I woke up to a lovely text message from my mom late Sunday reading, “Just got home from the bank. Do you have cash on you?”

I can barely type the response, “No, how much is left?” Not five minutes pass before her next message appears: “None!” I smirk, roll over in bed, fully clothed, and mutter, “That’s about right.”

That’s what happens when your school’s basketball team, which is projected to make the NCAA Tournament, opens its season at Mohegan Sun, and I couldn’t be happier.

This wasn’t a normal Saturday of laying on the couch in pain from the night before, watching college football, followed by everyone going to Toad’s Place against their will.

Instead, Saturday had everything a weekend in college should have: college basketball, gambling, strippers, and free drinks.

Right around the time that I was crushing free drinks like it was prom night, and throwing every dollar I had onto the blackjack table, I thought to myself, “Quinnipiac should have every game here.” I figure, just like my blackjack hands, the Quinnipiac community should be going all in this year. We are preseason favorites to win the NEC for the first time in school history. Let’s make it count.

If some of us want to make it count simply by attending our home games and cheering, I’m all for that too. Like the saying goes, “to each his own.” I’ll be happy as long as we get constant fan support. I just think we should be treating this season like it’s the most important in school history, because it probably is.

I know they say at games we should be fans and not fanatics, but it’s time for that to change. Everything is in place for our team to make a serious run at winning a game in the NCAA Tournament. So let’s start acting like we are at Mohegan each game, because I think fanatics are the only thing the Bobcats are missing right now.