COLUMN: Stand up and show your blue
Spectrum rule No. 1: At an Aggie home basketball game, all students who are physically capable must stand and cheer on their team throughout the game.
Spectrum rule No. 2: At an Aggie home basketball game, all students should wear the school colors of blue and white.
These two simple rules of Aggie basketball are common knowledge to any die-hard USU basketball fan. They are part of what has made the Spectrum the dynamic, challenging place it is.
It’s an amazing sight to see thousands of fans standing in one teeming herd, cheering on their team. The sea of blue and white sends the powerful message to opponents that they are not on friendly ground, and yes, they will lose tonight.
However, in recent basketball games, I’ve noticed these two rules being broken at an alarming scale. Sure, you have the two main sections of students on the east and south sides that are packed with standing students dressed in blue.
But in the upper section of the southeast corner, there are a plethora of “fans” (I use that term loosely) who neither stand nor wear the school colors. These people sit down the entire game and pay as much attention to the basketball game as they would in a basic government class.
At a recent basketball game against UVSC, I arrived early to sit where I wanted with my wife and good friend. We had a great view, and were excited for the game. But not 10 minutes into the game I heard some people behind me yelling, “Sit down!” At first I thought they were talking to someone else, but they continued to make that cry.
Finally I turned around and looked at the students making such a fuss. I told the apparent ringleader to chill out and stand up like a real fan because that’s what students sitting in the student section do. He proceeded to tell me I had two options: either sit down or move.
I was appalled. Here, I had come more than half an hour early to sit in the student section so I could stand and cheer on my Aggies, and these students were ruining my experience by being half-hearted fans.
To avoid any further confrontation, my wife suggested we should move. We moved over to the east side where students actually stand. For the rest of the game I would sneak glances at the half-hearted fans to see what they were doing. Their behavior went as follows: they talked to each other, text-messaged at least 30 people, made pathetic attempts at flirting and finally left with more than 10 minutes left in the game. Oh, and never once did they actively participate in the game more than simply watching.
I couldn’t believe it. They made such a fuss about us sitting down and then didn’t have the fan support stamina to stay for the whole game.
At first I thought this was a unique occurrence until I went to the next home game, where again I heard people behind me murmuring at me to sit down. Again I had to move to the east side to find a place to stand and cheer. It seems as if that is the only truly safe place in the Spectrum to really cheer on the Aggies.
These half-hearted fans seem to think they are above the Spectrum rules. Perhaps they don’t know about them. But anybody who can put two and two together can see what the rules are. The first time I attended an Aggie basketball game, I knew exactly what to do just by watching what everyone else was doing.
But now there is no excuse for not knowing the rules because they are written down on paper for everyone to plainly see. I repeat, all students attending a game at the Spectrum should wear the school colors and stand during the game unless they are physically unable to do so.
These two simple things would go a long way to making the Spectrum a more enjoyable arena to watch a game and a more threatening venue for visiting teams. I would like to see our fans be more intense than those of Duke.
Duke has long been known for their intimidating fan presence. The student section at Duke games is a sea of blue. The fans never sit down and they even have cheers where the fans are constantly in motion. This makes for a noisy arena that is difficult for the visiting team to play in. While the Spectrum is the Duke of the west, it still has a ways to go.
Fans who are actively cheering, such as those in the east and south section of the Spectrum, my hat goes off to you. For those of you who might be reading this who don’t actively participate in Aggie games, get out of your chair, throw on your game day shirt and cheer on your Aggies.
Seth Hawkins is a junior majoring in public relations. He can often be found the day after an Aggie game with a hoarse voice from screaming too much. Comments and questions can be sent to him at sethhawkins@cc.usu.edu