9/13 WIU Vs Drake

[sealhall74]

Maybe I am getting blind, but I could not find it browsing through the PJS online sports section. I did finally find the above snippit by searching for "Western Illinois" from the front page.

Here's an easier way: Go to pjs.com/sports. All of the sports articles are listed there.

For example: http://www.pjstar.com/sports?sect=more

Thanks 712. I now have a new and totally unnecessary bookmark. Give me 10 minutes with the moron who designed the menu bar on that page and I would tear him/her a new ***hole.

[WIU0812]

anyone has any of the attendance numbers from last year to allow us to prepare to this year's numbers?

[sealhall74]

anyone has any of the attendance numbers from last year to allow us to prepare to this year's numbers?

Here is a link to that info. I will let you do that digging.

http://www.mvc.org/football/stats/13/wiu.htm

812, what do you want me to do with your $50 for winning attendance contest? Do we have a project identified yet? BTW, that is the last one of those contests I do without an "organizer reserves the right to opt out because of lack of interest" disclaimer.

[ST_Lawson]

If you're looking at average attendance over time, here's back to 2010:

2010 - 11095
2011 - 8357
2012 - 9648
2013 - 5525
2014 - 6514 (so far)

Our high in that time was the third home game in 2012, when we had (reported) 16,033 when we played Illinois State (I think that was homecoming).
If I have time, I think I may work on a chart showing average home attendance as compared to season win/loss record. Just glancing at the numbers back to 2010 (our last "good" year), it looks like success helps increase attendance for maybe 2 years following the good season before it drops off (without continued success). Homecoming is (as expected) usually the highest attended game. Last year we had 10,232 at that game and considering we already had 9,445 at a non-conference game (albeit one with ideal conditions), I think we stand a good chance of surpassing that this year.

Which isn't to say that I think that should be our goal. I'd love to get back to the times of pulling 12k-14k for most home games with Homecoming topping out close to 18k.

[sealhall74]

If you're looking at average attendance over time, here's back to 2010:

2010 - 11095
2011 - 8357
2012 - 9648
2013 - 5525
2014 - 6514 (so far)

Our high in that time was the third home game in 2012, when we had (reported) 16,033 when we played Illinois State (I think that was homecoming).
If I have time, I think I may work on a chart showing average home attendance as compared to season win/loss record. Just glancing at the numbers back to 2010 (our last "good" year), it looks like success helps increase attendance for maybe 2 years following the good season before it drops off (without continued success). Homecoming is (as expected) usually the highest attended game. Last year we had 10,232 at that game and considering we already had 9,445 at a non-conference game (albeit one with ideal conditions), I think we stand a good chance of surpassing that this year.

Which isn't to say that I think that should be our goal. I'd love to get back to the times of pulling 12k-14k for most home games with Homecoming topping out close to 18k.

I was there for 2012 Homecoming. Based on your great panorama shot, there were more people at the Drake game than there were for that one. TB definitely not using the same counting system that TVA used. LOL

Regarding that panaroma shot, what software and camera did you use?

[WIU0812]

Hmm I was at that 2012 game as well and I was going to say it seemed like it would of been near the 15,000 mark. I actually sat in the student section and was crowded as hell! It was a bad thing though because it was a bad loss and against ISU made it even worse. Unfortunately this years game will be even tougher against NDSU... Hopefully we shock the conference and beat NDSU, but it will take perfect execution by everyone!

[sealhall74]

Hmm I was at that 2012 game as well and I was going to say it seemed like it would of been near the 15,000 mark. I actually sat in the student section and was crowded as hell! It was a bad thing though because it was a bad loss and against ISU made it even worse. Unfortunately this years game will be even tougher against NDSU... Hopefully we shock the conference and beat NDSU, but it will take perfect execution by everyone!

I was in section c on west side. I had all kinds of freedom to move around there. The pararama shot does not show the east side too well. My gut feel when I was there in 2012 was something around 10-11K. Like you said, it was a blowout and most people were gone by start of 4th qtr and who knows how many never left Q Lot. If we can pull off the upset of SIU the week before, I would anticipate a really legit 15K for this year. It will be very interesting to see how well the Bison travel, not showing up in Macomb for the last two years.

ST, how tough would it be to get a full 360 panorama for Homecoming?

[ST_Lawson]

I was there for 2012 Homecoming. Based on your great panorama shot, there were more people at the Drake game than there were for that one. TB definitely not using the same counting system that TVA used. LOL

Regarding that panaroma shot, what software and camera did you use?

Yea, I was actually going to mention something about that as well. I've seen a few crowds larger than the one we had w/ Drake, but not many, and looking back at the home games, I'm seeing 16k in 2012, 19.2k in 2003. I don't think there's any way we had just under 20k people at that game. I vaguely remember it, and I do remember it being an absolutely huge crowd, but to have it be more than double what we had this last weekend...I don't think that's possible without being absolutely packed to the gills, including all the grass space on the hills and some extra bleachers at the end zones. Hanson Field is listed as seating 16,368 people, not including hillside. I could see us packing in 18k max in it's current state, although the west side stands would probably fall apart completely if that many people were sitting there.

Panorama - that was actually just the panoramic mode on my iPhone. Shot right after the second TD in the first quarter, right before the kickoff.

Also, in my review of historical attendance numbers and win/loss record, if you consider the results/situation when you were a student to be the most formative in terms of your opinion of the team, I realized why I have a completely different view of Leatherneck football than the current students. In the time I was a student, Western went 47-15 overall, 27-5 at home (seriously...in my 5 years in the band, I only personally witnessed 5 losses...and 2 of those were in the playoffs)...4 out of the 5 years we made the playoffs, and twice we were ranked #2 in the country (including being in the top 10 for all of '97). For comparison, Western's record over that 5 year period pretty closely matches (SEC team) South Carolina's record of 49-17 over the last 5 years.

Now, if we could just get back to that level of excellence, maybe we could get a few more butts in the seats.

[ST_Lawson]

ST, how tough would it be to get a full 360 panorama for Homecoming?

I can try, although I can't promise anything. I'll be dealing with alumni band stuff for much of the game, but I'll see what I can do.
Also, my phone can really only do ~180 degrees. Anything too much more and it stops...so I can't really do a full 360, at least not without doing multiple ones and stitching them together or something.

I'm also going to see if there's a way that I can attach my phone to my trombone so you all can see what playing "Georgia on my Mind" looks like from the band's perspective.

[sealhall74]

ST, how tough would it be to get a full 360 panorama for Homecoming?

I can try, although I can't promise anything. I'll be dealing with alumni band stuff for much of the game, but I'll see what I can do.
Also, my phone can really only do ~180 degrees. Anything too much more and it stops...so I can't really do a full 360, at least not without doing multiple ones and stitching them together or something.

I'm also going to see if there's a way that I can attach my phone to my trombone so you all can see what playing "Georgia on my Mind" looks like from the band's perspective.

I think I will bring my good camera (which I hardly ever use) and try to get something from the West side. Maybe we can pull off a coordinated effort and then stitch the two separate pieces together. I don't have an iphone so there might be compatibity issues. Also, I would hope the AD is planning on doing this the right way just in case we don't pull it off cleanly. The opportunity for a jam-packed Hanson Field does not come along too often.