A couple pages back......... "You're welcome" for my interest in Connecticut football.
As for UCONN basketball fans being late to the UCONN football party - late is better than never. Thanks for interest in UCONN football. Welcome to the party.
As for realizing the importance of football to the grand scheme of things in intercollegiate athletics and what levels of competition an institution may aspire to compete at, and associate with nationally - late to the party is better than never, but not by much. We were already in the party, but as a majority our leadership were not prepared for big boy football, when the party moved recently, we were left holding the tab for damages and no invite to the new party spot.
Only thing that can be done, the football way, is study your performance in great detail, figure out what you did wrong, and work to correct those mistakes for the next time you do something. It's good to see some of the basketball fans like you writing and showing not only interest, but actual knowledge of the subject matter. I do not mean this in a derogatory way. Please don't take it that way. I write that, because the things you have written show that knowledge of the subject matter is spreading. That is good.
In 132 days, UCONN will kickoff the 2014 season against a historically significant and relevant national football program. BYU won a national championship in football, when UCONN's big game of the year wasn't even a home game - it was a road game played in New Haven. BYU has a national title in football, we do not. I want one, but it's a long, long road to get there but nothing is impossible. When BYU won a national title in football, the concept that UCONN basketball would be a 4 time national champion in men's and 9 times in women's was laughable. Time and effort and goals.
The one thing I will note and hopefully change the line of thinking a bit, is that the major - HUGE - difference in football to basketball among the fans is hidden below the surface in what you write. In basketball, there are ample, AMPLE opportunities to enjoy the experience of being a fan - to back and forth to games and share the time with people and FAMILY with similar interests. The basketball FAMILY has had decades of winning and ample - ample numbers of games to enjoy. In football, there are at maximum - 8 home games a year to build the UCONN FAMILY. Literally - as you say with parents and children and figuratively. Usually 7 sometimes only 6. Each home game for football is a very rare and important experience for fans.
The tailgating experience, if you are able - is part of it. The environment inside the stadium needs to be part of it. The team on the field kicking ass is part of it. Each person that shows up on game day is part of making the entire experience successful. It is a full day commitment really - unlike a basketball gameday. It needs to be, because football games are so few and far between during the course of a calendar year - yet are so important to the health and vitality of a division 1A athletic department.
UCONN is now into it's second decade of building that experience. We've won a bunch along the way too, which is nice - and the winning is essential really - as it was 10 years ago before we got the official invite to the big boy party, and now in 2014, we find ourselves outside again. But it is only now, that effort, real effort is being made to bridge the interest in the UCONN brand. That goes along with the same root of the problem as to why our leadership failed to understand the changing landscape from 2002-2012. Virgins in big boy football the vast majority of our leadership was. Not anymore. We have a powerful thing at UCONN, in our fan base that has built up around basketball in the past 3 decades.
It would be great Hans, if you would take the plunge and buy tickets to the game vs. BYU in 132 days. Come a few hours early. Walk through parking lots, up and down the rows. Keep a safe arm's length distance minimum from the drunken college students. They tend to spill beer a lot and want to hug you. Feel free to walk up and ask the people what they are cooking and how long they've been coming. As you get closer to the stadium, you'll meet more and more veteran than rookies at the whole thing.
Talk to your friends about it. We have 3 home games in September. That's when game day is a little less rigorous. Come home game days in late NOvember and December - the game day experience gets a little more hard core. And hardcore is what UCONN fans do well.
So the freebie dive in spring game - unfortunately - doesn't get you the real taste - that comes on actual game day in the fall, and if you enjoy it in the warm days of September, chances are a game played in hardcore conditions to a win or loss in a hard fought game that has championships meaning - late in the season will give you an entirely new and amazing experience of UCONN sports.
