I’m writing in direct response to Rob Tricchinelli’s attack on Go Be Red, the Student Senate, and his personal jab at me in the October 12 issue of The Polytechnic. In his editorial, Rob wrote that he was “surprised that these negative ramifications weren’t anticipated by the Senate,” those ramifications being loud, boisterous crowds that have taken to verbally attacking RPI’s opponents. Apparently Rob took issue with RPI fans doing anything and everything to push their teams to victory. But that’s exactly what Go Be Red set out to do; GBR has increased attendance at games (more notably than Rob would like to admit), and as a result, we have a greater number of fans that will scream their support while heckling our opponents. GBR did not set out to bring fans to games just to sit there quietly. Maybe Rob should take the time to cheer on his team a little more instead of criticizing the way others show their love for RPI.

Yes, I did tell a member of the Union soccer team to go kill himself, and I’ll probably do it again if I think it will help my team. No, I was not under the influence of alcohol at the time, as Rob’s article implied. And no, I do not actually advocate the suicide of Union soccer players, as Rob insisted when he grilled me with a tape recorder in my face last week. It was a joke—it’s not the worst thing that’s been said at games, and when said in the heat of the moment, no one expressed offense to it. I’d like to say I do not appreciate being singled out just so a member of The Poly can have a chance to take a cheap shot at the Senate, when there are a number of other fans willing to go to that point to support the Red Hawks and Engineers.

The bottom line is that game attendance is up, cheers are louder, and fans are having fun. Heckling is a direct result of the greater sense of school spirit that GBR is fostering, and if we make visits to RPI a little more difficult for our opponents, I think GBR has achieved one of its goals. Let’s just hope that more pessimists like Mr. Tricchinelli don’t get in the way.

Mark Andrews

Student Senator