11/2 Quinnipiac

[Trotsky]

When did it all change? I think humor declined precipitously after 2005, and noise is now following suit.

What all these data points are suggesting is that Lynah "declines" 8 years after one has graduated.  

[Rosey]

I heard the people in D were told they had to sit. Not sure if that came from people in C or E complaining, but there it is.

Wow. The traditional sit/stand battle-line has been Section G (see my own post linked below). That it has been very quickly pushed to Section D (leaping over even F and E) suprises me a lot.

http://elf.elynah.com/read.php?1,133345,133438#msg-133438

The last few times I was there (2 seasons ago), E was regularly half-empty until people migrated over there slowly in the second period. So, given last year's performance, it doesn't shock me that this trait might have moved into D.

[Trotsky]

I heard the people in D were told they had to sit. Not sure if that came from people in C or E complaining, but there it is.

Wow. The traditional sit/stand battle-line has been Section G (see my own post linked below). That it has been very quickly pushed to Section D (leaping over even F and E) suprises me a lot.

http://elf.elynah.com/read.php?1,133345,133438#msg-133438

Seems to me that this line is driven hydraulically by the pressure of the demand for student tickets.  We might graph it as "pounds per square win."

[Rosey]

When did it all change? I think humor declined precipitously after 2005, and noise is now following suit.

What all these data points are suggesting is that Lynah "declines" 8 years after one has graduated.  

Measurable. # of students, average arrival time, and noise level are all measurable. And at this point all of them are obvious enough not to require an instrument to detect the trend. That said, it might be interesting to gather a collection of photographs of section E over the past 15 years and turn them into a time elapse movie.

[RichH]

And for the record, yes, I agree that the ushers are mostly the messengers interpreting and delivering the mandates of the higher-ups. I have no lever that high in University management, however, so I provide feedback where I can. The ushers can go fuck themselves if they target behavior that isn't directly in danger of harming someone else or interfering with the game. Billy will survive hearing some college kids cursing in unison. The Lynah atmosphere has not survived the chilling effect of capricious ejections. The damage has already been done.

Several years ago, I got to Lynah before the doors opened before a Harvard game, and just waiting around in the Bartels linking hallway near the usual ticket-taking spot, I was able to observe the pre-game pep-talk/meeting that Gene held with all the ushers.  The general message communicated was along the lines of "Assume every single one of those students is up to No Good. If you aren't finding any Bad Things they're doing/saying, you aren't doing your job. You have the power to remove anybody, and we'll have your back if there's resistance." My interpretation from witnessing that is that they're requiring the usher staff to have an adversarial mindset from the start, and then empowering and expecting them to act on that.

[Josh '99]

On a very serious question, how can Schafer watch a PP like Q has (or anyone that is decent) then watch CU's PP and not make some kind of changes? Is it possible to have slower passing between the three men who are up high? Q's passing was crisp and quick, while CU's was slow and hesitant. Something has got to change.

But, I mean...  how much of that do you put on the coaches and how much on the players?  It's not like when the players are coached on power play strategy, they're instructed to pass the puck slowly and hesitantly.  If anything, tinkering with the guys on the different power play units will just make this problem worse.

So you're answer is to do nothing and hope it gets better? It's not like this is a new problem. CU hasn't had a decent PP in about 4 years. Yes, I know it's early and call me reactionary or whatever, but I am tired of watching the same old PP that basically stinks. I think it's a mess and there is plenty of blame to go around to both the coaches and players. However, ultimately it's up to Schafer to devise a scheme that uses the talents of the players in such a way that puts them in the best position to succeed. I obviously have some thoughts on it, but ultimately it's Schafer's problem to fix and so far he has not done it.

No, I don't know that I'd simply say "do nothing," but I don't know that I'd start making major changes yet either when the power play is 8/27 over the first four games of the season.

[RichH]

When did it all change? I think humor declined precipitously after 2005, and noise is now following suit.

What all these data points are suggesting is that Lynah "declines" 8 years after one has graduated.  

Measurable. # of students, average arrival time, and noise level are all measurable. And at this point all of them are obvious enough not to require an instrument to detect the trend. That said, it might be interesting to gather a collection of photographs of section E over the past 15 years and turn them into a time elapse movie.

That would be interesting. My freshman year was the infamous 1992-93 season, and for my first 3 years, I specifically remember Sections E, F, & G being almost completely empty.  Remember that one of Schafer's 3 goals for his first season was to "pack Lynah every night." The look of a completely filled horseshoe was incredible the first time I saw it.

I've never known D to be anything other than "standing" except for games in the middle of winter break when they give away tickets to youth groups and other groups.

[Rosey]

Several years ago, I got to Lynah before the doors opened before a Harvard game, and just waiting around in the Bartels linking hallway near the usual ticket-taking spot, I was able to observe the pre-game pep-talk/meeting that Gene held with all the ushers.  The general message communicated was along the lines of "Assume every single one of those students is up to No Good. If you aren't finding any Bad Things they're doing/saying, you aren't doing your job. You have the power to remove anybody, and we'll have your back if there's resistance." My interpretation from witnessing that is that they're requiring the usher staff to have an adversarial mindset from the start, and then empowering and expecting them to act on that.

I wish I had witnessed that, and gotten it on tape. Some people will only be convinced by hard evidence.

[RichH]

Who do I blame?  (1) Society. (2) Technology. (3) Economy.

(1) A sheep-like generation, taught to be so by their hovering parents. Don't offend; don't get out of line. Authority lies in someone else's hands for a reason, honey...
(2) Difficult to come up with great extemporaneous humor when you're watching YouTube vide... Look at what those cats are doing!!!111
(3) Reinforcing (1), who wants to step out of line when anything you do might possibly impinge upon your uncertain, bleak economic prospects? And the rent, it's "too damn high!"

I don't know where it fits in, but in the context of Faithful-as-Tradition, it was always up to the upperclassmen to teach and pass-down to the frehsmen what to do at games. Between showing up early and just making a constant wall of noise, somewhere along the line, these things have dropped considerably. With a complete turnover of the undergrad sections taking only four years, all it takes is 2 years of lax fans to establish a "this is how it's always been, so this is what I'll teach the newbies" mindset.

To expand your comment on (2), there are natural breaks in hockey games. Instead of "hey, I'll yell something creative/funny to cure me of this current state of waiting-for-something" we (both young and old here) are now conditioned to take our amazing devices out of our pocket and text or check our facetweets at any moment we're wating for something: be it doctors' offices, green lights, or puck drops.  For a time, the cellular service inside our beloved tin-can of a rink was non-existent. Now there's plenty of signal! I myself have recieved texts in 3rd periods asking "what are u doing after the game?"  

Just wait. Enjoy the game. If you feel bored, provide your own excitement and atmosphere right there in the chilled air. I swear, it's more fun than an awesome animated .gif.

Even the broadcasters commented during the first period on Saturday night about how quiet the crowd was.

PS Whoever thought it a great idea to remain silent while the color guard leaves the ice didn't think through the chilling effect this practice has on the crowd.

Interesting. I remember big "LGR!" chants going up immediately after "Brave."  I also remember opposing fans calling our team "classless" (yeah! Internet insult!!) for starting their post-anthem skate before the color guard was off the ice while the opponent remained at attention on the blue line until the flags were removed from the ice.  I don't know how I feel about either way, because I guess I don't think it's very important.  If you (read: I) really think about it, it's somewhat silly that we play national anthems before every sporting contest. But, hey, tradition.

[MattS]

On a very serious question, how can Schafer watch a PP like Q has (or anyone that is decent) then watch CU's PP and not make some kind of changes? Is it possible to have slower passing between the three men who are up high? Q's passing was crisp and quick, while CU's was slow and hesitant. Something has got to change.

But, I mean...  how much of that do you put on the coaches and how much on the players?  It's not like when the players are coached on power play strategy, they're instructed to pass the puck slowly and hesitantly.  If anything, tinkering with the guys on the different power play units will just make this problem worse.

So you're answer is to do nothing and hope it gets better? It's not like this is a new problem. CU hasn't had a decent PP in about 4 years. Yes, I know it's early and call me reactionary or whatever, but I am tired of watching the same old PP that basically stinks. I think it's a mess and there is plenty of blame to go around to both the coaches and players. However, ultimately it's up to Schafer to devise a scheme that uses the talents of the players in such a way that puts them in the best position to succeed. I obviously have some thoughts on it, but ultimately it's Schafer's problem to fix and so far he has not done it.

No, I don't know that I'd simply say "do nothing," but I don't know that I'd start making major changes yet either when the power play is 8/27 over the first four games of the season.

Fair enough. I am maybe being too quick to want changes, but what I saw at both games this weekend were the same issues that have plagued the PP unit for the past 4 years or so. I think that the PP against UNO and Princeton is not what we can expect and that what we saw against QU is what we can expect. Time will tell and I just hope I am wishing I never wrote this come the end of the season.

[Trotsky]

I don't know where it fits in, but in the context of Faithful-as-Tradition, it was always up to the upperclassmen to teach and pass-down to the frehsmen what to do at games. Between showing up early and just making a constant wall of noise, somewhere along the line, these things have dropped considerably. With a complete turnover of the undergrad sections taking only four years, all it takes is 2 years of lax fans to establish a "this is how it's always been, so this is what I'll teach the newbies" mindset.

The interesting thing is, the crowd has died before.  During 94 and 95, as the team was struggling, student support began to evaporate.  There was a point at which the townies were probably more actively engaged in the game than the students.  The Schafer renaissance brought back the energy but there was a discontinuity in many traditions.  IIRC this was also around the time when the ECAC moved game times from 7:30 and 7:00 and we were arguing over at hockey-l about whether that was why students stopped coming early.  That was also when some cheers died off (anybody remember "Fight, Maim, Kill!"?) and others started: the Schafer song, of course, but I think that may have been about the time when remote control goalie started up, Dieeeeeeeeeeeeeee! got its extra 20 beats, etc.

So while it's true that the Lynah spirit is transmitted deliberately "To you from failing hands we throw. The torch; be yours to hold it high," a bad stretch doesn't kill it entirely, it just goes underground.  Or perhaps there is enough institutional memory in the pep band and the continuity of frat relationships that we have bridges across the bad times.

[Scersk '97]

Well, the first rule of misanthropy is don't criticize the tongue lashing of one group of people just because it singles them out.  :-}

I can think of no reason why "kids today" would be any better, worse, or different than kids in my day or even those few brief years before me just after the Earth's crust had cooled.  There is nothing new under the sun, so perhaps naively I think if we recreated the physical conditions* of the early Lynah the social psychology would follow.

(* perhaps the secret all along was the gross bathrooms?  We could try that again.)

Structuralist. ::rolleyes::. (::innocent::.)

PS Leaning bar; standing room.

[Scersk '97]

That was also when some cheers died off (anybody remember "Fight, Maim, Kill!"?)...

Not so! That—the only good thing trumpets have inflicted on Lynah in quite some time—was still strong at least when I was there.

...and others started: the Schafer song, of course, but I think that may have been about the time when remote control goalie started up, Dieeeeeeeeeeeeeee! got its extra 20 beats, etc.

Remote control goalie was brilliant—brilliant!—at first but has sadly devolved. The "kids these days" don't seem to understand that the point is not to drone on moronically but rather to ape the opposing goalie's routine in such a way as to insinuate ourselves as an irritant in what otherwise serves him as a means of maintaining focus. The second the goalie modifies his routine to "play with us," we know he is thinking about us and not the game. That is what we want.

A psychological weapon has been lost. Ask Dartmouth's Nick Boucher.

So while it's true that the Lynah spirit is transmitted deliberately "To you from failing hands we throw. The torch; be yours to hold it high," a bad stretch doesn't kill it entirely, it just goes underground.  Or perhaps there is enough institutional memory in the pep band and the continuity of frat relationships that we have bridges across the bad times.

They watch the band like hawks these days. What you write of is exactly what I worry has been beaten out of them.

[BearLover]

Students want to get trashed and go to hockey games.  I don't know if overbearing ushers or something else is the problem, but it's not the same as it was just a few years ago.  I repeat: I have NEVER seen Section D not entirely standing in my many years following this team.  E has always been standing too, but you can just forget about that now.  Six years ago, even F was standing.  Lynah is quieter now than it has ever been.  Players come to Cornell to play largely because of the Faithful.  If we lose that aspect of the hockey program, we can just start handing the ECAC championship to Yale and Quinnipiac.

[Chris '03]

That was also when some cheers died off (anybody remember "Fight, Maim, Kill!"?)...

Not so! That—the only good thing trumpets have inflicted on Lynah in quite some time—was still strong at least when I was there.

It died somewhere along the line when I was in school, probably the '00 or '01 seasons.  It was played when I got there.  By '02 I think it was completely gone.