After Boston College football pulled out an exciting, well-fought victory against Syracuse, about a quarter of the BC student section finally trickled out of their place in Alumni Stadium. Where were the rest? Already gone, and had been gone for a while. Those empty stands were antithetical to the turnout at the previous night’s hockey game against Maine, featuring a line wrapping around the back of Conte Forum and a student section that was full and rowdy until the very end of the game.
When things aren’t going well, BC’s Superfans are about as flaky and uncommitted as your situationship. But things did go well against Syracuse. Victory was in our grasp, and the closeness of the game in the last quarter made for exciting tension. So why did our student section break down so much before the game ended?
Maybe it’s just late-season boredom or the knowledge that there is no path to a championship game greater than a bowl, or—as recognized by Thomas Castellanos—we are BC students and have classes to go to and homework to do. Yet underlying every game-day weekend, there seems to be a deep sense of frustration and pessimism that appears both before and after, regardless of whether we win or lose. Our student section could use a little more hope, joy, and fidelity.
A fanbase with a defeatist mindset creates a self-fulfilling prophecy: How do we build up a better, stronger football program if the school that it represents doesn’t even believe in it? On the field, with a roaring, passionate crowd behind them, the team can not only play with confidence but also with a purpose: to play for BC and what it stands for and deserves to be, for the community here that loves them and that they love back.
BC is one of those unique schools where the football team is not sequestered away from the general student body, but very much a part of it. The players share dorms and dining halls with regular students. You might sit next to a player in a lecture or at mass or be partners in a group project. This makes our connection to the team all the more personal. Why not support those friends and classmates who put their hearts and bodies on the line every game day for us and for our shared BC identity?
And, as current students, there’s nothing like being right in the excitement and rowdiness of our student section during a dramatic game. There are only so many home games per year, and the season flies by quickly. Why not make the most of each one by soaking up every minute of cheering in Alumni Stadium?
We can’t let the glorious mythos of the BC Superfan dissolve into a lukewarm reality. This requires work, this requires faith, and this requires us to buy into something bigger than just the outcome of a game or even a season. Every game, we have the opportunity to live out the Superfan tradition, and we should treat it as an honor and as our responsibility to dictate the culture of our student section. Doing so begins and ends with staying and seeing our team through to the end.
So cheer your heart out. Allow yourself to be an excited BC Superfan who sticks it out for the team that you love through thick and thin, someone who cheers for the Eagles from the heart no matter the outcome. Everyone wants to see BC sports lighting the NCAA on fire. So play your part and contribute to the spark that will light this fire and send our team on an inextinguishable path toward national greatness.
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