To Renew Or Not To Renew ...

[rvfan]

If you choose to spend your money elsewhere for "more valuable" entertainment, then fine. Just don't consider yourself a fan of the program. You are more like a moviegoer at that point. If you give up tickets because you can no longer afford them, there is not a problem in the world with that. However, if you give them up to send a message or because you'd rather spend the money elsewhere, then you are far from a "die hard". If you did give up your tickets, would you jump back on the bandwagon when they started winning a few years down the line?

Jax Husky ?, I'm close to referring to you as Jax Ass, but I won't. But I will as this. Who the heck do you think you are ?.

 

[businesslawyer]

Jax Husky ?, I'm close to referring to you as Jax Ass, but I won't. But I will as this. Who the heck do you think you are ?.

????

He didn't attack you personally. He said that a "fan" of a college program is someone who supports the program over a prolonged period of time, through thick and thin, because he wants the program not just to win games but to succeed in the long term . He elects not to use the word "fan" for someone who merely cheers for the athletic teams and pays for tickets when they happen to think they have no better short term use for their entertainment dollars. You may choose to disagree with his use of the world "fan," and you can use the word however you wish but you should be aware that a large percentage of college sports fans think he is using a perfectly appropriate definition.

 

[mattp]

to be perfectly honest, when i was a student at UConn i would have LOVED to even have a conference USA football team. even in the worst case scenerio (a non BCS league) we're still light years ahead of where i ever thought we'd reasonably be in terms of competitive football. because of that i have a feeling my opinion is going to be a lot different than a twenty something year old that started rooting for UConn when we were winning NCs in bball and were a BCS team in football. they've been conditioned (or spoiled) to expect a lot of winning. there's nothing wrong with that, but i think there's always going to be a little bit of a schism in our fanbase between these two groups.

 

[Waquoit]

What some knobs call "homers jumping down your throat" is actually a Boneyard form of Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions.

 

[rvfan]

????

He didn't attack you personally. He said that a "fan" of a college program is someone who supports the program over a prolonged period of time, through thick and thin, because he wants the program not just to win games but to succeed in the long term . He elects not to use the word "fan" for someone who merely cheers for the athletic teams and pays for tickets when they happen to think they have no better short term use for their entertainment dollars. You may choose to disagree with his use of the world "fan," and you can use the word however you wish but you should be aware that a large percentage of college sports fans think he is using a perfectly appropriate definition.

BL, yes I can agree with your illustration that applies
"to someone who merely cheers for the athletic teams and pays for tickets when they happen to think they have no better short term use for their entertainment dollars."
However, without getting into a p@$!%^* contest, it's only fair to point point out that my specifically noting, my 9 years season ticket holder (prolonged period of time), bowl games attender, away game attender clearly certainly does not apply here.
I'd be interested to know how many of the "large percentage of college sports fans" you mentioned have been season ticket holders at all.
So, yes, I consider myself a UCONN football fan.

 

[BlueDogs]

Sounds like a fair question to me. Been a season ticket holder since 1999. Never once did I even entertain giving up season tix. I would have been a toss up on whether to pay the mortgage or go without UConn football (with the nod to Uconn). This year... this year (and we have has some tough years) is the very first year where the thought of not renewing even crossed my mind. At the end of the day Im stupid enough to keep buying because I believe major college football being played in Connecticut is a great thing. But, the question has to be asked where in God's name is the program going and the leadership, vision and overall approach has been pathetic all the way down the line. No, Herbst does not impress, nor HCPP, the Governor, the Legislature or anyone else that had a reasonable opportinity to prevent this debacle whether on the field or off. I would hold no in contempt for voting with their wallet. They deserve a whole lot better. In the meantime, Ill keep the faith that someday someone will wake up and turn this around and continue to poor good money after bad.

 

[sportsart]

Let's make it perfectly clear. There are a lot of BB fans on here that will soon disappear now that BB season is about to start. They filled their off season by hanging out here.

A true diehard fan is my brother in law who followed the team from the late 70's up until now. He'd go to Villanova and watch the FB team play in a driving rain. He'd attend virtually all the home games at Memorial Field.

There are fair weather fans, there are casual fans, there are semi die hard fans and there are true diehard fans like my brother in law and the Blue White Kid (dale). On my occasional away games and bowl games there was Dale.

The bottom line is this. We need to stop acting like elitists who think we deserve to be in this league or that league. We will end up where we are supposed to end up and there is nothing we can do about it.

I got the UConn FB bug in 1999 and I still need to prove my diehardness (grin). We've had it too good almost right from the start. Lets see if I/We can make it through a 5 year downturn.

I'm in it for the long hual. I will be there no matter what league they end up in.

I can't turn my back on the guys who took a chance on UConn and help build our program to where it is today.

Whoever decides to commit to this team while we are in such a cluster duck...... how can I walk away from these guys?

I don't care what other people think about who's a diehard fan or not. Those of you who know who I am will see me at the games regardless.

Hope to see you all.

P.S. I believe in my heart of hearts we are going to be fine.

 

[businesslawyer]

Let's make it perfectly clear. There are a lot of BB fans on here that will soon disappear now that BB season is about to start. They filled their off season by hanging out here.

A true diehard fan is my brother in law who followed the team from the late 70's up until now. He'd go to Villanova and watch the FB team play in a driving rain. He'd attend virtually all the home games at Memorial Field.

There are fair weather fans, there are casual fans, there are semi die hard fans and there are true diehard fans like my brother in law and the Blue White Kid (dale). On my occasional away games and bowl games there was Dale.

The bottom line is this. We need to stop acting like elitists who think we deserve to be in this league or that league. We will end up where we are supposed to end up and there is nothing we can do about it.

I got the UConn FB bug in 1999 and I still need to prove my diehardness (grin). We've had it too good almost right from the start. Lets see if I/We can make it through a 5 year downturn.

I'm in it for the long hual. I will be there no matter what league they end up in.

I can't turn my back on the guys who took a chance on UConn and help build our program to where it is today.

Whoever decides to commit to this team while we are in such a cluster duck...... how can I walk away from these guys?

I don't care what other people think about who's a diehard fan or not. Those of you who know who I am will see me at the games regardless.

Hope to see you all.

P.S. I believe in my heart of hearts we are going to be fine.

Great post.

 

[whaler11]

It's pretty simple. If people aren't willing to support the team when it's down... it will always be down.

Walk away if you'd like, it's your money... but don't think that if enough people walk away there will be anything to ever come back to.

 

[Waquoit]

It's pretty simple. If people aren't willing to support the team when it's down... it will always be down.

Walk away if you'd like, it's your money... but don't think that if enough people walk away there will be anything to ever come back to.

Too true. The Whalers were run into the ground by a rotten of an owner. Years and years of lousy hockey, all forms of community outreach was discontinued and finally the fans stopped going. Boom, the team was taken away for "lack of support."

Now I read lazy, cheap, uninvested fans saying that a message should be sent by not buying seats. How stupid can you be? Go root for the Cowboys or the Lakers.

 

[businesslawyer]

Even comparing UConn football to the Whalers shows how uninvested our fanbase is. Those who were Whalers fans had to deal with long-term lousy hockey. UConn football was an improving product, with four straight bowl bids, until it hit a bump this year.

I am not saying that a decade of lousy football won't, and shouldn't, cost us fans. But if a lousy year does, we are not ever going anwhere as a program.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Renew if your resources are available. we have been playing at this level for such a short period of time it would be like giving up on a nine year old child. Of course there are going to be periods of frustration. Give it time to mature.

A half hour prior to kick off at every home game our group walks to the scoreboard and and then stand for a few moments behind the endzone seats taking in the the view. We watch the teams making their final warmups as the stadium begins to fill. We always marvel how far this program has come. Some remember playing in front of Parents' Day crowds smaller than the morning soccer game. We now play against a peer group that is, has and will include include Miami, Va Tech, Syracuse, BC, Michigan, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, West Virginia, Pitt, GTech and others regardless at where they are in their up/down cycle. Its not Maine, BU, Colgate, Holy Cross...and last year in case people forgot, we were voted best among our peers in our part of the country. (Lambert Trophy)

 

[zls44]

I can't turn my back on the guys who took a chance on UConn and help build our program to where it is today.

Whoever decides to commit to this team while we are in such a cluster duck...... how can I walk away from these guys?

Because people wonder why I give Edsall so much stick, this is why. I think of those kids, on that plane, after getting boatraced on national TV, without their coach there to support them. I especially think of those seniors, who played their hearts out in their last game, after 4/5 years of giving everything the had, and how he wasn't there to thank them.

And some people wonder why I despise Randy Edsall? Seriously? You really friggin' wonder? It's not about W-L to me. It's about how you treat people. I agnowledge that's not a normal position to take.

I just wonder why it's abnormal at all.

 

[businesslawyer]

Because people wonder why I give Edsall so much stick, this is why. I think of those kids, on that plane, after getting boatraced on national TV, without their coach there to support them. I especially think of those seniors, who played their hearts out in their last game, after 4/5 years of giving everything the had, and how he wasn't there to thank them.

And some people wonder why I despise Randy Edsall? Seriously? You really friggin' wonder? It's not about W-L to me. It's about how you treat people. I agnowledge that's not a normal position to take.

I just wonder why it's abnormal at all.

Actually, it's not you despising him that is curious. It's your obsession with it (as demonstrated by being unable to talk about UConn going forward without mentioning him). And by the way --- it is not unusual for coaches to go their own way after a bowl game when they are not quitting. Players and coaches often fly directly to their homes if their are better ways to get home than flying with the teams. But hey -- nothing like intense hatred based upon totally incorrect assumptions about facts.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Players and coaches often fly directly to their homes if their are better ways to get home than flying with the teams. But hey -- nothing like intense hatred based upon totally incorrect assumptions about facts.

I'm a former Apologista, but I take issue with this comparison. Randy knew when he was standing on the field in Glendale that he was gone. What he did was indefensible. You referring to and comparing what other coaches and players do after bowl game under normal circumstances is a bit disingenous.

 

[businesslawyer]

I was responding to a point made by ZLS, that it was indefensible that Edsall wasn't on the plane after the team had lost. I understand the criticism of Edsall for the way he left (I don't fully agree with it to the extent that our fanbase has made a lot of assumptions about what the timing of everything was that may or may not have been true) but just because you think he was a SOB for leaving without telling the team shouldn't mean that anything can be made up. Edsall was not the first coach, and won't be the last, who didn't fly home with the bulk of the team after a bowl game. Period. My only point

 

[Waquoit]

Edsall was not the first coach, and won't be the last, who didn't fly home with the bulk of the team after a bowl game. Period. My only point

Maybe. But he's the first coach to do so after telling his best player to face his teammates "like a man." It validated all of the previous criticism about the phoniness of the guy.

 

[Druken Friar]

I purchased 4 tickets to see the Vanderbilt game last year, cost was around $250 not counting parking etc... It's too expensive in my opinion. This is college football and the players don't get paid.

The initial poster said the tickets should run $5-$10. I don't know what a fair ticket price is but $10 seems closer to reality than $50+. I guess I'll keep supporting indirectly through my cable TV bill and go once in awhile.

 

[Jax Husky]

As ugly as it was, I don't think anyone can feel like they didn't get their money's worth today.