2008 Woodie Awards
Support your top-ranked Foxes
Mike Benischek
Issue date: 1/29/04 Section: Sports
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While its home campus has had its back turned, the Marist Red Foxes have claimed first place in the MAAC.
What's that you say?
You say the Marist men are just 3-5 in the MAAC, nowhere near first?
Well of course smart guy, now take a look at the women's standings.
This season the best basketball team in Poughkeepsie isn't, for once, coached by Dave Magarity-its Brian Giorgis' Marist women's squad.
With its win over St. Peter's on Sunday afternoon the Red Fox women improved to 10-7 overall and a peerless 6-2 record in conference play. Yet on campus the team is treated more as an afterthought than as a contender to rally behind.
Marist is unquestionably a basketball school. It's evident when hearing fans around campus analyzing Pierre Monagan's jumper or Dave Magarity's late game decisions. However, it's a rare occasion that these same fans even know when the women are playing at home, let alone anything about the team.
Sunday's women's basketball game in the James J. McCann Recreational Center boasted an attendance total of 1280 fans. It was the second most highly attended game of the season, trailing only Marist's Dec. 21 meeting with the Auburn Tigers-a game played while most students had already went home for the winter break.
Of the nearly 1300 people in the McCann Center on Sunday it would be generous to estimate even 100 of them were Marist students, and that would be including the cheerleaders. The seats were filled with parents clapping politely while their children enjoyed "take a kid to the game day".
The building had no fire or intensity during a game that featured the conference's top two teams.
The McCann Center has become infamous within the MAAC. Members of the Manhattan Jaspers Men's Basketball team have been quoted as calling the building "intimidating" and "unnerving".
Its not the wooden paneling along the walls of the gym making them nervous, and its not the banner honoring Rik Smits-it's the fans. It's the "sixth man". Its every student on the Marist campus that comes to the game wearing the bright red tee-shirt, sitting in the student section, and yelling from the tip to the final buzzer.
What's that you say?
You say the Marist men are just 3-5 in the MAAC, nowhere near first?
Well of course smart guy, now take a look at the women's standings.
This season the best basketball team in Poughkeepsie isn't, for once, coached by Dave Magarity-its Brian Giorgis' Marist women's squad.
With its win over St. Peter's on Sunday afternoon the Red Fox women improved to 10-7 overall and a peerless 6-2 record in conference play. Yet on campus the team is treated more as an afterthought than as a contender to rally behind.
Marist is unquestionably a basketball school. It's evident when hearing fans around campus analyzing Pierre Monagan's jumper or Dave Magarity's late game decisions. However, it's a rare occasion that these same fans even know when the women are playing at home, let alone anything about the team.
Sunday's women's basketball game in the James J. McCann Recreational Center boasted an attendance total of 1280 fans. It was the second most highly attended game of the season, trailing only Marist's Dec. 21 meeting with the Auburn Tigers-a game played while most students had already went home for the winter break.
Of the nearly 1300 people in the McCann Center on Sunday it would be generous to estimate even 100 of them were Marist students, and that would be including the cheerleaders. The seats were filled with parents clapping politely while their children enjoyed "take a kid to the game day".
The building had no fire or intensity during a game that featured the conference's top two teams.
The McCann Center has become infamous within the MAAC. Members of the Manhattan Jaspers Men's Basketball team have been quoted as calling the building "intimidating" and "unnerving".
Its not the wooden paneling along the walls of the gym making them nervous, and its not the banner honoring Rik Smits-it's the fans. It's the "sixth man". Its every student on the Marist campus that comes to the game wearing the bright red tee-shirt, sitting in the student section, and yelling from the tip to the final buzzer.