excellent comments in the Newsday article on the SBU-Howard game by a Seawolf fan
Charlie Accetta
Unfortunately for the seniors, this team is playing out the string of their final college season. Some of them might be back, having sustained season-ending injuries early enough to retain another year of eligibility. Hard to say whether that’s a good thing or not. I’ve taken turns killing the university president, the AD and the coach. This week my beef is with the local community.
These kids play sports at a national level while attending classes and graduating at extremely high percentages relative to other colleges. It’s a shame that when 250,000 people live within a ten mile radius of the campus the stadium doesn’t reach more than three-quarters of capacity for most home football games. Seawolves football is a great value when you compare it to sitting in a sports bar watching SEC teams on a television and it’s an even greater experience. The team has had a rough go of it since its promotion into the CAA, but the event management surrounding the game is first class. The marching band has evolved over the past five years into the region’s best. Some Big Ten schools would be envious.
It’s a sad fact that most Suffolk County residents have never visited the campus, have never seen a show at the Staller Center, never been to a home basketball game (Columbia and Princeton are coming this season, but no, you can’t be bothered). Most people have been to the University hospital, but they won’t dare cross over to the other side of Nicolls Road. I suppose the campus can seem intimidating to someone who’s never been here. It’s huge, but it isn’t as if you’ll get so lost you won’t ever find your way out.
At this moment in time, the University … YOUR University … has made a major commitment to elevate its athletic department nationally in a way that doesn’t rely on tax dollars from Albany, but that will only work if the most populous, most obvious segment of the customer base takes the trouble to support the effort. Where’s the community pride? Is the anti-education sentiment becoming so ingrained in most of you that you want to take it out on football? What ARE you people? French?