Profile of a Muhl-igan 
by Nick Rounds ‘03

I believe that there is something missing on this campus and no, I’m not talking about the lack of housing for those of us who attend Muhlenberg.  School spirit is horrendous at this college; the Allentown community and athletes’ parents outnumber students at sporting events.  The worst display of Muhlenberg’s passive and often non-existent support for our school’s athletes that I have witnessed, occurred at the Centennial Conference Championship for the men’s basketball team about a month ago.  Muhlenberg was playing Gettysburg for a bid into the NCAA Division III men’s basketball tournament (the comparable Division I tournament is one of the most recognized events in the country, and is known as “March Madness”).I was on the Gettysburg side for the first half because my friend had to tape the game, and I overheard several Gettysburg students behind me criticizing and mocking our turnout.

This was rightly deserved, because I believe that there were at least as many, if not more Gettysburg students and fans present as Muhlenberg students.  In addition, they were emphatically supporting their team throughout the entire game, while the Muhlenberg section would briefly become involved when our team was performing extremely well for a period during the game.  The problem is that there is a general lack of school spirit for all sports at Muhlenberg, and I feel that the students who do attend our games may view it as embarrassing to stand up and yell for our team.  My hope is that this article will aid in the effort to gain more school spirit here at Muhlenberg.

So most of the readers out there are probably wondering what a “Muhligan” is.  Well, the group officially started this past fall at the Muhlenberg men’s soccer games.  Several individuals including Advocate staff members Brian Sunter, Russ Choma, and myself, began organizing a student cheering section across from the bleachers at home games.  With the economic support of senior Lael Schwartz, and organization of sophomore Seth Williams (both senior-status Muhligans), our group was able to purchase a fine-crafted couch from the local Salvation Army.  We began carrying this couch with us to the sidelines, so members would be able to relax and recline during halftime and other points throughout the game.  This provides some background information as to the general purpose of The Muhligans.

Separating a Muhligan from the average fan is the most important factor in profiling our group of supporters.  Being a Muhligan requires a certain desire to be heard during a game.  One objective of a Muhligan is to make opposing players concentrate on you, rather than the game they are playing in.If we are able to distract or anger someone throughout the course of a game so that their performance is affected, then we have done our job.   And just so it is clear, all of our comments are suitable for a PG environment; we do not use profanity or derogatory phrases to ensure that we do not offend anyone involved with the match.

In one instance during this past season, The Muhligans affected an opposing player so much that he became enraged on the field and was thrown out of the game for committinga serious foul and for intentionally throwing the ball at a Muhlenberg player’s head (this is soccer mind you, you’re not allowed to use your hands).  As he walked off the field he gave us the middle finger, which we thought was humorous given his actions.

All of this negativity directed at the opposing side is not the total extent of our purpose as fans; our main objective is obviously to support those who are competing on behalf of Muhlenberg.  We know that our players appreciate it and several of them have told us on occasion.  As far as our actual group goes, there has been a drastic increase in numbers since The Muhligans was formed.  While we started out with a cheering section of about five to seven individuals, the total at the end of the soccer season had risen to at least 15.  As we become more and more organized, we will plan and implement more “projects” for games and possibly start attending away matches.  As for gaining new members, we are always on the lookout for potential candidates.  People who wish to carry the title of a Muhligan must be willing to attend a majority of the soccer matches and be prepared to make a vocal impact on the game (as well as carry the couch- or hopefully couches with some outside funding, to and from matches).  The whole idea behind The Muhligans is to gather a stronghold of support for our team and give them the “home-field advantage” that they rightfully deserve.

Maybe by next year, we as students will be able to outnumber non-students at events, not to mention the opposing team’s supporters.

Note:  this article is in no way attempting to mock or undermine the brilliant “Profile of a Mule” column featured each Thursday in the Muhlenberg Weekly, or the very beautiful author who writes the piece. [Ed. Normally we do not allow cutesy comments in our articles, but we let it slip because we like Nick… and we like Courtney Russell who writes the real “Profile of a Mule” article series… She also happens to be Nick’s girlfriend and an Advocate Copy Editor for Fall 2001…]

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