The Dawg Pound Spirit

UMBC’s Spirit Czar Describes the Excitement at America East Quarter- and Semi-finals

By Jake Steele

This past weekend, nearly three buses – financed by the Student Government Association – full of UMBC students headed north to Binghamton to cheer on our Retrievers in the America East Tournament.  It was an experience that I’m sure they’ll never forget.

When I arrived at the RAC at 5:45 a.m., I was surprised to see so many excited students already waiting to get on the buses.  Like me, many were too nervous to sleep the night before.  After a halfhearted UM-BC chant, I let them sign their Student-Fan Codes of Conduct and board the buses. As they boarded, a friend commented to me, “Wow, there’s people here that I’ve never seen before at a game!”  These fans truly were representative of the entire student body.  We had scholars, athletes, varsity and club, Greeks and many other students from all over campus, ready to stand united as one.

Before we knew it we were in Binghamton!  After a brief pep talk we charged into the building, anxiously waiting to get to our seats.  Signs were quickly scribbled and face paint applied.  There was even a GO UMBC painted over six students bare chests.  Now that’s teamwork! 

The Stony Brook game was uneventful after we recovered from a slow start. The Retrievers seemed to lead the entire game by about 10 points.  This was more of a chance to show Binghamton how loud the Dawg Pound could be. The answer of course is LOUD!!!  Our war cries filled the arena as we emerged victorious. We were so excited that we even stayed to help cheer on Vermont in their quest to face us in the semis.  With our help we silenced the Binghamton crowd, which was by far the largest fan section, and Vermont earned a chance to play us. It was a chance they would regret in the morning.

The evening was spent organizing cab rides around town and taking in all that Binghamton had to offer.  Everyone was excited to have us in town and wished us luck on our upcoming game. I watched the Duke-UNC game and thought, “Look out!  Here comes UMBC baby!” 

The buzz on the bus back to the arena on Sunday was magical.  Everyone knew their job and was ready to lay their vocal chords on the line.  We added a large UMBC flag to our repertoire, and it waved proudly as our players were introduced.  We cheered loudly and proudly with each possession, drowning out any Vermont cheers early in the game. 

Vermont was deadly accurate in its shooting though, and with five minutes left we were down by seven.  This is when the Dawg Pound showed its true power. “We’re not gonna let UMBC lose this one,” I exclaimed, and the chants began to get louder. The mood was electric as UMBC spirit filled the arena and charged the players.  One unanswered shot after another fell as UMBC went on an 18-4 run to clinch the victory.  As I stood proudly with my fans and team as we sang our Alma Mater, I felt more proud than ever to be a Retriever.  It was amazing to see what great things can happen when everyone works together to achieve greatness.

Overall, I was extremely impressed with both our players and our fans.  Not only were we the loudest (not biggest) fan section, but we were also very classy.  Arena officials praised us for our behavior, as did the other teams that we helped to cheer for. 

Fellow student Jonathan O’Dell, vice president of the Resident Student Association, also heard positive comments about the UMBC fans, and noted the spirit the Dirty Dawg band brought to the games. “After each game more than a couple of strangers walked up to me and congratulated UMBC on our fans, not only because we were supportive of our team, but because we also were courteous.

“Also, the UMBC Dirty Dawg band deserves a shout out… not only did they show up, they played for several other non-UMBC games, providing free entertainment to all since Binghamton was the only other team to have a band show up this weekend,” said O’Dell.

As I sat on the bus ride I thought to myself, if this is the kind of school pride UMBC is capable of, then I don’t want to be Hartford come Saturday.

GO DAWGS!!!