Every time I go and watch the Dartmouth men's hockey team play, I'm hit with mixed emotions.
On one hand, I get a sense of genuine excitement. Thompson Arena is nearly filled to the brim with townies and students. Fans start chants and press up against the glass until the Hanover Police feel the need to act important and intervene. The student section is rowdy and boisterous. The concession stands sell churros. That atmosphere is why, whenever I go to a hockey game, I inevitably also feel a sense of longing for more. I indulge in the proverbial state school dream 80,000 seat stadiums, 8 a.m. tailgates, heated rivalries and, more than anything, a heartfelt desire to see my school prevail.
There's no denying that the fan experience is something that the Dartmouth culture lacks. Sure, some people go to games (some sports more than others), but think about the last time you went to see a Dartmouth athletic event. Did you have the game circled on your calendar before someone had to blitz out about it? Did you show up on time? Did you stay for the whole thing? Did Dartmouth win? Did you even care?
For the majority of fans here, sporting events are social events. You go because it's been made a big deal by the athletic department or a student group (e.g. home football games this year and the tailgate series), or to show support for some friends you might know on the team. And I'm not saying that is a terrible thing. The reality is, when you chose to come to Dartmouth, it wasn't because of Memorial Field. It was because you were really smart, you wanted to go to a really good school or you didn't get into Stanford.
What I'm proposing is that we can have the best of both worlds Dartmouth still has the potential to be a great place to be a sports fan. But we need to start with some big changes:
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Mascot It's pretty difficult to get amped up in support of a color. Even if that color is supposed to be Big. The bottom line is, anything tangible anything at all would work better than the abstract. Tigers work okay for Princeton and lions are decent for Columbia. Even that little Yale bulldog is a pretty cool looking logo, and I know people love seeing the little guy on the field for every home game. So imagine if we had some sort of animal we could latch on to let's just say (paying homage to our woodsman tradition) a moose. We could get a bad-ass moose logo with antlers and green eyes and have that at the 50-yard line. President Kim could lead the football team onto the field literally riding an eight-foot tall moose and firing a musket into the air. Tell me that wouldn't ensure you were at every home game before kickoff.
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Athlete promotion in its own, earnest way, the athletic department makes a heartfelt effort to hype up Dartmouth sports. Unfortunately, however, most of its tactics are more reminiscent of high school pep rallies than serious college athletics. I'm gonna shoot straight here I could care less about the cheerleaders having a well-rehearsed routine. We need to start using what we have at our disposal to get people pumped about Dartmouth sports, and that means promoting our athletes. Big time programs rely on players like John Wall and Tim Tebow to be the faces of their schools. Given, it's difficult at a small place like Dartmouth to feel the same way about someone who you might have just ordered after in Foco, but some of the athletes we have here are really good and deserve more recognition. Nick Schwieger '12 was the best Ivy League football player this year. I'm not saying we should put his face on a "Witness" shirt and start wearing them to games, but why not throw up a few big posters around campus of him stiff arming some dweeb from Harvard with a sick catchphrase underneath? Athletes, there's also some self-promotion you can do. I used to love when Ari Sussman '10 would pretend to toss popcorn kernels into his mouth at the beginning of lacrosse games, advising the fans to get ready for a show. A little flashy, maybe, but any press is good press, I say.
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Fan apathy we're all guilty of it. If we want to have serious sports, it's time we start taking our duty as fans more seriously. The College does its part by trying to organize things like the tailgate series, but it can only go so far in creating excitement. Organize your own tailgate. Don't stay out until 3 a.m. partying the night before the football team is playing at 11 a.m. Make the day of the game a party. Just don't show up at halftime when we're already down and then leave after five minutes because "we're losing again."
The thing is, Dartmouth has all the potential to be a great place to watch sports. People love this school. And if you are proud to go here, you should be killing yourself every time Harvard comes to Hanover and leaves with an easy win. Take a stand for Dartmouth sports. Come out for games, be loud and root hard for the home team. Just don't make any bagel jokes. Or talk to Tris Wykes.
