At the first home football game of the season, a sea of green and white chanted and cheered from the stands in support of their Ohio Bobcats.
From last year’s win at the Idaho Potato Bowl to an undefeated season thus far, the football team has brought pride and joy to its fans.
When the team wins, it provides some sort of bragging rights, said Tim McVey, treasurer for the O-Zone board and a junior studying history.
“I consider the OU football team to be my team, the basketball team to be my team,” McVey said. “When they lose, I lose. When they win, I win. The recent wins have made me very proud to say I go to this institution.”
Many students flock to the local bookstores and apparel shops for new gear to help get in the school spirit.
Mario Cinquepalmi, store manager of UniversiTEES, and Andrew Stout, assistant manager of College Book Store and managing partner of College Book Store Inc., both said that sales leading up to the first home game were higher than usual.
“I think we saw the busiest day since the we opened the store,” Cinquepalmi said. “As far as our projections for the first home game, we nearly doubled them.”
Many factors influence sales — including the quarters to semesters switch and the opening of The House — but there was an uptake in sales for the first home game, Stout said.
“The win over Penn State certainly got us a flurry of activity on our website, and we sold a bunch of Penn State victory shirts,” he said. “More people come to town, and we see an increase in the business when that happens.”
Sales have also shifted in the past few months to match the consistency of the sports teams, Cinquepalmi said.
“In the past, up until the recent few years, we didn’t really see an increase,” he said. “But since the football team is doing consistently well and the basketball team is doing consistently well, we have seen an increase.”
School spirit is also extending beyond the college campus to the Athens community, Cinquepalmi said.
“I’ve seen a lot more businesses jumping on board, like businesses and banks calling to order shirts that they can wear on game days,” he said.
Both Stout and Cinquepalmi attended Ohio University and said that school spirit has always been around, but they have noticed a confidence that wasn’t around before.
“There was always a certain amount of pride and hope for a great season, but I think we’ve gone beyond hope and gotten to expectation,” Stout said. “I think people have seen enough success that they are confident in success, and there is a certain swagger to that.”
ao007510@ohiou.edu
