Are We Better Than UCONN Fans?

[MaxwellCuse]

I don't know. We may be different. I think (many) of us have a fairly good sense as to where we rank as a desirable prospective member of a major conference. If we are on our way to 64 elite teams -- which I don't believe -- I think most of us feel quite strongly that we will be one of the 64. UCONN fans have less reason to feel secure (although I think they ultimately will find shelter). Not only do they have the "NOW" going against them, but they have very little "THEN" to fall back on. 2010 is not the same as 1987 -- 2002, or the Schwatzwalder Era, or a Heisman winner and multiple Heisman candidates, or all those members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Our negatives are basically the GROB years, but that is slowly becoming a bad memory, and the need to CONTINUE to improve facilities. Our attendance issues aren't anything that most recently bad to mediocre programs aren't facing during a painfully slow economic recovery. Some idiots claim we're a small private school that will never be able to compete with the "big boys" (like WVU???), but the facts are that our student body is larger than that of a dozen schools that play BCS football, including Ole Miss, Clemson, Stanford and Miami. Georgia Tech, Washington State, Virginia and Mississippi State are all larger than SU by a mere 1,000 students or less. (And if student population is so important why is Florida International not in the SEC?)

Academically we rank in the TOP 25 of all universities -- public or private -- that play BCS football. We have Top 5 men's basketball and men's lacrosse programs and are becoming more competitive each year for the Director's Cup. Bottom line... SU is NOT and WAS NOT going to be one of the left behinds. I don't know if UCONN fans can be as certain.

 

[TexanMark]

Fans are fans. Not much difference here or there. But, I do think there may be a slightly higher ratio of delusional fans there. Fewer here. That comes from quite a bit more history of following these teams and watching first-hand some of the changes, and how they affect teams. Someone above said that HuskyFanFan wouldn't last here, and I think that's true. His utter nonsense would be blasted from all corners here.

The GRob era also gave us a much needed sense of perspective and drove away most of the bandwagoners and whackos.

 

[Scooch]

The GRob era also gave us a much needed sense of perspective and drove away most of the bandwagoners and whackos.

We need bandwagoners to fill the stands, so we want them back.

The whackos pollute boards like this, so that was addition by subtraction. Just peruse the hoops board to see that theory in action every day. Oh Lord

 

[storange]

Reading the Boneyard I am absolutely amazed at the number of posters who appear to buy into the juvenile tweets of people like Greg Swaim, MHver3 and the Dude of WV. I can understand that there is a lot of fear of being "left behind" these days in Connecticut, and I can understand the desire of UCONN fans to scour the sports media universe for legitimate information about realignment.

What I can not understand is the willingness to leave all reason behind and to embrace what to me and any impartial observer is pure BS. I mean, the Dude has come right out and stated that what he says is not necessarily fact, just speculation intended to sow seeds of discontent among ACC schools and their fans because the ACC rejected WVU for membership. MHver3, another angry West Virginian, states on his Twitter home page that he specializes in "rumors."

My question. If we were in UCONN's shoes would SyracuseFan.com denizens be behaving like Boneyarders?? I can't for the life of me believe that most posters here could ever give credence to pathetic operators like the Dude.

no

 

[NKR1978]

I live in Connecticut and I love living in Connecticut. It's a great place with great people.

But the biggest problem is that the people of Connecticut have a MASSIVE inferiority complex. It's understandable, we're a small state wedged in between two gigantic media centers in New York City and Boston. We're considered "drive through" country among the people who live in those cities.

So any situation that reinforces the narrative that Connecticut is not good enough is going to spawn a big reaction. What's happened with conference realignment has done that in spades.

The question this thread is really asking is would the people who post on this site react in a similar way as the people posting on the UConn site. And that answer is almost assuredly yes. In terms of each school's "fan base" we're pretty much the same. All fan bases are pretty much the same.

I grew up in CT and absolutely love it. And you're absolutely right about the inferiority complex the entire state has being a s suburb of New York and Boston. That's also what made UConn explode in popularity in the 90's. Between the men's and women's programs, there was finally something for the entire state to rally around. That period from 90-99 was a neat time to be in that state. It's almost sad seeing the completely sections for games at Gampel. It's gotta be such a huge kick in the nuts for their fans to go through this two years removed from a Fiesta Bowl and their 3rd national championship.

 

[reedny]

HuskyFanFan Boy wouldn't last two weeks on our board. There is the difference in boards. Hard to judge fans by the Internet...but UConn is the only place I had beer splashed at me in the stands. But...they have many good fans too...I've met in person and chatted with online. Fishy is the exception...he is 100% .

But hey I was told they passed us by as a program in two sports...so they can be picky. Realistically...if the B1G went full Cable market model and took UConn it would be very bad for us...prefer to have them in the ACC with us.

I can add an anecdote to that -- at the BET in 11 (Kemba Walker's year), I sat in front of a bunch of Yukon fans. I'm not saying it's a representative sample -- but they were absolute punks. They screamed stuff that was over the top, even for MSG, and then gloated after Kemba sunk the winning shot. Whenever they show up in large herds, they seem to degrade the experience for others (at least the ones I've run into). No disrespect to the many UConn fans who are adults.

 

[GoSU96]

The GRob era also gave us a much needed sense of perspective

Yep.

 

[Scooch]

I can add an anecdote to that -- at the BET in 11 (Kemba Walker's year), I sat in front of a bunch of Yukon fans. I'm not saying it's a representative sample -- but they were absolute punks. They screamed stuff that was over the top, even for MSG, and then gloated after Kemba sunk the winning shot. Whenever they show up in large herds, they seem to degrade the experience for others (at least the ones I've run into). No disrespect to the many UConn fans who are adults.

Not for nothin' but Syracuse fans are no picnic either.

 

[Crusty]

I've given this a lot of thought.

Concise, logical and articulate. Very well said.

 

[mountaincuse]

Concise, logical and articulate. Very well said.

Yet another example why the answer to this topic is a resounding yes.

 

[Chip]

We're certainly better looking. I would hope. I know I am.

 

[huskypantz]

Well, at this point we're researching new hobbies while our school decides whether it really wants to play big boy football. Conference realignment helps pass the time. Hell, Huskyfandan probably would have already assaulted DeLeone if it wasn't for the therapeutic effect of twitter.

 

[rrlbees]

The GRob era also gave us a much needed sense of perspective and drove away most of the bandwagoners and whackos.

That's actually another one of those myths.

From 1999 to 2004 average attendance went from 48k to 37k. 23% drop. From 2004 to 2008 it went from 37k to 33k. 11% drop.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[Guinness]

Reading the Boneyard I am absolutely amazed at the number of posters who appear to buy into the juvenile tweets of people like Greg Swaim, MHver3 and the Dude of WV. I can understand that there is a lot of fear of being "left behind" these days in Connecticut, and I can understand the desire of UCONN fans to scour the sports media universe for legitimate information about realignment.

What I can not understand is the willingness to leave all reason behind and to embrace what to me and any impartial observer is pure BS. I mean, the Dude has come right out and stated that what he says is not necessarily fact, just speculation intended to sow seeds of discontent among ACC schools and their fans because the ACC rejected WVU for membership. MHver3, another angry West Virginian, states on his Twitter home page that he specializes in "rumors."

My question. If we were in UCONN's shoes would SyracuseFan.com denizens be behaving like Boneyarders?? I can't for the life of me believe that most posters here could ever give credence to pathetic operators like the Dude.

We may still yet find out if we react the same way as there is a real possibility more teams leave the ACC and we are left either trying to rebuild it or find our way into say the B10.

 

[zls44]

Well, its conference rumor mongering or talking about P and D.

I think you guys know which one is more fun to talk about.

 

[DoctorBombay]

We may still yet find out if we react the same way as there is a real possibility more teams leave the ACC and we are left either trying to rebuild it or find our way into say the B10.

Ok...that "Dancing Yoda and the Stormtroopers" sig has me hooked!

 

[kingtidge]

We are better than Uconn fans... and I have practical, real-world proof.

For the 2005 'ball game, I went with a group and tailgated pre-game at Rentschler Field in the old tarmac parking lot.

It was a little drizzly that day and we had our E-Z Up canopy with us to deploy once parked.

We parked and began to unpack.

Directly next to us was a group of 6-7 Uconn fans who were also unpacking and had their own E-Z Up canopy. They had parked a few minutes before us and were in the midst of setting that up as we began to unpack.

They never got it set-up.

They had a person on each corner pole and began to walk backwards as you would to expand it... Only some of the cross-beams were fouled and needed to be manually adjusted for the frame to open properly (anyone with a modicum of common sense and/or that has used a canopy like this would figure this out.)

Instead, they started bitching and complaining - loudly... and pulling... and proceeded to bend and break the fouled cross-beams as they pulled it apart botched...

At this point, their ruckus had caused many around to stop and watch and when the beams bent and broke, they got a clapping ovation from other tailagaiters all around.

They then carried the entire canopy off the tarmac and threw it in the field.

We were putting the finishing touches on our canopy as they walked back and heard a cacaphony of muttered -bombs and obscenities as they passed and looked...

They failed remedial tailgaiting 100.

 

[IthacaMatt]

HuskyFanFan Boy wouldn't last two weeks on our board. There is the difference in boards. Hard to judge fans by the Internet...but UConn is the only place I had beer splashed at me in the stands. But...they have many good fans too...I've met in person and chatted with online. Fishy is the exception...he is 100% .

But hey I was told they passed us by as a program in two sports...so they can be picky. Realistically...if the B1G went full Cable market model and took UConn it would be very bad for us...prefer to have them in the ACC with us.

Personally, I find Fishy to be a great guy. Love his posts. Wish he would post more. He is the official "cut through the bullshit and keep it real" person, in my book.

 

[IthacaMatt]

We'd be doing the exact same things.
We'd be dogging DG, Cantor, and anyone else involved in SU athletics.
We'd be wondering and no doubt questioning our value, self-worth, and putting down the city, school, and fans.
And we'd cling to whatever straws are out there, even those handed out by the WVU hillbilly posse.
That's just fact.

While a lot of that may be true, I think we are maybe a little less vindictive - I mean, look at the past lawsuits, both recent and from 2003. We have mostly sat out the really nasty stuff. Apart from wanting the UConn and Rutgers programs to both go back to where they were 30 years ago, of course, when neither mattered nationally.

 

[IthacaMatt]

That's actually another one of those myths.

From 1999 to 2004 average attendance went from 48k to 37k. 23% drop. From 2004 to 2008 it went from 37k to 33k. 11% drop.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

I think we will now begin to see an upswing, especially if we beat WVU in the bowl game and we can start next season on a positive note. It kills the attendance of casual fans when the team gets off to a losing start to the season. And you also have to remember than back when we went to our last bowl, I think we lost almost every home game that year.

So even when we were "good", relatively speaking, we did not produce a product that the fans wanted to come out and watch. I hope that we can keep the same kind of offense next year with a new QB (???). Nassib did a great job this season. If we can keep that kind of excitement going, the fans will begin to come back.

 

[TexanMark]

Personally, I find Fishy to be a great guy. Love his posts. Wish he would post more. He is the official "cut through the bullshit and keep it real" person, in my book.

sarcasm >> Fishy...well he is a but for a UConn fan that is a compliment.