With the football team’s game against East Carolina just two days away, I have taken it upon myself to address a few items which we, as Wolfpack fans, need to improve upon for the remaining six home football games.Don’t BooWolfpack fans are known to be unforgiving. This is likely a product of our intense passion for our teams combined with two decades of mediocrity in most sports. The frustration this creates sometimes translates into boos aimed at the red and white. This was the case when quarterback Daniel Evans threw an interception with his second pass of the game against William & Mary.I can understand why people booed. It seemed the offense had reached a level of ineffectiveness that was almost biblical in scale. In the two games the football team played before William & Mary, they had failed to score a point. You have to go back to 1956 to find the last time State was shutout in consecutive games. But people, don’t misdirect your spears. Think about who you’re booing. Evans is a guy who grew up dreaming of playing in Carter-Finley like his father one day. He is a student-athlete in every sense of the word, having already graduated with a business degree and returning to take graduate classes. Booing him, or any N.C. State athlete doesn’t make sense and probably hurts the ultimate goal of fielding a winning team one day.If you can’t take my word for it, at least listen to Bill “The Chin” Cowher who voiced his displeasure as a guest on 99.9 The Fan’s afternoon show with Scott Jackson and Mark Thomas.”That is something I would never condone,” Cowher said.Wear redI understand some folks are in the types of fraternities or sororities that seem to have some sort of dress code at all times. But understand, Carter-Finley Stadium has a dress code too: red. And wearing a white button-up with a red tie, or a black dress with red jewelry, does not satisfy the requirement. You may think you look classy, but you look out of place. That is the type of behavior one would expect to find in Chapel Hill or Charlottesville, but not at N.C. State. A football game should not be treated as a social function. It is a time for eating meat, enjoying a frosty beverage and cheering on Wolfpack football.Watch the whole gameI know we’ve only had one home game this year, and it was against William & Mary,a non-bowl subdivision team, but it was still sad to see how deserted some of the student sections were by the beginning of the fourth quarter. This is probably the only time in your life you will get free tickets to N.C. State football games. Some of you will wind up paying a lot of money as alumni for seats similar to the ones you have now.Plus, it makes it hard for us to demand more from the University when we don’t take advantage of what is already given us. Show up before kickoff and stay for the alma-mater. You’re only a student once.
Commentary: Guidelines for fans
By Taylor Auten
Sports Editor
Sports Editor
September 26, 2008