USD v. SDSU Basketball

                San Diego has three major schools in one small area: USD, SDSU, and UCSD. Since UCSD focuses solely on academics a rivalry developed between USD and SDSU. The two schools couldn’t be more different, which only adds fuel to the fire. Earlier this month the USD men’s basketball team took on the SDSU basketball team at SDSU. USD gave out free tickets and paid for busses to take us all to the game. The school gave out 200 tickets, so we were excited for a good show. Saturday evening rolled around and we headed to campus in our USD gear to meet the busses. We knew the night was not looking good when 50 or so people out of 200 had bothered to show up. Had the game been at USD this wouldn’t have been a problem, since that’s probably the average amount of students in attendance at sporting events, but we were going to SDSU, a school whose enrollment is around 33,000 students. I should also mention that the SDSU basketball team is ranked 14^th in the nation, while our toreros are ranked 300 something. We needed all the help we could get. Never the less, we loaded on the busses undeterred, ready to take on the Aztec fans. One short trip later we were walking into the massive Viejas stadium, met by a sea of red. Keeping our confidence and ready to support our team we yelled, cheered, and chanted as loud as we could. Our efforts were impressive and seemed to be working during the first half. We were in the lead for a majority of the first before falling slightly, entering the second half down by 5. At this point, the night took a turn for the worse. The Aztecs game back with a vengeance and we found ourselves watching in bewilderment as the gap widened. What really bothered me; however, was not the fact that we were getting crushed, but the USD fans. Everyone who had so much heart and passion early in the game fell silent. The excitement had left our little section and was replaced with defeat. My friend went up front to start another cheer and was told that we had nothing to cheer about, and that our team sucked. What kind of fans sit down and shut up the moment your team starts losing? I for one don’t abandon my teams when they need their fans the most. Let’s be honest, we all knew we would never win that game, but we came for the fun, the chance to make fun of SDSU kids, and to support our team. What happened to all of that? The SDSU v. USD game was a brilliant display of how horrendous our school spirit and pride is. So I will end this blog with a message to USD fans: The USD basketball team may suck but so do you. Learn how to be real fans and then maybe we’ll start winning, or at least be able to have a little fun at games.