2008 Woodie Awards
Drink Up, Show Up or Shut Up
Dan Murphy
Issue date: 10/14/05 Section: Commentary
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In December of 2003, I watched Colgate students tear down the goalposts of Andy Kerr Stadium after the Raiders defeated Western Illinois to reach the Division I-AA semi-finals. Still a student of Syracuse University, I was excited to see that my new school was as passionate about its sports teams as SU. In my freshman year, I was fortunate enough to celebrate Syracuse's Final Four victory. After the win, my friends and I witnessed students swinging from tree tops, police in full riot gear beating back a stampede of crazed fans and several bare breasted female students running around in the 30 degree cold. It was pretty awesome. However as a Colgate fan, I've yet to see any levels of debauchery from our students in recent years. This year, things are at an all-time low. Lately, student attendance and overall enthusiasm about our athletic teams has been pretty pathetic. Crowds at hockey and football games are abysmal at best - with students almost always arriving late. I would like to improve this sad state of affairs by offering five suggestions for the Colgate community.
1. Drink heavily before games. There is nothing better than a raucous, rowdy and wasted student section. At the football game versus Massachusetts last month, the crowd was deathly silent and devoid of the drunken debauchery that make college athletics great. I was even on the receiving end of several dirty looks from fellow Colgate students who disapproved of my drunken tomfoolery. What's with that? EVERYBODY should be intoxicated at sporting events. Being drunk makes sporting events more fun, increases crowd noise and pumps up our team. At Syracuse, we used to sneak in Poland Spring bottles of Vodka, Rum, Tequila - any type of liquid that would get us messed up. You have nothing better to do on a Saturday morning anyway. Get your ass up, pound some Keystones and get to the game!
2. Show up on time! It's disheartening for our athletes to look up in the stands to see only a handful of fans at the start of games. At Syracuse, we used to line up outside the Carrier Dome for every home basketball and football game to get the best seats. I understand the sporting atmospheres of the Carrier Dome and Andy Kerr Stadium are very different, but it's still our obligation to support our teams for the entire game. Colgate students need to get off their ass and get down to the stadium at the start of the game, not at the end of the first quarter. I realize this will create the need to plan ahead, but come on - what could be better than a bottle of Andre at noon on a Saturday morning? Not much at all.
1. Drink heavily before games. There is nothing better than a raucous, rowdy and wasted student section. At the football game versus Massachusetts last month, the crowd was deathly silent and devoid of the drunken debauchery that make college athletics great. I was even on the receiving end of several dirty looks from fellow Colgate students who disapproved of my drunken tomfoolery. What's with that? EVERYBODY should be intoxicated at sporting events. Being drunk makes sporting events more fun, increases crowd noise and pumps up our team. At Syracuse, we used to sneak in Poland Spring bottles of Vodka, Rum, Tequila - any type of liquid that would get us messed up. You have nothing better to do on a Saturday morning anyway. Get your ass up, pound some Keystones and get to the game!
2. Show up on time! It's disheartening for our athletes to look up in the stands to see only a handful of fans at the start of games. At Syracuse, we used to line up outside the Carrier Dome for every home basketball and football game to get the best seats. I understand the sporting atmospheres of the Carrier Dome and Andy Kerr Stadium are very different, but it's still our obligation to support our teams for the entire game. Colgate students need to get off their ass and get down to the stadium at the start of the game, not at the end of the first quarter. I realize this will create the need to plan ahead, but come on - what could be better than a bottle of Andre at noon on a Saturday morning? Not much at all.