Well, tonight was the Saint Francis versus Bellarmine basketball game, at Saint Francis.

Once again, Chris has taken on the daunting task of dismantling the apathy that has taken over much of the student body when it comes to pride and spirit.

For Football, he and his yell leaders (modeled after Cal's) were pretty successfully in bringing people into the stands and getting them to cheer again. It helped that this year's team was really good and went all the way to the CCS Final.

Not so with the basketball team. The school has seen more promising teams..and basketball has never been as big of a deal as football. So it was no surprise that Bellarmine beat Saint Francis, on the court and in the stands. Chris succeeded in getting students to the game. The gym was packed to capacity (my dad couldn't get back in at one point). It's an old-fashioned gym, two stories. I sat on the second floor next to the student section with my parents, and Matt and Kim. For me, Matt, and Kim, the last time we had been up there together was probably or sophomore year at a rally. It was kinda cool.

But about 1/4 of the gym (one side of the second floor) was taken up by the very loud, very rude, and very obnoxious Bellarmine cheering section. Being an all guy school, its a lot easier to pump up the volume and get loud. They've been doing this for a long time. (although they were surprisingly quiet at the last football game where SFHS whooped them....hmm maybe this was their way of venting frustration over that loss) With six yell leaders, six megaphones, and at least 200 students all standing up, they filled the gym with noise from the start.

Chris on the other hand, was one of four yell leaders, with one megaphone (none during the first half), and a student section that refused to stand for the entire first half. Bellarmine was showing us up, cheering "We Can't Hear You" and "Why Are you Sitting." Taunting the players and the crowd, and using the oh so creative "Buck the Lancers" cheer. All this, after they held a conference for all schools in the league about sportsmanship in cheering, saying not to do these types of cheers. (keep in mind these are Catholic schools...most of the stuff would totally fly at Cal..hehe) The administration at SFHS held Chris to this code of conduct, but with Bellarmine it was a case of "Do as I say, not as I do."

The best word to describe Chris' face during the first half is complete disgust and exasperation. On one hand you have Bellarmine, with its dean right there allowing the students to break the cheering rules it made. On the other hand you have our stands, sitting pretty and just watching Bellarmine's student section give their team home court advantage.

If there's one thing Chris and I both HATE, it's apathy. If you're gonna take the time to come to a game, you might as well root for your team. The student section was filled with 'popular' SFHS kids, too self-conscience to stand up, and yelling at those that did to sit down. Every time Chris tried to get them to stand or make noise, they sat and stayed quiet. He was ready to give up by half-time.

I wouldn't have it. I figured, what have I got to lose? I am no longer confined by the social cliques that dominate the school, I don't give a rats ass what these kids think of me. And I did something I lost the confidence to do after my frosh year as a Lancer; I stood out.

When Chris and the Activities Director tried to get the students to stand up after half time ended, and when a few of them did but the rest kept sitting, laughing nervously....I stood up and started yelling at them to do the same. I yelled and yelled and yelled. I jumped up and down and yelled. I yelled at kids that, if I were still at that school, I'm sure I would have been way too intimidated to even speak to. I even offered the girl in front of me a dollar to stand up. (She did, but I kept the dollar) I made a fool of myself. And I didn't care! It felt really, really good.

And guess what? After looking at me like I was crazy....they stood up. They started listening to Chris and cheering louder. Even when it became clear we weren't going to win in the last 2 or 3 minutes, they stated chanting "We've got girls" and "Football" (we beat them this year). And when someone on the Bell side yelled "You Lost CCS," I yelled back "And You didn't Come Close!" loud enough so they could hear it across the gym.

So yes, Saint Francis lost, and yes the Belle Boys were louder than us, but I helped give Chris at least a minor victory. He got some of his school to let their guard down for once, forget about lookin cool and disinvolved like a Calvin Klein model...and at least gave Bellarmine something to hear as they cheered "This is OUR House" in our own gym.

Some of those cocky Bellarmine guys stirred up some hostile emotions after the game by jumping on some cars, drawing penises on others, and taunting students. And suddenly it seems a lot of Saint Francis students are planning on showing up at the next game, this time at the Bell's gym at the end of the month in hopes of giving them a piece of their own medicine. But unlike the Bells tonight, Chris wants to keep it classy. If one things clear, the decades old rivalry between those two schools has been renewed once again tonight

Looking back, I can't help but feel a little bad for not getting more involved at Saint Francis. But my mind and focus was elsewhere, doing the things outside of school that eventually got me into Cal. Tonight in a way, I got another chance to have an impact at that school by helping out my brother in his quest. It takes guts to do what he's doing, and I have much pride and respect for him. Hopefully tonight was one step in the right direction.