Pressbox: Enthusiastic crowd for football game

Last Saturday afternoon I witnessed something remarkable. As I sat and watched the football team jump out to a 10-0 lead against Thiel, the crowd came alive. There was music, dancing, screaming, unbridled enthusiasm.

Not even during the fervor over last Spring's women's lacrosse team or for any basketball opener have I seen such an unrestrained response to Oberlin athletics. There were painted fans. All social, racial, economic, and cool/uncool divisions were forgotten. Not tolerated, ignored or celebrated, just forgotten. All students became equal under the unifying force of the Yeomen's cause.

As the crowd watched Thiel come back and then take the lead, there was that ubiquitous feeling that frequent Oberlin athletics fan all recognize. Of course it would be too good to be true. We never win. This is where I left. Our teams just can't seem to win when I'm there and I really should be banned from going to any major games. Thank goodness last year's lacrosse championship was an away game.

So I leave and of course we win in an incredibly suspenseful second half and so what if I didn't actually get to witness the surge of fans on to the field or see Pete Peterson get carried off in people's arms. I still am amazed at what I saw, heard and felt during the first half, especially since it was mostly Oberlin students.

Everyone loves the underdog. In a world where front-page news is always depressing, the triumph of the underdog is guaranteed to illicit that gush of feeling you get when watching Hoosiers or Breaking Away. The coverage Oberlin will supposedly be getting from Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and CNN seems to concur.

People probably don't consider that the triumph of the underdog could be enacted at this school much more frequently with such crowd support as exhibited on Saturday. It's an unfortunate self-defeating circle, though. Crowds want to watch winning teams and teams want crowds to help them win.

The easiest way to snap the circle is to just go and watch lots of games. Who knows? Maybe then we can all witness the remarkable and I won't have to leave games for the athletic teams to win.