Hi my name is Joseph Moore and I’m an excited Mason men’s basketball fan. I have some concerns about the Patriot fanbase, so I thought I’d write about it. Before I get to that you need to know a little about me. For starters when I came to George Mason, I was excited about two things my classes (I know boring) and Mason basketball. I knew Mason didn’t have a football team and was mainly a commuter school so athletics weren’t as much of a central part of campus life as in other universities. I was very excited and as time passed and opening day came closer, I couldn’t wait to experience my first college basketball game as a student with a team who I could root for.
The first game was thoroughly enjoyable from every aspect. I tried the food and the chipotle cheese steak hit and the pretzel was pretty good. I sat in the student section with my roommate and we could see everything and we were excited. We were in for a treat. The game was tense for the entire time and when it went to overtime it was just the icing on top. It only got better with the crowd getting louder as the team began to score almost every three-pointer they put in the air. I also went to the second game which was fun but it simply didn’t match the hype of the first. The third game I watched from the dorm instead, I was impressed by the team and I thought the announcing was pretty good. I would have preferred for more energy from the announcer. I always like when there is more energy because I feel like it only brings more hype moments. By the time the fourth game came around I was super excited. The team was 3-0 at this point and was coming into what was supposed to be a rival game against James Madison.
From my experience with sports rivalry games the crowd is supposed to be on their feet screaming all the time, possibly getting into fights in the parking lot with the visiting fans. Maybe it is just because I was raised a Redskins fan. When the day finally came for the fourth game, I was excited to see what experiences it would bring.
My rivalry game experience started with my roommate and I attending the pre-game tailgate in Lot A. I was surprised to see the parking lot was half empty and was practically full of alumni. I thought it was just the cold that kept people away and I hoped the game would be better. Unfortunately I was let down. The crowd barely stood for any of the game even though it was tied going into halftime. This is where I really started thinking about the apparent crowd energy problem. The only real raw energy came in the tail end of the second half with a couple big plays from Jordan Miller and Javon Greene. However, as time was winding down there was a play that concerned me, Javon Greene drew a charge and the student section didn’t react at all. My roommate had to ask me what happened. That it is a play with which the student section should explode and be screaming. Instead I saw was a few cheers and lots of confused faces. This is not what I expected from a rivalry game.
I am going to be honest I thought that I would be on my feet the entire time screaming and cheering my team onto victory. Instead I was the only one standing up in my section when we took big shots and I most certainly was the loudest one screaming when they would go in. Hopefully this changes as the year progresses.
This week the team played Tuesday in a nail-biter game against Loyola Maryland. They ended up winning. I wasn’t able to attend but apparently the crowd wasn’t very full or loud. This win meant that as a program Mason is 5-0 for the first time in school history. I would’ve thought that if the team started out undefeated more people around the school would be talking about it and in the stands cheering. Instead I was in the dining hall after the game and no one was talking about it. This is a huge problem there are smaller schools that have more spirit than we do.
Today the boys have a very tough game against our neighbors in Maryland. The boys will be traveling up to College Park and playing a very tough opponent in their home territory. Yet there seems to be no excitement on campus about the game. No watch parties planned for the Patriot fanbase. No travel accommodations if students wanted to attend. Nothing that would get potential Patriot fans aware that the team is playing a top 25 team on national television tomorrow.
I would like to see changes to improve this and for the Patriot fanbase to prove me wrong, especially as the team comes closer into playing conference games. Conference games which can make or break our year and possibly result in another Cinderella run. I have faith our team can make a run, but does the Patriot fanbase? What will the fanbase do to help this run become a reality?
