I and the entire Lion’s Den take offense to Nick Bond’s article, “Lion’s Den Gets Declawed,” in last week’s edition of The Chronicle. The David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex still is one of the many wonderful and unique things we have on our campus, and I believe it will remain that way for as long as I am here and long after I leave. Although I was still in High School when that magical season was happening, I understand that the fans were a big part of the home-field advantage for the Pride and the reason that they won as many games as they did. Based on your article and my knowledge of that season, I think it is safe to assume that there were consistently many more students at the games cheering for the Pride than there have been at each and every game this year. The small amount of students that show up to every game try their hardest to help the Pride have a home-field advantage. I was at the game against Virginia Commonwealth last week and I was present again this week for the game against Towson- and this time I noticed that you did not sit in the student section. In fact, this week, I did not even see you clap your hands once or cheer at all. Maybe if you did cheer on your team they would be much better and maybe we would have beaten Virginia Commonwealth last week. This goes for the rest of the student body as well. There are not enough students coming to the games. The handful of us who do show up to almost every game are an embarrassingly small percentage of the student body, and Coach Pecora, Charles Jenkins and the rest of the team deserve better than that. The student body as a whole shows a general lack of support for Hofstra Athletics. Back on the subject of Bond’s article, you need to realize that this is college. There are certain things about it that are unwholesome, but I reiterate, this is college. If you believe that the Lion’s Den’s behavior was too harsh, I think you need to attend a game in a big conference such as the Big East , ACC or SEC. I’m sure your opinion of the Hofstra fans will change. Chanting the word “sucks” after the each player from the opposing teams’ introductions is commonplace around the country at almost every college. It’s not that big of a deal, and the word “sucks” is far from derogatory. There are also some contradictions in your article. For example, you first state that the Pride were completely shutting down Eric Maynor and then you later mention that he was the leading scorer in both halves. That is not possible; it must be one or the other. Another thing about him- We were chanting “overrated” because he is overrated. Being overrated is not related to being the best player on the floor; it is related to how he is rated by everyone else. Yes, he was the best player on the floor, but that does not mean that he isn’t overrated. He plays in the CAA. Last time I checked, the CAA was not that great of a basketball conference. And we did chant “a simple ‘DEE-FENSE,'” many times during the game, even though you claim we didn’t. I do not understand how you can think that we lost the game for the team. If your behavior was in the Virginia Commonwealth game was similar to what it was in the Towson game, then you are the reason the Pride lost. Like I said before- I did not see you clap your hands, cheer or even stand up once. And I am not sure what you are referring to when you say that we could not tell the difference between the game clock and the shot clock. It is standard practice to count down from :05 when the shot clock gets down that low. I challenge the entire student body to start showing up for basketball games and to help cheer on the Pride. There are simply not enough students there to make the arena the volume it should be. As all the flyers and athletics posters say “Pack the Mack.”

Matt Young is a freshman management and marketing student.