YOU KNOW what Cavalier football games have been missing lately? More cretinism and insolence, of course! When University students unite every Saturday for home games, there's something special in the air -- especially when students pick fights, get thrown out of the stadium by police, get drunk and tick off the people around them, and yell prejudiced comments. And the fact that it is all done while dressed up in shirts and ties and dresses makes it so much more honorable. Since it seems as if the administration has mandated that any student organization or event must have some cutesy play on the word "Wahoo," we can even call it "Cavalier Football Hooliganism."
For those few Saturday afternoons on which the Cavaliers play a football game, thousands of University students unite to honor their school and cherish traditions of excellence, decency and community. Yet those wouldn't be the first words to come to the mind of a visitor to a recent game. University students honor tradition every day, but unless they clean up their public act, they only dishonor themselves and their school with their reprehensible bigotry and Cro-Magnon behavior.
After witnessing the way students acted at last month's South Carolina game, anyone associated with the University should have felt ashamed. The "Not gay" chant has always been a mark against the school, but student behavior goes beyond stupidity into child-like ignorance. Spirited cheering is one thing; acting like coarse and disreputable thugs is another. Unfortunately, this can only be resolved by students acting their age and demonstrating that the University is not a haven for spoiled elitists.
That game against South Carolina was a great one, especially because the Cavaliers won, but most of the action was in the stands. There were students knocking others to the ground and constant scuffles. The cops were arresting kids and throwing them out all game long. It was like getting free tickets to a football game and a brawling match. And then, of course, there are those lovable alcoholic Hoos who make others spend all game wondering if ponchos are necessary for when one of them loses it.
These events could be chalked up as isolated incidents and indicative of American universities as a whole. But people at the University pride themselves on being above the rest. Wasting mommy and daddy's money on a four-year bar night with a $75,000 tab is for Virginia Tech students. Hooliganism is rampant at all sporting events, but the issue is in representation of the University.
Sitting in the student section and wearing a shirt and tie, you are the public face of the University. Chanting "Not gay" or yelling "F*** you redneck" in such a position is telling South Carolina, Akron and Colorado State fans that this is what we are. We're not your average drunk college animals, we're drunk college animals who think we're honoring our school by dressing up to do it.
Admittedly, most students are upstanding citizens who don't get drunk, act unruly or support bigotry. And plenty of people get lost in cheering for the team and spewed vulgarities about the Cocks that they wouldn't otherwise. But it is a big contradiction to witness thousands of students dressed up like real adults and acting like such petty and ignorant children.
The administration cannot do anything to alleviate this embarrassment, as sadly the burden falls on the student populace. Though the school is highly regarded internationally, there is doubtless a growing distaste for University students on the part of those who witness students' bad behavior. College is a time for growing into adulthood, not reveling in one's deplorable and ignorant antics. Quite simply, grow up.
Students have a responsibility to the school to go out and remember traditions in an honorable way. Pretty soon, the new tradition for the University will be to publicly shame the school by acting like cretins for thousands of other fans to witness. If students wish to continue making fools of themselves, they can have the decency to dress in those wife-beater shirts and ripped jean shorts, let their beer bellies hang out and let the world know that they are spoiled babies rather than University students.
(Brad Cohen's column appears Thursdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at bcohen@cavalierdaily.com.)
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