I’ve been at Boston University for two years, and every year I receive the same Facebook group invitation. Strangely, it seems to be a different group each year with the same goal. The message: “Sign this petition so we can get BU football back.” I refuse to sign. Call me un-American if you want, but remember, I carry an American flag with me wherever I go.
Listen, there will not be football at BU during your time here. Chances are, there will not be football at BU ever again. For those of you who are just finding this out, let me fill you in.
Football was part of BU from 1906 until 1997. In ’97, then-President John Silber – who I’m told looks like The Emperor post-electrocution in “Star Wars: Episode VI” – and the Board of Trustees voted to disband the team. The reason? Football was burning a $3 million hole in the school’s pocket every year. We here at BU know that is completely unacceptable – profits must be made or people must be killed.
BU was the first of many large private universities to disband its football team and solved a lot of problems by doing so. Sure, they made then-current students and students for years to come rather unhappy, but they saved a couple million dollars to support Title IX. In turn, students were given the Fitness and Recreation Center and Agganis Arena.
Hold your tears. There is a very satisfying replacement to college football: college hockey. We are some of the few students in this country who get to experience the joys of college hockey. To most of your friends from home – especially if you live outside of New England – college hockey is a foreign subject.
But for those of you who have been to a Terrier hockey game, or two or 20, chances are you know more than just the 10 teams in Hockey East. You recognize names like Chris Higgins and Brandon Yip.
You followed the NHL draft this year because you wanted to see how high Colin Wilson would go. You knew that if he was a top-five selection, he was gone for this year. You know your team isn’t ranked in hockey unless they’re in the top 20. You know you’re not a Terrier sports fan until you own a scarlet and white jersey. You know hockey and you’ve grown to love it, despite what the rest of America thinks.
The game is fast and full of excitement. Hockey is sometimes called the fastest game on ice. Screw that – it’s the fastest game, period. However, the speed and action is not what got me hooked. I know some of you may think it was he-man Tom Morrow who got me hooked, but I’ll have you know it wasn’t even him.
What made me fall in love with college hockey was everything surrounding the rink — the culture of the game. It’s unlike anything you can experience with any other sport. Seeing all the red and white that goes 360 degrees around the ice still gives me goosebumps. And, like it or not, when you attend a Terrier hockey game, you become part of this unique culture.
Fans add to the experience at a hockey game, but it is the pep band that will keep you wanting more. What other sport has the band playing certain songs at certain moments in a game while mixing it up the rest of the time? It dictates breaks and keeps everyone involved.
For example, when the other team gets a penalty I know I’m going to here 2 Unlimited’s “Get Ready For This” — a song usually reserved for cheerleading routines and, most memorably, “Jock Jams 1.” And BU didn’t really have an actual cheerleading team these last two years, so I couldn’t enjoy my Jock Jams. Hockey let me enjoy it.
The “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” song blasts after the first stoppage in the second period, while an entire section of students bobs up and down like they’re humping horses.
In the third period, I can only imagine what the rest of Agganis Arena witnesses when the band plays “On Wisconsin.” Students alternate between a standing position and a 3/4 standing position only to follow with the “Tequila” wave. If the Terriers are losing, I know I can at least look forward to yelling “Let’s get drunk” after each of these songs in the third period.
And now, even band director Chris Parks, also known as Mr. Clean on musical steroids, is getting creative — he just started adding Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab” after “Tequila,” allowing an entire body of college students to yell, “Let’s get sober.” There’s no chance any other school in America screams that. Ever. Oh Chris Parks, you’re so clever.
Another thing — hat tricks. My, oh my. There’s no other sport where you’re encouraged to throw headwear onto the playing area. And there’s definitely no other sport in which the arena’s owners give away chips and salsa from Qdoba if an individual has a great statistical night. Simply magical.
Freshmen, pay attention to all that. Memorize what you just read, because knowing these actions and procedures will help you Sunday. You won’t look as awkward as I did during my first game, wondering what the hell these cracked-out Dog Pound members were doing as I stood there in a Red Wings jersey, because I thought it was the closest thing to a Terrier jersey.
Now, I’m not trying to say the only good thing about college hockey is the stuff going on around the rink. I could go on and on about why hockey is the Tom Morrow of college sports. But I want you to embrace the sport because it’s such a rarity in college.
You’re in the minority in America — you’re one of the few who get to take part in college hockey, and you’ll be a fan of it for the rest of your life if you embrace it. You’ll make friends and get to know people just because you’re fans of the game. Take pride in the environment, what you’ve been given and forget what’s been taken away.
