On behalf of the "drunk sorority girl"
Resulting from the new student seating policy (which I am personally a big fan of), the general sentiment of disdain towards the "drunk sorority girl," who seems to personify every student not in his or her seat by 11:59 AM has come more into light. So for that, I'll take their side.
First off, I'm a student who gets to every game early and is generally "that guy" at 11:20 trying to round the troops away from "just one more game" of flip cup. Nevertheless, these people should not be shat on for the following reasons:
1) Global reach: Everyone on here likes to talk about how sweet of a university this is and how we're so academically superior to OSU and Sparty. While sort of arrogant, everyone is dead on. UM is way better. We get far more students from all over the country / world, and this has become even moreso in recent years. For multiple reasons, Michigan has far far more out of state / country people that didn't grow up in Grand Rapids with Ford / Schembechler posters over their beds, relative to the previous eras of Michigan football that so many on here reminisce about. For the university and our diplomas / egos, this isn't exactly a bad thing.
Conclusion: More national / international university with flourishing world class grad programs = less kids that care as much as the rest of us. Just be grateful that most of them still go, we still have 20k students at most games, and don't whine that we only have 109k instead of 112k at kick off. It could be worse. SEE: Wisconsin day games.
2) Richrod / Late Carr (??) Effect: Let's face it, 2007-2012 has been a relatively dark era for Michigan football. My first games were in 2010, and something about having the only entertaining games being shootouts against Illinois and UMass doesnt breed the immense school pride that will pull people away from that last game of flip cup to see them touch the banner. Couple that with the more geographically diverse student body, and you have less people showing up for noon kickoffs, especially against Directional Michigan and Purdue.
Conclusion: Non-elite teams and unexciting games, coupled with #1 = less kids that care as much as the rest of us. Again, just be grateful that most of them still go, we still have 20k students at most games, and don't whine that we only have 109k instead of 112k at kick off.
April 24th, 2013 at 12:07 PM ^
does NOT compare to Richrod.
Let the bloody LC/RR battle re-enactment begin!
there's a strong argument that Late Carr directly precipitated RichRod.
2005 and 2007 Carr teams were damn lucky to not be under .500. Damn lucky.
2006 turned out to be the wonderful anomoly in that little stretch of Michigan history.
Give me a break. 2005 we lost 4 games by 4 points or less in a season riddled with injuries.
2007 we were 9-4.
I'll give you that we underperformed in both seasons, and had one of our programs (neigh the sports') most embarrassing losses, but we were a long way from "damn lucky to not be under .500".
There's no doubt that Carr's later years showed signs of slippage, but your comment just reeks of unnecessary spite and is just factually not true.
Henne saved us from the bowl streak ending a year early.
We went 9-4 in 2007, and that was with Henne injured for much of the season. To say we were on the brink of bowl ineligibility is a major reach.
April 24th, 2013 at 12:07 PM ^
After reading this, I for one wholeheartedly support the notion of yanking out about 5,000 seats from the student section. That way maybe more of the kids who want to be there will get the tickets and the section will be full.
A sense of entitlement isn't going to make people rally to your cause. We all understand that you guys don't like the new rules, but you have to admit that the students brought it upon themselves. Now it is up to you to figure out a way to fix it. And the amount of whining and crying about it probably isn't the solution.
April 24th, 2013 at 12:17 PM ^
If the main point of your arguement is "We have 20K students showing up so stop changing the rules or less will come to games" seems strange. If that is the case and students stop coming because of the new rules, why not just make the student section smaller and open more seats to all the other fans? Let's be honest here, Michigan stadium is going to sell out whether the students come or not and a regular seat is more than a students. They would get more money by doing this.
My main question would be why are all these students on this blog so up in arms about it? To hear them say it, each of them are the ones who arrive on time for every game. If that's the case they will be rewarded for that, not punished. It will be all those other students (who most of them seem to be critical of in their posts) who will suffer as a result of this.
April 24th, 2013 at 12:37 PM ^
I am graduating but mostly think it is a stupid reason in principle:
1) A true GA is unfair to the upperclassmen who theoritically had to sit higher up regardless of how early they should up.
2) Any time you create a system that involves waiting in line, which is just a complete waste of time, when alternatives exist, you have likely failed
3) Drunk sorority girls will likely still find ways to game the system
4) I don't understand why they can't find ways to award people for showing up early based on when their tickets are scanned
Also, to the whole "the AD would get more money by cutting the student section because they are priced below market value", that is true, but this (allegedly) amateur athletics. Do you know what else is priced below market value? The "pay" for the athletes on the field.
April 24th, 2013 at 12:48 PM ^
Zing!
the system."
I agree, some drunken sorority girls have taken to wearing stealth cloaking devices to elude detection from stadium officials:
Or it didn't happen.
oy. The Michigan has only ugly women thing has got to die. You're killing me. Only I am allowed to critique my appearance. Well, since this is an anonymous blog, I guess you can, too. I'm just saying, a bunch of my sorority sisters, friends and acquaintances were pretty hot.
Just wanted proof that they were, in fact, from Michigan.
April 25th, 2013 at 12:21 PM ^
OK, we're willing to accept your proof.
I'd have no problem vouching these girls were sitting with me the whole time.
I can see the situation happening where a few dedicated fans in a frat, sorority or any group of friends gets in early to get good seats. The seats around them fill up as other fans pile in. Half way through the first quarter a bunch of drunk stragglers roll in, find their friends, and squeeze their way into way better seats than those who arrived on time. The ushers will say "it's GA, not my problem" and those who showed up on time will have to stand in extremely crowded seats.
Isn't #4 exactly what GA is? Rewarding people with choice of seats for getting there first (i.e getting their tickets scanne)
April 24th, 2013 at 12:47 PM ^
is honestly the best idea i have heard in a long time. People say cut dwn student section by 5k, and then you have the top 1250 HAIL leaders each year get reduced price tickets for four years, still by the student section to phase them out of being students.
I'm a student that doesn't show up on time to every game. I wake up and start drinking at 8 am, sometimes earlier, and walk to the game with tons of other students right before game time to walk in the stadium right around kickoff.
I've been to somewhere between 50 and 100 Michigan football games because my family had season tickets before I was a student. If showing up at kickoff means my seats are terrible now, I'll probably just go inside my house and watch us beat up Eastern Michigan on TV.
I can understand the new policy, but it's not going to help me or 90% of the students that I hang out with on Saturday mornings.
April 24th, 2013 at 12:10 PM ^
Obligatory bad-title comment.
Yes. Awful title. Sorority Gal here. I was all "woo-hoo! Finally someone is defending us!" and then....no.
You type well for a drunk sorority girl. The Michigan Difference, I suppose.
Good point. I guess I meant just the "sorority girl" part. Not drunk. The title of the thread led me to believe the subject matter was different. Also, I'm now old. So I guess I'm neither drunk, nor currently in a sorority, nor a girl. I'll go work on that first one.
April 24th, 2013 at 12:12 PM ^
You included a BCS bowl season with a win in the Sugar Bowl under Hoke as part of the dark era? Last year wasn't so bad either.
A diverse student body may have something to do with how many people show up, but it doesn't have anything to do with making it OK for sorority girls to show up drunk for only half of the game. No no, you're right. Uh, thank you drunk sorority girls for filling up space for half an hour?
April 24th, 2013 at 12:12 PM ^
Well, if I accept your premise that the University has evolved and less students care about football, the student section should be reduced in size. Changing Section 26 to alumni seating sounds good to me.
April 24th, 2013 at 12:56 PM ^
...with Butterfield, although I am not an alumnus I think it is insane that so many kids fail to appear for so many games...if you don't want to go, that is fine by us, but do not expect the University to continue to keep your seat open...this isn't Ricky Bobby saving a seat for his drunk dad, there are thousands of people who would kill to have guaranteed seats like you youngsters currently have
if you aren't an alumnus I don't see how your opinion matters here...
yes, I am that guy.
love,
jdon
April 24th, 2013 at 12:13 PM ^
If you want to have a good seat, show up early. If you want to tailgate/party, well then you get to sit next to the drunk sorority girl who is only going to be there for half the game. What's the problem?
April 25th, 2013 at 12:27 PM ^
If you can convince her to go home with you for the second half, even less of a problem.
DB is missing a great marketing opportunity here. He can rebrand the upper bowl in the student section as the "You Get to Sit Next to Drunk Sorority Girls" section, and charge double for those tickets.
Brand-on, Dave.
April 24th, 2013 at 12:14 PM ^
If the issue is that kids get tickets who don't care that much about football or Michigan Football, then shrink the student section. I don't need to "be grateful that most of them still go," someone else will happily take their ticket. Sounds like we should treat them like Kanye West -"my presence is a present, kiss my ass." Nope.
And this is coming from a soon to be graduating student that believes students serve a vital role for crowd noise, especially with a non-student fan base that's reputation for sitting on its hands is not totally undeserved (except for in big games - UTL was equally as loud as any other stadium I've ever been to).
April 24th, 2013 at 12:16 PM ^
Conclusion: nothing you said does anything to discredit or even remotely tell us why it's a bad idea to institute this policu
April 24th, 2013 at 12:23 PM ^
I think the issue is that it isn't that you now have to be on time to get a good seat, you're going to have to be at the gate 2 hours in advance for even somewhat important games. If you're there 30 minutes early, say hello to seats in the 50s. Now if you want to say that students who have so little going on in their lives that they can go 2 hours early to watch the band warm up are better fans, so be it. But there are others who, you know, do like to drink and don't want to sit outside/inside the stadium for hours waiting for something to happen.
More people are not going to show up. It will happen. What junior/senior wants to see Michigan v. Western from row 82 when the game will be over after the first quarter? Hell no, they're going to be drinking, partying, and watching the game in warmth in front of a 72 inch tv.
~Herm
April 24th, 2013 at 12:27 PM ^
I am disappointed in your lack of rage at students. I am also disappointed that I am now 100% sure you're not actually an old dude.
Bring a flask to the stadium, it's not that difficult.
April 24th, 2013 at 12:29 PM ^
Was unsure for a while, but something about that post made me think either upperclassman or recent grad.
April 24th, 2013 at 12:34 PM ^
Seriously? It took you until THAT post to realize he's not actually an old man? I thought better of you Michael.....you're slipping.
Personally I think it's WIAB/RDT in yet another persona.
April 24th, 2013 at 12:36 PM ^
Herm has the perspective of remembering when sell out crowds were the exception, not the norm. A lot of this is about the entitlement younger fans and Dave Brandon have about expecting 100,000+ crowds every game. One of these days the streak will end. Big deal.
April 24th, 2013 at 12:42 PM ^
Not in my lifetime. If I have to fundraise, buy unused tickets and pay homeless people to go to games that streak isn't ending.
1995 Michigan-Purdue says "hi!"
As someone who sat through every moment of the 1995 Michigan-Purdue game... I will say there were 100K+ at the start of the game.
It had dwindled to about 30K by the end of the game though...
What if you're a med or law student who's drowning in school work or just a busy undergrad? I'd rather spend those 2 hours studying than waiting in line. I've been in GA lines at UNC bball games as a grad student and it's really silly to spend 6 hours at a game (half of which is waiting in lines). For those of you who think it will be a 30-45 minute wait, that's absurd. Imagine how long early students have to arrive for OSU games. But hey, a couple sorority girls came late to a game, let's screw all the dedicated students who have stuff to do before the game!
Football and basketball don't make for good comparisons. The sheer size of Michigan Stadium provides that the first half of the students that arrive will get good seats. First row, no, but good seats. In basketball, what - maybe 5 or 10 percent of students get good seats, creating the longer wait.
Also, "a couple sorority girls" = 3,000 + students on a game by game basis. So...NO.
April 24th, 2013 at 12:28 PM ^
But it proves that you are not an old man Herm. Why the ruse?
April 24th, 2013 at 12:45 PM ^
Not herm responding bro. get urself straight. look at how the guy writes. he doesn't use abbreviations like "ur" or "lol" etc. The guy writes with punctuation, capital and lower case letters, but he doesn't seem to possess the grammar skills that a younger person should have. My grandparents write worse when they use a computer because they are not used to editing their work w/o paper and pencial.
April 24th, 2013 at 12:39 PM ^
Herm is my grandpa. No ruse.
April 24th, 2013 at 12:58 PM ^
This idea irritates me the most.
"Pshhh what upperclass Michigan student wants to watch their team play a Michigan directional school in Row 80 in September?" Seriously?
You're right. We should only expect students to show up for The Game. Or against a highly-ranked B1G school.* Is that where we're drawing the line? I mean, screw it. No more tickets to a student section, then. Buy individual tickets for games that you want at actual market value.
The student entitlement is ridiculous. Yes, we all love pregaming and want to sit in Row 1. But my god, it's your football team. Go watch the 6 home games you had last year. When did it become acceptable to be so cavalier about football indifference?
I graduated last year but I feel like Clint Eastwood. Rabble, rabble, rabble....
*BTW, more than 3,000 students didn't show up at all for the MSU game last year. Ridiculous.
I was not stating that seniors should automatically get row 1 seats. I'm pointing out the uncomfortable fact that there are going to be about 3,000 pimply-faced freshman in rows 1-15 for every minor game this year. I'm sorry, I like Michigan football. But I'm sure as hell not going to waste my Saturday watching warm-ups. There should be some reward for being a senior.
For every catty-sorority girl you guys mention, there are about 100 normal dudes who want to drink hard, party, then show up 20 minutes before the game and sit in the FRONT because they sat in the back for four years. Now all the benefits are going to go to those who LITERALLY HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO DO THAN SIT FOR HOURS WAITING TO GET INTO A GAME. HOLY SHIT YOU ARE A BETTER FAN THAN ME. No.
95% of those "drunk dudes" you bitch about are there before the game starts, actually making noise and into the game.
Sorry if there is going to be some backlash that Timothy Greenman, a freshman from Potomac, Maryland who has never watched Michigan football in his life and is really just here for Ross, but doesn't have anything to do so he waits in line early... gets first row seats. That is just as much bullshit as some sorostitute taking the seats.
I know all of you will say it's not politically correct, but hell, I'd put the women in the endzones and the men on the sidelines. They don't even know what's going on anyways!
~Herm
Accidently pos'd you when I meant to neg you.
You're being a spoiled little fuck. You do realize that seniors are not entitled to rows 1-20, right? My senior year, just a couple years ago, I received tickets that were worse than my junior year.
Imagine your outrage then. YOU DON'T DESERVE TO SIT IN THE FRONT JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE A SENIOR you entitled brat.
This wouldn't even be a discussion if the current student body wasn't a complete embarrassment; re: on average 5,400 people don't show up.