Autry Army turnout a welcome surprise

By Staff Editorial     1/21/10 6:00pm

Was there a basketball game last weekend? You tell us. Autry Army successfully enticed approximately 550 students - effectively one-sixth the size of the undergraduate population - to attend the Rice men's contest against the University of Memphis (see story, page 11). With an intact support system, the Owls nearly emerged victorious, and students enjoyed cheap pizza and the thrill of a successful athletic event.Considering typical student attendance at athletic events is abysmal, attracting hundreds of students for Saturday's game sounds spectacular. But what was the cost of the record attendance? Autry Army shelled out $900 for pizza and provided hundreds of free t-shirts to students. Given students' free admission to the game, the athletic department made no profit off the stellar attendance; instead, Autry Army went into the red with these expenses. And given the exponential increase in attendance - we estimate an average home basketball game sees 20 students - we can only assume it is a result of the effort Autry Army put forth. Taking into consideration the fact that college serveries are closed for Saturday dinner, this may have been a primary motivation for students to go to the game. After all, paying $1 per pizza slice results in a cheaper dinner than those available beyond the hedges. So then, why not stay close to one's college and partake in a cheap meal, even if it means going to a basketball game? Several students may have attended the game purely out of convenience rather than a desire to bleed blue and gray.

If Rice students are apathetic about politics, a great majority are equally uncaring about the state of their athletics, if the number of students attending home games is any indication. It's inevitably embarrassing when your parents, oftentimes alums of big state schools, gasp at the meager student section a mere five minutes before tipoff. Prospective students visiting campus may also feel disheartened by the empty bleachers that are a veritable staple of a Rice athletic event. When it's not a flashy, glamorous Homecoming game, or when the football team isn't doing so hot, where are the true fans, not just the sunshine fans? Because while we may complain about the university's struggling teams, how many of us are there, game after game, to cheer on the Owls? The effect of a large, cheering home crowd can help invigorate a team that has not known this level of university support, and in turn this can provide us with greater success in athletics. As students, we are provided ample opportunities to partake in the college sports scene, and too few of us take advantage of it.

So let's keep this momentum. Let's see those dunks, let's berate the ref and his blindness and let's be the fans that our team deserves.

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