This kind of got buried in the Effect shirt comments, but I think its worthy of its own discussion.
Link to Comment from chrislomaka, our resident SGA member
chrislomaka | 315 turkey legs | replied 1 hour 25 min ago #
I run the Hokie Effect program, so if anyone has any questions about the shirts, I would be glad to answer. The twitter handle will be on the shirts. It replaces the Hokie's Respect logos that were on the preliminary designs. The twitter handle was added at the request of the Athletic Department.Alum07 | 1,776 turkey legs | replied 57 min 59 sec ago #
Much rather it be the Twitter handle than Hokies Respect. Also makes me wonder if Whit is listening to the masses and is easing off on the overwhelming nature of that program.chrislomaka | 315 turkey legs | replied 11 min 49 sec ago #
You are exactly right about that. That is why they wanted the twitter handle instead of the logo.
So it sounds like Whit is easing back on Hokies Respect. I mean, at this point, the guy is pissing gold in my eyes. He's knocked every decision out of the park, and this is no change. Now if he would only let the MV's play the Goodbye Song and Stick It In, I'll start up the fund to build him a statue in front of Merryman.
Comments
I vote we begin research to make Whit into a cyborg so he can be the AD forever.
Listen, and understand. That AD is out there. He can't be bargained with. He can't be reasoned with. He doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And he absolutely will not stop, ever, until the Hokies are national champions.
^ "Whit Babcock arriving at Lane Stadium North to witness the continuation of the decade of dominance"
That. Is. Glorious.
This. I have missed seeing the Cadets waving their white hats back and forth to the slow, oncoming tune of the Goodbye Song...
Very six. Revitalize.
I will still have a soft spot for the Jerk Alert videos.
yeah our friends and us always drunkenly, and probably obnoxiously to the people around us, accuse each other of being jerk alerts. its one of several clichs we tend to throw around at games.
I love the little "Don't be a jerk" chant the MVs do at the end.
The guy saying "get the f out" in both of those videos cracks me up.
Im starting to believe that Whit reads TKP
Or...crazy idea here...he's actually listening to the fans.
Anyone notice the emails for tickets now have "join the Hokie club" button/link on them? If only it were this easy for the last 10+ years.
"Lastly ending?"
I'm gonna assume you mean "listening."
Thanks. Edited. Damn you fat sausage like fingers!
I don't mind about hokie respect either way, but I HATE having the twitter handle on the shirts.
I don't necessarily mind the idea behind Hokies Respect but I do agree that it had been pushed to the point of over-saturation. So very very happy to see it off of the effect shirts. But throwing a twitter handle in its place? And not even a small one underneath, a pretty darned big YOU ARE GOING TO NOTICE THIS twitter handle..... yuck.
Considering the student body almost universally owns and/or sees the effect shirts every day and we've been complaining on here that the students don't seem as engaged/enthusiastic about football lately: I don't care.
If the twitter handle helps to reduce the apathy amongst students put the twitter handle on there. Who cares about appearance.
The best video was the one with all of the little kids wearing jersey from different ACC schools, and then the entire crowd would boo the 5 year old wearing the UVA and Miami jersey.
it really is terrific
I remember being in early high school for those and my dad is sitting there next to me dying laughing about the entire crowd doing booing (and possibly joining in). Yea, I was raised pretty well.
The best part was when we would travel to UNC. We would boo Miami, they would boo Duke and State, we both would boo UVA. Good times...
Hahaha I wish I could have seen this.
This just isn't the same without at least 30,000 people booing...
Oh man, towards the end of that season when the entire stadium had that commercial memorized and knew exactly when the UVa kid would appear just to boo him loudly. That was hilarious.
I appreciated the program, but I thought the guest speaker who read out the 4 tenants was enough. I think killing Stick It In and going overboard with it throughout all the athletic events was a bit above and beyond. It's a good idea at heart, just needs to have a less vocal presence I think.
I've still got one of the old window stickers (deeply faded to mostly yellow at this point) on my car.
the sort of vibe I'm getting here is that the Hokies Respect idea, which I think is a good thing, turned into TOO MUCH of a good thing. I never really felt like it was being jammed down my throat, but I wouldn't be upset if it was less prevalent.
I'll compare it (loosely) to waterboarding. Everyone needs water. Everyone likes water. But too much water is torture.
I don't think Hokies Respect should be canned altogether. Would everyone here be okay with it just being dialed back a bit?
I've been going to VT games for a good while, and from talking to other fans, VT fans basically always get high praise... not sure what exactly led to this Hokie Respect campaign to begin with, but it seems pretty unwarranted to me... that being said, there is nothing wrong with a friendly reminder to be courteous to others
Love it! That's going in the rotation.
Someone's not drinking enough water then.
hydrate or hangover
That might burn the retinas a little.
There is nothing I would like more than abolishing hokie respect and being allowed to actually cheer for VT
Nothing in the Hokie Respect campaign stops you.
Yeah, but there seems to be this perception that was the case, and wouldn't you think that's half the problem?
Perception might not be reality, but if perception is driving the actions, then it is reality.
there's no alcohol allowed in the stadium...that doesn't stop people from bringing it in
the perception is pretty clear: NO ALCOHOL ALLOWED! how's that different?
No, the rule is, No Alcohol Allowed... The perception is, "yeah, its not allowed, but security isn't going to single you out unless you make an ass out of yourself or make it blatantly obvious what you're doing, so just be smart with it".
In this case, perception is also reality.
26 seconds...you typed faster or started sooner!
security is doing nothing to force fans to stop cheering. How is that perception created? I know for a FACT that Hokies Respect doesn't tell fans NOT to cheer
your argument has zero logic
It doesn't tell them NOT to cheer it just creates a perceived limit on cheering and the gameday experience. I really think most of the hate came from the removal of "Stick It In" and "Goodbye" which many loved and thought innocent enough and think it was deemed uncouth by Hokie's Respect. This created a perception of a neutering and sterilization of the experience.
Not only that but Lane is expected to be a unforgiving place to play and removing some of these cheers/traditions might take away from that. I think it's less about what it means and more about fear of it encroaching more and more and ending certain things we do.
Combine all that with the rash of nooners (of which (and I have heard we routinely got first denial of that slot by Raycom) I believe I heard were in place as part of the Hokies Respect campaign, to force less rowdy crowds due to the minimal tailgating allowed) and it just stagnated the experience.
We need to get back to weekend night games and 3:30 kickoffs. Our early season who gives a crap opponents should be rewards for the fans. Give us a later kickoff time to allow us to enjoy the day before the game.
I don't buy that we were scheduled for Noon games in order to calm down the crowd..that sounds like a conspiracy theory to me and it's insane. I'm not happy that we have had a bunch of noon games. I'm not disagreeing that the fact we had them took the life out of the fans. I don't think it's accurate or fair to say that the noon games were scheduled on purpose in order to take the crowd out of it. That's just a crazy assertion.
Folks forget that Beamer said he preferred playing the games as early in the day as possible, when possible. he had some influence over that. TV had influence over that. It is seldom as simple as one decision. I always got the impression that Weaver was eager to 'take one for the team' when it came to ACC scheduling, and that is why we often got situations that were undesirable to many of our fans, but helped earn him points in the ACC HQ. The same theory applies to TV scheduling. I never got the impression that Weaver would object or decline whenever asked to play a game at a time that the Hokie fan base wouldn't like. He'd take it, for fear of not getting asked again. That's my impression at least, on that part of the equation.
Again, we're talking about the perception of what Hokie's Respect did and caused not the reality of what it actually did.
I just don't understand where that perception is coming from. I've been to almost every game over the last 3 years since graduating and I HAVE NEVER encountered a situation where cheering was frowned upon. I don't see how Hokies Respect has created any such perception. I don't understand your argument because I haven't seen any of that first hand. To me, it sounds like you're blindly blaming Hokies Respect for a watered down atmosphere and I don't see any evidence to support your claims.
I think everyone here is jumping on Hokies Respect as the scape goat. I don't think Hokies Respect is the sole reason for all of the 'negative' changes that the atmosphere has undergone over the last 5 years but it's easy to blame it. I don't see where all the vitriol is coming from though. It seems unwarranted to me. I've been to plenty of games over the last 7 years (as a student and graduate) and I can't fathom how the Hokies Respect campaign has allegedly 'neutered' the fanbase. I have not once felt like Hokies Respect has negatively affected my game experience. I yell and scream my head off during all these games...I never have my voice left after 4 hours of cheering. I've never felt like anything I was doing was wrong or frowned upon.
A reward to the fans who stopped buying season tickets? Who leave before the game is over? Who throw paper airplanes onto the field? Who buy tickets through 3rd party sellers and not the University? And why exactly should those fans be rewarded? You act like we are the only team in the nation that plays noon games. Sometimes that's just how it works. We have certainly had more than our fair share of nooners, but don't act like we are owed later kickoffs in any way because lately, our fans have done nothing to deserve it.
there's this ^
and then there's also this to consider. The networks have an interest in it too. Blame the non conference scheduling if you're going to blame anything on the AD. Otherwise, it's kind of out of his hands. Frankly, and it pains me to say this, our team just hasn't been putting a good product on the field for the last few years. Why would the networks want to schedule prime time games for a mediocre product? It's not just VT either. The ACC in general has been relatively un-interesting lately. We have to be honest with ourselves and realize that a vast majority of CFB fans don't care about the games between VT and UNC or VT and Pitt. They don't garner much interest from anyone who isn't a Hokie, Tarheel or Panther fan. From a network's standpoint it makes sense to schedule those games at noon when nobody is going to be watching on tv
No. The perception is: Everyone sneaks alcohol in anyway.
Hence, alcohol in the stadium.
My point is this:
Hokies Respect does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to prevent fans from cheering for the team. I think making the argument that Hokies Respect is causing fans not to cheer is ridiculous and absurd. I don't buy that Hokies Respect has changed the perception so much that fans feel like they can't cheer. No one, and I mean NO ONE, is enforcing any kind of rules against cheering in Lane Stadium.
I wasn't even commenting on that.
But if you want to go there...being told by police to sit down or I'd get kicked out, having police and event staff stop people from doing certain things like push-ups after scoring, stopping things like number 6 and stick-it-in, etc. It's not cheering by screaming my head off in support of the Hokies that they're stopping. It's the enjoyment of being a fan in the stands that make me not want to come to the stadium that it's stopped. No explicit rules, but policy changes the diminish the fan experience...
Not saying how much of that is put in place by Hokies Respect campaign, or just simple policy changes. Not once prior to Hokies Respect did I ever hear about how disrespectful our fans were. Even checking on other forums for other teams, all they did was say how awesome our fans were (albeit a little smug about it sometimes). I'm not really sure what Hokies Respect accomplished or looked to accomplish.
The police's actions are in no way an extension of "Hokies Respect." That's just called a person who has hit their limits dealing with idiots and so they are now being a hard ass, or they are just naturally a hard ass because a little bit of authority went to their head. That's going to exist in a place where Hokies Respect doesn't exist and was probably there before the campaign started, whether you noticed it or not.
The last game I was at, which was a while ago because I don't get to that end of the world as often as I wish, the game was in first quarter and an officer came over to yell at some kids being "disrespectful". They were doing pushups after a touchdown. Then later in the second quarter another officer came to yell at two girls dancing on top of the bleacher. I guess they were being too crazy...
Not sure this has anything to do with Hokie Respect but I do think that officers were given the green light to crack down on behavior. A specific directive to police the crowd.
When I was a student it was all pretty rowdy. Cops still yelled at kids doing stupid shit, but more often than not they were chatting and laughing with the fans. And enjoying the game. Seeing the cops at my last game in 2011 they were VERY different.
I've been to nearly every home game in the last two years and I have to be honest, I don't understand the Hokie Respect vitrol at all. They play one video before the game (and it's not one of the cheesy cartoon ones shown in previous comments) when the stadium is still only half full and they have a guest speaker read a short blurb. Other than that, you don't see/hear anything else about it.
The idea that it's restricting anyone's ability to cheer for their team is laughable.
Would I like to see 'Stick It In' come back? Sure. Do I want to see the atmosphere at Lane return to what it was like in its prime? Absolutely. Will abolishing the Hokie Respect campaign do anything to help? I don't see how. Interestingly enough, the only thing that's detracted from my game day experiences (besides the outcome of a few games) is people being disrepctful.
Amen to this and your entire response.
Except Stick It In, I couldn't care less about that.
I have to throw my hat in the ring with petebuddywilson. I don't mind it, and honestly it's pretty easy to tune out if you don't want to hear it.
I have season tickets for my parents and me, and it's painful to hear when my mother complains about people around us that can't utter a sentence without swearing. It sucks when the people behind us are so sloppy drunk they're falling over us. I understand that everyone has paid to come to the game and wants to express themselves and have a good time, but some people seem to have a complete lack of consideration for everyone else around them. I'm looking forward to including my son when he's a bit older, but I cringe thinking of some of the antics I've seen. A little restraint doesn't cost anything and if you can't enjoy yourself without verbally berating the other team, the visiting fans, the refs, our coaches, or even our players then maybe you need to figure out why. To draw a parallel to another topic on here, Lane isn't the internet. You shouldn't have to expect that.
This wasn't directed to anybody on here in particular, I guess I just needed to get this off my chest.
until you are a Cassell Guard General and try to a joke in the newsletter about PJ Hariston being kicked off UNC and they don't let you because it isn't respectful.... the point was they are too strict upon fans and limit the atmosphere to a level that isn't optimal
what was the joke? Was it the editor of the newsletter who said you couldn't put that joke in there? Does the Hokies Respect campaign have a representative who told you not to use the joke specifically citing Hokies Respect as the reason? I could understand if the joke was off-color that it shouldn't be published. I don't think it would be appropriate to publish a joke about Jameis Winston. I don't think you could blame Hokies Respect for an editor telling you not to publish such a joke.
I have never felt limited by 'The Man' at any sporting event. I've been perfectly happy yelling and screaming at the top of my lungs and I've never witnessed the type of oppression people seem to think Hokies Respect has blanketed our fanbase with
it was under the "players to look out for" section and was a direct quote from the UNC website regarding his dismissal from the program
I'll admit,
that sounds fairly harmless...still curious who was responsible for saying it was too disrespectful though. I have my doubts that Hokies Respect was directly involved.
This is just my opinion but I do not believe they are abolishing it. I just think they are toning it down a little so it is not so "in your face" if you will.
Hokies Respect was yet another example of the great Weaver having to tell us courtesy challenged heathens how to act. It was over the top, in your face, and just excruciatingly annoying. If you are thoughtful and courteous to your fellow fans, you don't need it, and if you're an ass, the program is really not going to change that.
When I hear people complain about the Hokie Respect campaign, I think to myself at least we don't need "friendly reminders" to not burn couches like the cousins.