Here at Lamar University, and other small to mid-sized universities, there is a shortage in attendance at school sporting events. While it is fine to support teams from other universities, it is very disrespectful to do so without supporting the school you attend.
It is okay to prefer burnt orange or maroon whenever they are about to play a big game, and I understand that you may have family there or be waiting to transfer, and that is perfectly okay. What is not okay, however, is wearing a Texas State shirt on a Monday or Tuesday every single week that you go to a school like Lamar. Additionally, what is very not okay is supporting a team like LSU at a Lamar home baseball game, or driving out to the Lamar versus Texas A&M game just to wear maroon.
What compounds this disrespect is the fact that Lamar makes all sporting events free to students AND gives out free shirts, hats, or other University merchandise to try to get more than 100 people at a basketball game. What many people do not realize is that this creates a catch 22: students do not want to attend the (free) game because there are never many students there, and there are never many students there because students do not want to attend.
What many students at Lamar do not realize is that Lamar is actually very good at many of its sports, and filling up the student sections may just help them propel even further while adding to the morale of the university. Lamar baseball is ranked 56th in the nation by RPI, and has beaten teams such as No. 23 Arizona and No. 8 LSU. The men's tennis team has won the Southland Conference, the Southland tournament, and will open against the University of Texas at Austin in round one of the NCAA Men's Tennis Tournament. The football team just had two players get offers from the Atlanta Falcons to play for the NFL, and current running back Kade Harrington looks to be good enough to get drafted next year.
Students also like to complain about how Lamar has no school spirit, and how games would be more fun if only Lamar was better, or how games would be better if they played in a more prestigious conference, or any other medley of reason. There is only one way to fix all of these problems: Simply head out to a game with your friends every once in a while, wear red and white, and have fun cheering on the Cardinals! In fact, one of the only things stopping Lamar football from being able to go to bowl games is the lack of attendance at football games. In order to move to a FBS division, like the Sunbelt Conference, Lamar would have to prove that it could keep a certain amount of attendance at football games, which seems to be the only major obstacle for Lamar.
Maybe they are not first in the nation, and maybe they do not get over 10,000 people attending every game, but the only thing stopping you from having fun at a Lamar game is yourself.
