Tony Seghetti thinks he’s still the same Bradley fan. Others may think differently once he shows them how the tattoo on his back of the Bradley B shield. Then, he would probably mention he got the tattoo because he made a promise in a post on Twitter.
“I’ve thought about this a lot. If Bradley wins this [Missouri Valley Conference] tournament and this tweet gets 100 likes, I will get a tattoo of the Bradley shield,” the tweet reads.
Aside from his tattoo, most of his Bradley pride is shown on his Twitter account, where you can find constant discourse about NCAA, MVC and Bradley basketball. Following support from friends, he decided a tweet about his decision could stir up attention and excitement.
“[My friends and I have] talked about the idea of getting a tattoo before,” Seghetti said. “We were [in St. Louis] and I was talking about it … if we [won, it would] be a memory I get to have for the rest of my life. Every time I look at it, I’m going to think back to this tournament.”
Seghetti sent the tweet on the night Bradley beat Missouri State in the first round of the MVC Tournament. The number of likes soon racked up, leaving only Bradley winning the conference tournament unchecked.
But Seghetti was not shocked the tweet reached his goal of 100 favorites, but rather the speed at which it gained traction.
“I was surprised how quickly it did,” he said. “I went to bed and it had maybe 15, 20 likes and I woke up in the morning and it had like 104.”
The Braves won the tournament and Seghetti set out to fulfill his promise and got the tattoo with a friend.
“It’s not pleasant,” Seghetti said. “It’s a like a bee sting on your skin for like 45 minutes.”
It was an uneasy gamble to the casual onlooker, but Seghetti wasn’t concerned if the post ended up prophesizing itself. To him, a tattoo of the Bradley shield was less of a risk and more of an homage.
Seghetti graduated from Bradley in 2014, majoring in actuarial sciences and mathematics. A Peoria native and Peoria Notre Dame graduate, he has attended Bradley basketball games since childhood. His family had season tickets.
Through three different decades of Bradley fandom, Seghetti witnessed performances from Anthony Parker, Marcellus Somerville, Walt Lemon Jr. and the brief stint of Danny Granger.
For much of his adult life, he saw a Bradley team grow from struggles early in the decade. Most of his more recent memories of Bradley basketball aren’t always of the most impressive wins. He remembers when the Braves beat Loyola by one in 2016 for their first road victory of the year; that season they finished 5-27.
“It was so fun to win again because it had been so long,” Seghetti said.
With his mathematical background and analytical thinking, not to mention his family’s involvement in the sport of basketball – his father and brother are both coaches – Tony’s fandom is staunch but passive.
He doesn’t sport all red costumes or go to games with witty signs to get on TV. Even with the tattoo, he doesn’t feel any different than before.
“I feel like I’m the same old fan,” he said. “A lot of the people who know me know that I’m already at that hypothetical level of fandom.”
He cares about Bradley. He’s a fan of local passion with a motto that Bradley’s success is a win for Peoria.
“We don’t have any professional sports teams in Peoria,” he said. “Bradley is basically the closest thing that we have and it’s really fun when Bradley is good. Peoria is a much more fun city to be in.”
His increased fandom took off following the Braves’ trip to the NCAA Tournament and Sweet 16 in 2006. As an eighth-grader, Seghetti remembers how much attention Peoria received and how he felt when Bradley was talked about on national TV.
“Just to see that stuff on SportsCenter, on the national stage with this local team that I grew up watching, that didn’t have any national importance, was so cool,” Seghetti said.
He was too young to attend the 2006 Sweet 16 game in Detroit, but was ready to go when the Braves played in the MVC and NCAA Tournament this past March. Seghetti said the trip was full of fan interaction: being apart of the crowd, cheering together and celebrating with random Bradley fans after victories.
“It feels like, for a lot of these fans like me from Peoria that have been going to the games for all these years, we’re a part of the team,” he said. “It’s a Peoria thing. Peoria is a basketball city.”
Looking forward, he thinks Carver Arena may see a spike in attendance for basketball games next season, just as it saw in 2007.
