Above and Beyond

All is not lost even with American’s loss to Villanova.

The team won’t be advancing to the second round of the playoffs and students won’t be tuning into to see their campus heroes take on UCLA. The Eagles played a great game but in the end just couldn’t match the physicality of Villanova. The basketball game brought more victories to the campus community though, than any victory on the hardwood could have.

AU’s trip to the post season brought the campus together. Never before have they had something like this to rally around. It is no secret that there isn’t much school spirit around American but no one would be able to notice that on Thursday. If students weren’t buying their tickets on Stubhub or taking the school trip to Philadelphia they were adorning their red, white and blue.

The power of a fan base is lost on most people who don’t actively follow sports. There is Red Sox nation, Hockeytown and “America’s Team,” the Dallas Cowboys just to name a few. All of these sports franchises have a fan base that transcends sports it is almost like a personal bond that every single fan shares. During the Eagles game on Thursday, the American fan base transcended sports.

Everyone lived and died by what happened on the hard wood and looked to each other for comfort when the game was over. Even though there may not be much of a fan base throughout the year, for that one night it can be said that American Universities fans transcended sports.