Cornell Sun on hockey line fiasco

[Josh '99]

[Q]jtwcornell91 Wrote:
We'll be starting such a petition, but you have to listen to WVBR every night next week to find out when and where people can start signing it.[/q]I wouldn't actually mind that if I didn't have to listen to the crappy weekend lineup.

[KeithK]

[q]Based on your experience, did a limited general admission policy increase the student turnout before face-off?[/q]There were definitely more people present at faceoff than there are today (well, according to reports anyway - haven't made it to Lynah since '01 I think).  Whether that was due to GA or just changes in people's priorities is uncertain, but I suspect GA definitely helped.

[ben03]

A simple solution to this specific GA problem would be to have Athletics make a unique stamp for every section (maybe with the ugly bear logo and a large block letter of the section). Each game night you get your hand stamped (different color ink from Friday night/previous game) whenever you get to the rink with the section of your choice. As for over filling the sections … while one usher is stamping hands the other has a “pitch-counter thingy” that umpires use in baseball keeping track. When the appropriate number of hands has been stamped the section is closed (maybe even with a little chain across the top of the stairs).

I know there are issues within my procedure: (1) There is the problem of two entrances into each section or walking across from one section to another; solved by only allowing students in one entrance per section. Stopping students from walking into sections may be tougher to stop, although a simple check of their stamps will tell the tail. (2) There will then be a line at the top of each section; solved using a combination of means: the longer lead time allows for the sections to fill more slowly and/or having the CUPD (already present) take an active role by removing anyone who creates a problem. It’s not prefect but I think it would do wonders for getting the student Faithful to the game before face-off.

[David Harding]

Or will one person be sent early to claim seats for the whole group?  That is what I usually find in general admissions settings.  Sure it's not polite, or perhaps even allowed, but are you going to get into a fistfight over it?  Or will the ushers be up to resolving those disputes?  Are you thinking that you would buy season tickets which would give you a seat-hunting license, or would you forget the season tickets completely and let people buy tickets for each game on a GA basis?  [Q]calgARI '07 Wrote:

 I totally agree.  I think it would get people to the games far earlier or at least the people that really care.  


[Q2]redhair34 Wrote:

 I am a big believer of the General Admission policy.  I plan on trying to convince athletics that it is the correct way to go, and show my willingness to bring the plan to fruition.  I think you identified one of the biggest shortcoming of a GA policy.  I for one like to talk to my father and grandfather about the game durring intermissions.  It is a hard problem to solve.  

One thing I can say, is that the last two years there has been plenty of de facto general admission seating on the part of the students.

First Example: student gets into section D but stands with his friends to rows down.

Second Example: student from D gives friend from G their ticket stub and student from G stands with his friend in D.

If you did a spot check on most nights I'd be willing to bet that a third of the student section isn't in their assigned spot (it will be far more widespread this year, perhaps for good reason).  It isn't fair for the many students who obey the ticket assignment rules.  A general admissions policy would make this sort of behaivor a non issue.[/Q]
[/q]

[cth95]

My memory may be off a little, but because of the rare down-turn in the hockey team's success in the early '90s there was much less of a demand for tickets than there has been more recently.  I don't remember ever having much trouble buying tickets for individual games.  I even got tickets to the two home games against Colgate in the '96 playoffs (2 wins, 8-3 and 8-1) the year after I graduated with no problem.  I think the lines would be much, much longer for GA each game day then it was then.

[RichH]

[Q]redhair34 Wrote:

Based on your experience, did a limited general admission policy increase the student turnout before face-off?[/q]

I can't attribute it to that, but there were definitely a LOT more students in the stands for the pre-game warmups in the early-mid '90s.  Those were also the days were Sections F-H sat mainly empty, so it wasn't like there was limited space like today.  Also, half the games (Friday nights) started at 7:30.  A majority of students were in their 30:00 before introductions...being loud.

I think it's just a change in the mindset of today's students.  Somewhere along the way, the need to get in the rink for some choice heckling/social time during warmups petered out for whatever reason.  Today, it just seems normal for the students to start heading over to the game at 7, instead of 6, and have a majority of a student section unoccupied at puck-drop.

Maybe they have better things to do...like tending their blogs, cell phones, and SUVs.  *shakes cane*

[Lauren '06]

[Q]RichH Wrote:

 [Q2]redhair34 Wrote:

Based on your experience, did a limited general admission policy increase the student turnout before face-off?[/Q]
I can't attribute it to that, but there were definitely a LOT more students in the stands for the pre-game warmups in the early-mid '90s.  Those were also the days were Sections F-H sat mainly empty, so it wasn't like there was limited space like today.  Also, half the games (Friday nights) started at 7:30.  A majority of students were in their 30:00 before introductions...being loud.

I think it's just a change in the mindset of today's students.  Somewhere along the way, the need to get in the rink for some choice heckling/social time during warmups petered out for whatever reason.  Today, it just seems normal for the students to start heading over to the game at 7, instead of 6, and have a majority of a student section unoccupied at puck-drop.

Maybe they have better things to do...like tending their blogs, cell phones, and SUVs.  *shakes cane*[/q]
A corollary to this is that not many students know how to properly heckle outside the proscribed "school sucks" call and response.  What percentage of the student section do you think keeps up with college hockey enough to make fun of Joe Forward for that game DQ he got the week before?  Not that many.  And of those that do, not all of them have the courage or the vocal chords to let fly in the middle of warmups or anytime during the game.  Even in the pep band, the amount of individual hecklers has dropped considerably since my freshman year.

[cornelldavy]

I know the issue of whether to instruct fans as to how to cheer has been batted around over and over on the forum, usually with the conclusion that it wouldn't work, but as far as solving the issue of how to heckle...I'd suggest doing what UCLA does for its home football and basketball games.

Every game, students arrive to find a flyer on each seat in the student section, entitled "Dirt From The Den." The flyer has some info on the basics for that game (leading scorers, trends, the important players on each roster and their numbers, etc.), but it also digs up the sordid details on some of the opposition's players and lists them to provide some heckling material for fans. For example, before the game against Oklahoma recently, there was info about OU's QB being cited for underage drinking, Adrian Peterson's truancy issues, and a defensive lineman who was kicked off the team (but reinstated) after punching a friend so hard the friend required facial surgery.

It's not instructions on how to cheer...just a little background material. (There are a few other things, like UCLA traditions and lyrics to a few of the commonly played songs.) And a lot of students do take a look at it. I don't know how easily these things can be discovered, but various schools' student papers probably have run unflattering things about their own players at one time or another.

If anyone cares, you can take a look at past Dirt From The Den here:
http://www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/theden/dftd/dftd.htm

[Nate 04]

I bet starting games a half hour later than they are now would help a bit.  I know when I was in school that it was hard to get something to eat and be up to the game before 7, just because i wasn't used to eating dinner before 6:30.

[Beeeej]

Somewhere in one of these many boxes, I still have my copy of "Section D Tonight," the 1987 Lynah equivalent of "Dirt from the Den" that was on my seat at the beginning of my first ever Cornell hockey game.  It did include a few instructions on cheering, but also background on the teams as cornelldavy suggested.

It's really not a bad idea.  But someone's got to commit to doing it, and doing it right.

Beeeej

[Robb]

Yeah - and it can't get TOO personal.  No cell phone numbers, for example!  :-(

Far worse than the cell phone incident was when a guy I knew found out that one of the UVM (I think) player's girlfriend had just dumped him.  He was there before warmups and really got into the guy's head in very many horrible, nasty, over-the-top ways.  Too far.

[jtwcornell91]

[Q]Robb Wrote:
Far worse than the cell phone incident was when a guy I knew found out that one of the UVM (I think) player's girlfriend had just dumped him.  He was there before warmups and really got into the guy's head in very many horrible, nasty, over-the-top ways.  Too far.[/q]

I think a good rule of thumb is that misfortunes resulting from the player's own misdeeds are okay (suspensions, the whole UVM elephant walk thing, that pothead SLU goalie, NCAA violations), but situations where the guy may just have been the victim (girlfried left, mother died, etc) ought to be off limits.  I guess this means we should reconsider into which category puking on the ice falls.  ::yark::

[Beeeej]

Actually, his returning to the net after puking (and making the ref shovel the puke off the ice - what a beautiful sight) was one of the gutsiest -- excuse me, bravest things I've ever seen.  :-)

Beeeej

[jtwcornell91]

[Q]Beeeej Wrote:

 Actually, his returning to the net after puking (and making the ref shovel the puke off the ice - what a beautiful sight) was one of the gutsiest -- excuse me, bravest things I've ever seen.[/q]

I really felt bad for PC's backup goalie, who didn't even get to play in the consolation game.  How much do you have to suck not to get the start in a meaningless consolation game when the other goalie played one of the longest games in college hockey history the night before and puked on the ice in the middle of it?  ::help::

[KeithK]

[Q]I bet starting games a half hour later than they are now would help a bit.  I know when I was in school that it was hard to get something to eat and be up to the game before 7, just because i wasn't used to eating dinner before 6:30.[/q]I've heard this excuse before, but it doesn't make sense to me.  How hard is it to grab dinner a little early every other Friday?  Or grab a snack and then eat Hot Truck later?  It's really a question of priorities.  If getting to the hockey game on time is important then it's really easy to do so.  If keeping a regular feeding schedule is more important, then well...