Oh, it’s football season. The tailgaters are drinking, the crowds are cheering, the players are sweating it out in tight pants. Yes, it’s all happening down the street at Boston College.

Upon transferring to Boston University last January, I was informed that my new school, with over 16,000 undergraduates, does not have a football team. Is this even possible? Could we not, as a student body, muster up enough people to sport the scarlet and white? I mean, hell I’ll even toss the ball around on a Saturday afternoon if that’s what it takes. True, I might get decapitated by a 300-pound linebacker, but sometimes we all have to suck it up and take one for the team.

In November of 1997, a rather disgruntled Gerry Callahan wrote an article concerning the demise of BU’s football team in Sports Illustrated. In his article, Callahan broke down the two main reasons why the football program was eradicated: it costs money and women don’t play it.

According to Title IX, schools must put the same amount of money into women’s sports as men’s sports. As a woman, I am all for equal rights. But doesn’t it seem a little extreme that we have to cut the most traditional college sport from our budget? True, the majority of BU’s student body is female. This doesn’t mean that we can’t have a football team. Currently, BU has 11 female varsity sport teams and 10 male varsity sport teams. Obviously, the women aren’t being ignored. Having a football team doesn’t take away from women’s equality; it merely acknowledges a sport that is an American pastime.

David Nythan of The Boston Globe saw things differently. In 1997, he wrote, ‘Is the educational experience at Boston College any better for engaging the Hessians of Dade County in football combat? I don’t think so.’ Nythan failed to recognize the distinction between the college experience and the educational experience. True, crowding the stadium to cheer on the Terriers every weekend would not do anything to boost GPAs. It would not make philosophy any easier to understand or math equations any easier to solve. What football does bring, however, is school unity a quality that appears and vanishes with the hockey season here at BU. Football would give students something familiar to talk about besides politics and the stock market. We’re in college it’s time to lighten up a bit.

Just this past Saturday, BC bent over and took it hard from the Miami Hurricanes. Sure, the loss hurt. But at least they were out there representing! Losing a football game is like having bad sex disappointing, but better than nothing. And what does BU have? Nothing. We are the scared virgin of college football.

The BU football team was buried six feet under at the end of the 1997 season. According to press releases, Boston University was spending $3 million a year on its football program, and only raking in about $90,000 in ticket sales and alumni donations. It was argued that BU could simply not afford a football team. Now who are we kidding? The lobby of the School of Management alone, with its marble floor and intense sculpture, is worth enough to feed a small country for the better part of a decade. If we are going to make up excuses for not having any balls, let’s at least think of reasonable ones.

I recently read the book ‘Domers’ by Kevin Coyne. Coyne lived at the University of Notre Dame for a year, documenting the happenings of a college that practically sits on the shoulders of its football program. Although Notre Dame is a Catholic university, the majority of its students are not. Students are drawn to the school for its reputation, but even more, by the mystique that surrounds the Fighting Irish. The football players bring about virtues that cannot be taught in the classroom. They wear nameless jerseys, as to promote the idea of ‘team.’ They pray, not always in the same faith, but for the same cause. They learn how to perform under pressure, rise after defeat and enjoy the satisfaction of victory. Their fans mimic these virtues, attending game after game, even if loss seems inevitable. So yeah, David Nathan may have been right about football’s inability to produce higher test scores. But what about character? What about community? Are these things not considered important aspects of the college experience? I think I have a future as a motivational speaker.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love Boston University and I traveled more than 800 miles to come here. Even more, I recognize that BU is not Notre Dame, or even Boston College for that matter. Boston University is a school of diversity. We have students of all races, religions and sexual orientations. This is, perhaps, one of the more exciting aspects of our school. I’m just saying that a football program would create the school spirit that BU currently lacks. Besides, even MIT has a football team.

Now that’s just embarrassing.

Caitlin Moscatello, a student in the College of Communication, is weekly columnist for The Daily Free Press.