Probably will talk much more about this in the coming days, but it seems like ever since Scott Barnes and Stan Albrecht put the muzzle on the student section, a ton of the fun of it has just been sucked out of things.
And for what?? Because they don't like the word "suck?"
Memo to you Scott and Stan: The students don't like being treated like shit by you when it's only been a few years since they voted to double their student athletic fee to balance the budget that you couldn't, only to have you threaten to take away more student seating at games shortly thereafter.
Our student section got all sorts of crazy recognition nationally for being loud, rowdy, coordinated and ruthless, and you've sucked that energy out of it. You want to say that athletics are the front porch of a university? Well we decked that porch the hell out and turned it into something that every car in the neighborhood wanted to drive by and see. Then you guys came in and meddled with things and now nobody is all that impressed. And to make things worse, those of us who were or are a part of that student section have this constant fear that you're going to come in and tell us we're wrong all over again.
In short, I say bring back the "You, you, you suck" for fouls and the "You still suck" after a made free throw. They at least gave us edge, and that edge is so much of what made our crowd great. Nobody is overly offended by the word "suck", and if they are, they're just going to find some other reason eventually to turn their back on the programs. The nation loved our hostile crowd. They don't care for a mild version of it all, and apparently, neither does most of the rest of the student body.
Take back The Spectrum.
#takeitback
My thoughts were the same last night. All year long the students have looked like they are scared to chant and do what they should be doing. I hope this problem fades with the passing of this forgettable season.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely.
ReplyDeleteI was a student in the '80s. I was there for the 148-146 game in triple overtime against UNLV. I was there for the "blue water" game. I was on the front row for the game where we passed out 10,000 masks of Jerry Tarkanian. (In fact, I had a roll of tape and we started taping them onto the railing all around the court.) I was there for all the crazy games against BYU, Utah, Weber, and all the PCAA and later Big West battles. The Spectrum was always crazy, crazy, fun. The fans back then were perhaps a little less organized in the cheers, and we didn't all wear blue, but they were no less spirited and were much more rude. *ANY* call against us resulted in the entire student section chanting "BULLSH!T"!!!
Now it's a new day,... this spirit is packaged for TV and the rudeness is much less... and that's OK...
My point is, we did all that we did back in the day and nobody noticed. Nobody outside of Logan even paid attention. Now, in the last few years we have ESPN constantly talking about us in glowing terms! People tour the country and tell everyone that we are among the best fans in college basketball! LETS NOT LOOSE IT!
When I say, "let's not loose it", I'm not talking about rudeness.... today's crowds are not rude. I'm saying, don't loose the spirit. Onward and upward. Hopefully we will join this new conference and that will help us recruit the players that move the program up and up.
One more thought... If USU will join the new super-conference, they'll be in the best position for basketball in the state. Utah has gone off and joined the PAC-12 which is a joke for basketball. I heard someone say that they're looking at one (1) team in the big dance. BYU is in the WCC, and I really like those guys. But they have only one established program (Gonzaga) and by-in-large they play in high school gyms. (You have BYU with 23,000 seats, and all these others with facilities that look a lot like my old high school.) This is our big chance!
ReplyDelete