by Michael Holdsworth

Maybe you’re as disappointed as I am that Kathie Lee and Hoda are not coming to Creighton University after all. For a while we tried our best to show America our Bluejay pride and how much we care about the white and the blue.

But is our school spirit really one of the top six in the nation? Something inside me tells me that it’s definitely not. While our effort and push was nice, simply put, we didn’t deserve to have the Today Show come to Creighton and it went to a very deserving school in Tennessee.

The entire process to me seemed completely artificial and forced. It’s quite easy to manufacture some school spirit when a camera is pointed at you with the opportunity to be on national TV, and people did show up for the taping and did put on a somewhat impressive display for about an hour or so.

I realize that academics are the primary focus and the taping was during class for many, but I thought we could have had more people show up than just enough to fill the fountain area.

Unfortunately, I was among those unable to attend for a good portion of the taping due to class, but when I was the small crowd of people who did show up were definitely fired up for Creighton as the pep band played the fight song and the Blue Crew led some cheers. But is that really indicative of the true school spirit of the student body as a whole?

A big part of my hesitation in firmly believing in the school spirit of the Creighton student body comes from my outside experiences at other universities. Having been to games and around the campus of Michigan State and Nebraska, school spirit there is unavoidable.  I was in complete culture shock at the insanity and devotion of Husker fans since I’ve moved to Nebraska, this past weekend especially. The unyielding passion they have for supporting their team and school is indescribable, and I feel like I’m going to be seeing red for months and compulsively feel the need to shout “Go Big Red” three times for no reason.

Likewise, at Michigan State, if you aren’t wearing green and white on game day around campus, you are harassed and shamed everywhere you walk. Even outside of campus, when I have travelled around the country people from Seattle to San Antonio to Niagara Falls have all greeted me with Go Green when they saw me wearing Michigan State clothing, expecting a Go White in return. They are so proud of their university and freely express it.

I know we have incredible attendance at soccer and basketball games, but I’m sure it also doesn’t hurt the soccer program that in order to eat during Friday home games you have to walk all the way down to Morrison Stadium anyway. The strength of the devotion and pride in the larger schools is the sort of pride that I want to see in the Bluejays and I hope becomes the standard soon.

We have plenty of reasons to be proud of Creighton, both in the outstanding academic programs that are offered and in the hard- working student athletes who are trying to represent Creighton in the best possible light. Until then, “our might to the fight we will lend,” are just empty words in a fight song.