Wildhack Tidbits | Page 3 | Syracusefan.com

Wildhack Tidbits

I've been told that there is a clear emphasis on getting the students back into the Dome. The Ad's office has set up student focus groups in an effort to increase student attendance. Maybe some of these changes are in part due to what they are hearing from the students?

Student attendance, and attendance in general (or lack thereof), is a big issue for Dino. Part of the attraction for Babers coming and staying here is the unique advantages that come with playing in an on campus Dome. We are the ONLY P-5 school with that advantage.
 
Scooch said:
Like others said, the SUMB is all volunteer and I believe they'll still take anyone who can play. Back when I was there it was daunting to march on the same field as an Ohio State, who had 800 students try out for a 250 person band. SU would be at 175-200 in total taking everyone who wanted in.

I marched for 4 years and it was a fantastic experience. Yes it is an enormous time commitment, back in my day we rehearsed Mo-Th for 2-3 hours, plus Friday's before home games for 2-3 hours. That went on from the first week of school through the end of the season. You don't do it for the course credit. I met all my best college friends there, and we're still very close today, 20+ years later.

To be fair, I marched from 1991-94, so I got to see us beat some incredible teams, and I got to travel all expenses paid (with per diems) to the Hall of Fame Bowl in Tampa and the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe. Sadly it's been near 2 decades since band kids got a similar ride.

It pisses me off to no end when people here rip on the band. It's fine if band music ain't your thing (although SU fans are practically alone in being too cool for marching band in the P5 landscape) and no one would argue that the SUMB is equal to Ohio State or USC. But those kids invest a sh!ton of time, a lot more than anyone here does as a fan.
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Holy Crap, I thought u guys and gals were all on scholarship of some sort.
 
007 said:
I've been told that there is a clear emphasis on getting the students back into the Dome. The Ad's office has set up student focus groups in an effort to increase student attendance. Maybe some of these changes are in part due to what they are hearing from the students?

Student attendance, and attendance in general (or lack thereof), is a big issue for Dino. Part of the attraction for Babers coming and staying here is the unique advantages that come with playing in an on campus Dome. We are the ONLY P-5 school with that advantage.
Expand...

Good to hear.

Watching that Ohio State v Indiana game last night brought the student attendance question front and center for me. The contrast is truly mind blowing.
 
orangenirvana said:
Do they still overplay AC/DC and other 1970's corporate rock on the loudspeakers?
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UConn played Guns n Roses at their game last night, and it wasn't Welcome to the Jungle. Some things will never die.
 
blizz said:
Good to hear.

Watching that Ohio State v Indiana game last night brought the student attendance question front and center for me. The contrast is truly mind blowing.
Expand...

It's a two way street here. Babers' is delivering the offense, now he has to win more; the fans need to come and rock the place.

As DB said in his opening PC, close your eyes and imagine both of those things happening.
 
Scooch said:
I fell into a YouTube rabbit hole earlier, watching games from the 90s. Full house, rocking Dome. I have no doubt we will see that return if Dino gives us teams of that quality.
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Yeah, an 8 win season where we win all of the games "we should" and upset a big name would get people talking. Follow that up with another like it while remaining competitive in the losses and the needle will begin to move with the casual fans.
 
sufandu said:
Can you really ever overplay AC/DC? If it's good enough for Ironman, it's good enough for me.
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Great band, no question. But yes, imo. But I'm speaking as a child of the 90's.
 
007 said:
It's a two way street here. Babers' is delivering the offense, now he has to win more; the fans need to come and rock the place.

As DB said in his opening PC, close your eyes and imagine both of those things happening.
Expand...

Not long ago I would have bought the mantra that winning was the answer.

With regard to specifically the students showing up, I'm not so sure anymore. That's what I was trying to get at in my earlier post. What has Indiana or Iowa State or Minnesota accomplished in the last decade? Nothing. Yet their students show out at games. Why the big difference? As much as we rag on Rutgers around here, their students seem to show up. Why them and not us?

If the focus group bit is true I'd be interested to hear what they learn.
 
blizz said:
Not long ago I would have bought the mantra that winning was the answer.

With regard to specifically the students showing up, I'm not so sure anymore. That's what I was trying to get at in my earlier post. What has Indiana or Iowa State or Minnesota accomplished in the last decade? Nothing. Yet their students show out at games. Why the big difference? As much as we rag on Rutgers around here, their students seem to show up. Why them and not us?

If the focus group bit is true I'd be interested to hear what they learn.
Expand...

It's tough to compare larger state schools to SU when it comes to student attendance. 48,000 people attend IU vs. 21,000 for SU in total (undergrad and grad). Minnesota has 51K students, Iowa State has 37K.

More students attend at those schools, and most other P5s, because there are a LOT more students. Typically as a share of enrollment SU fares OK when it comes to student attendance.
 
Scooch said:
Like others said, the SUMB is all volunteer and I believe they'll still take anyone who can play. Back when I was there it was daunting to march on the same field as an Ohio State, who had 800 students try out for a 250 person band. SU would be at 175-200 in total taking everyone who wanted in.

I marched for 4 years and it was a fantastic experience. Yes it is an enormous time commitment, back in my day we rehearsed Mo-Th for 2-3 hours, plus Friday's before home games for 2-3 hours. That went on from the first week of school through the end of the season. You don't do it for the course credit. I met all my best college friends there, and we're still very close today, 20+ years later.

To be fair, I marched from 1991-94, so I got to see us beat some incredible teams, and I got to travel all expenses paid (with per diems) to the Hall of Fame Bowl in Tampa and the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe. Sadly it's been near 2 decades since band kids got a similar ride.

It pisses me off to no end when people here rip on the band. It's fine if band music ain't your thing (although SU fans are practically alone in being too cool for marching band in the P5 landscape) and no one would argue that the SUMB is equal to Ohio State or USC. But those kids invest a sh!ton of time, a lot more than anyone here does as a fan.
Expand...

Good post. No question in takes up tons of time and is a major commitment. I'm sure it was a great experience. SU just doesn't have the bodies or horses to make an impact like USC/Ohio St does in sheer volume or quality, as you said. I walked by those kids rehearsing a lot at USC. I'm a Juilliard/USC guy and was a Performance Major but I always respected those kids. Partied with some of them from time to time. A few percussion or brass majors would moonlight in the marching band from time to time and they loved it, ha.
 
orangenirvana said:
Great band, no question. But yes, imo. But I'm speaking as a child of the 90's.
Expand...
I'm a child of the 80's/90's. I tend to like music that's older than most my age. I was in high school when grunge hit, and, to me, that was the end of good rock music. Nothing gets my adrenaline going like good 80's metal. AC/DC has been my choice when running the Tail of the Dragon down here in Tennessee.
 
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