I am jealous of Indiana State University.

Not because they won. Not because the school is about twice as big as ours, or that the town of Terre Haute is considerably bigger, with more bars, than Martin.

I’m jealous because I got called a loser.

Normally, this would make me mad, but on Saturday, all it did was make me smile and laugh.

It was coming from complete strangers, sitting in recliners, behind the fence at the ISU football stadium. I was there taking pictures and covering the game for The Pacer and was standing in front of them.

At first, they told me that I “rocked,” but that was until I started cheering for the Skyhawks. Then ... I became a loser.

They told me not to cheer for UTM. I turned around and told them where I was from, and where they could stick their advice. We went back and forth like this for the rest of the time I was on the sidelines.

Despite the loss, I actually had a good time at the game. It reminded me of high school, back when we weren’t embarrassed to paint ourselves orange and blue (or purple and gold in my case). We weren’t scared to yell and scream and make fools of ourselves to show our support.

There actually were people painted blue and silver. THOUSANDS of people were tailgating . The band and the cheerleaders worked together to get the crowd up. And, possibly the most odd, everyone watched the game. The cheerleaders, the band, the people in the stands ...

ISU was not that much better than us; we just were on the losing end this time, so it’s not because the team was better. Homecoming is soon; I’m again making a plea for a little school spirit. There are plenty of chances to show it. So, say it loud and proud: GO SKYHAWKS!!!