Tuesday night was a chance for 40 minutes of normalcy – which is 40 minutes more than most NIU students have had lately.

For NIU students, the men’s basketball game Tuesday night provided an opportunity to escape. One they have desperately needed.

However, the escape was slightly different than normal at the Convocation Center.

An opening usually filled with rap music was replaced by silence. And it was the unfamiliar tune of NIU’s alma mater that pumped up the crowd before tip–off.

But after Western Michigan and NIU exchanged handshakes and hugs in the center of the court, it was back to business as usual.

Dunks, lead changes, and 3-pointers welcomed the crowd of cheering Huskie fans.
Basketball was front and center at the Convo – a return to normalcy was in sight.

Sadly though, there were aspects of the game where normal was a bad thing.

The Huskies were inconsistent. Turnovers were still a major issue. And NIU picked up its 18th loss of the season.

But unfortunately a loss wasn’t the most upsetting part of the night.
No, the worst part of my night was sitting in a lightly attended student section.

It was looking around at a lower bowl that was only half full. It was seeing an upper bowl, which was filled just three days ago, almost entirely empty.

Yes, the worst part was that only a mere 2,032 fans came to support NIU.

On a usual Tuesday night that would have been a fine attendance. But on this Tuesday night it was disappointing.

ESPN, USA Today, ABC, NBC, CBS and a host of others felt this game worthy to be covered. Yet of the over 20,000 students at NIU, less than 1 percent showed up.

Sure this was just a basketball game. However, it had the chance to be something more.

This game was a chance for NIU students to come together. It was a time to escape the reality around us. It was an opportunity for us to support one another.

This was our chance to show the nation that we were a family.

Sadly, we missed that chance.

Maybe too many of us had homework. Or maybe it was too cold to take the walk to the Convo. Or Maybe it was our fault.

Maybe we, as a newspaper, didn’t hype up the game enough.

Whatever it was we missed it.

But, there is one way to redeem ourselves.

Tonight NIU hosts its second home game since Feb. 14.

Tonight NIU goes against Western Michigan again. Tonight NIU is back in action at the Convo.

So let’s change one thing about tonight from last night - let’s show up.

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