Down In Front/You're Too Loud
I wouldn't make this topic probably on any other night, but hey, why is this night fucking different from every other night - yes, we had a kick ass passover Seder - but this is erev the motherfucking Final Four.
So roast me if you gotta, but I think it's time for a PSA.
I was at the whole LA regional. It was pretty much a perfect trip. We got the joy of a hide the children ass whipping vs. A&M and the tension and eventual ecstacy of a nervy game against FSU. David, from this site, was an excellent game companion and we cheered like a Final Four berth was on the line and did our best to help our guys bring it home.
Now, here's a thing. I'm really loud. Not loud like, yeah, that guy's high volume, but more loud like whoa. I wasn't at more than 70-80% for FSU (no beer really hurts my volume game), but I still have the air raid siren and then the voice of a Roman Centurion trying to peel bark. I come to participate. I believe we all need to embrace the participate - neutral court home games don't just happen by themselves.
But at the FSU game, I got caught between the veritable Scylla and Charybdis of the Michigan fanbase. The guy in front of me had tender ears. He said, "dude, you gotta stand up and scream over me if you're that loud." So, I stood up. The reasonably young people behind me - younger than me - and seemingly able bodied complained, "when you stand, we can't see anything." You can imagine my complete fucking shock when I realized that neither one of them was of two broke legs when in the last minute of the game, they finally stood with the rest of us. Here's a thing if you're able bodied. Stand the fuck up. It's not like I was standing the whole game, just when it was time to lean into a crowd surge, or when our end (we were behind the defending basket in the 2nd half) got stirred up like a hornet's nest and really dug into howling at FSU while they tried to run offense.
And so, I found myself during most of that half sitting on the arm rest of my seat, high enough to get above tender ear's ears and scrunched low enough to let the non-invalid's behind me to see the game. To be clear, we all hugged long and well after the game, and tender ears and I even had a laugh about it when we happened to be at the same men's sink after the team had cut down the nets. I really had to pee. Warning: when a guy brings six water bottles to his seat before a half, he's probably ready to make some serious noise.
To the point, I really think we need to excise so much of this from our fanbase. Can't handle volume but want to be at a game? Bring ear plugs. Don't feel like standing up when it's time to stand up? Either don't complain or just use those things called legs and get with the program.
More to the point, though, in about 16 hours, we need everyone who was able to get a ticket to the game to get red ass throughout, to help turn the Michigan section into a unified source of explosive sound and we need to think of comfort as miles secondary to doing whatever we can do to help the team win. I wish I could be there - it just wasn't possible to get to this one. I'm counting on you guys doing all you can to get us one more game. If we do win, I'll be right in the middle of a UM section on Monday night, as long as mgoblog got the sections right. We'll be outnumbered Saturday night, so UM fans have to give all that they have to give.
A pox on the down in fronters, and I humbly submit that if the cheering and encouragement occurs at only appropriate times, there really should be no such thing as "too loud" for our fanbase. Let's boot Scylla and Charybdis like a million miles the fuck out of here.
I'm sure everyone who's going to be there is intending to bring it. I'm suggesting, take your volume/participation goal, and then aim for a little more. This is a team to love, this is a huge opportunity, cheer and yell like our basketball lives depend on it. And if someone complains, tell them there's a higher goal and that's just how it's going to be. You lucky few - our hopes are in your hands. Cheer with all you've got when the team is streaking forward, and cheer that much louder to buck them up if they struggle at any point on Saturday night.
Down in front? NO. Up in back.
GO BLUE
or yelling during timeouts.
This wasn't a paean to rude fandom - at least by the definition I would apply - but it is an admonition to those who don't participate or would whine and bitch about other people participating and supporting the team in a way that is appropriate and useful.
March 31st, 2018 at 10:05 AM ^
Without knowing how loud you were, how much you were yelling, and how long you were standing for at a stretch. It's hard to tell if you were just being a regular exuberant fan amongst a crowd of girly-men, or a giant annoying A-hole.
March 31st, 2018 at 10:17 AM ^
although not sure where you get a whole crowd of girly men. The section we were in was generally awesome, very involved in the game. This just referenced two people in front and two in the row behind, who seemed like a decent set of avatars for a part of the UM fanbase that is pretty dispiriting.
I think an annoying a hole has no sense of the flow of the game and makes noise just to make noise, particuarly when it's not useful. Who screams at the refs for fouls that are obviously fouls. Who is basically a stupid fan. I know basketball. Yeah, I am crazy loud for 3 out of every 4 defensive possessions played on the hoop I am sitting 20 feet from and that's what fans should be doing. That's what fans of every passionate basketball program who understand basketball are doing.
March 31st, 2018 at 12:09 PM ^
I can agree with that.
March 31st, 2018 at 11:30 AM ^
Bo called Michigan fans "the wine and cheese set" for a reason.
The "down in front" thing only happens at Michigan and it always will as long as a large portion of M fans want to sit on their hands and cheer AFTER the play ends.
This is why M stadium is not considered a difficult place to play away games.
Here was a rumor going around that they were going to start kicking people out of Ohio Stadium for standing up/cheering and the AD put out several announcements that this urgedwas absolutely untrue and urged their fans to stand up as much as they want and make as much noise as possible.
Agreed. I don't think standing is justified unless you can't see. I don't mind standing every so often at Michigan Stadium. It usually works out pretty well on third downs. You'll see the vertical wave coming and everyone will stand for a bit, then sit down. Better than sitting -- or standing -- all game IMO.
To the OP: I would've given the people behind you priority over the ones in front of you. Noise is definitely part of the game. Unnecessarily obstructed views shouldn't be.
There are lots of moments in a basketball game when it is time to stand. When your team is in the midst of a run putting them up 38-30, you should damn well be standing during that run. It's intimidating to the other team to not only feel the game is getting away from them, but to feel, hear, and see that the "home" crowd is riled up and just getting louder and more into the game.
Anyone who is able bodied and doesn't stand during such a moment is a useless fan.
Checks out. ;)
"I don't mind standing every so often at Michigan Stadium"
Contrast that to this response at the very idea of sitting down in Ohio Stadium that caused an 8 hour debate/non-debate in Columbus where they emphatically support "stand up, cheer, do as much as you can"
http://www.cleveland.com/osu/2014/09/can_fans_stand_in_ohio_stadium.html
Honestly, there exists a compromise solution where some sections can be reserved for people that do not wish/cannot stand and others could be tagged as "spirit" sections where anything goes, but AD has never attempted any sort of solution. Yes, I know people have ad their season tickets/sections forever, so perhaps some type of system gets implemented slowly over time.....the sooner we start the sooner tis goes away.
No one wants to force older fans to stand when they can't, or interfere with their enjoyment of the game in any way. Big love for all M fans, but if everyone gives a little we could solve this pretty easily without harming anyone's experience in any way.
This is only an issue at M stadium.....nowhere else does this occur and this debate has raged for the entire 50+ years I have been a fan and there is no end in sight.
thread that went haywire. i am assuming some stimulants were involved, given the length of the OP, but maybe nothing more than coffee or red bull. can anyone check on OP later this morning, would also love a hangover report. could be a couch ride all day for OP, some tylenol, mountain dew, eventually walking by mid-afternoon. maybe not though, maybe OP is a varsity 3:00 drunk?
ASK THIS GUY IF HE'S OK!!!!!!
I find it predictable, sad, and depressingly hilarious that a post that encourages participation at a game where A FUCKING NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME BERTH IS ON THE LINE is too much for some of the precious ears around these parts or the people who treasure their rights to be useless fucking mutes who feel the intimidation of their numbers is best expressed by sitting and wearing maize clothing.
epic post. fun. adds color. great to see once in a while and i, like i suppose many here, honor your fandom.
go blue and i hope you are feeling great.
a little less sick with nerves than last night.
It just sometimes feels like people think a library is intimidating if everyone is wearing the same color of clothing.
I get that some people here might be intimidated by a library...
go for a run or walk or go lift weights or go cut wood or do yard work or whatever. use up that energy in good ways, burn a little jet fuel off. i do that with my bird dog when we hunt, and it helps us both.
although I have to get to the bar hella early.
Unlike being at a game, I do NOT like standing all game in a bar. That's both useless and uncomfortable.
Oh - I also like to blow off steam by getting in petty and predictable arguments with people on mgoblog
you've come to the right place. we may not be mlive or RCMB, but we've got our share.
Oh man--this AND Coach Sherbert. A+ drunkposting last night.
I go to almost all of the home games at Michigan Stadium. We have many older fans in my section who are physically not able to stand all game. How much of an accomodation is it to respect that not every one can stand for three or four hours and do what you can to make their viewing experience worthwhile?
You get paid to stand up for the whole game and can shout all you want. If someone complains about you shouting you get on the radio and the Response Team will remove said person, Plus free lunch in Crisler at halftime to sit down for 15 minutes.
Love the logic that it's entitlement for other people to behave how they want, but YOU paid $100 for your ticket so you are...entitled(?) to act however you want
I "studied" the Iliad in Engin Great Books but these two don't ring a bell ...aren't all epic Greek poems the same?
so close
Some of them are similar in their themes, but the only real criticism that I could make regarding the OP's post is that it was not in dactylic hexameter, which is the "meter of epic" in the opinion of some. Having this rant in a metered form like that really would take it to another level.
that level of discipline.
Classic post - it should turn into a Posbang!!!!
But yeah, bring it tonight, fans! The world wants Sister Jean to win this aginst the big, mean, bball factories, a group of which Michigan is a part of tonight. Only Michigan fans are for us tonight, so make as much noise as you possibly can. The Alamodome will swallow up some of that noise just because its cavernous, so make more to cover that deficit!!
We spend way too much time sitting and being sedentary. Now I know some people really don't have a choice due to disabilities, etc, but you would really think that in this day and age they could designate a sitting section for the people who simply can't or wont stand. I can imagine that this would actually be a benefit for those types of people who probably cringe every time they "can't see" for the entire game.