Edit desk: Hang up your tutu

Madison Gouveia (Emily Hu/B&W Photo)

I remember it like it was yesterday. It was my freshman year and Lehigh football was playing it’s 2013 home opener against Central Connecticut State University. It was a sunny, 73 degree day and as I walked into Goodman Stadium for the debut of my college cheerleading career, my eyes widened in awe as the tall bleachers seemed to swallow me and my teammates.

As game time approached, the student section and the hill just beyond the end zone flooded with rainbow tutus, striped capes and neon socks. Students were falling over one another or aggressively shouting. They looked ridiculous, and it was funny, but I preferred the brown and white that filled the alumni section of the stands at the other end of the field.

By the third quarter Lehigh found themselves at a 37-17 deficit. A loss seemed inevitable and rather than joining us in rallying behind the team, the student body seemed exhausted and practically lifeless — that is, those who were still there.

In the fourth quarter, the Mountain Hawks came back swinging as they overcame the deficit and tied the game with 20 unanswered points. As the game came to a tie I found myself lost in the action. “Jump Around” began to play over the speakers and I exploded with energy on the field doing just as the song said, until I turned around to cheer to the crowd.

The student section was gone, and it certainly wasn’t due to a lack of excitement in the football game.

Students were leaving because their drunk was wearing off and they were dehydrated, sitting in the hot sun wearing a bizarre outfit. They wanted to drink water, change and go to bed with the hope of making it out later that night. Those of us on the field had something to celebrate, and a minimal number of our peers to share it with.

This wasn’t a one-time thing, it was a trend I unfortunately had to get used to. Students get excited for game day, but not for the game, just for the MoCos.

As someone who has never attended MoCos, I can’t say I’ll ever fully understand them, which is why I could never make the argument that MoCos should be eliminated. It’s a tradition unique to Lehigh and being the one who can find the most ridiculous shirt or put together the funniest ensemble is something students pride themselves in.

However, I also find it extremely difficult to justify them when they’re held in honor of football game days and then contribute absolutely nothing to the experience of the game, considering most students don’t even make it to the game and those who do leave at halftime.

At colleges and universities across the nation, football games and the tailgates that precede them are opportunities for a student body to join together, have fun, get rowdy and show pride in their alma mater. However, for those of us on the field at Goodman, the experience is lacking.

Coming from someone who spends their time on the field encouraging the audience to cheer, there’s no worse feeling than chanting to a crowd of students who can barely keep their eyes open, let alone yell for the team. And I’m not even the one on the field who needs the motivation.

It would be one thing if the MoCos tradition supplemented the football games, but it doesn’t. Which leads me to ask the question, why bother limiting MoCos to strictly home game Saturdays?

I’m not asking you to give up MoCos. But what if the student body made the decision to come together for tailgates on home game days and keep the MoCos celebrations alive during away game weekends? Doesn’t everybody win this way?

I’m not even asking you to give up your alcohol. But, imagine if your mornings consisted of great food to accompany your drinks. What if I added the view of South Mountain covered in impressive October foliage that is best visible from the tailgates at Goodman campus? You can still celebrate and enjoy your day, but you can also show pride in your school and support your peers in the process. Who knows, maybe adapting a tradition like this would instill a stronger sense of school spirit in the student body that had a trickle down effect into other athletic teams and on campus groups.

Imagine if every game were as fun and spirited as Lehigh-Lafayette.

All that I really ask is that you hang up your tutu, grab a Lehigh t-shirt and a group of friends, and when I yell “Brown” you yell “White.”

Brown…