If there’s one thing college students love more than March Madness, it’s being lazy.

And I mean, lazy. (If he can’t reach the remote control, my roommate, Chris, will throw objects at the television, hoping that the channel will miraculously change.)

As is the case at most colleges, there are some students who go out of their way to try to be active in campus life through greek life, student government or Student Association groups.

This oligarchy keeps campus alive through their involvement and their activism. While academics will always be paramount at this University, these students’ extracurricular endeavors really make Binghamton a great place to be.

That being said, I think there’s one chartered group that campus would be better off without: the BU Zoo.

Or Raitses, the group’s founder, had terrific intentions. He’s one of those guys I mentioned whose hard work helped make this campus tick.

It’s a great idea in theory ‘ but the Zoo just doesn’t seem ready to be tamed.

Raitses explains that the Zoo was designed as a means to more easily communicate about trips to away games, limit profanity and foster increased school spirit.

Sure, there were nearly no complaints about student profanity this season. Sure, Raitses successfully organized a bus trip to Albany where a bunch of us cheered for our Bearcats at Albany’s Big Purple Growl.

But there was a very noticeable ‘ and embarrassing ‘ drop-off in student participation this year. While a hardcore group of fans, led by Raitses, jammed the first four or five rows, the rest of the contingent stood ‘ or sat ‘ behind, often sporting everyday attire.

Zoo vice president Bradley Small contends that much of the student attendance issue centered around our team’s subpar performance. Surely, our unfavorable home schedule didn’t help either.

But the notion of being part of a club, of having to register to be an official part of the ‘Zoo,’ was a new element this year that the majority of students didn’t really embrace.

‘I don’t see the point of signing a piece of paper to be a part of a group,’ said Chris, the aforementioned dangerously lazy roommate. ‘Joining it to be part of it just doesn’t make sense to me ‘ I wouldn’t bother.’

It sounds ridiculous and childish, but it’s true: students don’t want to take on extra responsibilities. For many people, going to a basketball game is a way to relax and have fun, to get away from the everyday grind of classes and extracurriculars. Introducing the element of a group ‘ even if all you need to do to join is sign a piece of paper ‘ will scare away said lazy kids.

While I admittedly loved the concept of turning the BU Zoo into an SA group last year, I’ve come to realize that the Zoo became successful because of what it was: an escape from the norm, a way to get away from it all. Our relationships with the team, the players and Al Walker reflected our out-of-school lives, not our SA group-loving alter-egos. Our shameless profanity, while perhaps inappropriate, showed that we cared about the team on the most basic of levels.

With a new coach coming within the next couple of weeks, perhaps Binghamton will be the next SUNY school to appear in the NCAA tournament, but I truly believe that if student support doesn’t return to where it was in 2005 or 2006, it’s going to be a while. This isn’t the Big East or the ACC; with eight of nine America East teams competing for the title every year (sorry, Stony Brook), ‘little’ things like community support DO make a difference. (If you don’t believe me, ask any America East player the difference between playing at the Events Center and at an empty arena, like Stony Brook.)

We need as many students at the games as we can get and if Bearcat fans feel the need to say ‘shit’ once in a while to feel welcome, I’m all for it.