It's a banner era for Ohio University football. With three consecutive national championships and a Heisman Trophy winner, Athens is no longer just a drinking town with a football problem.
Preposterous, you say? I don't think so. When you have a Playstation 2 and a copy of NCAA Football 2004, anything's possible. All I have to do is turn it on, and I can see good ol' Peden Stadium filled to the brim with rabid fans cheering on the nationally-ranked Bobcats against a Big Ten or SEC powerhouse.
Even though this is far from any kind of reality, I sometimes wonder what it would be like to have a dominant Bobcat team on campus. This year, the volleyball squad won the MAC and the hockey team captured the ACHA championship, but those teams don't bring eternal glory to Athens. Don't get me wrong; these teams really did have great seasons. But will students remember the glory days of Ohio volleyball in 2003?
Imagine the football team playing for the MAC title, or basketball competing for the right to go to the Big Dance. Athens would exhibit just as much intensity and spirit as Cameron Indoor Stadium before a Duke-North Carolina basketball game.
The thing is, I know the students here would really get behind a winner. Most of us are from Ohio, and we're fanatics about our sports. Ask any Browns, Buckeyes or Reds fan. Even though the basketball Bobcats didn't post a superb season this year, the O-Zone in The Convo still got pretty rowdy. The student body would be amazingly supportive if even more was on the line.
Also, a football or basketball squad that earned some sort of national recognition would be beneficial for the entire athletic department. Additional revenue earned from these teams could be spent on lesser-attended sports, and the more successful they got, the more attention they would receive. It sounds like I'm saying other sports don't matter when I talk about the importance of football and basketball, but those two sports often make or break an athletic department. It may be unfair, but it's a fact.
I don't think this is just a pipe dream, even though I'll be the first to admit it sure sounds like one. I'm kind of a believer in karma, and I think that Ohio athletics have been down for too long. Sometime soon, Ohio students will see a winner somewhere.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go back to the Playstation. The Bobcats are about to play Ohio State for the national championship.
-Stafford is a freshman journalism major. Send him an e-mail at michael.stafford@ohiou.edu.
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Mike Stafford
