How can students at UK really say they bleed blue when most don’t even give Mike Hartline a chance? Bleeding blue is supposed to stand for our love of sports, including our athletes, right? Well, UK students need to seriously reconsider this statement and re-evaluate how they treat Hartline.

Although he is not the best player UK has had in a while, we still need to completely support him. Regardless of how well he performs, booing him at the games and sending him hate mail is not the way to go about changing him or making him play better. In fact, it has the opposite effect. Being told that you suck constantly can’t make you play well, especially when you have thousands of people watching your every move. Where is that school spirit UK is so famous for? We should cheer Hartline on with everything we have instead of negating him for every fault he has on the field.

In a sense, we are stuck with him because he is the best UK has for that position, so instead of tearing him down for making a mistake, realize that he is still learning to be a better player and handle the immense amount of pressure we put on our standout athletes. Trust that coach (Rich) Brooks knows what he is doing and give Hartline a chance to prove that he deserves his spot as starting quarterback.

He is our quarterback even if he isn’t performing his best, and we should still have enough pride in ourselves and in our school to cheer him on. Realize that he is our best option for a good season and give him a break.

Courtney Thomas

undeclared sophomore