Nathan Forest
nforest@uwyo.edu
Over the past few years, I have written countless articles on the various sports teams at this university. I have attended hundreds of games, both as part of my job, and because I wanted to.
Although I definitely have favorite sports, I attempted to go to every home event over my tenure at UW. Last year, I was the top scorer in the Wild Bunch, if that tells you anything.
This is why it dismays me when so many people are so quick to look at athletics during this budget crisis and say that we can do without. While the budget for athletics may be bloated, it is a crucial piece of our identity as a college and a state.
Athletics are an exciting and engaging way to get the community and the state to be emotionally invested in this college. Sports are so much more than just games on a college campus to the community.
It is a way to bring commonality and singular identity to UW. Everyone knows that we have a great engineering program, but it is hard to get thousands of people to watch students solve equations. It is much easier to get thousands of people to look at students competing at incredibly high levels in every sport from football and basketball, to golf and swimming.
But it doesn’t just bring the community into the university, but it also brings the students together in ways that it would be tough to do otherwise. It is a great mixer for students that throw everyone together towards a singular goal. When it comes to athletics, everyone is on the same page.
For me personally, UW athletics has provided me with so much more than entertainment. It has provided me with a job, new friends and a deepening of my association and feelings of pride with UW.
I would argue that sports events are an integral part of a well-rounded college experience. The bonding with other random students as well as your friends over the exciting victories, crushing defeats and sharing the misery of bone chilling nighttime football games helps promote the collegiate spirit.
So when you look at the new athletic budgets and think that it is on the whole a waste of money, I want you to think of all that athletics have given to you. I know that personally, UW athletics have given me an incredible amount over my tenure here.
Thank you to everyone who has read my articles over the years. Go Pokes!
