Thursday Rant

On the agenda for today (with a little spiel to follow):

Rhode Island College men's soccer, 4:00pm. The Anchormen will be facing intrastate foes Roger Williams University at the RIC Soccer Field this afternoon. The Anchormen are 1-1-0 thus far, and will be playing their first home match of the season. I'm going to have to miss the first half of this one, as I leave work at 4:30pm.

On a personal note, I used to absolutely rue the fact that my alma mater didn't have a football team. While my friends would gleefully root on their former school's football teams, whether it be Division I or III, I was seemingly stuck without a school to root for, as both of my alma maters - CCRI and RIC - do not field football squads.

Luckily, I was converted to soccer a few years ago, and only recently rediscovered my Anchorman pride in rooting for the Rhode Island College men's and women's soccer teams at the ol' stomping grounds.

Let me say, as a young alumnus, there really is nothing quite like rooting for your school's athletic teams. Though my school is rather small compared to the mini-cities that comprise some college campuses, I'm just beginning to understand why so many of my fellow alumni proudly sport their school's colors and apparel. The sense of pride that comes with watching a team that you have a personal attachment to is truly rewarding, in addition to the fantastic sense of nostalgia that harkens back to your own college years. In essence, it allows you to return to your youth, and in hindsight, a much simpler time.

That being said, the school's soccer sides allow me to display that pride on a regular basis during the fall months. While my friends head back to campus each Saturday afternoon to catch their football teams in action, I take the short journey across the Seekonk and Providence Rivers back to the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood where the RIC campus resides and watch the school's - my school's - student-athletes play soccer.

And you know what? To be honest, I don't even care anymore that RIC doesn't have a football team, for I'd only be afforded the measly five home dates typically scheduled in college football. In comparison to soccer, the combination of the RIC men's and women's sides allow for a buffet of 17 home matches from late-August through October.

My friends can have their college football. I have my college soccer - RIC soccer - to passionately root for.