****Official Stop Complaining About Student Turnout Thread****

[gwoodclone]

Student attendance will get better. Look at this year compared to the last few. Huge improvements. As I said in the other thread, those of us who live and breathe ISU sports and spend hours on CF have a much different perspective. Most students have no memory of ISU being good at basketball, and that losing culture is still prevalent. It will take more than one good season to fix the problems that 1 trip to the NCAA's in a decade created. I'm not saying its not sad and pathetic, but it is what it is.

And basketball just isn't that popular. I think most people have a vague idea that we're better than normal this year, but I almost never hear any chatter about basketball around campus. Football is everything for most casual sports fans.

Also, can we stop pretending that the general public would fill Hilton if we got rid of student seating? There were 1,000 unsold tickets for Tech, and probably over a thousand more who had tickets but didn't show up. Nobody is blameless here.

You guys are ******* pathetic. REAL (paying/donating) fans would kill for your seats and you can't even be dragged from your Xbox and sexting to show up and make noise.

How's that two win prediction going, "real fan"? Our guys still not deserve to wear the uniform? :wink:

 

[Cy$]

You guys are ******* pathetic. REAL (paying/donating) fans would kill for your seats and you can't even be dragged from your Xbox and sexting to show up and make noise.

nice false generalization...seem to be having lots of these lately.

 

[cyclonespiker33]

The student section looked like the student section of a team having a mediocre team, not a team that is fighting to go to the tourney for the first time in years and has a lot riding on the game.

Baylor

 

[DesertClone1]

Baylor

This X1000000
our student section is like baylor.. ******* baylor... let that sink in

 

[Cyhart]

This X1000000
our student section is like baylor.. ******* baylor... let that sink in

Not just Baylor. A lot of schools have ****-poor attendance. Even a lot of Big 12 schools. That is why I have a real hard time bagging on our fans. Even if I would like to see Hilton 100% full. I can still point to Texas A&M and say, "at least we're not them".

 

[ca4cy]

yep lots of idiotic statements regarding the students in here...We can ignore the openings in the adult sections but not the students? Double standard people aren't admitting to.

8:00 weekday games are bound to have an effect on out of town fans, especially those with kids. I would guess the vast majority of those empty seats would not be attributed to people that live within 10 minutes of Hilton. It's not a double standard because it's not apples to apples.

As someone else mentioned, nobody is blameless here. Empty seats suck in any section. After I graduated, I used to drive 2 1/2 hours one way for basketball games and think nothing of it. Of course, I had no kids and gas was about $1.00-1.25. Now, I'm lucky to get to Hilton once a year. Times have changed and everybody's situations are different. I would agree that those students that are passionate enough to be posting in this thread probably aren't the problem, but it does **** us old timers off that would give anything to go back and re-live a night in Hilton as a college kid to see all those empty seats. Attendance will get better with sustained success, but in the meantime, a lot of people are missing a very special season.

Honestly, if you can't find time to get there as a student, it won't get any better after you graduate.

 

[GaryCamero]

The problem isn't the students, and it's not the season ticket holders either. It's the program as a whole. I've been a season ticket holder since the Floyd years and went to a lot of games when Orr coached also. Back in the Orr/Floyd/LE eras and even the first two years of WM there was always a belief that no matter how large the deficit the team would make a run and they usually did. People just waited for it, then when it happened everyone went crazy. During the McD years that died and even when we held the lead there was a feeling it wasn't going to happen. I think a lot of fans became very negative and that atmosphere still very much exists. Now when things go bad the air goes out of the building and EVERYONE gets very negative towards the players and coaches. As winning becomes expected the enthusiasm will grow and the atmosphere will improve along with more student turnout. Give it time and it will get back to what it should be and no Big 12 team will want to come in to Hilton. But lets not turn on each other. Lets enjoy it!

 

[chuckd4735]

The problem isn't the students, and it's not the season ticket holders either. It's the program as a whole. I've been a season ticket holder since the Floyd years and went to a lot of games when Orr coached also. Back in the Orr/Floyd/LE eras and even the first two years of WM there was always a belief that no matter how large the deficit the team would make a run and they usually did. People just waited for it, then when it happened everyone went crazy. During the McD years that died and even when we held the lead there was a feeling it wasn't going to happen. I think a lot of fans became very negative and that atmosphere still very much exists. Now when things go bad the air goes out of the building and EVERYONE gets very negative towards the players and coaches. As winning becomes expected the enthusiasm will grow and the atmosphere will improve along with more student turnout. Give it time and it will get back to what it should be and no Big 12 team will want to come in to Hilton. But lets not turn on each other. Lets enjoy it!

No, the problem is there are a lot of people who are buying season tickets and never going to the games, and a majority of those people seem to be students. There are 2 seats next to me in Section 206 that have been vacant EVERY game this season. Its perfectly fine to not be excited about Cyclone Basketball right now and be weary about going to games, but if that the case, then why in gods name are you buying season tickets?

We are selling out the place and people are constantly looking for tickets to go to games, yet we have a LARGE portion of the student section EMPTY.

 

[Max57]

Come on ... there are lots of parquet-level seats open in the CA. Ridiculous. I'm going to try sitting in them at the Baylor game.

edited to note: We've sat in our actual seats (balcony) for eactly one game this year -- the Iowa game. Too many other good seats not being used.

 

[clone136]

I didn't read the whole thread, but my yrs at Iowa state were all under mcd and last yr with Freddy. And rarely missed a game. In fact a buddy of mine and I were talking about how we would have killed to be able to attend a game that actually meant something. We went to what we thought were big games, but in retrospect they wouldn't have meant anything more than just being an upset. If you arent going to games now, you should be ashamed of yourself. This team is fun to watch and good, something us recent grads never got...

 

[ISUCyclones2015]

This is one of my posts from the other thread and I will mention it here as well:

For all you people complaining about Iowa State... lets compare to THE Ohio State University... they allot 4500 student tickets. Sell 1100 and only 850 show up.

You don't think they have had success in the past few seasons?
You don't think they have TWICE as many students as us?
You don't think their arena is within walking distance either?

So you're all saying a a University of 60k, the 3rd biggest in THE COUNTRY can't fill up their measly student section and you're complaining that we don't fill up our student section against Oklahoma and Texas Tech. Give me a break!

Quit your b*tching and be happy we have a great fanbase... good lord.

Source (Power Point from Ohio State's official Website)

 

[wonkadog]

Sorry your priorities are in this order

1) Family

2) Football games at Trice

3) Basketball games at Hilton

4) Womens basketball at Hilton


Last) Education

I mean Iowa State is just a place to play athletics...no education is involved at all?:twitcy:

Ok, trying to comprehend this statement and not really following. I'll assume you are saying that is what I think everyone's priorities should be?

My point is if you are a student with tickets on a weekday in Ames with pretty nice weather, and can't walk/drive 10 minutes over to Hilton to support one of our best teams in recent memory, you are pathetic. The .5% of the students with midterms are obviously exempt, although I highly doubt that most of those tests take place exactly from 8pm-10pm....

 

[BBHMagic]

I think the title speaks for itself.

I don't remember anyone ever complaining about student turnout when we were a below .500 team during McD's tenure, so why are you now???

We are having an amazing year in basketball which we haven't for the last 5 years, so enjoy it!! I can't speak for every student that bought tickets but as a former student during all of McD's tenure, I wouldn't want to go to games because we always seemed to lose, no matter how good we started the year off.

Give it a year before you start raising the pitchforks and going after the student section. Let us establish a "tradition" of winning before you criticize the student section for the lower turnout than the early 2000's. Remember, we had been an above .500 team year after year then with a few Big 12 Championships!

I thought this was going to be a sarcastic post.

 

[Wesley]

So we are down to one more game. Will the students fill it up for Baylor?

 

[MissouriCyclone]

Ok, trying to comprehend this statement and not really following. I'll assume you are saying that is what I think everyone's priorities should be?

My point is if you are a student with tickets on a weekday in Ames with pretty nice weather, and can't walk/drive 10 minutes over to Hilton to support one of our best teams in recent memory, you are pathetic. The .5% of the students with midterms are obviously exempt, although I highly doubt that most of those tests take place exactly from 8pm-10pm....

Actually you'd be surprised with the exam times. I've known plenty of people having exams from 8-10 this semester and past semesters I've had tests from 7-9 and 6-8...

 

[Cy$]

Ok, trying to comprehend this statement and not really following. I'll assume you are saying that is what I think everyone's priorities should be?

My point is if you are a student with tickets on a weekday in Ames with pretty nice weather, and can't walk/drive 10 minutes over to Hilton to support one of our best teams in recent memory, you are pathetic. The .5% of the students with midterms are obviously exempt, although I highly doubt that most of those tests take place exactly from 8pm-10pm....

Night Exams: Iowa State University
most night exams are during that time...not alot of exams during the timeframe (Wed-Friday) so it is a lame excuse. However, the math courses listed for Thursday have a big population of the students taking them (Math 165, 166..Calc 1 and 2). That was my excuse.

I do agree if you have student tickets and aren't using them you should sell them..I go some games but didn't have the opportunity to get season tickets.

My main concerned with people is the adults acting superior to the students when there are the same issues....you come off as elitist...just saying. (not speaking to just you...there's multiple people). Society has also switched to football..basketball isn't as popular among the students as it used to be.

Fact is it's just as much the adults fault as the students...I've noticed lots of sitting down and people not doing simple cheers from the adults so blaming just students is plain ignorance.

 

[CleetusAwreetus]

I like having the students close to court for extra noise and behind the baskets for free throws. It might not ever cause a missed FT but it is a fun part of the game. During breaks I also enjoy the camera shots of students. They look like they aré having a blast. If changing the way tickets aré sold can get more students there, change it already. Facilitating student attendance should be a priority. They aré the only reason that a university exists after all.

 

[wonkadog]

I understand where you're coming from but as someone else mentioned....30k students in and around Hilton compared with "old people" coming from all over the place..it's not the same to compare the 2, however yes, I am just as disgusted with how many people didn't show up in the "old person" sections as I am the students.

The part about who cheers louder isn't relevant. We are talking about empty seats here.

 

[Jordanj6502]

No, the problem is there are a lot of people who are buying season tickets and never going to the games, and a majority of those people seem to be students. There are 2 seats next to me in Section 206 that have been vacant EVERY game this season. Its perfectly fine to not be excited about Cyclone Basketball right now and be weary about going to games, but if that the case, then why in gods name are you buying season tickets?

We are selling out the place and people are constantly looking for tickets to go to games, yet we have a LARGE portion of the student section EMPTY.

This could be because students bought the tickets. Because student tickets sold out so early this year, I know several students who bought regular $99 season tickets and then bought the CA shirt to sit in the lower section.

So I guess that gives you more fuel. The students have actually over purchased their allotment, and still can't fill the section. :shocked:

 

[gwoodclone]

I understand where you're coming from but as someone else mentioned....30k students in and around Hilton compared with "old people" coming from all over the place..it's not the same to compare the 2, however yes, I am just as disgusted with how many people didn't show up in the "old person" sections as I am the students.

The part about who cheers louder isn't relevant. We are talking about empty seats here.

You have 30,000 students at ISU, several thousand of which are international students who couldn't care less about ISU sports. Then you have 30,000 other people in Ames, and 500,000+ who live within an hour of Ames. While yes, it is much more convenient for students to come to games, it's balanced by the fact that we're massively outnumbered by the "old people" within reasonable driving distance.

Like I say every time one of these threads come up, both "sides" have work to do. The losing culture of the past decade is to blame. But it's not like Hilton was packed with 14,356 people every single night back in the day either.

Looking back, we averaged 10,543 in 2000. So we averaged 4,000 empty seats a game for a team that went 14-2!!! I can only imagine the threads we'd have if CF existed back then. Only jumped to 12,360 in 2001.

We're going to average 13,000 this season. Better than either of our championship seasons.