Defending the fans

[AlpharettaCuse]

Procreate .. that is what I did

I did. But neither your or I were in the Dome yesterday.

 

[AlpharettaCuse]

They had 50K for UNC. I consider myself a fan of SU ... a big fan .. not of the fair weather variety ... as I consider a many here on this board to be ... which is why you have to understand that if ... if I lived closer and had an easier time getting there I would be there hell or high water ... and many fans seem to look for a reason not to go vice going because they want to be there ... some of the political or logistical stuff does suck but it doesn't stop many on the board from going ... will we gripe ... hell yeah ... but we would still go if physically able in my case ... or in the case of bees he does go. I think people who use those things he cited as reasons not to go are fair weather ... if it is over wins or the fact that you don't like your parking arrangements if that keeps you from the games ... I just don't see you as being a real die hard fan. Sorry but you can't say that you are and let stuff like that stop you from showing up ... that just means you seek an out.

How many hard-core fans are we supposed to have? Most schools have fair-weather fans. We were 1-2, with the only win being Wagner, and playing Tulane. How any fans show up for a home basketball game against Long Beach State?

 

[wfschrec]

Your ding ding ding is one thing and one thing only amongst a vast array of things I mentioned. So don't hang your hat on that only. Today is vastly different than the 90's besides winning. Yes, I advocate for opening with a patsy to get our feet wet. That doesn't mean I advocate for moving USC and a dozen other games there.

As to donation structure. In the 90's the little guy meant something. Did you know that if I have donated $4,999k a year for 20 years ($99,980) that you could donate $5,001 this year and be a higher level than me?

Did you know tailgating is a big part of college football? Every year they take away more and more parking.

Did you know a large segment of the lack fan base is now either too old to go games, passed away or moved someplace for retirement? It's not the same fan base. The people you would expect to have replaced them have seen a dozen years of blah football. They don't have the same perspective.

So MetLife was a grab for money at the expense of local fans. Marketing has targeted NYC which is a search for money over actual fans in the Dome. Donation structures have changed which is a money grab for Johnny come latelies at the expense of the long time little guy. Smoking parking lots for academic buildings was in the interest of the school, not the fan. So yea, whether you agree or not with any or all decisions made by SU over the past decade are good or bad, it's a fact that they have all been to the detriment of the local fan. A LOT of locals have stopped donating or getting seasons for one or more of the above or any number of reasons not listed,

Thus not having a huge alumni or student following, in the 90s or now, puts it all on he shoulders of the locals even with these many choices SU made. Not a one is an excuse. They are all valid reasons.

Sorry but winning is the biggest thing bees ... because it feeds into that dozen or so years of blah football you referred to. I also know tailgating is a big part of college ball ... I see it here in grand scale ... the issue here is at times it is extremely difficult to do because even those who don't have tickets want to participate. But again I wouldn't let that affect my decision to see a ball game ... if I don't go to a game because I am not satisfied with my tailgate experience my priorities have run afoul ... I do agree on the Metlife situation to some degree ... but while it was a grab at money one could look at it as a knee jerk reaction to offset a dwindling attendance ... if they were packing the house each night would that move even be necessary ... if I'm a marquee opponent do I want to play in a half empty Dome or NYC? I can however understand how it would not make a local fan happy but lets not pretend we never did stuff like this before ... hell we pasted Wisky in the Meadowlands KJ's senior year ... this wasn't a completely new concept.

As far as the donation structure while that does suck, you are then telling me that $2 is what separates you from the next guy ... at some point you have to draw a line in the sand and separate the donation levels ... so if it were $10K and a guy was pledging $9999 then he would be pissed ... you have to draw a line somewhere but if all it took were an extra $2, I will call up my former employer and advocate they make up that difference in pay so you can make the jump.

In other words your citing a $2 dollar difference in donation structure ... moving games to NYC when we have done it in the past (albiet not with this frequency) ... and the fact that the team wasn't winning in front of our future fan base as a reason that people aren't going. Fair enough that tells me for at least two of those issues ... the root of it was winning ... the donations are another story and while it sucks it broke down that way ... I don't see the "casual fan" being affected by this do you?

 

[AlpharettaCuse]

Your ding ding ding is one thing and one thing only amongst a vast array of things I mentioned. So don't hang your hat on that only. Today is vastly different than the 90's besides winning. Yes, I advocate for opening with a patsy to get our feet wet. That doesn't mean I advocate for moving USC and a dozen other games there.

As to donation structure. In the 90's the little guy meant something. Did you know that if I have donated $4,999k a year for 20 years ($99,980) that you could donate $5,001 this year and be a higher level than me?

Did you know tailgating is a big part of college football? Every year they take away more and more parking.

Did you know a large segment of the lack fan base is now either too old to go games, passed away or moved someplace for retirement? It's not the same fan base. The people you would expect to have replaced them have seen a dozen years of blah football. They don't have the same perspective.

So MetLife was a grab for money at the expense of local fans. Marketing has targeted NYC which is a search for money over actual fans in the Dome. Donation structures have changed which is a money grab for Johnny come latelies at the expense of the long time little guy. Smoking parking lots for academic buildings was in the interest of the school, not the fan. So yea, whether you agree or not with any or all decisions made by SU over the past decade are good or bad, it's a fact that they have all been to the detriment of the local fan. A LOT of locals have stopped donating or getting seasons for one or more of the above or any number of reasons not listed,

Thus not having a huge alumni or student following, in the 90s or now, puts it all on he shoulders of the locals even with these many choices SU made. Not a one is an excuse. They are all valid reasons.

A lot of the fans of football are also fans of the basketball program. If you have to make a choice to buy season tickets, you're probably going with the basketball program, rather than football. I'm going to the Georgia Tech/Syracuse game. Tickets alone for 6 of us are over $300. If I lived in Syracuse still, we'd go to some games, but couldn't get seasons for both. Not for 6 of us. That doesn't make me a bad fan.

 

[wfschrec]

I did. But neither your or I were in the Dome yesterday.

I hope that changes ... but I have to make my millions building out supercompute clusters first ...

 

[rrlbees]

Sorry but winning is the biggest thing bees ... because it feeds into that dozen or so years of blah football you referred to. I also know tailgating is a big part of college ball ... I see it here in grand scale ... the issue here is at times it is extremely difficult to do because even those who don't have tickets want to participate. But again I wouldn't let that affect my decision to see a ball game ... if I don't go to a game because I am not satisfied with my tailgate experience my priorities have run afoul ... I do agree on the Metlife situation to some degree ... but while it was a grab at money one could look at it as a knee jerk reaction to offset a dwindling attendance ... if they were packing the house each night would that move even be necessary ... if I'm a marquee opponent do I want to play in a half empty Dome or NYC? I can however understand how it would not make a local fan happy but lets not pretend we never did stuff like this before ... hell we pasted Wisky in the Meadowlands KJ's senior year ... this wasn't a completely new concept.

As far as the donation structure while that does suck, you are then telling me that $2 is what separates you from the next guy ... at some point you have to draw a line in the sand and separate the donation levels ... so if it were $10K and a guy was pledging $9999 then he would be pissed ... you have to draw a line somewhere but if all it took were an extra $2, I will call up my former employer and advocate they make up that difference in pay so you can make the jump.

In other words your citing a $2 dollar difference in donation structure ... moving games to NYC when we have done it in the past (albiet not with this frequency) ... and the fact that the team wasn't winning in front of our future fan base as a reason that people aren't going. Fair enough that tells me for at least two of those issues ... the root of it was winning ... the donations are another story and while it sucks it broke down that way ... I don't see the "casual fan" being affected by this do you?

Boy, you misrepresented every point I made.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[wfschrec]

Boy, you misrepresented every point I made.

Ok ...

 

[AlpharettaCuse]

I hope that changes ... but I have to make my millions building out supercompute clusters first ...

Ok, but until then, you're still part of the problem. Alums not showing up for games because they don live close enough is a real issue. I'm not blaming you, but that's reality.

 

[wfschrec]

Ok, but until then, you're still part of the problem. Alums not showing up for games because they don live close enough is a real issue. I'm not blaming you, but that's reality.

Sure it is ... I lived even 6 or 7 hours closer I could make that trip without impacting my work schedule ... but for me to make a Saturday game ... especially a noon start I would literally have to leave here Friday at 9 pm just to arrive in Syracuse at noon ... 15 hours of drive time makes it impossible to that frequently ... I would be taking every other Friday off just to make the trip and my work schedule doesn't afford for that at the moment.

 

[AlpharettaCuse]

Sure it is ... I lived even 6 or 7 hours closer I could make that trip without impacting my work schedule ... but for me to make a Saturday game ... especially a noon start I would literally have to leave here Friday at 9 pm just to arrive in Syracuse at noon ... 15 hours of drive time makes it impossible to that frequently ... I would be taking every other Friday off just to make the trip and my work schedule doesn't afford for that at the moment.

I get it. I've made that drive many times. But I don't think it's fair to expect alums living in Roanoke, VA to drive up for 6-7 games each year. If you think that's a reasonable thing to expect you should be mad at the alums living in Boston, NYC, DC, and Philly, not just the locals.

 

[wfschrec]

I get it. I've made that drive many times. But I don't think it's fair to expect alums living in Roanoke, VA to drive up for 6-7 games each year. If you think that's a reasonable thing to expect you should be mad at the alums living in Boston, NYC, DC, and Philly, not just the locals.

I'm not mad ... I'm only saying what I would do if given the option ... if I still lived in Liverpool I would be all over these games ... which is why it makes me sad to know we have quite a few people living in that metro area and we just don't get traction. Being that close was a godsend ... people take it for granted.

 

[AlpharettaCuse]

I'm not mad ... I'm only saying what I would do if given the option ... if I still lived in Liverpool I would be all over these games ... which is why it makes me sad to know we have quite a few people living in that metro area and we just don't get traction. Being that close was a godsend ... people take it for granted.

You said our fan base was awful. Is that because those alums like you that are big fans moved away and don't attend? You guys are not going back to see Tulane, right? And how many of the 600k are football fans? And how many of those have the means to attend every game? Pittsburgh gets about 3k more fans per home. That's Pittsburgh. A big city. They play in the Steelers stadium. And they have a great tradition. And PA is a football state.

 

[wfschrec]

You said our fan base was awful. Is that because those alums like you that are big fans moved away and don't attend? You guys are not going back to see Tulane, right?

Due to work making a trip like that until November is next to impossible for me ... I actually watched the PSU and NW games from hotels in Dallas and San Diego ... thank god for the internet ... and cable TV ... its hard for me to get the time away to go see the games ... hell all my family is there and I have only seen them about 5 times since I moved here in May of 09. The last time I was in Syracuse was in July and that was for business and to see my sister before she underwent gamma knife surgery ... its near impossible for me to carve out weekends to go up there to see the games ... I was home for the Wagner game ... saw it on ESPN 3 ... I was driving back from a business meeting when we spanked Tulane ... had to watch the replay.

 

[AlpharettaCuse]

Due to work making a trip like that until November is next to impossible for me ... I actually watched the PSU and NW games from hotels in Dallas and San Diego ... thank god for the internet ... and cable TV ... its hard for me to get the time away to go see the games ... hell all my family is there and I have only seen them about 5 times since I moved here in May of 09. The last time I was in Syracuse was in July and that was for business and to see my sister before she underwent gamma knife surgery ... its near impossible for me to carve out weekends to go up there to see the games ... I was home for the Wagner game ... saw it on ESPN 3 ... I was driving back from a business meeting when we spanked Tulane ... had to watch the replay.

You're a hard-core fan, as am I. But we can't be there every week. That's life. Unfortunately that's life for a lot of us. Like you said, winning matters. We started out 0-2 and the NW loss was bad. Hopefully, we have a good turnout for Clemson, win and continue to draw more fans.

 

[Golden]

Again you made my point for me ... our fan base is a joke ... loaded with front runners.

 

[wfschrec]

You're a hard-core fan, as am I. But we can't be there every week. That's life. Unfortunately that's life for a lot of us. Like you said, winning matters. We started out 0-2 and the NW loss was bad. Hopefully, we have a good turnout for Clemson, win and continue to draw more fans.

I just haven't quite reached AJ Long hard core yet ... need the tat ... but unfortunately my customers wouldn't receive it very well ...

 

[wfschrec]

Golden I'm not the only one that feels that way ... go look at a few of the other threads ... I just stand by my assessment for better or worse that is how I feel. You can quote me till the cows come home.

 

[AlpharettaCuse]

Golden I'm not the only one that feels that way ... go look at a few of the other threads ... I just stand by my assessment for better or worse that is how I feel. You can quote me till the cows come home.

My kid told me he saw a guy dressed up in all orange yesterday morning, at a Kroger in Dawsonville. Guy had on Syracuse sunglasses, hat, shirts, shorts and blue socks. Was it you? I watched our game in a bar in Cumming. Georgia fans everywhere. Tech game was on too.

 

[SoBeCuse]

I haven't read this whole thread. But as a USC grad mother, and having attended USC games in some of their worst years, it is still impossible to get a seat that is not like in row 180. This place fills up on game day no matter what. The entire campus is filled with tailgaters, and parties. Right on their quads. They throw huge parties themselves for parents, alum etc. You can't walk through campus on game day without being among the throngs of people. Students and faculty who have parking spaces do not have them on game day unless they get to campus at 8am. They turn all parking facilities over to those attending the games. Their fan base is there no matter what. It is like a religion in Southern CA.

I was at USC for the end of the Hackett time and transitioning to Carroll. There were some mediocre years for USC standards I personally witnessed but I disagree with you a little bit. There definitely were games where tickets were available...plenty. Some only mild tailgating and interest was definitely down. Often people only cared about UCLA and Notre Dame. UCLA had run up a nice little streak vs USC. We're still talking about 60-70K for a stadium which seats 93K but once Carroll got it rolling again then it was the hottest ticket in town much like how it was in the John McKay/Robinson days.

 

[Golden]

I attended games when "ole Ben " was coach,when Frank Maloney was coach.started season tickets (4) when coach Mac was here ,continued throughout coach P and G Rob then retired and moved south where a retiree could afford to live.
I have no state income tax and property and school tax are one third of what I paid in ny for same sq ft.

 

[wfschrec]

My kid told me he saw a guy dressed up in all orange yesterday morning, at a Kroger in Dawsonville. Guy had on Syracuse sunglasses, hat, shirts, shorts and blue socks. Was it you? I watched our game in a bar in Cumming. Georgia fans everywhere. Tech game was on too.

Nope ... didn't get up to Dawsonville ... I had a meeting in Norcross with a vendor ... I haven't been to Hudson Grille yet but I hear that is where all the SU guys go. I ended up spending the second half of my day yesterday writing a technical proposal while watching the replay on ESPN3 ... watched it again this morning ... Hunt puts the ball in a great location where his wideouts have a chance to succeed ... I still want to see some more long tosses to get a feel for his arm but I really love his IQ as a QB.

 

[wfschrec]

I attended games when "ole Ben " was coach,when Frank Maloney was coach.started season tickets (4) when coach Mac was here ,continued throughout coach P and G Rob then retired and moved south where a retiree could afford to live.
I have no state income tax and property and school tax are one third of what I paid in ny for same sq ft.

I wouldn't even want to guess at what the property taxes would be in NY on the home I'm in now ... yeesh ...

 

[llandz]

I was at USC for the end of the Hackett time and transitioning to Carroll. There were some mediocre years for USC standards I personally witnessed but I disagree with you a little bit. There definitely were games where tickets were available...plenty. Some only mild tailgating and interest was definitely down. Often people only cared about UCLA and Notre Dame. UCLA had run up a nice little streak vs USC. We're still talking about 60-70K for a stadium which seats 93K but once Carroll got it rolling again then it was the hottest ticket in town much like how it was in the John McKay/Robinson days.

I know Notre Dame was a huge draw. I stayed away for that. But was at an ASU game, and at the Syracuse game, neither biggies, but ASU was parents weekend, and Syracuse, I don't think I was on campus because I came from the MLK Blvd side and went to our SU tailgate. I know I was at least one other game. I just remember campus being crazy packed. Of course half of them probably never go into the stadium. My son has been there for a while. Undergrad, sickness extended, grad school, and now he is probably going to do an adjunct professorship. Viterbi computer game programming major. Works and lives in Pasadena now.

 

[SarasotaPaul]

Have you looked at the demographics for GT? FWIW their stadium Bobby Dodd only holds just over 50K ... with an expansion that will be pushing it to 55K .. not much larger than the Dome yet they get about 10K more ... you make it sound like they could house 100K fans ...

Look our fans are wonderful ... the Dome wasn't half empty against Wagner and Tulane ... everyone was hitting the pee troughs for 4 quarters ... its a packed house no matter who we play ... everyone on their feet ... attendance isn't a problem ... life is grand and all that jazz ...

ok. Our fans suck. Just ignore the fact...thats right..FACT... attendance is down over most of D1 football. Look it up damn it. Then come back and talk. Passion is one thing, facts another and you don't give a damn about facts 'cause it screws up your rant. What is your excuse for that? Ga Tech football has had a ton more success in the recent past then we have. Guess you can't fathom that either.

As for GTech they cant even sell out their mini gym for a Duke or Carolina BBgame. When was the last time they had a sellout for basketball? Sitting in the middle of Atlanta too. Their fans suck! And Ga Tech fans have mentioned that there will be no problem getting tickets on game day for SU football. What...no sellout for SU when they had so many for Elon?

Facts aren't a problem, you just ignore most of them and all that jazz.

 

[SarasotaPaul]

I wouldn't even want to guess at what the property taxes would be in NY on the home I'm in now ... yeesh ...

Now that would't impact available funds for attending games would it?