My experience..

stebo · January 16, 2004

First of all, Gak and Strange... thank you for being such die hard fans. I don't know that I will ever be back on a weekday like that as the traffic to get through Lewisville was absolutely horrible once again as suspected. By the time I actually got there, I was so whipped and pissed off; it was diificult to ever really get relaxed for the game. If I were the AD at NT, I would be very active in getting that interstate progress updated daily! It is costing us a lot of fans in my opinion.

Now, off of my rant about traffic. Down to the game. That was the most students I have ever seen at a non-promoted game. I have seen close to a thousand Greeks show up for a game before but half of them leave at half time when the spirit contest is over. Last night, there did not appear to be any "event" to get them there, they were just there to see the team and most stuck around. Now, I am not going to lie to you, the fans above me were pissed off and rightly so. We had a 21 point lead at one point. We eventually lost that lead and trailed by 1 late in the game. Hey, sh!t happens... that is all fine and dandy; but at least call a time out to slow down the game. Yes, that is correct, in a 25-4 run to start off the second half, NT elected not to call even one time out. Even after we had lost the lead and Denver was looking to steal this game, JJ refused to call a time out. Hell, I don't think he called one the entire half.

What kind of coaching is that? You lose a 21 point lead and your decision is to just "play your way out of it?" Last night could have really hurt future attendance. I don't know. I am motivated enough to come back on Monday as it is a holiday and I don't think the traffic will be that bad. But I don't think I would come to another weeknight game unless the team just goes on a terror. Hopefully the students that had their first Mean Green experience will not feel the same way and come back anyways. My guess is that a die hard basketball fan would have been pretty disgusted with the coaching last night but that is my opinion.

On a positive note, the players seem to be coming around, I think our main problem is coaching. In the two games I have seen, we have led at half time. In both games we have come out absolutely flat in the second half. The same thing has happened on the road in the games I have listened to online. Maybe JJ should just not talk at halftime because it appears to do more damage than good.

All and all, the game was fun. I was really glad to meet Strange, he is not that strange after all. Gak seemed to be relishing the student crowd like a proud parent. We have a few fans that need to attend "jeer" school 101. Screaming - "You suck!!!" or "Cheater" at the top of your lungs is not only classless, it is flat out stupid. Stick with the fun yet annoying cheers like "Boing Boing Boing" (that was grat by the way guys!!!) I was embarassed for the the moron that insisted on doing the rude screaming all night long but he is just a typical 18 year old kid trying his best to cheer on the team.

Now for the icing on the cake.. I won the Outback dinner for 2 (a $45 value I might add) when some camera guy picked me as the face in the crowd for that. Hey, I am one happy camper about that! I will be back on Monday most likely. And I will be sitting with the students once again. I hope to see this section gain momentum, having them all in one space like that is awesome. And stop complaining about the space!!! It was just three years ago that student would be relegated to the upper deck and scattered around to wherever they want to be. Having them in the lower section in the corner right there is just perfect. If you want the section to be moves closer to center court, just grow it... they won't have a choice!

Thanks for the friendliness last night. I did have fun despite the almost 2 hour drive to get there. I will be back on Monday most likely if the traffic cam looks clear. After that, see you on the 31st! Flag Football and then Mean Green basketball! Should be a blast!

Gakusei · January 16, 2004

Now, I am not going to lie to you, the fans above me were pissed off and rightly so. We had a 21 point lead at one point. We eventually lost that lead and trailed by 1 late in the game. Hey, sh!t happens... that is all fine and dandy; but at least call a time out to slow down the game. Yes, that is correct, in a 25-4 run to start off the second half, NT elected not to call even one time out. Even after we had lost the lead and Denver was looking to steal this game, JJ refused to call a time out. Hell, I don't think he called one the entire half.

I can't say why JJ didn't call a timeout, and it was grating at me too. To see that lead dry up so quickly really made me sick to my stomach. We came out in the first half, and our guys looked NBA against Denver, and then it was back to Northwestern Oklahoma in the 2nd half. Honestly it's only been lately that I've noticed this happening. At the beginning of the season, our guys were always slow and stumbling in the first half and then really picked up in the 2nd. I think that the change in offense that was called for the 2nd half was a bad move, and hopefully Coach Jones and staff will see that when they sit down with the tapes later this week. When our guys put it inside to Shojo with 2-3 guys on him, he can sometimes roll around them and get it in (like that tomahawk last night), and other times all he has to do is kick it out to Jerome or Calvin and we've got a 3. Stick with what works until it stops working, imo.

I was really glad to meet Strange, he is not that strange after all. Gak seemed to be relishing the student crowd like a proud parent. We have a few fans that need to attend "jeer" school 101. Screaming - "You suck!!!" or "Cheater" at the top of your lungs is not only classless, it is flat out stupid. Stick with the fun yet annoying cheers like "Boing Boing Boing" (that was grat by the way guys!!!).

lol, I wonder what look that was? I didn't hear the "You suck!!!", but "Cheater!" is something we've all been doing lately. I think it's pretty funny.

The people that need to attend jeer/cheer school are about 90% of the students who didn't stand up the whole game, even when there were 2 minutes left and we were trading leads. Also the people who kept speeding up the "Defense" chant. Next time just watch Justin Barnett as he's usually over there doing it. Speeding it up so much causes everything to fall apart and die out.

Now for the icing on the cake.. I won the Outback dinner for 2 (a $45 value I might add) when some camera guy picked me as the face in the crowd for that.

Someone in the AD must be reading this board?

Pushing all of the students into one section is a good idea, imo, but I think we'd be more effective as a group if we could cheer/heckle players in both halves. It'd be great to have it more like the Snake Pit atmosphere from back in the day that I've heard about. We'll keep trying to grow into it, though.

Edited January 16, 2004 by Gakusei

stebo · January 16, 2004

Oh, and I forgot to give props to the band. They are huge now! The last time I went to a game... well they weren't there... but the time before THAT, they were on the other side of te court, behind the basketbal, and there were only about 10 of them. Now they have them by the student section (probably been that way for a couple of years, they just are never there when I go) and there are like 50 members. That is really great.

One thing I would like to see out of them... Play that funky music White Boy. We have exactly one white player and judging from his crowd reaaction last night, Barnett seems to be a fan favorite. It would be great if they played that every time he went in. I could see people getting a kick out of that.

Gakusei · January 16, 2004

You've got to suggest that to the band director, he seems like a good guy. Last night I asked him why they don't ever play "Charge!" and he said something like, 'You know, I never thought of that...' I talked to him again after the game, and he said he was going to write it up, so we'll see.

Great idea, btw. I almost fell out of my chair.

Edited January 16, 2004 by Gakusei

JayDub · January 16, 2004

The band sounded amazing last night. That's the best I've EVER heard them play. Just had to give some props to the band...they were great!

January 16, 2004

I like the idea of a student section, but they should let us move over one more section towards mid court. There have been two games this season in which not a single person has sat in that section, yet students weren't not allowed to move over.

Gakusei · January 16, 2004

We've already moved over one section. The Talons have moved one section closer to center court, which means that students can sit with/behind them. The tailgaters sit where the Talons were sitting.

January 16, 2004

We've already moved over one section. The Talons have moved one section closer to center court, which means that students can sit with/behind them. The tailgaters sit where the Talons were sitting.

The student section hasn't been extended this year because the ushers have told me every game since the first game of the season to sit in the section in which the Talons sat or over towards the band. The section I'm talking about is the one right next to the student section in which very few people sit in, and like I said, there have been two games this season in which no one sat in it.

Gakusei · January 16, 2004

The student section hasn't been extended this year because the ushers have told me every game since the first game of the season to sit in the section in which the Talons sat or over towards the band. The section I'm talking about is the one right next to the student section in which very few people sit in, and like I said, there have been two games this season in which no one sat in it.

The Talons used to sit in the section immediately next to the band, now they sit one section over. If that next section over was always student, I didn't know, I could've sworn it wasn't.

Also e-bone, if you're at the games, come over and meet us.

UNTFan23 · January 16, 2004

The ticket I bought was for that section ... but since it's always a ghost town, I figured I'd have more fun with the students.

Speaking of buying tickets, the ticket attendees keep asking me for my student ID, and since I tell them I'm no longer a student they encourage me to show it anyways. I inform them that I am an honest person and that the Athletic Department needs my business ($$$).

January 16, 2004

The Talons used to sit in the section immediately next to the band, now they sit one section over. If that next section over was always student, I didn't know, I could've sworn it wasn't.
Also e-bone, if you're at the games, come over and meet us.

Well I'm refering to the section in which the Talons sit now, I didn't see where they sat earlier in the season since there were usually very few of them. It was good to see a good Talons showing last night though.

MeanGreenQueen · January 16, 2004

The Talons used to sit in the section immediately next to the band, now they sit one section over. If that next section over was always student, I didn't know, I could've sworn it wasn't.
Also e-bone, if you're at the games, come over and meet us.

Last year the Talons sat one section over towards mid-court - the section to the left of the one they are in now. We never sat right next to the band (maybe once during the televised game last year). But e-bone is right.... we used to be one more section over and I bet we could fill it up if we were allowed to. Students don't want to sit in the end zones when there are so many others open in midcourt.