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The Notorious L.I.O.N.S.
PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 20, 2007
This past Saturday I woke up around 11:30, took a shower, checked my fantasy basketball team, and proceeded to get dressed. After throwing on some jeans, kicks, two T-shirts, a sweater, scarf, jacket, and hat, I hopped on the 1 train and went uptown. Despite Columbia’s 0-6 Ivy League record, I was optimistic as I traveled up to Baker Field for the last game of the season.
I felt obligated to attend Columbia’s final football game of 2007. Living in the alternate reality that is West Harlem (what the hell is Morningside Heights?), it’s easy to forget that there is a whole world out there where some people live and breathe college football. At schools like Ohio State, LSU, and Michigan, Saturdays have all the features of a holiday—passion, camaraderie, family, friends, alcohol, and excessive amounts of food. You’re only in college once, and you only get a few chances to go to your home field and cheer for your university. That being said, I was excited about watching some football on a brisk November day.
During the game, the Columbia football team treated me the way a stripper treats her patrons—they disappointed me, then got me excited, only to disappoint me again. Columbia let Brown go ahead 21-0 in the first quarter and went into halftime down 24-3. Norries Wilson must have done his best impression of Al Pacino in Any Given Sunday during halftime, because we dominated Brown in the third quarter. As the seagulls slowly flew within arms’ reach of the crowd, the fans were getting energized. During Eugene Edwards’ fourth-quarter fumble return, all 27 Columbia fans in attendance were hollering in adoration. That feeling of adoration didn’t last, however, as Brown proceeded to kick a couple of security field goals and shut out Columbia for the rest of the half. Craig Hormann developed a case of the “Rex Grossman syndrome.” He threw three interceptions in Columbia’s last four drives. The loss ended Columbia’s season and secured a final record of 1-9, 0-7 in the Ivy League.
When I left the game, I was befuddled by a variety of things.
For starters, the fact that we didn’t win a game in the Ivy League all year is perplexing. How do you go defeated in the Ivy League? It’s ridiculous on so many levels. I feel like a Miami Dolphins fan. Hell, Miami just brought back Ricky “Pass That Dutch” Williams—maybe Columbia should be trying to bring back Chad “Southern Finest” Musgrove.
Secondly, I know that this topic has been beaten to death, but what do we have to do in order to get more fans to come to home games? No exaggeration—there were just about as many Brown fans in attendance on Saturday as there were Columbia fans. If those non-requirement-having hippies can come all the way from Providence to upper Manhattan, the least we can do is take the 1 train 10 stops uptown.
There was so much talk coming into the year about the football team building a dynasty and dominating their opponents. From what I saw this year, we deserve to be demoted to Division III. Our only win came against Marist. MARIST! When your only win of the season comes against a small liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, it’s probably time to step back and re-evaluate your approach to the game.
At the end of the day I was able to get off campus and watch some live college football. No matter what Columbia’s record, that fact alone should be enough to draw fans to Baker Field. However, that wasn’t the case. The perpetual mediocrity that is Columbia football had me feeling queasy. I left Baker Field on Saturday feeling cold, hungry, angry, tired, and frustrated.
Thank God it’s basketball season.
Jelani Johnson is a Columbia College sophomore majoring in history. He can be reached at sports@columbiaspectator.com.
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A true, non wishy-washy fan supports his team whether they win or loose. The mere fact that you wrote this article shows that you are not a supporter nor a fan with school spirit, but merely a hypocritical crowd follower who jumps along when the going is good, but runs to laugh when things go bad. I can't wait to see the article you write about how much you love the CU football team when things change next season.
The tone of the article might have been sarcastic and a little negatvie, but it's hard not to be when the Columbia Football program continues to finish at the bottom of the league year after year. This is a program which has had 4 or 5 winning seasons in the 50+ year history of the Ivy League, so it is hard to accuse the Spec of tearing down the team.
This should not take anything away from the effort that all the student-athletes and coaching staff who are part of the program put in every day of the week. They are to be admired and supported for that, but at the end of the day, that is unfortunately not enough. The road to success for CU Athletics does not go through the football program, not withstanding all the money that Kraft or Bill Campbell want to throw at it (at least Kraft knows how to build a winning team, whereas Campbell was a mediocre coach of CU football) and all the laudable efforts of Dianne Murphy. Why can't the Athletics Department focus on a sport like basket-ball that requires less resources, is much easier to turn around, can get the campus excited and bring CU national recognition (through the NCAA tournament)?
For the record, there were over 3900 people at the game; exhibiting much better fan behavior than you did. Why, even in a student newspaper, would you report there were 27 Columbia fans; when the reality is; there were probably about 100 times that amount.
Do we really need articles like this? I'm amazed at the lack of respect your fellow students get on the football field, but at the same time, this is the Spec. You have a history of tearing down the team.
Perhaps it is not too late for you to join the hunger strikers.
Agreed on your comment -- its easy to write a sacrastic critical article from the warm confines or your dorm room. Why dont you put your efforts to some good. Be a leader not a degrader.
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