I'm disgusted. That's the way some of us put it, just matter-of-factly.
Today, we saw a drubbing on the field of Ross-Ade that for once played in our favor. While the team lit up the scoreboards, the stands were strangely quiet. Why, on earth, would you not be singing, cheering, screaming and almost crying from excitement as your team nabs the 8th touchdown of the game? Why wouldn't you root and holler for your team as they return from a last second loss?
The BS student writer is livid. THuff is sounding off.
The student section has been hit hard over the years with the less than stellar teams. This season is different; we have new ticket policies - Student Tickets are linked/put on to the ID, it's a $3 transfer fee to give someone else your ticket - and we have an officially named/"organized" student section: The Ross Ade Brigade.
In years past the gates open 2 hours before kick off and you run, God help you, you run to the seats. People have been injured; I have wound up in a trash can from the shoving. It's worth it to be able to hold that railing and be a part of the action. Now? Gates open at 10:30 to those gate rushers, but the Brigade has already been in there for 15 minutes. Anyone can be in the Brigade and that means those high spirit, upperclassmen have just as much chance of being in the first 5 rows as the freshmen frat stars that are half drunk and completely uninterested.
What does this mean? It means that the days of the 'U-S-A' chant after the pledge are dwindling, the highly suppressed first down dance is coming back, first down bitch will disappear and there will be no more floating penises. Is this crude, unprofessional and sometimes disgusting? Maybe, but sadly, it's tradition. You haven't lived until you've seen a cop shank a 5 foot inflated phallus.
When you pay $15 bucks to get the Brigade shirt, you are pledging to be a super fan. Instead, you get the first 15 rows dead silent during the most important tradition - Hail Purdue. You have people sitting on their seats during the game, during warm ups, during times when the team runs on to the dang field. What ever happened to the 12th Boiler? My Seat Never Sees My Seat?
I get it, the team isn't shaking the world to the core. The team is mediocre at best, when compared to the conference. That doesn't give you an excuse to occupy a seat and complain about the game taking too long. Any student that does not want their tickets for the rest of the season would benefit themselves and Purdue athletics by selling them to someone who gives a rat.
If you screw up Notre Dame, so help me god...
We often complain about the Alumni Fans here, but this time: Student Section - Consider yourself on watch.
24 comments:
I hate to say it, though I agree with most of the content of this post, I have never seen you in the front of football games (not counting this year as I'm not on campus)
I average 4 games in the front row every year since Sophomore year. Always been in row 13 or lower if not front.
I have spent my time in the first row of the north end zone, the last two years I've been more towards the center of the field.
When I can hear myself sing Hail Purdue, something is wrong.
Well just so you know there are some of us still left who make new signs every week and are at the gates at 8:30 on the dot, and are in the front row every game. So you may want to watch your generalizations for the sake of the readership.
Valid comment, if there weren't some people playing along today it would have been miserable in spite of the win. But like we've mentioned before, the overwhelming majority of fans are fairly blase.
I appreciate your post Huff but I think you are way off here. The reason why people don't go to the games is because there is very little reason to go.
I mean I love going to Purdue football games and I have all my life. (Yes. I saw Alstott rep the 40 in Ross-Ade.) But please explain to me why I should go (as a Senior) when I would have to go into the Stadium at 10: freaking30 to get decent seats. At that point I am still being social at one of Purdue's best game day traditions...Breakfast Club. Why in heck don't we have assigned seats based on seniority?
Until then I, as an upper-classman, will be having way more fun at the bars and then stumble back to my apartment to watch the game in high def on my tv (while continuing to rage). I don't want to go to the game and get worse seats than socially awkward freshmen that have nothing else to do than wait for the second the gates open. If you really think the "traditions" you cited need to be preserved then have incentive for your seniors to preserve them. Give seniors a reason to go and we will, until then pass. I will be at the Notre Lame game but I will be sitting in the alumni section...where they have assigned seating like civilized people.
Btw freshmen can't be fratstars since most of them aren't living in the fraternities and if they are then they are pledges, probably working the game.
Matt, thanks for your opinion.
I have no problem with Breakfast club, and I miss assigned seats like nobody's business.
I have no problem with people skipping the game to watch on TV, it's those who sit there in the stands and care less about it than folks like yourself do as they sit at home with friends/beer.
Btw freshmen can be fratstars as pledges because at times, you'll have the ones who just want to make the elder brothers good list. That's just an observation; had some amazingly bad freshies two years ago against MSU, but had some great ones two weeks ago against MTSU
But don't you see these reasons are linked. I used to be someone that went to every game but I don't anymore because the seating policies are garbage. If seniors were at the games, they would show the under-clansmen how to act anyhow to be great fans. By getting rid of assigned seats, Purdue unintentionally increased the personal cost of a student attending the game hence the lower attendance (sorry I am an Econ minor). As a senior its hard for me to justify leaving breakfast club at 10:05 to go see us play SEMO. If you really want the students to be better fans, you need senior leadership. And "naming" the student section does absolutely nothing.
After reading this post and the comments I don't think it's fair to blame the Ross Ade Brigade for the atmosphere problems in the student section. From my experience (last season I was the first person in the gates every game, and I've been front row for every game in my college career except 1) I don't think the students getting in now with the Brigade are very different than what I was always surrounded by.
The brigade is mostly freshman, but then again the majority of the people that get to the gates at 10 or 10:15 are freshman. Like Matt said above me alot of my fellow upperclassmen just have other obligations.
You can't blame the lack of atmosphere on the Ross-Ade Brigade, as appealing as it is to have something else to attack Purdue Athletics about this just is not the same as the new pete or "hammer down". There are plenty of other aspects in Purdue Athletics to blame for the lack of atmosphere but not the Brigade.
A solid point about how the seniors not being there has hurt the overall knowledge/interest of the freshman class. I hadn't connected the two before.
Wow! Gotta love the superfan lecturing others that they should cheer exactly how he does during a blowout of freaking SEMO! Isn't this the equivalence of the old farts telling people to shut up or sit down?
He's flying solo on this one...I don't know about the details of the changes in the student section policies...but if nothing else, this has already started a dialogue.
I do think it's pretty lame for students to try to give excuses to why they don't come to RA and stay home watching it on TV instead. Weak sauce.
I can speak to this one as I went to every game as a student...and that was truly awful football in that era. I can also say (as can you, BG) that your time as a student goes flippin' fast and is over way too quickly...it's pretty great to be a part of the student section, even when the product on the field is not.
Now Boilergal, I'm not asking for blood from a sacrificial goat that is SEMO, I don't care if we are playing Notre Dame or Backwater U, it's always in good taste to sing your fightsong
Games should be general admission, there is no reason for seniors to have preferential treatment. This is proven right now just because good seats aren't handed to them they aren't real fans anymore and would rather watch the game on TV. This is the only "policy change" that is major. The RAB is nothing more than a moniker, and I agree with bdowd you should support through thick and thin. If you are a real fan a you will "work" for your seats.
One thing you have to keep in mind when judging the student section is that it is only the second home game of the year and the freshman haven't had many chances to learn the fight song. You'd think that MTSU would've taught them, but oh well. I think its pretty much a given that all freshman start out messing up the cheers, not knowing Hailfire and going way too fast when Boilering up. Some will learn it, others won't. Also, look at it this way, as the weather gets colder and we start playing tougher teams, more apathetic fans will stay in their dorm rooms. My favorite moments in the student section last year were when it rained on us for Michigan(I think) and when I woke up at 5 in the morning on Thanksgiving break and got in line in the freezing cold with my friends for the IU game to be one of the first in line. Those games were awesome (even if we did lose). Hopefully as the season goes on the student section will get better.
Of course, that being said, nobody should be sitting in the student section during game time and everyone should be trying to sing Hail Purdue. If not, by all means yell at them and tell them to Boiler Up or get out.
Ronak- you're right because having general admission is creating so much excitement and dedication among the student body... There are reasons to have assigned seats as I detailed earlier. Obviously if seats were assigned, people would just move down to fill empty seats after it's clear someone wasn't coming.
Who are you to judge who a real fan is? If you are going to limit the crowd to people you define as "real" fans you might find the stadium even more empty than it is right now. You don't think I worked (and paid) for my seats by going to Purdue for 4 years?
B-dowd did you have the ability to see every game we play on tv back in your day? I think that alone changes the dynamic. Purdue needs to provide an incentive if they want seats in the bleachers.
Most games were on WTTV 4 (ESPN+ or Raycom depending on the year)- they were televised in Indiana, and that's about it...I think TV is a lousy reason for not coming to a game when you're blocks away.
Adam, I feel like you more eloquently and politely explained my feelings. Perhaps waiting a day or so before posting this would have helped me come off as less of a jerk.
The incentive for fans to come to the game is winning. Every fanbase is generally about 30% diehards, 30% folks who like the team and 40% people who just want to do something fun. Winning turns that group into 100% diehards and it's then that you get the atmosphere you're looking for. I don't think assigned seats or general admission matters. If you have an exciting team, people will show up excited. If you don't, then they won't.
While it sucks to be in the student section when the fanbase is apathetic (and believe me, I was in your shoes when I attended Purdue) you really can't get worked up about it. Go to the game, cheer on our team as you see fit and relish the moments when the atmosphere in the stadium is how you want it, because those moments are special.
When did the student section become general admission?
I am all for the general admission seating for the student section, it has been in place ever since I started going to Purdue. The problem is that us current Purdue students don't see a point in football. At most some students were here for the 2006 and 07 seasons, but most of the students are use to seeing our Boilers fall flat on their faces game after game to better opponents or get upset by a MAC school.
Meanwhile, if you go to any Basketball or Volleyball game at Purdue, the student section is always full and they are both general admission (Paint Crew is changing it up this year with relocation). It's because we are use to seeing those teams win every night, and we expect nothing less than a win.
Personally, I think Purdue should shrink the size of the Football student section by a section. I don't honestly think that the student section will ever fill up for football ever again, especially since no one is willing to by season tickets now unless it is with the VIP and they don't want to pay $60 to see us lose in the big games to ND and Ohio State.
I say keep the general admission, it makes the student section look much more unified compared to the rest of the stadium where it looks like everyone is sitting 10 feet from each other like the other fans have the flu or something. It was great being a freshman and being up close to watch us beat Ohio State. And just because I was a freshman, I still knew the words to Hail Purdue, it took me a little bit to get all the cheers down, but I eventually learned them. Besides, there have been games where I got to the game late and was still able to get good seats, so really, there's no problem with gen. admin.
Juan, take a moment to think about what you're saying. You don't think the student section will be full "ever again"? You think Purdue football will always suck?
When boilerdowd and I were in school, our tickets actually had assigned seats on them but no one in the student section followed it
! We just generally stood wherever there was space. That was kinda cool. Oh, and we sucked before Tiller but the games were still a blast!
I used to charge general admission to Boilerdowd's dorm room. It was like a carnival in there.
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