Does UB need Athletics?

As a former Terrapin you can bet that I was posted up last night watching Greivis Vasquez tear apart the Duke Blue Devils. It's something to get excited about and that you look forward to all week. Athletics are the reason you hear about the UBalt law student willing to trade future legal council for a ticket to the game and hear about the NCAA tournament on the radio.

Does University of Baltimore need Athletics to be a successful 4 year school? I'd have to say yes. While the program would take a long time to develop the University needs some sort of spirit and pride. I would applaud the Universities recent attempts to stir up spirit by the creation of "Beelieve," but whoever created that mascot must not use the right side of their brain.

Athletics bring money, media coverage, strengthen ties to alumni, and build strength within the community. A lot of these things are missing from the "college experience" here at UBalt. The biggest issue here is building strength within the community. If you read my last article you would know how strongly I feel that Baltimore supports its own. A real Baltimore sports team (not that exclusive elitist private school stuff) would earn the support from local area would be astounding.

What sport do we play? While it would certainly be great to be a football powerhouse like Florida or basketball like Maryland, it's impossible. Without the funding, recruiting, or facilities it would take a hundred years before UBalt was competitive. What I suggest is that we start a wrestling or lacrosse team and slowly become competitive. What are your thoughts? Does UB need athletics? What sports should we have?

A Rumination on Rooting

As I write this, March Madness is dribbling, shooting, and rebounding its way into the Elite 8. At the same time, one of my fellow bloggers here has expressed that he has reached his Oriole-based disappointment threshold, and is seeking new loyalties. One of the comments to his post suggested that he follow the Lady Terps, who will face Louisville in the Elite 8 this Monday night. While this is a solid suggestion indeed – the Lady Terps’ brand of basketball is fast, intense, and engaging – wouldn’t it be better if UB students (and staff, and faculty, and administrators…) had our own team to follow?

The UBgamer campus organization apparently has a mascot, the Emu. The law school has the Poe statue. But the UB community overall? Not so much. Someone told me that we are the Bees, or possibly the Super Bees, but I have found no further evidence of such an appellation. Plus, who wants to be the Bees? We want to be something fierce (although maybe being “fierce” is reserved for MICA students…I hope not). May I suggest wolves, or maybe lions? Those would go pretty well with the other animals in our fair city – tigers, bears, eagles, etc.

True, we have a club lacrosse team that travels to Navy and Salisbury, among others. And our intramural basketball squad plays the other local universities once a year in the “Intramural Battle of Baltimore.” Of course, those schools send their teams to regulation tournaments also, representing Baltimore in the MEAC, ACFC, and CAA conferences, to provide just a sample.

I know we are a small school…but in the University’s new Strategic Plan 2008-2012, we are frequently compared (in terms of enrollment, role within the larger Maryland System, etc) with schools like Frostburg State, Salisbury University, and University of Maryland-Eastern Shore. Those are all NCAA schools – Frostburg and Salisbury in Division III, UMES in Division I. True, they all have campuses that are not smack in the middle of a city, but perhaps we should look at our urban location as an asset and opportunity, not as a limitation.

The Strategic Plan suggests that the school will gradually develop more green space and be more like a “regular” campus. Perhaps some effort could be made to use some of that green space (not to mention the already fantastic facilities in our shiny – and locally renowned – recreation center). Not only would it offer a new way to recruit students for a full four-year undergrad stint at UB (another goal of the strategic plan) but it would give students a way to feel like part of the larger educational community. It would give us something to root for, a smidge of collective and neighborhood identity, that we presently lack.