Is adopting BC's football team a worthy investment? Football is unecessary luxury for a small school

The recent approval of the proposition to "adopt" the Boston College football team is evidence of the mistake in St. Joe's policy to embrace student ideas supported by a measly 100 student signatures. To then provide monetary support to such a cause is a waste of money, and indicative of a misappropriation of funds that could clearly be used elsewhere at a school of more than 4,000 students.

Has the athletic department actually reached a level of financial security that it feels the need to send money to another school? Are the St. Joe's facilities so state-of-the-art, and the athletes so well equipped that Don DiJulia, Athletic Director, needs to spend money on a program that displaces students from their own campus? Certainly not.

The athletic program as a whole has tangible needs in a number of areas far more important than a pipedream such as an adopted football team. Multi-million dollar renovation plans for the Fieldhouse, proposed changes to the facilities soon to be acquired from the Episcopal Academy, and much-needed upgrades around campus, ranging from Finnesey Field to the weight room, all provide far more viable and reasonable alternatives than discounted tickets to a football game six hours away.

This convenience perspective is probably most effective in capturing the true absurdity of the idea. A quick search on Mapquest.com shows that Boston College is located nearly six hours northeast of the St. Joe's campus, a seemingly unreasonable and prohibitive distance for the program to succeed.

Even University-sponsored transportation would require at least 12 hours of traveling for students to attend an event that won't exceed three hours. Most college football games are held between noon and 4 p.m. on Saturdays, meaning that students would have to travel on Friday night or bright and early on Saturday, a prospect that students surely won't be excited for. Once the possibility of having to spend either Friday or Saturday night in Boston comes up, the program immediately becomes more trouble than it's worth.

Aside from these obvious logistical issues that should have sufficed to reject the proposal, there is the glaring question that begs to be asked: why do we need a football team?

The Sports Illustrated cover featuring Jameer Nelson described him as, "The little man from the little school that's beating everyone," and like it or not, a little school is precisely what St. Joe's is.

The St. Joe's identity is one of a small, city school rooted in tradition, most notably linked to recent successes on the basketball court. What sets the University apart from gigantic "football schools" like Penn State is the Unique concept of a university with fewer than 5,000 students that boasts a Division 1 team that can compete with the best in the nation. Latching onto a larger school just to have legitimate claim to cheer for a football team is demeaning to the distinctive character of the school.

If students truly feel so strongly about a football team, there is nothng prohibiting them from attending another school's game, buying their merchandise, and generally lending their support. In fact, the unmistakable presence of Notre Dame football gear sported by students on campus nearly every day goes to show that many St. Joe's football fans have had no trouble finding and supporting a football team.

If students want to root for the BC football team, then they should. If they support the University of California water polo team or the University of Minnesota ice hockey team, that is their decision. Wasting time, money, and more than 600 words worth of breath - that just doesn't make sense.