“The crowd doesn’t matter.” I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone say that before. The crowd is the community that surrounds the game. It’s what influences the players. It’s what makes the athletes able to do their passion for a living.

In the NCAA womens’ finals, you can hear the passion in the fans’ voices. The “Mulkey Manias” (The name of Louisiana State University’s fanbase) and the Iowa Hawkeye fans screaming over each other was said to be heard miles away. When you look to the crowd, you can see the different colors of people supporting their teams.

The crowd brings in so many new fans to the game. An unbelievable 9.92 million people streamed the NCAA championship, which peaked at 12.6 million. That led to the most watched womens’ college basketball game to date.

“She’s almost fictional at this point!” Ryan Ruocco said, hyping up the crowd when referring to Iowa guard Caitlin Clark in the championship game. 

The crowd going wild always helps motivate the players. Imagine if you won and there was no cheering, that would not be very fun to watch or play.

“Her eighth ‘three’ of the championship game,” Ruocco announced, making people’s emotions go crazy. 

The fans are what helped Caitlin Clark break the record for most points scored in the NCAA tournament in mens’ and womens’ history. If you knew that thousands of little girls around the world were looking up to you, do you think that would motivate you to play your best and get your team going?

The emotions of the game are so tough to control because just a one-point differential can make the hairs on the back of your neck stick out.

 The booing from the crowd for a bad call could affect further calls and completely change the rest of the game. A player fouling out because their emotions got too high and out of control that they stopped making the normal decisions they’d usually make. 

The crowd brings community, which our school has a lot of. Our student section is full of friends and fellow peers supporting one another and making sports games an enjoyable experience for all. 

The cheerleaders doing their routine and hyping up the crowd hearing “aww”s. The smiles on people’s faces all around brings a feeling of accomplishment and thankfulness that this is our community we live in. 

The crowd matters, the crowd helps create all these great things that bring people together and ultimately make sports fun and create that great environment. Next time you have a chance, you should go support your McDaniel sports team. Be a part of that community and have a good time.