Spring Break
Bleeding blue: Mob leader displays extreme Rhody pride, URI senior leads sports fans
Brenna McCabe
Issue date: 10/28/08 Section: News
10/28/08 - They wait for the sign.
The University of Rhode Island men's basketball team lingers at the bench during a timeout, and the crowd waits anxiously, searching for something.
And then it comes. The crowd's wave begins and a surge of energy blasts clockwise through the Ryan Center stands.
Below, a dark blue figure seems to tug at the human tide, running the perimeter of the court until he is satisfied with the decibel he's created.
The buzzer goes off. Even as he perspires, the dark blue paint that covers senior Jason Coppa's body stays intact. He's a vision in blue - with paint creeping as close to the brim of his brown eyelashes as it possibly can. Coppa rejoins URI's fanatical fans, now known as "The Mob," in their reserved section, ready to do whatever is necessary to let the team know it has their undying support.
But it wasn't always like this.
Coppa has lived to see some of the worst moments in the university's sports history, including the recruiting scandals of former men's basketball coach Jim Harrick. During the past decade, while dozens of coaches on the courts and on the field were trying to bring some glory to "lil' Rhody," Coppa was wiping the sweat off of the Keaney Gymnasium courts between buzzers as a ball boy, and waiting for his turn to "bleed blue."
Coppa boasted of vivid plays and endless memories of Lamar Odom and "the glory days, when we didn't have a fancy mop to wipe the sweat off the floors - we had towels."
But his biggest battle has not been sitting through former football head coach Tim Stowers' six consecutive losing seasons or seeing field hockey, gymnastics and swimming and diving teams cut from the URI sports program.
His biggest battle, he said, is bringing the Rhody fanship to where it should be - to not be the only one whose entire body is painted blue for game day - and bringing the life back to Rhody sports the way universities like Pennsylvania State University and Duke University do.
The University of Rhode Island men's basketball team lingers at the bench during a timeout, and the crowd waits anxiously, searching for something.
And then it comes. The crowd's wave begins and a surge of energy blasts clockwise through the Ryan Center stands.
Below, a dark blue figure seems to tug at the human tide, running the perimeter of the court until he is satisfied with the decibel he's created.
The buzzer goes off. Even as he perspires, the dark blue paint that covers senior Jason Coppa's body stays intact. He's a vision in blue - with paint creeping as close to the brim of his brown eyelashes as it possibly can. Coppa rejoins URI's fanatical fans, now known as "The Mob," in their reserved section, ready to do whatever is necessary to let the team know it has their undying support.
But it wasn't always like this.
Coppa has lived to see some of the worst moments in the university's sports history, including the recruiting scandals of former men's basketball coach Jim Harrick. During the past decade, while dozens of coaches on the courts and on the field were trying to bring some glory to "lil' Rhody," Coppa was wiping the sweat off of the Keaney Gymnasium courts between buzzers as a ball boy, and waiting for his turn to "bleed blue."
Coppa boasted of vivid plays and endless memories of Lamar Odom and "the glory days, when we didn't have a fancy mop to wipe the sweat off the floors - we had towels."
But his biggest battle has not been sitting through former football head coach Tim Stowers' six consecutive losing seasons or seeing field hockey, gymnastics and swimming and diving teams cut from the URI sports program.
His biggest battle, he said, is bringing the Rhody fanship to where it should be - to not be the only one whose entire body is painted blue for game day - and bringing the life back to Rhody sports the way universities like Pennsylvania State University and Duke University do.
