Every Dog has its Day

by Lee Feiner

This is the death of “the auto-fan:” moment of silence.

Actually, silence may not be appropriate because the absence of sound in the air and bodies in the seats is precisely what The Dog Pound fights daily. But over the weekend, the band of students who defy the apathy that plagues Boston University sports fandom stepped its game up to a completely new level.

The fall athletic season often feels like an opening act for the headliner that is men’s ice hockey. We want something to get behind and yell about, but have trouble keeping the energy up when you can use a seat for your rear end, one for each foot, another for your back-pack, and no one has any reason to object. The Dog Pound is a haven. Watch them for five minutes and suddenly it’s clear that organized athletics not played on a frozen oval can be fun too. It allows the sports fan stifled by the indie music and the second hand smoke and inconsiderate roommates and homework and every other conceivable force that pulls away from the bleachers to have something to cheer for. To have something to yell about and also have a place to do the yelling benefits all parties involved. The athletes appreciate the support, and the fans tucked into the disorganized ranks of the Pound can be themselves.

This weekend showed a new level of dedication from the Pound to their beloved Terriers. This past Friday (September 11) was one of those depressing Boston days where the sky was grey and the air was wet from sun up to sun down. Unbeknownst to the vast majority of the student population, there was a fairly important men’s soccer game being played at Harvard. As the team took the field, on the road in a driving rain, the Dog Pound dutifully assembled and in all likelihood gave the referee an irreversible complex with their unrelenting commentary of his work. Undeterred by the horrendous weather conditions, the Pound members that made the trip made as much noise as the Harvard supporters that vastly outnumbered them. Saturday morning brought much of the same. As the rain soaked Jack Barry Field at MIT, the Dog Pound enthusiastically showed up to cheer on the field hockey team. The Pound was a force all game long, at one point they demanded an explanation from a referee while the game was in progress …and they received one. Rather than taking the rest of the day off after witnessing the tough overtime loss to Boston College, some took the shuttle bus back to Nickerson Field and watched the club rugby team’s 31-0 drubbing of Bentley College. And to cap the weekend off, the Pound rolled deep to witness the upset of the number one men’s soccer team in all the land when the Terriers dispatched St. Johns 1-0 on a Stephen Knox goal.

In this era of grade deflation and constant competition, good work is overlooked all too often. But when you have a weekend like the Dog Pound had, big ups are surely in order.