Your article “An Undying Question: Football,” [April 2] by James Ho was amusing, frustrating and infuriating all at the same time. As a founding member of the GMU Football Club, I spent several years at Mason trying to work through the very same arguments for and against NCAA football on our campus — but that was almost 20 years ago. Not much has changed, I’m afraid to say.
As far back as 1993 when we were a fledgling club sport on campus, some in the athletic department and other high-level positions at Mason used the cost argument to negate the importance or value of an NCAA-sanctioned team.
And while I don’t diminish the expenses that go with supporting a team, let me ask this: Do the students at Penn State, Nebraska, Virginia Tech or even at JMU and William & Mary deserve better or more than the Mason nation? Those students have associated costs with their football programs, but I’m pretty confident you couldn’t get them to give up their traditions for anything.
Simply put, football builds pride and a bond with your college like no other single activity can. There are costs and risks, but isn’t Mason “mature enough” to handle the challenge?
Football at Mason will never be important to all students on campus. But neither will any other number of activities that all of our tuition costs and alumni donations go to support. We need to finally start thinking of Mason as a whole: a dominant research institution, a top-notch modern university, and a powerhouse athletic presence with a tradition alumni and students can be proud of.
Think of the 2006 men’s basketball team. Imagine that feeling every weekend during the fall.
The same arguments from 20 years ago don’t cut it anymore. It’s time for Mason to embrace a top-university-of-33,000-students persona and act like a major urban university. Our students and alumni deserve just as much as anyone else.
-Ken Goldman
Government & Politics, 1994
2 Comments
“Football at Mason will never be important to all students on campus. But
neither will any other number of activities that all of our tuition
costs and alumni donations go to support.”
Well put Ken, Amen.
-Jack Langley
Inspiring article. It’s time for Mason to step up to the plate. If football is regarded as America’s sport, why is there only one university within the capital’s metropolitan area that can say they are an FBS school? It can’t be about the money because mason is one of the fastest growing universities in the nation. It can’t be about the type of student athletes football ‘attracts’ because there are universities out there that run quality programs which excel in their conferences and turn out quality student athletes. And lastly it can’t be about eagerness for a football team because the desire among the student body and other groups at mason is there.