The Red and White spring football game for my beloved University of Nebraska Cornhuskers is this weekend and I, again, am a little depressed that I’m missing out on the action of a Division I sports school. My father used to try to tell me that I had to be wrong about the athletic apathy at Wash. U. and that if I went to the games I would see that the school really did have a pretty good following and that game days could foster at least the excitement level of the athletics at the high school I went to. However, I quickly discovered there were more people at the library than at the football games. My father discovered he had a colleague at work who had graduated from Wash. U. and told him with one of those expressions that made Wash. U. sports sound less inviting than 4 a.m. fire drills-that at this school you just don’t go to the games.

I do not blame Red Alert for failing to get the student body pumped up about its athletics. They offer pizza and T-shirts and give prizes and try to get students to the games. But if nobody else is excited about the games, then a T-shirt isn’t going to motivate anyone to show up. There’s no camaraderie, no excitement, no feeling like you’re a part of something and no working together for a common goal. Those are the experiences that motivate people to watch athletics.

Fostering an atmosphere at Wash. U. where athletics are exciting and lots of students care about how their teams do will take a lot of work. First, as is the problem with basically every event on this campus (minus the Danforth campus dedication), nobody really knows what athletic events are going on and where they are. It’s not that this information is difficult to find, it’s just that it needs to be out in peoples’ faces.

Then, after people know when games are, it gets a little bit more tricky. Six or so students need to fly down to Emory and vandalize their campus by making flyers that say something like, “Emory girls have hick accents.” Alright, I’m not serious about flying down to Emory because we all found out that’s no way to start a rivalry or really make anyone care about athletics.

The truth is that I have no idea how you start an athletic tradition, because what makes it special is that it’s a sort of bond between the fans and a relationship between the fans and the team. There’s something special about a team to fans and it gets built from the tradition that develops over time.

If you want to leave your mark on Wash. U., stop slaving over your chemistry book; there will be countless individuals from this school who make great contributions to chemistry and medicine and you will only be one of them. Instead, be the one who figures out how to get people fired up about sports. Judging from the interest in March Madness and the interest in Division I sports, I know we have the potential for a really spirited athletic following. My suggestion is that we publicize the stories. There has to be a Rudy somewhere on the teams at Wash. U. Someone we could get behind and want to support. Still, somebody has to find this person and let the rest of our campus know about his or her existence. Once we have a way to start it, to tap into the fan potential at this school, the excitement will feed on itself, and quickly. Let the search begin.

Jill is a sophomore in Arts & Sciences and a Forum editor. She can be reached via e-mail at [email protected]

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