Make some noise

By Larry Burnett

UR SBA '76

Two years ago I wrote to The Collegian about how I could not believe the students' lack of interest in sports activities at The University of Richmond. Well, though I live in another state, I read the Times-Dispatch online every day. Coach Martelli from St. Joseph's Men's Basketball team said what most of us alumni have been feeling: "The students do not support sports programs."

There is no excuse for not attending games during the week. I am sorry higher academic places such as Duke, Wake Forest, etc ... have games during the week and students show up. There is no longer the excuse that the play of the basketball team is not interesting to watch. You have excellent athletes, skilled players, etc ... When your team plays better away because they are energized by the opposing teams' crowds, then something is wrong when they come home to a morgue. I did not realize UR offered a mortician degree.

Frats and sororities are supposed to epitomize school spirit and support; well at least in my day they did. Yet, I hear remarks like, well, it is rush week and I doubt if many will show up. Sports activity attendance was part of rush week. I was part of the Chattanooga experience and saw young and old Spiders come together to support a team that had been written off earlier in the year yet, for the most part played home games with fewer then 6,000 in attendance.

You have been offered free food and gimmicks to come. Many times you come, eat and go back to the dorm. That is the mentality of today - to take, but give little in return, which is the theme that has led our country to the state it is in today.

What kind of cheap entertainment do you want? The academic achievement of this university is many times acknowledged through its athletic achievements in the media. A graduation rate of 97 percent among student athletes is tremendous.

Whether you like it or not, athletics brings attention to the university faster than winning debates or academic accomplishments. But all areas are Richmond, and part of the same community.

I am sorry I am not living close enough to Richmond to support it in attendance at all types of activities. But I am hopping mad when an opposing coach points out his disappointment with the Richmond student body's reluctance to support not only basketball but any athletic team. St. Joe's is one of the top 40 teams in the country with a high future draft choice for the NBA.

You seem deaf to the rhetoric thrown at you begging for your support. Maybe you should find a university that has little sports activity and media attention or where you can live a secluded life in your dorm or library, ignoring the world around you.

Remember a lot of your scholarships and endowments were payed by folks who love this university, like myself, who cannot understand the attitude of some of today's students at the university. There seems to be no loyalty or enthusiasm. As coach London has stated many times: "We play for UR." Well the basketball, baseball and other teams do also.

If you cannot give up two to four hours a week total to support a good basketball team, then there is too much stress and not enough free time in your life.

Please support Richmond and show the community, state and nation that you believe in its academics and athletics.

Have a good semester, and Go Spiders!