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OK, so here’s the deal: I’ve been called a Kansas sports fanatic. I’ve seen just about every minute of every game that the football and men’s basketball teams have played in the last five years. I’ve traveled to Miami to see an Orange Bowl victory and Kansas City, Mo., to see a Big 12 Basketball Championship.

But a small thought has always gnawed at me: How can I consider myself a true Kansas sports fan if I have never supported any team outside of those two?

I thought I had lost my last chance to watch a women’s game at Allen Fieldhouse when I passed on watching the last regular season game against Kansas State. I was wrong. When I received an e-mail informing me that the team would be playing host to a WNIT game, I knew I had received my reprieve. This was an opportunity to shed my “fraud” label, and I wouldn’t pass it up.

But first I had to find someone to go with. I quickly found that most of my “diehard” Kansas sports fan friends had no interest in watching a women’s basketball game.

“But the ticket is free for students!” I pleaded. “And this is the playoffs. Seriously, how many times will you be able to watch a postseason game in the fieldhouse?”

My overtures were shot down, so I turned my attention to female friends. I failed there as well. One by one, the people in my phone book told me they were too busy or had no interest.

Fine. Those fair-weather Jayhawk fans could stay home. I’d go by myself. And so I made my way to the fieldhouse on Monday night, solo-style. I was clad in all my Jayhawk regalia; the grey KU hooded sweatshirt, the Jayhawk hat, even the KU wristwatch. I was ready for battle.

As I walked to the fieldhouse just before tipoff, only a few people milled around outside. I wondered if maybe I had gotten the wrong time. There was no line to get in.

When I entered the arena, I asked the usher where the students were to sit.

“There won’t be many people here, so you can sit wherever,” he said.

Well, fair enough!

I chose to sit five rows behind the Jayhawk bench. It was close enough to listen to coach Bonnie Henrickson’s strategy sessions during timeouts. It was also close enough that I could have told freshman center Krysten Boogaard that her brother, Derek, was my favorite NHL player, or asked sophomore guard Kelly Kohn for her phone number.

But that would have been inappropriate, so I instead looked around the arena. It was like a bizarro men’s game. Behind both baskets the seats were basically empty. A smattering of people sat in the blue lower level seats generally saved for high-paying donors at men’s games.

I saw other people sitting alone, a speck in a sea of empty blue seats; this in turn didn’t make me feel alone. My mind wandered: What was going on in their lives? Were they stood up? Are they true diehard women’s basketball fans? Did they find this cathartic?

The amount of students in attendance could have been counted on fingers and toes. Instead, I saw many older couples. I think the athletics department roped them in with promises of “Everybody Loves Raymond” re-runs at halftime on the Jumbotron. There were also a lot of fathers at the game with their daughters and I thought that was a good idea. I made a resolution to do the same some day.

Although I was disappointed in the turnout of Kansas fans, Evansville shockingly brought a (relatively) large contingent. I estimated only a 3-to-1 advantage for KU fans. This was profoundly sad for me. Evansville even had a group of male students who had traveled to the game and showed up bare-chested with paint on their faces and bodies, and wearing weird hats. They were boisterous and obnoxious, and I felt bad for our players because no one was painted for them or obnoxious for them or crazy for them.

The fieldhouse, usually so intimidating and full of electricity, just seemed like a big, cold, quiet building on this night. If the library was full, students could have lounged near the rafters and done their studies with little sound interruption save for when the band decided to belt it out. The lack of fans was jarring for someone who had never seen an event staged there at less than full capacity. To juxtapose the obsession with the men’s program with the indifference about the women’s program inside one building was either fascinating or depressing, and I couldn’t decide which. The athletics department has tried to get creative to increase attendance in the past at women’s games. Here is my suggestion to guarantee double the fans next year: a game of HORSE at halftime between two members of the men’s team. Tap into this town’s true passion.

As for the game, Kansas jumped all over Evansville, winning 82-60. The Jayhawks were better than I had expected and I wished I had seen more games over the past five years. They probably deserved my support. They certainly needed it more than the other tenant of the building.

— Edited by Patrick De Oliveira

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