Death of The "Casual Fan"

[HuskyHawk]

Well I might as well weigh in on this. I’ve been a fan since, Jr. High in the late 70s I’d say. Perno years. Great fun teams. Mike McKay, Corny, Verne, Hobbs, Bailey, Chuck A. So what is different then vs now? Some of that was pre Big East. Then I was at Storrs 84-88. Not our best years, except the awesome NIT win. That was huge. But we went to the games and cheered the team.

So I think about the differences. Is it the local opponents? Nah. I don’t really think so. Might have a slight impact at most. I think the two biggest differences are (a) that we won 4 national championships and were a dominant program since, and (b) that the team is so moribund, disorganized and difficult to watch.

Here’s an example. WSU game. We lost at home. But it was entertaining. Tulsa was entertaining. Nova was even somewhat entertaining because we watched a truly great team take us apart, but we tried. Memphis? Arkansas? Temple? Auburn (admittedly a very good team)? Even our OT wins against bad teams. The entire team, and staff, looked like they’d rather get back on the bus and go out for pizza. If the team you are rooting for is just going through the motions, why should you bother? I never got that from Perno’s teams. Maybe the kids are expending effort in those games, but so does a chicken with its head cut off. And we looked more or less like that.

I still get quite a bit of joy watching them when they decide to show up. But it seems like it is only every other game. And I don’t buy the no talent argument. You can’t beat SMU and never really trail and have talent that so bad that you lose to Temple by 20+. That is something else.

 

[ZenConn]

I got a $8 Vance Jackson jersey!!!!!

10 more and you could trade it in for a Big Baller t-shirt!

 

[Huskybass]

Well I might as well weigh in on this. I’ve been a fan since, Jr. High in the late 70s I’d say. Perno years. Great fun teams. Mike McKay, Corny, Verne, Hobbs, Bailey, Chuck A. So what is different then vs now? Some of that was pre Big East. Then I was at Storrs 84-88. Not our best years, except the awesome NIT win. That was huge. But we went to the games and cheered the team.

So I think about the differences. Is it the local opponents? Nah. I don’t really think so. Might have a slight impact at most. I think the two biggest differences are (a) that we won 4 national championships and were a dominant program since, and (b) that the team is so moribund, disorganized and difficult to watch.

Here’s an example. WSU game. We lost at home. But it was entertaining. Tulsa was entertaining. Nova was even somewhat entertaining because we watched a truly great team take us apart, but we tried. Memphis? Arkansas? Temple? Auburn (admittedly a very good team)? Even our OT wins against bad teams. The entire team, and staff, looked like they’d rather get back on the bus and go out for pizza. If the team you are rooting for is just going through the motions, why should you bother? I never got that from Perno’s teams. Maybe the kids are expending effort in those games, but so does a chicken with its head cut off. And we looked more or less like that.

I still get quite a bit of joy watching them when they decide to show up. But it seems like it is only every other game. And I don’t buy the no talent argument. You can’t beat SMU and never really trail and have talent that so bad that you lose to Temple by 20+. That is something else.

I said several months ago that the Perno era was more enjoyable than these last two seasons. We usually played better opponents pretty tough and won most of the games we were supposed to. The teams were never "great", but they were easy to root for. In 38 years as a UConn fan, these past two seasons have been the darkest stretch.

 

[UConnNick]

@whaler11 Fantasy Sports (especially football) is a two edged sword. It gets way more people involved in the game, but also ruins some of the integrity (that's too strong of a word, but whatever) of following the sport. Nowadays people would rather their NFL team lose and root for rival players in fantasy over real life.

The NFL product sucks, so I know it's great for the league, but fantasy football in general jumped the shark for me years ago.

As it pertains to UConn, look no further than cell phones and the proliferation of social media. People are buried in their phones even in live events. It's more important to show people that you were there, than actually being there. It's quite deranged. People need their dopamine shot from checking instagram rather than the ballgame. Sad but true.

So, even if we were in the Big East I think you'd still see near empty buildings for Rutgers, USF, Depaul, etc.

Agreed, but Rutgers and USF aren't in the NBE. We still play USF in the AAC, and Rutgers moved on to the B10. Think Marquette, Creighton, Butler, Xavier and Seton Hall for some of the NBE teams our fanbase might greet with a collective yawn.

We don't really have any more in common with most of the NBE teams than we do with any of the teams in the AAC. For that matter, we didn't have much in common with the original founding members of the BE. We hardly ever played any of those teams pre-BE. We developed rivalries with a few of them, but only after we became good under Calhoun.

 

[Fishy]

You have to go a long, long way to find a fan base that has taken the body blows that this one has. If the casual fan has dropped off, they’ve got good reason.

The first round of realignment in 2003. The second round in 2011. The third round. The fourth round. The implosion of the Big East. The chaos with the retroactive application of the APR penalty. Calhoun retires. Being slapped into a georgraphically-ludicrous conference with schools that no one cares about. Instead of Big Monday, we know have games at 11 am on Sundays. And now not only do we play bad teams that we have nothing in common with, we lose and lose badly to those teams. Our coach is disengaged and inept and now we have the NCAA snooping around.

If you think you’re a casual fan and you’re still paying attention, you’re a hardcore fan. The casual fans have already been swept away by the avalanche of crap that’s come down on us. We can get them back, but it’s gonna take a while.

 

[UC313]

You have to go a long, long way to find a fan base that has taken the body blows that this one has. If the casual fan has dropped off, they’ve got good reason.

The first round of realignment in 2003. The second round in 2011. The third round. The fourth round. The implosion of the Big East. The chaos with the retroactive application of the APR penalty. Calhoun retires. Being slapped into a georgraphically-ludicrous conference with schools that no one cares about. Instead of Big Monday, we know have games at 11 am on Sundays. And now not only do we play bad teams that we have nothing in common with, we lose and lose badly to those teams. Our coach is disengaged and inept and now we have the NCAA snooping around.

If you think you’re a casual fan and you’re still paying attention, you’re a hardcore fan. The casual fans have already been swept away by the avalanche of crap that’s come down on us. We can get them back, but it’s gonna take a while.

It hurts when you truth like that.

 

[Thirty Three]

Things I learned on the Boneyard this weekend:

1. Joe Zone is killing our democracy.

2. Kevin Ollie is committing genocide.

The most shocking thing I learned on the Boneyard this week:
Chief (according to him) has a masters degree (from UConn).

Which begs the question:
Did he write his thesis in the third person?

Is his masters degree even real, or did he pull a "Drummond" on us?

How many UConn bitches did he hang out with back in the day?

So many questions.

 

[Huskybass]

The most shocking thing I learned on the Boneyard this week:
Chief (according to him) has a masters degree (from UConn). Which begs the question: Is his masters degree real, or did he pull a "Drummond" on us? Did he write his thesis in the 3rd person? How many UConn bitches did he hang out with back in the day? So many questions.

What you talkin' bout Willis?

You must agree though that the Chief persona is absolutely epic. I like Chief, but I would never want to meet him in person. I like the version of Chief that captures his online persona. I would be disappointed in person, because online he is larger than life. A Paul Bunyan of a man, if you will.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I said several months ago that the Perno era was more enjoyable than these last two seasons. We usually played better opponents pretty tough and won most of the games we were supposed to. The teams were never "great", but they were easy to root for. In 38 years as a UConn fan, these past two seasons have been the darkest stretch.

I remember the last four years under Perno far differently than you do.

 

[Bonesbrigade]

The Casual Fan - my thoughts
- Watches most games
- Fills seats at XL /Gampel
- Makes being a die hard more interesting because you have more people to talk about the program with.
- Casual Fan becomes a die hard in tournament play

I work on a campus of around 2,000 employees for the 10 years in North Haven, CT (I think this is a good sample size to gauge current state) . You could go into my cubicle in the early years or office now and easily see I'm a big UConn fan. This drew in a lot of causal fans and a few die hards to regularly talk UConn basketball. This has changed dramatically over the past 4 years but mainly last two.

The few die hards are more casual fans these days and the casual fan has all but disappeared outside of occasionally stopping by after the latest blowout they read in the paper to bust my balls.

I miss the casual fan and hope/believe they will come back once UConn returns to a winning, competitive, relevant program.

I know its hard to quantify but the current lack of interest in the program has to be costing more than KO's buyout over the next few years.

Im still here...lurking...waiting...aint nothing changed on my end...

 

[FfldCntyFan]

You have to go a long, long way to find a fan base that has taken the body blows that this one has. If the casual fan has dropped off, they’ve got good reason.

The first round of realignment in 2003. The second round in 2011. The third round. The fourth round. The implosion of the Big East. The chaos with the retroactive application of the APR penalty. Calhoun retires. Being slapped into a georgraphically-ludicrous conference with schools that no one cares about. Instead of Big Monday, we know have games at 11 am on Sundays. And now not only do we play bad teams that we have nothing in common with, we lose and lose badly to those teams. Our coach is disengaged and inept and now we have the NCAA snooping around.

If you think you’re a casual fan and you’re still paying attention, you’re a hardcore fan. The casual fans have already been swept away by the avalanche of crap that’s come down on us. We can get them back, but it’s gonna take a while.

Before we get too deep into this pity party, keep in mind how long of a way you need to go to find a fan base that has had as much to celebrate over the past 2 1/2 decades, including last season and this one.

 

[Huskybass]

I remember the last four years under Perno far differently than you do.

The records were usually 13-15 or 12-16, but they played hard and rarely got blown out like we are seeing with this team. And most of the losses were to more talented teams. Other than Earl, there wasn't much star power.

 

[willie99]

Most people who talk men's basketball with me ask me about Ollie and when do I think he should be or might be fired. I say the same things I say on this board, the last two years have hurt by Hamilton and injuries and transfers after the reset. It's hard to know where we'd be otherwise, so I give him this year and next. We have good young talent on this roster, talent sitting on the bench and waiting to play, and talent arriving next season.

We need to give him an opportunity to see what he can do with a healthy and complete roster with a little more depth available to him. I don't believe firing Ollie now is the best option for the program.

If they ask about any specific game, I certainly don't pretend there's a game they won't lose, I'm just hoping for the best this year. Without Gilbert AND without Larrier being a stud, this team is simply lacking enough talent to compete day in and day out, too many holes to fill.

I also don't see how either Adams or Larrier are going pro next year, anywhere. Not unless they finish like Caron did in 2002 or MSG did in 2004. Conversely, they can both change to pro status immensely by playing on a team with more talent and more options around there next year.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

The records were usually 13-15 or 12-16, but they played hard and rarely got blown out like we are seeing with this team. And most of the losses were to more talented teams. Other than Earl, there wasn't much star power.

I remember too many games against the limes of Georgetown, Nova, St John's where remaining within 20 or so (when there was no shot clock) was a moral victory. I remember a Northeastern team humiliating us and I remember only needing to beat (a then winless in conference) Seton Hall to guarantee a 500 finish (regardless of our BET results) and a bid to the NIT.

Perno's teams led the nation in no shows (except against Cuse and a stray game here or there), even when he had Corny, McKay, et al.

 

[WallStreetHusky]

I remember too many games against the limes of Georgetown, Nova, St John's where remaining within 20 or so (when there was no shot clock) was a moral victory. I remember a Northeastern team humiliating us and I remember only needing to beat (a then winless in conference) Seton Hall to guarantee a 500 finish (regardless of our BET results) and a bid to the NIT.

Perno's teams led the nation in no shows (except against Cuse and a stray game here or there), even when he had Corny, McKay, et al.

I still burn over the game in Hartford against St. Johns with Walter Berry and Willie Glass where we led the the whole game and choked down the stretch for a crushing loss and Dom said to the Courant something along the lines of "I knew we werent meant to win that game". After that the paper bag came with me to home games.

 

[Huskybass]

I remember too many games against the limes of Georgetown, Nova, St John's where remaining within 20 or so (when there was no shot clock) was a moral victory. I remember a Northeastern team humiliating us and I remember only needing to beat (a then winless in conference) Seton Hall to guarantee a 500 finish (regardless of our BET results) and a bid to the NIT.

Perno's teams led the nation in no shows (except against Cuse and a stray game here or there), even when he had Corny, McKay, et al.

I just looked at the results from Perno's final season when they were bad and went 12-16. There were 2 losses of 20 or more points that season. There have already been 6 losses by 20 or more points this season, and a third of the schedule remains to be played.

UConn played in a much tougher conference then and usually were not as talented as other Big East teams. But they didn't get blown out regularly like this team has. Perno's teams were about what you expected them to be, a little below average to a little above average with the last 4 seasons all being the latter.

 

[KembaStepback]

You have to go a long, long way to find a fan base that has taken the body blows that this one has. If the casual fan has dropped off, they’ve got good reason.

The first round of realignment in 2003. The second round in 2011. The third round. The fourth round. The implosion of the Big East. The chaos with the retroactive application of the APR penalty. Calhoun retires. Being slapped into a georgraphically-ludicrous conference with schools that no one cares about. Instead of Big Monday, we know have games at 11 am on Sundays. And now not only do we play bad teams that we have nothing in common with, we lose and lose badly to those teams. Our coach is disengaged and inept and now we have the NCAA snooping around.

If you think you’re a casual fan and you’re still paying attention, you’re a hardcore fan. The casual fans have already been swept away by the avalanche of crap that’s come down on us. We can get them back, but it’s gonna take a while.

I agree with 99% of this. The part I disagree with is the part about it taking awhile. Assuming the team can make some noise in a year or 2, the casual fans will be right back. Which goes back to me saying that fans are spoiled. It used to be good enough to go and make an NIT run. It used to be good enough to win an NCAA tournament game. For the casual fan, it's just not good enough anymore.

 

[60'sfan]

Most people who talk men's basketball with me ask me about Ollie and when do I think he should be or might be fired. I say the same things I say on this board, the last two years have hurt by Hamilton and injuries and transfers after the reset. It's hard to know where we'd be otherwise, so I give him this year and next. We have good young talent on this roster, talent sitting on the bench and waiting to play, and talent arriving next season.

We need to give him an opportunity to see what he can do with a healthy and complete roster with a little more depth available to him. I don't believe firing Ollie now is the best option for the program.

If they ask about any specific game, I certainly don't pretend there's a game they won't lose, I'm just hoping for the best this year. Without Gilbert AND without Larrier being a stud, this team is simply lacking enough talent to compete day in and day out, too many holes to fill.

I also don't see how either Adams or Larrier are going pro next year, anywhere. Not unless they finish like Caron did in 2002 or MSG did in 2004. Conversely, they can both change to pro status immensely by playing on a team with more talent and more options around there next year.

I agree with you Willie. I'd like to see Kevin Ollie get at least one more year. He obviously can coach. You don't win a National Championship accidentally. In Uconn's last championship run, we were underdog to Villanova, Iowa State, Michigan State, Florida and Kentucky and yet we beat them all. It was a team with great (though undersized) guards, good forwards and no center. They played great defense and hardly ever missed a free throw. I remember the Kentucky coach when asked why he didn't start fouling in the second half. His response was something like, you have to be kidding, they never miss free throws.

But I too have lost confidence in them this year. I dutifully record all their games but check the score before I watch. If they lose, I erase, if they win, I watch. I have not even considered attending a game. I started following Uconn when I was a student at Storrs in the early 60's. So I observed a lot to coaches - Fred Shabel, Burr Carlson, Dee Rowe, Dom Perno, Jim Calhoun and now Kevin Ollie. Calhoun was the best but Shabel, if he stayed, might have been a legend.

So what will bring fans back. HOPE! If we can bring in one or two recruits with potential, even if we lose we can enjoy their development.

 

[whaler11]

Actual conversation I just had:

Me: you want to go to the UConn game Sat?

Casual Fan: Sure - what time?

Me: 12 - but it’s at Gampel

Casual Fan: Oh God - no - who wants to go there!

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Actual conversation I just had:

Me: you want to go to the UConn game Sat?

Casual Fan: Sure - what time?

Me: 12 - but it’s at Gampel

Casual Fan: Oh God - no - who wants to go there!

Wait, don't kill my buzz. I'm still contemplating my first visit to Gampel, and it's a growing lean in favor.
Which side do I sit on to best observe body language on the bench?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Wait, don't kill my buzz. I'm still contemplating my first visit to Gampel, and it's a growing lean in favor.
Which side do I sit on to best observe body language on the bench?

Hans,

If you want to go I have a spare ticket. No charge.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

The most shocking thing I learned on the Boneyard this week:
Chief (according to him) has a masters degree (from UConn).

Chief dropping the fact that he purports to have an MBA was second only to Husky99's revelation that he's responsible for shaping the minds of America's youth. Just two absolutely stunning bits of information.

 

[whaler11]

Chief dropping the fact that he purports to have an MBA was second only to Husky99's revelation that he's responsible for shaping the minds of America's youth. Just two absolutely stunning bits of information.

Master of Blaze Actualization

 

[August_West]

What you talkin' bout Willis?

You must agree though that the Chief persona is absolutely epic. I like Chief, but I would never want to meet him in person. I like the version of Chief that captures his online persona. I would be disappointed in person, because online he is larger than life. A Paul Bunyan of a man, if you will.

Good move because you'd be extra disappointed when you find out it's fishys alternate handle.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Hans,

If you want to go I have a spare ticket. No charge.

YES!
Especially after I've just mucked around in SeatGeek & RateMySeats and run up against non-eTickets, minimum purchases of 2 seats, and other inconveniences that told me to step away from things and amuse(?) myself here.
I'll PM.