By Tim Robertson

Dear Dave Cohen,

Saturday was a flat-out embarrassment. There is no way around it.

Now coach, before you get mad and stop reading this, hear me out. It’s wasn’t what went on between the end zones that caused an embarrassment to the University, but what went on outside of the white lines.

First of all, the Hofstra community owes you and your team an apology for failing to come out in record numbers for such a big game. An undefeated 10th-ranked team against the 11th-ranked team, New Hampshire, should have at least caused the crowd to wrap around to the north end zone, but it didn’t.

It was a beautiful day – I was in shorts and sandals – and it was family weekend, meaning more people were on campus to come out and support, but they didn’t. The voices of WRHU Matt Shortis and Mike Leslie blasted from speakers outside the main gate to Shuart Stadium. It was a perfect October football day.

A lack of an initial crowd, however, was only the beginning of the four hours of humiliation.

When Bryan Savage threw in errant pass into the arms of an UNH defender, who proceeded to play volleyball with Savage, the defender finally caught it and ran it in for a score untouched. What happened next was unfathomable. It’s the first half, mind you, and a quarter, I swear, 25 percent of the fans collected their unused sweatshirts, left their garbage, stood up and walked to the parking lot. Unbelievable. Great showing of Pride. Get it?

Then with your team trailing a surprising 33-3 with time winding down in the first half, Savage had your team on a 50-yard drive, with his eyes fixed on six. But, no. Savage threw another pick to end the drive, the Wildcats took a knee and joyfully walked off to the locker room. And again, another quarter of the overall attendance made sure all their kids were with them, said goodbye to those around them and headed on the road.

What was a subpar crowd at the beginning of the game started to look like a middle school football game by the second half.
All throughout the third quarter the rowdy students from Live Free or Die Land rode Savage hard, mockingly chanting his name loudly. Your starting quarterback was heckled at home and his supporters did nothing to stop it. No chants of “Let’s Ho Hofstra” or anything. The fans sat on their hands. Craziness.
And New Hampshire’s band. Wow. I heard people in my section ask, “Is Hofstra’s band here?” I wondered the same thing, coach. For a school band, they lacked the pep they advertise. They failed to pump up the fans and failed to pump up your team.

New Hampshire’s moms and dads who traveled five hours from Durham were louder than the Hofstra faithful, how could this be, coach?

The cheerleaders! Oh my, the Hofstra cheerleaders! Coach, these are supposed to be the men and women at your side through thick and thin, always smiling, always cheering, even if your trailing 40-3 in the third quarter – thank God your team blocked those two extra-points. And what were the cheerleaders doing? Fooling around! It looked like a practice with no onlookers, and despite the early exits, there were still a handful in attendance. There were very few cheers, very few attempts in the second half to get your team motivated, and they are to blame.

Then, coach, the heartbreak. Your offense was on a roll and driving, again. But after Savage threw a sideline pass that was intercepted, those pretending to be faithful to your squad stormed for the exits. I’d say another quarter of the total attendance left at that point, so all that remained in the suddenly cool night was a loyal few who stuck around for your guys on the sideline.

It was awful to watch coach, but I watched every moment of it. From the fake fans to the un-peppy band to the undisciplined cheerleaders, it was all embarrassing.
Coach, I’m truly sorry for the poor performance of the Pride that’s supposed to support your Pride.

Sincerely,
Tim Robertson, ‘08