Written by Ben Lane
It’s tough to be a Razorback fan today. After suffering an embarrassing 17-40 defeat to Mississippi State University last Saturday, my high hope for a successful season was unequivocally tarnished by the agonizing realization that the Hogs simply do not play at an elite level.
But they are my team and have been since I was young. It’s odd that I, like many other Arkansans, possess a fighting spirit for a team that historically loses in make-or-break situations. Even odder is that I have only attended one Razorback sporting event in my life: a football game the year after Bobby Petrino disgracefully exited in which Arkansas lost to Rutgers University 35-26 at Razorback Stadium. Further, I have never even set foot on campus.
The most entertaining part of that game did not occur on the field, but instead one seat behind me where a presumably drunken and angry fan shouted across the field, “Sit down Snooki!”
It’s this unabashed, unearned and arguably undeserved pride my stadium buddy sitting behind me so concisely presented when shouting “Snooki” that makes me a Razorback fan — even though the air was thick with heartbreak and the heat was stifling, I could see through the suffocating atmosphere and gazed upon the heart of the Hogs. Razorback fans stick with their team. They fight for them, even if the Razorbacks do not obviously deserve to be fought for.
Everyone, sportsperson or not, can take a lesson from this Razorback spirit. It’s important to support the people and things you care about because without support, without the key characteristic of strong fortitude during difficult times, nothing will ever fulfill its potential.
After all, Arkansas is no longer the worst team in the SEC. Though they are nowhere near an elite level, nor are they ranked, the Razorbacks scratched and clawed their way into becoming a respectable team, and I cannot help but believe that the collective consciousness of Razorback fans, which permeates a supportive and fighting spirit, was a key component in the formation of the Razorbacks as they are now.
I don’t mean that this collective consciousness manifested a respectable football program. That is a ridiculous “spooky language” notion that belongs in the realm of hauntings and other ridiculous wee-woo not accurately applicable to the human experience. What is less spooky is that the collective consciousness creates an underlying electric atmosphere, which Razorback players are subject to and is all important to any successful athletic sport.
Razorback fans must maintain their fighting spirit, even if the team loses to Brigham Young University tomorrow, because it is essential to the success of the team.
