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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by TheSkelf:
<B>1965,

First of all, the music stops when the clock starts. They never play over the band once the game starts. They play pretty low key music when the gates open, then rap for the players to warm up to, then as soon as the players leave the feild, they turn in back to low key. If the band would play something besides the fight song, then maybe they more people would listen.

(Skelf: Please justify your comments above in relation to your comment to MustangBandsman in the thread "Mascot/Fireworks Solution"...they're contradictory. Which side of the fence are you sitting on? OMG! Something more than the fight song? The Mustang Band has an incredible repetoire...it may not include tunes by Third Eye Blind, Linkin Park or Blink-182, to name a few...but they can still belt 'em out! And it's music that EVERYONE can enjoy...not just a small percentage of the folks sitting in Ford Stadium.)

I still only see a bunch of hot air coming out of your sorry butt. You still haven't given them any bright ideas. If you are so damned smart, then call them. I know they are always open for comment. I'm sure you would not be the first to meet with them and give input.

(Hmmm...let's see. Monday was a holiday and SMU was closed. I called today and never had my phone call returned. And I'm calling long-distance from Houston. I'll call again on Wednesday. Obviously whatever 'input' they've been given in the past was poor. Just how do you know they're always 'open for comment'? I'm beginning to suspect that you may work in the PR/Mktg. dept. at SMU...my 'bright ideas' are something that I'll be more than happy to share with these 'geniuses'...even though I'm sure they all have MBAs and should have thought of it themselves.)

All you do it gripe. I don't care what they do, if it gets people there. Right now there job is damned near impossible. They have to compete with so much in this freakin city and the team didn't win. It didn't just lose, it got reamed. Things wil turn around with the team and the fans will return as well.

(You don't care what they do if it gets people there? Be careful what you ask for... As for competition in Dallas, guess what? That's what PR/Mktg. people are paid to do! Respond to COMPETITON and PROMOTE!)

I'm sure they are racking their brain over in Ford trying to figure out how to get people there. You will never be happy.

(I'll be happy when these 'geniuses' quit coming up with lame and stupid ideas and 'get back to the basics'!)

The students aren't going to come to games if there are more rules placed on them. It sucks, but thats how it is. On the Boulevard I noticed the SMU PD making people poor out drinks. It may be the law, but most places it is over looked. I have been to tons of college football games with tailgating on campus and everyone is allowed to drink. Hell, when I was in high school , it was always fun to go the football game and drink with the college folks.

(So, you're condoning SMU allowing minors to be in possession of alcohol? That's true enlightenment on your part. Go to the head of the class. And it's sad to know that TCU contributed to your drinking at such an early age.)

The students today will jsut tell the school to shove it and they will go to the bars at 6 instead of 8 or 9. Then we will have no students.

(Too bad the SMU students can't 'do without' for about 3 hours.)

There wouldn't be time to do the 1982 reunion at the homecoming game. I bet you never noticed that the homecoming halftime is already a few minutes longer to accomodate the announcement of the homecoming king and queen. You are so intuitive, ever notice that fella?

(O.K. I'll give you this one...yes, Homecoming would not have been a good time for the 1982 team to be introduced. But, come on! The VERY first game for the new coach? Nothing like putting a little pressure on the guy, is there?)

What allumni are leaving because of the Maniac or because of the flyover? The Maniac is for the kids. Getting kids to like SMU is one of the best ways to get fans for the future. I grew up going to TCU games and until I was in HS, I was set on going to TCu, because that is what I knew. I chose to come to SMU, but I still go to TCU games too!

(Hey, I'm glad to hear that you go to BOTH SMU and TCU games! Both schools need all the help they can get! How many folks show up for TCU games in comparison to SMU games? There are other ways to get kids to come to an SMU game than some clown in a pseudo-Batman costume shooting out t-shirts!)

Kiss my big freckled butt!

(No, thanks. I'll let AD Copeland do that for you. He's had plenty of practice with Pres. Turner's rear end.)


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"Winning ain't everything...but it's a lot more fun than the alternative!"

I second everything TheSkelf just said and give his thoughts an A+++ rating. He obviously spends a lot of time doing research on the issues.

'65

I would still like to hear your ideas. You still seem to be all hot air.

I want to give the marketing department credit. They are trying HARD to get people to games and make it entertaining. The bottom line is...At SMU, you are going to have to win the latest home game to get fans to come back. They might have the hardest marketing job in the city, especially due to the record of SMU.

Times have changes, 1965. A great majority of people go to sporting events for the entertainment value. Not everything is for the love of the game, like it used to be. SMU must keep changing with the times. I thought the fly over was awesome, even though it was Navy. Those are the boys that are defending us. If you don't like the Maniac, then don't look at him. People need to focus on what they like. If it is football, then pay attention to the game. The true sports fans I know usually never even notice what is going on in the stands and endzone. If all you are upset about is the new genre of music being played and a mascot then things are pretty good. Unfortunately, they are not. We lost to Navy, a team that was 1-20 coming to Dallas.

Since our good friend is so eager to criticize I too would like to see what he thinks would get people into the stands. What does it take in your sports marketing mind to get people to the game?

I too am a bit perturbed about 1965's comments. I think, sir, that you are looking at things in a bit of a past cultural and societal context that, quite frankly, isn't a very fair or accurate frame of reference for today. I'm sorry...it seems you almost border on the dangerous and often inaccurate habit of remembering everything in the past as "perfect" and then expecting that experience to somehow translate over into today. Well, unfortunately, things change as does society. To be perfectly frank, maybe it has been this university's "inability" to adjust to modern times that has cause some of our greater problems.

Now, that being said, I think your heart is in the right place. I just feel you are ripping the wrong people over there in marketing. If anything, you have shown your complete lack of knowledge of marketing with some of the comments you have made on this board.

Hey, the band would like to play more music than just peruna, but NCAA rules forbid them to play when the ball is being snapped or when the ball is in motion... Nothing but various fight songs fit in that short amount of time!

Fellow Mustangs: Let me make one thing very clear, which I said in a previous post: I LOVE SMU! Even though I didn't attend school here, its history runs in my veins. My parents, one grandparent, several aunts & uncles and a cousin went here. My father was a 'yell leader' here in 1947/48 and still attends games.

I've been attending SMU football games since I was 9 months old. I've heard stories of Doak Walker and Kyle Rote and Forrest Gregg and Don Meredith. I watched Chuck Hixson, Jerry Levias, Keith Bobo, Mike Livingston, Craig James, Eric Dickerson, Lance McIlhenny and others in the Cotton Bowl, Texas Stadium, the remodeled Ownby Stadium and now Ford Stadium.

I have a 'history' of fond memories and not-so-fond memories but I've stuck by this school and its football team through all of it. And I will continue to do so...despite the fact that I don't agree with how the program is being marketed.

The message I want to get across is simple and it's effective: get back to the basics. A football game should be just that...a football game. Gimmicks, bells and whistles won't bring more fans to a game or produce a winning team. Talent on the team and a strong fan base composed of students, alumni and local residents throughout the Dallas/Ft. Worth area will!

Let's close this thread with this thought: reasonable minds can disagree. We all want SMU's football program to succeed. We just all have different thoughts on how it should be done. I don't agree with how it's currently being done. It won't stop me from driving 300 miles from Houston to see a game when my schedule permits and yelling my butt off for the Mustangs.

I'll express my thoughts and ideas to the appropriate parties at SMU in a letter. I appreciate many of you taking the time to express yourself in this thread! You've 'opened my eyes' to a lot about SMU and where its football program may be headed.

GO MUSTANGS!


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"Winning ain't everything...but it's a lot more fun than the alternative!"

[This message has been edited by MrMustang1965 (edited 09-05-2002).]

[This message has been edited by MrMustang1965 (edited 09-09-2002).]

Anyone else notice the deafening silence when SMU's newest freakshow came out of the tunnel? Put that thing out of its misery. It will never fly without a winner on the field. When Coach Bennett has us piling up wins, which is coming soon, you could drag out a dead animal and fans will go crazy.