Section G

[Drew042]

Most of us, at least in the top part of the seciton, are not "facetimers" as it was so put.  I have been going to hockey games for 6 years, and have been in B the last two.  It just so happened, that by the time I got to the line this year, I was down to G.  Does this mean I have any much less of a right to stand than anyone else, especially since I block the view of no one,...I don't think so.

[Ken71]

I sit on the aisle between Section C and D.  The students standing on their seats block my view of the goal.  They always have, but I keep my seats there because I enjoy (most of) the chants and enthusiasm of the student section.  The students standing and cheering are there doing what I think they ought to do and I applaud their stamina and frequent creativity.   (The students standing and jabbering and not watching the game are another story.)

I AM annoyed by the many people in both sections C and D that don't bother to show up for the game on time, and keep the rest of us from seeing the game while they work their ways into their seats.  That's rude.  With the faster timing of the faceoffs, there are shorter stoppages of play - just get to your seat before they start play, please.  Come early and see the skate-around.  Sing the national anthems.  Stay between periods 2 and 3 and stand and sing the Alma Mater.  At least, please stop jabbering while the rest of us sing.

My recollections of watching Lynah games as a student are very fond - we had some great teams, indeed.  We were in the General Admission section (which included Section C), and having waited for up to four hours before the first faceoff, we were packed in and screaming when the teams came out for the skate-around.  I don't advocate going back to GA seating now, but fans getting in the habit of arriving earlier for the games could enhance the experience for all of us.

Ken '71

[Allie]

As a season ticket holder in G, I felt I needed to say something about the situation that arose at last night's game.  Someone asked if we were ever informed about what was going on or if the cops just started throwing people out, well we were never told anything.  The cop began to man handle the fans, as I saw him grab girls and pull them up the aisle to eject them from the game.  The pepper spray incident happened two rows in front of me and scared the hell out of me.  The students never swore or were disrespectful to the cop, they simply asked for a reason.  Apparently, this warranted pulling on the pepper spray and holding it an inch away from their eyes.  The scary thing is that our University PD can get so riled up in 30 seconds that the only solution is to spray the students with pepper spray!
I also must say that I was very hurt by the comment of the students being just "facetimers".  What I want to ask that person is how would they have felt if they were called that when they were at Lynah?  We are the future alums who send out emails and posts to meet at games across the country to support the Big Red.  The Athletic Department's new policy to get tickets has just facilitated getting only the most diehard fans to fill the rink, including Section G.  I was told last night that G wasn't even suppose to be sold to students and that next year only sections A, B, D, E, and F will be availiable to students.  Personally, I'd be very disappointed in the university if that is what ends up happening because then less than half the rink would be availiable for student season tickets.  My solution would just to be to sell H to students also.  The standing problem would be solved because even if H stood, Section I could still see.  I'm sure in the end there will be some type of compromise, I just hope that it doesn't entail taking G away from students...

[Will]

[Q]I was told last night that G wasn't even suppose to be sold to students and that next year only sections A, B, D, E, and F will be availiable to students. Personally, I'd be very disappointed in the university if that is what ends up happening because then less than half the rink would be availiable for student season tickets.[/Q]
That's already the case, since section C is a booster section (or whatever the proper term for that is).

[Q]My solution would just to be to sell H to students also.[/Q]

While that idea has some appeal to me as a student (even if I am graduating in May and thus will never have season tickets in H as a student), I doubt the current H ticketholders will want to give up their seats anytime soon, so I seriously doubt this will occur.

[Adam \'04]

I stand in section B. Last night I was not impressed with the Faithful. I thought that the students in D, E, F, G, and H, all made a better showing than those in B. B was not full till midway through the second period. Also, some person/people in section D, E, F, G, or H threw something onto the ice, this also occurred in section B; this kind of behavior is intolerable. What the heck is wrong with people? Have some common sense. If you through anything other than newspaper, or fish most of the Faithful are going to get pissed. The faithful know that there is no place for this kind of behavior. More often than not if you through something when you aren't supposed to people will not refrain from chastising you, and or getting you thrown out of the game. For those of you that did not read that little contract you signed when you bought your season tickets, when you get expelled from a game, you get JA'ed. That goes on your transcript! Think about it. When you have to apply for jobs, at every interview for the rest of your life you have to explain why it happened. 'I was a dumbass.' I don't think this is a characteristic that future employers are looking for in a prospective employee. Just a few thoughts and advise; think before you act, if you know it is wrong, then don't do it, have some self-control, show up on time, show your respect to the rest of the faithful (most of them have been following Cornell hockey longer than you have), cheer like there is no tomorrow, and have a good time without diminishing the experience of other faithful and the Cornell Men's Hockey Team.

[profudge]

As a local (I live 25 miles from Cornell) I was on way hoem from game and ran into an aquaintance who is an usher down in the G-H area...  He said that the one kid(or 2 kids) he had thrown out were using profanity and right in his ear - so what did they expect ?   (just a different point of view...)  

I sit in N and love the crowd there,  that appreciates the game and joins in positive cheers like "Lets go Red" and the usual loud one at beginning of 3rd period etc - but tends to refrain from obscenity and and vulgarism's.   Many around me have been coming to games for 20 years and more!  (i'm relatively new coming up on ten  years soon) -    But the enthusiam and noise of Lynah is a major attraction of watching hockey there - - Let's all support the team -  Let's all be enthusiastic fans...  but let's remember that the visiting fans and players are folks like us!

[toni UCSB \'72]

Just want to put in my .02 about townies, and whether if they stand up or not has anything to do with their committment to Cornell Hockey.   I'm always relieved when some of the people who sit around me (Sec. K) make it down the stairs to their seats.  Some of these people are really OLD.  They've been dedicated fans for many years, but they could never stand up for a whole game, or even 3rd period (I wish they would).    Many of them hosted hockey players in their homes when that was allowed by the NCAA.  I bet Ken Dryden and Joe Nieuwendyk lived with Ithaca families.  I'm a relatively new CU hockey fan, but I've been to Lake Placid for the last 3 years.  Does that make me a bigger or better fan than someone who camped out for a ticket?  Of course not, we're all fans.

I really agree with Adam though, that TRUE fans should be in their seats for face-off. Why are the student sections half empty for the start of the game? There are so few home games, how can people miss 20-30%  of the action?  BTW, I think Sec. G should be allowed to stand, just call that another student section.  Sec. H will just have to deal with losing a corner view.

[Ian]

I sat in section G for two years (some how, as a grad student).  Same stuff happens every year--there's always some conflict at the first game about sitting vs. standing, and there's always some confusion about whether it's a student section or not.  I've never understood why there was confusion about it.

[Jim Hyla]

I think that the object from section B was one of my Snickers. If that continues you can be sure I'll not be allowed to give them to the Bear. Please police the section.

[jtwcornell91]

I don't have anything to add here; I just wanted to say "Go Gauchos!". :-D

JTW, UCSB PhD '96

[Ben Doyle 03]

Jim, it was one of the Snickers that you have so nicely given to us. The self-policing will continue. If it happens again, you can all be assured the guilty party will be turned in as they were last night.

[neil shapiro]

I had seats in the front row of section D until 1986 and there was NO standing from the beginning of games in the student section, so that should help to date this "tradition" of standing.  I also think that standing the whole game must make it less dramatic than it used to be in a close game in the third period when the student section would rise and watch the END of the game while standing and screaming for the team.

I am also curious if anyone ever throws a strainer (sieve) after a goal, or cheap plastic glasses after the ref blows a call?  These were things thrown that were tolerated pretty well once upon a time.

[Beeeej]

[q]Beeeej, I didn't know that standing the whole game was a relatively new tradition, but it's one I'd like to keep. It's also a better incarnation of that basketball-esque idea of until the first score.[/q]

Half of my recollection of this shift in the tradition was very much like Robb's - that there had been an inordinate number of home shutouts over the course of a couple of dismal seasons.  But a quick check of the records shows only one season, 1992-93, where we had any home shutouts at all during Robb's undergrad years at Cornell, and there were only two of them - 0-7 to Providence and 0-3 to Clarkson. (*)

The other half, and what sticks in my mind more thoroughly, is the letter I wrote to the Daily Sun as one of the skating Bears at the time in 1992.  I was trying to outline some of the major traditions for newer Faithful, and they altered something I'd written along the lines of "stand until Cornell has scored their first goal" to "stand until Cornell has scored three goals."

Needless to say they made that change without my permission, knowing that since I'd asked to have it published "anonymously" as the Bear, I would have no way of disputing their version.  I no longer spend much time dwelling on how asinine and unprofessional that was, but it's interesting to think that my letter and the Sun's idiocy contributed to a tradition that's still causing rifts.

Beeeej

(*) I do however remember that the Fish'n'Fowl tradition used to be to throw fish at Hahvahd when Cornell scored their first goal of that game, as well - and that changed after Hahvahd spanked us 5-0 at home in 1989-90.

[nate_huang]

If I may be so bold...

I might be the person initially responsible for the students standing up.

My senior year (1988-89), I posted a personal in the Cornell Daily Sun before the Harvard game, something like:

"Attention Lynah Faithful: No Notre Dame student has sat down during a Notre Dame home football game in years.  STAND UP THE ENTIRE HARVARD GAME!!"

(Can anyone on campus check the Daily Sun archives?)

I recall that the Faithful did stand through that game, the first time that happened during my Cornell years.  There was standing in subsequent games (I remember some students complaining about it during the games), but I don't recall if it became "official" that year like it is now.

-Nate Huang '89

[Beeeej]

The Hahvahd game at home was in February that season, and by that point I'd already seen the student Faithful standing until the first goal several times since my first game in Nov. '87.  Whether that's the first time we stood the entire game, I couldn't tell you - though I will say that I don't specifically recall having stood the entire game until at least a year or two later.

Beeeej