11/2 Quinnipiac

[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.

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.

Sic transit gloria tubarum.

[Jim Hyla]

I'm amazed, I come back to this after my patients have left and there are 34 new posts. Many of them are talking about how bad the student involvement is and how terrible the ushers are, and that those 2 are cause and effect. Yet no one has pointed to any specific example of bad usher behavior this year, or even last year it seems. I know that one of the offending ushers is now at a townie section, since he always used to tell me that I couldn't throw candy, as I was taking it to the band. I also have't seen the ushers running up and down the stairs, looking for bad behavior, like they used to. Maybe it's still all bad ushers, but until someone tells me of current problems, I have to think it's more a student issue.

Most of this can be cured by the team winning; I don't think it's a surprise that we are talking about this after the terrible year we had last season. Put that together with a relatively dry spell of championships and you've got a recipie for quietness and sparse crowds.

[marty]

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.

It would be more interesting than this thread....

[Swampy]

Regarding enthusiasm:

1. Trotsky started this thread on the day of the Q game at 4:13 that afternoon. It was the only post before game time. MattS posted the only in-game post, shortly after the game started. (Tweets are a horse of another color.) MattS also posted the first post-game post. Between Matt's post at 10:24 and the next morning, there were 9 posts by 7 different people. One of these, Trotsky's, mentioned the fan enthusiasm, and then the thread shifted its focus. This is hardly indicative of overwhelming interest by the e-Lynah faithful! So maybe we should look in the mirror.

2. As for he sociological-technological determinist explanations for fan apathy, what's the atmosphere like these days at Cameron Indoor? Or, don't they have smartphones in Durham? I haven't been back to Lynah for a game since I gave up my season tickets and moved to Cambridge in 1969. But I think the team's inability to scale the heights of the ECACHL and be a serious NCAA contender over the past few years, along perhaps with the shitty attitude of the ushers, has more explanatory power.

Just my $0.02.

[BearLover]

Regarding enthusiasm:

1. Trotsky started this thread on the day of the Q game at 4:13 that afternoon. It was the only post before game time. MattS posted the only in-game post, shortly after the game started. (Tweets are a horse of another color.) MattS also posted the first post-game post. Between Matt's post at 10:24 and the next morning, there were 9 posts by 7 different people. One of these, Trotsky's, mentioned the fan enthusiasm, and then the thread shifted its focus. This is hardly indicative of overwhelming interest by the e-Lynah faithful! So maybe we should look in the mirror.

2. As for he sociological-technological determinist explanations for fan apathy, what's the atmosphere like these days at Cameron Indoor? Or, don't they have smartphones in Durham? I haven't been back to Lynah for a game since I gave up my season tickets and moved to Cambridge in 1969. But I think the team's inability to scale the heights of the ECACHL and be a serious NCAA contender over the past few years, along perhaps with the shitty attitude of the ushers, has more explanatory power.

Just my $0.02.

I still chuckle at the people here who think Yale winning the National Championship is a good thing for Cornell.

[Dafatone]

Regarding enthusiasm:

1. Trotsky started this thread on the day of the Q game at 4:13 that afternoon. It was the only post before game time. MattS posted the only in-game post, shortly after the game started. (Tweets are a horse of another color.) MattS also posted the first post-game post. Between Matt's post at 10:24 and the next morning, there were 9 posts by 7 different people. One of these, Trotsky's, mentioned the fan enthusiasm, and then the thread shifted its focus. This is hardly indicative of overwhelming interest by the e-Lynah faithful! So maybe we should look in the mirror.

2. As for he sociological-technological determinist explanations for fan apathy, what's the atmosphere like these days at Cameron Indoor? Or, don't they have smartphones in Durham? I haven't been back to Lynah for a game since I gave up my season tickets and moved to Cambridge in 1969. But I think the team's inability to scale the heights of the ECACHL and be a serious NCAA contender over the past few years, along perhaps with the shitty attitude of the ushers, has more explanatory power.

Just my $0.02.

I still chuckle at the people here who think Yale winning the National Championship is a good thing for Cornell.

There are bad parts to it, but it's nice to see the ECAC do well.  It doesn't have to be all one way or the other.

[Weder]

As for he sociological-technological determinist explanations for fan apathy, what's the atmosphere like these days at Cameron Indoor?

Not as good as it used to be.

Declining student attendance/enthusiasm is a problem at all levels of college athletics. Even Nick Saban is shaking things up at Alabama.

[Cop at Lynah]

The "Lynah Experience" has been deminished for quite some time now.  It goes back at least to the renovation of Lynah.  Students are less vocal and engaged.  Local interest has been priced out of season tickets.  Hell they can't even sell out the place unless Harvard is in town.  I'm afriad the state of affairs in the new norm.

[profudge]

I've sat on the townie side in N for 22 years now.   I too notice less noise and enthusiasm compared to earlier.
 Including on the Townie side.   I see folks on their electronic pocket device even during the play of the game - even communicating with friends/family in another section rather than cheering.  

I think a nice electronic baffle closing Lynah off the air might help ... ::rolleyes::    

But it is definitely changed and not positive to me -  I try to start a LGR cheer and 12 years ago 20 or 30 folks in my section would join in,  not today.   Maybe we need to get some small groups of eLynah folks to move their season tickets to sections together so we can act as noise initiators ...  
Although still would be nicer if students section was loud and supportive more of the time.

[Dafatone]

I've sat on the townie side in N for 22 years now.   I too notice less noise and enthusiasm compared to earlier.
 Including on the Townie side.   I see folks on their electronic pocket device even during the play of the game - even communicating with friends/family in another section rather than cheering.  

I think a nice electronic baffle closing Lynah off the air might help ... ::rolleyes::    

But it is definitely changed and not positive to me -  I try to start a LGR cheer and 12 years ago 20 or 30 folks in my section would join in,  not today.   Maybe we need to get some small groups of eLynah folks to move their season tickets to sections together so we can act as noise initiators ...  
Although still would be nicer if students section was loud and supportive more of the time.

I do think phones have a lot to do with it.  But like you said, it's not kids, it's everyone.  I went to an NBA game with my dad a year ago, and was amazed that he spent more time looking at his phone than the game.

[BearLover]

Is there any reason student season tickets need to be $230?  I'm confident they would sell out if they were cheaper.  If the tickets are selling anyway, then sure, $230 is fine.  But they aren't, and every other sport is totally free, which makes no sense.  Who makes this decision, anyway?

[redice]

I've sat on the townie side in N for 22 years now.   I too notice less noise and enthusiasm compared to earlier.
 Including on the Townie side.   I see folks on their electronic pocket device even during the play of the game - even communicating with friends/family in another section rather than cheering.  

I think a nice electronic baffle closing Lynah off the air might help ... ::rolleyes::    

But it is definitely changed and not positive to me -  I try to start a LGR cheer and 12 years ago 20 or 30 folks in my section would join in,  not today.   Maybe we need to get some small groups of eLynah folks to move their season tickets to sections together so we can act as noise initiators ...  
Although still would be nicer if students section was loud and supportive more of the time.

As I've said many times, I think it would be a big lift to the teams if the student sections were FULL and loud at the beginning of the game.   What must that say to the players when the fans can make their way to the rink in time for the game?

I know today's fans are used to that lame practive.   Some of we oldtimers come from an era when the rink was full and VERY loud when the players hit the ice.   Call me old-fashioned.   But, I have to believe that gives the team a lift.

[Trotsky]

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.

Well, hopefully most of us will only be convinced by hard evidence.  But had I witnessed that my impression would be significantly changed, and I trust Rich as an objective witness, so, yes, I am starting to waver in my intuition that the guilt is shared.  Perhaps the ushers have gotten much worse since my time there.

[redice]

I do think phones have a lot to do with it.  But like you said, it's not kids, it's everyone.  I went to an NBA game with my dad a year ago, and was amazed that he spent more time looking at his phone than the game.

I went to a Calder Cup finals game in Toronto a couple of years ago.    It amazed me the number of people who paid $50 to sit in an arena seat, ignore the game, & play with their phones.

I suppose they paid some attention to the game & called it multi-tasking.   I called it lunacy.

I don't even carry my phone into Lynah.   Don't want to be bothered during a Cornell game!!!

[Trotsky]

Some of we oldtimers come from an era when the rink was full and VERY loud when the players hit the ice.   Call me old-fashioned.   But, I have to believe that gives the team a lift.

It's not old-fashioned, it's verifiable.  Many, MANY players have said repeatedly over the years, both in public (where you'd expect it for PR reasons) and in private, that they loved playing at Lynah because of the atmosphere.  Many opposing players have said the same, even crossing the line to fault their own fans for failing to provide the same support.  Many of our players have said the atmosphere helped sway them to accept Cornell's offer of admission in preference to other schools', particularly our rivals.  That means losing the atmosphere reduces the quality of the team, both in the players' enthusiasm if they come here, and even the likelihood of them coming here at all.

Fans routinely overvalue their contribution to their team's performance -- that is part of being a fan -- but in the case of Cornell hockey it appears to be warranted.