PHENOMENAL Student Turnout tonight

[bluecrewprez]

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.

Absolutely...same here. My boss asked if I was sick today and I said no, I was cheering at the SLU game last night. Thanks for coming down lawyerbilliken...as a fellow alum, I'm glad SOMEONE stepped up and support their university.

[SShoe]

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.

I noticed some of the older guys going over and standing with the students. Great job and you deserve big time kudos for it.

[GOSLU68]

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.

Sorry, if you have tickets in hand with a value on them-you use them if you have requirement to find a place to park and feel you are going to get tickets in the upper part of the Chaifetz-it may not even get on you antennae if you are studying for finals. After finals do you really feel like going someplace

to sit when you could be standing up, dancing drinking, visiting with friends? I bet the SLU libriary has fewer people in it the week after finals than any other weeks of the year. Do you think the nerds still show up after finals?

[bonwich]

Oh, my. Where to start.

I think it's a major mistake to blame anyone -- students or the athletic department -- for student apathy at this point. (OT: In the 1970s, SLU had a philosophy professor named Andy Apathy, SJ. He was a great guy. ) It's a function of about 60 years of inconsistency, poor management, lack of marketing sense and the total lack of tradition that ensued. The Hughes era may have even turned out to be a negative, because someone latched on to the "just win, baby" school of marketing, ignoring the fact that, even with improving teams, we were going to have lots of up years and down years.

We got the coach, we got the arena -- but it's ludicrous to expect that those two factors were suddenly going to establish an athletic-event aura on campus. Even if we end up winning 20 games this year, we're still going to have to fill seats incrementally next year.

(Another note to students on this board. Don't take our frustration the wrong way. We love you, baby. You go to games; you chafe when you can't be there. You're the "us" of the future, not to mention the nucleus of any student tradition we'll ever develop.)

A week or two ago, someone made the comment re: promotions -- "At least they're doing something." Unacceptable. Just as unacceptable as the attitude kshoe lamented about our pre-conference schedule. He said we were to the point where we should start expecting success, as opposed to "being satisfied" with winning a few and losing a few. Kshoe's expectations can still be fulfilled -- we can still win out until conference, giving us only one loss in the time period we were talking about.

The promotions and game-day stuff is another matter. Someone, or someones, with considerable influence in the program's direction doesn't understand the concepts of class and professionalism. Our PA announcer has consistently belittled fans over the years; last night, one of the students charged with representing the University belittled a contest participant. We don't ensure that people allotted microphones have minimal diction skills. We hold absolutely inane promotions with unenforced rules ("You can't step on the banner") and minimal reward ($800 for hitting a half-court shot? Whoopee!). We allow casual fans to block the view of real fans by having no rules regarding entering and exiting while the ball is in play.

(Anecdote: We were a minute or two late yesterday, both in the first half and the second half. In the second half, we stopped and sat at the end of our aisle waiting for a break in play -- and were jeered by "fans" who had to shift to the other side of the railing to get their cold nachos and $7 beers back to their seats.)

What should the U be doing? Hiring someone like Bluecrewprez (welcome back, woman!) as student liaison was a great idea a while back, but as I understand it, she's now got a very successful career at one of St. Louis fastest-growing businesses and probably priced herself out of the market.

On the promotions front, leveraging the 48,000 area alumni and 8,000 local undergrads might have been a great start for Christmas-break games. But to make it an attractive social event, someone's going to have to bite the bullet and admit that the amenities at Chaifetz don't exactly scream "quality" or "value." So do a joint promotion with the Locust Business District: Say, $20, gets you a ticket to the game, a set meal at Pappy's, The U, Buffalo, Good Pie, Fountain or Triumph (apologies if I left anyone out) and some type of libation -- maybe a beer at the restaurant, or one at both the restaurant and the 'Fetz. And maybe throw in a secure parking space. Have athletic dept. and/or university ambassadors at all of the venues, and if possible, get the places to show Billiken highlights on their flat-screens.

You run the risk of the social aspect trumping the game experience, but at least it might introduce a few marginal fans and reconnect them with their college roots.

As for the local students, we know where they live. If they're old enough to drink, invite them to have a beer before the game (not for $7). Get Dan Kopman or Dan Schlafly to come talk about their nearby brewery. Provide some sort of realistic incentive, like some sort of variation on the tuition giveaway. (Number the tickets and enter them in a raffle for three credit-hours' tuition for the second semester.)

Resurrect the old "best tickets available" coupon promotion -- buy a book of 10 coupons for $50, and redeem them within 48 hours of any game for the best remaining seats. (INCLUDING any unused center-court lower bowl seats.) Implement my season-ticket-holder upgrade suggestion, where any season ticket holder can upgrade to the primo seats once or twice or a few times a year for $10, or maybe buy them for friends for $25.)

And one other long-term retrofit: Bring back boy cheerleaders. Sure, it runs the outside risk of one of them being a smart-ass and getting beat up by someone on the women's bb squad, although I think our team is classier than that. But the girls just don't have the "oomph" that the guys with megaphones used to have. There was a point during the game last night when JJ gave the "everybody up" sign while running back to D, and there was actually a wave of cheering that resulted. I submit that a half-dozen or so hyperactive male cheerleaders would be eminently more effective than Guy yelling "get up on your feet!" over the P.A.

I'm sure there's more.

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.

In 1986, when the team played at the Soccer Park in FENTON, they averaged 1,600 per game. Between your 2004 figure of 2,779 and 2008's average of 1,815, attendance fell roughly by a third, despite an on-campus facility with initial cost of $5 million and a subsequent expansion, to where it now holds more than 6,000. Like another of our recent expenditures, the on-campus soccer facility was sold in large part on the basis that more fans, especially students, would come to games. Yes, basically, that's a tragedy.

[GOSLU68]

Oh, my. Where to start.

I think it's a major mistake to blame anyone -- students or the athletic department -- for student apathy at this point. (OT: In the 1970s, SLU had a philosophy professor named Andy Apathy, SJ. He was a great guy. ) It's a function of about 60 years of inconsistency, poor management, lack of marketing sense and the total lack of tradition that ensued. The Hughes era may have even turned out to be a negative, because someone latched on to the "just win, baby" school of marketing, ignoring the fact that, even with improving teams, we were going to have lots of up years and down years.

We got the coach, we got the arena -- but it's ludicrous to expect that those two factors were suddenly going to establish an athletic-event aura on campus. Even if we end up winning 20 games this year, we're still going to have to fill seats incrementally next year.

(Another note to students on this board. Don't take our frustration the wrong way. We love you, baby. You go to games; you chafe when you can't be there. You're the "us" of the future, not to mention the nucleus of any student tradition we'll ever develop.)

A week or two ago, someone made the comment re: promotions -- "At least they're doing something." Unacceptable. Just as unacceptable as the attitude kshoe lamented about our pre-conference schedule. He said we were to the point where we should start expecting success, as opposed to "being satisfied" with winning a few and losing a few. Kshoe's expectations can still be fulfilled -- we can still win out until conference, giving us only one loss in the time period we were talking about.

The promotions and game-day stuff is another matter. Someone, or someones, with considerable influence in the program's direction doesn't understand the concepts of class and professionalism. Our PA announcer has consistently belittled fans over the years; last night, one of the students charged with representing the University belittled a contest participant. We don't ensure that people allotted microphones have minimal diction skills. We hold absolutely inane promotions with unenforced rules ("You can't step on the banner") and minimal reward ($800 for hitting a half-court shot? Whoopee!). We allow casual fans to block the view of real fans by having no rules regarding entering and exiting while the ball is in play.

(Anecdote: We were a minute or two late yesterday, both in the first half and the second half. In the second half, we stopped and sat at the end of our aisle waiting for a break in play -- and were jeered by "fans" who had to shift to the other side of the railing to get their cold nachos and $7 beers back to their seats.)

What should the U be doing? Hiring someone like Bluecrewprez (welcome back, woman!) as student liaison was a great idea a while back, but as I understand it, she's now got a very successful career at one of St. Louis fastest-growing businesses and probably priced herself out of the market.

On the promotions front, leveraging the 48,000 area alumni and 8,000 local undergrads might have been a great start for Christmas-break games. But to make it an attractive social event, someone's going to have to bite the bullet and admit that the amenities at Chaifetz don't exactly scream "quality" or "value." So do a joint promotion with the Locust Business District: Say, $20, gets you a ticket to the game, a set meal at Pappy's, The U, Buffalo, Good Pie, Fountain or Triumph (apologies if I left anyone out) and some type of libation -- maybe a beer at the restaurant, or one at both the restaurant and the 'Fetz. And maybe throw in a secure parking space. Have athletic dept. and/or university ambassadors at all of the venues, and if possible, get the places to show Billiken highlights on their flat-screens.

You run the risk of the social aspect trumping the game experience, but at least it might introduce a few marginal fans and reconnect them with their college roots.

As for the local students, we know where they live. If they're old enough to drink, invite them to have a beer before the game (not for $7). Get Dan Kopman or Dan Schlafly to come talk about their nearby brewery. Provide some sort of realistic incentive, like some sort of variation on the tuition giveaway. (Number the tickets and enter them in a raffle for three credit-hours' tuition for the second semester.)

Resurrect the old "best tickets available" coupon promotion -- buy a book of 10 coupons for $50, and redeem them within 48 hours of any game for the best remaining seats. (INCLUDING any unused center-court lower bowl seats.) Implement my season-ticket-holder upgrade suggestion, where any season ticket holder can upgrade to the primo seats once or twice or a few times a year for $10, or maybe buy them for friends for $25.)

And one other long-term retrofit: Bring back boy cheerleaders. Sure, it runs the outside risk of one of them being a smart-ass and getting beat up by someone on the women's bb squad, although I think our team is classier than that. But the girls just don't have the "oomph" that the guys with megaphones used to have. There was a point during the game last night when JJ gave the "everybody up" sign while running back to D, and there was actually a wave of cheering that resulted. I submit that a half-dozen or so hyperactive male cheerleaders would be eminently more effective than Guy yelling "get up on your feet!" over the P.A.

I'm sure there's more.

In 1986, when the team played at the Soccer Park in FENTON, they averaged 1,600 per game. Between your 2004 figure of 2,779 and 2008's average of 1,815, attendance fell roughly by a third, despite an on-campus facility with initial cost of $5 million and a subsequent expansion, to where it now holds more than 6,000. Like another of our recent expenditures, the on-campus soccer facility was sold in large part on the basis that more fans, especially students, would come to games. Yes, basically, that's a tragedy.

As a Billiken Club supporter a month ago I got four coupons good for Belmont or another later game; I took the grandson age 19 to the ticket office. He chose the seats and which of two games he wanted to see; he could have used two each game and he took four

of his friends to Belmont because he had tickets in his hand; over the years he had been to 10 or more games with my wife and I but hadn't seen

any games in two years-too busy with highschool friends.

This promotion paid off in baby steps. The idea of letting us buy better tickets that go unused is really a good one hope someone can make that work

[bluecrewprez]

What should the U be doing? Hiring someone like Bluecrewprez (welcome back, woman!) as student liaison was a great idea a while back, but as I understand it, she's now got a very successful career at one of St. Louis fastest-growing businesses and probably priced herself out of the market.

Thank you sir! I ran into BillikenRoy and SLUSignGuy last night and they guilt-tripped me a bit into coming back on the board After last night, I would GLADLY come back to SLU and be the student liason ("Director of Internal Marketing" as I called it). I told them a million times how badly that position was needed, ESPECIALLY with the arena being built at the time.

Honestly, my dream job would entail me coming back to work for the SLU AD doing internal marketing/campus pride development/something along those lines...and the fact that what happened last night was ALLOWED to happen only drives me more to do it. If they called me today, I'd be there. It's more than just the money...it's wanting to do something to better my alma mater. It's creating a university atmosphere that we can all be proud of and be a part of...

Declan knows how to get a hold of me.

[billiken_roy]

to add to joe's manuscript, my son and his wife went to the new library annex before the game last night. the place was packed and the staff couldnt keep up and many people left disappointed in the service or even without every getting served. my son said their server told them, "we didnt even know there was a game tonight."

first, shame on the business that obviously wants to hook on to saint louis university to make a buck for not knowing and being ready for a game crowd, but second, doesnt it make sense for the slu staff to be bombarding the area businesses and especially food and beverage fronts to encourage joint efforts in marketing? am i missing something?

[Billiken75]

Thank you sir! I ran into BillikenRoy and SLUSignGuy last night and they guilt-tripped me a bit into coming back on the board After last night, I would GLADLY come back to SLU and be the student liason ("Director of Internal Marketing" as I called it). I told them a million times how badly that position was needed, ESPECIALLY with the arena being built at the time.

Honestly, my dream job would entail me coming back to work for the SLU AD doing internal marketing/campus pride development/something along those lines...and the fact that what happened last night was ALLOWED to happen only drives me more to do it. If they called me today, I'd be there. It's more than just the money...it's wanting to do something to better my alma mater. It's creating a university atmosphere that we can all be proud of and be a part of...

Declan knows how to get a hold of me.

I am glad to see you on the board again - I saw you in the front row of the student section stand and applaud your efforts last night. You would be a great Director of Internal Marketing and will send an email to the AD supporting this move.

Last night was the low level of Billiken basketball - this fiasco should never be repeated.

[bonwich]

Thank you sir! I ran into BillikenRoy and SLUSignGuy last night and they guilt-tripped me a bit into coming back on the board After last night, I would GLADLY come back to SLU and be the student liason ("Director of Internal Marketing" as I called it). I told them a million times how badly that position was needed, ESPECIALLY with the arena being built at the time.

Honestly, my dream job would entail me coming back to work for the SLU AD doing internal marketing/campus pride development/something along those lines...and the fact that what happened last night was ALLOWED to happen only drives me more to do it. If they called me today, I'd be there. It's more than just the money...it's wanting to do something to better my alma mater. It's creating a university atmosphere that we can all be proud of and be a part of...

Declan knows how to get a hold of me.

1) Were you wearing your Viking hat last night?

2) Geez, could you imagine if an energetic young Polish marketing whiz-kid and a gristled but relentless old Polish marketing veteran both came back to alma mater and did a creative mind-meld? (Inaugural event: Pregame wine-tasting at the 'Fetz for alums, perhaps couple with an intro-to-wine thing for all students of legal age. I'm thinking you might have some contacts in that regard. Plus I bet we could cut a hell of a deal with Piekutowski's for the hors d'oeuvres. .)

I know not this Declan of whom you speak, but my work number is on the end of all my bylines.

[MusicCityBilliken]

to add to joe's manuscript, my son and his wife went to the new library annex before the game last night. the place was packed and the staff couldnt keep up and many people left disappointed in the service or even without every getting served. my son said their server told them, "we didnt even know there was a game tonight."

first, shame on the business that obviously wants to hook on to saint louis university to make a buck for not knowing and being ready for a game crowd, but second, doesnt it make sense for the slu staff to be bombarding the area businesses and especially food and beverage fronts to encourage joint efforts in marketing? am i missing something?

When I lived in Johnson City, TN every two-bit establishment, service station, bar, restaurant and most of the stores selling apparel or books that were within 5 miles of ETSU had a poster sized ETSU Buccaneer basketball schedule taped up on the front window or near the entrance. Now I am not from the area but I would expect that as a given. Its practically free advertising.

[bluecrewprez]

1) Were you wearing your Viking hat last night?

2) Geez, could you imagine if an energetic young Polish marketing whiz-kid and a gristled but relentless old Polish marketing veteran both came back to alma mater and did a creative mind-meld? (Inaugural event: Pregame wine-tasting at the 'Fetz for alums, perhaps couple with an intro-to-wine thing for all students of legal age. I'm thinking you might have some contacts in that regard. Plus I bet we could cut a hell of a deal with Piekutowski's for the hors d'oeuvres. .)

I know not this Declan of whom you speak, but my work number is on the end of all my bylines.

1. I was NOT wearing my viking hat last night...I passed it on to future Blue Crew Presidents (2 of which wore it, 1 of which broke it...haven't seen it since).

2. How many Pollocks does it take to re-vamp the Saint Louis University Athletic Department....

[bonwich]

2. How many Pollocks does it take to re-vamp the Saint Louis University Athletic Department....

Perhaps a more appropriate joke-analogy for the current situation is:

Q: Do you know why Elks have such big balls?

A: Because they sell so many tickets.

(The original Polish-language version of the joke of course uses Falcons, but you get the general gist.)

[kappy96]

Thank you sir! I ran into BillikenRoy and SLUSignGuy last night and they guilt-tripped me a bit into coming back on the board After last night, I would GLADLY come back to SLU and be the student liason ("Director of Internal Marketing" as I called it). I told them a million times how badly that position was needed, ESPECIALLY with the arena being built at the time.

Honestly, my dream job would entail me coming back to work for the SLU AD doing internal marketing/campus pride development/something along those lines...and the fact that what happened last night was ALLOWED to happen only drives me more to do it. If they called me today, I'd be there. It's more than just the money...it's wanting to do something to better my alma mater. It's creating a university atmosphere that we can all be proud of and be a part of...

Declan knows how to get a hold of me.

I believe Declan has had a few interviews for a position within the department. Not sure what responsibilities are attached. May be worth a call.

[joe_davola]

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.

Yeah, we were down there as well representing the students as 'alumni' We did what we could, but like you said, I felt ridiculous ripping these 19-20 year olds apart when I'm 10+ years older than them, but it was still kind of fun. We had to leave in the second half because I probably would have gotten into a fist fight with one of their players or one of their fans. The whole situation was a recipe for a disaster. The 10 bud lights before the game didn't help either.

[DirtyRican]

Yeah, we were down there as well representing the students as 'alumni' We did what we could, but like you said, I felt ridiculous ripping these 19-20 year olds apart when I'm 10+ years older than them, but it was still kind of fun. We had to leave in the second half because I probably would have gotten into a fist fight with one of their players or one of their fans. The whole situation was a recipe for a disaster. The 10 bud lights before the game didn't help either.

Bad things were on the verge of happening, we got out at the right time.

[brianstl]

Why in the hell do they even bother wasting money on ushers?

The don't do a damn thing at the game. They never hold people at the top of the aisle until play stops and I have never seen one lead someone to their seat.

The promotions people have sucked at SLU for years. Whoever came up with the student section idea for the MSU game should be fired today. Really how did they expect it to turn out? MSU has almost 2 times as many undergrads from St Louis than SLU.

[DirtyRican]

I was at the top of the aisle near the student section when a female band member asked the usher to do something about all the SMS kids. He didn't even respond to the poor girl. I wanted to jack him but thought that might be bad for me and him.

[brianstl]

I just doesn't make sense. You spend all this money on a new building so you can have a home court advantage and you piss the home court advantage away with this promotion they had. Somebody's head should roll.

[kshoe]

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/

Or the lower bowl isn't sold out to season ticket holders. I went online to the SLU website on Friday to see what kind of a seat I could get and was offered lower bowl seats in row 18 or something.

The fact is, we have 6,000 season ticket holders and 10,600 seats to give. No matter if there is a promotion or not, any team out there can buy up 4,600 seats if they want and have the fan support.

[kshoe]

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.

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?

I agree with most of what you said but have to take contention with these two points.

Are you suggesting we can't schedule any decent home games for the 1-month period (1/5th of the season) that the students are on break? Come now, that seems a bit much. I know you remember well that time back in 93 when the Bills were undefeated and played SIU right before Christmas and we sold out the old arena. That was a pretty special game on Christmas break. Or the UCLA game in 95 or KU game in 98 or Gonzaga or UNC? We pamper enough to these students and even built an $80mm stadium so they'd show-up and yet they still don't.

If MSU had been 5-4 coming into this game this never would have happened. Give credit where credit is due and good for them for bringing 2,000 or so fans into our house including a few hundred students that sat closer than they otherwise should have. Something tells me we still would have heard them if then had been in the 200 section where they belonged.

As for the colors of the ushers unis...give me a break. All sports teams have ushers/concession people that use colors other than that of the home team. Why? So they can be distinguished from the average fan. Wrigley ushers and concession people wear red. Cardinal concession people wear yellow. Short of spending the money to buy two separate colors for our ushers there is no need to complain about this. If they wore red, we'd be complaining when Dayton fans come to town. If it was yellow and MU ever had the balls to play us, we'd complain then.

[RUBillsFan]

I just doesn't make sense. You spend all this money on a new building so you can have a home court advantage and you piss the home court advantage away with this promotion they had. Somebody's head should roll.

I don't think the promotion itself was such a terrible idea. It was just poor timing and execution. They did the same thing last year and we played mostly no name schools over break and obviously no USC Upstate, Liberty, UMBC, or UNC A&T showed up. The AD should have seen this coming with so many MO State students from the St. Louis area and MO State being undefeated and not started the student ID ticket promotion until after the MO State game.

The idea behind the promotion is that SLU students get their friends from other schools into the games for cheap and sit by them. That way SLU students from St. Louis might actually come to the games. Even if the students from other schools don't cheer at least SLU makes a little money and the arena is more full. Maybe some of the students from the St. Louis area that go to schools that don't have D-1 basketball have fun at the game and decide to come back on their own.

Perhaps a better idea which would prevent thing like this from happening in the future would be to require a SLU student to purchase the tickets for their friends from other schools or something like that.

I don't think the promotion is bad in and of itself and it has some good intention behind it. However, it was just poor timing and the AD should have had to foresight to realize that it was going to be a disaster against MO State.

[RUBillsFan]

Or the lower bowl isn't sold out to season ticket holders. I went online to the SLU website on Friday to see what kind of a seat I could get and was offered lower bowl seats in row 18 or something.

The fact is, we have 6,000 season ticket holders and 10,600 seats to give. No matter if there is a promotion or not, any team out there can buy up 4,600 seats if they want and have the fan support.

Not saying you are wrong, but it is BS that there are lower bowl tickets available (if these were not end line tickets). When I went with my Dad to get our seats last year all of the gold level or whatever the lower bowl side tickets were called were taken. He wanted to get those seats, but had to settle for upper bowl.

[billiken_roy]

I agree with most of what you said but have to take contention with these two points.

Are you suggesting we can't schedule any decent home games for the 1-month period (1/5th of the season) that the students are on break? Come now, that seems a bit much. I know you remember well that time back in 93 when the Bills were undefeated and played SIU right before Christmas and we sold out the old arena. That was a pretty special game on Christmas break. Or the UCLA game in 95 or KU game in 98 or Gonzaga or UNC? We pamper enough to these students and even built an $80mm stadium so they'd show-up and yet they still don't.

If MSU had been 5-4 coming into this game this never would have happened. Give credit where credit is due and good for them for bringing 2,000 or so fans into our house including a few hundred students that sat closer than they otherwise should have. Something tells me we still would have heard them if then had been in the 200 section where they belonged.

As for the colors of the ushers unis...give me a break. All sports teams have ushers/concession people that use colors other than that of the home team. Why? So they can be distinguished from the average fan. Wrigley ushers and concession people wear red. Cardinal concession people wear yellow. Short of spending the money to buy two separate colors for our ushers there is no need to complain about this. If they wore red, we'd be complaining when Dayton fans come to town. If it was yellow and MU ever had the balls to play us, we'd complain then.

of course i am not saying schedule a "good game" on christmas break. i am saying i wouldnt schedule siu or southwest missouri state at the current state of the program. back in the day when we had the huge walk up to the siu game, my guess now as it was then, a big part of that walkup was siu fans. but we didnt usher them courtside to the student section either. we put them upper deck on the end. which is where their asses should have been last night as well.

as to the usher's if you think we cant design an usher's shirt that wouldnt be confused with a fan shirt, that astounds me. the first clue might be on the shirt somewhere might me some sort of patch or tag that says something to the effect, "chaifetz arena staff" or maybe "usher" or on the back in big black or white letters "event staff" or "security". now if a fan wants to buy a billiken blue shirt at the billiken store with "usher" on the front and/or "event staff" on the back, well, i hope they are sitting by you. i'd laugh at them sitting next to me. and ask if they got the night off or if they just got fired.

to consider anything the cubs do as rule, is silly the cubs suck and havent done anything right in over 100 years. and i think the cardinals staff should be wearing red. back in the day the cardinal ushers indeed did wear red. somewhere in time they too became stupid.

[kshoe]

of course i am not saying schedule a "good game" on christmas break. i am saying i wouldnt schedule siu or southwest missouri state at the current state of the program. back in the day when we had the huge walk up to the siu game, my guess now as it was then, a big part of that walkup was siu fans. but we didnt usher them courtside to the student section either. we put them upper deck on the end. which is where their asses should have been last night as well.

as to the usher's if you think we cant design an usher's shirt that wouldnt be confused with a fan shirt, that astounds me. the first clue might be on the shirt somewhere might me some sort of patch or tag that says something to the effect, "chaifetz arena staff" or maybe "usher" or on the back in big black or white letters "event staff" or "security". now if a fan wants to buy a billiken blue shirt at the billiken store with "usher" on the front and/or "event staff" on the back, well, i hope they are sitting by you. i'd laugh at them sitting next to me. and ask if they got the night off or if they just got fired.

to consider anything the cubs do as rule, is silly the cubs suck and havent done anything right in over 100 years. and i think the cardinals staff should be wearing red. back in the day the cardinal ushers indeed did wear red. somewhere in time they too became stupid.

The point with the ushers isn't to distinguish them from a few feet away, its to distinguish them from a distance, hence the use of different colors from the home team. I used the Cards and Cubs as examples but nearly ALL teams do it Roy.

[kshoe]

Not saying you are wrong, but it is BS that there are lower bowl tickets available (if these were not end line tickets). When I went with my Dad to get our seats last year all of the gold level or whatever the lower bowl side tickets were called were taken. He wanted to get those seats, but had to settle for upper bowl.

Lower bowl Gold seats are the midcourt seats and yes those are all sold out. The red zone in the corners may still be sold out but the green zone lower bowl in the end-zone is most certainly not sold out.

This last year, SLU offered tiered pricing which included lower cost tickets in the 200 sections. The natural result of that is some people that were paying $25 per ticket decided to pay less to sit a little higher. This decision was largely supported by this board. The result, however, is there are available seats in the lower bowl for opposing fans to purcahse for every game.