The Iowa Players See You Leaving Carver Early

[SpiderRico]

I think they're on break for at least five games and it might have been six this year. Still a good deal if they are $139 for the season. Is that what they are?

I was wrong....the $139 is football student season tickets if done with early bird purchasing. Basketball season tickets for 19 games was $75 this year. Take out 6 games for break and that's $75 for 13 games or less than $6/game.

 

[HawkGold]

But you're on the blog at 8am. I think the players want Iowa fans to get louder in CHA, not the internet

Some of fans want more fire on the court rather than social media. Not handing out participation ribbons.

 

[HuckFinn]

Blue Hairs....gotta beat traffic out....

You might want to re-evaluate your position about who leaves early. I sit in the 25th row mid court (only that good since I bought a single season ticket) and I watch the early leavers walk by. There are, actually, very few old folks like me. Most are 30-40 somethings who have premium seats, or sometimes couples with small kids. A lot of the blue hair seats are empty when the weather is a problem. Been watching this from the Alford era(error) through Lick and Fran, so I have a pretty good handle on it, I think.

 

[HuckFinn]

Sometimes teams just don't "have it" on a particular night....whether it's classwork, schedules, road trips, etc. When you're dealing with college students between 18 and 22, that's going to happen.

What SHOULDN'T happen is for fans, like last night, to sit on their hands and simply react to what's happening, rather than trying to will the team forward. At the good arenas, you see those fans do that. Ours, for whatever reason, don't.

The Iowa fans repeatedly, I mean, time and time again, exploded in loud cheers when Iowa went on defense. Unfortunately, we were pretty much disappointed...until the end. I thought the crowd stayed in the game pretty well, until NW went up by a bunch. Not surprised at that.

 

[IowaTeddy]

Not handing out participation ribbons.

But Dad, I wanna feel special

 

[uihawk82]

It's not about this 1 game it's all of the games. Doesn't matter the opponent or score. You can be upset about how the games going, but if you buy tickets, stay for the whole games. I don't think this is even a comment or conversation if he hadn't been happening for years now. It's more than 1 game.

fans can do what they want as far as leaving, they bought the ticket. I know it seems stupid to me to leave early but hey.....

 

[HaydenHawk56]

Maybe the Blue Hairs hear a blaring siren outside of CHA letting them know their is an 8.00 blue special at Best China if they make it there in the next 35 minutes.

 

[bogeyman]

I’m not saying I dislike any of the players because of it, that’s just kind of the way it’s been since they’ve been here. It might be just a product of the society we live in today.

I don’t like that the fans left early, but Carver looked to have a ton of open seats yesterday (not sure if that was only the student section). It’s hard for me to tell people what to do with their money and time, so those who actually spent money on tickets and went to the game, it’s hard to just say don’t come at all if you’re going to leave early, that would mean others would have to spend the money to go to the game or we’d be looking at more empty seats in CHA.

As they say in sports winning cures all, so as long as this team keeps winning I think we will all be happy, and fan interest in this team will continue to grow.

I understand the points. I think figuring out some parking/traffic solutions would help too. Sat for almost an hour in the parking lot after michigan game. Maybe if it didn't take so long to get out people would stay till the final buzzer.
We do have one of the weakest student sections though.

 

[PilotHawk]

tl;dr: I'm a student, the university does not push basketball the way they do football, and that's why students don't show. Also, we don't remember the good times the way y'all blue-hairs do.

Since at least part of this thread has turned into criticism of the student section, I thought I could offer my take since I, you know, sit in the student section.

1. Unless you get there early, our seats suck. I think you guys recognize this. Just look at places like Michigan State where the student section practically wraps around the entire court in the bottom 10 or so rows. Getting loud students near the court could help with the noise issue. I suppose the drawback to this would be that it could look bad on TV if your students don't show, but maybe a couple other of these points could fix that.

2. Honestly the season ticket is fairly cheap compared to what you would pay if you weren't a student, but it could be free. I don't want to sound like someone asking for a handout. I pay for the ticket anyways since I have always been an Iowa fan, but basketball has a student attendance problem. No one is sitting there anyways, so just give the damn tickets away. Perhaps you could do a tiered structure where you pay to guarantee your student ticket (which, being the sucker I am I would pay for it), and after a set period of time, you open it up for free until you run out of tickets. I would also pull a United and give away more tickets then there are seats just to make sure we get people in. We got a huge-ass concourse you can watch the game from if you show up late and can't find somewhere to sit.

3. People my age and younger don't think of Iowa for basketball. Just about the earliest I remember is the year Iowa lost to Northwestern State. And even then, as Iowa fans, we try very hard to erase the tenure of that head coach from our memory. The fans my age just aren't there for basketball the same way they are for football. If you're my age you remember back-to-back-to-back top 10 finishes in our formative years. Basketball doesn't have anything like that.

4. The school doesn't push basketball at all. Campus grinds to a halt on fall Saturdays. More than 9/10 students couldn't even tell you if there was a home basketball game tonight or not. You hear all about football during On Iowa (orientation) week. Not a peep about Basketball. Somehow even less about Wrestling. I bet most students would be surprised about how good of a wrestling tradition we have.

5. Finally, there is a growing number of people who simply don't care about athletics. Couple this with a growing number of out of state residents who don't grow up Hawks, as well as no push to get you to attend basketball, you end up with an apathetic student fanbase.

 

[RobHowe]

I was wrong....the $139 is football student season tickets if done with early bird purchasing. Basketball season tickets for 19 games was $75 this year. Take out 6 games for break and that's $75 for 13 games or less than $6/game.

Yes. That is a good deal. Not sure why one would buy a single-game ticket for $20.

 

[judzeehawk]

@PilotHawk I saw this somewhere else but I don't remember where but they were giving away $1000.00 dollar scholarships. Like 1 scholarship 10 games a year. Would that be enough incentive for the students to show up or not? I personally think students shouldn't have to pay for tickets since the people they are going to watch are fellow students that have a free ride and the students pay through the nose for their education. Honest question.

 

[Hawknigh]

I'm liking Cook more and more! Calling out the fans needs to be done. Of course, you can leave whenever you want. But this shows that it makes a difference to him and the players want fans to stay.

 

[tweeterhawk]

It's funny but on the flip side, calling out your own fans for this is kinda weaksauce. You were 10.5 point favorites at home and down 15 with 4 minutes left. Your team played uninspired basketball for 36 minutes and you had a 1% chance of winning the game with 3 minutes left.

Let's not act like the players knew they were going to win this game the entire time

This.

If you want fans to stay to the end play like you give a shit the full 40 minutes, not the last 3.

 

[tksirius]

I personally think people should spend their minutes on this earth however the hell they want.

Hallelujah!

 

[revkev73]

But Dad, I wanna feel special

You aren't that special, you are a whiny little bitch like the rest of your friends, shut up. Do something. Nobody cares.

 

[revkev73]

I'm liking Cook more and more! Calling out the fans needs to be done. Of course, you can leave whenever you want. But this shows that it makes a difference to him and the players want fans to stay.

Here is a deal, quit trying to dribble full court like Magic Johnson until you cough up the ball, and we will sit and watch the whole game.

 

[ssckelley]

tl;dr: I'm a student, the university does not push basketball the way they do football, and that's why students don't show. Also, we don't remember the good times the way y'all blue-hairs do.

Since at least part of this thread has turned into criticism of the student section, I thought I could offer my take since I, you know, sit in the student section.

1. Unless you get there early, our seats suck. I think you guys recognize this. Just look at places like Michigan State where the student section practically wraps around the entire court in the bottom 10 or so rows. Getting loud students near the court could help with the noise issue. I suppose the drawback to this would be that it could look bad on TV if your students don't show, but maybe a couple other of these points could fix that.

2. Honestly the season ticket is fairly cheap compared to what you would pay if you weren't a student, but it could be free. I don't want to sound like someone asking for a handout. I pay for the ticket anyways since I have always been an Iowa fan, but basketball has a student attendance problem. No one is sitting there anyways, so just give the damn tickets away. Perhaps you could do a tiered structure where you pay to guarantee your student ticket (which, being the sucker I am I would pay for it), and after a set period of time, you open it up for free until you run out of tickets. I would also pull a United and give away more tickets then there are seats just to make sure we get people in. We got a huge-ass concourse you can watch the game from if you show up late and can't find somewhere to sit.

3. People my age and younger don't think of Iowa for basketball. Just about the earliest I remember is the year Iowa lost to Northwestern State. And even then, as Iowa fans, we try very hard to erase the tenure of that head coach from our memory. The fans my age just aren't there for basketball the same way they are for football. If you're my age you remember back-to-back-to-back top 10 finishes in our formative years. Basketball doesn't have anything like that.

4. The school doesn't push basketball at all. Campus grinds to a halt on fall Saturdays. More than 9/10 students couldn't even tell you if there was a home basketball game tonight or not. You hear all about football during On Iowa (orientation) week. Not a peep about Basketball. Somehow even less about Wrestling. I bet most students would be surprised about how good of a wrestling tradition we have.

5. Finally, there is a growing number of people who simply don't care about athletics. Couple this with a growing number of out of state residents who don't grow up Hawks, as well as no push to get you to attend basketball, you end up with an apathetic student fanbase.

Thanks for your contributions, you pretty much nailed every point I've been preaching about the student section and I appreciate you telling us your perspective on Iowa basketball. A person your age being a Iowa basketball fan has to be rough, a ton of disappointment in the Alford years followed by some very bad TL years.

I do wish the athletic department adopted your ideas, give the tickets away if you have too but don't allow those seats to sit empty. I like your idea of paying for the guaranteed ticket and over selling or over giving away the rest of the tickets.

Contribute more often.

 

[IHawk94]

But what are you expecting to happen as a result of Tyler's comments? Are the 70 year old fans suddenly going to be like "oh Gerald we better stay for another 5 minutes because the young man on the court made fun of us on the internet"? Like what is the positive benefit of calling out the fans who paid money to watch you play?

There may not be a positive benefit to it, but at least someone says it. It's not like there's going to be negative to it either. So what he puts a bug in there ear if they even see it and maybe next time they don't leave? That's great, and I would say that was somewhat a success then. I also fail to believe that it's only the older people leaving early. Carver needs a makeover of how seating is arranged and the athletics department needs to do a better job of putting butts in seats no matter grown adults or students, but still I don't think TC is wrong for saying something, at least somebody is.

 

[IHawk94]

fans can do what they want as far as leaving, they bought the ticket. I know it seems stupid to me to leave early but hey.....

I'm not saying they can't, I totally agree with this statement. But TC also feels some type of way about it, therefore he can also say something about it.

 

[hawkdrummer1]

Players calling out fans is rarely a good thing.