Dukes look for sixth man

As I stood in the "Electric Zoo" at Saturday’s JMU game vs. Drexel University, I looked around at my fellow students and wonder, "Where is the sixth man?"

Schools like Duke University and University North Carolina have long known the power of the sixth man: The students. The sixth man has the ability to pump up a team when they’re down and energize a team when they’re tired. There is nothing like a stadium filled with people chanting your name to rev you up and spur you on to victory. The power of the sixth man is not just reserved for power house programs; however, and there is no reason why we shouldn’t have excited and supportive fans here at JMU.

We know we have the ability.

We rallied around Mickey Matthews and the football team as they went on the quest for a national championship and emerged victorious. Now, in order to avoid looking like Boston Red Sox bandwagoners, we need to take the next step: Get behind our team — even when they aren’t winning.

I looked around the stands at my fellow students present Saturday afternoon, and the first thing I noticed is the lack of JMU apparel. In fact, the number of other schools represented almost rivals the number representing our school. The guy next to me had a Virginia hat and another one two rows behind me wore a Princeton sweatshirt.

Another thing I noticed is the lack of noise in the Convocation Center. Silence during a game is not always bad but the unnerving silence of a quiet stadium is enough to throw off any player trying to shoot free throws. But on the whole, quiet at a game is disappointing. A few spirited fans try to start up a cheer every now and then, but it almost always dies in failure. The one chant that was clearly audible from the student section was an angry chant, of "The ref beats his wife," coming from a few students in the front, angry at the ref’s calls. Now, I’m not saying that attacking a ref for bad calls is wrong, but personal attacks border on thuggish fans. We have more class than that.

Cheers should be in support of our own team.

I’m not saying that if tons of students show up at the next game, we will win. In the end, our players have much more to do with the outcome than we ever will. But why not get out there and show the guys that we are with them? It will make it that much sweeter for all of us when we do win.

And try to wear a JMU shirt to the game.