Daily Campus Column: Please, stop shaming students for not going to games.

[whaler11]

Lol you've never even been to a superbowl. Sad.

Once you’ve been to the medal session of bungee jumping at the X-Games... you are just chasing the dragon.

 

[UChusky916]

not for nothing, the school pretty much started to destroy the off campus huge parties starting my sophmore year 06' at Carriage and Celeron. My freshman year in 04'-05', every weekend felt like spring weekend

2010 was the last relatively good year. Carriage and Celeron were still open and there were always parties Thurs-Sat up and down hunting lodge rd. After the cancellation of spring weekend 2011 it was all gone.

I started in Fall 05: Agree with that timeline as well.

I attend '06 and graduated '10 and I agree with the timeline above. I felt like freshman year the UConn campus was may more rowdy. I lived off-campus my Jr and Sr years and we had to make our own parties most of the time. Glad I got to attend a real spring weekend all of my 4 years though before '11 ended it.

 

[polycom]

Unless you are talking about JUST Uconn not sure I buy that. Some of the crazier party schools and schools with a lot of spirit tend to be the really good schools, like the Ivys and schools like Stanford. The higher academic standards go hand in hand with students who just want to blow off steam with parties and cheering on sports teams. I had a few friends who went to Yale, Upenn, Brown, Colombia and briefly dated a girl from Cornell and the stories I heard...! At least in regards to parties. Plus other really good schools like Wisconsin, Michigan and VTech and those types.

How do you explain Duke fans?
I have to disagree with your theory.
Worse education may equal greater partying and tomfoolery, but better education does not equal less school spirit.
My floor in the Jungle way back when was sloppy drunk 50% of the time and not one person on the floor went to games of any kind.

Huh? Tell that to Duke, BC, Yale, NYU ( well maybe you have a case with the Violets) but school Spirit and better education are not linked

Yeah, students don’t show up at Duke, Stanford or Michigan. Darn those studious geeks.

Reality. UConn fans are generally speaking fair weather fans. It’s been that way forever. Calhoun chastised fans for not showing up for an NIT game. The product is hard to watch. The big expense season ticket holders are diminishing and/or don’t show up if they can’t be excited or unload their tickets. The students get the worst seats. The league is uninteresting with zero natural rivals.

All of you have mentioned the anomaly schools. Exceptions to the rule but not the rule, my cousin plays football at Harvard they do not care except for when they play Yale, I've been to the games and he's also said this verbatim. Michigan has a tradition of winning, similar to Duke. As academic standards increase the type of student attending the school changes accordingly. This is similar to the argument people make about dropping out of school because they think they are the next Zuckerburg or Gates when in reality the vast majority of entrepreneurs graduate college.

 

[cohenzone]

All of you have mentioned the anomaly schools. Exceptions to the rule but not the rule, my cousin plays football at Harvard they do not care except for when they play Yale, I've been to the games and he's also said this verbatim. Michigan has a tradition of winning, similar to Duke. As academic standards increase the type of student attending the school changes accordingly. This is similar to the argument people make about dropping out of school because they think they are the next Zuckerburg or Gates when in reality the vast majority of entrepreneurs graduate college.

UConn fans have always been fair weather. Always. And the ridiculous league compounds the trait. It’s unprovable, but I suspect that if Syracuse, Providence BC etc we’re coming in, there would routinely be many more students and non students showing up even for this team, not to mention that we might be getting higher skill recruits. We are not close to being comparable to the Ivies as far as the scholarly skills of the overall student body. And we had a strong winning tradition longer than the current student have been on earth.

 

[boog204]

I think you'd find it hard to see a bigger transition than 2010 to 2014. The parties may not have been as big or as good but they were still plentiful Thursday to Saturday. By the time I graduated they were completely gone due to new zoning laws, ordinances and arrests or the threat of arrest.

I'm sure it was... And here's my "back in my day moment..." If you were there 10-14, then you have no idea what Kill-a-Keg, Yale Bowl, Penny/Nickel Night, Slutski's and X-Lot were really like. You never went into the bathroom at Husky Blues and saw an orgy of hallucinogenics while August played Help>Slip>Frank. The Jungle ceased existence and was just North Campus.

Not trying to throw shade, I just vividly remember my junior and senior year wondering "what the &u(k happened to the Delta I used to know..."

Maybe the best way to view it is that the transition from the late 90s to 00s was idiots (such as myself) to smart kids. Then 10-14 was smart kids to really smart kids? I was an okay student and there was never any doubt that I would be accepted. I'm a high school teacher (define irony) and UConn is a destination school with a difficult admission rate for even some of our best.

 

[JMick]

I'm sure it was... And here's my "back in my day moment..." If you were there 10-14, then you have no idea what Kill-a-Keg, Yale Bowl, Penny/Nickel Night, Slutski's and X-Lot were really like. You never went into the bathroom at Husky Blues and saw an orgy of hallucinogenics while August played Help>Slip>Frank. The Jungle ceased existence and was just North Campus.

Not trying to throw shade, I just vividly remember my junior and senior year wondering "what the &u(k happened to the Delta I used to know..."

Maybe the best way to view it is that the transition from the late 90s to 00s was idiots (such as myself) to smart kids. Then 10-14 was smart kids to really smart kids? I was an okay student and there was never any doubt that I would be accepted. I'm a high school teacher (define irony) and UConn is a destination school with a difficult admission rate for even some of our best.

The only one I won't give you is nickel. There was literally nothing else to do so it was always crazy

 

[methodology]

They should just move the court into homer babbidge

Problem solved

 

[UConnDan97]

The women have no problem selling out...

Yes. And I would argue that the women have a much larger contingent of "non-cellphone-addicted, enjoy the moment because life is too short" crowd. My mom is one of them...

 

[8893]

There are so many other things to shame college students about before worrying about their lack of passion for our flagship school's banner sports program.

 

[QDOG5]

while his 50-something dad in an Eagles jersey is rockin' out and enjoying the moment (put the freakin' phone down!). I think there is a parallel between that moment and what we are seeing.

A couple of years ago my son was staring at his phone for what felt like an hour. Finally, in a rage, I yelled at him to put the damn phone down. He handed me the phone and as I looked at the screen he said politely "I'm reading a book Dad". I immediately signed up for AARP. Every generation is different and that will never change. BUT if you have a well coached basketball team people will always go watch.

 

[8893]

A couple of years ago my son was staring at his phone for what felt like an hour. Finally, in a rage, I yelled at him to put the damn phone down. He quickly switched the screen from Tinder and handed me the phone and as I looked at the screen he said politely "I'm reading a book Dad". I immediately signed up for AARP. Every generation is different and that will never change. BUT if you have a well coached basketball team people will always go watch.

fify

 

[BRG 1]

UConn fans have always been fair weather. Always. And the ridiculous league compounds the trait. It’s unprovable, but I suspect that if Syracuse, Providence BC etc we’re coming in, there would routinely be many more students and non students showing up even for this team, not to mention that we might be getting higher skill recruits. We are not close to being comparable to the Ivies as far as the scholarly skills of the overall student body. And we had a strong winning tradition longer than the current student have been on earth.

Think of it this way. People from the same family / friends going to local schools i. e. " I am going to visit my cousin at PC with a carload of friends",
or, we are going to meet my family with my dorm mates at the XL Center. "

What are the odds that members of the same family have a kid at UConn and at East Carolina?
Also in the past UConn would attract "C" students with a personality and a propensity to have a good time and less the students with all work no social skills. PC for 30 years students couldn't wait to move off campus Junior year. At PC had to build dorms because Students NEVER wanted to move off campus. Kids have much more options. 20 years ago we had phones, not smart phones , 16 bit video, not today's sustems. Dorms at UConn in the early 90's looked like State Prison, now they are palaces.

 

[UConnDan97]

A couple of years ago my son was staring at his phone for what felt like an hour. Finally, in a rage, I yelled at him to put the damn phone down. He handed me the phone and as I looked at the screen he said politely "I'm reading a book Dad". I immediately signed up for AARP. Every generation is different and that will never change. BUT if you have a well coached basketball team people will always go watch.

Was he doing that next to Justin Timberlake?

 

[boog204]

Dorms at UConn in the early 90's looked like State Prison, now they are palaces.

Without derailing, I was at West for two years. To my knowledge, they still have not been renovated so they are still in their vintage Soviet state, right?

It's funny, I did two years in West and then two years in Carriage House. Luxury!

 

[JMick]

Without derailing, I was at West for two years. To my knowledge, they still have not been renovated so they are still in their vintage Soviet state, right?

It's funny, I did two years in West and then two years in Carriage House. Luxury!

I think west and commons were knocked down for the new gym. Not positive though

 

[BRG 1]

Without derailing, I was at West for two years. To my knowledge, they still have not been renovated so they are still in their vintage Soviet state, right?

It's funny, I did two years in West and then two years in Carriage House. Luxury!

Figure of speech to make a point. Point is dorms used to be stale boring places with few creature comforts, people only stayed to sleep and study, ergo almost forced to get out and socialize.

 

[Guapo]

I was there from 2009-2013.

There was definitely a transition but I think maybe its being a little dramatized here, especially in relation to the students.

What's not being dramatized here is the police presence.

You wanna talk about the Soviet Union? Try getting into Carriage or Celeron in the fall of 2012...

Anyway, I'm "old" now, but something tells me there's still plenty of alcohol (and other substances) consumed on weekends up in Storrs.

 

[Guapo]

Why does this board think students want to go to watch these game and do cheers and chants? Who made the correlation between partying and student sections? Weird

All the cool parties I ever went to involved coordinated chanting and cheering.

You're the weird one!

 

[8893]

Why does this board think students want to go to watch these game and do cheers and chants? Who made the correlation between partying and student sections? Weird

Maybe, everyone who ever went to college before now?

 

[Tommyboy]

I will shame the students whenever I feel like it.

It’s my god-given right as an alum.

Hell yeah. And when I was a student we shamed the alumni. "Go Alumni, Beat the traffic! Go Alumni, Beat the traffic!". Good times.

 

[boog204]

Figure of speech to make a point. Point is dorms used to be stale boring places with few creature comforts, people only stayed to sleep and study, ergo almost forced to get out and socialize.

I was agreeing with you. West Campus was a hideous, hideous building when I was there. The plumbing was bad, it was falling apart, and it lacked any consideration for anyone with disability. Best two years of my life without question, but it was an awful place.

 

[boog204]

I was there from 2009-2013.

There was definitely a transition but I think maybe its being a little dramatized here, especially in relation to the students.

What's not being dramatized here is the police presence.

You wanna talk about the Soviet Union? Try getting into Carriage or Celeron in the fall of 2012...

Anyway, I'm "old" now, but something tells me there's still plenty of alcohol (and other substances) consumed on weekends up in Storrs.

Kill-a-Keg Thursday night of Spring Weekend was amazeballs. The riots the two years I was there it was caused the change to Stalinist tactics off campus. Other than Yale Bowl, it's the most debauchery that UConn had to offer.

 

[JMick]

Kill-a-Keg Thursday night of Spring Weekend was amazeballs. The riots the two years I was there it was caused the change to Stalinist tactics off campus. Other than Yale Bowl, it's the most debauchery that UConn had to offer.

There's actually a document/action plan out there that was obtained via FOI request stating how the University and Police were going to use the deaths of Jasper Howard and Jafar to put a moratorium on spring weekend for 2011. They said if it was not successful than they would continue to monitor and allow spring weekend going forward. If it was successful (and it was) they would use it to cancel spring weekend going forward via heavy and hard policing. They broke state and federal laws while policing spring weekend but they believed it was worth the risk if they could shut it down.

Basically, if everyone didn't go home in 2011 then spring weekend would still be a thing

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

???

I've got a capacity of 9,400 for that arena based on their Wiki page:

BB&T Arena - Wikipedia

I was joking man!

 

[UConnMike04]

And I'd argue that shift began in the early 2000s. I was there from 99-2003. When I first got there, UConn was easy to get into, a lot of the campus was still old and dumpy, and it was absolutely a party school. Most fun I've ever had in my life. When the men won, things started to change. The smart kids started coming in and campus life changed. More rules and regulations; different expectations, etc. There's no way I could get into UConn today. I think the students are still "into" basketball, but these are kids who grew up with them winning 4 titles in 15 years; not watching the rising but underachieving teams of the 90s or our relative mediocrity in the 80s and before.

I’m in the same exact boat, was there from ‘00-‘04 which I always think of as the heyday of UConn sports. A Soccer title, 3 women’s titles, and the dual championship plus the opening of the ‘Rent.

Since then, and especially since the realignment I’ve found myself less and less interested. I hope one day to have that passion back and be able to go to games with my very future kid(s) but at this point I have little interest other than sporadically flipping a game on checking a box score.