Attendance at Lynah

[Dafatone]

Regarding the whole Lynah mystique, there is something to be said for how that influences freshmen.  When I came in in 2000, I had been to maybe one hockey game in my life and knew little about it.  But I did know hockey was the big sport, and the Harvard game was THE place to be, so that definitely made me want to see what it was about.  My first game was just one of the exhibition games, but the way the student section was made me think it was a huge game, and it's hard not to like that kind of atmosphere.  Now maybe the team's success during my four years helped, but as long as the atmosphere was great I like to think I would keep coming back.  And maybe the lower ticket prices helped make the decision a no-brainer, but I think even if they cost a but more I still would have found it worth it.  Of course, if we went 0-30 and tickets were $50 per game I would say no, so there is likely some extreme, but in the end I think it really comes down to whether Cornell hockey is seen as a defning experience of your years on the hill or just a way to kill 3 hours.

Same here, except I didn't even make it to a game until Sophomore year.  Went with a friend, and we both looked at each other and kinda went "we've been missing THIS?"   Got tickets the next two years.

[KeithK]

Regarding the whole Lynah mystique, there is something to be said for how that influences freshmen.  When I came in in 2000, I had been to maybe one hockey game in my life and knew little about it.  But I did know hockey was the big sport, and the Harvard game was THE place to be, so that definitely made me want to see what it was about.  My first game was just one of the exhibition games, but the way the student section was made me think it was a huge game, and it's hard not to like that kind of atmosphere.  Now maybe the team's success during my four years helped, but as long as the atmosphere was great I like to think I would keep coming back.  And maybe the lower ticket prices helped make the decision a no-brainer, but I think even if they cost a but more I still would have found it worth it.  Of course, if we went 0-30 and tickets were $50 per game I would say no, so there is likely some extreme, but in the end I think it really comes down to whether Cornell hockey is seen as a defning experience of your years on the hill or just a way to kill 3 hours.

Same here, except I didn't even make it to a game until Sophomore year.  Went with a friend, and we both looked at each other and kinda went "we've been missing THIS?"   Got tickets the next two years.

Didn't go until senior year.  And we were terrible.  But I still got hooked because of the experience and ended up getting season tickets for five years of grad school (and am still here 20+ years later). I have to say though that early on it was less the hockey (wasn't a fan of the sport at the time) and more the Lynah experience that got me. Organized obnoxiousness in support of your team is a lot of fun.  I wonder whether it would have the same effect now if I arrived at my first game now.

[Rosey]

Same here, except I didn't even make it to a game until Sophomore year.  Went with a friend, and we both looked at each other and kinda went "we've been missing THIS?"   Got tickets the next two years.

That's the same thing that happened to me. Cornell hockey won me over in one game my sophomore year after a friend said, "I can't go tonight: here's my ticket." The atmosphere that made me a fan is gone, sadly, for whatever reason.

[Trotsky]

A bunch of guys in my freshman dorm were headed up to wait overnight and it sounded fun.  Until then I didn't even know we had a hockey team.

[Dafatone]

Just to do a young old man whine, I actually find just about all the coordinated chants (remote control goalie, you're not a ___, you're a ___, etc) to be kind of lame.  Not TOO lame, and the more basic ones (___ university... sucks!, it's all your fault, most variations of a sieve chant) are fun.  But I've always been more partial to single witty comments from the crowd, and those are what ushers were most opposed to in 2007.

[BMac]

I started as a freshman. I had heard it was the thing to do, but didn't really know anyone with which to do the line. One guy in my dorm was up to try to find tickets and we found someone willing to sell us some for a premium (hey Oat). The guy from the dorm went to maybe 5 games, I went alone to the rest. But standing at the top of B for the 2004-05 season (undefeated at home) was really special and made me a lifer. By junior/senior year my friends and I in section A were running the place (2006-08).

[KeithK]

Just to do a young old man whine, I actually find just about all the coordinated chants (remote control goalie, you're not a ___, you're a ___, etc) to be kind of lame.  Not TOO lame, and the more basic ones (___ university... sucks!, it's all your fault, most variations of a sieve chant) are fun.  But I've always been more partial to single witty comments from the crowd, and those are what ushers were most opposed to in 2007.

This.

[Rosey]

Just to do a young old man whine, I actually find just about all the coordinated chants (remote control goalie, you're not a ___, you're a ___, etc) to be kind of lame.  Not TOO lame, and the more basic ones (___ university... sucks!, it's all your fault, most variations of a sieve chant) are fun.  But I've always been more partial to single witty comments from the crowd, and those are what ushers were most opposed to in 2007.

This.

Some of the phone call cheers I've heard at away arenas over the past few years put anything I've heard at Lynah over the past decade to shame.

[Trotsky]

Some of the phone call cheers I've heard at away arenas over the past few years put anything I've heard at Lynah over the past decade to shame.

There is wit even among barbarians.

I haven't spent enough time at Lynah in the last decade to know whether those clever, spontaneous jibes still happen, but those were also what made the building great to me.  The cheers were fun and made the crowd a unit, but the running commentary from a hundred different people, staggered across all the sections, during play so you could hear them clearly, made Lynah different.

[KeithK]

Some of the phone call cheers I've heard at away arenas over the past few years put anything I've heard at Lynah over the past decade to shame.

There is wit even among barbarians.

I haven't spent enough time at Lynah in the last decade to know whether those clever, spontaneous jibes still happen, but those were also what made the building great to me.  The cheers were fun and made the crowd a unit, but the running commentary from a hundred different people, staggered across all the sections, during play so you could hear them clearly, made Lynah different.

I can remember at least one such comment that was so outrageously obnoxious yet clever (and clean) that they left several sections and half the guys on the ice (including the target) laughing heartily (it was during a stoppage).

[marty]

Some of the phone call cheers I've heard at away arenas over the past few years put anything I've heard at Lynah over the past decade to shame.

There is wit even among barbarians.

I haven't spent enough time at Lynah in the last decade to know whether those clever, spontaneous jibes still happen, but those were also what made the building great to me.  The cheers were fun and made the crowd a unit, but the running commentary from a hundred different people, staggered across all the sections, during play so you could hear them clearly, made Lynah different.

I can remember at least one such comment that was so outrageously obnoxious yet clever (and clean) that they left several sections and half the guys on the ice (including the target) laughing heartily (it was during a stoppage).

And since I could use a laugh I'll bite,  what was the quip?

[imafrshmn]

Some of the phone call cheers I've heard at away arenas over the past few years put anything I've heard at Lynah over the past decade to shame.

There is wit even among barbarians.

I haven't spent enough time at Lynah in the last decade to know whether those clever, spontaneous jibes still happen, but those were also what made the building great to me.  The cheers were fun and made the crowd a unit, but the running commentary from a hundred different people, staggered across all the sections, during play so you could hear them clearly, made Lynah different.

My first couple years going to games at Lynah ('05-'06, '06-'07), section A was full of the most inspired heckling I'd ever heard. That first season was Lynah's last one before taller glass panels went in, and the ability of fans to interact with the game directly, having players hear taunts and react to fans, was still in full effect. We were arguably a more hardcore bunch of fans than sat in section B those years (big shout to BMac), although both sections had its share of folks who'd be there for warmups. The infamous crackdowns on language were a major reason why students' sections lost some spirit in my time--I mean, almost noone wanted to risk a $200 season ticket for just saying "[sieve] sucks!" The level of overreach and zealotry in this enforcement initiative, coupled with an athletics department deaf to student hockey fans, left a lot of bitterness in its wake. It's unfortunate but true that the Lynah Faithful didn't get its voice heard by Athletics until ticket sales started dropping and proved its loyalty couldn't be taken for granted.

[Trotsky]

I have never understood the crackdown on A and B.  I used to sit with the oldsters in the back of C, with the occasional high dollar, clueless VIP whose virginal ears the AD was presumably protecting, and we can't understand anything you say in A or B.  You could be reciting The Aristocrats and we'd be none the wiser, so where's the harm?

Though to put on my grumpy old hat for a moment, I have also never understood why kids who scored high enough to be admitted to Cornell are apparently unable to heckle without using the 7 (or 77, now, from what I hear) words you're not allowed to say in front of Lynah children.  Any line that uses the word "sucks" is by definition not clever.  While I don't think the censorship of the crowd is warranted or effective, a non-trivial portion of me is also thinking: reach a little higher, snowflakes.

[Chris '03]

I have never understood the crackdown on A and B.  I used to sit with the oldsters in the back of C, with the occasional high dollar, clueless VIP whose virginal ears the AD was presumably protecting, and we can't understand anything you say in A or B.  You could be reciting The Aristocrats and we'd be none the wiser, so where's the harm?

Though to put on my grumpy old hat for a moment, I have also never understood why kids who scored high enough to be admitted to Cornell are apparently unable to heckle without using the 7 (or 77, now, from what I hear) words you're not allowed to say in front of Lynah children.  Any line that uses the word "sucks" is by definition not clever.  While I don't think the censorship of the crowd is warranted or effective, a non-trivial portion of me is also thinking: reach a little higher, snowflakes.

I think part of the issue was the that 1,000 words you can't say in Lynah morphed into "anyone who is loud is subject to extra scrutiny."  Being loud and creative without vulgarity was as much a cause for abuse as "the ref fucks sheep."

[andyw2100]

I think part of the issue was the that 1,000 words you can't say in Lynah morphed into "anyone who is loud is subject to extra scrutiny."  Being loud and creative without vulgarity was as much a cause for abuse as "the ref fucks sheep."

And on that note, I hope sections A and B will not less us down when Quinnipiac and their freshman Bo Pieper come to town in February. They've got to be able to have some fun with that!