Mark WiedmerYou can't make people love anything. Be it another person, a certain kind of pet, a car, a song, a TV show, a style of clothing, a job, a home, white meat or dark meat, most folks either love something or they don't.
And when they don't, it's difficult, if not impossible, to change those feelings.
Which brings us to University of Tennessee at Chattanooga coach Russ Huesman's unusual plea to Mocs Nation to support its football team more fervently than in past seasons at Saturday's first-round playoff game against Weber State at Finley Stadium.
Said Huesman of an often fickle UTC fan base: "We've got to really step up and not have 5,000 people there, whether it's Thanksgiving weekend or not. I don't care. We need great representation out there Saturday."
It was actually less than that a year ago the Mocs hosted a 50-20 win over Fordham in the first round of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, also on Thanksgiving weekend. The official count for attendance was 4,888, the smallest crowd of the 2015 season for a UTC football game.
To be fair, the NCAA doesn't make it easy. Playoff tickets aren't part of the season-ticket package, so it requires a little extra time and money to purchase them at the reasonable rate of $25 for a reserved seat or $15 for adult general admission.
On the other hand, the first 500 student tickets will be free to those UTC students with a current ID who quickly make their way to the UTC ticket office. And just in case you don't get a free ticket, the cost for students and anyone 12 or younger is $5.
So unlike Saturday's Iron Bowl showdown in Tuscaloosa, Ala., between visiting Auburn and the top-ranked Crimson Tide of the Football Bowl Subdivision, you won't need a second mortgage to take the family. It also won't take you hours to fight the Finley traffic to get home, and the Mocs kick off at 2 p.m., which means you can still watch the Tennessee-Vanderbilt game at 7:30 on the SEC Network.
In an admirable attempt to straddle the fence between being critical or complimentary of a UTC fan base that contributed to an average attendance of 9,494 at Finley this season, Huesman said, "I would say that Chattanooga and our fans have a lot of respect because people know we'll get people to come to our games."
Of course, he also said of those crowds this season: "It probably hasn't been as good as I would have liked - we've got some tremendous, loyal fans - but I didn't think the city of Chattanooga came out and supported us like they should have this year. With that being said, we're a lot, lot better than a lot of people throughout the country, so you can't complain and I don't complain."
And he doesn't. He unfailingly makes his players available, win or lose. He routinely sidesteps attendance concerns by saying he doesn't have the time or energy to discuss that aspect of the program. He's pretty much available to the media whenever he's asked and almost always completely open and honest, regardless of the question.
But Huesman is also an alum and a fan. No UTC coach in any sport supports the overall athletic department more than him. He keeps up with basketball, softball, wrestling, volleyball, golf and tennis. He gets his players out to Special Olympics whenever possible. So if he wants to gently chastise this city's football fans for not supporting his Mocs as strongly as they might, he has earned that right more than most.
But that's also where loving UTC athletics comes in. The Scenic City's football fans either love this wonderful run the Mocs are on or they don't. And sad as this is to say or hear for those relatively few souls who do bleed UTC Blue and Gold, nothing Huesman can say or do will change that.
Mocs football has never been more appealing or deserving of support, but deserving something isn't the same as receiving something. Only time and passion and a change in attitude can do that. Unless or until a bigger share of our town's population than currently seems to exist would rather watch or listen to the Mocs than the Vols, Georgia Bulldogs or Crimson Tide, the attendance will bend with the wind.
"I would hope that they'll come out and support this team and show the (FCS selection) committee and the United States that Chattanooga is a great place with tremendous people and fan support," Huesman told the Times Free Press on Sunday.
But if they don't, if the crowd again mirrors last year's 4,888, blame it on love. Or more precisely, a lack of love for a product that's often viewed as more of a civic responsibility to support than a heartfelt interest bordering on addiction.
Is that fair? Perhaps not.
For effort and results and off-the-field behavior, this football team deserves a crowd of 10,000 or more in Finley against Weber State. But if the crowd falls short of that, everyone should at least love Huesman's effort.
Whatever the result, his heart's clearly in the right place.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.