It's rare to see Brown students with painted faces yelling at the top of their lungs. Such displays of pure excitement are generally reserved for Spring Weekend. But on Saturday night, students and alums channeled their spirit for Brown football's first-ever night game in the homecoming matchup against Harvard.
For those who packed the bleachers to witness the football team's 29-14 victory, the game was a tremendous show of solidarity. Sadly, such showings of solidarity are rare in the realm of Brown athletics. At some schools, sporting events routinely generate excitement all across campus, but Brown's student body has unfortunately developed a reputation for apathy towards athletics and school spirit. As The Herald reported on Friday, the general perception is that few of us can actually sing the fight song along with the Brown Band.
We commend the staff, parents and alums involved with the Brown Football Association. They decided to tackle head-on the student body's apparent disinterest and very much succeeded. The logistics of arranging lighting for a night game requires extensive planning and funding, and we hope that none of the estimated 17,360 people who attended the game take their hard work for granted. In an era of budget cuts, we're especially grateful to those whose financial backing allowed for a seemingly unprecedented celebration of community.
Of course, the football team also deserves a lot of credit for making the evening so special. The Bears put forth an inspired effort against the Crimson and electrified the crowd with their dominating performance. Kicker Alex Norocea '14 tied a school record with five field goals, and the 15 points that resulted turned out to be precisely the margin of victory. Brown's defense also came up big, forcing Harvard's quarterback — who formerly started three games for Louisiana State University — to throw two interceptions.
Perhaps one day, permanent lighting fixtures for the football stadium will make raucous, spirited night games a routine occurrence. Until then, we'd love to see a night game at least become an annual tradition. Because so many students had a great experience on Saturday night, we imagine that more students will want to get involved with planning and fundraising for future night games.
We encourage the Brown Football Association to leverage Saturday night's success by soliciting student input on promoting a night game next year. Many Brown students are big sports fans generally but only tepid fans of Brown's teams. But last night may have been a turning point in countering the belief that Brown isn't a "sports school."
In recent years, Brown students have been named the happiest, the douchiest and among the most intellectual. We have no idea what could be next, but we're ready to make a run at "most spirited."
Editorials are written by The Herald's editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
