Letter from MetaEzra

[statenaurora]

MetaEzra

An Open Letter to the Lynah Faithful

Hockey games start at 7PM in the evening. Not at 7:10. Not 7:20. Section A should not be 75 percent empty when the puck drops, let alone when the starters are introduced or the Canadian national anthem is played.

I know I am sounding like a crotchety old alum, but part of the Lynah experience is being in the barn before the hockey game starts. If we're not going to win on the ice, at least we can win in the stands.

That said, I was pleased that most of you seemed to know the lyrics to My Old Cornell. The Yale fans that I was sitting with were impressed.
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I noticed this myself, pointing out the fact that the townie side was full, while the student side was yet to be filled as the puck dropped. No big deal, what they may lack in punctuality they more than make up for it during the game.

[Jim Hyla]

MetaEzra

An Open Letter to the Lynah Faithful

Hockey games start at 7PM in the evening. Not at 7:10. Not 7:20. Section A should not be 75 percent empty when the puck drops, let alone when the starters are introduced or the Canadian national anthem is played.

I know I am sounding like a crotchety old alum, but part of the Lynah experience is being in the barn before the hockey game starts. If we're not going to win on the ice, at least we can win in the stands.

That said, I was pleased that most of you seemed to know the lyrics to My Old Cornell. The Yale fans that I was sitting with were impressed.
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I noticed this myself, pointing out the fact that the townie side was full, while the student side was yet to be filled as the puck dropped. No big deal, what they may lack in punctuality they more than make up for it during the game.

I disagree, 10 min sooner with newspapers, etc. definitely adds to the Lynah experience. It's part of what makes going to games fun.

[steveb]

Hi everyone; longtime reader but first post here. I couldn't agree more with the Open Letter. I've been watching CU hockey at Lynah for a long time, and it makes me sad to look at a mostly empty section A when the team hits the ice.

Maybe section N should strike a deal with section A: We'll work on singing My Old Cornell with gusto if you'll arrive a bit earlier....

Time to go make a couple of hundred copies of my favorite CU fight song.

[ebilmes]

Yeah, there's a lot which can be said about this. I don't think Sec. A tickets even sold out this year, and a lot of the people who have seats there tend to move into B. Hardly any students show up to watch a substantial part of warmups. Attendance always dips a little during pledging/mixer season, and the relative mediocrity of this year's team compared to those of 4-7 years ago also plays a role. It wasn't a case this weekend, but the success of the basketball team has meant that traffic is horrendous before the game, so some people are probably delayed that way. And I'm sure there are some sports fans who have been choosing basketball games over hockey (although again, not a case this weekend).

Lynah Rink, and Cornell hockey fandom, just isn't what it was earlier in the decade.

[KeithK]

Yeah, there's a lot which can be said about this. I don't think Sec. A tickets even sold out this year, and a lot of the people who have seats there tend to move into B. Hardly any students show up to watch a substantial part of warmups. Attendance always dips a little during pledging/mixer season, and the relative mediocrity of this year's team compared to those of 4-7 years ago also plays a role. It wasn't a case this weekend, but the success of the basketball team has meant that traffic is horrendous before the game, so some people are probably delayed that way. And I'm sure there are some sports fans who have been choosing basketball games over hockey (although again, not a case this weekend).

Lynah Rink, and Cornell hockey fandom, just isn't what it was earlier in the decade.

Holy crap!  A mediocre team?  We're tied for first in the league. We're top 10 in polls and bouncing between 8 and 15 in PWR depending on the night. I know you said "relative" but calling this team "mediocre" is just wrong.

If current Cornell students need an undefeated, #1 in the nation team in order to show up and cheer then Lynah has really lost it.

[sockralex]

I hate to be one of those 'back in my day' people, but I finally made a trip back to Ithaca this weekend and took in the games from the "Townie" section for the first time in 4 years.  Although I was back for a game two years ago as well, here is what stood out to me since I left in 2006:

-Sections F and part of G were student sections.  I remember seeing arguments in section G when people in the top of the section would ask students to sit down - which is fair.  This year, all of G and E were sitting.
-Section D and E didn't fill in on Friday.  Section A was half empty on Friday until middle of the 1st.  I remember them being packed from the anthems on most nights - most, not all.
-The townies can get really excited when they want to!  A lot of energy in those sections but most of it is saved for the last few minutes.
-More merchandise hawking – got to make money somehow.
-Continuing apathy towards the awkwardly skating bear mascot.  He should take a cue from the penalty box guy and bring candy – awesome move with the candy bar on Friday, btw.
-Pep band rocked it - really missed them at a couple of the away games.
-We pay attention to hockey much better than fans in Quinnipiac.  Plenty of flying pucks and I didn't see anyone get carried out.  We have very attentive and knowledgeable fans.

These aren't meant to be good or bad, just my observations that probably fluctuate game-to-game, crowd-to-crowd.

[adamw]

Not sure how to make people understand, but fan support at Lynah is the team's No. 1 recruiting tool. Without not just good support, but superior support/enthusiasm, the product on the ice will directly suffer.  There's no way to separate the two, because it's simply a fact that this is what makes Cornell stand out to recruits much moreso than any other factor -- at least relative to its direct recruiting competition.

i.e. this is not just a 'fun factor'/aesthetics issue.

[Jim Hyla]

I hate to be one of those 'back in my day' people, but I finally made a trip back to Ithaca this weekend and took in the games from the "Townie" section for the first time in 4 years.  Although I was back for a game two years ago as well, here is what stood out to me since I left in 2006:

-Sections F and part of G were student sections.  I remember seeing arguments in section G when people in the top of the section would ask students to sit down - which is fair.  This year, all of G and E were sitting.
-Section D and E didn't fill in on Friday.  Section A was half empty on Friday until middle of the 1st.  I remember them being packed from the anthems on most nights - most, not all.
-The townies can get really excited when they want to!  A lot of energy in those sections but most of it is saved for the last few minutes.
-More merchandise hawking – got to make money somehow.
-Continuing apathy towards the awkwardly skating bear mascot.  He should take a cue from the penalty box guy and bring candy – awesome move with the candy bar on Friday, btw.
-Pep band rocked it - really missed them at a couple of the away games.
-We pay attention to hockey much better than fans in Quinnipiac.  Plenty of flying pucks and I didn't see anyone get carried out.  We have very attentive and knowledgeable fans.

These aren't meant to be good or bad, just my observations that probably fluctuate game-to-game, crowd-to-crowd.

As some know I used to give candy to the Bear to throw. However when I realized we again had a Bear, I offered to give him a bag of Snickers. Unfortunately he said he could not close his paw, thus not being able to hold the mini-Snickers and I'm not going to supply him with fistfuls of reg bars.:-/

[mnagowski]

Yeah, there's a lot which can be said about this. I don't think Sec. A tickets even sold out this year, and a lot of the people who have seats there tend to move into B. Hardly any students show up to watch a substantial part of warmups. Attendance always dips a little during pledging/mixer season, and the relative mediocrity of this year's team compared to those of 4-7 years ago also plays a role. It wasn't a case this weekend, but the success of the basketball team has meant that traffic is horrendous before the game, so some people are probably delayed that way. And I'm sure there are some sports fans who have been choosing basketball games over hockey (although again, not a case this weekend).

Lynah Rink, and Cornell hockey fandom, just isn't what it was earlier in the decade.

Holy crap!  A mediocre team?  We're tied for first in the league. We're top 10 in polls and bouncing between 8 and 15 in PWR depending on the night. I know you said "relative" but calling this team "mediocre" is just wrong.

If current Cornell students need an undefeated, #1 in the nation team in order to show up and cheer then Lynah has really lost it.

To be fair to Elie, he wrote 'relative' mediocrity. Not absolute. And it's a fair criticism of my original post. I was comparing Saturday night's experience to my own experience as a student from 2001 through 2005.

It was my first game at Lynah since I graduated, and hence my first game since the rink was renovated. I also happened to have seats on the catwalk, which could have also colored my impression of the crowd.

There are a bunch of other compounding factors at play, including, but not limited to: 1) the change in line policy, 2) ticket prices, 3) the success of the basketball team, 4) the renovation of Lynah, 5) changing undergraduate demographics, and, 6) my own memory and the tricks of nostalgia. So while I would like to plainly argue that student fandom was simply better in my day, there are definitely other variables at work.

[imafrshmn]

5) changing undergraduate demographics

I'm interested in this effect, if it is indeed real.  Are you asserting that there are less white students (in absolute numbers) now than there was some years ago and those minority factions are not as interested in school sports [note, I'm not accusing you of anything, I think it's a legitimate question]?  I think the more important type of demographic shift here would be in student subculture membership.  Bluntly speaking, are there more freshmen nerds (academic subculture), jocks/party animals (collegiate subculture), workaholics/career-oriented (vocational subculture), or rebels than there were some years ago?  In reality, students can belong to several groups, but I would guess that it's the party animal-types that are on the decline.

[sockralex]

5) changing undergraduate demographics

I'm interested in this effect, if it is indeed real.  Are you asserting that there are less white students (in absolute numbers) now than there was some years ago and those minority factions are not as interested in school sports [note, I'm not accusing you of anything, I think it's a legitimate question]?  I think the more important type of demographic shift here would be in student subculture membership.  Bluntly speaking, are there more freshmen nerds (academic subculture), jocks/party animals (collegiate subculture), workaholics/career-oriented (vocational subculture), or rebels than there were some years ago?  In reality, students can belong to several groups, but I would guess that it's the party animal-types that are on the decline.

I'll let the poster speak for himself, but to me it read like a very general statement about the effect that time has on students and what's important to different generations of incoming classes.  I didn't read "demographics" as race or cultural related - simply that the typical student's interest may have changed - apparently away from hockey in this case.

[French Rage]

5) changing undergraduate demographics

I'm interested in this effect, if it is indeed real.  Are you asserting that there are less white students (in absolute numbers) now than there was some years ago and those minority factions are not as interested in school sports [note, I'm not accusing you of anything, I think it's a legitimate question]?  I think the more important type of demographic shift here would be in student subculture membership.  Bluntly speaking, are there more freshmen nerds (academic subculture), jocks/party animals (collegiate subculture), workaholics/career-oriented (vocational subculture), or rebels than there were some years ago?  In reality, students can belong to several groups, but I would guess that it's the party animal-types that are on the decline.

I'll let the poster speak for himself, but to me it read like a very general statement about the effect that time has on students and what's important to different generations of incoming classes.  I didn't read "demographics" as race or cultural related - simply that the typical student's interest may have changed - apparently away from hockey in this case.

That is, kids these days are too busy texting naked pictures of themselves to each other to be interested in hockey. :-}

[mnagowski]

5) changing undergraduate demographics

I'm interested in this effect, if it is indeed real.  Are you asserting that there are less white students (in absolute numbers) now than there was some years ago and those minority factions are not as interested in school sports [note, I'm not accusing you of anything, I think it's a legitimate question]?  I think the more important type of demographic shift here would be in student subculture membership.  Bluntly speaking, are there more freshmen nerds (academic subculture), jocks/party animals (collegiate subculture), workaholics/career-oriented (vocational subculture), or rebels than there were some years ago?  In reality, students can belong to several groups, but I would guess that it's the party animal-types that are on the decline.

I'll let the poster speak for himself, but to me it read like a very general statement about the effect that time has on students and what's important to different generations of incoming classes.  I didn't read "demographics" as race or cultural related - simply that the typical student's interest may have changed - apparently away from hockey in this case.

All of the above. It was really just a blanket statement to cover all possible student "tastes and preferences" and their demographic correlations.

To provide just one example -- the number of undergraduate students on campus from New York State has fallen by roughly 2,000 since 1990. And New York State probably has more hockey followers, on average, than students from the South or California.

http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000194.pdf

So then you end up with a situation like Elie and I were talking about on Saturday, where a surprising number of students at the games don't know what an offsides or an icing call looks like.

The goal, I would think, would be to make certain the Lynah Faithful can welcome and accommodate these newbies to our sport.

[statenaurora]

I would consider the number of entertainment outlets competing for a student's attention as a main contributor to a perceived fall in support and no the quality of the team, which is quite high. Syracuse tries to fill in the empty seats by offering an incentive to their students.

The Athletic's student point system offers points for various athletic events attended by students throughout the year. Students would swipe their ID card and points will automatically be added to their account. At the end of each semester, the top 100 people will have a chance to win many great prizes.

The breakdown of points are as follows for the 2010 Spring Semester:

Men's Basketball - 5 points
Women's Basketball - 10 points
Men's Lacrosse - 10 points
Women's Lacrosse - 10 points
*Women's Ice Hockey - 20 points
*Softball - 20 points
*Tennis - 20 points

I think this is a waste of time and effort for a non-issue. I'd rather see a small section of "real fans" in attendance anyways than some interlopers looking for a prize. I'd hate see an artificial student section at Cornell.

[amerks127]

General Admission.