LETTER TO EDITOR: Students, go support the CMU football team
The following is a letter to the editor from Russell Horton, a Central Michigan University alumnus.
An open letter to all CMU students:
As a CMU alumnus, I feel that I need to write this letter to express my disappointment with the student body of Central Michigan University.
Having moved to the Grand Haven area from East Lansing last year, my travel time to CMU has doubled from one hour to two. With the increased distance I still maintain my football season tickets and make it a point to attend each and every game.
While sitting in the stands this past Saturday (Nov. 2 against Northern Illinois), I became disappointed and disgusted with the lack of support the CMU team receives from the student body. I could not believe that students would not get off their ass and attend a game with bowl implications that marked an unbelievable turnaround from last year's 1-11 season.
Home-field advantage is supposed to mean a stadium full of fans screaming their guts out to support their school. Last week's home-field advantage meant that the players and coaching staff looked up at a basically empty student section.
We are so fortunate to have one of the best coaches in the country leading our team and building a program that we can all take pride in. He and his staff, along with the dedication of the players, have done their part to put a team on the field that we can all be proud of.
The administration has done their part by adding the state of the art scoreboard and starting construction on the new Champions Center.
Having lived in East Lansing most of my life, I could not believe all the CMU graduates running around town with MSU or University of Michigan sweatshirts on. My thought was "If you are not proud of the school you attended ... why did you go there?"
One of the best ways to retain the friendships you create with fellow students is to get together after graduation by attending a CMU football game. If you don't have enough school spirit to walk across campus and support the Chippewas as a student, you will probably not be coming back to campus following graduation. Instead, you will most likely join the many graduates that transform into Walmart Wolverines or Spartans.
We have one more game left in this turnaround season. I hope every student who is proud to be a Chippewa put on some warm clothes and gets into the stadium to let the players and coaches know how proud they are for the outstanding job they have done this year.
FIRE UP CHIPS
Russ Horton
