Student Section needs to be reduced
November 10th, 2012 at 10:35 PM ^
I would agree with you that yes they should if what you were suggesting made sense to me. It's very difficult to tell the difference between a ticket request form sent in by someone that will show up for every game and a ticket request form sent in by someone who wont. Demand is demand. Reducing the size of the student section does nothing to change the information asymmetry inherent to this situation. For all you know you could be eliminating the seats of students that will show up. Also, there's the difficulty of choosing which requests to grant and which to deny. And proposed systems to determine who shows up and who doesn't sound like logistical nightmares.
November 10th, 2012 at 10:42 PM ^
Except that - unlike track and field - everyone here cares about football. We have pretty much shared priorities on this one.
It helps our stadium atmosphere, and homefield advantage, to have everyone there on time. If alumni start showing up right at kickoff or later (which was the case at Purdue a few weeks ago), they deserve criticism too. But at Michigan the problem is chiefly localized in the student section.
November 10th, 2012 at 10:46 PM ^
Everyone on MGoBlog cares about football. Not everyone who goes to Michigan or buys student tickets cares about football.
November 10th, 2012 at 10:53 PM ^
That's what I meant by "here". A poster above was arguing that getting to the games early was just some oddball priority, like going to obscure sporting events.
If you care about football (and I think everyone on MGoBlog does), there shouldn't be any disagreement about this - it's a problem when our stadium has lots of people not showing up on time (if at all). I'm surprised there are posters on this site making excuses for it.
November 10th, 2012 at 10:59 PM ^
I believe that students should have the right/privilege/ability (whatever you want to call it) to purchase season tickets regardless of whether or not they have any intention of attending a single game. It's one of the perks of going to Michigan. If you want season tickets, you can get them. You can get them and light them on fire for all I care.
November 10th, 2012 at 11:03 PM ^
If by "a poster above" you mean me, you're wrong. the priorities in question (those being complained about in this thread) are those of the students that don't show up. My point is just because you might have a certain priority doesn't mean that everyone else should.
November 10th, 2012 at 10:27 PM ^
Let's face it, the student section has been turrible for a while now. I saw it from '04-'08 while I was there and I remember thinking the same thing. I rarely ever showed up after kickoff. Most of these people would rather drink beer at "insert random frat here" instead of showing up for the team. Pathetic.
November 10th, 2012 at 10:28 PM ^
and go into the dorms at 11am, choose students at random, dressed or not, and march them to the stadium at gunpoint. If they resist, shoot them in the kneecaps and then rifle-butt them in the chops.
November 10th, 2012 at 11:20 PM ^
Reading up to "11am:" Awww, how cute, like pregame partner wakeups but for non-greeks! Good idea!
Kept reading: Oh, that's not how we did it....
Last sentence: DEAR GOD, MAN!
November 10th, 2012 at 10:30 PM ^
November 10th, 2012 at 10:40 PM ^
It's Michigan's fault for having a game time that's doesn't fit people's social schedules, studying or partying habits on Saturday. That needs to be thwatted or fb or texted to the ad five mins prior to them changin their mind after seeing someone cute, or having a hunger tickle or needin to find a bathroom. I mean who wants to commit to a noon kickoff anyways. We should just chill bro, and gangham style a solution when 20 somethings are ready for kickoff. Shit even the army won't seven generation to fight!
November 10th, 2012 at 10:40 PM ^
You are all missing the point.
First off, the student section is not half empty. It's only those nosebleeds up top. Do you ever wonder why it's only the nosebleeds? It's because us students do whatever we can to get closer to the field. Typically it's the freshmen who get seated up top. A lot of freshmen don't like being seen as freshmen based on where they sit, so they move. It's retarded, I know, but it's the way it is. I can guarantee that rows 1-80 are far more densely populated in the student section than anywhere else in the stadium.
And yes, there are a good portion of students who get too drunk before the games and don't make it. Some of you consider that I crime, I consider that being in college. Pregames are the best days of the year, so if you miss a NW or Illinois game once in a while and wake up somewhere in Ypsi, it is not disappointing.
With that said, the student section could be half full and we would still be the loudest section in the stadium. The fuckers who sit to our right either think we're on offense the entire game or don't have vocal cords. It's pathetic. When they do the 'M-I-C-H-I-G-A-N' chant, I have never once heard the I or C.
You can take a section away from us if you so desire, but those empty rows up top will never change. If you want some actual football student attendence issues, go to East Lansing.
November 10th, 2012 at 10:42 PM ^
I can hear the C pretty well in section 3. Its the A I can't hear.
November 10th, 2012 at 11:08 PM ^
Freshmen sit in the top rows now? I thought they were in the endzones.
I disagree with the idea that nothing can be done to stop this, because it wasn't that long ago that we didn't have these huge empty swathes in the student section (and people used to move down to better seats back then, too).
I fully agree that the students are the loudest fans at the games - but that's what's frustrating about this. They could be better. A lot of us complaining are former students who got to the games on time when we were in school and screamed our heads off for four quarters. We see the current students, who are supposed to be carrying that torch now, not doing all they can to keep it going. I don't know if the student section should be shrunk, but I think going to general admission might help.
November 11th, 2012 at 12:05 AM ^
November 10th, 2012 at 10:40 PM ^
November 10th, 2012 at 10:45 PM ^
Wake up young padawan!!! Wake up! You will never get this time back!
November 10th, 2012 at 10:47 PM ^
November 10th, 2012 at 11:20 PM ^
November 10th, 2012 at 11:31 PM ^
November 11th, 2012 at 9:25 AM ^
This is a none issue. Leave the kids alone you ol curmudgeons. I personally think Kovacs saying "that end" at the OT coin flip and crowd performance during OT should have preempted such a strange post. He didn't pick the "traditionally" alum section did he?
November 10th, 2012 at 11:16 PM ^
Honestly, I don't think positive incentives work that often in these cases. A half-drunk student is probably not going to forego that last drink just to get the freebie of the week.
There simply needs to be more pressure to get to the games on time - more fear of being late. When I was in school (a decade ago), I knew that if I didn't get there on time, I would not be able to sit in my actual seat. I'd be stuck in a crappier seat somewhere - maybe not even in my section. Apparently that fear of being late is gone now. The AD can bring it back by either giving seat priority to those who show up on time or simply going to straight-up general admission.
November 10th, 2012 at 11:40 PM ^
All this squeeze down crap has always happened but people used to bring bottles in with them, now people drink till 1 and then sashe into the "student section. I just started early and watched the clock.
November 11th, 2012 at 11:24 AM ^
hey look jmblue is talking down to people with blanket statements. Junior I showed to Michigan games 2 hours early when I was working on my PhD at Michigan. When I was using my parents tickets, I would show up 2 hours early. This year, my first year as a victors club member and season ticket holder, I show up 2 hours early. However, not everyone is as hardcore as I am. Some of my friends show up late because they have numerous other commitments such as rehearsels with the music theater department on Saturday mornings or they just don't care as much as I do. Yet they pull with Michigan with all of their heart. When I say all I read in this thread is bitch bitch bitch and whine whine whine, that is all this thread is. One GIANT bitchfest from those individuals who only see the world in black and white. Get over yourself.
November 10th, 2012 at 10:40 PM ^
November 10th, 2012 at 10:41 PM ^
November 10th, 2012 at 10:54 PM ^
All I am reading is bitch bitch bitch and whine whine whine. Who gives a shit. Jeebus first world problems.
November 10th, 2012 at 11:18 PM ^
Figures that a Purdue guy would say this. All of Ross-Ade Stadium looked like our student section at kickoff a few weeks ago.
November 11th, 2012 at 11:17 AM ^
here we go again...Just becuase I chose to go to another school that has a higher ranked physics department while I still rooted against Purdue and pulled for Michigan, then earned two degrees from Michigan and now am I season ticket holder for Michigan, I am some how don't understand. Junior, just don't. I have more Michigan blood in me then you will ever have. I don't see you planning trips to the UP to follow the hockey team on their last UP road trip. this is a fight you will NOT win.
November 11th, 2012 at 11:21 AM ^
He'll win. Any time the poster you're arguing with has a meltdown and gets banned for the 27th time it's a victory.
November 11th, 2012 at 11:28 AM ^
except now I teach physics and I know my students follow me on this blog and on twitter. I watch my language and what I say now. Yes, this is a battle I will win. As long as we are wipping it out. The money I donate to Michigan and the trips across the country, prove I BLEED michigan. but somehow I don't understand after 7 years of student tickets at Michigan.
By the way your gif in that lame sec 1 thread is hilarious.
November 11th, 2012 at 11:31 AM ^
We all grow up eventually. Sad but true. Now if I ever become as cranky as Section 1, I'm going to throw myself in front of a train.
November 11th, 2012 at 11:47 AM ^
I will join you.
November 10th, 2012 at 10:54 PM ^
I was near row 30 by kick off and I haven't felt like it was that packed in a long time. We all had to stand sideways although it may have been better in other places. That said the top rows seemed very spaced out.
November 10th, 2012 at 10:56 PM ^
I can't even imagine being late for a game ever. That's almost as bad as missing a game.
My crazy ass went in at 10am today. That's what I usually do for Noon starts to stand by the tunnel for warmups.
First one in, last one out. Want to spend all the time I can in the greatest place on earth.
November 10th, 2012 at 10:57 PM ^
The one thing that really irked me as a current student was the numerous times that students in the endzone tried to start the wave. When we were losing. Come on guys, use your heads and focus on the game.
November 10th, 2012 at 10:59 PM ^
The wave should only be used when Michigan is blowing a team out.
November 10th, 2012 at 11:06 PM ^
I'm pretty sure they tried to start it when Colter went down with an injury as well. Also during an injury against Airforce. The really bad part is when the rest of the stadium doesn't do it as well they start booing. So they boo during an injury timeout. That REALLY upset me and embarrassed me as a student.
November 10th, 2012 at 10:59 PM ^
But during the early and mid 80s there were always late students. Me and my friends would do morning tail gating. Nothing like drinking at 800 AM for a noon game, especially when you were out getting hammered on Friday Night! We always wanted to see the player touch the banner running out onto the field!
November 10th, 2012 at 11:11 PM ^
FWIW, I graduated from Virginia Tech this spring and we had the same issue in my four years. It seemed to get worse each year even though VT has been consistently good, especially at home. We also have a great team entrance with 'Enter Sandman', so I could never figure out why you would want to miss that. I don't think there's any way around it.
November 10th, 2012 at 11:16 PM ^
I first had access to student tickets in 2003, when I was issued top row (98 or 99, I forget) tickets. I could lean against the top wall and watch the game from the nosebleeds. I never missed a kickoff. In fact during the entire Lloyd Carr era I walked into one game late, a EMU blowout and I only missed half the first (and have a good excuse).
I graduated before the RR began, but thanks to a grad student friend who was happy to buy season tickets and sell them at face, I had a steady stream of tickets. I actually still have unused tickets for that era, as in I didn't go and I was too disinterested to even scalp them. After sitting through 2008, it just killed them.
So first give the student body time to cycle in a new generation whose souls weren't crushed by the crap offense of 2008 and the crap defense of the rest of the RR tenture. Going to games is like voting, it is a habit you need to get into. With RR you pretty much had to stay at the tailgate drinking until midway through the second. You didn't want to be capable of feeling pain come the end of the game.
The other thing is the stadium atmosphere has steadily gone downhill. In 2003 you could bring in an unopened water bottle and the gate workers tended to look the other way on snack food. I remember cruising in fifteen to twenty minutes before the game, settling down, having some water, hitting the flask, and eating the snack I'd smuggled in.
Now gate security is a lot tougher. During the cold games you can smuggle in stuff under bulky jackets, but during the early months the options you can bring through security are limited. So I can see why most students would stay at the tailgate for one last hotdog as opposed to entering early and paying through the nose for a stadium one. They are broke ass college kids after all.
Finally pregame has always been blue hair time. All these weird cheers and stuff that I has a student had no interest in. I remember sitting there with this cute blonde girl, sharing pulls off my flask and mocking our rich musical hertigage of songs from the 1920s. Also how the old people all showed up an hour early.
If we're going to do anything, I'd say go back to the circa 2003 rules for bringing stuff into the stadium. I know the bottled water ban pissed a lot of people out and it just one symptom of the degrading stadium atmosphere. We have a lot of cops on patrol than we used to and the ushers are much bitcher than they were in the past/
Secondly if you want the kids in early, throw them some bones in the pregame. Varsity is not that great of a song and there isn't that much else going on.
(The other issue I think that is overlooked is the AAPD is really cracking down hard on State Street and those environs. These days it much harder to stage yourself at a party near the stadium around say 11 am. They're pushing people back and increasing transit time of the drunks from their house party to the student section. It used to be you could start walking at 11, hit six other parties, and then roll into the stadium about 11:45 or so.)
November 10th, 2012 at 11:24 PM ^
Whoa, hold on. You're bitching about the "M Fanfare," "Let's Go Blue," "Varsity" and the "Victors"? That's the MMB's pregame lineup - and it is awesome. It gets great crowd participation. I don't think that's the problem at all.
November 10th, 2012 at 11:52 PM ^
Indeed. Although 'Varsity' and 'Let's go blue,' are somewhat recent additions to the pregame lineup. Varsity not being added until 1996 and Let's go blue being added just in the last several years.
The pre-Varsity days, the band would break into a random formation and play a fun song where they usually danced during a percussion solo, like this...
It was fun to watch but I hardly think a dance number is going to get the students to the game on time. Surely it's a generational thing.
November 10th, 2012 at 11:31 PM ^
Well the cute blonde girl I happen to be with goes in with me when gates open to get there by the tunnel for warmups.
Your loss missing the pregame.
November 10th, 2012 at 11:53 PM ^
There's this guy that's usually near me in the student section that wears maize football pants, a jersey, and receiver gloves to every game. In my mind I've started envisioning you as that guy. You're kind of ruining tht illusion for me with this additional information, though.
November 11th, 2012 at 12:14 PM ^
I don't understand the point of wearing receiver gloves to games. That's like drinking out of my 1947 Western Conference champions glass. You just don't. You'll ruin it.
And leave the football pants to the actual football players. Eeesh.
November 10th, 2012 at 11:56 PM ^
The content of your post is hilariously in contrast to your "tradition" avatar. Just an fyi.
November 10th, 2012 at 11:17 PM ^
Those jackwagons were trying to start it when we were down 24-21 in the 3rd quarter. You do the wave when we are winning by 14+ (generally)! Not when the team requires you to pay attention and yell.
And I'm not some crotchity old guy. I graduated 2 years ago and it used to be understood when the wave was done. Fortunately, all attempts died cruel deaths today
November 11th, 2012 at 1:47 AM ^
November 11th, 2012 at 3:13 AM ^