COLUMN: Going berserk at McGuirk
In the past, men’s basketball games could have been mistaken for a round of golf.
A low murmur behind the sound of the ball being dribbled up the court. A few oohs and ahhs. Some golf claps.
But times are a changing south of Broomfield Road.
If Saturday’s crowd—the second largest in McGuirk Arena history for men’s basketball—was any indication of the future of the Chippewa basketball community, the decibel level may be the only thing rising faster than the winning percentage.
It’s about time fans go berserk at McGuirk.
We’ve seen glimpses of greatness. The team is 11-0 at home and more exciting than it’s been in years.
The crowd—students especially—explode at every 3-point Chippewa dagger. The style points are recognized when Luke Meyer goes up for an alley-oop dunk or DaRohn Scott swats a shot into the third row of seats.
Not only is the men’s basketball team finally winning, but they’re even fun to watch.
Down seven at halftime against Buffalo, skeptical fans thought the home winning streak was coming to a close. But even regular season ticket holders were left speechless and impressed when CMU blew out the Bulls in the second half.
The Chippewas went on a 17-0 run against EMU Saturday, which included a pair of 3-pointers and a dunk. Sandwiched in between was a halftime, half-court bucket by a fan to earn himself $100. And the 4,041 fans in attendance ate it up.
One fan at halftime said “I’ve never been so happy to stand in line for the bathroom.”
These are exciting times.
Even the players and coaches are raving about the support.
The Mid-American Conference is funky in terms of attendance. Schools like Ohio and Toledo consistently draw 5,000 a night while Eastern Michigan and Miami (Ohio) can’t even average 1,000.
The pep band and a few loyal students have always been there and been rowdy for CMU, but now it’s becoming more than that.
Only the inaugural men’s game at McGuirk in 2010 housed more fans than Saturday’s crowd.
Junior forward John Simons used the word “awesome,” more than once to describe the scene Saturday and junior guard Chris Fowler called it “a blessing.”
Head Coach Keno Davis went as far as saying a raucous home crowd can be a difference-maker in a few games and “can be the difference between being a nice team and being a team that’s dancing in March.”
You see it with the Seattle Seahawks and their “12th man” slogan as they set noise-level records.
Here, the CMU pep band has renamed itself as “The 6th Man Band” and fans have received Chippewa basketball shirts with the number six plastered across the front.
While it’s a program with a spotty past, Chippewa basketball is finally worth backing and fans are slowly realizing it. And joining in. And making a difference.
Crawl out of your dorm rooms and prepare your voices. It’s time to go berserk at McGuirk.
