By Nick Bond

Those, ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, THOSE were crowds.

Even though during both games they spent a considerable amount of the time mercilessly booing yours truly, it is good to see the spirit of the days of yore on its way back. Now, this is by no means even remotely an apology for my column in this last week’s sports section.

Even a little bit.

Rather a giving of immense amount of credit where an immense amount of credit is due. As much as the VCU game was an abomination of the highest order, these past two games have been an inspiration of the same level. The performance by the crowd these last two contests harkens back to what the Lion’s Den used to be and that was ultimately my goal in writing last week’s column.

For those unaware, I am a second semester senior here at Hofstra and an avid basketball fan, and as result have been to more than my fair share of basketball games in the vaunted Den – most at the height of its power during ’05-’06’s magic run. When I saw last week’s VCU game, I knew something had to be done to get that magic back, back when I was actually allowed to cheer – again, for those unaware, press row rules are such that I can actually be kicked out for cheering, which is soul crushing to say the least – as we now have perhaps our best chance since that year of making the Big Dance.

So I did something.

Taking a page from sports writers past, I wrote a purposefully inflammatory column to draw the ire of as many fans as possible in hopes that it would motivate them to step up their games.

Now, I am NOT (emphasis on NOT) taking credit for the crowds’ performance, that would utterly ridiculous, for that credit goes to those actually in the student section, as while I wake up at 10:30 to start going over notes for a noon game, there are students who get up even earlier, students that may even bleed a deeper Hofstra blue than I do – preparing for the games, making signs, practicing chants and painting their bodies in the chosen colors of our beloved Pride.

As I had hoped, both games saw students actually get dressed up – I’d like to salute specifically the man in the penguin suit and the fellows in the paint – and several signs were made (my favorite, of course, postulated that I – Nick Bond – was a disgrace to Hofstra), which in and of itself made them better crowds than the Pride’s game against the VCU Rams, which I will reiterate was awful.

But, thankfully, it didn’t stop there, as the chants were significantly better and nearly always done to perfection, with my favorite being the chant of “Sussssssaaaaaaaan”, which referred to the mother of Towson guard Brian Morris, raining down upon him every time he touched the ball, followed closely by the “You’re not Kevin”, that started towards the end of the game. “DEE-FENSE” chants were as loud and consistent as they should have been, and you could truly feel the team using the energy of the crowd in order to make serious stops in order to pull themselves back into the game. And, every time the crowd died a little, a good ole “Nick Bond sucks” seemed to get the students’ section going again.

The student section also did a great job of getting the rest of the crowd involved, an extraordinarily important component of being a good student section. Although most of the other fans may enjoy the game, what the student section must realize is that it is often only the student section that truly loves the team, and it is the job -exclusively – of the student section to get the rest of the crowd going. Simple things such as getting most of the rest of the crowd to stand up at the height of a Hofstra comeback or important defensive stand makes a huge difference in building the ambience and atmosphere necessary for a truly unsettling atmosphere for opposing teams.

Even in light of all this progress in just two games, as always, there is still room for improvement for the Lions’ Den, as it was only in the second half of the game against Towson that the crowd truly came alive, which of course is better than nothing, but still poses an issue, as it is important – especially in a game against a team that should have never been more than 2 possessions ahead – to overwhelm them early and continue hitting them as hard as the crowd can, making them feel as completely unwelcome as possible (though they certainly nailed the visiting team’s introductions). There is certainly a complete-game consistency throughout the game that needs to be raised. This is a problem that the clearly Den worked through in the second game, coming after ODU with a vengeance from the very start, as both the coaching staff and members of the ESPN staff for their enthusiasm – despite the lackluster attendance outside of the section – complimented the crowd, something that should happen every time an opponent comes to the Mack.

Also, more signs would have been nice because, as much as I love the sign telling me about how much of a pariah I am, more signs would be great.

For instance, a sign referencing the fact that Tony Durant (a swingman on Towson) is significantly less talented than his brother – NBA superstar Kevin Durant – would have been nice. Also more creative things, like writing or chanting the words “Hey Lee, You Suck!” in Finnish (as ODU Forward Gerald Lee is supposedly from a place called Uusikaupunki, Finland – which I doubt is even a real town) is the type of clever thinking that can really put a student section over the top. Really, even just a few simple the-other-team-is-not-a-particularly-good-team themed signs can work wonders. Again, this was addressed during the ODU game, but should absolutely continue from here on out, especially as the team starts down the final stretch towards the year-end CAA tournament.

One final change could also be made, but it is not something that can be done at the game. There is no, as far as I am aware, SGA-sanctioned student support group. Many other schools have such a group, which gives the most enthusiastic of students a way to prepare for the games with help of university funding. Through school funding and support from other groups on campus, getting SGA-sanctioning of a Lion’s Den student group could go a long way in building fan support throughout campus. The platform that such a group would give the Lions’ Den would allow students to possibly set up trips to away games, pregame festivities, and give the group support when working with the Athletic Department on in-game programs. Also, something as simple as a website, which could be used as a bulletin board for the fans – listing pregame meeting places and chants that will be used in the subsequent games – and forum discussion of the team – keeping the fans more up-to-date on information about the team – could be, and has been in the past, an extremely useful tool in the organization of a domineering student section.

These are the little things that can turn a mediocre crowd into a good crowd and good crowd into a great crowd, which is something that the Lions’ Den was my freshmen year, and I see now it can being again. With all this said, I hope all of those understand that I said the things I said not out of hate, but out of love. Out of love for our team, out of love for our school, and out of love for what I know the student section can be. So, to answer one of the many critics of last week’s column:

I’m with you, Lion’s Den, I’m with you.