Home from Storrs (and alive)....

[DC4Pope]

It was definitely the loudest environment I've ever been in...but I'd like to think we were pretty loud ourselves in section 12. It was a great time and a great game, but many UConn fans are just flat out sore losers!

 

[Cusefan95]

actually no it started in the NBA. The whole "WHITE PARTY" thing was big in major city's among celebrities and teams in these city's started doing white outs for games. Then it caught on. SU with Orange and other schools with other colors. SU didn't start this trend by any means. They are just one school in the pack that caught on.

I'm about 99% sure it started with the Winnepeg Jets, not in the NBA. Pretty sure the team (now Phoenix coyotes) claims to have originated the phrase

 

[Stern]

I'm about 99% sure it started with the Winnepeg Jets, not in the NBA. Pretty sure the team (now Phoenix coyotes) claims to have originated the phrase

maybe but the NBA teams made it popular and thats where it caught on in recent years.

 

[Marsh01]

Way to represent Joyce.

 

[All4SU]

PS, at the end of the game, someone collected all the signs used by the students in the student section. They had not been spontaneous signs made by students. They were produced by the school and distributed to the students. (Even the big heads).

That's incredible.

 

[TOL22]

Never been to Storrs, but it sounds a lot like Georgetown. They're vile.

 

[Stevenson]

I once worked for a Uconn grad.. All of 18 months, not only was he a complete idiot, he was easily the biggest piece of to ever walk the face of the earth.

You story is not surprising.

 

[Hoov50]

Since when is trying to get your fans to wear your colors a thing? For most of my lifetime it was just expected that you would wear your team's colors to games. It's just a PR stunt now to name it.

 

[cto]

Joyce and the other 100+ SU fans should have rushed the court. Now That would have been funny!

Toga, funny that you mention that. i was sitting in the first row behind the SU bench. About two minutes before the game ended, half a dozen security people appeared out of no where and kneeled in front of us, facing us. i asked why they were there. They said it was to keep fans off the court and away from the players after the game. Fans in the first row behind a bench can reach out any time during a game and confront someone on the bench. That is why the visiting school gets to control the seating in that row. It was kind of funny that UConn security thought we might suddenly rise up when the game ended.

I have attended a lot of SU games at a lot of venues. I have never seen security line up behind the SU bench like that.

 

[SBU72]

I have been to some hostile venues in my life, but Gampel tonight won the prize.

My friend, his grandson and I arrived a early (around 7:30) because they had never been there and wanted to see it. So we walked around the inside of the arena a bit. When we walked in front of the smaller of two student sections (the one behind the UConn basket), the students there unleashed an unprintable torrent of expletives at us because we were wearing orange. My friend's young grandson was literally frightened by them. They were that vicious and obscene.

During the 30 minutes before the "Game Day" telecast began, the students in the larger student section (the one behind the SU basket) were led through a rehearsal of their cheers by someone on the PA system. It was all choreographed. They were told what to do at each time out throughout the game. And they practiced it. I had never seen that before. And ESPN iikes Game Day in small on-campus venues because of the spontaneous student enthusiasm. I hope they noticed.

A guy two rows behind us screamed expletives at JB all game long. At one point, security told him that he would be asked to leave if he kept it up. He kept it up, and they never came back. (Really pleasant environment. It was all we heard in our ears all game long).

And now the worse part: the students behind the SU basket. In the second half, when UConn made its sustained charge, they made more noise than I have ever heard at a basketball game. And they really tormented the SU players when they attempted free throws or any other shots in the second half. They were so loud during timeouts (the choreographed cheers) that we wondered whether the players could hear anything JB was saying to them. We couldn't hear each other.

I was sitting next to someone who has been at many more game at many more venues than I have, and I asked him whether he had ever been in such a hostile environment. He said he could not think of one.

Unless UConn follows us to the ACC, this will probably be out last game ever at Gampel. I for one will not be unhappy.

PS, at the end of the game, someone collected all the signs used by the students in the student section. They had not been spontaneous signs made by students. They were produced by the school and distributed to the students. (Even the big heads).

After the game in Syracues, and commenting on the terrific sign wishing Calhoun weel, I asked we could espect a similar thing in return. I guess I got my answer.

 

[LennX6]

It is hugely funny ... our fans get sooooo much criticism whereever we go. But I thnk that it was after the Providence game in in Rhode Island that the fans were saying that our traveling flock was the worst ... with the exception of the UConn fans. And what is it with the white-outs btw. I have always been curious about that ... what is it supposed to signify anyway? Lville and now UConn?

All I can think is that it looks awesome on hi-def tv.

 

[007]

I have been to some hostile venues in my life, but Gampel tonight won the prize.

My friend, his grandson and I arrived a early (around 7:30) because they had never been there and wanted to see it. So we walked around the inside of the arena a bit. When we walked in front of the smaller of two student sections (the one behind the UConn basket), the students there unleashed an unprintable torrent of expletives at us because we were wearing orange. My friend's young grandson was literally frightened by them. They were that vicious and obscene.

During the 30 minutes before the "Game Day" telecast began, the students in the larger student section (the one behind the SU basket) were led through a rehearsal of their cheers by someone on the PA system. It was all choreographed. They were told what to do at each time out throughout the game. And they practiced it. I had never seen that before. And ESPN iikes Game Day in small on-campus venues because of the spontaneous student enthusiasm. I hope they noticed.

A guy two rows behind us screamed expletives at JB all game long. At one point, security told him that he would be asked to leave if he kept it up. He kept it up, and they never came back. (Really pleasant environment. It was all we heard in our ears all game long).

And now the worse part: the students behind the SU basket. In the second half, when UConn made its sustained charge, they made more noise than I have ever heard at a basketball game. And they really tormented the SU players when they attempted free throws or any other shots in the second half. They were so loud during timeouts (the choreographed cheers) that we wondered whether the players could hear anything JB was saying to them. We couldn't hear each other.

I was sitting next to someone who has been at many more game at many more venues than I have, and I asked him whether he had ever been in such a hostile environment. He said he could not think of one.

Unless UConn follows us to the ACC, this will probably be out last game ever at Gampel. I for one will not be unhappy.

PS, at the end of the game, someone collected all the signs used by the students in the student section. They had not been spontaneous signs made by students. They were produced by the school and distributed to the students. (Even the big heads).

And the simple fact that SU survived and prevailed in that hostile environment was, by far, the MOST important thing to take from this game.

 

[sutomcat]

I'm about 99% sure it started with the Winnepeg Jets, not in the NBA. Pretty sure the team (now Phoenix coyotes) claims to have originated the phrase

You are correct. Winnipeg 1987 playoffs. The NHL has been doing it regularly ever since. The NBA got on it more than 20 years later.

 

[swish7]

Sensitive I think is a relative term. JB gets a detailed job performance appraisal blasted out daily by all kinds of writers, radio people, and TV analysts to a nationwide audience. This to say nothing of the criticism of hacks on the internet and in bars, coffee shops, at water coolers, etc. On top of that, he is within close range of fans yelling negative, obscene stuff at him on a regular basis. When he is not doing this, he's being sued for defamation. Most people wouldn't last 2 weeks under that kind of barrage.

You're universalizing singular incidents, to prove an unprovable point.

He gets paid big bone. Criticism is part of the job, anybody's job. My CEO gets criticized by the board of directors. Our secretary gets criticized and she makes 30K and has a couple kids to raise. And she is underwater on her house (like everyone in FL). That is pressure.

He does not get sued every year. he's been sued once (that I know of) in 30+.

There are also times where people fawn all over him. They donate tens of thousands to his causes. They name their kids after him. They ask for his autograph. It's not all a negative barrage.

He survives because he was a fantastically successful coach from day 1. Fastest to 100 wins and 400 wins if I recall. Other coaches fail because they are average or below average.

 

[Orange Barrel]

Joyce, of what I've read of you on this forum and your own posts as well you sound like all class. I even thought about going up to section 12 and yelling joyce out loud to welcome you as an ambassador de orange because I knew it was going to be a tough environment but didn't want to freak you out. I'm sorry you caught some of the stray fire. That said, there were at least two to three separate groups of Syracuse fans who were parading the bowl antagonizing both student sections: One group held up signs they walked past and the guy in the orange jump suit and mask was making the hulk hulgan ear and waving on the students to do there worst. Chicken and egg argument, but who knows if the flying expletives are as bad for you if your bad eggs aren't trying to escalate things.

Now for my two experiences. I'm a 29 year old grad student who still goes to the games in the student section for 5$ tickets, its a bit awkward being in the student section a decade older than the kids around me but 5$ is 5$. I was in the secondary student section near where they unveiled Rudy's number. There was cuse fan in his mid 20s there with his mom 3 rows in front of me. This young guy was fairly vocal, yelling during uconn foul shots which drew the attention naturally of the students around me. They got on him, he gave them the finger, they stayed on him. On the way out of the building, I look down and this guy is chest to chest, chin to chn with a uconn student, so I jumped down the three rows and got in the middle and told the uconn kid to keep walking and stood between the two cuse fans and the stairwell. Little did I know that immediately 5 people around me started yelling that this guy had just spit in the face of a uconn student. I didn't see it myself but for that many people to be hostile towards the kid it sure felt like it. The kicker for me is after I got the uconn half of the escalation to keep moving, the guy started instigating over my shoulder, with his mother standing next to him, I had to turn to him and tell him 2,000 students are looking for an excuse to misplace their anger of this loss on you, what in gods name are you thinking.

I had friends at the top of section 9 who told me that they sat next to the most outwardly obnoxious (cuse) fan who was irritating other fans of both teams, at a couple points getting right up in the face of some young girls in his section. This guy said it ruined his first trip back to campus since 03.

I don't bring all this up to make a statement about cuse fans, its intended to be a commentary on what the rivalry is at this point. There are people that should no better on both sides that apparently don't and the best way to avoid those people is to not walk into the arena with the bulls waving red capes and then act shocked when they start charging. That goes for uconn fans too when heading to the dome. I wouldn't recommend flying colors and if you do I sure as heck don't recommend you stick out by yelling during free throws or talking smack to fans around you, the jerks will find you.

Lastly, that crowd was the loudest I've ever heard gampel. As I mentioned I've been to a lot of games there and the compounding of cuse's season, our season, the huge hole and comeback, the acc, it all spilled into electricity. When uconn tied the game the place went crazy. I'm not sure anyone not there last night knows what your kids were dealing with, there was a reason they had 0 tos in the first half and 10 in the second, when the roof came off that place it was disorienting. Credit JB for his time out around the 7 min mark up 7, that's when you guys started going to the rim hard.

I've seen some here talk about the block on Drummond as the play of the game for you, for me it was Joseph's drive and finish from the wing when uconn tied it the first time, because if you don't score there and uconn takes the lead, the place might have collapsed on itself.

Oh and aside from the one flash mob dance at the first tv timeout, nothing else in the student section was staged... That is the real deal.

Never realized your duties as UCon thought police required such diligence and daring. I'm sure there's a commendation in your future for holding back the orange horde.

 

[310Pigpen]

What are message boards for if not to offer alternative perspectives? I wasn't out for your accolades, just trying to equalize the drive by eyewitness news reports to prevent them from turning into prevailing stereotypes about the UConn fanbase. If anything, the fact that most just ignored the post and latched on to the accounts that fit their models is telling. Thanks for acknowledging it if only to slam me.

You're more right than I am though OB. I'm the fool for wasting my time. UConn fan's are the root of all evil and classless instigators, Cuse fan's are model sportsmans who make signs for Jim Calhoun. That's the way the world is.

Don't hate

 

[RoysRunts]

See it show's you that you can be of any Socio-Economic background and still be vile.

 

[caw]

You've never been a UConn fan in the Dome near the Cuse students...trust me it's not pretty.

Worst I've heard of though is a friend of mine who is a UL fan that got into Rupp...makes anything you heard quite pleasant I am sure.

 

[rrlbees]

Who couldn't see the "SU fans egged us on" posts coming?

 

[PauliePeppas]

Uconn and cuse fans are very similar just from interacting with em at the garden...its a good healthy rivalry and i respect them...gtown on the other hand thinks their dont stink , i just geniunely hate them and dont resoect em

 

[Orange Barrel]

You've never been a UConn fan ...trust me it's not pretty.

That much is true.

 

[kuethstheman]

What are message boards for if not to offer alternative perspectives? I wasn't out for your accolades, just trying to equalize the drive by eyewitness news reports to prevent them from turning into prevailing stereotypes about the UConn fanbase. If anything, the fact that most just ignored the post and latched on to the accounts that fit their models is telling. Thanks for acknowledging it if only to slam me.

You're more right than I am though OB. I'm the fool for wasting my time. UConn fan's are the root of all evil and classless instigators, Cuse fan's are model sportsmans who make signs for Jim Calhoun. That's the way the world is.

Pretty brave of you to get in the middle of all that. Glad you (and Joyce and all) made it out OK. With alcohol, things could have gotten much worse.

I've heard enough bad things about SU fans from believable sources to believe that we've got as many bad apples as most other programs. I wish we were better but I'm persuaded that we''re not.

 

[TexanMark]

Bottomline Oka...splain this

You have two well dressed folks around 70 years old with a young child PREGAME unprovoked being accosted with obscenities from your students. How is that classy? BTW, these are the types of folks that hire and fire young punks outta college.

Also, pregame choreographed cheers...that is spontaneous in your book?

 

[rstone7727]

UConn fan's are the root of all evil and classless instigators, Cuse fan's are model sportsmans who make signs for Jim Calhoun.

Good to see your finally starting to see the light Oka..

 

[310Pigpen]

Flash mobs are stupid and so Is Uconn so go figure.