School spirit is an idea that many college sports teams thrive on. Seeing fans cheering and screaming at the top of their lungs is the biggest morale boost any athlete can ask for. Seeing a group of men's swimmers wearing speedos as a distraction, well that's even better.
What started as a fun antic to distract the Auburn University basketball team has turned into a Yahoo Sports front page story as well as a trending topic on Twitter. But what inspired the team to do this? Junior Joey Lacus has a little something to do with it.
As a member of the Pirate Blue Student Club and the Men's Swim Team, Lacus has rallied together a few of his teammates to create this suddenly famous group of hecklers.
"Initially we just kept throwing around the idea of wearing our speedos to a game, we never thought it would reach this magnitude," Lacus said. "We weren't sure how the reception would be, we just wanted to go out there to support the team."
This group of hecklers gained national attention when the team found themselves on the front page and top headline on Yahoo!Sports. But Lacus and the team have not allowed this national attention get to their head.
"We're just doing what we can for the school. It's not something we're trying to soak up. Just trying to support the guys out there," Lacus said.
What started as a fun little gimmick has turned into a national headline, and Head Coach Ron Farina has fully embraced the team's attention.
"It is a great way to build school spirit and I completely understand why they go out there and do it," Farina said. "Even the coaches on the basketball team come up to me and say how much they love it. They say it really energizes the building."
The students have particularly taken a major interest into the speedo craze as well. Though they may not be participating, they fully embrace the swimmer's methods and cheer even louder when the swimmers appear.
Junior Chester Boldando said he believes the rest of the crowd truly feeds off the swim team.
"Whenever the team shows up to a game I feel the crowd gets even louder and much more into the game," Boldando said. "The building just seems to get so energized every time they are there and you can really see how much school spirit they have. They do anything they can to help the team win out there."
Looking to build a bit of momentum going into the season, the team is hoping to be present against Connecticut and Syracuse, two of the toughest teams in the Big East.
"It all depends on our meets and tournaments so we still have to work out a couple of dates," Lacus said. "We have some dates in mind but we're really just waiting for a go ahead."
Justin Geringer can be reached at justin.geringer@student.shu.edu.
