BCU/Morningside opinion

As most of you know, Briar Cliff came away with a split vs. Morningside tonight. The women lost, but they battled to send the game to overtime and then ran out of gas, which happens. The guys played a good game and I give full credit to the Mustang defense (commit this to memory cause I don't compliment Morningside often) for the good job they did on BCU.

As good as it was to beat Morningside for the third time this year, and in the case of the men's team three games in a row, the main reason for this post is to get on the one aspect of BCU that didn't show up at all during the game... The BLUE CREW.

Now before you start getting on me about the fact that it's finals week, don't even start because I get it. Heck I had two finals today including one that took place during the women's game, but I still found the energy to cheer on the Chargers all night and the fact that the opponent was Morningside gave me even more momentum. But apparently I was the only one who felt that way, because there was no life in the CREW at all tonight.

What happened to the days when opponents would be shaking in fear when they walked into the Newman Flanagan Center because they knew the BLUE CREW would be on them from pregame warmups til the postgame handshakes?

What happened to the days when the BLUE CREW would stand for the WHOLE 40 MINUTES regardless of whether the opponent was Morningside or York College?

Now don't give me that crap about being "too tired" because of studying and taking finals because that is just that CRAP! If you were really that tired, you never should've been at the NFC in the first place. You should've been back in your room sleeping, but you chose to show up to the game and as soon as you walked through those doors, you were expected to bring the noise.

Now maybe the problem is that you hear me use that term and don't know what it means. BRING THE NOISE is defined as making all kinds of noise during sporting events that supports the team you're cheering for and demoralizes the team you're cheering against.

Also I heard some people say they were afraid to get into it because their were a couple of policemen at the game. I understand this concern, but let me explain why there is no reason to worry. The police were at that game because of some incidents that have occurred over the years between students from both schools downtown on Saturday nights. Their main reason for being there is to prevent any fights from breaking out between fans and making the NFC look like the 700 Level at Philly's Veteran's Stadium. They will not bother you unless they are provoked which only occurs when heated arguments break out between fans, someone yells an f-bomb or something similar a little too loudly and usually only if it has occurred a couple of times, or if someone runs out on the court for no real reason. They WILL NOT bother you for heckling opposing players, as long as it is clean, chanting AIR BALL, cheering on your team, or standing up during play, not even if the old people complain about it to the cops (trust me I've seen it).

I do realize that some of you weren't here when the CREW was rocking the gym two years ago, but those of you who were here, the seniors and juniors are one of the main reasons this problem has come up. When those upper classmen that led the CREW when we were freshmen and sophomores were underclassmen, they stepped up once the guys they looked up to graduated and moved away, and when guys like Larry Caouette, Adam Robards, Roger Sandau, Anthony Dvorak, Travis Schumacher, Tuba, and "The J-Man" Jason Pulliam graduated two years ago, I knew without them even telling me that it was my time to step up and lead the CREW. The problem is that I seem to be the only one who realized this because not one other senior or junior has stepped up since that night in Orange City when the 2007-08 BCU men's basketball season came to an end.

So for those of you who weren't here, here is how it used to be. The BLUE CREW would stand for the whole game and cheer on the Chargers, acting like the Cameron Crazies jumping up and down when our team was on defense, and heckling the opponents by giving them nicknames like Rogaine, Showoff, etc; insulting them with phrases like Scotty Doesn't Know, or Air Ball; and distracting them during free throws with "The Ric Flair Scream", "Hey (name) I hear your sister's goin' out with Squeak", Psych, and the silent treatment (which was the only thing the CREW did tonight). When it came to Morningside it was even easier because we would use things that they had done downtown against them. We would also travel to road games that were close by like Northwestern, Dordt and Morningside, fill their gyms with Charger blue and out cheer their student sections, including one time at Dordt where there were only two of us because we were in the middle of a break and we still outcheered their student section of 30-40 people.

So the bottom line is that once this season ends, the torch is passed from me and the rest of the seniors to YOU to get this student section into it. And all I've got to ask is... Who's it gonna be? Who is willing to step up to the plate and get this CREW rocking again? Because from what I saw tonight, there is NOBODY willing to do that, and if nobody does than the Newman Flanagan Center will just be another boring crowd in the GPAC, just like Dordt, and just like Northwestern.

I'm DK and that's the 411.