2008 Woodie Awards
I Feel Stupid and Contagious: Smells of School Spirit
Tim Rodenberger
Issue date: 4/29/08 Section: Opinion
It was a brave and heroic battle at Denver last April, our warriors in green and white took to the ice and fought Boston College in a fight to the death! It was glorious! Truly worthy of song in the Halls of Kahless for generations to come!
Who am I kidding?
It was the Charge of the not-so Light Brigade, Hakstol's Last Charge, the Denver Death March. It was a massacre! It doesn't matter that we placed, or that we put the gophers in their place without the need to hurl dead animals on the ice (they wouldn't let us); what matters is that we lost and SOMEONE is to blame for it!
But who is to blame for this abysmal loss? Times have changed, our players are getting worse. They won't obey their coaches they just want to lose and curse. Should we blame the fans? Or blame society? Or should we blame the lack of coverage on TV? NO! Blame Canada! Let's blame Canada! With their curling hullabaloo and that William Shatner too!! We need to form a full assault! It's Canada's fault!!
*end South Park reference*
Yeah, blaming Canada would be a bit over the top, wouldn't it?
School spirit is essential to college life as it makes us feel better for spending $6000 on tuition ($14,000 for out-of-state) when our hockey team places in the Frozen Four. It's a great way for a sea of over 10,000 aimlessly wandering students to find some direction to follow. Rooting for our team gives us something better to do with our weekends, like embracing the Atkins diet with tailgate parties, building really ugly floats, and cursing at total strangers dressed in maroon and gold. School spirit truly is a powerful force.
However, with great power comes great responsible. Like giving a hormone-driven freshmen access to a T1 line and no parental oversight school spirit can make people do weird, if not wrong, things like blaming Canada for our loss in Denver (it's still their fault!). When you mix alcohol (especially lots of it) with school spirit, things are bound to get interesting if not downright strange. Side effects may include acute dizziness, nausea, vomiting, rioting, drunken staggering in a high school letter jacket, coyote ugly, streaking, erectile dysfunction, and... *shudders* watching Uwe Boll films. OK, so for school spirit to get out of hand one needs lots of (cheap) alcohol and a soccer hooligan mentality akin to South America and Manchester United fans but there is still the element of emotions running high.
Who am I kidding?
It was the Charge of the not-so Light Brigade, Hakstol's Last Charge, the Denver Death March. It was a massacre! It doesn't matter that we placed, or that we put the gophers in their place without the need to hurl dead animals on the ice (they wouldn't let us); what matters is that we lost and SOMEONE is to blame for it!
But who is to blame for this abysmal loss? Times have changed, our players are getting worse. They won't obey their coaches they just want to lose and curse. Should we blame the fans? Or blame society? Or should we blame the lack of coverage on TV? NO! Blame Canada! Let's blame Canada! With their curling hullabaloo and that William Shatner too!! We need to form a full assault! It's Canada's fault!!
*end South Park reference*
Yeah, blaming Canada would be a bit over the top, wouldn't it?
School spirit is essential to college life as it makes us feel better for spending $6000 on tuition ($14,000 for out-of-state) when our hockey team places in the Frozen Four. It's a great way for a sea of over 10,000 aimlessly wandering students to find some direction to follow. Rooting for our team gives us something better to do with our weekends, like embracing the Atkins diet with tailgate parties, building really ugly floats, and cursing at total strangers dressed in maroon and gold. School spirit truly is a powerful force.
However, with great power comes great responsible. Like giving a hormone-driven freshmen access to a T1 line and no parental oversight school spirit can make people do weird, if not wrong, things like blaming Canada for our loss in Denver (it's still their fault!). When you mix alcohol (especially lots of it) with school spirit, things are bound to get interesting if not downright strange. Side effects may include acute dizziness, nausea, vomiting, rioting, drunken staggering in a high school letter jacket, coyote ugly, streaking, erectile dysfunction, and... *shudders* watching Uwe Boll films. OK, so for school spirit to get out of hand one needs lots of (cheap) alcohol and a soccer hooligan mentality akin to South America and Manchester United fans but there is still the element of emotions running high.
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