Don’t be a homer, root for your Horned Frogs
COMMENTARY
Danny Gillham is a junior broadcast journalism major from Weatherford.

When I spoke to Frogs’ basketball coach Neil Dougherty about his upcoming game with Kansas a few weeks ago, he told me TCU fans needed to get their tickets quickly.

“If you don’t, Kansas will,” he said.

And while many of the 7,267 at the game were donning purple, it was evident the Jayhawk faithful were also well represented.

I guess what kind of shocked me was that some of those KU representatives were TCU students cheering for Kansas.

If you were at home watching the game, you may not have noticed it. However, numerous TCU students donned Kansas hats, shirts, jerseys and posters in support for Rock Chalk Jayhawk.

Yes, Kansas is a storied college basketball power with an allegiance of fans as a result of its success. I myself rooted for Kansas to win a championship last year for now departed Kansas head coach Roy Williams.

However these Jayhawks homers all need to take a piece of advice from the classic movie Wizard of Oz: You’re not in Kansas anymore.

Now I really don’t care if you root for professional sports teams from back home. When you go to college though, its teams automatically become your favorite in that sport, period.

So for those who are confused, let me help you figure out how the best way to root for your Frogs (or Lady Frogs). Taking notes are encouraged.

1. You go to TCU. You can cheer for anyone else all day — until that team plays TCU, then it becomes your mortal enemy. I don’t care if you grew up next to the best player on the team. The players are not your friend until that game is over.

2. Wear purple. It is our school color, and it looks pretty good when everyone wears it to a game. So ladies (and some guys), please stop coming to TCU games like your going out to Deep Ellum for a Friday night. A simple purple TCU shirt will do just fine.

3. Get educated. I really don’t want to hear that you don’t know where or when games are. TCU has an athletics Web site (www.gofrogs.com) where you can find any information about any sports team we have: names, statistics, schedules and history — you name it.

4. Be loud. Even if you don’t know why you are yelling and are doing it because everyone else is, that is fine. A loud and excited crowd gives players extra motivation to play hard because they have you supporting them. And don’t be afraid to be a little loud and rowdy to the opposing team, in a civilized manner mind you. Trust me, TCU players deal with crowds like these all the time — when they play road games supported by good sports fans.

I think it’s great that everyone is coming out to support teams. Tuesday night was a record amount of attendance at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, and the TCU football team had its highest average of home attendance in quite some time. If you’re going to come to the games though, cheer the right way, and cheer for TCU.