By John Silveria

I’ve been a Red Sox fan since before many of you were born. I watched Yaz pop out to lose a one-game playoff in 1978, I know and fully comprehend the importance of the Yankees sending out Bucky Dent to throw a first pitch for last week’s Game 7 (thanks for doing that), I watched Billy Buckner make the mistake that makes my mom cringe at his name, I was at Yankee Stadium last year when the Sox stretched it to seven and I cried on my couch when Aaron Boone went yard off of Wake to send us home. In short, I am a fan.

Fans watch games, they cheer on their favorite players, they question coaching decisions like leaving Pedro in or sending Johnny home, they read stats, they play fantasy baseball and many give their heart and soul to their team. They are fans because their dad is a fan, because they wore a certain uniform in Little League and because Trot is hot. Fans want their team to win, they want to revel in the moment with them and they want to have that moment where they can say, “We are the Champions.”

Be a fan.

The Red Sox have claimed over the past few weeks that they are a “bunch of idiots.” Perhaps they are, perhaps that idiocy is enough to win a World Series. The Red Sox coming together and saying they are a “bunch of idiots” is a way of describing this team’s characters, releasing tension, deflecting obvious questions of leadership and an excuse for dreadlocks, bad cornrows, long manes, shaved heads, scruffy chins and the worst uniform tailoring since the death of parachute pants.

But they are first and foremost a team.

This week be part of our team. Respect your neighbors, watch out for your friends and keep your fellow team members in check. Wear your game paint, your hat and your shirt. Kiss the posters, don’t change your underwear, don’t leave the room, don’t switch seats, don’t shave, do whatever you have to do. Watch the game with friends. Go to a friend’s place, go to afterHOURS (big screens and free food!), go to the common room down the hall.

Watch, cheer and be a fan. Be part of your NU team.

Just don’t be an idiot.

— John Silveria is the director of the Student Leadership Office.