Basketball is one of the most popular sports here at Notre Dame. The women's basketball team is undefeated. They are ranked No. 1 in the nation. Admission to their games is free for all students. Someone, please, explain to me why there were no more than 50 students at Wednesday's game versus Pittsburgh?

I've been thinking about this for some time and I just can't figure it out. Why is it that students consistently pay to attend men's games and manage to fill the student section, yet those same students do not attend the women's games? Is everyone busy whenever the women have a game? Is the women's schedule harder to find than the men's? Plenty of students attended the game against Connecticut — was the excitement of that game not enough to keep you coming back?

I sat in the student section tonight — notice I said "sat." No one stands, no one does the cheers, and that's probably because the rest of the people sitting in the student section aren't actually students.

Do you know that before every game, the ushers tape signs on every row of the student section to keep others out? Do you know that eventually the ushers walk through the section taking all those signs down when they realize that the students just aren't coming?

I know that the women on the basketball team don't play because they want recognition from the student body. Even if no one attended their games, they would play just as hard and win just as often. The women aren't suffering because students don't attend their games. It's the students who are missing out — they aren't watching the best team in the nation play terrific basketball.

Kati Miller

senior

Badin Hall

February 8, 2001

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