n In high school, football was my passion, so this letter will have a bias because of that (“The seats are there for you to fill, people,” Feb. 22, p. 16). Being from Connecticut, I was raised on college basketball because of the powerhouse men’s and women’s teams at the University of Connecticut.

I still, however, looked forward to going to see UConn football teams. They run a great program down in Storrs, but it’s never a real contender, at least now, for a national championship. The team has good years and bad years just as any small sports program will have.

Just because a team is a powerhouse, it does not mean they always win and no one can rise above them. This year in the NCAA Football rankings, Boise State, a team not on the radar of any sports analyst, had a chance at a national title.

In the basketball arena, George Mason University overcame two national powerhouses to make it to the Final Four.

Rutgers, “The place where college football was born,” has faced tough seasons lately marking a 2-9 season in 2001 and a 1-11 season in 2002. With the right coach, however, Rutgers posted an 11-2 season this past fall.

With successes this past season, players are giving up bids to go to powerhouses like Florida and the University of Notre Dame so they can to go to Rutgers instead. As great as it is to respond to rival hockey fans that Boston University football is undefeated, I would rather have the 3-9 or 4-8 record and the memories with friends, similar to those I have from hockey games.

Colleges across the nation have found many positives from having a football team. MSNBC did an in-dept look at Shenandoah University, a small university in Virginia. They found having a football team increased enrollment, donations and school spirit. If you are thinking that because it’s the south, and its main interest is football — well — Shenandoah is a liberal arts school known for its music conservatory. It now packs its stadium every week for football games.

While crowds show slim support for sports such as basketball, soccer and softball, it is reasonable to expect the main reason is the game schedule.

Football, like hockey, would be played almost always late afternoon/night on Friday or midday/night Saturday. Furthermore, it would be once a week, whereas in soccer, basketball and softball, it is possible to have two home games during the week at 5 p.m.

At BU, among the thirty thousand students and all the alumni, I think we could bring a decent crowd to Nickerson Field once a week. We may never fill the 15,500 seating capacity, but the 1,000 to 2,000 fans that make up the student sections at Agganis Arena each week already make quite a roar.

Kevin Tomaszek

SED ’10