The story of the walk-on in any major collegiate sport is always one of my favorite stories to hear. You all know the story....
A small town kid who was average to above average in high school has big dreams of playing Division I ball so they decide to try to take their mediocre talents to the big stage and walk-on to a Division I program. If they're lucky, they find a place on the team where they'll only be used as practice players for the next four years of their career (unless the starters get a big enough lead that there's no way the walk-ons could mess it up if they got in.)
I love walk-on's because they are kids who play the game because they genuinely LOVE it. Think about it -- they know they will never play professionally, they know they'll never get any playing time, they know this will be the last four years they play ball, and they also know that they are going to get their asses handed to them everyday in practice by the starters yet they show up everyday to be a part of the TEAM.
I love that shit.
I also love the fact that within the past five years or so, we've seen the rise of something known as the "bench mobs." The mobs are a collection of white dudes at the end of the bench that perform outlandish celebrations for their teammates even though they know they'll never get any playing times themselves.
Monmouth University put bench mobs in the spotlight back in 2015 when cameras picked up the bench players enthusiastically celebrating their teammates success on the court. Their over the top choreographed celebrations went viral and before you knew it, bench warmers (and many walk-on's) across the country finally had a role in the game...
Celebrate your ass off.
Here's Monmouth's finest work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIy0eLodpls
The next generation of bench mobs has arisen right here in Chicago. DePaul University freshman walk-on, Pantelis Xidias, is carrying the torch for white bench mobs everywhere with some incredible celebrations so far this season.
As you can clearly see, Pantelis is so lit that he doesn't even need anyone else to hype him up. He's a one-man mob if you will. He also gets SERIOUS bonus points for the rec-specs and perfectly feathered hair. I look forward to the day that Pantelis can recruit just a few other DePaul players to turn the Blue Demons into a top notch bench mob that the city of Chicago can all be proud of. From walk-on's everywhere, thank you Pantelis for your tireless work at hyping up your team. Keep up the good work.
