In two years of managing the basketball team and assisting with our athletic programs, I have seen many things. I have seen everything from the pain in a volleyball dig to a hard slide into home at Segnette Field. I have seen the heartbreak and jubilance in each and every buzzer beater. Something I have not seen in my Loyola Athletics experience are fans in the seats of these events.

I know that Loyola is a smaller school and it is quite apparent to me that there will never be a time when we fill the Pete Maravich Assembly Center with maroon and gold.

What is not apparent to me is why all of our residence halls are filled to the brim with students and yet we struggle to get a hundred people in the stands to support the Wolfpack. I should mention that half of the existing crowd is composed of family members of players and fans from the opposing teams. You can do the math on that one.

What puzzles me is that students feel the urge to walk a half mile left or right down Freret Street to spend loads of money they do not have rather than simply walk fifty feet to the Rec Plex to watch a college level sporting event for free.

Students, we are in college to experience things not possible to experience after college. Last time I checked, bars and alcohol will still be a part of your life four years from now. Let’s step away from Happy Hour for an hour or two and step into The Den to support the ‘Pack, as four years go by rather quickly.

A great college experience is graduating with the tools to be a successful person in the “Real World.” No, that does not mean hopping a fence and the faking of a separated shoulder to gain the sympathy of America.

A great college experience is based on building lifelong relationships with people outside of situations where memories could potentially be erased. And what better way to fill one’s college experience with the greatest memories, than to gather them through sporting events?

Please, make it a point this year to attend as many sporting events as possible. Good or bad, memories are made at sporting events, not erased.

As Ignatius said, “Always strive for the Magis. Always strive for the more. Make your college experience one full of memories and no regrets.” Ignatius wore the colors of his Loyola on his chest with pride, and we all should do the same.

Jeffrey Ramon is the current manager of the men’s basketball team and his columns cover Loyola sporting events and current issues involving the Loyola Wolfpack.

He can be reached at [email protected]