WIU vs South Dakota (9/30/17) - HOMECOMING!!!

[wiu712]

It is downright gross IMHO to see a bunch of stragglers slowly meandering from Q-Lot to Hanson Field during the first quarter like I saw the last time I was there. These guys are giving it their all so far. The Leatherneck faithful need to step up and do the same.

When tailgating was held in The Pit, it would end 15 minutes before game time. People were then directed towards the south gate into Hanson Field.

Now there is no such ending time for tailgating. Some people never make it to the game.

Late arrivals are not a new phenomenon. Long-time Western fans will remember that the Peach Blossoms would usually arrive sometime during the 2nd quarter. They would then drive their pickup truck around the Hanson Field track.

Another 3-0 start, WIU hopes to learn from last year.
From today's McDonough County Voice:
http://www.mcdonoughvoice.com/sports/20 ... -last-year

[ST_Lawson]

When tailgating was held in The Pit, it would end 15 minutes before game time. People were then directed towards the south gate into Hanson Field.

Now there is no such ending time for tailgating. Some people never make it to the game.

Late arrivals are not a new phenomenon. Long-time Western fans will remember that the Peach Blossoms would usually arrive sometime during the 2nd quarter. They would then drive their pickup truck around the Hanson Field track.

My solution:
Starting 30 minutes before kickoff and lasting until the end of the game, call fire drills in all the dorms, then have the fire departments take the entire length of the game to make sure that the dorms are "clear". Tell the kids they can hang around if the want to, or they can go to the library to study, or head over to Hanson Field for the free (for them) football game.

[rocki]

It is downright gross IMHO to see a bunch of stragglers slowly meandering from Q-Lot to Hanson Field during the first quarter like I saw the last time I was there. These guys are giving it their all so far. The Leatherneck faithful need to step up and do the same.

When tailgating was held in The Pit, it would end 15 minutes before game time. People were then directed towards the south gate into Hanson Field.

Now there is no such ending time for tailgating. Some people never make it to the game.

Late arrivals are not a new phenomenon. Long-time Western fans will remember that the Peach Blossoms would usually arrive sometime during the 2nd quarter. They would then drive their pickup truck around the Hanson Field track.

Another 3-0 start, WIU hopes to learn from last year.
From today's McDonough County Voice:
http://www.mcdonoughvoice.com/sports/20 ... -last-year

Yeah, but back in those days (I'm talking classic Peach Blossoms here), the stands were full of students anyway - at least when I went to Western they were.

[wiu712]

Is the statue unveiling of Rock on Friday going to be broadcast live?

Celebrate WIU's Leatherneck heritage at a special event beginning at 2 p.m. Friday, Sept. 29. The event will be live-streamed on the University's Facebook page and on the U's YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/WesternIllinoisU).

[ST_Lawson]

Yeah, but back in those days (I'm talking classic Peach Blossoms here), the stands were full of students anyway - at least when I went to Western they were.

nearly twice as many students, no internet, and much fewer games on tv...probably helped quite a bit

[rocki]

Yeah, but back in those days (I'm talking classic Peach Blossoms here), the stands were full of students anyway - at least when I went to Western they were.

nearly twice as many students, no internet, and much fewer games on tv...probably helped quite a bit

True, but it was also the time where the football game was THE place to be. Just a different time.

[ST_Lawson]

Yeah, but back in those days (I'm talking classic Peach Blossoms here), the stands were full of students anyway - at least when I went to Western they were.

nearly twice as many students, no internet, and much fewer games on tv...probably helped quite a bit

True, but it was also the time where the football game was THE place to be. Just a different time.

Well, that's what I mean. It was one of the few options for entertainment on a Saturday afternoon, so everyone went there. Students went to games and had a great time, so they kept going and brought their friends. I think that students would still have a great time at games if they went, but it's getting them out of their dorm rooms that's the issue. It's easy to convince a student to get out of their room and go to a game when their alternatives are: maybe one or two other games on the TV in the lounge area, maybe go see a movie, read, study.
As opposed to: watch any movie or tv show you want to in your room, watch any of the 46 FBS and FCS games on ESPN networks this weekend, plus maybe 10 more that the students would get on TV or streaming to their computers, anything else on the internet.

Student attendance is an issue pretty much everywhere, but we've been hit especially hard by it due to the small student and local population. Winning helps, but I don't think it's going to fix the problem. Many other schools have more local residents and alumni that can help keep the attendance up, but we just don't have that here. We have to somehow convince the students that they will have more fun sitting out at Hanson Field than they will sitting in their rooms.

[rocki]

Just a question, Scott. Do you think these students have also not been attending the football games at the high school they went to (while they were there, I mean)? If not, then there just doesn't appear to be interest in football at all. If they did, what made them want to go to those games and not the ones at the college they are now attending? I'm honestly just curious what other people think - is it too many electronics available to play with, or is it not feeling connected with the school/sport itself? I don't have a clue, myself. I go to every game I can, and I'm far beyond my college days, lol!!

[wiu712]

Back in the 60's and 70's, there was a higher percentage of students living on-campus. There was no ESPN. So there was usually just one or two games available on TV.

The fraternities had more of a group presence at the games. The TKE's had a big bell that they would set up in the south endzone. They woud ring it after every Western score.

There was no on-campus tailgating. People got to the game early just to get a seat. If you didn't get there early, you would be sitting on the hillside.

The Peach Blossoms led more cheers than the actual cheerleaders. That made for a great game environment and kept the crowd involved in the game.

The football game was the place to be on Saturday.

[ST_Lawson]

Just a question, Scott. Do you think these students have also not been attending the football games at the high school they went to (while they were there, I mean)? If not, then there just doesn't appear to be interest in football at all. If they did, what made them want to go to those games and not the ones at the college they are now attending? I'm honestly just curious what other people think - is it too many electronics available to play with, or is it not feeling connected with the school/sport itself? I don't have a clue, myself. I go to every game I can, and I'm far beyond my college days, lol!!

Well, I think it's a combination of things (and it's different based on which "group" you're talking about):
I don't think that attendance is down at high schools (at least not much), so it's doesn't seem like just a general lack of football interest.

So, there's always the "hardcore" group of fans...people who will always go to the games. But, you go from a student population of ~15k to ~7.5k. Maybe before you had ~2,000 in your "hardcore" group...well, now you have ~1,000.

Next you have the people who are interested in football, but because they grew up being able to watch nearly any team from any part of the country live on TV/Computer...so they're Notre Dame fans, UCLA fans, Michigan fans, and Clemson fans, etc. If they can watch "their" team from the comfort of their dorm room, they're not going to be likely to head out to Hanson Field to watch Western play. When people say the internet has made the world smaller, this is what they mean. How easy would it have been for someone in the '70s to be a huge fan of...say University of Oregon football? How many games would a kid from the Chicago suburbs going to school in Macomb get to watch at home or at school if they wanted to watch the Oregon Ducks? I'm going to guess not many. How many Oregon games would a kid born in the same situation, but 40 years later, get to watch?...pretty much all of them. Many would be on ESPN, some would be on FS1, some on the Pac12 network, and even if they didn't get/subscribe to all of those...like it or not, they're all streaming for free (illegally) on the internet.

Then you have the people who would go to a game if they have nothing better to do. Well, now they can watch any show or movie they want to, play any game they want to, talk to their HS friends at other schools through social media, or do anything else they want to online. What % of these much more casual fans would go to a game if they have these other options? I don't know the answer, but I'm betting it's a lot fewer than the number who went back then.

There's another point that might be a thing, but I don't really know for sure. Have there always been huge schools in the Chicago area and suburbs, or were the schools smaller and were there more of them? I don't know the answer to this, but I know of people that I went to school with that had graduating classes of 1500 kids. That's a HS of like 6,000 people. You could easily have a decent number of students, plus local fans, alumni, parents, etc. who had regularly gone to HS games that have higher attendance, more community interest, and in a larger stadium than Western has.

It just seems like kids treat school as more of a place to just get in, get their degree, and get out...it's not something to have "spirit" for anymore. A few years removed and it's not really any different than spending 4 years working at fast food place...you spend most of you day there, you learn some stuff, you go do the next thing, and you don't really have much of a reason to go back. Kinda like you said...they just don't feel connected to the school in the same way that students did back then.

I'm not saying I have all the right answers. I'm pretty well removed from the current students myself (I'm now to the point where it's entirely possible for me to be the same age as some of their parents). This is just how it looks from my perspective and from what I've read in articles talking about the situation.