Annabelle de St. Maurice“Red Alert!” read those bright red fliers all over campus and covering the side of the underpass, announcing some impending crisis. This could be no farther from the truth. Since the implementation of Red Alert, a student-formed group dedicated to boosting student enthusiasm for WU sports teams, attendance at WU athletic events has increased dramatically.
Begun by an association of students, the athletic department, and deans such as Justin Carroll, Red Alert has brought to this campus something that has been the brunt of many jokes at WU for many years: team spirit.
While schools like Duke and Stanford are almost as renowned for the athletic fervor pervading their respective campuses as they are for their academic offerings, WU students have over the years neglected the former and prided themselves mostly on the fact that they attend a school known for scholarly achievement.
At Duke, every home game is sold out, and students often times make attending a basketball game a ritualistic experience. Hours before the game begins, students will paint themselves up in blue body paint, imitating the school mascot, the Blue Devil. Pre-game festivities ensue with hundreds of people attending celebrations occurring outside and around the arena. And when the game begins, the crazy blue devils in the stands always make their presence known, screaming if an opponent is at the free throw line, or chanting for “Offense!”
Of course, WU is not a Division I school like Duke. Because of this, most people might not imagine WU games to be too enthralling. What’s curious, though, is that this mentality has become somewhat of a campus legend over the years. WU’s lack of school spirit has become so well known that the Student Admissions Committee has had to instruct its tour guides not to discuss low attendance at sporting events as they pass by the Athletic Complex.
Though WU may only be in Division III, both the men’s and women’s varsity basketball teams are currently ranked No. 1. Just earlier this year, the WU men’s varsity football team won the UAA title. And for anyone who has attended, the games are just as, if not more exciting and intense than any game you could watch on television.
And the times are changing. Attendance, thanks to groups like Red Alert, has been increasing. Students who choose not to go to sporting events now are missing out on a chance to hang out with large crowds of people all cheering for the Bears.
Before the WU vs. Rochester men’s and women’s basketball games a few weeks back, Red Alert posted red fliers all over campus and painted a section of the underpass touting the event. Boosted furthermore by word of mouth, the result was the greatest turnout for a WU sporting event all year. Hundreds of fans packed into the student section, chanting and yelling. The scene was reminiscent of sporting scenes that you often only can catch a glimpse of on national television. Some students even came shirtless with the words, “WU #1,” painted across their chests.
In exact figures, approximately 600 fans turned out for the women’s game against Rochester and 1,000 showed up for the men’s game. The massive student turnout was best summed up by Assistant Athletic Director T. J. Shelton, “I’ve been here 10 years and I’ve never seen anything like that.”
Though attendance did drop a bit in the next series of games when WU played Brandeis, attendance was still high at about 600 fans. At that game, one student came dressed as a judge, the mascot for Brandeis, and another as a gavel, both running out onto the court after the WU victory with the gavel striking the judge down.
What Red Alert has done is not so much bring excitement and fervor to dull sporting events, but just as its name implies, alert the student body to the great teams and games that WU has to offer. The athletic talent and entertainment were always there, it just took a concerted effort to bring it out into the open for the WU community to see.
Therefore, congratulations to Red Alert on a job well done. The next series of basketball games are this Friday at 6 p.m. (women’s) and 8 p.m. (men’s). Hopefully all the student body will be there screaming their lungs out. Don’t miss out.