Matt Magoon
Sports Editor
9.9.11
Do fan sections really affect the outcome of a sporting event? According to a College Basketball Nation Blog on Espngo.com, “it is easy to forget how much home-court advantage skews results.” This is true in its entirety.
Do you think many teams enjoy coming to our barn and play the men’s basketball team when there are approximately one thousand fans hollering in their ears? When you are in the middle of an intense game, many people say that they feed off of the adrenaline that the crowd can give you.
If you look at this adversely, do you think the football game last Thursday against Baldwin-Wallace could have gone differently if the students were more involved? There were plenty of momentum swings throughout the game. If the crowd was involved, the team would have fed off of our energy.
Oakland Raiders fans are notorious for being some of the craziest fans in the NFL. I attended Super Bowl XXXVII, when the Raiders played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I must say, I have never seen more crazy, loud, and face-painted fans in one stadium in my life. The Raider fans truly believe that their intensity can have a large impact in a game (even though it obviously has not been working recently). Hey, maybe they would be even worse if it was not for their fan base.
Not only is there not enough screaming and jawing from our student sections, but there is a lack of support in general. If we could make Wooster a dreadful environment for opponents, many games could swing our way on the scoreboard. Without a rowdy student section, we take the advantage out of being on our home turf.
According to swimmer Imre Namath ’13, “it would be much more beneficial for our guys, especially the new swimmers, because when the adrenaline is pumping, there is nothing better than having a good crowd to cheer you on.” He also said that swimming is not that big of a sport at the College so that is why there are not many fans at the meets.
Feeding off of this, many recruits come to watch the team they are playing for before they come to the school. Who do you think would be more interested in the school: the swimmer that sees a few parents in the stands, or the basketball player that sees a thousand students screaming? I don’t know about you, but I would rather play in front of a crowd.
In my opinion, it does not matter if the sport is one of the least popular sports in the world, students should support every team on campus because in the end, we are all Scots and we should be proud of it.
With this being said and myself included, I challenge every one of you to attend at least one game this season, cheer for the home team and be proud to call yourself a Fighting Scot.