Yours truly ventured away from UCSD to watch a pair of our athletic teams compete this weekend.

OK, so I did not even get out of San Diego, but I did leave the confines of La Jolla to watch our teams in action.

I got to see the women’s basketball team pull out a last-second win over Point Loma Nazarene University on Friday, and I saw the men’s basketball squad get crushed by the Division I San Diego State Aztecs.

Both games showed me something that is not often seen by this gent — school spirit.

Sure, there is some school spirit here. Thumbs up to all of those Triton faithful who come out to games. Special props to those few whom I saw at the two road games I attended. But shame on those who never go and support the athletes and just plain don’t give a damn.

At the State game, where our guys were severely outmatched but still tried their best, they played in the beautiful Cox Arena. This place is first class. There were over 4,000 people in attendance. Can you imagine having that many here to see a game?

At the Point Loma game, there were over 500 students. Now, this is a small number of people. But further research makes this that much more impressive. The school has a little over 2,000 undergraduates. That means roughly one-fourth of the school’s population attended the game. That is like 5,000 people heading to the next UCSD men’s basketball match. Amazing.

This is a call for people to get out there and watch a game. We have some excellent athletics teams — take a look at women’s soccer. The games are fun, and they make you more of a part of the school.

Another thing got me thinking: The Point Loma Nazarene University gym is called the Golden Gym. It is nowhere near the size of our RIMAC Arena but it is really nice looking. It glows, it rocks and it has a nice name that gives the station some spice

That is what we need here. We need to rename RIMAC something that makes opponents shake in their boots, something that pertains to the Tritons. Other schools have names like “”The Eagles’ Nest”” or “”The Lions’ Den.”” How about calling RIMAC “”Atlantis”” or “”The Watery Tomb?””

OK, maybe not, but help me out. Send suggestions to me or to the athletic department. I’m sure the name can be better than “”Intramural Recreational Arena Auditorium with a Complex that is a Place to Play and Work Out Stadium Arena Thing,”” or whatever RIMAC is.

This is just a call for everyone to get some school spirit into their systems and support the hard working UCSD athletic teams a little bit more.