Commentary: Pre-graduation bucket list around Rice athletics
I don't have many regrets from my college days, but one sticks out like Brian Cushing in a banned-substance test. It was three-and-a-half years ago, my greenness showing loudly on my University of Oregon shirt as I climbed the steps of Autry Court to watch a men's basketball game against the Ducks. I hadn't shaken my original love for UO, and it was only after hours of ribbing that I'd realized my fois gras, er, faux pas. Not that you needed a glimpse into my collegiate journal - here are your requisite Ken Griffey Jr. and "One Tree Hill" name-drops - but I bring up this embarrassment to illustrate the fact that there are a few things about Rice sports, and college sports in general, that you need to know. For starters, always, always root for Rice. I don't care if your name is Rudy Ruettiger or if you literally bleed Longhorn orange (Longhorange?) - this is your school, and these are your teams. But more than that, these are your classmates, so for the sake not merely of victory but for the ties that bind us to one another, for the blanket that covers all of us in the Rice community, root them on. They not only appreciate it, they thrive on it, and you'll find that you've made some friends along the way.