When the Buccaneer basketball team won the SoCon championship and garnered an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament, the ETSU campus saw an enormous surge of school spirit and Buccaneer pride.
Pep rallies and parties were held, and people proudly wore their ETSU T-shirts and supported the Bucs, even when critics insisted they had no chance against a No. 2 seed like Wake Forest, the top rebounding team in the nation.
But the Bucs proved those critics wrong, and the ETSU community continued to be proud of the team for putting up such a great fight against a basketball powerhouse.
Now, the Buc spirit is waning once again, as the student body’s general apathy concerning ETSU sports returns. Game attendance drops, and the buzz about the Bucs falls to a barely-audible whisper.
Yet, despite the lack of interest, students indicated that they felt the athletic programs at ETSU are important, according to an article appearing in the East Tennessean earlier this semester.
If students feel athletics are important and should not be cut due to lack of funding, then why is attendance at games and other events so disappointing?
It must be disheartening for any athlete to play for mostly-empty bleachers, but if no one comes to the games, that’s exactly what happens.
The electric atmosphere during this year’s SoCon basketball tournament championship game was amazing, as numerous ETSU fans loudly cheered the Bucs on to victory.
Yet, when you go to a football game in the Dome, the S.C.U.B.s are practically the only ones standing up and cheering.
Students and the community alike should take the pride they felt for ETSU during March Madness and carry it on throughout the year; not just for basketball, but for every sport.
Athletes at ETSU deserve to have more than a sparse group of people at their games.
Instead of sitting at home, watching television or surfing the ‘net, why not put on your blue and gold and come out to show some love for your team?
It’s time to stop being fair-weather fans and stand behind the Bucs, win or lose.

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