(Brianna Ruback’s opinions are not necessarily those of the The Smoke Signal or its staff. The Smoke Signal welcomes dissenting opinions via Op Eds or letters to the editor.)

Sports. The competition. The thrill. The great anticipation.

Here at Pascack Valley, sports arguably get the most amount of hype. From the weekly colorfully worded, football-oriented mass emails ordering people to scream at games until their voices vanish and wear specified colors, to the student versus faculty athletic events to the ever-so-often clothing sales and fundraisers, it is fair to say that athletics at this school acquire a considerable amount of publicity.

However, is it possible to love something too much?

As we can see, people do possess the appreciation of sports, for the turnouts at several sporting events are quite substantial, particularly football.

It is safe to say there are not hundreds of people watching the other sports and activities participated throughout the week. But why is this the case? Why is the whole school not supporting the other athletes as much as they are the football players?

Pascack Valley junior Hannah Cuesta explained, “There’s more advertising for football with all of the emails and everything.”

Although there are emails sent out about other sports, they do not amount to the ones sent about football. In a sense, the typical Friday afternoon PV football mass email has become a part of the Valley culture.

There is nothing wrong with school spirit and showing support for the school athletics. In fact, it is what keeps the school environment fun and exciting in contrast to the stress of schoolwork, but at times it can be a bit much.

Cassidy Le, who is on the Pascack Valley Regional swim team and is in PV’s marching band, stated, “The whole school mourns if the football team loses, but it’s just a loss.” She went on and said, “You feel the tension in the air.”

It would be a complete and utter lie to say that football games at PV are not held to a great importance. It would just not be true. You see the massive crowd in the stands. You read the emails addressed to the entire school every week. And you certainly hear talk of football scattered throughout the hallways.

“I feel like football is overemphasized because you obviously get a bigger turnout at football games than at any other games,” Cuesta added, “but football isn’t more important than, for example, theatre, or the arts.”

Within the arts at school, there is so much talent, from the artists to the musicians, but the public attention that they receive cannot even compete with what the football team is given.

PV choir member, Joel Noonan, a junior, said, “I feel like we (choir) get good attention from faculty members and (Board of Education) members, especially, but I feel like we can get more attention from students.”

Choir has had to adjust its schedule in accordance to the football games in the evening.

“Our coffeehouse we had two weeks ago, we had to make it a Friday because of the football game on Thursday,” Noonan said. “A lot of times we move around because of the sports. It’s the impression that they’re more important than our events.”

Recently, there was yet another instance where choir and football almost had a conflict. Talent Night, taking place on Oct. 30, was nearly put into jeopardy.

“We heard a rumor that there was a football game moved to Thursday and we were worried that we were going to have to move around it again,” Noonan explained.

However, that was simply a rumor.

Football is not more important than choir. It is not better than choir. Is it just what is valued more at our school?

Keep in mind that this is not to say that football should not be regarded with importance. It is important. As are the countless other sports, clubs and activities that are participated in at school. There does need to be more attention paid to other aspects of the school. Obviously, giving each club and sport the same exact amount of attention is neither feasible nor realistic. People like what they like and they will pay attention to what interests them. However, by shining a spotlight on various activities, instead of just a fixed amount, it will help maintain a better balance in the school, giving people the recognition they truly deserve for all their hard work and efforts.

(Editor’s note: Between when this column was written and when it was published to The Smoke Signal website, PV’s football team advanced to the second round of the state playoffs. Consequently, PV Theatre was forced to cancel the scheduled Friday night performance of its fall drama production, “The Dining Room.”)