Wanted: Fans

There is nothing better than football Saturdays in the fall.\nExcept if you go to IU.\nBecause here, the parking lots are half-full, people who bother to tailgate rarely bother to go watch the game and a two-sided stadium is unnecessary because the fans could fit on one side.\nWell, except when we play other Big Ten schools. Their fans actually bother to make road trips.\nIt's pretty pathetic that IU has to take its aerial shot of the stadium when Ohio State is in town, because the stadium is actually filled with red and white. \nAnd there are excuses as to why football Saturdays at IU are basically non-existent. True, the football team hasn't had a winning season since Moses parted the sea. But Iowa and Penn State were all sub-par last year and I guarantee its fans will be there. It's called loyalty, through the bad and good.\nYes, this is a basketball-crazy school. So is Ohio State. But they can read a schedule and understand that the two sports hardly conflict, and that doesn't even start until November.\nFor the last five years, IU had Antwaan Randle El, who was called college football's most exciting player. Even that couldn't convince students, faculty or anyone to come out to the games.\nAt this point, it seems that the football team isn't the only reason that a winning season is harder to obtain than a negative steroid test on a MLB player. \nBasically, to go with a bad football team, IU has lousy fans.\nBut that can change this year. Because, essentially, this upcoming season is unpredictable.\nIU hired new coach Gerry Dinardo in hopes of the football team going in a different direction. And Dinardo did his best in his short time here to weed out the bad seeds on the team and establish a no-nonsense attitude with the team. He's hard-nosed, and the team won't get away with the bad attitudes that former IU coach Cam Cameron allowed on the team.\nAnd there's the new colors. When Northwestern renamed their stadium, their small streak of victories stopped. Maybe the new colors will have the opposite effect on IU. Maybe the team will win again like they did back in the day when the idea of going to a bowl game wasn't such a joke.\nRandle El is gone. So the option-left won't be the only play the offense runs. Dinardo named Tommy Jones starting quarterback on Tuesday. But as much as you think back to the NC State debacle last year and the experiment of Randle El at wide receiver, Jones really can't be blamed. Let's just hope that the pressure of overcoming the idea that he was to blame won't be too much of a shadow for Jones. \nThe IU Athletics Department is trying to change the look of the IU sports facilities to be more flashy for recruits. Wouldn't it be nice if when the football recruits came to a game on any given Saturday they saw that the IU football team has the support of its fans? That's a huge difference between IU and Michigan or Ohio State. Their fans are insane, and space is so tight in those stadiums that fans literally have to turn sideways to view the game.\nAnd the bottom line is, you can't complain about the football team if you don't go to the games. Only those who suffer the loses with the teams have the right to moan about the spectacle that takes place at Memorial Stadium. Otherwise, those who just write off the team without actually taking the time to back up what they are saying are just annoying.\nThis Saturday, the Athletic Department has scheduled a variety of events to attract students to the games. They are even admitting students with an ID in for free. FREE. And it's at 4 p.m. No setting the alarm to make kickoff.\nSo go on Saturday and make your college experience a complete one. And maybe IU can have football Saturday's that are as much fun as they are everywhere else.