Game Day visit

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GV Dad
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Took my son to the game yesterday for an unofficial visit. He participated in a camp at Western this summer, but we've never been to a game there. Have a question, how much did the weather forecast have to do with attendance? Being family weekend, and having had a hard time finding a Hotel room, I was expecting a much bigger crowd. The fans that were there were in to the game, and made a fun atmosphere. Looked like some good tailgating too. Wondering if we just picked a bad day? Thanks!
leatherneckcountry
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I do think weather and the fact that we were playing missouri st had a big impact on attendance the weather held off for longer than was expected.
rocki
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I'm guessing the weather forecast had a lot to do with it, although we admittedly could do better attendance-wise.

We had showers off and on yesterday morning, and with the forecast of severe weather later (and the fact the game was on ESPN3) no doubt had some bearing on the crowd.

Usually games starting at 1 instead of 3 have better crowds, too. Although I like the later starts (gives me a chance to close up shop and head out and see almost all of the game, whereas 1 o'clock starts don't give the same opportunity), I'm sure I'm in the minority. We do have a great crowd of fans that do come to tailgating and the game - glad you had fun!

Hope Western is in your future - we welcome newcomers and their families! Go 'Necks!!!!!!!
leatherneckcountry
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rocki wrote: Sun Oct 15, 2017 6:08 pm I'm guessing the weather forecast had a lot to do with it, although we admittedly could do better attendance-wise.

We had showers off and on yesterday morning, and with the forecast of severe weather later (and the fact the game was on ESPN3) no doubt had some bearing on the crowd.

Usually games starting at 1 instead of 3 have better crowds, too. Although I like the later starts (gives me a chance to close up shop and head out and see almost all of the game, whereas 1 o'clock starts don't give the same opportunity), I'm sure I'm in the minority. We do have a great crowd of fans that do come to tailgating and the game - glad you had fun!

Hope Western is in your future - we welcome newcomers and their families! Go 'Necks!!!!!!!
I personally like the 1 o’clock games for several reasons. the sun typically isn’t an issue. plus there over before it’s dark and I can get home and get something to eat in plenty of time before the prime time games come on. but that’s just my preference but honestly it doesn’t matter to me if said they were playing at 4am I would be there.
rocki
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leatherneckcountry wrote: Sun Oct 15, 2017 6:19 pm
rocki wrote: Sun Oct 15, 2017 6:08 pm I'm guessing the weather forecast had a lot to do with it, although we admittedly could do better attendance-wise.

We had showers off and on yesterday morning, and with the forecast of severe weather later (and the fact the game was on ESPN3) no doubt had some bearing on the crowd.

Usually games starting at 1 instead of 3 have better crowds, too. Although I like the later starts (gives me a chance to close up shop and head out and see almost all of the game, whereas 1 o'clock starts don't give the same opportunity), I'm sure I'm in the minority. We do have a great crowd of fans that do come to tailgating and the game - glad you had fun!

Hope Western is in your future - we welcome newcomers and their families! Go 'Necks!!!!!!!
I personally like the 1 o’clock games for several reasons. the sun typically isn’t an issue. plus there over before it’s dark and I can get home and get something to eat in plenty of time before the prime time games come on. but that’s just my preference but honestly it doesn’t matter to me if said they were playing at 4am I would be there.
If I didn't work weekends, the 1 o'clock games would be my preference as well. When the weather gets chilly, you at least have the sun (most of the time) to help warm you up, too. I do know I'm loving the ESPN3 coverage, particularly when we're on the road!
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ST_Lawson
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Most others have already chimed in on the majority of the reasons. I will say that we currently don't do as good of a job migrating the tailgaters into the stadium at the start of the game as we could. That is currently being addressed and should lead to at least a few more people in the crowd.

I hope you and your family had a great trip to Macomb (despite the weather). As you can probably tell, most of us here have a great deal of love for the town, the university, and Leatherneck Athletics, and I hope that your family can be a part of that.
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GV Dad
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Thank you, we did have a great time in Macomb. The weather delay actually gave us time to grab a Pizza at Gelsosomo's and get back to the stadium before the teams started back up! Pretty good pie, and a nice place.

We really like Coach Fisher, he's been so good to my son. I know everyone doesn't always agree Xs and Os with their Coaches, but you have a good man running your program. My son had an ACL surgery a couple weeks ago. Coach called my son the night before and the night after to check on him. That meant a lot to our family.
rocki
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Although I don't know him personally, I think Coach Fisher has been a blessing to this university and team. The players seem to like him a lot, and I know he has been instrumental in welcoming back football alumni. He's very personable and reaches out to the community as well as those on campus. I'm a fan of his, for sure.

It's great seeing the "handshake line-up" at the spring game, where the current players meet their predecessors. Pretty neat idea, I think.
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ST_Lawson
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GV Dad wrote: Sun Oct 15, 2017 8:02 pmWe really like Coach Fisher, he's been so good to my son. I know everyone doesn't always agree Xs and Os with their Coaches, but you have a good man running your program.
Often that is the case, but actually, from what I've seen so far over last year and this year...I have almost no complaints about Coach Fisher, either on the field or off. Our biggest issues last year were giving up big passing plays on defense and not playing all the way to the end of the game/season. During the offseason, he did quite a bit to address both and both have improved significantly. Our defense is just as good against the run as we were last year (actually a little better), but we're quite a bit better against longer passes, and we're playing strong all the way to the end of games (as evidenced by our last couple of games). There's been VERY few instances this year where I've seen our playcalling and questioned what they were doing. From my view it looks like he's doing a phenomenal job at getting the players to play to the best of their abilities and putting them in positions to be successful on and off the field.

No program is perfect and we all have complaints here and there (home attendance, for example), but our current coaching staff isn't one that I've seen mentioned.
Scott Lawson - Board Admin
Western Illinois University Alum/Fan/Employee
Member of the Marching Leathernecks - 1996-2000
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