Ouch from the Daily Campus

by **Terry Webster** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 5:20 am

http://www.smudailycampus.com/football- ... -1.2653972

by **2ndandlong** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 5:38 am

Damn. That's scathing.

I can't say I agree with the approach. Insulting the student body will not turn them out in droves, but I hope it works.

by **Terry Webster** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 5:58 am

i found it interesting that he said that the players prefer playing on the road in front of a packed stadium (Memphis not included). Bodes well for our three big away games.

by **StallionsModelT** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 6:27 am

Couldn't agree more. Kudos to the author. What I saw on Saturday was utterly embarrassing.

by **ericdickerson4life** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 6:29 am

Hey it was hot and some had to take a nap before their parties later that night. You know it's tough to get drunk and make a fool of yourself without at least 12 hours of beauty sleep.

by **StallionsModelT** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 6:39 am

Also, this would give me great pause to add SMU if I were the Big East. We have some of the worst student support in the country and every team that comes to Ford leaves thinking how the hell we are D1.

by **JesuitPony** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 6:49 am

Here's the article:

College football is a chance for a school to unite around its team and build spirit and camaraderie between its students, faculty and athletes. Most collegiate football schools get this, where students camp outside ticket offices or fans drive hours to cheer on their team.
Most schools thrive in this, except SMU. After having a dream come true with the invitation to walk-on to the football team in fall 2010, I believed I'd be able to be a part of watching SMU rise from the ashes and become a powerhouse. After back to back bowl trips and a 5-1 season record including a win over archrival TCU, I thought surely the days of empty stadiums and an uncaring student body were over. Boy was I wrong.

The UCF game was a testament to how stubborn and pathetic our student body is, and how our school has completely failed to capture the attention of a city.

It wasn't halfway through the second quarter when students began to whine about the heat and leave. I'm sorry you guys had to sit in your air conditioned homes during the summer while my teammates and I sweated in three months of 100 degree heat preparing for the season. I'm sorry a 38-17 whooping of the defending conference champs wasn't thrilling enough for you.

Our coaches and my teammates have spent countless hours in the film room and meetings getting ready (not to mention bringing national attention and thousands of new applicants each year) and this is how our community thanks us?

Don't be surprised now when I say it's more fun for us to play on the ROAD than it is at home. At least the opposing team's fans show up, and the game experience resembles what I dreamed about rather than the pee-wee football experience we have here where it seems only the players' parents are in the stands.

Granted, thanks must be given to the loyal student body that remains the whole game and actually knows what "Beans" is and the season ticket holder who had to endure years of embarrassment.
But those true fans only go three rows deep in the student section and are spread throughout the rest of the stadium. Part of the reason no one stays/comes in the first place is because the game experience is pitiful compared to what it could be.

We as players thrive off the energy of the crowd; it provides us with that extra boost to perform at our highest level. Hey, sound guy, turn the music up because I shouldn't be able to hear my friend next to me. Hey, announcer, let me know when it's third down so I can scream my head off.
I mean if TCU can set up an impressive billboard 100 feet from our stadium, I feel SMU can do better. We as a football team set the goal at the beginning of the season of being the BEST. Not average or good. The best. I suggest the student body and school do the same.

Stephen Nelson is a sophomore majoring in business with a minor in Spanish. He can be reached for comment at [email protected]

What does Beans mean?

by **Dutch** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 7:05 am

What is beans?

by **Ikus** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 7:08 am

Great article.
I'd say he pretty much nailed it. I hope every student who wasn't there or left early reads it.
Good for him. Keep winning and the fans will show up, although clearly it will take longer than some of us hoped.

by **95mustang** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 7:34 am

When I was in school right after the DP, one of my best friends who played for us said the same thing about playing at home vs away. Sad that the issue still persists 20+ years later!

by **ponyte** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 7:39 am

How many students live off campus and how difficult does the University make it for them to park? Use to be a pretty significant number of students lived off campus and parking has always been a challenge. Why go to a game that is televised when one has to face parking issues on their own school campus?

And even if every kid showed up, the stadium would still look lean. The key isn't the students but the other fans. Pack the house and the students will come cause there will be the excitement and buzz they seek without sitting in front of a TV.

For TCU, The House was packed and the student section was rocking. After that, even the students can look across the way and see weak attendance from the non student fans.

It isnâ€™t the students. It has been the product. And after decades of Pye inspired ineptitude, it will take time for the students to buy back into the football team.

by **Nacho** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 7:43 am

i'v said it a million times.
we have to be good and play a good name team for fans to show up.
we are now good.
the problem saturday is not that ucf isn't good but nobody in dallas knows who they are.
when we play a good name team the fans will turn out.
i know it's pathectic but smu has always been that way and no amount of marketing is going to change it.

by **PonyKai** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 7:47 am

Should have come from a non-football team member. Change that one little fact and it's a very appropriate letter.

by **RGV Pony** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 7:53 am

makes some decent points, but yeah, seems kind of like having explosives strapped to ones chest coming from a team member.

Glad this season is different, because last year at times it felt appropriate to write a similar letter about how I/we thought the times of throwing thousands of dollars in support away for the team when showing up for a big road game and seeing them lay an egg, looking in a funk, unmotivated and running in sand.

The best part of the letter is the key..where it talks about capturing the imagination of the city. That's a huge part of the puzzle, and one that I would represent SMU hasnt even attempted to solve or has the slightest idea where to start.

by **FriscoChuck** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 7:55 am

We have a lost generation of fans but the student section should be packed for every game. For the UCF game I think many of the students moved around to the west stands to move out of the sun.

This article is harsh but needed. Time for all students to step up! Like it or not, more visibility for our sports teams only increases the value of all of our degrees.