By EVAN JARASHOW
Staff Writer
 

Most of us have grown up with some type of athletic influence, either direct or indirect. For example, I became involved in sports not because I had an instinctual proclivity for it, but rather because I was urged by my family to participate and try. That is the operative word here: try.

I have only been on campus for a few weeks now, but one of the things that has impressed me is everyone's willingness to try to participate. I realize that not everyone is a born athlete, but I feel that everyone has made some athletic effort by either supporting a team by attending a game or trying some new athletic activity that they have never done before.

The willingness to experiment is part of what defines a college experience and, to that extent, Bates does a fantastic job. There is a wealth of clubs and activities that provide a student with almost anything they could want. That is not to say that the college is perfect, but just that we do very well.

Think about it, both soccer teams are ranked highly in New England, the field hockey and volleyball teams are more than competitive, the tennis teams are quite respectable, and the cross country teams (of which I am conveniently a member, the men's side that is) are fantastic. All of these sports draw fans to the games (well, all except my sport), but none draw as many as Football. Why is it that our most popular team has not produced a winning season in quite a long time? Better yet, why do so many of us still venture out to Garcelon Field every time there is a home game?

I know I have only been here for a short while, but I think I can muster a response to my overtly rhetorical question. I think it comes down to two things. Since we all have grown up with some athletic consciousness, football is not that hard to comprehend. Second, and most important, is the reason why most of us came to Bates in the first place: support. It's nice to get involved in some way and if lending support to a team that needs it is one way to make ourselves useful, then most of us will jump at the opportunity.

Of course we still joke about the fact that we never win a game, but it is a safe bet that, if we do win, students will be there to celebrate the victory. Football is a part of American culture in the same way that soccer is important to Europe's. We might not get quite as fanatical as they do, and I have never heard of people getting trampled to death due to the outcome of a field goal, but I have heard stories about the aftermath of our win over Bowdoin, and I have only one thing to say about that: Yeah Bates!

In any event, although I wish we had a better football team so we wouldn't be the brunt of so many jokes, and I wish more people came out to cross-country meets (I'm trying to minimize my bitterness), Bates does pretty well on the athletic side of things. The competition is great, and the fans are good too.