By Brett Jager

Saturday will be a big day for the University of Louisville men’s basketball team as they host top-ranked Pittsburgh at Freedom Hall. Not only will students have the opportunity to see how the Cards match-up to the best team in the country, but they also have the chance to celebrate Earl Clark’s 21st birthday.
The Nest has creatively themed the game as “a birthday party for Earl.” SGA and Athletics are ordering 1400 birthday hats for students to wear. The students are going to sign a birthday card for Earl, and signs will be wrapped like presents, and subsequently unwrapped when he scores a basket.
“This has a potential to be huge for us,” Trevor Joelson, Student Government Association Athletic Director, said. “He’s turning 21, so we can have fun with that. Pittsburgh is currently ranked No. 1 in the nation and is also a Big East foe. Also, SGA President Rudy Spencer has invited all of the SGA presidents from the state of Kentucky to come to the game. This could be what I like to refer to as the Big Bang Theory—one game to show athletics exactly what the students are capable of.”
This isn’t the first time Joelson has teamed up with the Athletic Department to come up with different ideas and themes to make the students a more integral  part of the game, thus, enriching their experience.
“What we are trying to do is make our themes very visible and visual,” Joelson said. “We want it to look good on TV and to other people at Freedom Hall. The students should stand out above all else.”
The first attempt was the “Sign Out” game against the University of Kentucky. Joelson had high hopes for the sign out, but was disappointed at the results.
“The sign out did not work nearly as well as I had anticipated,” Joelson said. “I guess it was bad timing, but that’s no excuse. Students were given every resource necessary to make this a successful event. It was a simple theme, communication was strong, we had a great incentive and we had a partnership with Gray’s Bookstore. Me and some of my buddies made 120 signs ourselves and there were probably only 30 more in the whole place.”
Senior communications major Dillon Bennett realizes that student spirit is not what it was when he first came to school here and is happy that people are trying to change things.
“It sounds like they’ve got some good and hilarious ideas,” Bennett said. “It is good that they are trying to do something. Tailgates for football games have been just awful lately; which leads me to believe there is a general decline in school spirit. I hope these ideas can pan out and we can look good to other people who are watching our games on television.”
Freshman math major Andy Schleifer said he does not know what things were like in the past, but likes the direction the students are heading in.
“I thought the sign out was pretty cool,” Schleifer said. “I can’t wait for the birthday party. It is good to see that steps are being taken to improve student spirit because that will just make the games more enjoyable for everyone.”
Joelson knows  building student spirit has to start with basketball. There is no question basketball is the most popular sport at this university and has a great history of exhibiting unparalleled amounts of passion for college basketball.
“If we can reach the students at basketball games, we can reach them at all sports,” Joelson said. “We hope students will see how fun it is to attend basketball games and then they will want to go to a soccer game, or a field hockey game. We are trying to make students more receptive and feel a part of Athletics mission.”