Reitz is alive with the sound of the Dog Pound
John Guzowski
Issue date: 2/22/05 Section: Sports
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First-year coach Jimmy Patsos has breathed life into the pronounced dead basketball scene at Loyola. Though the team isn't dominating, it is winning games and has even put together a nice little victory streak. Though a lot of credit should be given to Patsos and the hard work that the players have been doing, there is a group of people that is usually overlooked and has been integral to the resurgence of the team. They are the rowdy members of the Dog Pound, most notably the die-hard seniors that can be seen and heard at every single home game.
They are the ones that have stood by the team through thick (last Saturday's pounding of Iona) and thin (last year's one-win season). These gentlemen are too many to all be named, but together they are the Sixth Man, without whom the Greyhounds wouldn't be the same.
In years past, the crowds at the men's basketball games have been similar to those in the beginning of Teen Wolf. The few people that were there usually were close friends of the players, family members, etc. This year, with each game the student section in Reitz Arena has been filling up.
"The crowd has done a complete 180," said senior Dan Healy. "This year, the Dog Pound is wall to wall, barking louder than ever. The players and coaches have thanked us a bunch of times."
Healy might be the most visible of these senior leaders, due to the height advantage he has over his fellow students in this crowd. But he has used this to his benefit, constantly turning around from his front row seat and calling out the younger students to make some noise. He chose to lead the crowd against Iona with a red whiffle ball bat, which has a mysterious symbolic meaning to Healy.
The seniors have enjoyed bringing back old chants from their high school days, standard calls to pump up the crowd, and have also created some calls especially for this year's Greyhounds, such as the Jim Chivers "Jolly Green Giant" chant, and the Charlie Bell call, set to the song "Ring My Bell."