Remember the fall sports season?

It may seem like ages ago, but those were the days when fans used to flock to NIU football games; that was the time when you could sell your free Huskies tickets for cash because fans wanted so badly to get into Huskie Stadium.

Either the fans have disappeared or Huskies athletics are having to deal with a familiar foe: apathetic fair-weather fans.

Sure, it’s easy to criticize the men’s basketball team. It was picked to win the MAC before the season started, but it somehow lost to Buffalo – yeah, the team that graces the bottom of the MAC West standings and hasn’t finished better than second-to-last since joining the MAC.

Granted, the men’s basketball season has been a disappointment, but the players and coaches are not the only ones to blame. In fact, the key responsibility rests on the shoulders of many pathetic Huskies fans.

Of course, not much should be expected of the same fans who wouldn’t show up, even to watch a winning team. After the football team’s second loss of the season to Toledo, only 16,589 fans showed up for the final game of the season against Eastern Michigan.

Even with football ranked in the top 25 for most of the season, there were only three sellout games – two of which were played against high-profile teams. Men’s basketball may be having a less-than-stellar season, but they aren’t getting much support, with an average attendance of only 2,779 fans per game.

Regardless of having turnouts only slightly larger than some high school basketball games, NIU is 6-1 when playing at the Convocation Center this year – pretty good for a team that plays in front of a seemingly empty crowd.

Does a team need to be ranked in the nation for fans to show up at NIU athletic events? Perhaps fans aren’t used to cheering for winning programs, but they don’t have to act like it. Winning teams have loyal fans – fans who show up even when their teams lose.

Yeah, it’s cold, and it’s not fun walking to the arena or driving to the games. And yes, it’s frustrating that a 10-2 NIU football team didn’t get a bowl game; however, these complaints are not excuses. It’s time that Huskies fans shed their fair-weather reputation and support their team.

Huskies basketball has good elements going for it. NIU forward Marcus Smallwood is one of only 14 players in Division I basketball to have double-digit averages in both points and rebounds. Smallwood, whom ESPN’s Jay Bilas dubbed the most underrated player in the MAC, and senior Perry Smith combine as one of the MAC’s top 1-2 punches.

At basketball games, tickets are free, the seats are much more comfortable than bleachers and you don’t have to deal with the bitter cold of Huskie Stadium in the fall. The aforementioned should be more than sufficient reasons to give a basketball game a try.

After all, maybe if the team sees that it can get support at home, it’ll actually win a game on the road. But hey, maybe that’s asking too much.