Disappointed in Fan Support

[willisneverrana43]

. . .

I get it, long suffering. But if you're long suffering, and your team is playing a pretty good game against an ACC opponent, why don't you make some noise?

Because you've been beaten down. Year after year after year after year.

How hard is that to figure out? This is an absurd thread. A huge amount of the fan base has been run off by years and years of incompetent basketball, and so this thread decides to tell the few that remain that they just aren't doing it right.

 

[wheezer]

Because you've been beaten down. Year after year after year after year.

How hard is that to figure out? This is an absurd thread. A huge amount of the fan base has been run off by years and years of incompetent basketball, and so this thread decides to tell the few that remain that they just aren't doing it right.

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I go to the games and I am no longer cranked up for the game, no longer excited during the game, nor do I make a lot of noise, unless we are in the game near the end

It was not always this way, but it is now...... Don't ask me to explain it, other then going along with the "you've been beaten down" theory.

Most fans that have had their enthusiasm beaten down like this have given up their seats

 

[RU at the shore]

People have seen too much lousy basketball over the last 3 decades. They're lucky anyone shows up at all, let alone displays enthusiasm. You want loud, sellout crowds? Play better basketball.

Nail / Head

 

[Sir ScarletKnight]

Because you've been beaten down. Year after year after year after year.

How hard is that to figure out? This is an absurd thread. A huge amount of the fan base has been run off by years and years of incompetent basketball, and so this thread decides to tell the few that remain that they just aren't doing it right.

Rutgers Basketball has been bad for the majority of my life. I wasn't even born the last time we went to the dance. I still go nuts, because it's honestly more fun than just sitting quietly and taking it. If my yelling makes the opponent miss one foul shot, then hey, I've done my job.

I've been at the RAC when it was "alive." In recent memory, vs. Florida comes to mind. Douby could light the place up. It's an amazing atmosphere when that happens, and I'm dedicated to being a part of that. Yes, I get it, it sucks when we're losing. It hurts when we're getting crushed. But if we're neck and neck with an ACC team down the stretch, then I just don't see how anyone can justify sitting there like you've been hypnotized. Isn't that what you've wanted? A close game? A team that's honest-to-god trying? We've got young players and injuries, but at least it's fun to watch when they manage to stay cohesive.

I'm not saying these fans have to be going nuts for the entire game, or jumping up and down and screaming. I'm just asking for a little foot stomping on a foul shot, a shout or two. Maybe join in on the R-U cheer.

Come on, show us young folks how it's done!

 

[willisneverrana43]

So you've seen this type of reaction at the RAC recently. They happen, fewer and fewer given what's been happening, but they happen. You'll never be successful re-engineering fans. Rather than telling them something, it should tell you something. And I'd suggest looking at these fans, as quiet as they seem, and say to yourself: these are the die-hards.

 

[RUfan1979]

Rutgers Basketball has been bad for the majority of my life. I wasn't even born the last time we went to the dance. I still go nuts, because it's honestly more fun than just sitting quietly and taking it. If my yelling makes the opponent miss one foul shot, then hey, I've done my job.

I've been at the RAC when it was "alive." In recent memory, vs. Florida comes to mind. Douby could light the place up. It's an amazing atmosphere when that happens, and I'm dedicated to being a part of that. Yes, I get it, it sucks when we're losing. It hurts when we're getting crushed. But if we're neck and neck with an ACC team down the stretch, then I just don't see how anyone can justify sitting there like you've been hypnotized. Isn't that what you've wanted? A close game? A team that's honest-to-god trying? We've got young players and injuries, but at least it's fun to watch when they manage to stay cohesive.

I'm not saying these fans have to be going nuts for the entire game, or jumping up and down and screaming. I'm just asking for a little foot stomping on a foul shot, a shout or two. Maybe join in on the R-U cheer.

Come on, show us young folks how it's done!

Come back to me in 25 years after sitting through more than two decades of an NCAA drought with your bald head and pot belly and let me know if you still have any emotional energy left to scream and yell "GO RU"!

 

[ScarletRunner]

It's also not easy to get to the RAC on a weekend. There are no basketball shuttles for weekend, games, just highly inconvenient weekend buses. If you want to get to the RAC for a 12 noon game, depending on the campus you may have to plan over an hour in advance. For students that have been out all night either partying or studying, they just won't do that.

You should personally admonish the folks in those sections for their cheering not being up to your standard. Then, when they ask why so few of your fellow students are in attendance, you can explain that the campus busing system can be "just highly inconvenient" and that you may have to plan "over an hour in advance" to make it to the RAC from College Ave.

Then be prepared for one or more 60-year olds to punch you in the nose.

 

[Sir ScarletKnight]

You should personally admonish the folks in those sections for their cheering not being up to your standard. Then, when they ask why so few of your fellow students are in attendance, you can explain that the campus busing system can be "just highly inconvenient" and that you may have to plan "over an hour in advance" to make it to the RAC from College Ave.

Then be prepared for one or more 60-year olds to punch you in the nose.

I'm there. I make as many games as possible. Weekend games, weekday games, even games that aren't during the semester.

A better comparison would be why so few of my fellow students are cheering. To which I'd tell you that I wish I knew. But at least when the game gets close and fun to watch, they stand up and make noise.

I'm not admonishing those who aren't there. I can understand why people aren't coming. I can understand why people have given up their season tickets. It's been a relatively bad product for almost ten years now. But I can't understand why people who are there anyway, in a tight game against an ACC opponent, aren't making noise.

If it's not a close game? Sure, I get it. If the team isn't playing well? Ok, that's fine. But in a close, tight game, where the players are clearly trying? Come on, they can yell "U". Or "R", I'm not picky.

I respect that they come to the game. I respect that they care enough to be there, and support the program.

I just can't understand why when they're getting a good game they won't show their appreciation.

 

[Sir ScarletKnight]

Just wondering, but has Eddie and the staff done anything to engage the students on campus? Dorms? Frats? Seems that it's been a while since a coach tried to rev up the students. I guess it's just not Eddie's style.

They did have a bit of an event in the dining hall last night, giving out tickets with the cheerleaders, team, and knight.

 

[TheRacRU]

People probably don't cheer because they know it's all for naught. They go to the games out of habit at this point or if they are students, they go to get out of the house for an hour. No one cares. Even if we beat some bottom the barrel ACC team, the season will still end up like all the rest.

 

[BoroKnight]

If they are going to renovate the RAC, put cheaper seating all the way around the lower bowl for students and move the cushier seating up a level and let the donors sit there. (And make those seats wider, too. As I recall, the good seats aren't exactly roomy.)

I know some people will bitch, but those people were dead long before now. Whether it was the Littlepage era with 1500 people in the place or the Waters years when it rocked, that section was dead. (Or really, really close.)

 

[yellowlot]

posted very similar observation a few days back

 

[willisneverrana43]

. . . .

I just can't understand why when they're getting a good game they won't show their appreciation.

I believe it's called the Stockholm Syndrome.

 

[wheezer]

If they are going to renovate the RAC, put cheaper seating all the way around the lower bowl for students and move the cushier seating up a level and let the donors sit there. (And make those seats wider, too. As I recall, the good seats aren't exactly roomy.)

I know some people will bitch, but those people were dead long before now. Whether it was the Littlepage era with 1500 people in the place or the Waters years when it rocked, that section was dead. (Or really, really close.)

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Moving the students to the sidelines has been suggested many times ..... At one point in time it would have displaced many long time donors and you would be a risk of having those fans not renew if moved to worse seats.

You still have that risk today and the university may not want to offend what few long timers there are

I know you envision a throng of students along those sidelines, cheering loudly from up close.... But if you use the Wake Forest game as an example, the sidelines would be pretty much empty under this proposal, worse than now.

I know it works at Duke and other programs, but they started doing this long ago and never have a problem filling seats

But with us, I could easily see us having games with almost no one on the side seats if they were given to the students...... games during Christmas break, for example.

 

[Proud NJ Sports Fan]

Seton Hall will have a good contingent at the game today.
I'm at a diner on Rt 1 right now about to leave for the game with a few Hall fans.

Hope RU can pull off the upset and more importantly the Rutgers fans show up and support their team.