SHUHEI MATSUO
Assistant Sports Editor
As you already know, this year’s NFL season ended with a victory for the Indianapolis Colts at Super Bowl XLI. Peyton Manning can now take a break from football, but he will be busy with all the new commercials for a while.
America’s favorite sport has just finished its season, but that does not mean sports are not exciting until September. Actually for the Pepperdine sports teams, this might be a good chance to gain more support now the football season is over. And there are a bunch of other reasons for us to go support those teams as well.
The baseball team just had a home opener against Long Beach State on Tuesday, but the attendance was 361 at Eddie D. Field Stadium, which can hold up to 2,000 spectators. I mean, the team is nationally ranked and expected to do well this season. Even though the Waves opened their season with a 1-2 record against lower-ranked University of Nevada Las Vegas during the weekend’s series, they will start winning more as the season progresses.
More importantly for ladies, why not come see those good-looking baseball players with tight pants? I remember a few girls telling me that they go to baseball games primarily to see those nicely shaped butts. If you are a guy, why not come see those pitchers throw over 90 miles/hour and batters hit those fastballs over the fence?
Tennis may be the most underrated sport at Pepperdine. Winning the NCAA Championships the past season, the Pepperdine men’s tennis team is one of the best teams in the nation this year. Although those guys started the season with a loss to upper-ranked Illinois, they have been unstoppable since then. Why don’t you come support their home games so maybe they can win the national title two years in a row? The cool thing about college tennis is that you can actually talk to the players very easily right after the matches. Oh, they also scream every shot like they mean it. If this doesn’t turn you on, ladies, I don’t know what does.
I’ve asked a number of my guy friends who the hottest female athlete is, and a majority of them named tennis players. I know some tennis players are really ridiculously good looking that they could be the female version of Derek Zoolander or Hansel. Pepperdine woman tennis players actually know how to play the game and are very pretty (Don’t worry tennis players, my journalism professor told me never to have a relationship with a source – wait, I’m not even covering women’s tennis this season).
In fact, this season’s team is ranked No. 13 and has been playing solidly with a record of 4-2. So come watch these women tennis players at least for their home games. Who knows those women will be the next Sharapova or Kournikova? Gentlemen, you don’t want to miss this opportunity.
For this year’s men’s volleyball, there is simply no reason not to go to the games. I mean, those guys already upset some of the nation’s best teams including UCLA and UC Irvine and became the No.-3 team in the country. Now that junior setter Jonathan Winder has bounced back from his injury, there is a good chance the Waves are going to capture their second NCAA title in three years. That should be a great reason to go down to the Fieldhouse or even drive out to nearby schools and support them.
For other sports like golf, swimming and track, it is kind of difficult to go to their tournaments and meets, because they rarely compete on campus. But when they are playing nearby, you can drive out and support them.
Pepperdine is the best athletic school without a football team. But I don’t know if we have the best support to keep the tradition. I’m not saying we should go to every game for every sport but we definitely should whenever we can. I’ve listed some possible reasons to go see our sports teams so there is no excuse. Come on, let’s go out and cheer on the champions.
02-08-2007

