Opinion: We need to stop sleeping on our sports teams

Contributed by Charles Horn

S&B Sports editor Henry Horn `26 thinks we should be doing more for our athletes.

On my first day on campus, I looked up at the north wall of Darby Gymnasium and was shocked by how many national scoring titles the men’s basketball team had won. I had thought of Grinnell as a school concerned almost entirely with academics, and so the thought of a successful team was incredibly exciting to me. I imagined the stands that flanked the court filled with students, cheering our revolutionary team on.

I quickly learned that, barring some special event, I would never really see the rowdy crowd that I dreamed of. I have sat through numerous soccer and football games by myself, wondering what better things my peers have to do on a nice Saturday afternoon.

We are college students. I am not saying that there is an obligation to attend games, but I believe that a sense of community is important, and there are few better ways to cultivate this than showing up to sports. I’m not hypothesizing here.

As someone who shows up, I can attest to the enjoyment of seeing a game with friends and strangers alike.

I can only think of one time that I’ve seen a student section full at a game, which was men’s basketball against Illinois College last year. It was loud, intense, and, most of all, fun, and I think everyone who attended would say the same.

But to get people to come to that game took a huge effort of advertisement and word-of-mouth persuasions, which is not a sustainable method of getting students to perform the simple task of walking to the gym.

While it is the main issue, attendance alone does not fix our problem. Spirit needs to be there as well, which we are lacking. When I went to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball game in Wisconsin against University of Wisconsin (UW)-Platteville, I was one of a few students there. I am not saying that more people should have been there, as a four hour drive is not feasible for most students, but I was slightly disappointed by the lack of emotion from the students who did make the trip. Granted, we were getting our asses handed to us in that game, but I believe that a thrashing only gave us more reason to cheer on our squad.

We’re letting our peers down, and, frankly, we are letting ourselves down. We need to make a bigger effort as a student body to show up and show out for our teams. I don’t care if you’re going to the biggest women’s soccer game of the year or a random non-conference baseball game with little importance. Just come to the game and cheer, damn it.