About four years ago, it came down to a couple of universities. Most of them had football teams. Saint Louis University did not.
That is the one thing that the other schools had that SLU lacked. Every other category was in SLU’s favor. I chose SLU. For SLU students who consider themselves “hardcore” sports fans, they sacrificed something when they chose to attend the school.
What they sacrificed was a mainstream fan-ship to their college. They will not be watching their school play in any college football bowl games, and their basketball team has never been a traditional “powerhouse” program. In fact, it has not experienced any type of serious success in the past 20 years.
The sports fanatics have coped, however. We all have our teams. There are plenty of professional teams to be obsessed with, and the hometown Cardinals’ fans were able to indulge in a World Series title. Many of us have even adopted or maintained an allegiance to other universities’ programs.
It is a tough pill to swallow, but it is difficult to truly enjoy college football or March Madness if your “favorite” team is not even involved.
Of course, there have been the die-hard Billiken basketball fans (or “SLUnatics”), and they deserve their credit for really sticking by the team through every win and every loss. But even they will tell you that each game the past few years has not held a tremendous amount of significance. That is all starting to change. The “plan” that many of us were too nervous to actually believe in is coming true. The Billikens are not just competitive, they are a legitimate threat to make the NCAA tournament come March.
The team has given us something to believe in. The Chafeitz crowd and the entire campus is responding to their winning ways and hard work. It is easy to get excited about the team and their potential. The Billikens have the right combination of veteran leadership, youthful contributions and even an exiled star.
So when the Billikens won the 76 Classic and were vaulted into the AP Top 25 rankings, it was a new type of feeling. Sure, one of “my” teams had won before, but this was not just my team — it was my school. And every time I hear ESPN or CBS talk about the Billikens, I think back to four years ago when I made a pretty big life decision.
But instead of worrying about my major or my future career, I was just telling myself, “If they could just make the tournament before I graduate…” And then we lost to Loyola-Marymount. We should not have lost that game. And like so many other fans I thought, “Just as we get into the Top 25, we boot ourselves right out.”
But then I realized that this was just one loss, but it held so much significance. It’s called being a sports fan. Now each game is relevant. And yes, the LMU loss was bad, but in the past it would have been just another loss. Now, the players, the coaches, the fans and all the students know what they want. We want to go to the NCAA tournament.
Every win this year should be exciting. Every loss is going to hurt. But I think this is a new experience for all of us. It is one I have been waiting four years for.
I love all of “my” teams and I defend the right to call them “mine.” But this is different. Because this is Saint Louis University basketball, and, just like all of you, I am a part of this team. The program has solidified itself as a piece of the fabric of my life.
