A struggling team with devoted fans.

At Varsity boys’ basketball games row after row of bleachers are occupied by students who came to cheer on their team.  In a previous issue of The Oracle, head Varsity basketball coach Jason Eldredge, claimed that the Spartan Spirit was in his opinion, missing in action.

As a fan of the basketball team, I take this claim very personally.  To get a good seat at a boys basketball game, students arrive anywhere between 45 minutes to a half an hour before the game even starts.  Seniors have been kicked out of those games for yelling at a referee or getting “too rowdy,” simply because they care about the players on the team and want them to be successful.

To say that the Spartans don’t have spirit is completely absurd.  Senior students give up their school nights as well as the occasional weekend night to come watch their 3-17 boys’ basketball team play basketball.  My mention of their record is not a knock on the team at all.  I have been to every single one of their home games and was a member of the football team who, as we all know, had their struggles this year as well.  Amongst the crowd of fans at the home games are two former Varsity basketball players.  One player, the second leading scorer on last year’s team.  The other was the starting point guard on the varsity team two years ago, who, because he was excited about the coaching change, decided to come out for the team again.

Despite the fact that they were cut from the basketball team this year, not because of their talent, but because they were not dedicated to the team, they still continue to go to the games and support their former teammates, showing their dedication to the team.  Once again, to say the students have no spirit is completely absurd.

After the team’s final home game against Annandale, a player on the team lashed out at fans for leaving the game at halftime, accusing them of not supporting the team and making the claim that they had nothing better to do on a Tuesday night.  He even went so far as to say that the students that left the game early were “going home to get drunk.”

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I would say that doing homework, on a school night, is more important than going to a basketball game.  However, in this case, students took time out of their night to come to support their team and who they thought would be their grateful players.  I remember a night, ironically against Annandale, when the football team was losing pretty badly much like the basketball team recently did.  Fans at that game left the game early as well, but no football players accused the fans of not being supportive and instead were grateful that their friends came out to watch them on a Friday night, when they could be doing other things.

Having a bad season is unfortunately a part of life, but blaming fans for not being supportive and not having spirit is completely absurd and in my opinion a sheepish way of handling a loss.  If that’s how players are going to react after a loss, I encourage the fans to instead go to girls games, where they are apparently more appreciated.