Being a Fan - Advice Please

[Dutch]

down in front.

[Mestengo]

what got really annoying were some students came into the lower part of 104 and sat in some lower seats and started yelling at the players they knew and would stand on every play, i am all for standing on 3rd down or on big plays (and almost always do), but for how much i paid for tickets i didn't pay to have students standing in front of me

What she said.

[Alaric]

I suppose its mostly older people; at USC games it was the same way on the alumni side at USC games. Older people complain about standing because it takes a lot to stand for nearly 4 hours, but I understand. Still makes it frustrating when you want to stand. Student Section was standing the whole game and was loud for most of it. It made the game more fun being over there.

We really enjoyed ourselves over there next to the students. I wonder if there would be an interest for some of us to add seats over there where we can feed off the students and help them keep the noise up.

It would look really good to fill another section or two on that side with noisy fans. The "alumni" side looks relatively full on a week to week basis as it is.

I was a little behind you all and was shocked when I saw the cops come down...felt pretty disgusted that people complained about the spirit you all showed. Write a letter to June Jones and I'll sign it. That and seeing all the people who didn't actually bother to come into the stadium left me with a bad feeling, especially when we're seeing real progress with the program first the first time in 20 years.

[peruna11]

I was a little behind you all and was shocked when I saw the cops come down...felt pretty disgusted that people complained about the spirit you all showed. Write a letter to June Jones and I'll sign it. That and seeing all the people who didn't actually bother to come into the stadium left me with a bad feeling, especially when we're seeing real progress with the program first the first time in 20 years.

Thanks for the support. It was really disheartening, and it definitely took the wind out of our sails for celebrating a solid win.

I'm really giving a lot of thought to making a move to the other side next to the students where the more vocal fans can express themselves and not feel like they are ruining someones nap.

[PonyLove]

That's why I have tickets on row 24...nobody behind me and I can stand up as much as I want to. Also why I like away games better than home games. The people who go to the trouble of traveling to away games are interested in cheering and having a good time. I've only been told to sit down once (at a road game); I sweetly suggested perhaps they should move and they did. Having said all of that, if I am seated in front of an elderly person, I try to be considerate of their ability to see the game.

[ponyte]

For so long, all fans were pretty gentile. Not because we were to uppity to cheer, we just had nothing to stand up and cheer. FOr as long as I remember, we have had very active fans in our section. If they didn't stand and cheer and make noise, one would wonder if the end was near.

The more people stand, cheer make noise and support the Stangs, the more the rest of us will see it as normal behavior at the game.

I wouldn't complain too much about the Geriitol crowd. They are A) there and B) paid to be there. That is important as well. And once they were probably enthused fans as well. It has just been so long since they had a consistent reason to cheer.

And good golly, isn't it great that we are finally winning and have a good enough team to create the growing pains of active fans!

[Pony_Fan]

I concur, away games are the true fans and you can make as much noise as you want - Tulane and Rice are easy to get to.

[gostangs]

couple of suggestions:

1)You can probably tell when you have a "silver era" Mustang a row or two behind you - so you might talk to them jokingly early on to let them know you are an active fan and think everyone should be in a college - you will do your best not to totally block them but you will be up and down a bunch - hope they will join you!

2) - dont stand for no reason just to make a point - give them a break when crowd noise doesnt matter - but make sure they know when they need to wake up....be enthusiastic but have some courtesy also...

in a year or two I think you won't have to worry about this... but for now just understand they have been lulled to sleep for 20 years while there was nothing to cheer for - and that they have loyally been forking over money the whole time to come watch their team get embarassed - so cut them some slack - but dont stop standing and cheering - this is college football - and if they want to do the golf clap thing they should be up in the frozen chosen section inside....

[Stallion]

The Top Row is only way to go.

[Statler]

down in front.

Did I give you permission to use my image?

Waldorf and Statler always have something to say, so they are not typical Mustang fans.

[peruna11]

1)You can probably tell when you have a "silver era" Mustang a row or two behind you - so you might talk to them jokingly early on to let them know you are an active fan and think everyone should be in a college - you will do your best not to totally block them but you will be up and down a bunch - hope they will join you!

2) - dont stand for no reason just to make a point - give them a break when crowd noise doesnt matter - but make sure they know when they need to wake up....be enthusiastic but have some courtesy also...

Good advice. We actually have done that with the folks directly behind us. They admitted to hating us the first few games a couple years ago, but they now claim to love us (and they haven't moved seats after 3 years of our nonsense). I don't really know what it feels like to cheer while sitting. Sounds like it would feel weird.

[BIGHORSE]

I don't stand the whole game, only during touchdowns and defensive stops, but I

do make a lot of noise with cow bells and horns, last season a blue hair in front of me

would turn around mad at me and a woman reported my horn to the cops

and they took it from me.

[Mestengo]

Ha ha I was there when that happened.

[SMU89]

With a smaller student body and decades of lost younger fans, we have a larger % of older fans.

All fans are welcome and needed, but some will bring more energy and help the fan base grow while others will be more reserved and be more content seeing their same group each game and will feel threatened by change and newcomers.

Those with a little more get-up-and-go need to respectfully get the big s-stick out and stir the pot.

[skyscraper]

All of this is why I typically avoid the west side stands (although me and a bunch of buddies bought tix on the west side for TCU so we wouldn't be surrounded by purple on the east side).

Our group was sitting in 123. A good mix of people were there and plenty of cheering and standing during key moments. Plus we were close enough to feed off the energy of the student section.