Sports are essential to school pride

It is not a stretch to say student enthusiasm for athletics at Miami University, outside of hockey, is quite low. Sure this is due to the fact that some of our athletic teams are underachieving, but what about teams that deserve the student body's support?

For example, the RedHawk baseball team turned a corner last year by going all the way to the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championship game and finished 35-25 overall, its highest number of wins since 2005. This year, the team returns with 15 letter-winners and is predicted to finish second in the MAC East Division.

Now unless you are a member of the baseball team or surprisingly dialed in to the RedHawk sports scene, you probably would not know any of this. This is partially due to the overall lack of enthusiasm surrounding any sport except hockey, but more so to the fact that spring sports like baseball have thus far been ignored by the Miami University sports marketing department.

I understand resources are limited and are best put towards more popular sports which can bring revenue to the athletic department. However, the way to encourage a culture of excitement towards athletics at Miami is not to focus just on the sports that already have support behind them. Instead, it is to build an overall excitement around all of our Miami teams.

Sports are one of the best avenues towards building a better community and this is especially true here at Miami. The athletic department should keep this in mind when they decide how to allocate their resources.

It is easy to deride Ohio University for being our little brother when it comes to academics, but when considering the real point behind the Bobcat Perspective video, namely student support for sports, we have to concede that they have us beat in athletic enthusiasm.

Also think about the Ohio State University. Sure it helps to have a massive athletic department with nearly unlimited resources, but they've always had the community. There's a certain pride that people have when they say they went to Ohio State that is missing here.

Graduates of Miami are proud of the university and thankful for its excellent reputation, but there is not the same type of excitement about being a RedHawk.

I tend to think this is directly tied to the fact that there is little to no excitement for sports here.

Sports enthusiasm gives a graduate a level of pride for their school that goes beyond just the academics.

When all pride is centered on academics as it is here at Miami, an elitist air quickly develops around an institution. Without any real sports fervor, people will continue to just think of us as an elitist institution.

Sports build a community and they bring people together. Although I never expect fans of the MiamiRedHawks to rival the enthusiasm of an Ohio State Buckeye fan, it would be nice to see more effort put into building a true sports community, not just one narrowly focused on one excellent team.