Sidney Lowe’s return to N.C. State has inspired something of a great awakening of tradition and pride in the men’s basketball program, and it will undoubtedly inspire new traditions that could carry on for generations of Wolfpack fans to come. The Student Wolfpack Clubs walk-in should not be one of these new traditions.
For those of you not familiar with what I am talking about, here is a quick rundown: before the basketball games against Duke and UNC, the Student Wolfpack Club remained in the RBC Center concourse area until about five minutes before tip-off.
They then marched down to their seats, getting the crowd pumped up and being filmed by ESPN cameras the entire way.
It was initially ESPN’s idea. As part of its student spirit week, it wanted to highlight the Student Wolfpack Club because it is one of the largest student organizations of its kind, and this walk-in was an innovative way for the network to do so.
Sounds pretty sweet, right?
Wrong. First off, it didn’t work. The club’s chants fell flat, and the march down the RBC Center stairs was awkward if anything. Sophomore Daniel Winders watched the walk-in at the UNC game from his end zone seat. “It looked like they were just filing down into their seats. They stopped chanting after 15 seconds,” Winders said. “The walk-in just wasn’t the big triumphant entrance it was supposed to be.”
I am actually a member of the Student Wolfpack Club, and I participated in the walk-in at both games. Initially, I was excited about the idea and hoped it would be embraced. It just didn’t go down like I had envisioned it.
Another drawback to the walk-in, besides the fact that it turned out so lame, is that it takes some of the most passionate Wolfpack fans away from prime heckling time.
N.C. State fans are known for being rowdy. This is a characteristic that we embrace and that opponents fear. David Noel told reporters last February that State fans were the most intimidating he had played in front of, even more so than Duke’s.
Before games, the Student Wolfpack Club members should be a solid red wall, hurling insults and expletives at the opposing team during warm-ups. Its members should not be waiting to prance down to their seats just so the TV networks can fill 30 seconds of airtime.
Sophomore Brad Frenier, a member of Student Wolfpack Club, said that it is the club’s duty to create an unfriendly atmosphere for opposing teams.
“I think as fans, all you can really do is try to break the other team’s focus,” Frenier said. “Last year, I was courtside before the Maryland game. We were taunting the other team during stretches, and it wasn’t your standard ‘you suck’ or ‘you’re ugly.’ We were saying stuff that would make little kids cry. I think it might have helped.”
The walk-in had another detrimental effect: it served to alienate the rest of the student fan-base. Sophomore Bryan Owens doesn’t see why the Student Wolfpack Club deserved the honor of a walk-in.
“I thought it was dumb. I go to every home game. Just because I don’t pay $30 every year to get tickets doesn’t mean I’m any less of a fan,” Owens said. “I think that if we do it at all, it should be the entire student section.”
The hope was that the club members would walk down chanting loudly and rousing the crowd to fever pitch just before the players are announced. However, it seemed to have the opposite effect, quieting the crowd and leaving the other students feeling left out.
I didn’t sign up for Student Wolfpack Club so everybody could look at me when I walked down to my seat. Although the walk-in was an honest effort to start something new, it didn’t work and shouldn’t be repeated.
