How did you become a huskie fan? | Page 3 | The Boneyard

How did you become a huskie fan?

Discovered Paige’s high school highlight videos on YouTube the summer of 2021. I watched the the backlog of her high school games on YouTube and saw comments that she was now at “UConn”. Had no idea what that was. Before that summer the closest I had ever been to watching a sporting event was maybe watching the halftime shows of the Super Bowl. Then discovered who Sue and Diana were and watched all their college years online after finishing watching Paige’s games.
 
I never really followed UConn sports until I was a freshman at UConn, when I quickly became a fan of the UConn men's basketball team.

My first contact with UConn women's basketball was in the pre Geno years. I went to my first UConn women's basketball game at the old field house during the 1982-83 season. I was a graduate student looking for cheap entertainment, and nothing is cheaper than free admission. I immediately took a liking to the game and the team, and went to a bunch of games during that season and the next two seasons as well. After that I graduated and moved away from Storrs. I went to one game during Geno's first season, and no games at all over the next few years, although I was always interested in picking up the odd snippets of news about UConn women's basketball that would occasionally leak out in those early Geno years. I was also in a van pool that would take us to work, and I recall having discussions about the women's team with one of the other guys who would ride the van.

Anyway, during UConn's first trip to the final four in 1991, I found that their NCAA tourney games from the Palestra were on television (I believe CPTV picked up the feed), watched them, and found myself obsessing over the team again. My wife, who remembered me attending the women's basketball games while we were at UConn, took notice. Anyway, the following November I found myself listening to a preseason (for the 1991-92 season) interview with Geno on the old Arnold Dean sports talk show. During the course of the interview Geno mentioned that there was an annual women's basketball yearbook that was available for sale. I decided that I just had to have it. I mentioned the yearbook to my wife, and told her that I was going to go buy it. My wife cringed, told me don't bother, ran off into another room, and came out with said yearbook. She had already bought it for me as a Christmas gift. That Christmas as a gift she also produced tickets to a game in Storrs against North Carolina State. We've been going to games consistently ever since, and we became season ticket holders starting in the 1994-95 season.
 
For me it was the 2002 NCAA Tournament. Tennessee played Vanderbilt in the Elite 8. My mom was watching it because an uncle-in-law had coached Jenni Benningfield (Sophomore for Vandy at the time) in high school. So I was cheering for Vandy and was so mad Tennessee won that I cheered for UConn in their Final Four matchup and loved what I saw from UConn. Been a massive fan ever since - I actually live in Kentucky, but I’d rather watch the UConn women every time over the Kentucky men’s basketball team. UConn has my heart!!!
 
I read an ESPN article where former Uconn players were saying that freshman Paige might just be the "best ever". I found that compelling for them to say so I watched some video and saw her game against South Carolina where she scored 30 points 3 games in a row or something like that. I'm a numbers guy so I looked that the stats and she was leading the team in like everything and shooting 3's at around 50% at the time etc. I'm here because Paige was off the charts and I like seeing kids like her. I traveled 3000 miles once to see Mookie Betts in the minors when I read that he hadn't "swung and missed a pitch" all year. Fantastic contact rate and walk to hit ratio in AA ball. I'm interested in anomalies. I've gotta say though, I'm a little uncomfortable being a "uconn" fan because they are kind of like the Yankees and I'm a Redsox fan. We win all the freaking time and have every advantage. I justify it though in that some other teams are certainly in the equation and it's not like winning is a cakewalk. I find these kids very compelling also. Easy to root for. Really nice kids. I would love any of these kids as my own, and I mean that sincerely. I'd be very proud of any of them. Watch how they interact with each other. I hope they all get to realize their dreams.
 
I started watching UCONN during the 1990-1991 season that led to the Final 4.
I watched off and on till 1994-1995 and have been hooked since then!
My buddy and I got season tickets for the 1997-1998 season.
We would get tickets to Big East Tournament and the NCAA Tournament and drive to BE then 1st & 2nd rounds, Sweet 16's, Elite 8's and the Final 4's, sometimes driving 3,500 to 4,000 miles to see our Huskies!
We even made the cover off the New London Day newspaper when UCONN lost to ND in the Semi's of the 2001 FF in an picture & article by Mike DiMauro!
As we got OLD the cost of tickets meals out, gas, hotels, parking, etc. were too much on retirement money and just too old to make trips even to Storrs & Hartford, we both gave up the tickets but still watch and follow the team!
My buddy and I have met some truly wonderful people through the UCONN Wbb games that have been like family still all these years!
The BY has been very important to me with my MANY health issues especially the last 9 years!
 
I was stationed in the Netherlands and AFN TV was carrying the 95 Women's Championship game. I decided to watch it since I had the following day off. I believe that it started around 10:00 PM local time. This was the first time watching women's game and I became a fan of UConn and the women's game. When I played basketball in the 60's and 70's it was below the rim and was more team play then individual play. The men's game had kinda turned me off so I was happy to see the UConn women play more of the style I grew up with.

I would watch UConn when they were on ESPN when I could, when they moved to AAC I was able to watch almost every game because they were either on ESPN or ESPN3. I became a diehard fan during the Stewie years and saw my first live game in NOV 2017 in Reno, an 8 hour drive from Vegas. I was very upset that KLS was not able to play, but watching UConn in person was a great experience.

I met a couple from Connecticut at the hotel, Bob and his wife, whose name has slipped my mind. I drove them to the game and we had dinner after it. At dinner we discussed UConn and Bob had asked me if I knew about the Boneyard, I asked what that was and he told me, said that it's easy to check and if I liked it I could join. When I got back to Vegas I checked it out and soon afterwards I became a boneyarder.
 
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OldSchooler said:
. . . North Carolina (with Lenny Rosenbluth) . . .
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My sincere apologies for misspelling Lennie's first name. Rosenbluth (who died last June at 89), star of the greatest NCAA final in history (1957), still holds UNC's single-season records for most points and highest scoring average. A number of his other records at UNC were broken by a fella named Michael Jordan.
 
I went to college with a super nice young lady from Southwick, MA. And I've always been into sports, played basketball when I was younger, and saw from a distance the rise of the UConn women in the 90's, noting that one of their star players (Lobo) was from Southwick. Started paying closer attention. Noticed that these women played a type of game that I could relate to. (Defend, ball movement, fast break, etc. I couldn't relate much to one on one ball and dunking that the pro men showcased.) Was a fan from there, checking scores and watching tournament games. Then they landed Caroline Ducharme, who I knew was 2 x Mass Player of the year, started following closely, found the Boneyard, and the rest is history. BTW, the more you watch and learn about this team, the easier it is to cheer for them. What a great group of young women!
 
Back in the 90's I met a man named David Cole. I was a UConn WCBB fan as was he. We became friends and went to games together. He is the one that told me about the Boneyard and I began reading and posting. He had a friend who had season tickets who lived out of state and he would send tickets to Dave. Dave became the Kibitzer and I became Tonyc.
 
Actually started watched some of Tenn because they were so good and Chamique Holdsclaw was the first women I ever saw that had skills like the men.. then started watching Uconn because I felt so bad for the skilled Russian girl that the coach kept yelling at..became a fan and when DT came to Storr's became a fanatic
 
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Connection to Geno went back to 1970 or 1971 when my wife went to HS (Bishop Kendrick, Norristown, PA) with Geno and I lived nearby. Saw him play for some type of championship at the Phila. Palestra. Most folks in the general neighborhood knew of this Italian family that had several generations packed into a city row house with several of them still not speaking English. Followed his career since then.
 
I'd been living overseas for several years, and returned to Connecticut in early 1997 with my young family. One day I turned on the TV and watched with jaw-dropping amazement the brilliant UConn women's basketball team perform. I had grown up watching the University of Maryland's very good men's basketball team lose game after game to Dean Smith's North Carolina. His teams just executed perfectly: seamless transition from defense to offense, perfect execution of basic basketball, including back door cuts, always finding the open man for just the right shot, and never, EVER, beating themselves. It was just so frustrating to watch. But it was the quintessence of team basketball.

I saw in Coach Geno's teams that perfection that Dean Smith's teams achieved. For those who never got a chance to watch Dean Smith's North Carolina teams, he was the Geno Auriemma of the men's game. And for the record, men's college basketball today is unwatchable. It's as if grown men were playing like elementary school kids- no understanding of the team game whatsoever!

In any event, I was hooked. Not long after, I believe UCLA's legendary coach John Wooden anointed UConn's women's team as "the best five-man team in America." Or something very close to that.

He was right. And UConn still is. We don't have Aliyah Boston. But UConn, when healthy, play the team game better than anyone else in the world!! And that is something to behold!
 
I read a local newspaper article about the ease of transferring between high schools. Primarily about football it mentioned basketball. Local girls basketball player, Ann Strother, was transferring into Highlands Ranch high school and was said to be really good. She was. Ms. Colorado basketball player for the next two years. Prior to this I never even knew there was girls basketball. I was curious about how she would do in college. So I followed her at UCONN. I liked Geno and CD's philosophy and style. So I continued to follow UCONN.
 
rvwsleep said:
Since April 2, 1995. THE game.
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Ditto, the hype over Tennessee, and that contest at Uconn. And the title game that the Huskies were supposed to lose, people standing along the road and on the overpasses to catch a glimpse of the team bus, for Connecticut's FIRST title in anything. Front page stuff then, and ever since. We were hooked.
 
My women's basketball journey started when I was in high school in the late 1970's. Went to a small co-ed Catholic high school in Cumberland, Maryland. Like other Catholic schools, basketball, both boys and girls, was big. I had a number of friends (one I had a crush on) on the girls' team and went to their games often. Several of them went on to have fairly decent college careers at the DII level and one of them was recruited by Immaculata, a women's powerhouse at the time. Once the women's game started to get TV airplay it was a natural progression to start watching the games when the were available. Saw a lot of games with Tennessee, LA Tech, UVA, Texas and Stanford in those early years of TV coverage. And then there was this team from Connecticut with the demonstrative Italian guy who was starting to upset the apple cart of the "blue bloods" of the time. I've always had a soft spot for the underdog (which the Huskies were at the time) and I liked the way the way they got under Tennessee's skin (some of Pat Summitt's facial expressions were priceless during games). I've been hooked ever since, even though the Huskies haven't been underdogs for quite some time.
 
Forego said:
We were contemporaries at UConn. I can’t recall exactly what the tuition, room & board costs were back then but they were very close to the costs you quoted. The only cost I remember accurately was the price of beer at a bar in Norwich - two drafts for 25 cents. Watched my first women’s bb game around 1994 and became an instant fan.
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I remember nickel beer night at a bar in Willimantic. It was perfect for a bunch of broke college students. We’d all pile in a car and head over there. Our presence wasn’t always appreciated by the locals.

I became a UConn fan when I was a student there. I’ve posted about it a bunch of times, but, man, the old Field House rocked. People would file in and squeeze into the bleachers, then, when the seats were filled, people would fill in the aisles. When the stands were completely filled, people would sit on the floor in front of them one or two deep. Then every crevice in the building would get filled with people standing. As I’ve talked about how many occasions, it would get so loud that the dust would shake down from the rafters, and create a cloud around the lights at the top of the arena. It was an absolutely insane atmosphere.

Like so many others, I became a fan of the woman’s program during the 1995 season. You youngsters out there can’t appreciate how much the state adopted and loved that team. Taking down the mighty Lady Vols in a nationally televised game was a powerful moment that not only are was the signature moment of the ascendancy of Connecticut women’s basketball, but was a defining moment for women’s basketball in general. The Connecticut, Tennessee games were must see TV, not just for fans of the women’s game, but sports fans in general end, even non-sports fans. The games became water cooler talk the next day. The 95 team was charismatic with Rebecca Lobo and Jen Rizzotti as the faces of the team and a young, brash head coach who combined basketball acumen with a wry wit and fearless attitude. It was a perfect storm that created lifelong fans out of a bunch of us.
 
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HopJim said:
Connection to Geno went back to 1970 or 1971 when my wife went to HS (Bishop Kendrick, Norristown, PA) with Geno and I lived nearby. Saw him play for some type of championship at the Phila. Palestra. Most folks in the general neighborhood knew of this Italian family that had several generations packed into a city row house with several of them still not speaking English. Followed his career since then.
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While I was attending UConn, my family moved from Connecticut to West Chester, PA. West Chester is where West Chester University is located, which is where Geno went to college. West Chester University is about a 5 or 10 minute drive from where my parents lived. One of my brothers ended up going to that school. In an odd way, I always felt an odd connection to Geno because of this. My wife and I have attended numerous women's basketball final fours starting in 1996. During autograph sessions at a few of these final fours, Geno has worn a West Chester University tee shirt, and at least once or twice I have commented to him about my family living in West Chester.
 
HopJim said:
Connection to Geno went back to 1970 or 1971 when my wife went to HS (Bishop Kendrick, Norristown, PA) with Geno and I lived nearby. Saw him play for some type of championship at the Phila. Palestra. Most folks in the general neighborhood knew of this Italian family that had several generations packed into a city row house with several of them still not speaking English. Followed his career since then.
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Here is a copy of Geno's HS Year Book picture. Nice hair and bow tie.
 

Attachments

Freshmen year, Fall of 1987. One of my instructors was offering extra credit if we attended a women's basketball game and wrote about our experience. Well back then, there really was no charge to attend the women's game. Attendance was horrible. I went to every UConn home game from 1987 thru 1990 and that started my fandom for UConn WBB.
 
First became a UConn fan with the Scott Burrell 3/4 court pass and shot by Tate George. Followed the men closely after that. Would check the women's results, but CPTV coverage of UConn in the BE tournament in '94 (I believe) motivated me to go watch in person. Then I bought a three or four game ticket package for the 94-95 women's season to go with my daughter. After seeing them in person, I was hooked. They were (are) great role models. Starting with 95-96 season through 2003-4 I was a season ticket holder. When my daughter grew up (and away), I lost the desire to go in person, because I didn't have anyone to go with (and CPTV coverage was great).
 
I was originally a men fan, but personally seeing some of the girls piqued my interest, until I saw Sue Bird play. That was it for me in becoming hooked on the team until my days are over.
 
I started watching the women's game when I ran the scoreboard in our high school 6 on 6 team. Yes, 3 on offense and 3 on defense; only 3 dribbles and you had to pass or shoot; and only 3 of those and you had to shoot, or it would be a turnover. This was not in Iowa (the last state to play it in schools), but in Massachusetts. It was pretty tedious but I wasn't too busy. I remember how happy we were to have a .500 season. Not much changed, I think, until Oxford won 2 state championships in the early 90's. I had to find who the players were (I had long since moved) and who was the star...Carla Berube! I then found out she was going to UConn. No doubt that UConn was going to have an instant fan, and after the 1995, season, a permanent fan forever (PFF).
So many great years! So many great players!
 
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I was part of the Horde from 2006-08, covering the team for the Record-Journal out of Meriden (lived there for three years before returning home to Minnesota). I just fell in love with the team, the coaches, and the entire vibe around the program. Now that I’m no longer covering them in a professional capacity, I can just be a fan from afar!
 
Hoops66 said:
I started watching the women's game when I ran the scoreboard in our high school 6 on 6 team.
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I feel like you should’ve been paying attention to the game you were keeping score for instead.
 
Fall of 1994. My mother was painting the master bedroom and she started watching by accident, she liked to have the tv or radio on while she worked. She became a fan, then converted my father & then me (who until that point detested basketball) in a matter of weeks lol. They were so much fun to watch and their title run really captivated the entire state.
 
As a kid I poo-poo'ed women's sports until when I was in HS (the 70's) and my brother was in the Air Force stationed in DC. Somehow, he hooked up with 2 Maryland Women's basketball players. He came home to NJ on leave and these 2 women stopped in NJ for a visit on their way to Long Island. My brother and I played them 2x2 and won, but not because we were better basketball players. They were clearly more skilled, we were just bigger and stronger. That opened my eyes. I woke, to coin a phrase. :)

Moving to CT in '89 everything was UConn. Huskiemania was becoming a thing. I used to pick up single game tickets a few times a season until the best available seats were in the double letter rows at the Civic Center. I decided this is nuts. In 1999 I got season tickets, men in Hartford, women in Gampel. I wanted my young daughters just entering HS to become enthused with the college atmosphere. I've been a Women's season ticket holder ever since (now only Hartford).
 
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