IU gameday fashion can be hit-or-miss

Here we are in the bleak days of February. The weather is erratic, classes are picking up and I’ve turned into the least motivated student I know.

Fortunately for us, basketball season is in full swing ­— where is your school spirit?

Ladies, I get the battle between practicality and appearance. I’m an apparel merchandising major, so I love fashion as much as the next girl. What I don’t get is why students can’t manage to combine school colors with being fashionable.

As I looked around the general admission student section of the IU game against Penn State, I saw blazers, trendy tops and overdone hair. What I didn’t see enough of were team jerseys, crimson tops and those clever homemade T-shirts student sections should be filled with.
Blazers? This isn’t the Ivy League or Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. You’re at one of the finest educational institutions in the country, but we’re still a public school. Embrace it. You’ve got a free pass to throw on jeans and a T-shirt.

Cute shirts? Seems like a classic move made by freshmen or Assembly Hall rookies. People wearing these must not understand that Assembly Hall is hot. If you’re not wiping your brow at timeouts, you’re doing it wrong.

Did Katniss wear her hair down in the arena of The Hunger Games? If you’ve got an hour to stand in front of a mirror and meticulously flat iron or curl your hair, you can spare 30 minutes to go to the campus bookstore and select a game day shirt. While you’re at it, do a bit of research. Cheering for Hanner Mosquera-Perea after Victor Oladipo makes a shot is about as cute as your highly flammable curls after the first half.

Looking nice doesn’t surpass school spirit. Ever. If you’re hoping to be noticed by a basketball player in a room full of 17,471 others, I wish you nothing but luck. With two weeks left until Valentine’s Day your time is running out.

Just know that your competition for Will Sheehey’s affection is every other girl in the arena, plus a few of the gentlemen.  

May the odds be ever in your favor.

­— johnsbri@indiana.edu