COLUMN: Spectrum magic needs to migrate north
As if it wasn’t a big enough shock that this fine publication would choose to give me a weekly column in the first place, let’s go ahead and brace for the shattering of the earth now that Section F will grace these pages for a third consecutive year.
Although I, myself, sarcastically questioned the journalistic integrity of a column that was created with the purpose of blending objective reporting with rabid fan-hood, maybe this concept is the future of reporting. It’s tough to argue that the old methods are working to perfection with all the changes and budget cuts at major newspapers around the country. If nothing else, a fan base as rabid as Utah State’s, particularly for basketball, should have some kind of presence in a media outlet … so here we are.
Since its inception, Section F has seen two outright Western Athletic Conference basketball championships, a WAC tournament championship, two NCAA tournament appearances, the national sensation that is “Wild Bill” and the implementation and ruthless perfection and perpetuity of the “winning team, losing team” and “I believe” chants.
There’s a glaring problem in all of this, though. It’s a problem that has been touched on in Section F before, and it’s something that I believe is close to seeing a solution.
While it’s easy to understand that a large, rowdy, coordinated, killing machine of a crowd might have a tough time formulating around a 4-8 football team, forget not that our Aggies are 6-5 at home over the past two seasons, despite two losses coming against teams who went on to finish the season ranking 4th or better in the nation. And, one of those games included that 58-yard field goal against Fresno State in 2008. For the most part, Utah State fans have not been let down at home, especially relative to the overall records of the team the past two years.
The Spectrum has something magical about it. Nobody who has been there can objectively deny that fact. In many people’s eyes, the debate over which student section is the best in the nation was put to rest last winter following four appearances on national television for Utah State basketball.
It is time, if not long overdue, that the USU student body rallies together and translates the legendary power of the Spectrum into a new kind of dominance during Saturday afternoons at Romney Stadium.
Sure, you could be one of those people who claims to be better than those who would support a program that hasn’t had a winning season since any of us have been old enough to drive a car. If you want to go through your life as a shameless fan of the fairest weather, I imagine it is relatively easy to throw on the t-shirt and hat of a perennial powerhouse program and feel like a winner because of it. But I can guarantee it would be much less rewarding than playing a crucial role in establishing a winning program, or in the case of Utah State, bringing a program back to a long-lost level of prominence. In other words, building a bandwagon for people to ride on is much more rewarding than simply jumping on.
And to those of you out there who claim to have grown up as a BYU, Utah or Boise State fan, those allegiances obviously weren’t strong enough for you to attend school at any of those places, so take your rightful place alongside the rest of your fellow Aggies and be a part of turning Romney Stadium into something as special as The Spectrum.
For anyone who knows the recent history of USU athletics, it was during Stew Morrill’s second season that he took the Utah State basketball program to heights that hadn’t been reached in decades. If history does indeed repeat itself, and it does, Gary Andersen’s second year as head football coach will provide plenty to be excited about.
If and when Andersen brings the Aggies back to football prominence, I doubt I’m the only one who would like to see the Utah State student section at Romney Stadium being mentioned among the best in the country, much like we’ve done at the Spectrum.
It’s up to everyone to make it happen.
Matt Sonnenberg is a senior majoring in print journalism. Matt is an avid fan of Aggie athletics and can be found on the front row of every home football and basketball game. He can also be reached at matt.sonn@aggiemail.usu.edu.