Interesting article below for a number of reasons.
But the most is this line..."a focus group at Florida revealed the No. 1 reason students leave games is spotty Internet connectivity."
Back in my day, you know what the number one reason we left a game was? We needed more liquor. Kids today... no sense of pride I tell ya. It's just text me this and facebook me that and buzzfeed me some wifi (Drunk Uncle voice)
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I only use my phone during halftime to check the Kansas score (if they're playing) or to get updates on injuries. Other than that I don't care about it. And to get more liquor? You gotta be prepared, just sneak a bunch in.
I'm the same way except with Temple, but I'd be lying if I didnt see some of my fellow fans leave early for reasons I disagreed with
Kansas has a football team?
Yeah, and sadly they beat us in a bowl game not too long ago...
Well the coach looks like Jared before he went on the Subway diet and the team is really really bad. But yes, unfortunately they have one and I waste my time watching them.
I prefer to remember their old coach and the best picture I may have ever seen on the internet:
As much as I like to drink, that's not a very good excuse to leave a game at half time either. . . .
It's not but its a better excuse than "I need more wifi". And when we left it was because it was the Vick era and we were putting people away at halftime. So leaving for booze was kind of ok, our job was done. Kind of.
I agree with the wifi nonsense. You're there to go crazy at a hokie game not update your status. However if this is really the biggest reason it's fairly simple for universities to upgrade wifi connection in stadiums.
But I have to disagree with you on leaving. I was there during Vick era. Job wasn't done until the last whistle my friend.
Turkey leg for the appropriate response.
Well I am a current student (if you didn't figure that out already) and I can honestly say that I've never heard this excuse before, or anything remotely similar. This Florida study must have focused on Miami "fans".
No, there aren't actually any people there to do a study on. They probably went to a FIU game, at least there are people there.
Or Georgia Tech... Can't wait for TECHMOBowl '13. I absolutely loathe GT.
He wasn't missing much anyway.
That's an LOLUVA excuse.
UVA has a football team?
Wait, you use your phone during the game?
Get priorities straight...
I use the shaking keys app.
haha, I don't doubt that exists. I guess when I went to games during school, many people didn't have cell phones, and if they did, they definitely didn't have apps on them.
Times were simpler then, you went to the game, to well, watch the game...
If it doesn't it should. I know there is a gobbler call app.
I thought I heard somewhere (maybe the scoreboard thread) that the construction behind the east stands was for improved cell phone coverage? That should fix the internet connectivity.
You are absolutely correct. Going in as we speak
How is this fair? Your generation has raised mine in a world that has always had internet and that is always connected. It's not our fault that things are like that now-a-days, I don't like it either. The real fans still have their priorities straight, don't worry.
I'm an undergrad and I don't really know people who leave because of cell phone coverage. I won't leave games until the clock hits 0:00 in the 4th quarter (I did have to leave early once - my girlfriend was cold at halftime vs Austin Peay. We're no longer dating).
I am biased since I've been going to Tech games way before I had a cell phone. But, I've never heard anyone complain about service and take off.
While I agree it is a shitty reason to leave a game, it is also embarrassing that a school that prides it's self on its level of technology integration and educational programs has allowed the issue to continue.
As an HT I dont get a choice about staying, for the great wins or the bitter losses, but being able to reliably use my phone would go a long way towards bringing the fan experience int the 21st century I think.
HI DYLAN!
That rain was pretty frigid for early September though. I stuck it out. I told my girlfriend to wait in the concourse if she didn't like it. She understood and weathered it - which is why I love her.
Ha Ha....I took my then girlfriend, now wife to a game a few years back but warned her to layer everything that she had warm. She was fine, but said there was a poor girl that she had to console in the women's bathroom in the 3rd QTR that was unprepared: the poor girl wasn't warned and wore a nice outfit and a thin jacket. My wife said that she was shivering and crying and Lane had run out of hot chocolate.
The most frustrating part was that it lasted 10 minutes and then was done. It was then gorgeous the rest of the day. I get being cold. But, I should have grown a pair and stayed at the game. Relationship was running on fumes then anyway.
The excuse of lack of cell coverage is just that an excuse. Just looking for a reason to leave. That said I don't think anyone can argue that as of late the student section has been rather disappointing. Showing up late, leaving early, not showing at all. If you aren't going to use your ticket then either don't enter the lottery or give it to someone who will. Rant over
I agree big time...my sophomore year at the Thursday night UNC game, I was sitting in the East student section and I just remember looking down and behind me several times and seeing half the crowd turned around talking/taking pictures and not even watching the game. And I remember we had complete control of the game, so everyone kind of stopped yelling and being crazy (doing the things that make Lane Lane), then all the sudden UNC started to get things going. Fortunately we avoided disaster, but coincidence? No, the players feed of the crowd's energy. Up to us to help keep them going.
There's only two times for pictures during a game: before kickoff with friends, and the obligatory scoreboard shot after the clock hits 00:00 and we've vanquished our foe.
I have never even noticed the lack of cell service in the Lane. I guess because my phone stays in
my pocket the entire time. I spend a lot of $$ for games. I'm not going to waste it playing on my phone which I can do any other time. When I enter the Lane I've got game face on for the entire 4 quarters.
Only time my phone isn't in my pocket is after an injury and halftime that's it
Whatever dudes, sometimes you totally gotta pull out your phone and get a sweet selfie. Might even instagram the killer paper airplane I just folded. Wait are we rooting for the dudes in maroon or white?
I just might be the only woman on earth that doesn't do the selfie. Wait.......
I should legally be allowed to backhand anyone who legitimately thinks this way.
Isn't this what the new construction behind the east stands is going to address?
I had a lot of trouble with bad service that would drain my battery down significantly. It also happened at Redskins games. It was never a reason to leave Tech games since home was close but when you still have to ride the metro, drive a distance to get home from a skins game, having battery drain can be frustrating especially if you want to check you phone during the breaks. Solution? Turning my phone off except for halftime. I guess tech has alleviated the need to do that.
You can just put your phone on airplane mode and it will keep the battery from draining. I have to do it every day at work. Faster than waiting to turn it on/off when checking other scores out at halftime
ONE DOES NOT SIMPLY LEAVE AT HALFTIME
Excuse me. Leaving a game because of spotty/lousy reception? ROFLOL. I was live-tweeting all the spring scrimmages and part of the spring games, and never had any problem.
I call BS on those who claim they have lousy internet connectivity.
This isn't my area of expertise, and I don't actually know, but I think the connectivity problem arises when the stadium is at capacity and tens of thousands of people are all simultaneously trying to use the internet. In other words, it isn't so much a signal strength issue as it is a bandwidth issue. I know I have tried to tweet during a game before and could not. Regardless, it is an unacceptable reason to leave a football game.
You hit the nail on the head. Depending the type of network (GSM, CDMA, etc.), the towers can only process/handle so many users and transmissions. From my knowledge, CDMA seems to be the stronger and higher-bandwidth supporting model, and for some reason, the signals can penetrate into Hokie stone better (my personal experience). So Verizon users always seem to have better service than people belonging to most other carriers.
There's a ton of cool technology just starting to hit the market and more in development to make this all a moot point though. Internet for everyone!
It is also worth mentioning that if you have AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile, you normally have bad reception in Blacksburg. (AT&T is getting better). So when I had Verizon, I had no issues but I switched to AT&T and had major issues.
Well there's yer problem.
I use my cellphone plenty during games (between downs and during timeouts of course) to check scores, injury news, and make witty comments via text to my friends in the MVs (when I can no longer yell that far). It's not cellphones that are the problem. It's all in how they're used.
Sorry - fat finger. Dear TKP, can we get a confirm button before registering negative votes?
I offset you, TKP-brother. No worries.
00:00:00–00:02:30
Oh God, that's even during a play........
Hey, I had relations with one of them girls.
Yeah I know two of them. Was too lazy to search google images for a random pic, so I went to facebook instead haha.
Turkey leg to anyone who admits to being an Eskimo brother to this fellow.
Does it have to be true?
That boston fan turned two Hokies into terrible football watchers. Just one more example of how much they suck
This picture pretty much sums up the North Stands. The people that only go to the games to take selfies and throw their damn paper airplanes.
Again, I should legally be allowed to backhand these people.
I've wondered if the stadium game atmosphere has suffered a bit partly due to the team's on-going success. So many Alumni getting tickets, a lot less student tickets, etc. My time ('93-97) was basically the whole East Stands was all very drunk students that made an incredible ruckus during the games. Then it got so there weren't so many student tickets allotted for each game, Alumni don't get as wasted as students (in general, I know there are exceptions!), and the stadium got a bit tamer just because the crowd got a little older.
So, the students today really don't experience the heart pounding vibe that used to exist for even games against the sister's of the poor teams with a noon kick off. Hence, they never get indoctrinated to just how awesome it is to be freaking out of your mind crazy for the game. I swear there were games against big opponents in Lane that the crowd's craziness literally pumped up our team and demoralized the other team, and it turned games around. We were a real 12th man.
The last game I attended (2011 vs. Miami)...and the few before that, the crowd wasn't the same. The end of that Miami game got crazy, but I remember entire seasons of acting like that. It's a shame in a way. Today's students don't know what they're missing!
In my opinion this is mostly a case of everybody lamenting "the good ol days." I think the fan base has gotten a little complacent between the lack of big wins, failure to get over the 10 win hump, and inconsistent, sputtering offense. As a result fans aren't quite as loud or raucous as they were during VT's meteoric rise to the cusp of a national title, but is that really surprising?
Additionally, the home slate has been rather poor in the last couple years, with lots of noon games against mediocre to bad opponents, while our big games have frequently been played at neutral sites. I'm not sure I buy that the stands were packed and fans were fired up and loud the whole game for noon kickoffs against Florida A&M, JMU, and Arkansas State even in the glory days. Hell, I love football and I'm not sure you could pay me to watch the 2008 Furman or Western Kentucky games again. It was miserable football to watch, and casual fans aren't going to stay engaged in that situation. Anyway, what I'm getting at is the fans still seem to get pretty fired up for big games/moments during night games or against decent opponents, but there have been a couple years recently where our schedule has been sparse on those types of games.
Maybe me and my game watching buddies were just over the top, but it seemed to me that the stadium was constantly erupting no matter who we were playing. I remember one game against Akron were the score was something like 75-10 and nobody left, everyone stayed and kept cheering. Beamer could have put the cheerleaders in at the end of the game and they still would have kept scoring TD's. Akron was just that bad that day.
Then again, those games featured a lot of blocked kicks, particularly punts, and INT returns for TD's, so maybe that accounts for why it seemed crazier even for lowly opponents because there were constantly big plays being made, but I swear Lane seemed more raucous and loud then than it does now with the upgrades and expanded capacity.
I typically text friends/family every time there is a reviewable play, injury, etc. I also like to check scores/stats/box scores for our game and others during timeouts or other play stoppages. The weak internet/phone signal is annoying, but I would never leave a game because of it.
Having never been a student at VPI, is there like an orientation briefing on gameday etiquette? Is it an unwriiten rule that upperclassmen pass down to underclassmen how to act? Do players get involved and tell fellow students to get involved. I know most students probably grew up watching/going to games but it should be a tradition that never falters.
My first year for the first game a few upperclassmen in our dorm (West Egg) rounded us up and asked who wanted to go to the game with painted chests. About 5 guys rounded up 10 or 12 freshman and we all painted Go Hokies! and something else. We slammed beers, purchased by said upperclassmen, and hid wild turkey in plastic bags on our bodies to go in our drinks. I don't remember sitting once that whole game. And have barely sat for any game after that. I'm sure that's not the norm but those guys taught some damn fine lessons.
In my opinion, the lottery was the genesis of this apathy in the student section. When I was a freshman we still camped out to get tickets. You had to WANT to want to go to the game in order to get tickets. A couple years later the student season tickets came out, which was fine since then you had to actually pay to make sure you got your tickets. Now you have some e-lottery where you need to put no effort in so the casual, selfie taking, paper airplane folding, snot nosed kid, fan has an equal shot to get a ticket over someone who may be more dedicated and "rabid" for it. With the lottery you effectively removed the barriers that kept Lane filled with a rowdy crowd. Its hard to pass down tradition when you have a growing campus with diverse interests and the "it" thing to do is go to the game even if you could care less about it. The value of the game is greatly reduced because it is so damn easy for them to get the ticket that leaving after a quarter is fine to them. When you camped out and thought about getting that ticket all week you wouldn't THINK about leaving early because you had already invested so much.
...and now I will step off my soap box.
This is why I was kind of surprised when people were displeased with freshman gaining the opportunity to buy student tickets this year. I think whatever student ticket system we use should give precedence to students who are passionate about it and really want to be there, and the lottery definitely did not accomplish this.
I know plenty of students who get season tickets who are not passionate about it. They use it so they can secure seats for Homecoming to wear the wrong colors and scream and cry regardless of whether their representative wins or not and then leave afterward.
Yeah, I'm not saying its an ideal system. But at least with season tickets, the students that really want to be there every game have the opportunity to be. With the lottery that wasn't the case. I know because I didn't get to go to the FSU game last year, and I'm still pissed about it.
I believe the way we do ticketing is awful. I know we have beat this to death before, but I think a lottery system would help out tremendously. Football and basketball.
My Freshman year was in 2010. I only managed to get 2 tickets all year through the Lottery. They were for ECU and Central Michigan. I dropped 35 on a student ticket (the kid across the hall actually wanted 50 for it..)to see the whole JM.....huh? managed to get a Duke ticket from a friend, and dropped a good amount on the GT ticket.
The Lottery Sucks. A lot.
Just to pour some salt in the wound, the person that got the ticket that you would've enjoyed immensely probably stayed for the first quarter and bounced.
Bring back the camping out for student tickets.
Quick question for all of those who were in school when students camped out for tickets. Where were the tickets distributed/where did everyone camp on campus. Somewhere around Cassell?
Lines/crowds formed around the Cassell ticketing office. My freshman year was the last year they did that. There were issues with class attendance and in some cases (as I recall) blocking traffic, so the school put an end to it. The lottery sucks but so did camping out (though potentially somewhat fun). All we need is a reward system in place, as has been discussed to death on this site. Score points for going to games (ticket scan takes care of that), negative points if your ticket ends up as a paper airplane. Fun fact from a friend of a friend (hopefully true): anyone whose ticket is found on the field twice gets banned from the lottery or from buying season tickets.
If that's true, that's bad news for those that make a bunch of copies of their tickets for friends to get into their section. The more tickets with your name on it, the higher chance your name makes it on the field. Guess some people would respond by saying, "Good, don't make copies and sneak people into your section then" but I've always been a fan of the 'sneak in, stand where you can and don't worry too much about the seat number on your ticket' plan.
When I was at Tech you camped east of Cassell on the grass between the tennis courts and road. But you really only needed to do this for big games. If you went very early on the day they released tickets and lined up you could almost always get tickets. And 1 guy could get 5 tickets with their sports id card thing. I heard camping became an issue later due to certain activities in tents and the aforementioned class attendance and traffic issues. We used to rotate 5 or 6 guys in the tent. I only remember one guy getting taking off the line by campus police for being drunk but heard stories of much more drinking and more illicit things.
I was in a group that would have one guy reserve a spot in the campout line. Then we'd rotate one or two guys in and out of line. I don't remember exactly, but yeah you could get multiple student tickets with your athletic card. I thought it was 8 or 10, but the years have eroded my memory.
The way it worked my year was that any one person could have up to 30 athletic cards with them to get a block of seats. That way clubs, fraternities, and other groups could have their one representative get tickets for everyone.
I remember that too.
I always camped out at War Memorial Gym because the lines were WAY shorter than at Cassell. I never missed a game.
As a post camp system Hokie, I kind of wish I got to experience the camping out thing at least once. Had to be a great sense of pride once you got the ticket in hand and it was probably an overall fun experience (maybe).
It was. Especially when some kids smuggled a keg in their tent and end up streaking around the tent town. Good times.
During my freshman orientation, I sat in the big lecture hall in Squires and a group of students gave an overview of what a key play was (3rd or 4th down), went over the Let's Go Hokies cheer, and sang the songs for us. Don't know if they still do this or not.
I went to my first Tech Football game in 2008 (home opener against Furman). I heard the entrance was awesome, and the game was awesome, that's it. After that game (which was probably one of the 3 most boring games I went to in 5 years), I understood everything one could hope to know about VT football. It's not that hard to pick up...
I didn't attend Tech either, but before going to my first game, I remember reading a "cheering guide" from tailgatefever. It was hilarious and somewhat informative.
Ok, I just looked it up and the link doesn't work anymore. Maybe one of you other folks have it saved somewhere and would like to share..... maybe
As requested:
http://web.archive.org/web/20110225194007/http://www.tailgatefever.com/c...
Can you please repost this closer to the season so I can find this again to spread the word? I know I will completely forget which discussion this was in by the time the season starts.
I will start a new topic and post the guide on TKP.
Probably should be updated to include things such as arriving on time (early), no paper planes, facing the field at all times, etc.
Well, if they're cheering properly, there won't be any paper planes or facing away from the field...
Facing the field at all times? Is somebody attending a game and making the effort to read a cheering guide really going to need to read that? Yeesh. "Welcome to a sporting event, where if you attended because you enjoy the sport you might benefit from directing your eyeballs toward the game while it's being played."
Well then I guess the Hokie Pokie won't include turning yourself around anymore.
Thanks jmichons! Lets just update that thing for this season by changing JT to Justin Bieber and Jon Dunn to Marcus Davis.
I think the biggest mistake isn't the lottery, it is restricting the amount of student tickets. East stands should be all students. period.
If our stadium sat 100,000, I would agree with you. In reality, the older alumni who hold the season tickets over there donate lord knows how much money. Take away their seats and we take away their donations. Money talks more than noisy students.
I know people with decent to good seats on the East side (Row RR-ish, about the 40) that donate a couple thousand annually, in addition to seat prices. There's no way the athletic department could afford to displace all of them.
I completely understand and agree with that decision...it is necessary. That doesn't mean I like it ;)
I have the HT's to thank for turning my fandom into a rabid frenzy every gameday regardless of if I am watching it on TV or in Lane.
Particulary HT04 and 05.
Let me tell you, there's no better place during Enter Sandman than on the field in the Band.
If only we could jump and play Tech Triumph at the same time.
That's why Alumni Band is great (and we get to wear those sweet Band Sweaters!)
Wore mine to a sweater party last December, still smells a bit like rum. Which draws some interesting looks when I wear it to class and practice.
I was with him and I can confirm how wonderful it was to have a $ 250 sweater with a 750 of capt fit perfectly in the pocket
Cosign on this from an MV. Not gonna lie...a bit envious that y'all get to do it for the majority of games (all of them except 1).
It all started down hill after the band stopped playing the Empire Strikes back song following a sack or tackle for loss.
you dont know how many times mrs bch and myself have lamented this. +1
I personally think "We Will Sack You" is glorious right after we get a sack.
Letting the cat out of the bag here, but the Imperial March will be making a comeback. It's what we intend to play when the Corps marches to the stadium.
All of this can be remedied by simply bringing back "Stick It In."
It's because the band had to adjust and make a set structure where a certain song was for a certain situation. This is because everybody was upping the tempo of the game and there wasn't enough time to respond and pick a different song, relay it to all 360 people in the band, and then play it in the <15 seconds between plays. Thus you hear the same song several times during the course of the game. But the Imperial March is played following a kickoff or a punt when the other team starts their drive and our defense takes the field.
If I go to a game at the Shoe maybe I want to watch the hokies at the same time or at least check the score.
This is a bigger problem at OSU. You can't make a phone call on that side of campus on gameday
There's also 40K more people on campus there compared to here
Solution: Stop going to OSU games. Start going to VT games.
You're welcome.
This man should be President.
I miss live OSU games to watch the hokies on TV. I also skipped the michigan game to go to the UVa game two? years ago
I definitely remember living on campus freshman year and not being able to make calls on game days. Additionally, I still only get about 1/10th of my text messages to go through on game days and I have verizon, which I think has the best service in the area.
I think it's time to bring in the Gunny, to motivate these underclassmen pukes! Back in my day, home games were a real treat.