Column: Where are all the fans?

As the glowing October sun slowly sank behind the trees Saturday evening, the chants of “O-H-I-O” began to reverberate within the confines of Memorial Stadium.

“You can’t be serious,” I thought to myself. “This is a disgrace.”

Surprisingly, I wasn’t referring to the product on the field or the score of the Hoosiers’ contest against conference foe Ohio State, then the nation’s No. 8 team.

Rather, I was thoroughly disgusted with what I viewed at that moment from my nestled spot in the press box.

After Indiana recovered an onside kick with 1:40 remaining in regulation, I spent a few seconds gazing at Indiana’s student section, better known as “The Quarry.”

By definition, a quarry is a place — typically a large, deep pit — from which stone or other materials are or have been extracted.

That’s exactly what it was.

Only a few pockets of dedicated students remained in attendance, each one earning my utmost respect by being there.

Those students chose to go against the grain to commit what’s considered a social faux pas on this campus, which has an undeniable yet sickening love affair with Keystone beer and Karkov vodka.

Yes, I’m looking at you, fellow Indiana students who care more about becoming embarrassingly inebriated than supporting your school’s football team.

On fall Saturdays, I’m increasingly reluctant to associate myself with people like you.

Don’t you realize you’re nothing but a laughing stock?

Other student bodies in the Big Ten Conference and across the country mock you on a consistent basis.

During IU basketball’s lean years, opposing fans would sarcastically state, “Just wait until basketball season,” a statement many a Hoosier has become very fond of throughout the years.

That phrase infuriated me during my first two years on this campus, and that fury has since been replaced by a brand new sentiment.

While I was walking to the School of Journalism last week, I overheard a conversation that nearly spurred to me rudely interject.

“Dude, there’s no way IU football has won a game yet,” one man said.

His friend, clad in his finest fraternity gear, responded with a statement so ignorant Mr. T wouldn’t have pitied him.

“I’m just gonna transfer to an SEC school, man,” he said.

Do you not even comprehend the words coming out of your mouths?

You would feel incredibly silly if you knew your school’s football squad nearly knocked off Michigan State on Oct. 6.

The Hoosiers even led the Spartans 17-0 after the first quarter.

You’d feel even less intelligent if you knew the Hoosiers were within three points of defeating the nation’s eighth-ranked team Saturday.

Regardless, you had more important things to do, such as shotgun beers and pour shots down your throat, allowing Ohio State fans to give their Buckeyes the homefield advantage 230 miles away from Ohio Stadium.

Senior center Will Matte is certainly disappointed in you.

“Playing away games and dealing with crowd noise, I can personally say it makes it very tough,” Matte said. “So to have that 12th man advantage on our side would be fantastic.”

­— ckillore@indiana.edu