Memo to Sac State students! We have Division I athletes here on campus that need your support in a major way. Yes Division I, as in the best college competition this glorious country can produce. I?m calling you out Hornet Fans! To all those students out there that complain that Sac State is not a college, but a “commuter” school that lacks spirit, I say shake yourself and go to a game. Any game, just go!

Are you going to be part of the problem or part of the solution? What, are the ticket prices too high? It?s hard to get cheaper than free. Another complaint I hear is “we suck, we never win”. O.K., so we probably won?t be competing with Stanford for the Sears? Trophy (which is given to the school with the best winning percentage every year) but did you know we have a defending National Champion right here on campus? That?s right, our rugby team “commuted” itself to a national championship this past year and our gymnastics team is currently nationally ranked.

I know somewhere in that backpack of yours is some school spirit. I see it every fall when football season starts. Hornet Stadium filled to the rafters with Hornet spirit. It?s just too bad it dies when coach John Volek and the boys hang up their pads. Besides Charles Roberts, I wish that fellow students knew the names of other great athletes like junior gymnast Wendy Baisdon, who is the school-record holder for uneven bars, or senior baseball stand-outs like Aurelio Jackson and Daryl Grant. And I won?t dare forget senior Michelle St. Clair who is poised to shatter the all-time Big Sky Conference record for most three-pointers made in a single season. And that?s just to name a few of our Division 1 stars here on campus.

People, we have an enrollment that is greater than 30,000 and the parking problems to prove it. We can support our athletics. Just look down Highway 99 a few miles and you?ll see the Bulldogs of Fresno State. They?re a state school with similar enrollment, in Fresno of all places, yet they have a top 25 basketball team and a football team that competes for bowl bids every year. And they?re doing this in Fresno? Don?t get me wrong, I have folks in Fresno, but I don?t think you?ll be seeing Fresno in too many vacation itineraries any time soon. Of course they recently hired famous alumnus Jerry Tarkanian to resurrect their hoops team, and “Tark the Shark” has delivered.

Maybe our Athletic Director Debby Colberg can follow suit and get our famous alumnus Tom Hanks in here to jump-start our program and get these spirit-lacking students off their cans and become involved. I can see it now, “Tom the Bomb” leads his Hornets’ squad to the final four. Don?t worry coach Jenkins, you’re not quite walking the Green Mile yet.