Home attendance

[ponytalk]

ok, I have complained about this a lot, but I now have a point. SMU has a winning record at Ford. We are 3-2 at home. If we had some fan support at the Tulane or San Jose game, maybe we would be 4-1. Why can't we have a decent home crowd, statistically, we have no excuse why we shouldn't. I felt bad for Doak's wife, SMU's greatest hero was honored in front of a lousy crowd. That is embarrasing. That shows that not only the students but alumni have no spirit or pride toward SMU, the Mustangs, or the greats at SMU. To those of you who were not at the game, you missed a good one.

[This message has been edited by ponytalk (edited 11-14-2000).]

[Charleston Pony]

I've said for years our fan support is as poor as any Division I program in the country, and has been for a long, long time. I'm talking all the way back to when I was at SMU in the early 70's. Even when we were winning SWC championships in the 80's with an NFL/star-studded lineup, we were depending on Texas, Arkansas and A$M to help us draw anywhere near sellout crowds.

If you take a closer look, though, you will see our attendance is not much worse than a Duke, Wake Forest, Tulane, etc... Look at TCU. They are enjoying tremendous success, but only drawing 31k per game in a 44k seat facility. Most small private universities share the same problem (their communities don't identify with or support them).

Ford Stadium is a wonderful facility for us and if we can put a competitive product on the field, we should average 20-25k, which is respectable and will "show" favorably at Ford. I agree more support could only help motivate our guys. By the way, we had 26k to start the Tulane game, but the way we were manhandled in the 1st half, most decided to bail out before it turned into a game like last year's in Tulane. I thought it was a pretty decent 60 minute effort by our guys.

[MustangMom]

I could not travel to the game this past weekend, but heard about the crowd. How embarrassing, expecially since the great Doak Walker's number was retired.

I did not realize that SMU has always had this problem. How very sad for the students, they don't know what they are missing. I know if the team had a winning season the crowd would be better - but in my book if your team plays hard and keeps trying you should be there to support them.

I am "preaching to the choir" when I post this, because I bet most of the people who post on this site get to as many of the games as they can.

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Go Mustangs!!
-MustangMom

[ponytalk]

CP,
thanks for the history, I did not relize that SMU has never supported sports. That is a shame. It makes me feel better, but still hacks me off.

[Charleston Pony]

Ponytalk: let me clarify something. I did'nt say SMU has NEVER supported SPORTS. Remember, the Cotton Bowl is the "House Doak built". In that era, SMU would sellout regularly. In the Doc Hayes era of SMU basketball, Moody was packed on a regular basis. You can order a media guide and check the stats on attendance.

The fact is that we are a small private university that might have 50,000 living alumni (couldn't begin to guess how many live in Dallas and are sports fans). Dallas sports fans have professional teams competing for their affections (and dollars to spend on tickets) and there are far more Aggies, Longhorns & other public school graduates than there are Mustangs in the area.

Our facilities are well aligned with our modern history crowds. My point was originally intended to simply caution that we cannot and should not expect sellout crowds week in, week out. Having said that, I would love to see us return to top 25 caliber play in both football & bball and for SMU to become a "hot ticket" in Big D!

[ponytalk]

I understand that, then again, in the days of Doak, it was a whole different story. You did not have all of the hype and bs that you do know with sports. Thanks, CP.

[Rayburn]

Honest-to-God folks, we should have retired The Doaker's number 50 years ago in front of 75,000 in the Cotton Bowl.

Have we retired anyone else's? Meredith? Mr. Stollenwerk's? Bobby Wilson?

[MustangMatt]

Rayburn,
I believe this year was the first year we began retiring numbers. So far, Lamar Hunt, Forrest Gregg, Raymond Berry, and Doak's jerseys have been retired. At the TCU game, Eric Dickerson's will be retired.
Here, you might enjoy these pictures...






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[This message has been edited by MustangMatt (edited 11-15-2000).]

[MustangMom]

Great photos!!!

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Go Mustangs!!
-MustangMom