Editorial Board

The issue:Jackrabbit fans show big support during postseason, but not all year.

Our view:SDSU students shouldn’t be fair-weather Jacks; should support school’s athletics throughout every season.

A teary-eyed Megan Vogel gave SDSU supporters the ultimate fan compliment March 27 during a welcome home ceremony for the women’s basketball team. She called them family.

It’s not a secret that SDSU’s participation in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament was important to the Jackrabbit Nation. Fans took those games so seriously that they stood in lines for hours, fought their way to good seats and traveled hours in poor weather just to bring a bit of home to an opponent’s arena.

Fan support for the Jackrabbits reached an ultimate high with the WNIT games. Wearing the yellow and blue never felt better. Media from all over the state and surrounding states came to Brookings just to hear the Jacks’ noise. In fact, reporters asked more questions about the crowd than the actual game during the Indiana University press conference March 22.

But now, our beloved team’s season has ended, and we must move past basketball season. Yet, fans shouldn’t let that passion die.

Earlier in the season, devoted fans had complained about the lack of support for such a great team, a team that had already made history before the WNIT berth. At times, it was hard to even fill the students’ section, let alone the entire arena. But when the women’s team earned the right to play in the university’s first post-season play, everyone treated game tickets like gold. That, folks, is called “jumping the bandwagon.”

The support for the Jackrabbits during the WNIT was absolutely incredible and it showed what an amazing university SDSU is, but that intensity shouldn’t be reserved for post-season play only.

Sure, it’s hard to get excited about every single sport offered at SDSU, but that doesn’t mean they don’t all deserve it. And it’s unrealistic to expect a Jackrabbit-crowd of 6,000 at every soccer game, cross country meet and wrestling match.

But there should be decent crowds at a majority of contests for the big three-football and men’s and women’s basketball.

Jackrabbit fans should use WNIT as a lesson that home support really does have an effect on teams. Our teams deserve better support throughout the entire season, winning or losing.