Let’s hear it for the Maroon and Annoying

By Jaime Gweshe

Watching the captains of the BC Hockey National Championship team throw out the first pitch in Fenway Park, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. It seems everywhere I look all I see are BC shirts, hats, t-shirts, whatever, and now they had invaded my Red Sox games. It makes me wonder if the people wearing all this BC gear actually are fans of the school or if they are just victims of successful marketing schemes.

Here are some numbers for you. Recently I talked with 20 kids who were wearing BC gear. Thirteen of them couldn’t name a player of either the BC football team or the hockey team. Nor could they name a coach from either team.

Really? You’ve got to be kidding me. I understand if you just liked the colors of the shirt, you bought it, but to wear a Super Fan shirt and not be able to identify even one player is a little pathetic. Now, if I could find more than three BU fans, I’m sure the outcome would have been quite similar for BU fans.

Even though I am a huge BU fan, I enjoyed watching the National Championship game. Hockey is hockey no matter who’s playing and it’s enjoyable to watch. However, I’m a little sick of the bragging that goes along with BC winning another national title.

Statistically speaking Boston University has won more Beanpot tournaments and national titles than BC, with 5 national titles and 29 Beanpot titles. BC has 4 national titles and 15 Beanpot titles.

But when I bring up this inconvenient truth I get one response almost every time: BU is a safety school. The only reason students even attend Boston University is because they didn’t get into the “Ivy League” that is Boston College .

First of all, what does being a “safety school” have to do with sports?

But if we are going to talk about safety schools I have a few things to say. If BU is such a safety school, why don’t more students from BHS get in? I mean, if it’s so easy to get in why are only 4 people going there as opposed to the 17 going to UMass Lowell or the 18 attending UMass Amherst?

By the way, Boston College isn’t an Ivy League school. If you’re looking for an Ivy League school, head off about six and a half miles down the road to Harvard. And Boston University isn’t like Clown College. I’d like for some of you who say it’s easy to actually try to get accepted. I promise you the outcome won’t be what you expect.

Yes, Boston College does have more select admissions, with 26 percent of applicants accepted, as opposed to BU’s 58 percent. But it doesn’t mean you’ll get in easily or at all.

“Boston University is a very competitive school,” Mr. Attubato, the head of the guidance department, told me. “We did have a good amount of students that got into there this year, but I don’t think that BU is a safety school.”

Calling BU a safety school confirms stereotypes that a few of the Terriers fans have of a large majority of Eagles fans. Pretentious, pretentious, pretentious.

This stereotype doesn’t involve all of BC’s fans, especially if you’ve grown up with family members going there or your best friend goes there. Then it’s a different story and it’s okay to do some bad-mouthing on BU and wear obnoxious amounts of Eagles gear. That’s legitimate. However, if you just like BC because they have won a few national championships, it’s the moral equivalent of being a Yankees or Lakers fan in Massachusetts.

BU also has an advantage of having a rich history. You know the 1980 “Miracle on Ice,” one of the greatest moments in the American sports history? Half of the team’s hockey players came from BU. Boston University also has had more players drafted to the NHL over the years, with 56 as opposed to Boston College’s 41.

BU can also claim Jay Pandolfo among its alumni. Pandolfo is a former Terrier, BHS alum and New Jersey Devil left winger.

I guess in the end I’m still going to be bombarded with BC shirts when I go shopping and BC hats when I walk down the hall. And it’s not that I dislike every BC fan. There are some nice ones here and there who know what they are talking about, and you can hold a conversation about how good goalie John Muse is, or Mark Herzlich’s comeback from cancer. But for the most part talking to them about their hockey or football team is like listening to an episode of Toucher and Rich’s “Ask a Pink Hat.”

No one can argue numbers; BU has won more than BC. True, the Eagles do have a nice run going on with their three titles in the past five years. But again, don’t forget the history of the sport and BU’s past outstanding and dominating achievements. Wow, I’m sounding like a Yankees fan.

Yikes.