Were the stands as empty as this?
[Note: Last week, I was a columnist for the GW Hatchet. I wrote this column and submitted to my editor, who told me that she thought this article shouldn't be published. She gave me a variety of reasons, such as it wasn't timely, didn't deal with basketball (since I was a basketball columnist), and was too controversial. I spoke with the Editor-in-Chief of the Hatchet, Lauren French, and tried to convince her to run the column because I believe this addresses two very important issues at GW, the reverence of Greek Life and the lack of fan support. Because I was so persistent on trying to get this article, or something similar published, she told me that she believed that I had a personal vendetta against Greek Life. Anyways, the Hatchet isn't the only way to get one's ideas out at GW. I would like to thank the GW Patriot for allowing me to publish this article and for allowing me to talk about an important issue, even though, it may seem a bit late.]
On January 22, 2011, the George Washington Colonials men’s basketball team played the St. Bonaventure Bonnies, visiting the Smith Center from the Empire State. It was a game that the Colonials should’ve won easily.
We were 3-1 in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Bonnies just a mediocre 1-3. We had impressively battled against Richmond earlier that week. The Bonnies were just embarrassed by Xavier. And the icing on the cake: last year, we humiliated the Bonnies 90 – 62 at the Smith Center. We really should’ve won this game. Yet, the team struggled to find any sort of rhythm, lacked emotion and played without motivation. To get straight to the point, we got our asses handed to us.
But I’m not here to dwell on what should’ve happened, how the game should’ve been played, or wonder why David Pellom, no offense David, was the leading scorer for the Colonials with 15 points that game.
For those of you who were at the game, you may recall an impressive crowd at the start. Nearly the entire student section in the Smith Center was filled up. I arrived at the game around 1:50 p.m., which is pretty standard and usually early enough to get a pretty good seat in the student section. But this time, I ended up sitting in the “nosebleeds,” about two three throws from the back.
At first I thought to myself, “Wow! This is awesome! People are really starting to come out and show support for GW basketball! We’re playing relatively well, people are getting more involved, that’s great for the program!”
But then reality hit.
As I looked around my seats, my friend and I were surrounded by members of the GW Greek Life community – the social fraternities and sororities on campus. How could I forget, it was GW’s annual “Greek Game,” where the fraternities and sororities show up in force to commemorate the presentation of the Ken Pikus Memorial Fraternity Cup, an award given to the fraternity for winning the championship in the Greek intramural sports competition. As soon as the award was handed out, these kids left. That bugged me.
The GW Greek Life website says, “fraternity and sorority membership accentuates their GW experience in a way that connects them to the entire community.” I have a question though: which community? The Greek community, the student community, or the entire GW community?
After the game, on one of the independent GW basketball blogs, a poster lamented, “[w]hat I thought was more disgraceful was that half the student section was gone by the start of the second half.” And in my opinion, what was even worse was that the Bonnies fans were louder than the GW students. So much for home-court advantage.
So this next part is for those fraternity and sorority members that decided to show up to the game, see who won the award, and leave. Next time, don’t show up to the game. It’s really embarrassing to see half of a university’s student section leave during halftime, especially when we were only down by four points with 20 minutes of basketball remaining. Be respectful of the event you’re attending. Not only does your departure reflect badly on the basketball program and the University, it makes the students who attend GW seem pretentious. We’re not Harvard.
Sadly, this isn’t the first time this has happened. Last year, I remember feeling just as ashamed that my school’s student section got up and out within thirty minutes of the game’s inception.
Why is the GW Greek Life community treated like their Greek god counterparts? Why are Greek Life-ers given so much more power, influence and respect, compared to other social groups and organizations, which probably deserve more recognition than these guys anyway.
I know that not all of the Greek students decided to leave early and many did stay and cheer for the team, but they were in the minority. The visiting fans noticed this. The GW Alumni noticed this. The coaches noticed this. Most importantly, the players felt the lack of support and justifiably came out flat-footed in the second-half.
I hope GW’s administration noticed this, too. This “Greek Game” promotion needs to end. It’s useless and a distraction to what’s happening on the court. If they’re going to leave during the second-half, they should just have their own quiet ceremony in the Marvin Center.
I recall that as I was leaving the game, a friend texted me, “I thought we separated religion from state. Bowing down to Greek Life is celebrating pagan rituals isn’t it?” When’s it going to end GW?
I can see why French would say you have a personal vendetta against Greek Life. There are a few shots at them where it’s obvious you are not, or have never been a part, of Greek Life. If you were, then this makes things interesting.
I can also see why you’re frustrated with the Greek community. They made a fake attempt at school spirit, and flaked when their team needed them. However, it’s not entirely their fault. It only reinforces a well-known fact: GW students don’t care about basketball games. I don’t care how many students are members of the Colonial Army, or how many may show up at a given game. Chances are Fur or Lotus will still attract a larger GW crowd than a Colonials game. Sure, we may have a packed house one day, but how many people could you say are true Colonials fans (as measured by consistently coming to games)?
It’s not the fault of the Greek community. It just shows that everyone has ‘better things to do’. However, it’s incredibly disgusting and disrespectful for them to leave in halftime, after their part is done. That mentality, it’s safe to assume, is not one representative of the entire student body. I’d imagine people would rather not show up than to show up and leave early in an exodus.
the reason that people don’t go to these games is simple. GW BASKETBALL SUCKS. No one wants to watch our shitty team lose every single time. Sorry bud, this isn’t news its plain idiocy.
Nice job, Yogin. You hit the nail on the head.
How many basketball games have you been to? Did you stay the entire time? Unless you play in the band, I doubt you have. Most people at GW simply don’t care about sports and if the Greek community can actually get people out to a game here and there, regardless of when they choose to leave, the more power to them.
Hey Anonymous,
He clearly wrote in the author’s note in the beginning of the article that he was the basketball columnist, so wouldn’t it make sense that he went to several games before he just started writing about the basketball team for the Hatchet? Please note that he was one of the fans on the bus to Richmond last year as well. Don’t be presumptive about the author just to sound like you’re making a good point.
Want to fill the stands? Write an article about Karl Hobbs and his inability to coach. Yelling and screaming on the sidelines does not equal coaching. Tell him to draw up some offensive sets, not just pass the ball around the perimeter for the entire shot clock and then have someone throw up a brick. Point is, how do you expect effort on the fan’s part if the same effort is not being reciprocated by the coaching staff and team?
For some students, sports is not a priority in their lives. Greek life might be. So if there is a GREEK BASKETBALL GAME, they will go not for the basketball necessarily but for their greek organization/community. Deal with it.
Wayyyyy ahead of you: http://bit.ly/eHryzX
First of all, Greek life is only about 25% of the student population—where were the other 75% during the game, or at the rest of the games of the season? While I do agree that it was disrespectful for members of the Greek community to leave before the game’s end, I think the bigger problem is the lack of spirit among the student body as whole. Placing blame on the Greek community for “embarrassing” GWU by having no spirit is unfounded and prejudiced. Members of Greek life take part in numerous activities on and off campus (athletics, community service, colonial inauguration, to name a few) all of which represent GWU in a very positive way. Compared to the average student, members of Greek life are probably more involved in the GWU community. Your article implies otherwise, which is just plain wrong. It was rude of them to leave the game, but this by no means represents Greek life as a whole.
But Greek life as a whole left the event in great numbers. What this action showed to me is that instead of Greek Life really caring about the event they go to, they only care for their own interests, which is what Yogin is highlighting.
Yogin is referring to the 25% of the school population or so that left the game at half time. If the Athletic department is going to make a game a special ‘greek night’, shouldn’t the greeks have the decency to stay for the whole game? It wasn’t called ‘Greek Half’, was it.
I do agree that Greeks do a lot of good on campus, but I think they should also accept criticism for certain actions, such as this. They do a lot of great work in GW’s name, but they also leave themselves open to criticism in instances like this.
As a member of Greek life I agree that it was extremely rude for them to leave the game (I swear I wasn’t there), and Yogin is completely correct in criticizing them for it. However her criticism should have ended there. By saying stuff like “Why are Greek Life-ers given so much more power, influence and respect, compared to other social groups and organizations, which probably deserve more recognition than these guys anyway” she is criticizing Greek life beyond the scope of the basketball game, and that is where her article goes from a legitimate criticism of an aspect of Greek life to an unfounded prejudice towards it.
Anonymous: I’ve been to every bball game this semester. Last semester I couldn’t go because I was studying abroad but over the past two seasons I’ve only missed basketball games because of class or work conflicts. I understand that most people at GW don’t care about sports; that’s why I ask that instead of embarrassing the school by leaving at halftime, don’t show up at all. I could be wrong but as far as I recall, I’ve never left a game early, not even when St. Bonnie was kicking out butts that day.
I understand that bball isn’t a priority in there life. That’s why I think that the administration should just not hold the game if they’re going to leave right away. It’s as much a critique of the Greek students as it is of the GW administration.
Also, I agree, Greek Life does do a lot of good on campus. But I do think they are revered more than other organizations of campus. There’s nothing wrong with honoring what they do, but they should also respect the event at which they are honored at the very least.
Steph: I don’t criticize Greek Life for not having spirit. I never used that word. I’m merely calling them out for leaving early. It’s the one game a year they go to. They should’ve stayed. It just looks bad on the school.
Yogin,
It was nice meeting you Sunday, and I’m happy you did get your article posted. That said, I think it exemplifies the opposite problem. As a member of one of GW’s fine fraternities are given any special power or respect compared to other social groups. In fact, we attract far more negative attention.
I’m a member of a bunch of student groups, and I know every one of them engages in underage drinking at one point or another, but you never see Such-and-such club get busted for that as an organization. Fraternities and sororities do.
Likewise, no other student group actually made an effort to go out as a group to the Bonnies game. The fraternities apparently went to half of it. (I honestly have no idea, my fraternity did not attend as we had an event with some of our alumni which conflicted.) Honestly, I think attending part of a game is marginally better than attending no games at all. If anything you ought to criticize those other social groups for not attending. Nobody will do that though, because fraternities and sororities are mistrusted far more.
Anyway, I contest that point that greek orgs are religions and I contest that the university treats them as such. Too bad you aren’t a freshman. I would encourage you to rush and find out for yourself. :-/ Ah well. Soon you’ll graduate and you won’t have to deal with injustices such as this.
Thank you very much for addressing this nonsense of an article. The Greek community made this the highest attended game of the year and if the team was capable of winning than maybe they would of stuck around. The point that you address everyone leaving after the Pikus Cup was presented is completely unfounded. Only one chapter all left at this time (Pi Kappa Alpha). Members of their chapter have said they were making a point to the school from their recent sanctions. If you want to be mad at people leaving be mad at PIKE. They left 15 minutes into the game and started the notion that it was alright to leave. Many members of the Greek Community were still entering when they stormed out. There was a considerable line to get into this game which has not been seen at the smith center this season. This is an absolutely absurd article, the hatchet actually did something right by not running it. The Patriot should rethink the articles that it decides to post.
No other org is honored in the way that greek life is either. I guarantee you had there been ‘Club Sports Day’ or ‘LGBT Day’ that the vast majority of the members would be there, and would stay the whole game, not because they enjoy basketball, but to show their support to the org being honored.
Thank You: You’re right, there was an absurd line to get out, mostly because so many St. Bonnies fans wanted to leave the game at one end and the Colonial Army at the other end. The majority of the frats and sororities had left. You can blame whichever fraternity or sorority you like though. I’ll give you that though, by attending the first half and being counted in the attendance numbers, the 3136 “fans” we had at the beginning of the game was the high of the year. We definitely didn’t have 3000+ members in the stands at the end of the game.
Yogin, just an FYI, taking shots at fraternities and sororities is no way to go through life son. The fact is, go to ANY GW basketball game and you will notice that the MAJORITY of students, both Greek and non-Greek will leave at halftime or before the end. I, for one, love college basketball (even if GW is hardly real college basketball) and stay for the entire game. To call out the Greek community, which is disproportionately involved in campus life (even if you want to deny it), for leaving early when everyone else does the same thing is short-cited and is, frankly, an awful excuse for journalism. There is a reason French, Wajert and Annu would not run this column and it’s simple: your logic is way off and instead of trying to answer a question (such as: why do people leave early?), you start with your answer (greek life=bad) and then simply searched for a question. If you want to be taken even semi-seriously as a columnist, stick to stats and incites about our awful coach and mediocre basketball team and, next time, don’t let the facts get in the way of your argument.
GW BBall Fan: I understand where you’re coming from but let me just some things straight. I’m not trying to take shots at fraternities and sororities in general. The reason they exist, what they represent, all that stuff is fine. I’m not saying ban fraternities and sororities; I have no opinion about that. I am criticizing the way they acted at this particular basketball game though. It’s not the first time and it definitely won’t be the last. I understand that GW has its share of issues on the court (see the last 1:01 of tonight’s game as a failure of Hobbs’ coaching and us failing to close out yet another game). But there are other issues as well. As someone who was writing about basketball, it was difficult to ignore the surrounding atmosphere during that game. I can’t constantly write the same thing about Hobbs screaming way too much on the sidelines, not being prepared for the closing of games, and everything else that goes along with that. It gets redundant. This was something my friends and I noticed along with several other people in attendance at the game. I don’t start with Greek Life = bad nor do I think that.
But thank you for your comments.
The Greeks shouldn’t have left at halftime of a game honoring them.
“Most importantly, the players felt the lack of support and justifiably came out flat-footed in the second-half.” Hahahahahah. For a so called “basketball columnist” you don’t seem to know a lot about basketball. There is no justification for supposed division one athletes coming out flat-footed because some students left their basketball game at halftime. Blame the coaching staff or maybe demand a little responsibility from the players themselves instead of some students who didn’t want to watch them play. Even with people leaving it was still likely their largest home crowd of the year so I’m sure they could feel the support! Maybe people would want to watch them play if they were attractive to watch. And I’m not talking about highlight dunks. I’m talking about not turning the ball 26 times which they did against Charlotte and is frankly mind-boggling. I’m talking about playing sound defense and hitting open shots. I myself am a huge basketball fan and I can’t even stand to watch the team play because I can’t stand to watch team commit stupid mental mistakes. I don’t know how people who are lukewarm toward or don’t even like basketball could be blamed for not wanting to sit through it either.
How is the Greek Game more useless than having the College Dems and Republicans play each other in basketball at halftime? At least the Greek Game brought attendance up even if some fans left early. You say that other groups and organizations deserve recognition. Well, they do. And to say they are more deserving? I’d like to see another 25% of the school who raises as much money for philanthropy as the Greek community. Just look at the SA or CI and see how many of its members are Greeks. I know it’s fashionable to hate on Greeks, but next time stick to basketball.
THey actually beat Charlotte and turned it over 26 times against Duquesne…you are probably one of those kids who thinks that the best player in the frat leagues could compete at this level which is hillarious. The main problem is many, many GW students are frontrunners who can’t stand to cheer for a team that isn’t top 25.
This is responding to comments that I’ve read previously, and in general:
For all those of you who thought this article was absurd, I’m not quite sure what you were thinking. Yogin was not hating on frats and sororities – he was talking about the way they behaved at one particular game. Nowhere did he insinuate that this action represented or defined the entire Greek community. Yes, a lot of people don’t show up at games, but if you’re going to come – you should stay for a good portion of the game. Or, if you really need to leave don’t make it so obvious that you came to receive an award. Why did people leave early? Because they got their award. Yogin did address that issue. He also never denied that the greek community does a lot for the school -he recognized that. And yes, students leaving at halftime-was not the main cause for their loss in the game, but I can guarantee that fan support does make a little difference, even if it’s really tiny. There’s a reason they so heavily encourage people to come to games-to any sport. I can also agree that a lot of organizations do a lot of great things -but I cannot say for sure that they receive the same recognition that the Greek community does- and I think that’s a very fair statement. For those of you who don’t think he knows anything about basketball, he’s been to almost every game. Maybe some of you guys should try showing up to one, too. He knows the facts, the way the team works-but this is an Opinions column, if some of you hadn’t noticed-and that’s what he was commenting on. If you’re really into being Greek and priding yourself on the way you represent GW- stick with the team, even if they’re playing poorly. Isn’t that what school spirit is all about?
Go to literally ANY major sporting event, and you will see that people.leave.early (gasp!). Clearly most of the Greek life members were only at the game for the award, is it really that shocking that they would leave the game before it finished, just like so many people do anyway? I’m not a member of Greek life and while I have been to a few basketball games, I can’t say I have stayed the whole time for any of them. It really just isn’t that big of a deal, and maybe if the basketball game was actually fun to watch, people would stay.
There is nothing wrong with somebody or a few people leaving a game, especially with a team as uninspiring to watch as ours. However, I think its pretty sad that Greeks wouldn’t stay for a whole game that was honoring them. Maybe the presentation should have been at the end of the game or an entirely different event. I also think that Hatchet was right not to run this article. There are some good ideas and messages but they don’t come out right and this just sounds a tad….bitter?
I like the point of this article but we didn’t beat St. Bonaventure 90-62 at the Smith Center last year. We played them on the road last year and won in a close game. Furthermore, they are a decent team this year with wins against St. Johns and Duquesne(two tournament teams) and a probable NBA lottery pick at the power forward spot. No offense, but you’d think that the “basketball columnist” would know this.
Jack: My apologies for the 90-62 stat. I meant the last time we played them at the Smith Center which was Feb 2009 – thanks for the check. St. Bonnie is definitely a decent team, I just think that GW is a better team. While they’ve had some marquee wins, they’ve also had some embarrassing losses to Niagara and Canisius. If we can hang around closely in games against Xavier and Richmond (granted we didn’t close out well, especially last night, in these games), the Bonnies should be an easy win for us. We’re definitely a middle-of-the-pack A10 team that has the potential to beat the better teams also if we could figure out how to close a game. Andrew Nicholoson is a good player but just one player. In that particular game, he only played 19 minutes because of foul trouble. Stagnant offense and inconsistent defense really hurt us that game.
Anonymous: People do leave early from sporting events but people don’t leave games at halftime when their team is down by just 4. If that was the case, why didn’t a significant students leave at halftime at other GW games when we were down at the half? Just food for thought. We were down by 1 against Richmond last night, nobody left. The athletes that were honored last night at halftime also came back into the stands after the ceremony.
I was in the crowd that day, and I too got up and left at half time. You know why? Because GW basketball is so sloppy im embarrassed to watch it. Our school pours our money into a team that truly blows. Even the successful sports at GW that get no funding (like rowing) dont get recognition, and your mad we left at half time? Fuck yourself.
I’d bet $20 that a Greek All-start team could give the “division one” team a run for their money….
haha kid you are such a GDI and probably have never touched a girl. Go grab a beer and calm down
What does touching a girl have ANYTHING to do with this?
Your the worst you GDI!
As a member of two greek organizations (one social, one honors) a member of the student body who usually either works or attends just about every home game – not just basketball either – I am a little offended by this offhand comment. Yes, promotions happen. The Chipotle promotion that forces you to stay till the end of the game to actually get the gift certificate was brilliant. But Greek life isn’t the only one doing this. There was a double header men’s then women’s where all of the athletes stayed for a special olympics event during the women’s game, and all left at halftime. I felt so awkward suddenly sitting around no one that my need to finish a paper overtook my desire to watch the game. Greek orgs are not treated like gods. Usually, we are treated with disrespect, for this column is more of the usual sort of opinion I sadly hear. The people in Greek life are not terrible people. We are on e-boards of prestigious organizations, high-performing academics with good jobs often, and some run the Student Association. The same student association that withdrew funding from the IFC, though it replaced it. There is a general lack of attendance at games that is seriously disappointing, though the game against Temple had a fantastic turnout and Dayton was rather good as well. I consistently see members of Greek life attended the entire game, and I think it is ill-conceived to think of Greek life members as apathetic when it comes to basketball. I actually think more of the crowd is Greek than not, which is impressive for only being a little more than 20% of the student body.
To suggest that people went to the game just to see Pike get awarded their 4th Pikus Cup is arguably the stupidest thing i’ve ever read on this website. Why would rival fraternities want to see Pike win this award? Do you think other fraternities wanted to hear PIKE chant “Whos House? Pikes house!” over and over? Do you think sororities care who wins Pikus Cup? Your argument that people went just to see who won the award (everyone knew Pike had already won there are actual standings posted on Hellwell’s website) just goes to show how ignorant you are and know nothing about Greek Life. People left (regardless of whether they were in Greek Life or not) because GW is garbage at basketball and people had better things to do that day. Plain and simple.
To above anonymous,
I’m in a sorority and I went to the game with a friend to see Pike get the cup….its not that preposterous a thing to suggest. I’ll admit, it was completely ridiculous….but not us going, the event itself. Pike was getting yet another award even though at the time they weren’t allowed to exist and operate as a chapter. It was just hilariously ironic that the university was awarding Pike something at the same time Pike was in trouble. Also, it was true that a large percent of the audience that day WAS Pikes because not that many people actually bothered to show up to games earlier this season. So when a lot of Pike left after winning the award, and whoever came with Pikes, that was a lot of the already small audience…Plain and simple.