It was normal, it was ever so normal. The crowd was loud and there were points where I felt like I was at the Cotton Bowl.
Strawberry Stadium in Hammond, Louisiana has something that Bowers Stadium lacks, which is, fans and support.
I have been at Sam for about a year now and the one thing I wish there was more of is support. With the exceptions of the Kat Krazies and the freshmen, the student section at games is empty.
Let me make one thing clear people – you go away to college – that don’t mean that every weekend you run back home to be with mommy and daddy. If you wanted to do that, go to junior college and save your parents some money.
The reason they call it home field advantage is because the crowd is supposed to get rowdy and loud, disrupting the other team’s play calling and communication. The only problem Bowers lacks is that there aren’t enough fans to make the noise. One metal sign and a few hammers can only do so much.
I would love nothing more than to see the football team get a penalty for the crowd throwing stuff on the field, because at least that would mean that fans cared enough to do something about the game. But last time I checked, empty seats don’t throw trash or cause commotion.
There was a point in the game where the Southeastern fans came down to the rails and taunted the Sam Houston players, I mean really badgered them. The Bearkat in me wanted to hit these guys so hard they would be paying their dentists’ college loans back, but the reporter in me couldn’t help but want to see that at our own games.
Wouldn’t it be great? Fans taunting the other team so much that members of their traveling group would feel the urge to shove a penalty flag down our fans’ throats in order to shut them up.
What will it take for this to happen? Booze day? Where the first one thousand students to the game get a free beer. Or how about extra credit day? First thousand kids get a letter grade boost. I don’t know what to suggest anymore.
It gets worse than football season though. Volleyball games are pretty empty and I won’t even start on Soccer games.
But if we could do one thing right it would be the Stephen F. Austin game. Students can get on the bus and head to SFA for 40 dollars. Wouldn’t that be a sight? Burst into SFA with a bus load of orange and some war cries?
Please, students, show up to a game. Start with one, if we had as many people at a football game as we do at quarter night, maybe we could make the words, “home field advantage,” mean something.