billiken_roy Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Listen, folks, here's the bottom line. The offer was there for SLU students to buy the tickets for $5. When they didn't and a massive group of MSU students showed up, SLU had to sell them the tickets. It's that simple. There really is no reason to be mad at the athletic department. You have to remember, NCAA Basketball is a business. All those MSU fans helped us pay for the Arena, for Majerus, etc. If you want to be furious at someone, be furious at the students who didn't show up. You should have seen the massive waiting line at the box office. That main lobby was swamped for almost the full hour before the game with MSU fans wanting tickets. Don't blame them for showing up or for wanting the "best available" seats. Men's basketball games are NOT general admission. Those MSU fans bought tickets to sit in that section. It's the same as if you go to the Cardinals game; the computer found the "best available" seats. That section, while during the semester is the student section, is open to the public when SLU is out of academic session. This isn't the first time that non-SLU students have sat there (though it's usually Billiken fans who do). And, I'd like to think that if our team was 10-0 and we were going to play MSU, we'd have a bunch of SLU fans that would want to go and sit together. Again, it's that simple. first i am indeed furious at the slu students. for a school that has 13,000+ enrolled students, for less than 40 to show up last night is beyond pathetic. there is absolutely no excuse for that. second if it is true slu offered any and all students worldwide to come and sit in our student section, that might be the most stupid promotion we have ever done. i dont care if it sold an extra 1000 tickets, it handed home court advantage to southwest missouri state on a night slu didnt need that to happen. that is just a brazen act of money first success second. and as a 20+ year member of the billiken club and season ticket holder that doesnt say much for wanting to give us long time loyal fans to success we deeply thirst for. next, think about the fact that they even scheduled this game for after the students have left the campus. obviously the hometown students are idiots and stuck it to us, but one would think that the out of town students would have come out as usual had this game been last week or before. granted because of the academic focus of school first it worked out to play that d-6 school, rockford, last week, but if southwest missouri is supposed to be some sort of regional rival, at least schedule it so last night's attendance situation doesnt happen. fourth, season ticket holders arent exempt from this spanking. there were plenty of maroon being sported in the lower bowl. they got those tickets from season ticket holders. any one of you that gave your tickets to a maroon wearing hillbilly should get off the bandwagon now. dammit. that really pisses me off. last, as bonwich states, i never noticed it until last night, but what the hell is the deal with our ushers wearing maroon? my gosh is it to much for the owners of the arena to tell the arena staff that makes these decisions, that the ushers have to wear the colors of saint louis university? p.s. for those of you that are so sure that the mvc is the place for us to be, think about this, our own fans and students dont care so much they have their worst attendance night of the year and let bass pro university buy, steal or take so many of their tickets that they outnumber our fans. yeah, st louis really cares about the mvc. they care so much they dont even come out to freeze out the opponents. pathetic students, pathetic season ticket holders, pathetic game promotion, pathetic arena staff. no wonder the team played pathetic. it was apparently pathetic night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu101 Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 first i am indeed furious at the slu students. for a school that has 13,000+ enrolled students, for less than 40 to show up last night is beyond pathetic. there is absolutely no excuse for that. second if it is true slu offered any and all students worldwide to come and sit in our student section, that might be the most stupid promotion we have ever done. i dont care if it sold an extra 1000 tickets, it handed home court advantage to southwest missouri state on a night slu didnt need that to happen. that is just a brazen act of money first success second. and as a 20+ year member of the billiken club and season ticket holder that doesnt say much for wanting to give us long time loyal fans to success we deeply thirst for. next, think about the fact that they even scheduled this game for after the students have left the campus. obviously the hometown students are idiots and stuck it to us, but one would think that the out of town students would have come out as usual had this game been last week or before. granted because of the academic focus of school first it worked out to play that d-6 school, rockford, last week, but if southwest missouri is supposed to be some sort of regional rival, at least schedule it so last night's attendance situation doesnt happen. fourth, season ticket holders arent exempt from this spanking. there were plenty of maroon being sported in the lower bowl. they got those tickets from season ticket holders. any one of you that gave your tickets to a maroon wearing hillbilly should get off the bandwagon now. dammit. that really pisses me off. last, as bonwich states, i never noticed it until last night, but what the hell is the deal with our ushers wearing maroon? my gosh is it to much for the owners of the arena to tell the arena staff that makes these decisions, that the ushers have to wear the colors of saint louis university? p.s. for those of you that are so sure that the mvc is the place for us to be, think about this, our own fans and students dont care so much they have their worst attendance night of the year and let bass pro university buy, steal or take so many of their tickets that they outnumber our fans. yeah, st louis really cares about the mvc. they care so much they dont even come out to freeze out the opponents. pathetic students, pathetic season ticket holders, pathetic game promotion, pathetic arena staff. no wonder the team played pathetic. it was apparently pathetic night. Amen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastsidejoe Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 first i am indeed furious at the slu students. for a school that has 13,000+ enrolled students, for less than 40 to show up last night is beyond pathetic. there is absolutely no excuse for that. second if it is true slu offered any and all students worldwide to come and sit in our student section, that might be the most stupid promotion we have ever done. i dont care if it sold an extra 1000 tickets, it handed home court advantage to southwest missouri state on a night slu didnt need that to happen. that is just a brazen act of money first success second. and as a 20+ year member of the billiken club and season ticket holder that doesnt say much for wanting to give us long time loyal fans to success we deeply thirst for. next, think about the fact that they even scheduled this game for after the students have left the campus. obviously the hometown students are idiots and stuck it to us, but one would think that the out of town students would have come out as usual had this game been last week or before. granted because of the academic focus of school first it worked out to play that d-6 school, rockford, last week, but if southwest missouri is supposed to be some sort of regional rival, at least schedule it so last night's attendance situation doesnt happen. fourth, season ticket holders arent exempt from this spanking. there were plenty of maroon being sported in the lower bowl. they got those tickets from season ticket holders. any one of you that gave your tickets to a maroon wearing hillbilly should get off the bandwagon now. dammit. that really pisses me off. last, as bonwich states, i never noticed it until last night, but what the hell is the deal with our ushers wearing maroon? my gosh is it to much for the owners of the arena to tell the arena staff that makes these decisions, that the ushers have to wear the colors of saint louis university? p.s. for those of you that are so sure that the mvc is the place for us to be, think about this, our own fans and students dont care so much they have their worst attendance night of the year and let bass pro university buy, steal or take so many of their tickets that they outnumber our fans. yeah, st louis really cares about the mvc. they care so much they dont even come out to freeze out the opponents. pathetic students, pathetic season ticket holders, pathetic game promotion, pathetic arena staff. no wonder the team played pathetic. it was apparently pathetic night. AMEN ROY. i am getting pretty tired of our wanna be good program when we can't even get students to come to the game. nothing has changed except maybe it has gotten worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe_davola Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 first i am indeed furious at the slu students. for a school that has 13,000+ enrolled students, for less than 40 to show up last night is beyond pathetic. there is absolutely no excuse for that. second if it is true slu offered any and all students worldwide to come and sit in our student section, that might be the most stupid promotion we have ever done. i dont care if it sold an extra 1000 tickets, it handed home court advantage to southwest missouri state on a night slu didnt need that to happen. that is just a brazen act of money first success second. and as a 20+ year member of the billiken club and season ticket holder that doesnt say much for wanting to give us long time loyal fans to success we deeply thirst for. next, think about the fact that they even scheduled this game for after the students have left the campus. obviously the hometown students are idiots and stuck it to us, but one would think that the out of town students would have come out as usual had this game been last week or before. granted because of the academic focus of school first it worked out to play that d-6 school, rockford, last week, but if southwest missouri is supposed to be some sort of regional rival, at least schedule it so last night's attendance situation doesnt happen. fourth, season ticket holders arent exempt from this spanking. there were plenty of maroon being sported in the lower bowl. they got those tickets from season ticket holders. any one of you that gave your tickets to a maroon wearing hillbilly should get off the bandwagon now. dammit. that really pisses me off. last, as bonwich states, i never noticed it until last night, but what the hell is the deal with our ushers wearing maroon? my gosh is it to much for the owners of the arena to tell the arena staff that makes these decisions, that the ushers have to wear the colors of saint louis university? p.s. for those of you that are so sure that the mvc is the place for us to be, think about this, our own fans and students dont care so much they have their worst attendance night of the year and let bass pro university buy, steal or take so many of their tickets that they outnumber our fans. yeah, st louis really cares about the mvc. they care so much they dont even come out to freeze out the opponents. pathetic students, pathetic season ticket holders, pathetic game promotion, pathetic arena staff. no wonder the team played pathetic. it was apparently pathetic night. Agree with everything you said Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOldie Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 I've been a season ticket holder for over 20+ years. Never seen anything like this tonight. I thought that we had pp ADs before; however, this guy takes the cake. If he worked for me his *** would be grass and I would be mowing it. Furthermore, it was pointed out to me that Nathan Scheer (spelling?) and three of his friends were seated in the front row of section 105. How can this happen??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARon Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Really? What part about that is bull****? We have a nationally ranked volleyball team.. how often was the arena packed? Penn State? We have a nationally ranked soccer team? Except for Legion 1818 there was never anyone there. We have a brand new arena and the only way it gets filled is if we offer free pizza. Where was I wrong? 1) It is volleyball. Do you really think other volleyball programs around the country pack the house for those matches? I love volleyball but that just isn't the case. In 2008, the average attendance for a Big 10 volleyball match was barely over 2,000. And the Big Ten has higher attendance than any other conference. If you think we are somehow failing because our only just recently successful program is not drawing 5,000 a game you are just wrong. http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/stats/w_vol...009/VBAtt08.pdf 2) Soccer - the same deal. No one attends soccer anywhere. For at least three years this decade SLU has LED THE NATION in average attendance. http://www.slubillikens.com/sports/m-socce.../012704aaa.html 3) 2009 average men's DI Basketball attendance = 5,378. SLU's average attendance 7,627. That ranks SLU 71st. Would we like to be higher, sure but WE"RE NOT A TOP PROGRAM YET. Let me repeat that. WE ARE NOT A TOP PROGRAM. I want us to be one as bad as anyone but I don't walk around with blinders on pretending we are right there with DUKE, NC, Kansas, Kentucky, hell even Xavier. We aren't there yet. http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/stats/m_bas...09mbbattend.pdf So factually, yeah you were wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Majerus Magic Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 1) It is volleyball. Do you really think other volleyball programs around the country pack the house for those matches? I love volleyball but that just isn't the case. In 2008, the average attendance for a Big 10 volleyball match was barely over 2,000. And the Big Ten has higher attendance than any other conference. If you think we are somehow failing because our only just recently successful program is not drawing 5,000 a game you are just wrong. http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/stats/w_vol...009/VBAtt08.pdf 2) Soccer - the same deal. No one attends soccer anywhere. For at least three years this decade SLU has LED THE NATION in average attendance. http://www.slubillikens.com/sports/m-socce.../012704aaa.html 3) 2009 average men's DI Basketball attendance = 5,378. SLU's average attendance 7,627. That ranks SLU 71st. Would we like to be higher, sure but WE"RE NOT A TOP PROGRAM YET. Let me repeat that. WE ARE NOT A TOP PROGRAM. I want us to be one as bad as anyone but I don't walk around with blinders on pretending we are right there with DUKE, NC, Kansas, Kentucky, hell even Xavier. We aren't there yet. http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/stats/m_bas...09mbbattend.pdf So factually, yeah you were wrong. No, factually I am not wrong. First of all, there are probably 300 people that go to a SLU Volleyball game, and that is being generous. That is a far cry from the 2,000 that go to a Big 10 game. I don't care if we aren't in a major conference. I stated that SLU students don't attend sporting events, and they don't. I don't care what the Big 10 is doing. Did you really quote soccer statistics from 5 years ago? Also, I'm not sure if you have ever been to a soccer game or not, but the majority of that attendance number is made up of Alumni and other St. Louisians. Again, student apathy. Did you go to the basketball game last night? That attendance figure was given a healthy boost by the amount of MSU fans that were in the building. I'm sure it also was helped by the amount of Belmont (Drew Hanlen) fans that were in the building last week. Furthermore, I would make a healthy wager that the majority of that attendance figure is made up of season ticket/ season game tickets purchased by people other than Students So, no, factually I wasn't wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonwich Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 2008 Attendance Leaders Division I Average Home Attendance Team Games Total Avg. 1. UC Santa Barbara.............................................................. 11 37,886 3,444 2. Connecticut..................................................................... .... 13 39,138 3,011 3. Cal Poly............................................................................ ...... 9 25,549 2,839 4. Creighton....................................................................... ...... 11 28,647 2,604 5. Maryland........................................................................ ...... 14 35,631 2,545 6. Wake Forest......................................................................... 12 26,080 2,173 7. Portland........................................................................ ........ 10 20,929 2,093 8. Virginia........................................................................ ........... 12 22,307 1,859 9. S t. Louis........................................................................... ...... 10 18,153 1,815 10. Indiana......................................................................... .......... 11 19,111 1,737 Feel free to withdraw the erroneous statement you made by quoting a 2004 press release at any time. (Sorry about the formatting -- I only recently mastered WordPerfect, let alone HTML or XML. ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidnark Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Roy, it is good to back on the same page with you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kappy96 Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 The students *should* be ashamed -- but someone in the athletic department should be fired. It's no secret that we have student apathy. It shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone who's been anywhere near SLU basketball for the past two years, let alone the past 20 years, that we would have a very small student turnout tonight. HOW HARD IS IT TO REQUIRE A SLU STUDENT ID TO SIT IN THE SLU STUDENT SECTION? More than that, I'm not acquainted with the intricacies of ticketing within that section, but I can't imagine that all those maroon jerseys HAD TICKETS FOR THOSE SEATS. I might have expected the ushers simply to tell them to move -- BUT THE FREAKING USHERS ALL WEAR MAROON SHIRTS. (Thanks to B-Roy for pointing that out. Do we have anyone in sports marketing who understands even the most basic elements of branding?) 50 or so SLU students in the section right next to the court -- with a couple hundred empty seats -- would have been more intelligent than what happened this evening. (It also looked as if another 100 or more SLU fans ended up sitting behind the MSU students that hijacked the section.) It's our own damned fault (or at least the athletic department's fault) that we gave up that element of the home court advantage. We paid $70M for a home court. We could at least manage the game-day procedures as if we thought it was a good investment. Bonwich is dead on. Last night was an embarassment on multiple levels. From the athletic department not promoting one of the two premier home games on the schuedle any better to the event staff allowing SLU student tickets to be sold to non-SLU students (if indeed that is true) to the poor turnout from the students. SLU should be less concerned about filling the house for UMKC with a Build-A-Bear promotion and more concerned about capitalizing on the opportunity to get the house rocking at one of the few early season marquee games we have on the schedule. Instead, they sat on their hands and just figured that MSU fans would show up and help the gate. Our athletic department is so short-sighted and continues to worry more lame about in-game promotions than actually working on ways to create an exciting atmosphere that will make people want to come back. Think big picture...giveaways are great to attract fringe fans but those people are only coming for the giveaway. Get creative, we know X-Mas break is a challenge. Work with local highschools, youth groups or the on-campus greeks as someone else suggested. Give the tickets away along with SLU shirts...who knows you might create a fan for life and recruit a student or two. Until they step up and hire somebody with a clue on event management (which will require them to pay that position more than an intern level salary) nothing will ever change. Also, this is not the first time that SLU has scheduled a regional rival during X-Mas break, (some may remember the SIU game from the 93-94 season when the staff at The Arena had to remove the seat covers from the upper deck due to the walk up). There were plenty of Carbondale fans there that night but I don't recall them taking over the student section. Nor do I ever remember that happening at Scottrade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 fan Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 1) It is volleyball. Do you really think other volleyball programs around the country pack the house for those matches? I love volleyball but that just isn't the case. In 2008, the average attendance for a Big 10 volleyball match was barely over 2,000. And the Big Ten has higher attendance than any other conference. If you think we are somehow failing because our only just recently successful program is not drawing 5,000 a game you are just wrong. http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/stats/w_vol...009/VBAtt08.pdf 2) Soccer - the same deal. No one attends soccer anywhere. For at least three years this decade SLU has LED THE NATION in average attendance. http://www.slubillikens.com/sports/m-socce.../012704aaa.html 3) 2009 average men's DI Basketball attendance = 5,378. SLU's average attendance 7,627. That ranks SLU 71st. Would we like to be higher, sure but WE"RE NOT A TOP PROGRAM YET. Let me repeat that. WE ARE NOT A TOP PROGRAM. I want us to be one as bad as anyone but I don't walk around with blinders on pretending we are right there with DUKE, NC, Kansas, Kentucky, hell even Xavier. We aren't there yet. http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/stats/m_bas...09mbbattend.pdf So factually, yeah you were wrong. While you may be correct from a historical basis, you miss a few points. Our V-ball team barely draws 350 people. The fans are predominately family members, young teams that attend with a few parents and the regular old guys, like me that enjoy college sports and support the Bills. Secondly, while not an indictment of our coach, our attendance and season ticket base had declined. Some will say its a function of the economy, the ticket plan, etc. The reality is anyone can have a good seat at Chaifetz without donating money to the University. And then there's soccer. Attendance has fallen dramatically. I go to the games, none are sold out. Students don't attend. Youth teams have quit attending. The expectations for men's and women's soccer are apparently to make the NCAA's every year or two. In general, while I believe our men's basketball team will continue to improve, the general direction of the AD can be considered challenged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARon Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 2008 Attendance Leaders Division I Average Home Attendance Team Games Total Avg. 1. UC Santa Barbara.............................................................. 11 37,886 3,444 2. Connecticut..................................................................... .... 13 39,138 3,011 3. Cal Poly............................................................................ ...... 9 25,549 2,839 4. Creighton....................................................................... ...... 11 28,647 2,604 5. Maryland........................................................................ ...... 14 35,631 2,545 6. Wake Forest......................................................................... 12 26,080 2,173 7. Portland........................................................................ ........ 10 20,929 2,093 8. Virginia........................................................................ ........... 12 22,307 1,859 9. S t. Louis........................................................................... ...... 10 18,153 1,815 10. Indiana......................................................................... .......... 11 19,111 1,737 Feel free to withdraw the erroneous statement you made by quoting a 2004 press release at any time. (Sorry about the formatting -- I only recently mastered WordPerfect, let alone HTML or XML. ) Well the numbers in the press release were not wrong and SLU did lead the nation three times this decade so I have no need to withdraw anything. Ok they've fallen down to only being in the top 10-15. What a tragedy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlumniFan Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 fourth, season ticket holders arent exempt from this spanking. there were plenty of maroon being sported in the lower bowl. they got those tickets from season ticket holders. any one of you that gave your tickets to a maroon wearing hillbilly should get off the bandwagon now. dammit. that really pisses me off. I have no problem with a season ticket holder inviting a guest or two from the opposing team to join him at a game. I have been invited to games when traveling and appreciated the opportunity. However, what drives me crazy, and I think this is your main point, is the situations where people/corporations give away blocks of tickets to EVERY game and fill those seats with people from the opposing team with no Billiken fans even attending with them. For the last three games, the four seats behind me have been filled with Carbondale, Belmont, and Southwest fans. It is enormously irritating. I am 99.9% certain these are not seats that you can buy through the ticket office as they are nearly center court, about 8 rows up. p.s. for those of you that are so sure that the mvc is the place for us to be, think about this, our own fans and students dont care so much they have their worst attendance night of the year and let bass pro university buy, steal or take so many of their tickets that they outnumber our fans. yeah, st louis really cares about the mvc. they care so much they dont even come out to freeze out the opponents. pathetic students, pathetic season ticket holders, pathetic game promotion, pathetic arena staff. no wonder the team played pathetic. it was apparently pathetic night. Also, remember this regarding the MVC: Because we are a major metropolitan area, there are ALWAYS going to be a large number of fans from MVC teams attending our games. They live in St. Louis and may even cheer for the Bills on most nights, but when THEIR alma mater plays (e.g. Southwest, Carbondale, Bradley, etc.) they are going to wear their team's colors and cheer on the MVC team. That will not be true of Billiken fans showing up in Springfield, Carbondale, or Peoria because there are so few SLU graduates, proportionally, in those towns. I hope people are bright enough to realize this (as if last night wasn't proof enough) and understand what that means, IF, God forbid, we end up in the tractor-pull conference, er... I mean the MVC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearvision Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Now playing as the theme song to "lunatic314's" life, the banjo song from "Deliverance". I hope your parents lock your sister's bedroom door at night. If it means anything, we've told Lunatic to knock it off on the Bears board or be banned, but we don't have a member by that name and no one is claiming to be him. He is trolling to get a reaction... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billikenfan05 Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 So the question is: What would you do to get them out over break? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARon Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 No, factually I am not wrong. First of all, there are probably 300 people that go to a SLU Volleyball game, and that is being generous. That is a far cry from the 2,000 that go to a Big 10 game. I don't care if we aren't in a major conference. I stated that SLU students don't attend sporting events, and they don't. I don't care what the Big 10 is doing. Did you really quote soccer statistics from 5 years ago? Also, I'm not sure if you have ever been to a soccer game or not, but the majority of that attendance number is made up of Alumni and other St. Louisians. Again, student apathy. Did you go to the basketball game last night? That attendance figure was given a healthy boost by the amount of MSU fans that were in the building. I'm sure it also was helped by the amount of Belmont (Drew Hanlen) fans that were in the building last week. Furthermore, I would make a healthy wager that the majority of that attendance figure is made up of season ticket/ season game tickets purchased by people other than Students So, no, factually I wasn't wrong. As your original point was that SLU students (and I presume you also mean alumni) are "nerdy" and don't like sports, it is valid to point out that attendance (which one must presume is largely alumni in the case of both basketball and soccer) is well above DI averages. If you would rather be a fan of a program full of student who eat-sleep-breath-and live sports 24/7 and have no other interest or academic validity - I suggest you'd be happier as a Michigan fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlumniFan Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 So the question is: What would you do to get them out over break? I think it is going to have to come from student leaders. Kids, especially today, are so cynical, if the administration encourages them to go to games, they will stay home just out of spite. Maybe the administration should ban students from the game and tell them they have no right to attend. Next thing you know, thousands would be breaking down the doors demanding their right to attend the games. I really do feel bad for the small, but very committed group of Blue Crew kids who are stuck in the middle of this. It's gotta suck!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RUBillsFan Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 I have no problem with a season ticket holder inviting a guest or two from the opposing team to join him at a game. I have been invited to games when traveling and appreciated the opportunity. However, what drives me crazy, and I think this is your main point, is the situations where people/corporations give away blocks of tickets to EVERY game and fill those seats with people from the opposing team with no Billiken fans even attending with them. For the last three games, the four seats behind me have been filled with Carbondale, Belmont, and Southwest fans. It is enormously irritating. I am 99.9% certain these are not seats that you can buy through the ticket office as they are nearly center court, about 8 rows up. There are almost no Billikens tickets on Stub Hub, so obviously these opposing fans are getting their prime seats directly from season ticket holders. Pretty disgusting. http://www.stubhub.com/st-louis-billikens-...etball-tickets/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARon Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 So the question is: What would you do to get them out over break? I think the key for current student and young alumni is for the program to position the games as an "in" social event. A lot of people on the board want to complain about the 70+ year old fan not yelling and screaming enough. But to me it is the lack of 20 and 30-something fans that is the real issue. There is a real gap in that part of the fan base and they are the fans who will really yell and get involved. If you look at the baseball Cardinals, one of the reasons (and no it is not the only reason) that they are one of the top drawing MLB franchises is that a Cardinal game is a social event. It is not just die hard fans and families with kids at the games. You see girls night out groups, business schmoozing, and in general anyone who just wants to go out. You don't have to be a big baseball fan to want to go because it is "the thing" to do. You don't see that in some other cities for baseball and you certainly don't see that for SLU Bball. The University would never do it as it would be seen as promoting underage drinking, but since the games end so early (well early for a young 20-something) it would be easy to suggest to "make the Bills game, your pre-game". Maybe that's a better promotion for the Annex, Vito's etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 If you would rather be a fan of a program full of student who eat-sleep-breath-and live sports 24/7 and have no other interest or academic validity - I suggest you'd be happier as a Michigan fan. aron, if this was a game on exam night, you might have a point. is it too much to ask the local student off for xmas break to tell grandma, "hey i have to duck out of the family xmas party about 6:30 to go to the billiken game, but i'll be back at 9:30 promise." or for the student to tell his girlfriend who is also back from her xmas break at carbondale, "hey, instead of going to your friends nascar and stag beer party, we're going to the billiken game. if you wear blue and cheer like a maniac for the billikens, we can go over there afterwards, if not, you might as well pull your pants down now because i am going to spank your butt" sorry, there is no way that all the local slu students have a legit excuse. there is just apathy. and 05, i dont have the answer to that, but maybe the folks at slu that get paid to figure that stuff out should. the best answer i have is that there should be a slu student liason that does nothing but work to find the answer to get the students fired up for slu athletics 24/7. as usual, i assume they decided to go on the cheap though and instead it is a side responsibility for some current athletic dept staffer that has about a million other things on their plate and slu students get secondary attention. it's both their faults. i cannot of the life of me understand the widespread "i dont care unless you buy me beer and pizza" and i dont understand the athletic dept taking it forgranted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RUBillsFan Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 I realize everyone hates the student ID promotion. However, I'm thinking that I can use my old student ID to maybe get tickets to the UMKC game or Eastern Ill game. Does anyone know if this promotion runs all through xmas break? Do you just go to the ticket window with your student ID to get tickets or is there somewhere else you have to go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARon Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 aron, if this was a game on exam night, you might have a point. is it too much to ask the local student off for xmas break to tell grandma, "hey i have to duck out of the family xmas party about 6:30 to go to the billiken game, but i'll be back at 9:30 promise." or for the student to tell his girlfriend who is also back from her xmas break at carbondale, "hey, instead of going to your friends nascar and stag beer party, we're going to the billiken game. if you wear blue and cheer like a maniac for the billikens, we can go over there afterwards, if not, you might as well pull your pants down now because i am going to spank your butt" sorry, there is no way that all the local slu students have a legit excuse. there is just apathy. and 05, i dont have the answer to that, but maybe the folks at slu that get paid to figure that stuff out should. the best answer i have is that there should be a slu student liason that does nothing but work to find the answer to get the students fired up for slu athletics 24/7. as usual, i assume they decided to go on the cheap though and instead it is a side responsibility for some current athletic dept staffer that has about a million other things on their plate and slu students get secondary attention. it's both their faults. i cannot of the life of me understand the widespread "i dont care unless you buy me beer and pizza" and i dont understand the athletic dept taking it forgranted. Its not so much that I want to excuse them. I just don't buy the "they didn't come because they are a bunch of geeks" concept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Majerus Magic Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 As your original point was that SLU students (and I presume you also mean alumni) are "nerdy" and don't like sports, it is valid to point out that attendance (which one must presume is largely alumni in the case of both basketball and soccer) is well above DI averages. If you would rather be a fan of a program full of student who eat-sleep-breath-and live sports 24/7 and have no other interest or academic validity - I suggest you'd be happier as a Michigan fan.Did I said Alumni? No I said students. I would love SLU to be like Michigan. An excellent academic institution and crazy about sports. If SLU students liked sports they would show up. Simple as that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluecrewprez Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 It's been a while since I posted, but I had to after what I saw last night: I'm sure someone mentioned this already, but I was too angry to read all of the posts. I was sitting in my normal season ticket seats in 102 and saw the first row of the Blue Crew section being taken over to Mo State kids...so of course, I went down and along with a BC member, argued with the ushers about how ridiculous it was to allow the OPPOSITE teams students sit in our section...the fact that they only had to move back 5 rows was insane. How the hell are you supposed to build a program when you let the Blue Crew section become the student section for the other team?????? I'm ashamed of the general SLU fans. That could have been an amazing show of SLU support had former Blue Crew members and just any alum come down to the student section and pushed them back and out of the way. I almost got kicked out of the game when the other teams fans started chanting with 30 seconds left "this is our house." I am ashamed of the Athletic Department for--in order to make money--open the student section to anyone who wanted to sit there for $10 a ticket...how did they think that wouldn't happen??? I'm sorry, you have to agree, but it is better to have an empty student section with a few SLU kids in it than a full section of the OTHER teams fans. Absolutely ridiculous. Someone should get fired in the Athletic Department for that kind of decision. As an avid SLU fan and probably the biggest advocate of SLU spirit EVER, that was f***ing ridiculous. THAT is why we do not have a strong, devoted fan base...bc they DON'T STAND UP FOR THEIR OWN!!! I do commend the Pep Band though (LOVE them) for stepping up and being the student section. You guys rock everytime and had it not been for you guys, I would have walked out of that game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lawyerbilliken07 Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 I have been an outspoken supporter of the AD and the University on virtually every issue, but after tonight, I have to agree 100% with Joe. He is spot on, especially with the part about apologizing to Majerus. Majerus goes out of his way to thank the crowd and the students for coming out to the game. EVERY post-game show he mentions this. This had to be a slap in the face to him (I just wonder if it was really "technical difficulties" that "prevented" him from being on the post-game show tonight...). I understand and agree with dneuner to a point. The students are ultimately to blame, but that does NOT excuse the short-sighted decision of the AD to undertake a promotion to allow our student section to be over-run with MSU students. I just wonder how Willie, Brian, Christian, et al, felt when the looked up and saw the mass of maroon staring down at them and chanting "M S U" all night. Think about that for a second. And, I GUARANTEE you, the small amount of money the school received for those MSU ticket purchases in the student section is totally irrelevant to helping us pay for the arena. Business is business, but good business is smart business and this was STUPID business. Totally agree with this. A couple friends and I were some of the alumni who moved into the student section last night to do what we could. I fear I made a bit a fool of myself getting into screaming matches with kids 10 years younger than me, but whatever. I just really felt bad for the players, especially Willie after he had "airball" chanted at him from *our* student section. I tried to yell encouragement at Willie and Conk during free throws, but I'm sure they couldn't hear. It's just so frustrating ... I'm sitting here today with no voice and had to vent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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