A Call To Arms

Listen up, Harvard sports fans. I've got a question for all of you:

Where were you last night?

You definitely weren't at Lavietes Pavilion. Your women's basketball team was busy chalking up another Ivy League victory, and, once again, not many of you showed up.

It was a sparse crowd, indeed. Check that--it was a sparse Harvard crowd.

There were a number of fans cheering wildly for the Crimson last night. They were a group of young girls from a basketball league in West Roxbury.

You should have heard them. They screamed for the Harvard players like kids usually do for sports figures they idolize.

Yep, I said idolize.

After the game, these girls simply mobbed the Crimson in hopes of getting an autograph or a chance to say hello. Just ask Allison Feaster, who was swarmed by more than one hundred little faces eager to meet the young lady who they had just seen score 28 points.

It was almost a perfect college athletic atmosphere. There was just one thing missing...YOU!

I'm not talking to the Harvard students who couldn't care less about sports--I couldn't care less about them. This column is directed at all of you Harvard sports fans who are not turning out to watch this team.

What's the problem?

The 1996-97 Harvard women's basketball team is currently undefeated against Ivy League opponents; no Ivy League team has ever gone undefeated in league play.

That should be all I need to say.

I am calling on all Harvard basketball fans to come down to Lavietes Pavilion (that's the building directly in front of Harvard Stadium, for those of you who have never been there) and support your team like the kids from West Roxbury did.

Why aren't you coming? Do you not have the time? The games are less than two hours long.

Try again.

Would you rather go out on a Friday or Saturday night? The games start at 6:00 p.m. So, given the previous point, they are over well before most people even start planning their evening.

As a matter of fact, these games are a perfect way to get your evening started. Catch a game at six o'clock, scream your head off, get rowdy and go celebrate a Harvard victory (I'll leave the manner of celebration to your imagination).

So you see, there is no reason not to go watch the Crimson play. But the best reason of all to attend these games is really quite simple...this team is good!

Nothing is more exciting or more invigorating than cheering for a team that [pretty much] always wins. Even the fair weather fans would be happy. And hey, they are welcome to come also.

Let's put this into statistical terms. The maximum seating capacity of Lavietes Pavilion is 2,195. This team usually struggles to draw a crowd of more than 300.

I'm not a statistics concentrator, but that does not look, to me like a very high percentage.

Tonight, the Crimson will attempt to tie the record for most consecutive Ivy League victories. The only obstacle in its way is Columbia.

Start the support tonight. Come out and watch the Harvard Crimson write itself into the record books. You might just like what you see.

Hey, the players are going to play whether or not the fans are there. And they are going to win either way. Feaster will score her 25 points every night, Jessica Gelman will dish out her 10 assists and Kelly Black will be a terror on the boards.

But it would be nice if they had an audience for which to play.