About two weeks ago, I attended the men's and women's basketball teams' games against the University of Chicago. While the women's team struggled and fell to 9-6 on the season, the men's team, fresh off of a new school record of an 11-game-winning streak to start the season, defeated the University of Chicago Maroons 59-53 to move to 12-2 on the season. The main thing I took away from the two games, however, was not the off night that the women's team had, nor how well guard Ben Bartoldus '14 (who led Brandeis with 20 points) and the rest of the first-years on the men's team played. I left the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center that night absolutely embarrassed by how poor of a turnout there had been at the two games, particularly at the women's game.At both the men's and women's games, the Chicago fans both outnumbered and out-cheered the Brandeis fans. Despite the fact that the Maroons' Hyde Park campus is nearly 1,000 miles away from Waltham, the team's absurd cheer of "Gimme the speed of light, 'C!' Gimme Planck's constant, 'H!' Gimme root negative one, 'I!' ." could be heard loud and clear throughout the gymnasium.

One fan who was particularly displeased with the turnout at these games was Brandeis' notorious superfan, Allen Karon '91. Karon attends all of the team's games and is by far the most vocal Brandeis supporter, often running up and down the bleachers urging the team and the fans on. Commenting on the Justice website on the Jan. 25 article on the game, Karon wrote, "I never want to see 70% to 80% of the crowd in my building rooting for the opposition ever again. Brandeis students-be proud of your university and represent the school every game!"

It truly is disgraceful for the Brandeis supporters to be outnumbered three- or four-to-one in our own gymnasium. Essentially, our basketball teams were forced to play two extra road games each. Historically, both the men and women have played better with large home crowds, as all sports teams do. Whether or not a strong home crowd would have changed the outcome of any of the games is debatable, but Brandeis' three losses would have been, most likely, at least a bit closer.

The games were even more difficult for the women's team, which had a ridiculously low number of supporters at its games. For the two games against Chicago, 400 people attended the men's basketball game, while just 175 attended the women's game. The numbers were similar, 350 and 200 people, respectively, for the games against WashU.

Karon correctly points out in his comment that both the Brandeis Athletics Department and the student population are at fault for the lack of attendance at the men's and women's contests thus far this season. The Athletics Department at Brandeis has, in the past, thrown events such as "Brandeis Beach Bashes," which encouraged students to come to games dressed in beachwear. Free pizza used to be offered at halftime of some of the games.

While the Athletics Department has done a good job of pasting flyers around the school with the teams' schedules and did give away temporary tattoos at the games against Emory University, more could certainly be done.

Ultimately, it's the responsibility of the students, not the Athletics department, for the games to be better attended. Several years ago, the students of the newly formed Alpha Delta Phi fraternity led the crowd in cheering and encouraged students to attend the games. Any of the fraternities or sororities at Brandeis could choose to take up this call and likely could help to greatly increase student attention. Students not involved in Greek life are just as responsible for the poor attendance figures. Other clubs or individuals could also encourage fellow students to go to the games, or people could just choose to show up with a few friends or on their own.

Few, if any, can be as committed as Karon is and manage to attend every game. People have work, social events and numerous other activities that can make attending games difficult. Jews attending services may find making the Friday night games impossible, just as churchgoers may be forced to miss the early Sunday games. But at the end of the day, the games are free entertainment, a chance to socialize and hang out with friends and a chance to support our school. More people should take advantage of that opportunity.