By George! I think I’ve got it! I know why our school is lacking in school spirit. There’s a lack of beer gardens at our sporting events.

The last men’s water polo game I attended at the Canyonview Pool had just about everything going for it: nice weather, many supportive fans and of course, lots of goals from our end of the pool. But, it was lacking in the craziness and rowdiness that only free alcohol can bring; the first game’s beer garden from the alumni brought in 1,800 fans. The last game, sans beer garden, drew only 300. And those 300 were a lot more subdued even though UCSD embarrassed Long Beach State 8-2!

Since winning isn’t enough to draw fans, perhaps beer gardens will make UCSD sporting events more appealing. I mean, why go to a party if there’s no alcohol?

There’s nothing like free beer to motivate people to go out and cheer for the home team. This is especially true living in San Diego, where there’s undoubtedly a plethora of things competing for our attention. Even if they charged a nominal ³beer garden admission fee,² it’d be better than no beer at all.

We all know booze works wonders when it comes to losing your inhibitions. Beer makes the fans louder and turns reserved people into crazy Yankee fans in the Bronx (like my relatives). Rowdy fans love booze and people who may not otherwise watch sports will show up if there is free booze.

If you’ve watched any sports at all, you know that the louder and crazier the fans, the better the home team plays. The team feeds off of the thunderous environment. That’s why it’s difficult for visiting teams to win with loud drunks heckling them with creative choice phrases, whether they are to egg on a winning team or bring down one that’s losing.

Having that kind of crowd is like having an extra man out there. The more we can piss off and distract the opposing team, the better. Besides, Triton Tide is usually out there being loud anyway, so we might as well join in.

The crazier UCSD fans get, the harder our team plays and the more goals or points will be scored. That could make all the difference if the Tritons are behind in the game or playing in overtime. Beer gardens mean we have more fans at UCSD Š the Tritons play better Š we win more often! Now, is that such a bad thing? Honestly, I don’t know what else this school can do to get more fans to come out. Sadly, winning doesn’t seem to be reason enough to support our teams.

By the way, homecoming is this weekend and there will be a beer garden before the men’s soccer match against Cal Poly Pomona on Oct. 18. I guarantee that there will be a lot more fans at that match. Oh and look, the boys are in first place right now. O.K., so good weather, beer, unruly fans, a winning team ‹ sounds like an easy choice to me. If anything, watching drunk people will be entertainment in itself.

So, perhaps implementing these beer gardens will help athletics. But, props to our teams, because even without beer and disorderly fans, they win. Although, it would make it easier for them to win if there were more fans ‹ so please ‹ let’s have those hops and barley. As Ben Franklin said, ³Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.² Let’s drink, be merry and cheer on.