Eagles Weekend in Review, Oct. 28, and A Word on Passion for BC

You may have heard that a few million people lost power in the wake of a very rare, very annoying October snowstorm. I was one of them. Here is the barely-edited recap of the weekend activity in Boston College sports:

Football: Boston College beats Maryland, 28-17

I’ll be the first to admit I was wrong. I’ve been reminded, anyway, but let’s get one thing clear before going any further: whenever I make a prediction about anything, be it BC football, basketball, hockey, the ACC, or anything else, it’s just one guy’s opinion on a blog. It’s not nearly as big of a deal as some people make it out to be. I’m not going to be right 100% of the time and can take the heat for when I’m not. If I couldn’t, I wouldn’t be here, though as I’ve learned elsewhere, it’s much easier to be an anonymous internet poster lobbing invective at others all day long — but I don’t take that route.

With that said, I am tremendously proud of our players for winning their second game of the season, regardless of the opponent. True, Maryland shot themselves in the foot repeatedly, but even with that aside, Boston College still probably would have won the game. Rolandan Finch appears to have been impressive (thanks to the snowstorm, my TV was out and I could not see the game). That’s about as much as I can comment on a game I had difficulty following. I’m not taking anything away from any of the players on this team this week because there isn’t anything to take away. They’re still playing for their pride in spite of their record, and there is nothing to disrespect about it.

At no point have I ever felt like these guys deserved to be admonished; sure, some have played a lot better than others, but there’s no quit in them. They know that they should be a hell of a lot better than this, but they’re being held back for reasons I think we all know. I can’t promise too many more games in the win column, with the tough schedule and the way things are going, but at least there’s no putting Boston College at the bottom of the BCS conference pile.

Compared to some other people, I haven’t been watching BC Eagles football for long; this is my eighth season. Boston College was not the school I dreamed about when I was in high school, and growing up in New York, Boston College sports were not exactly readily available on TV for my consumption. If they were, I may have followed them for longer, but the point is that this became my school the minute I set foot there, and though I left three and a half years ago, it is still my school. I don’t like to see them lose at anything athletically, academically, or anything in between. When BC teams lose, I take it just as badly as a lot of you do. I want these players on all of the teams BC fields to be in the best position to win in which they can possibly be. The players deserve the best, and so do the alumni who have faithfully supported them throughout the years.

I am here doing this precisely because I have passion for BC sports. In a fanbase that has been much maligned for its apathy, I think we could use a few more like that (though probably not like me; I tend not to mince words and am free to level harsh criticism when it is deserved). I want things to always be good, but realistically, that won’t always be the case. I have said very upfrontly here that while I am a fan, I am not going to kiss ass for the sake of kissing ass, nor will I be a homer just for the sake of being a homer. When things are good, I’ll tell you why they’re good. When things are bad, I’ll tell you why they’re bad. If that offends your maroon-and-gold-tinted sensibilities, then accept my sincerest apologies, but I am not always going to tell people what they want to hear.

In fact, I’ve been told on a number of occasions over the years that this attitude makes me a bad BC fan. If anyone were ever to say I’m a bad BC fan to my face, their experience, and possibly their jawline, would take a swift and drastic turn for the worse. That is not a threat; just a statement of my commitment to this school. There are few things on this planet that make me angrier than having my passion for Eagles sports and this school questioned. For the better part of eight years, I have lived and breathed this school every single day. I’m not doing this out of boredom; I’m doing it because I legitimately care. You all do too.

In spite of my general pessimism over the long-term direction of the football program, due almost completely to the athletic director and the coach, I want them to win. I am vocal because I want these problems corrected, and not for me, but for the players. When it seems like nobody is listening, I’ll get louder, but I won’t tell you to stop supporting this team, ever. Even if Gene DeFilippo does the unthinkable and puts us through another season of this, sure, I’ll be angry, but I’m not going to call on you to stop supporting this team. That would go against everything I’ve been saying about being supportive of our athletics program for the last four years, going back to my days on WZBC.

You can give up on Gene and you can give up on Spaz, but don’t give up on our players. They haven’t given up on you or themselves.