THE osu spring game attendance...

DzynKingRTR said:

how many spring practices at any school had 90k+ before 2007? we brought this on ourselves. we started this and now people like Krazy think fans are apathetic if we all don't show up and fill the stadium.

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What else was brought upon the Alabama football program? #1 recruiting classes and national championships.

Championship level isn't just good, it isnt' just great, it's the best. It is apathy to know you can do something, to have the willing to do something, and no longer desire to do that.

noun: apathy

• lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern.
  
  
  
  
  
  

You're not the first, you're not the last, but your response was absolutely apathetic, by definition. A lot of people have been the past few years, although usually they at least go so far as to call it a "glorified practice".

Official attendance: 65,175 per rolltide.com.

I have to think that a number of people like myself made a decision the night before not to attend based on the last forecast I saw that day. I did have to work and was not able to follow like I might have had I not been working. My wife, son, and I had been looking forward to going very much and were disappointed with the forecast and that the forecast didn't pan out and we missed the game. Hopefully, we can be forgiven for putting our own welfare ahead of others' wishes.

NationalTitles15 said:

Hopefully, we can be forgiven for putting our own welfare ahead of others' wishes.

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This isn't a witch hunt, and there's no need to take it personal. This is basically an annual conversation as attendance consistently wanes. I'll go dig up a picture from a couple years back, what I'm saying has absolutely nothing at all to do with the weather.

could have been worse. one of our players could have been given an unsportsman like conduct penalty at this "practice".

again Krazy, we started a trend and now everyone is just trying to top us. We all did it before it was cool.

I'm too busy "over-analyzing" the qbs performance yesterday to analyze attendance at A-Day, especially on a day when it seemed the weather wasn't going to cooperate.

A few days before, when the forecast looked worse than what it turned out to be, I had predicted it might be around 50K. I wasn't far off.

What I am presenting to you is that people are selfish creatures and that we make decisions that are much more complex than you are making them out to be. There are actual people behind the decisions you lament and criticize and although no one will accurately accuse me of not being a true fanatic I, like others, have other priorities in my life. So my point is less about my martyrdom and more about trying to help you understand that as Bama-centric as many of us make our lives there are some things that *gasp* we put ahead of the Alabama Crimson Tide that we so love.
The problem is not nearly as bad as you make it out to be. 65k+ is not a bad attendance. Having 5 of the top 10 in spring game attendances of all time is not a bad place to be, but it does seem to skew your expectations. And frankly, if the team is to be given a pass for not meeting fan expectations of a championship every single year with the understanding that sustaining that level of performance every single game is next to impossible then I think the fans deserve the same respect. Actually, more. We get nothing beyond the gratification that "our team" won. Coaches get paid. Players get boundless opportunities. All from money we are willing to pay because of our passion for all things Crimson.
So OSU won the spring game attendance trophy. Congratulations to them! Hopefully we will get our priorities straight next year.
I'll add that if the University is concerned about attendance then it can look in the mirror at the lack of excitement it generated for this game. It can look at how its gatekeepers/security treat fans at the game(one bad experience last spring game with my preteen son). It can look at what it does to build momentum among the fans and provide an entertaining experience the whole day.
Am I nitpicking? Yup. But so are you.

DzynKingRTR said:

could have been worse. one of our players could have been given an unsportsman like conduct penalty at this "practice".

again Krazy, we started a trend and now everyone is just trying to top us. We all did it before it was cool.

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Heh, I was thinking about an unsportsman like conduct penalty during the game actually. Be careful about the whole thinking alike thing.

You're right in that what, we broke Nebraska's record? But, it showed something that Alabama fans can be the best at. We can't have the top attendance in the nation, we're not the loudest, not the scariest place to play, etc... but Alabama fans had a record, and it's a record we can get back, we just have to want to.

I wish I could find that old picture, I posted it here and well it seems helplessly buried. It was from a couple of years ago, and it showed half of the stadium nearly empty in the third quarter. The conversation around then centered around the idea that the listed attendance was likely exaggerated (like it appears to have been this year as well), and of course some responses along the lines of well it doesn't matter anyway.

NationalTitles15 said:

What I am presenting to you is that people are selfish creatures and that we make decisions that are much more complex than you are making them out to be.

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I am not a super fan and hope I never tried to make myself out to be. I didn't attend an Alabama game until I got a free ticket to the 2008 LSU game. Prior to that, the idea of affording to go to a game was beyond my expectations, but that experience ingrained in me the desire to do so. I wasn't one of the fans that set the A-Day record, I'd never been to a spring game until after that. But, when I saw the reaction and how much it did matter, I resolved to go and I look forward to it. I do appreciate that Alabama football is a luxury, there were times I was far more worried about a place to live and food to eat than Alabama games, and I in no way am trying to single people out. I'm just saying, we collectively, can fill this place up to capacity, which incidentally will be a new record.

NationalTitles15 said:

And frankly, if the team is to be given a pass for not meeting fan expectations of a championship every single year with the understanding that sustaining that level of performance every single game is next to impossible then I think the fans deserve the same respect

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But, we want the team to win championships don't we? Even if they don't win, we want them to try right? I'm just hoping we (I included), can try harder. Focus on ways to fill that stadium up, to regenerate some of the enthusiasm. Fans have been better about leaving early, they've been louder for games, we can do this to.

NationalTitles15 said:

I'll add that if the University is concerned about attendance then it can look in the mirror at the lack of excitement it generated for this game. It can look at how its gatekeepers/security treat fans at the game(one bad experience last spring game with my preteen son). It can look at what it does to build momentum among the fans and provide an entertaining experience the whole day.
Am I nitpicking? Yup. But so are you.

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I do agree more can be done, although I've only had good experiences at the game. I've mentioned it before but I'd like to see a real concerted effort to get a lot of kids groups, youth groups, what ever you'd call them, Sunday school classes, you name it, to go to the game. Think about it, a lot of kids might never be able to afford to go to a regular game. Why not go out and make some new Alabama fans? Why not give them an experience they might never forget, of seeing the legendary Nick Saban roaming the sidelines (or field in this case) at the stadium? I'm not trying to have this overly negative view, I'm just hoping we look at positive ways to make this better.

KrAzY3 said:

Heh, I was thinking about an unsportsman like conduct penalty during the game actually. Be careful about the whole thinking alike thing.

You're right in that what, we broke Nebraska's record? But, it showed something that Alabama fans can be the best at. We can't have the top attendance in the nation, we're not the loudest, not the scariest place to play, etc... but Alabama fans had a record, and it's a record we can get back, we just have to want to.

I wish I could find that old picture, I posted it here and well it seems helplessly buried. It was from a couple of years ago, and it showed half of the stadium nearly empty in the third quarter. The conversation around then centered around the idea that the listed attendance was likely exaggerated (like it appears to have been this year as well), and of course some responses along the lines of well it doesn't matter anyway.


I am not a super fan and hope I never tried to make myself out to be. I didn't attend an Alabama game until I got a free ticket to the 2008 LSU game. Prior to that, the idea of affording to go to a game was beyond my expectations, but that experience ingrained in me the desire to do so. I wasn't one of the fans that set the A-Day record, I'd never been to a spring game until after that. But, when I saw the reaction and how much it did matter, I resolved to go and I look forward to it. I do appreciate that Alabama football is a luxury, there were times I was far more worried about a place to live and food to eat than Alabama games, and I in no way am trying to single people out. I'm just saying, we collectively, can fill this place up to capacity, which incidentally will be a new record.


But, we want the team to win championships don't we? Even if they don't win, we want them to try right? I'm just hoping we (I included), can try harder. Focus on ways to fill that stadium up, to regenerate some of the enthusiasm. Fans have been better about leaving early, they've been louder for games, we can do this to.


I do agree more can be done, although I've only had good experiences at the game. I've mentioned it before but I'd like to see a real concerted effort to get a lot of kids groups, youth groups, what ever you'd call them, Sunday school classes, you name it, to go to the game. Think about it, a lot of kids might never be able to afford to go to a regular game. Why not go out and make some new Alabama fans? Why not give them an experience they might never forget, of seeing the legendary Nick Saban roaming the sidelines (or field in this case) at the stadium? I'm not trying to have this overly negative view, I'm just hoping we look at positive ways to make this better.

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I can't argue with anything you said in this post. Good job. I hope we all have much to cheer about this season. Frankly, I'm already itching for it to start.

Literally fair weather fans.

So, this is a BAMA board and we post about OSU. Two words, who cares?

64met said:

So, this is a BAMA board and we post about OSU. Two words, who cares?

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Me? :wink:

Traffic was horrible B1GTide at the 71/315 split going northbound yesterday. My wife and I attended the Ohio High School Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Of course that was done after spending all day at Polaris and Easton.

I hate to say this, but every fanbase has a bandwagon fans and true fans. And we have one of tye biggest fan bases in the country and we have a lot of bandwagoners. I know weather was a big factor for less people, but the estimated 65k attendance I thought was very generous. It looked more like 45k at the most. I'm not bashing but that is what it looked like. When times are up people come out of the wood work to see scrimmages but when times are not so good then you get a lot less. To paraphrase the famous saying at valley forge by the great Thomas Paine" these are the times that try men's souls and the emergence of the summertime soldier and the sunshine patriot". It really doesn't matter if there are 100,000 or 10,000 at an a day game as long as we have loyal bama fans cheering on the tide through the good times and the bad times as long as we have bama fans that are still there when the winds are foul.

Rtr

I work almost all the time now. My wife is disabled and got two little ones and medical bills out the wazoo. I'm hoping one day I'll be able to go to A-Day again but it just wasn't even a remote possibility. I'm one that is thankful for the western Carolina games of the season. It is usually the only chance I have of getting an affordable ticket to take my son. We got to go last year and had a blast. I just can't knock folks for not taking the kids out to potentially get drenched at a spring game. Hopefully next year will see a much better forecast.


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They were predicting thunder storms during the game up until 24 hours before the game. A very large portion of people who said they were going the week before bailed due to that. if one lightning bolt were detected near the stadium they would have called the game and everyone would have wasted the trip. I myself was there but I'm also the kind of guy that would drive CLOSER to a tornado just to get a look at it.