Ford Game Day -- Not Kid Friendly

[ponyboy]

Speaking of that, does Bordano have a tent on the Boulevard? Saw a space with the name at the game the other day.

[FordtoTolbert]

The [deleted] and moaing is more pissy, divisive, counter productive, mean spirited vs. before....3/4ths. of mine was with toungue firmly planted in cheek. To what end with this [deleted] and moan? What? Phil is going to say, "Shazam, those dudes on PonyFans are sharp, I never thought of that..?" I am not saying we go "Sunshine Central" here, but all the you are stupid, everyone's an idiot, what a bunch of dumb asses you / we are, etc., etc., etc has created an environment that stinks, it's old. Nothing is any good, we do nothing right..it has gotten to the point where it is about the price of Cokes, dogs on the 'vard and how crappy the band is....what's the point? No wonder we have 8200 in the stands, I think more than half of the problem is with the fan vibe versus W and L's.....Long Live Red McClain.

[ALEX LIFESON]

Ah, my good friend Red! Who could forget his famous cheer?

We love the RED!!! we love the BLUE!!! and we love our Mustangs...................from S-M-U!!!

[gostangs]

Most of the [deleted] is being done by old bitter farts or old bitter farts in training. Think of it as static background noise that will go away (or at least get quieter) if and when we have a few wins. Most of these people dont realize that constant harping with no positive suggestions is a loser attitude.

By the way - you don't start asking for an upstream security guy who is obviously only going to support the person who is doing what they are told. Go to a different gate and have your young tyke stick his ball in the back of his jersey and walk right in. Works for my son every time.

[LakeHighlandsPony]

In my days this is why all of we guys were accompanied by a "pregnant" woman. Easy way to get a football in the stadium, and many other things. Yet to have a yellow shirt "frisk" an expecting mom.

What about men with large guts?

[LakeHighlandsPony]

Actually I complained that they need more water vendors at the game and guess what---They have people selling water and gatorade every 10 feet!! Moaning and griping had a positive out come.

Guess what-I bet my season tickets come in July next year rather than me having to pickup reprints 14 hours before kickoff.

[PonySnob]

Actually I complained that they need more water vendors at the game and guess what---They have people selling water and gatorade every 10 feet!! Moaning and griping had a positive out come.

Guess what-I bet my season tickets come in July next year rather than me having to pickup reprints 14 hours before kickoff.

Where you out on the boulevard this past Saturday? I didn't see you out there.

[Longtime]

Most of the so-called complaining on this board is, in actuality, constructive criticism. You just have to decipher it.

When someone complains about long lines at the concession stands, a good administrator reads that as "We need more people working the concession stands."

You can take just about every whine, moan and complaint on this board and turn it around as a suggestion to improve the fan experience at SMU. A good administration does that, and a good fan base offers such suggestions.

Most of the people on this board are going to keep coming back to SMU games no matter how bad the service is. Poor customer service is something we've grown accustomed to. However, it's our complaints that lead to better service for the first-time customer who may give SMU only one chance to make a good impression. It's those first-time consumers who give SMU an opportunity to grow its fan base.

So, how's that for positive spin?

[EastStang]

I agree. Bellyaching is bad, but when there is something that is genuinely unsettling, it should be pointed out. You don't want kids (our future fans) having a bad SMU experience, and if the communications need to be improved, or the training of staff needs a little improvement that should be passed along to Orsini.

[SC Pony]

On the other hand, kids that aren't mine aren't so cute and I don't want them throwing footballs to their buddies in front of me (or at me) while I watch a game or whatever. Sometimes parents forget that their angels can be obnoxious to others. Most of SMU's rules make sense and are consistent with other stadiums, although I'm not a fan of the "no-in-and-out" rule.

[Pony in SA]

Unfortunately the point I was trying to make on this has been missed, or I probably did not do a good job of explaining my frustration. It is not necessarily about kids being able to bring footballs in the stadium or not, instead it is more about "the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing" at SMU. As I said in my first post, what is the policy so everyone knows and it can be enforced equally ?

I think Orsini is an improvement, but there still is room for more and there needs to be someone responsible for coordinating what we want done at events and on Game Day between the ticket office, the stadium staff, etc. We need to be on the same page as much as possible so it is easier for the fans to know what is expected as well as the staff.

You can not tell people no footballs are allowed under any circumstance in the stadium and then sell the exact same footballs in the stadium, and have the people selling the footballs tell you "sure, the kids can play with them in the endzone" Just like you should not say tickets are available for purchase Game Day or you can pick them up at Will Call and then there be all the ticket problems discussed on other posts. There needs to be some coordination between what are the policies so those working Game Day all know it. For example, if we want to say no ticket sales 3 hours prior to the game fine as a policy, just let everyone know it, post a sign outside the ticket office, and then tell the people in the ticket office what the policy is.

I don't want footballs thrown in front of me at a game either, and if the policy is no footballs that is fine. Just enforce it. I think it is mickey mouse to say well here is the policy but if you go to a different gate and see a different yellow shirt you can get around it. Sort like the in and out policy complaints. If our policy is no in and out except threw a certain gate, everyone should have to go out thru that designated gate per the policy and not be able to get around it.

If policies are uniformly applied so everyone knows the rules and what to expect it will be easier for the fans and easier for those working at the stadium to enforce (i.e. -- everyone knows to go out gate so and so if you want to come back in, everyone knows you can not have footballs in the stadium so we should not sell them there, etc.)

I also still think someone needs to come with a good policy for the grassy end zone area, maybe some fencing which looks good as previously suggested, because that is a bigger liability issue for the school with kids running, rolling, etc. down the hills in that area.

[mrydel]

You can not tell people no footballs are allowed under any circumstance in the stadium and then sell the exact same footballs in the stadium, and have the people selling the footballs tell you "sure, the kids can play with them in the endzone"

Once again, this is marketing. It is not "No footballs allowed in the stadium". It is "You are not allowed to bring a football into the stadium, buy one of ours."

This is no different than "you can not bring your hot dog in to the stadium, but you can buy ours."

I have not been to a stadium in years that allows a person to bring in their own refreshments. When I was little, I used to go to the movies with my parents and we would take bags of Hamburgers and FFs to eat during the movie. They finally learned that by not allowing food in and by charging $10.00 for a box of pop corn and $15.00 for a coke that they could make a bunch more money.

I am sorry that you can not take the football in just like I am sorry I can not carry my own food in but I certainly understand the marketing behind it and do not think you would find many differences many other places.

[Pony in SA]

Your point is a very good one, and I'm all for us selling my SMU gear and products at the stadium for the fans. Lord knows I have bought things over the years.

Just wish better communication and coordination with the fans and staff as to what some policies are (especially if things have now changed), and then uniform enforcement of the policies.

This is especially true if all the ticket office problems exist as reported on other posts. We need to make sure tickets are easily available to as many fans as we can.

By the way I'm actually not sorry about not being able to bring the football in -- it saves me one less thing to carry from our tailgates.

[Special_Delivery_Smu_Fans]

re: "still think someone needs to come with a good policy for the grassy end zone area, maybe some fencing which looks good as previously suggested, because that is a bigger liability issue for the school with kids running, rolling, etc. down the hills in that area"

I agree. Solve it and be done with it.

I always thought it would be really neat to have a tumbling water fountain in the grassy hill endzone. Gravity would do half the work.

But I know that won't ever happen unless someone would donate a ton of money and require part of the funds had to be used for the fountain. Isn't there a baseball stadium that when you see ESPN highlights there is a fountain behind home plate or in the outfield?

[SmooBoy]

The Royals' Kauffman Stadium