Hooray! Another blog! Well, kids as you sit there in front of your computer - completely overwhelmed at the sheer greatness that is Varsity Zone - several local teams are either competing in playoff games or heading on the road to do so.

This will be a busy weekend for me as I will travel to that booming and colorful metropolis known as Emporia for a Friday column and the next day, possibly cross back over the border all the way to sunny Columbia, Mo. for state championship coverage. That brings us to our topic of the day: The Grandview Bulldogs.

The team makes its first-ever appearance at the Show-Me Showdown this weekend. Grandview takes on Oakville on Friday for the rights to play in the state title game. First-timers on the cusp of a championship! Ooooooo, the drama. Who wants to miss witnessing that? Apparently, not even Bulldog fans.

Once an ambivalent bunch that showed as much interest in Grandview basketball as it would for studying for a Biology test, the Bulldog Nation is now loud and proud. Thanks, of course, to team success. But also by the efforts of senior players JaVon McGee and Arsenio Valentin (doesn't he have the coolest name in the metro?).

So McGee, student council president, and Valentin, the vice, started their senior years by saying 'ENOUGH!' They were sick and tired of seeing a lack of school enthusiasm for the athletic teams.

 "When you got the visiting team having more fans than us, it was (becoming) disrespectful to us," McGee said.

McGee, as well as senior teammate Pierre' Poplion, remember one particular game last season when Grandview hosted Raytown, and the Bluejays' fan section dwarfed the home team's.

 "(That) hurt us bad," Poplion said.

So McGee, Valentin and another student-athlete decided to change the culture at Grandview and formed the GHS Spirit Club. Together, they worked the administration, dressed up real business like and presented their plans for the potential club. The school approved their ideas so the boys got busy recruiting fans to attend and cheer together at home football games. During the winter, the GHS Spirit Club gained steam when the basketball Bulldogs hosted and swept districts. By the time I saw Grandview defeat Lee's Summit West in sectionals, the crowd had swelled to such a point that it took up an entire block of bleachers at Staley. The kids were organized, energized and looked like a model "student section."

Okay, so yeah, you can call them bandwagon fans. But this is exactly the happy ending McGee and the crew envisioned when they formed the Spirit Club. On Monday, he was pleased to report that three spirit buses were already filled up with fans heading to Columbia. Bandwagon or not, who cares? This shows you that anyone can make a big change if they only try. Instead of just complaining about the fans, McGee and his friends did something about it and they certainly deserve all the fans' love coming their way.

"I hope it will continue to be as good as it is now," McGee said. "And we'll have a sense of pride about our school and community."