students of this College. When you play a collegiate sport you represent your school. Why can't students get out and support their fellow students? If you go and see some drama production, you're supporting fellow students. If you listen to a concert by the orchestra, you're supporting fellow students. If we can get so many people to see those events, why is it that I am consistently the only one there to boo the marching band and heckle the male cheerleaders!?
I can only think of three reasons why students do not go to games. Are we at Dartmouth too "intellectual" to enjoy something as physical as football? If the student body is afraid to go to a football game because it's not cultural enough, or not intellectually stimulating enough, then the administration has done a good job of turning the students here into a bunch of idiots. Football is awesome. I have had some of the best moments of my life at football games. Like the game the Philadelphia Eagles played last year against the Cowboys at Veterans Stadium. The fierce Eagles defense stopped Emmitt Smith twice on fourth down and 1 yard and the place became a mad house. People you didn't even know were running up and hugging you. Everybody was screaming like crazy. It was awesome. Why can't we have that here?
The second reason, perhaps, that people do not go to games is because they think that the opponents are less than quality. That's a poor excuse. I was at Penn State over break and they were playing Louisville. This was a top ten team versus a horrible team. It was going to be a slaughter, but there were still almost 100,000 people crammed into Beaver Stadium. They were there to show support to their team. How do you think our players feel looking up to the student section and seeing a grand total of eight fans in the bleachers? It has to be disheartening when they're hoping for a rousing cheer to energize them for a defensive stand, and all they get is the marching band playing Hawaii 5-0.
The only other reason that I can think of that would keep people away from the games, is the fact that our team stinks. But we don't. We are 5-0, with a hold of first place in the Ivy League. Sure, the offensive play calling is kind of sketchy. (I may only be a master of Super Tecmo Bowl, but I can smell that option a mile away. And it stinks!). Sure, your heart beats wildly in your throat every time there is a threat of the kicking team touching the field, but they're getting better. We have an incredible running game and an incredible defense led by a linebacking corp that is so good its scary. This is going to be our season to reclaim the Ivy League title.
Thus, if you truly have the still north in your heart and the hill winds in your veins, you'd better be there this Saturday. There is no excuse in not being at the game on Saturday. Be there screaming your lungs out, cheering your heart out, and rushing the field (this is a subliminal message to those weak 00's who have sent NO one down to the field). You don't have to love the team or love football, but if you love Dartmouth, be there. Like that lawyer guy said, I think his name was Matlock, "It is, sir, as I have said, a small college, yet there are those who love it." I love it and so should you. See you Saturday!
