In the world of sports, there are few things more precious than a ticket to Cameron Indoor Stadium, home of the Duke Blue Devils basketball team. Fortunately, I have a friend smart enough to attend Duke and nice enough to give me the opportunity to enter one of the most sought after sports venues in the country. It only took six hours of waiting in line at Krzyzewskiville, (go ahead, check the spelling), drenched by a storm of freezing rain and snow with hundreds of other Cameron Crazies. But it was all worth it. Despite my hatred for arguably the most successful college basketball program in the country, I could not pass up the chance to become a Cameron Crazy for a day, jumping up and down for 40 minutes yelling like it was the national championship. It was all part of the experience in the sweatbox that is Cameron. And it was awesome.

And then I got to thinking, why not here? Why couldn’t this happen at Quinnipiac too? Now while Duke is obviously more well-known than Quinnipiac, especially for its academic reputation, there are more similarities than you may think . The total number of undergraduate students is fairly similar, and while they are on completely different levels of athletic competition, our teams are sharing comparable success this season. Whether you know it or not, both our men’s and women’s basketball teams are in the midst of a catfight for the top spots in the Northeast Conference, with a combined record of 14-3. More well-known to most students, our hockey team was in the midst of the longest unbeaten streak in school history before getting swept by Niagara this weekend. We are currently ranked anywhere between 10th and 13th in national polls and are near the top of the ECAC.

So why is it so easy to get a hockey ticket this year? And why is it so hard to get more than a few hundred students at a basketball game, let alone fill up the student section? Last season, I had to get up at 7 a.m. to get myself in line for a hockey ticket. For last weekend’s games against Niagara, tickets were still available Friday afternoon. At Duke, people campout in tents throughout the winter months to get a ticket to the Duke/UNC game. Now I am not saying we should be as good, or as crazy, as the Cameron Crazies. They are on a level of their own. But I am willing to bet that if either of our basketball teams hosts the NEC championship game (which is televised on ESPN), the place will be packed with people looking to get on tv.

I came back from winter break with a confidence that our student section could reach and surpass the bar we set last year. While many of you may be furious at this “cheer iniative,” it really shouldn’t affect the way we operate as a student cheering section. No need for the f-bomb or a-hole chants anyway.

Instead, this weekend I was able to witness some of the cardinal sins of fandom. Midway through the second period, with our men’s hockey team trailing 4-1, dozens of student left their seats and headed for the shuttles. I don’t care whether you wanted to catch the shuttle to New Haven or study for an exam for next Wednesday. It was midway through the second period!!! The game was half over. Then on Saturday night, with our team in a tight game with the same team that embarrassed us on our home ice the night before, I’d say 80% of the 75% filled student section were sitting on their hands, seemingly uninterested in supporting the Bobcats.

This is our school and these are our teams. If you don’t want to be loud and stay until the final buzzer, let someone have your ticket. We need creative and organized cheers (with the occasional heckling of opponents of course). Thunderously loud arenas. A tough place for visiting teams to play and a true home-court and home-ice advantage for our Bobcats. Our teams have stepped it up this year. I think it’s time the fans do so as well. It is time to follow the motto: Go Crazy or Go Home.