Yeah, but it was tradition to go to the games, and not just to drink...it's what you do, you go and support the team...and have a great time doing it. I was more focused on the posters comment about the product on the field. People don't give Ferentz enough credit. How many times in the last ten years in particular did you see an Iowa team physically dominated. Even in the lean years, not that often...our execution sucked, but we didn't get dominated. Those teams in the seventies were ALWAYS dominated...and I mean completely outclassed. He's got his team's physically ready to play and other teams know it's coming...and they certainly know they played Iowa on Sunday morning. I have a lot of respect for that...more so than some on this board.
This is directed to those on this thread that are upset that we haven't already sold out every game. I will add a couple of things here, as I was in grade school and middle school in the 1970s and went to a game a year from 1975 until I was at Iowa in 1983. I was a third generation graduate of Iowa, as well, and we were all sports fans.
First off, what was the seating capacity of Kinnick during the 70s? Was it even 63,000? If it was that now, these games might be sold out right now, for all we know. After a little research, I found that these sell outs from before the 1980s ranged per season from 49,000+ to 54,000+ until 1979, when the average gate was 59,000+. That means these hames would all be sell outs right now, if capacity was the same as it was then.
Secondly, maybe you had better hold your criticism and comparisons to the bad old days until the games are actually played and you can see how many open seats there are. And by the way, it isn't JUST the students that are responsible for these games not being sold out at this point.
Additionally, to get season tickets now, you have to pay a lot more before you actually buy your ticket than you did back then. And I would also add the vast majority of Iowans probably fall into a middle class category at most, or below, that have seen their incomes stagnate in real dollars since 2000. In that time, the price of football tickets has soared, I would be willing to bet.
So, since the season hasn't even started yet, I wouldn't be too quick to throw stones at Iowa's fan base quite yet. At least wait until you see the stands at a game whining that you haven't sold every ticket five weeks before your first game seems a little idiotic to me. It might be cause for an article to be written, but not for hand wringing.
And this is coming from someone that probably knows more about Iowa football and it's history than 95% of the people on this board. So I think I have some room to talk.
