Response #5

Upon attending UMASS Lowell I thought I had an idea of how big sports were in this school. Having played Varsity soccer for my high school I thought had an idea of just how little and how much the support for sports was. Fortunately I was wrong and rightly so. I started to realize this in my first couple games but the point of full realization was my my first UMASS Lowell hockey game. I had been aware of how hockey was probably the biggest sport in UMASS Lowell, I had been aware that hockey was the only sport from UMASS Lowell that had been D1 for quite sometime, I had even been aware of the team’s success the previous season.

Yet even knowing all that I didn’t expect the intensity and raw emotion that surrounded that rink. If I didn’t know better it felt like I was at a genuine NHL match. Now I don’t know much about hockey, in fact virtually nothing at all, but still as a sports fan I recognize an atmosphere when I see one. The jump from high school sports to college sports, in particular Division I Athletics, is almost immeasurable. In retrospect I would have to call myself naive for thinking anything less. The hockey game I went to was our home opener against University of New Hampshire. Although we lost the result didn’t bother me at all. What the result did do though was show me even more how much this team means to its students. Not being the greatest fan of hockey, I wasn’t as devastated as the rest but the whole mood and tone of the arena almost made you feel embarrassed if you weren’t as equally glum as the rest of the crowd; It was that intense. It seemed like there was a chant and response for anything. Upon the entrance of the opposition’s players we would wave our fingers and uproariously yell “Boo you suck!”, which would proceed for every single rival player. There would be persistent banging on the glass each time the players would come anywhere as close as a whisper to it. The crowd would constantly try and get the opposition’s goalie attention by continuously chanting insults and distractions at him. Everything was done in order to establish an aura of “If you’re not from Lowell and/or support UMASS Lowell you will not feel any bit comfortable here”. Such vibe is essential in any sports venue. As fans we need establish a clear “us versus them” mentality. By doing so we consequently become a “6th man” or an “12th man” of our respective teams and fulfill our role as the home fans. The next game of highlight is the first women’s soccer game I attended.The team were up against University of Vermont and in all honesty I didn’t expect much considering they weren’t on the best form. They were on a 4 game losing streak and the losses were pretty definite. However the game ended up ending 2–2 and went into double overtime. I was surprised by how much high in spirits the ladies were even in the midst of a horrific losing streak. This would most certainly be attributed to the home field. This refers back to that “12th man” effect. Shortly after the match I’ve learned that 3 out of the 4 last matches they had played were away from home. Interestingly enough the only game they scored in was the one game where they were home, and that game ended in a narrow 2–1. The field itself at Cushing is in its own way quite unique. The pitch is ridiculously close to the stands; this is mainly due to its wall.

As soon as the out of bound marks end, the wall begins. With the wall being in such a close proximity this allows for intimidation of the opposition as well as support for the Lady River-hawks. This again shows another example of that “us versus them” mentality and its effectiveness. Nevertheless I’m not completely attributing the team’s success in that match completely to the notion of “home advantage” but just simply showing the importance of it in any sports culture. College sports culture in particularly is really important to the overall college community. College, unlike high school, is largely made up of students from all around the country, or world even. In regards to myself, my roommate is from Maine, my co-worker is from Los Angeles. And this is my first semester in college. UMASS Lowell alone is filled with countless students from different origins. Often these kids will only talk to a selected group in their major or maybe even roommates. And who can blame them? If it wasn’t for the fact that they went to the same college these group of people would most likely never be in contact with each other. A college with a strong sports culture, such as UMASS Lowell itself, can help mesh together these improbable group of people. Through a strong connection to the college sports bonds can be formed with any student. I myself have already made the swift change to the Malden Tornadoes to the Lowell River Hawks in under a semester thanks to my experiences so far regarding my limited experiences going to UMASS Lowell games. However I also believe the strength of our sports culture can be accredited to the fact that we’re a Division I school. Hockey is our most popular and biggest sports program and it’s no coincidence that it’s the only sport that has been Division I for a number of years. Alumni such as my First Year Seminar in Honors professor, Sean Conway, have talked about how back when they went to Lowell UMASS Lowell, or better yet Lowell Technological Institute, Lowell athletics weren’t that prominent. This is most likely partially because the college wasn’t D1 and therefore the support for the team wasn’t as immense as it is now. Now a school sports culture can still be strong without being Division 1 but there is a still a significance difference between supporting a Division 1 team and supporting a lesser Division team. There is a rather snobbish or pretentious feeling to such a notion but it’s still very much true. In the end of the day the students can’t change whatever Division their school is; the best they can do is to just support their school, in any way they can.