I went to a public high school of around 1,300 students that was really good at soccer. In fact, we won the state championship three years in a row, so whenever we had a home game, the bleachers would be completely filled with rowdy high schoolers, eagerly cheering on their team. But when I committed to Tufts, I figured things at a Division III school would be pretty different—I knew not to expect the "hype" of a Duke basketball game or an Alabama football game. Even though it took me a full semester to do so, I finally went to my first sporting event here (Tufts' amazing win over SVC last weekend). As a result, I thought it'd be a cool idea to share my thoughts going into it.
1."We have decent sports teams?"'
Once I got here, I learned that "DIII" doesn't necessarily translate to "poor quality"; the biggest difference is that DIII schools cannot hand out athletic scholarships, whereas DI schools can.
Our football team, which had gone winless since the 2011 season, actually finished with a fantastic record of 6-2. The lacrosse team had won the DIII NCAA Championship for two straight years.
And our basketball team would host a portion of their own NCAA tournament? OK, I couldn't miss this chance.
2. "We should get there early for the best seats."
Or so I thought. I got to the game with a friend probably half an hour early, thinking that that was the only way we'd get good seats. Granted, it's not the biggest of gyms, so most of the seats were fine anyway. But either way, we were surprised at how ridiculously empty the gym was.
3. "Seems pretty empty... It's got to fill up soon, right?"
We did get there while another game was going on, so we weren't too concerned yet. But then Tufts game started, and few Jumbos actually showed up. Half of the gym was filled by SVC fans—most notably a ridiculously loud girl who'd yell "soda" every time Tufts shot free throws. Not the greatest environment for what turned out to be an excellent game.
4. "Who cares? I love this place!"
Honestly, I don't think students at Tufts have any less pride in our school than do students at Duke or Alabama. Sure, the attendance for the game I went to was somewhat shoddy. But we just show our love and support in different ways, which is cool too. I think if more people got the memo that watching college sports (even at DIII schools) can be an awesome experience, then that could change things. Anyway, regardless of Tufts' successes or failures in athletic competition, I'm not the same person I was last semester. Roll Bo's!
