It is the largest university -- 34,000+ students -- in a city with near-perfect weather, gorgeous women, a professional football team (something my hometown of Los Angeles doesn’t have), great beaches and a downtown that boasts more restaurants and nightlife than imaginable. I even get the Lakers home game telecasts down here, which, if you know me, makes life that much better. The university itself, with its uplifting ambiance, diverse student body, beautiful scenery, unique library and ideal location is just as great.
The opportunities that I have found via SDSU are more than I could have ever imagined -- last year I became the Sports Director at KCR Radio, the student-run radio station, where I began co-hosting sports talk shows and eventually created a live broadcast division exclusively for SDSU athletics, and recently I have been given my own column at The Daily Aztec, the student newspaper. Thus far, my professors have given me nothing to complain about -- knock on wood -- and I have made many good, genuine friends.
However, if I could change one SDSU aspect, it would be the lack of enthusiasm and interest most of the student body has about and in our athletics, which are currently at the Division I level. For one, the football team plays its home games at Qualcomm Stadium, which is about five miles from campus. How many students can say their school’s football team plays at a stadium that is primarily for a professional football team?
The stadium holds about 60,000 people, yet the average attendance per game through five games this season is just 25,682. Last Saturday versus Utah, it appeared as though there were more Ute than Aztec fans. Though Utah -- which came in ranked seventh best in the nation -- travels well, there is absolutely no reason why a visiting team should have more fans in attendance than the home team. After all, what’s the point of home-field advantage?
There is a common argument among SDSU students that, if the football stadium was on campus or right off campus, more students would attend the home games. I understand this argument, as rolling out of bed, heading over to campus to tailgate -- a vital pre-game ritual -- for a few hours and then walking less than 100 yards to the stadium is nothing short of ideal, but the alternative to us SDSU students isn’t all that bad. Students, if you haven’t received the memo, there is a public trolley system directly on campus which takes you to Qualcomm for less than five dollars roundtrip in about five minutes, and you can tailgate the asphalt out of Qualcomm’s parking lot like every visiting team that comes to town.
Don’t get me wrong: the football team outright sucks. With a 1-10 overall record and seven-game losing streak -- not to mention its still-winless record in the Mountain West Conference -- as a sports fanatic I understand just how difficult it is to support a team that has lost more than triple the amount of games it has won over the past three years (8-27, to be exact). However, aside from the last home game in which the team suffered a 63-14 blowout, the team has been very competitive at home in three of its four games this season, winning one of them and only losing the other two by an average of three points. Give the team some credit.
Contrarily, SDSU Greek life couldn’t be more passionate and involved in campus life, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I am all for the principles of passion and involvement. But there seems to be a particular prestige about being in an SDSU fraternity or sorority, as if being a part of its Greek life is like being part of an exclusive club. ‘Frat Row’ looks as nice as some quality condominiums in San Diego -- from the outside, at least -- and some of the sorority houses are some of the best-looking houses in the entire area. SDSU fraternities and sororities make those at Arizona State and UC Santa Barbara, both of which are known for their Greek life, look like petty organizations. Furthermore, I see more Greek-affiliated than SDSU-affiliated clothing when I’m on campus. Just as many students aspire to attend a certain school based on its athletics, many students aspire to attend SDSU based on its Greek life.
In multiple ways, our athletics program represents SDSU and its student body. Shouldn’t we want our teams to represent us well and respectably? Outside of its members, what does Greek life represent? As of late, it has only represented drug and alcohol use, as illustrated by the drug-bust last semester and Student Body President James Poet’s arrest for allegedly driving under the influence and possessing marijuana earlier this semester. (For those of you who are unaware, Poet is a member of an SDSU fraternity of which he was the president.)
If SDSU students could only transfer the amount of passion, involvement and interest that its Greek life embodies to its athletics, there is a decent-to-good chance that our teams -- not to mention our image -- will inevitably improve.
But even if such a transfer doesn’t take place, I’ll still love San Diego State.
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