Letter to the Editor: Show up to football games

Letter+to+the+Editor%3A+Show+up+to+football+games

By Alexandra Hartlein

When discussing Block I season tickets, typically someone will laugh, someone will say, “When I was a freshman…” and lastly, “When the football team starts winning, the student section will fill up.”

But here’s my question: Which comes first, the championships or the active student section? Even if Lovie Smith is the best coach in the entire country, do you think recruits will be attracted to a school with a student section that isn’t full and loud every game? What does that show of our students? What can the staff say? “Oh sorry, our students didn’t care to show up today, they are at the bars instead?”

What does that show of our true Illini spirit? If you want a better football team, you have to support the football team now, this season. Lovie Smith and his staff continue to work toward rebuilding the program, and the players are dedicated and passionate about their roll in this process.

There is a great opportunity at the University of Illinois to rebuild and prosper as a football school, but we, as students, have to take responsibility and show the nation that we are passionate about this rebuild and have an attractive home field advantage that recruits should flock to. And no, you can’t show your school spirit in KAM’s or Red Lion; you have to be in the north end zone on Saturday.

My call to action is this: Consider buying Block I tickets or consider buying a few single game tickets. I invite you to leave KAM’s on a Saturday this season and show that you are proud to be an Illini. We have a lot to be proud of at this school, and if we want our football team to be competing at the Big Ten Championships, we must show up first.

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Alexandra Hartlein is a junior in LAS.

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