Is adopting BC's football team a worthy investment? Program offers a new sport for fans to enjoy

It might not be a very popular position, but it makes sense for St. Joe's students to have someone to root for during football season.

Any football team is better than none. Right now, when asked what college team we like, we're forced to say some other team's school. USC, maybe, or Florida. Whichever one we pick, though, it ends up being unsatisfactory. For any other sport, we know what the answer would be. Basketball? Oh, of course Saint Joseph's. Track? St. Joe's again. Every school needs a team it can unite behind, and, while supporting Boston College's team isn't the perfect solution, it's better than nothing.

Besides, even if we had a football team, how many people would actually show up? How many people show up to any sport but basketball here? It doesn't take much to recall empty bleachers at lacrosse and soccer games, assuming you were actually there. I've talked to people who didn't even know we had a baseball team. Let's face it. We're a one sport school, and we might as well not even delude ourselves about the chances of having an active football program. Why go to the expense of a football stadium if no one shows up to enjoy it?

It's not like we need our own football team, anyway. It's rare for a school the size of Saint Joseph's to have a great team in any sport. In this, we're already ahead of the small-school curve. Pouring an investment into our own football team would be stupid for any school our size. The stadium would have to be built, recruiting paid for, practice set up, coaches hired, and more land bought. Football is the most expensive sport for any college, and only the largest have any hope of being able to recoup their investment through tickets and souvenirs. The cost comes mostly from the stadium and from recruiting. Small schools face one other obstacle, too: they just never have decent football teams, and usually don't even try. The reason for this is simple: football is fundamentally different from basketball in its requirements from its players. In basketball, teams can get by with a mediocre team and one star starter. In football, the whole team has to match up with each other. There is no room for mediocrity, and St. Joe's simply does not and will never have the resources it takes to attract decent players.

That brings us back to our first quandary. Is it better to "adopt" a team or to have no team at all? In this case, the answer is clear. With adoption of the Boston College Eagles come some nice benefits. Once a year, students from St. Joe's will be able to travel up to Boston to watch their team play. While there, we'll be able to explore Boston- a very fun city with a lot to do. We'll also finally have a good team that we'll be able to cheer for if they do well during the season. It also doesn't hurt that we're supporting a fellow Jesuit school that shares a lot of the same values and beliefs we have. Their school is actually an awful lot like ours. Supporting with a school with similar beliefs, values, and activities is no chore; we should be doing more of it.

All these make good arguments for giving this a chance. If you don't feel like supporting BC, though, then fine; you don't have to. For the rest of us, though, it makes sense. We give nothing and get a cheap trip to Boston once a year. Maybe someday the table will be reversed and they'll even "adopt" our basketball team. There's always hope.