Chill out! We have spirit.

As a junior at the university, school spirit is a recurring topic of discussion on campus, often leading to possible ways in which attendance at athletic events could be improved.

This topic has resurfaced with added emphasis because of the recent Richmond Times-Dispatch article by Paul Woody titled "Spider fans have taken a TO." In the article, Mr. Woody slams students and fans about not supporting their team, especially when they faced St. Joseph's, a team near the top of the men's A-10 standings. Even St. Joseph's coach Phil Martelli decided to weigh in by saying, "I would suggest to the people and the students here that they back this team ... I thought it would be a much more hostile environment than it was."

One could only wonder if such a comment would have been offered had St. Joe's lost. Clearly, there was some hubris in his team's win.

As the current president of the Richmond Rowdies, this article was a bit much for me and others to swallow. While I thought that Mr. Martelli's comments could serve as an effective wake-up call, at the same time, it made his team sound like a traveling road show.

The reality is that St. Joe's is part of the big-five in Philadelphia, arguably the best college basketball city in the country. The cross-town rivalries draw huge crowds and the atmosphere is intense. While I would love to have all that at the Robins Center, our environment is markedly different.

The facts are our men's team has not made the NCAAs since 2004 and has consistently finished in about the middle of the A-10 standings. It would be great to have huge crowds for every game, but it is difficult given the competitiveness of the conference. The reality is, winning teams attract larger crowds and everyone wants to be associated with a winner - to verify this just ask coach London. We had about 800 students go to Chattanooga, most who changed their semester break plans and flights in order to attend.

Mr. Woody writes, "And the crowd of 4,312 was embarrassing for a game of this importance." My question for him is, by what precise standard are we to be judged?

All factors considered, school spirit on campus really is not as bad as it seems.

The Rowdies this year decided to bring back a tradition of Midnight Madness or as we called it, "Spider Mayhem." This event created a large buzz and was held in the Weinstein Center gym, which was great because it was a nice, small area with the ability to turn off the lights for player introductions. The gym got very loud, especially for the Slam Dunk contest when Kevin Smith dunked by jumping over a student. This dunk made SportCenter's Top Play-of-the-Day. I would estimate that we had about 400 students in attendance along with some season ticket holders as well.

The Robins Center is also one of the finest sports venues in the conference. However, with a capacity of 9,000, it is very big for our current demand. We are a student population of approximately 3,000 students. The highest student attendance that I can recall during my time here has been about 800, with the highest overall attendance in the range of 4,000 to 5,000. The recurring question is, "What is the proper benchmark?"

For an arena of our size, such turnouts are going to look awful. While it might seem tacky, my suggestion would be to consider blocking off the upper levels or put advertising tarps on it. This will force people to sit closer to the action and hopefully make everyone feel like one united section. If you look at campuses such as Duke or even VCU, their arenas are smaller though they have larger student bodies. Putting Duke aside, VCU has an easier time filling up its arena and, just due to sheer numbers, is bound to get a solid group of vocal fans that really care about basketball.

We will certainly use this article as a basis for discussion and improvement for attendance at athletic events where student pride and excellence remain the basis for everything occurring on this campus.