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 I am going to say this outright; Pacific students don’t have much school spirit. There I said it, now as a reader, how do you feel? Do you care? If not, then why did you come to college? Sure college is about studying and getting good grades but it’s also about school spirit and supporting your peers.
With other major colleges around the nation being ranked as per their win-loss ratio compared to everyone else, I continually see great games on EPSN (HD), where students fill sections of the basketball stadium. Usually schools place them behind the hoop and they fill the TV screen.
Now, if you take those shots and attempt to mimic them here at our basketball games, you end up seeing more people under 12 (they get in free) and more Stocktonians than any student who attends this school. (This is not to be confused with the fact that the Spanos Center holds more people than the number of students at all three campus’s of Pacific.) On Saturday, January 27, 2007, Tonja Swank, a freshman told me “I was headed to the game but then I was told that we were being raped and not to bother.” Her friends also said they were leaving because we were down by twenty. Had she come and her friends stayed to cheer the Tigers on, they would have seen a magnificent game. A higher quality entertainment than they could have gotten in their dorm.
The point being, our Tigers need support from Pacific students.
Chris Tredennick, a super-senior majoring in computer engineering said, “when we played UCSB we were down by twenty at the half, but we came back to within three. I felt that the fan support in the second half really helped that comeback rally.”  Tiger Spirit: Stands at the Spanos Center are virtually empty during home games.
I go to every Pacific basketball game, due to work reasons, but at least I am there and that’s better than most can say. Every game, I see the student section nearly empty and the Tiger Pit with only a few Orange Army folk.
Let me educate you with a bit of history. Earlier this century, the Orange Army was just that, an army of students showing school pride by wearing their orange shirts. They came to every game; they were the loudest and usually ran the gamut as far as cheers go in the Spanos Center. But they were there, cheering on their peers and having fun.
Orange Army general Thomas McDonald said “Due to the low turnout of students in the Tiger Pit, Athletics has told us that they will be selling these seats to the general public. I have been told that the only way to save the Tiger Pit is to fill it up each and every game and prove that it is needed by the students.”
So what is causing students to not leave their rooms and come to a game? Some have put up the idea that students are too stressed out to even fathom coming to games due to the intense course load they are taking. Others have said jokingly “students are too busy getting drunk in the rooms and watching videos on YouTube.”
In case the student population doesn’t know, nearly all basketball games (Men’s and Women’s) start at 7 PM. Students get in free all the time, they don’t have to buy a ticket, and you will be kept entertained throughout the entire game.
Remember, most parties on campus don’t start until after 10 PM anyways. Getting hyped up to have a great night starts at 7 PM in the Spanos Center. So come out, wear your orange and get rowdy in the Tiger Pit. Comcast will be at the game on February 8, 2007, so you’ll have a great chance to be on TV as well. I hope to see you there!
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