Rage Geringer
Better yet, do you call yourself a fan of any team? I do not mean a ‘ya, I hope they do well’ type of fan, but rather an ‘I live for this team and my hormones reflect how the team is doing’ sort of fan.
So maybe your fan hood for the University of Wyoming Cowboys is not that extreme, but seriously, where are all the fans? When I was eating at Washakie one day I witnessed something that was completely embarrassing for me, a Cowboy’s fan. Men’s basketball head coach Larry Shyatt and mascot Pistol Pete were walking through the school cafeteria handing out hand bills trying to recruit people to come to their games.
Is this how bad it is? That the head coach has to go beg people to come to their games like a minor begging to get out of an MIP?
Even more embarrassing is the fact that if you walk around campus you will see advertisements for Saturday’s game against #11 ranked University of Nevada Las Vegas written in chalk. Yes, the same chalk that you used to draw hopscotch patterns with when you were younger-chalk that attracts the attention of little kids.
I can see Syracuse or Penn State trying to use chalk to recruit fans to their games, but Wyoming? Are we to that point of desperation for fans that we have to use chalk?
Do not get me wrong. I applaud the fact that Shyatt is willing to go through this amount of trouble to get fans. Bravo. But he shouldn’t have to.
The fact of the matter is this is our school and we should have enough pride to go out and support our athletes that represent us around the country. We have one of the best women’s coaches in the game —Joe Legerski.
The same head coach that was winning NIT championships just years ago. Now when you go to women’s games you see, oh wait, you wouldn’t know because you don’t go.
That is how pathetic some of the fans are here. The girls started out horribly, let’s just call a spade a spade. However, they are maturing right before the eyes of the few fans that go to the games. If you like scoring and shooting, then you need to witness a women’s game because they have some of the best scorers in the entire conference. They are also in the top half of the conference ranking now and are on quite a roll. But you wouldn’t know that would you?
I am challenging you to go to the men’s game against UNLV on Saturday. Fill the dome. Do not just go and sit there all cool. Turn your swag off and get up and make it hell for the opponent. Then next week when the New Mexico women come to town, go to that game too. In fact, I am willing to give away a free Wyoming t-shirt to the person that emails me with the best school spirit for their women.
I’m calling you out Poke nation. Step up.
Until next time.
OP brings an interesting dichotomy to the discussion. Where do collegiate sports begin for university life, and where do they end. The education industrial complex encourages us to cheer on our athletes as they supposedly help bring money into the institution. However, what happened to being good students and spending time in the library studying and furthering our knowledge. It would be very interesting to compare educational value with the schools he has listed, as I seriously doubt that there can be an implication between bigger and better sports and academics.
Actually the attendance for the girls games is very good. The Cowgirls average over 3100 fans which ranks them 33rd in the country. That is counting over 300 NCAA Division I Women’s programs.
As for the comments by Anon. There is a correlation to athletic success and academic success. If the athletic teams do well that earns more money for the University who can then use that money to increase the academic programs of the University.
I do agree with Rage the Cowboys do need more support.