I've had that SU game circled on my calendar for some time now. Its my oldest son's birthday (St.Joe-Philly grad) and my middle son is an SU grad and bleeds orange. ( I hate that kid
so we'll all be there rooting for SJU ( except that SU kid) Really though, its tough going to that game every year and seeing all those orange sweaters. They were even there in a blizzard. SU has no competion upstate; as someone said they are upstate NY's pro sports team. But you have to tip you hat to them. They've had a long and successful run and reload every year; year after year. SJU doesn't get much ink and until recently didn't deserve any. Things are changing though, but it will take a long string of success to approach what SU has. And, we all need to turn out on 12/15 to root for SJU. The longest journey begins with the first step. Go Redmen.
Unfortunately many students on campus don't really even understand where the team's at. They don't know if we are supposed to be good or bad, what players we have considering us, what players we have, etc. I can't tell you how many students I've come across in which I brought up SJU basketball and they said "Oh, we are supposed to be good? I didn't know that". It makes me palm my face. Many students don't have a pulse on the team and haven't the slightest clue if we are about to be primed for a major season or not. I feel like there are only a few hundred diehard student fans. In a fairly big school with a solid basketball history, that's sad.
Joe, do you want know something? Even during our Final Four year, most students on campus weren't "bitten by the bug". Back then there was an excuse - tickets were scarce because alumni hall was filled mostly with - alumni. But it was kind of disgusting when all of a sudden we made the final four and students who had no idea what was going on with the team were suddenly "into it". For years this has been the case. In recent years we had some competitive squads, but it was only when Duke came to the Garden that the student sections were filled with "crazed fans" who frankly couldn't tell our players from Duke players out of uniform. Unfortunately, student apathy has a long tradition at St. Johns
There has to be a remedy for this...not sure why the administration isn't putting their heads together trying to come up with ideas. We need more posters on campus, more flyers, jersey giveaways (cheap screen prints), a catch-phrase other than we are, meet and greets with coach Lav and the squad, pep rallies, deals for a ticket + soda + pizza + transportation for $15-20, etc. It just seems the effort isn't out there. We need a group like The 7 Line is to the Mets for SJU.
I'm not sure what the remedy is. Winning would sure help a lot. Let me ask you. In your photo, you were decked out head to toe in SJU gear. At a lot of schools, wearing school gear is so popular, that just about every student has a wardrobe of school shirts, caps, shorts, jackets, etc. Is this the case on campus at SJU? Just curious - most kids at schools I've visited absolutely love the school they are at, and its evident. School spirit is wrapped around sports like basketball and football. If students don't show up for games for decent teams, it probably means more about school spirit than it does about the sport itself. At most schools, strong athletics drive school spirit, making the whole university machine work. Imagine what enrollment would be at a Big Ten or ACC school if sports didn't exist at those schools? Great teams with a big following drives up the quality of student wishing to come to that school as well.
