San Diego State’s athletic teams have support incomparable to any other university. Their support comes in all ages, shapes, sizes and costumes. Energetic, loud and always dressed from head to toe in red and black, the Aztecs’ most devoted supporters are known to students on campus and all throughout the college athletics world as “The Show.”
“The Show,” a group of SDSU students that attend SDSU sporting events, consists of roughly 25 to 30 members today and it undoubtedly fueling pride for Aztec sports.
[quote]“‘The Show’ overall is an amazing thing here on campus. Athletics here have improved so much over the last few years. The more ‘The Show’ attends games the more people attend them also. They bring huge positivity to campus,” junior swimmer Livvi Sefton said.[/quote]
“The Show” truly formed in 2001, the first season SDSU basketball made the NCAA tournament with current basketball head coach Steve Fisher, and since then has made its voice heard at every event it attends.
SDSU first made the NCAA Tournament with head coach Steve Fisher in 2001. According to its web page, that is also the season when “The Show” truly took off and today has become a dynamic staple of SDSU sports.
As for the group’s unique and catchy name, it was coined from a statement made on a message board in reference to the group’s antics and over-the-top fandom displayed at SDSU basketball games that began attracting attention from others in the stands and made many take notice.
“You guys think you’re the whole show,” the comment read on a SDSU sports message board. And from there on the name stuck.
With the group’s origins stemming from primarily basketball, “The Show” has since branched out and made efforts to attend various other athletic events as well.
[quote]“We really are trying to diversify ourselves and attend other sporting events. We go to men’s soccer games, women’s soccer games, baseball, basketball, anything we can go to we try and go to,” four-year member and current senior Thomas Sholan said.[/quote]
“The Show” is by no means a formal, structured organization on campus only open to certain students, and that is the main message Sholan wants fellow students to understand.
[quote]“Really anyone can get involved. If you’re a student here you can get involved. We don’t have a structure and don’t like to look at ourselves that way. Anyone can get involved and we all become friends through it and evolve through supporting SDSU athletics,” Sholan said. [/quote]
Tim Shelton, an Aztec basketball player from 2007-2011, said that SDSU athletes also love the support and constant effort “The Show” puts into every game. He said it was always nice to hear “The Show’s” support while on the court.
[quote]“Yes, it was definitely motivating to always have people on your side no matter if the team got blown out or won a game,” Shelton said. “They always had pride in how we played no matter what.”[/quote]
The group truly is much larger than just a group of students attending sporting events, it actually has formed long-lasting relationships with previous athletes and members who are no longer attending SDSU. Between creating relationships and fostering support for SDSU student athletes, “The Show” has really taken on a larger-than-life persona.
The group’s actual original founders are still in many ways involved in the group to this day helping design T-shirts for “The Show” among other things.
“The Show” has become so well known throughout the years for its sensational displays of support at games that the group has even managed to attract national recognition from media outlets, such as ESPN and Sports Illustrated.
[quote]“Usually when people write about us it’s because we did something so ridiculous that the national media takes notice. It’s not really for us, it’s more for the school and giving recognition to the school,” Sholan said.[/quote]
With football season in full effect, “The Show” can be found “showgating” at Qualcomm Stadium all season long. Everyone is welcome to join.
[quote]“We are typically there when gates open, gates open five hours before kickoff, and we’ll be in section B-2 and we also try to make efforts to go to Warrior Walk for when the players make their march out to the stadium, so come out and join us,” current member and biology senior Rachel Naval said.[/quote]
One thing is for certain, from humble beginnings to a nationally recognized, sports-crazed group on campus today, “The Show” will remain an immense factor in SDSU athletics for years to come.
