I was so proud of Northwestern’s student section at Saturday night’s football game. I glanced behind me a few minutes into the first quarter, and was overwhelmed by the noisy and enthusiastic sea of purple stretching to every edge of the student section. For the first time I can remember since my freshman year, the “Wildside” was out in full force. I was so proud.

That is, until the game ended. All the pride I had vanished. Not because of the loss, but because of the responses. “$%*& Demos!” “This is why I don’t come to football games.” “Typical Northwestern football.”

Now, I understand. Trust me, I of all people understand. I made last minute plans to spend New Year’s 2010 in Tampa, I’ve painted up for my share of games, and half of my wardrobe is purple. My growl is enhanced every game by purple fingernails. I drove the eight hours and back to Vandy and already have my Wisconsin ticket. I stood with you all in shock, silent, after Saturday’s game. I, like most of you, had gotten wrapped up in the 5-0 hype, and I expected a victory.

But I’ll be back at Ryan Field at 11 a.m. on October 23rd to give our beloved Cats a chance against MSU. Maybe it was my early, pre-2004, years as a Red Sox fan (hold the Boston hate, please!), filled with year after year of heartbreak and disappointment, that turned me into a loyal fan and taught me the trait of unrelenting optimism, but I will never give up on our Wildcats. One bad loss is nothing to get down about – Minnesota last year, anyone? Indiana, before that? Stop using this loss to predict the rest of the season, because who saw the Iowa win coming last year? An Outback Bowl bid?

To my fellow Northwestern fans: to the diehards I see painted up in the first row and who road trip with me to away games. To the fair-weather fans who jumped on the “[bleep] Demos” bandwagon and are already planning on sleeping through the Homecoming game. To anyone who’s ever sung the fight song, and to anyone who’s ever even accidentally worn purple. I’m going to leave you with a line from Damn Yankees: You’ve gotta have heart – all you really need is heart. The Cats broke mine on Saturday night, but I’m going to spend my next two weeks doing the football equivalent of eating pints of Ben & Jerry’s, watching sappy movies and having a drunken rebound at the Keg. And I know I’ll be back for the next game. I have faith in our team, and faith that I will be proud of our student section again this season. Because all the heartbreak I’ve seen since Saturday only proves that we all “had heart” in the first place.

So I’ll see you all at the Homecoming game – apologies in advance if I hit you with my enthusiastic pom-pom waving and for my off-key version of the fight song. I’ll be the one with the unrelenting optimism that we WILL beat MSU, no matter what happens. You’ve gotta have heart. All you really need is heart.

And if we’re going to bleed from these football games, why don’t we at least bleed purple?

Megan Dunham is a McCormick senior. She can be reached at [email protected].