By DAVE RICHTER
Sports Columnist
 

No that is not a typo, I think that even a neutral person would agree that Bates will be bringing a significantly better football team out onto the field tomorrow. Just so you all know, the game is against Hamilton. This is the Hamilton team that earlier this year lost to Colby by over 20. The same Colby team whose offense looked downright pathetic

against us lit these guys up like a Christmas tree.

The key in this game will be simply to prevent the big play. As long as Hamilton doesn't get any of those eighty yard passes or returns I feel Bates will be the ones controlling this game. In anticipation of a win I'd like to make a request of the student body. Leave the goal posts alone. Do you think Williams or Amherst students go right for the goal posts immediately following a win? For that matter, do you think that even those losers at Bowdoin and Colby go for the goal posts after their occasional wins? The answer of course is no. They maybe will go down on the field, but that is only to congratulate the players.

The football team has played with a lot of class this year, and I'd have to say that should they win tomorrow they deserve a more classy response from their fans. Even in Division I programs, the goal posts only

come down after huge victories. What happened three years ago was the end of a record-breaking losing streak, and so what was done was for the most part justified. The only reason it was successful was that security had no idea what was coming. During the Colby game I could hear the campus security guy on his radio telling everyone else the score. As the game was drawing to a close, he made sure there were enough guards down on the field that no serious damage would be done.

You can count on the same kind of preparation this week. Everyone should remember that what happened three years ago should live on for as long as Bates folklore will carry it. That does not mean that the event should be recreated. Doing that only makes the first time less meaningful.

I think that's enough of a request; hopefully people will be somewhat classy after what could easily be a win on Saturday. The players deserve it after all the hell they have to put up with in a football season. People don't always seem to realize quite how rough these guys have it. They practice every day well after dark, and in case you haven't noticed they don't have much in the way of lights down on their practice fields. Unlike practices for other team sports, event the least demanding of football coaches drill you into the ground. All of that preparation comes for only eight games all season.

It takes an extreme amount of dedication to play football at this level...Even more if you are in a losing program such as Bates. The only thing to look forward to is building toward the future, which is not enough of a goal for many. That is all the more reason that the guys who have stuck with it through all four seasons had to have displayed a lot of class. Let's try to reciprocate their efforts by making their last games memorable ones.

Win or lose tomorrow, it has been a successful season for Bates. The pieces for a team with a winning record seem to be falling into place. Maybe that could become a reality in the not too distant future.