USF Alumni and Fan discussion

[puc86]

If anyone dares to stand, cheer, sing or have fun in any capacity we glare at them, yell things at them or try to sick tsa on them. We have millions of threads on here bragging about how great it is to police excitement and that having a boring sterile environment where we can sit shiva for the decline of our program is to be preferred. This is the environment so many of us fought for and I would guess from the responses I’ve read in the past that many of our fans think this awful, no good, very not fun environment that makes it difficult for anyone under 70 to want to attend is exactly what they think is a good time right up there with Matlock and tapioca pudding.

[94 Bull]

I'm a '94 Alumni, so before the football era.  My son is a Sophomore Engineering Student.  We attended the games when the kids were young and fell off as they began playing sports (football and volleyball) and I began coaching which ate up most Saturdays.  Now that they are older, we have been Season ticket holders again for 4 years. 

My son's first week, USF had a rally where they learned the fight song, cheers, alma mater, etc and posed for the new student aerial U photo.  He has a really hard time getting his buddies from the engineering dorm to attend the games with him but has had some limited success.  We began tailgating this year to help, and he and his girlfriend have been able to get more students to come out for the tailgate.  Distance to the stadium is an issue but the free parking for students with 4 or more in the car helps.  The buses leave the game so quick that the students cannot stay to sing at the end or congratulate the players. This really irritates me as this peer support means more to the players than anything.

We are in section 109 and we all stand during 3rd down and for touchdowns but most fans there are parents of players or older fans like (50-60).

Tradition is what you are missing and the University is apparently more interested in Ambition over Tradition.

Edited November 26, 2018 by 94 Bull

[Ricky the Bull]

I made a suggestion to the cheer squad when at one of the open basketball practices, that they have signs made up that says "Stay for the Alma Mater!".   It's disheartening to see the football players stand in front of a mostly-empty student section while it is played.

Perhaps a stadium announcement can be made in addition to this so that this, perhaps, helps create a tradition.

By the way, the lyrics are usually displayed on one of the boards while the band plays it.

[slayer9]

I'm a current student, so hopefully I can give some insight. The campus doesn't invoke spirit to students. Most students only go here because the school is in Tampa or the program is really good here. Students rarely talk about the sports teams here. The students don't really care about going to the game and really just go because they can tailgate and party. Having an oncampus stadium would definitely help attendance because currently the students are the largest demographic that attends games. If our basketball team becomes good the students will start showing up. These are really the only 2 sports the students care about and both are being neglected in their own way. If you want to build a good student culture at USF just build an on campus football stadium and make a winner in basketball.

[BDYZR]

48 minutes ago, puc86 said:

If anyone dares to stand, cheer, sing or have fun in any capacity we glare at them, yell things at them or try to sick tsa on them. We have millions of threads on here bragging about how great it is to police excitement and that having a boring sterile environment where we can sit shiva for the decline of our program is to be preferred. This is the environment so many of us fought for and I would guess from the responses I’ve read in the past that many of our fans think this awful, no good, very not fun environment that makes it difficult for anyone under 70 to want to attend is exactly what they think is a good time right up there with Matlock and tapioca pudding.

That's a bit of an exaggeration. No one around us has ever asked anybody to sit down. 

[slayer9]

Oh yeah good luck persuading us to stay for the alma mater when we can just leave by the 3rd quarter to beat the traffic so we can keep partying on campus

[puc86]

18 minutes ago, BDYZR said:

That's a bit of an exaggeration. No one around us has ever asked anybody to sit down. 

I do tend towards the hyperbolic but on this subject I feel I am as closely rooted in reality as I get. There are countless threads on here where people brag about their sitting prowess and how rude it is for anyone to disturb their entitlement to use the seats Ray Jay provides percent of the time at every moment of the game. People will say everyone just needs to find common ground and adapt to the norms of those around them but in the next breath it comes out that they do not find anytime to be an appropriate time for expression. Standing and cheering is normal at most college football games ,sans ours, and the stadium and the team’s success has nothing to do with it. Tampa fans are anti fun cheese and whine (pun intended).

[BDYZR]

4 minutes ago, puc86 said:

I feel I am as closely rooted in reality as I get

Agree

[puc86]

1 minute ago, BDYZR said:

Agree

See we both agree that I am right, doesn’t it feel good?

[BDYZR]

1 minute ago, puc86 said:

See we both agree that I am right, doesn’t it feel good?

In your world, yes.