The Exponent Online


03/04/02	Previous Edition 3/1

'Gene Puddle' disappoints

Tim Orendorff/Senior Photographer

HOME COURT HAVEN: The student section, known as the Gene Pool, looms large over Keady Court Feb. 16. This is the first season the Gene Pool has presided over Mackey Arena.

By Jason Tomcsi
Sports Editor

Before Saturday's game against Penn State, four seniors were recognized for their contributions to the Purdue basketball team and for their play over the past years. Seniors John Allison, Joe Marshall, Rodney Smith and Maynard Lewis walked out of the tunnel onto Keady Court with their family members in tow and were announced to the crowd.

But when looking around the empty seats in Mackey Arena, there was one group of fans that was a little hard to find.

In the beginning

For years, students pleaded for a section in Mackey where they could sit as a collective unit. Many wrote letters to this very publication to express their anger at the situation. Before this season, students were spread throughout the arena higher levels, while members of the John Purdue Club got the prime seating closer to the floor.

Finally, this year, a section was made and, through a contest which had approximately 150 entries, it was named "The Gene Pool."

Disappointing

"The Gene Pool" was skimpy in attendance Saturday, like it has been for much of the year. Those who wear the black shirts were unable to fill their lower section of the arena, which is less than half of the space allotted to them.

Maybe it was the early 12:17 p.m. start, and Gene Poolers were shaking off their hangovers from the previous night's festivities, but with three minutes left until tip off, there were only an estimated 60 students donning "Gene Pool" shirts in the section. That amount is just a shade under the 3,100 seats in the section.

Attendance like that is downright disrespectful to the seniors.

Students did arrive as the game wore on, but not anywhere near a capacity crowd.

There have been only three home games all season where the Gene Pool actually looked like a pool and not like what one person in the media room called, "The Gene Puddle." Those games were the ones against Illinois, Iowa and Michigan State. Two of those games ended in a Boiler victory. Coincidence? Probably.

The Michigan State game was interesting because around 180 members of the "Izzone," the student section from Michigan State, at times were louder than the almost full Gene Pool. Although these fans were up in the rafters, about as far away as you can get away from the floor, they still brought the same intensity they have in the Breslin Center every game.

Backing the wrong horse

Now Gene Poolers, believe it or not, I like the section. I am a Gene Pool fan, but not attending games is making the pool and the rest of the students look ungrateful. Administrators responded to the students and gave us the section. In the process, they took many loyal fans' seats away.

I understand it is hard to cheer on a team that was battling to stay out of last place. And it is wrong to compare the pool to the Izzone because their fans have every right to be rabid. They are coming off four straight Big Ten championships and three straight final fours.

Supporting your team when they are at their lowest shows character and loyalty and those are two things of which I know Purdue fans have plenty.

Those of you Gene Poolers who have been to all the games and have worked your hardest to cheer on your team, I congratulate you. Hopefully, next season, the Gene Pool will not be so shallow.

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