I’m standing in a crowded house. All of my friends are packed in with me, staring at the TV. I barely have a voice at this point. The past three seconds seem like three hours. Oh my God. The Seton Hall Men’s Basketball team has just won the Big East Tournament.
I don’t think I’ll ever forget that day or that feeling, and I wasn’t even out there on the court.
My college experience definitely would not be what it already has without college athletics. Whether it was sitting out on a gorgeous, sunny spring day watching a baseball game. Or starting off the year going to a soccer game in the fall. And of course, all of those basketball games in the Prudential Center. I didn’t care if we won or lost—don’t get me wrong, winning is obviously the best—but just seeing all of the faces of students, parents, alum, and local fans that I didn’t even know, made me feel like I was a part of something so much bigger than myself and my school.
I come from a pretty athletic family and watched my sister go through her college career as a student athlete. Just seeing her work ethic, determination, and bond she had with her team made me jealous at the fact that I would never have any of that in the same aspect.
Just look at these giant universities across the country that get thousands and thousands of students to attend sporting events. What else can bring that many near-strangers together as a unifying force? That’s one of the feelings that I love the most—besides the adrenaline rushes.
So thank you to college athletics programs everywhere. Thanks for the fun, the memories, the wins, the losses, and even the heart attacks we all had during that championship game. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.