Captain Helmet Captain Helmet, A.K.A.
Roy Matayoshi, is a graduating senior majoring in history and
political science. He has been camping out for tickets since 1999.
E-mail him at iamcaptainhelmet@yahoo.com.
I have been asked by more than a few people about my thoughts on
the Greg Schain column, “Only
lunatics camp outside; there are other alternatives“
(Daily Bruin, Sports, Jan. 28). To address his point that
people who camp out are lunatics, I agree. People who have no
vested interest in how our men’s basketball team does will
understandably think that students who camp out through high winds,
rain and low temperatures just to watch a basketball game are
insane. Schain deserves some credit for attempting to offer
improvements to the current status quo. However, his game-plan has
its obvious flaws. 1. Get UCPD to arrest campers.
Schain’s reasoning was based on comparing vagrants with
students. Schain’s argument is highly offensive to me and my
fellow campers. Students have a right to be on campus. Furthermore,
students have a right to be on campus overnight. Vagrants do not.
In fact, many students take out large loans just to have the
privilege to be a student on this campus. 2. Give students
more seats on the floor. Do you know why we don’t
get more seats on the floor? The lack of student attendance is a
large contributing factor to the diminishing size of the student
section. Student attendance is conspicuously lowest during fall
quarter, to the point that most of our sections can not even be
filled. 3. Implement a number system. The number
system Schain proposed has been in place for decades. Before the
change, the first and second floors of the student section were
based on the first-come priority system currently in place for the
floor section. However, the Athletic Department changed that policy
to accommodate students who could not camp out, and also to reduce
the number of campers in front of Pauley. Student fans who camp out
believe they can make a difference in the game. We try to help our
team win by distracting the opponents by yelling, heckling,
cheering, chanting and everything else we can do to make a
difference. It’s called trying to create a home-court
advantage! To that end, to suggest the random number system be
applied to floor level is ludicrous. Can you imagine having a floor
section full of freshmen who don’t even know what an 8-clap
is, much less the Frisbee cheer or the lyrics to any of the school
songs? Let alone what color (it’s RED!) not to wear to the
games? To further demonstrate his point, Schain questions the
importance of camping out for a midseason conference game. The
question implied by his subtext is “Does exuberant fan
support matter?” The answer should be obvious. YES! IT DOES
MATTER! To win our conference this year would almost certainly lead
to a No. 1 seed in the Western Region. Last year, Stanford was
criticized for having the easiest schedule in the entire
tournament, being given the No. 1 seed in the West. Every
conference game counts. What if the tournament selection committee
doesn’t take six teams from the Pac-10, and God forbid, we
become the sixth place team?! Schain’s approach does not
support the team and illustrates he does not know enough about the
traditions of the university to have any credibility as a
columnist. If he understood more, he wouldn’t have this
“so what” attitude about the student support during the
regular season, or harbor this attitude against
“insane” fans like myself who are trying to make a
difference. He’d be one of us.