It seemed as though Bender Arena was literally alive last night as a sea of blue stomped its feet to give the AU venue a heartbeat. Cheesy? Yes. But who cares - this is the first time Eagle fans can actually boast about their team, something Big 10 schools are used to doing on a daily basis.
I'm not going to spurt out a million facts here about how our team improved this semester, or how this season's team compares to the Eagles of the '70s (when we were "good"). That's something we are all sick of hearing.
However, I am going to talk about the other side of the game, the side that doesn't often get looked at - the fans.
According to dictionary.com, a fan is "a person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal, as in religion or politics." Well, AU sure has zeal when it comes to politics, and even religion, but for the first time last night, AU had zeal for its sports team.
From the "go AU" chants to the body painted crazies, it was clear Eagle fans were finally out of hiding and ready to fight for the win against the Holy Cross Crusaders.
Who knows why out of all the games so far this season, people turned out by the thousands for this one. It wasn't the free pizza - there wasn't any - and it definitely wasn't the chance at a new Pontiac G5 - everyone knows even Michael Jordan himself would have an issue making that half-court shot. So what was it?
To be honest, I don't really have an answer to that. Maybe it's because everyone likes a winner. Maybe we're all just fair-weather fans. Or maybe it's because spring break is approaching and we all need something to boast about to our friends who go to Duke or UNC-Chapel Hill.
Maybe it doesn't really matter why. All that seems to matter right now is that they did show up, and the Eagles finally got the support they needed to take down the Crusaders in a Patriot League Tournament game.
Every stomp, jump and cheering voice made a difference - a two-point difference to be exact. Even when the team was down by 12 in the first half, we as fans stuck it out and cheered even louder for our boys.
We can't take full credit for this win, but I think it's fair to say everyone who stood in that arena last night did his or her part.
So where do we go from here? Are we a "one and done" type of crowd, or will we continue to support our teams through thick and thin? That's right, I said teams. Maybe if we took this energy we seemed to conjure up for last night's men's basketball game and applied it to other AU sport teams, we just might start to win - a lot.
So what will it be, AU? It's your decision to make. We have the ability to go from the bottom to the top of the sports totem pole. All it takes is a little spirit and a few splashes of blue body paint.
