Disgusted by the SMU Gameday experience.

[WanderingEagle]

5 hours ago, Felozano said:

Sorry you had a bad experience. Ours was alright. Late lunch around 4 at Mockingbird Station, walked over, walked the stadium, sat in 217 away from all the riff raff, cheered on the Green Guys, walked back to Mockingbird Station.   I would have really liked to come out with the win…or at least a closer finish. Oh, well. Next year.  GMG!

I'm glad you had a good time! I hope most UNT fans did! Like i said in the OP I do not want to generalize and lump all SMU fans together. I talked to and met plenty who were more than cordial and respectful last night. 

[Felozano]

17 minutes ago, WanderingEagle said:

I'm glad you had a good time! I hope most UNT fans did! Like i said in the OP I do not want to generalize and lump all SMU fans together. I talked to and met plenty who were more than cordial and respectful last night. 

Yeah, I mean I did hear some chatter about “I can’t wait to talk sh*t!”  But like you said, that wasn’t the norm. Last night was a step back offensively, but I think we redeem this loss next year. GMG!

[DentonStang]

2 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

Typical answer.  Sounds like you either condone, don't care or don't have the balls to do something about it.  Years ago, at Apogee, I was sitting in my seats with my son who was 4 or 5 at the time.  A North Texas fan behind me started cussing the refs, coaches, whoever.  Grown man sitting there with his wife, kids everywhere and cussing like a sailor.  I finally turned around and called him out in front.  Asked him if he saw the kids sitting around him.  He acted like since he had paid for his season tickets he could act however he wanted.  I told him I disagreed.  His tickets didn't give him free reign to act like an immature fool.  His wife finally told him to shut up.  About a quarter later he tapped me on the shoulder and apologized.

Point being, you can ignore it and allow it to continue or you can do something about it.

Cheer for your team, be creative and yell at your opponent, but don't cross the line  I have been vocal about our students adding MF to our fight song.  I find it disrespectful while the 18-20 year olds think it is cool.  Obviously, you could not care less how these morons reflect on your school.  I never went there, would never give smuT a dime of my money (this is one example why) and am amazed, having grown up in the Methodist church, that they still associate with this embarrassment of a university.

There weren't any inappropriate SMU fans around me last night, only 1 it 2 obnoxious F-bomb UNT fans around my 3 elementary aged kids. 

You should try coming dressed as an opposing fan in Apogee a few times.  You may find it a lot more like Ford last night than you want to admit. 

[UNTLifer]

9 hours ago, MeanGreen22 said:

Also: the official account retweeting something like this is straight trash behavior. Definitely have some 20 year old fraternity kid running the account

Passing English still not required at smuT I see. 

[UNTLifer]

55 minutes ago, DentonStang said:

There weren't any inappropriate SMU fans around me last night, only 1 it 2 obnoxious F-bomb UNT fans around my 3 elementary aged kids. 

You should try coming dressed as an opposing fan in Apogee a few times.  You may find it a lot more like Ford last night than you want to admit. 

And I don’t condone it or pass it off as douchey fans just being douchey. I don’t mind good, creative heckling of the opponent but F bombs and disgusting behavior shouldn’t be passed off or ignored. I am far from some prude and have done things I am not proud of, but I have also grown up and find things like this reflect on my university. One reason I am proud to be an alum of UNT and why I despise SMU. 

[DentonStang]

21 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

And I don’t condone it or pass it off as douchey fans just being douchey. I don’t mind good, creative heckling of the opponent but F bombs and disgusting behavior shouldn’t be passed off or ignored. I am far from some prude and have done things I am not proud of, but I have also grown up and find things like this reflect on my university. One reason I am proud to be an alum of UNT and why I despise SMU. 

All I'm saying is this exact conversation is happening on the SMU board about the disgusting behavior of UNT fans. Only there the preferred term is "classless" rather than "douchey" but same behavior described.   If you think the same drunk foolish behavior doesn't occur anywhere you congregate 30,000 then I don't know what to tell you.

[SteaminWillieBeamin]

27 minutes ago, DentonStang said:

All I'm saying is this exact conversation is happening on the SMU board about the disgusting behavior of UNT fans. Only there the preferred term is "classless" rather than "douchey" but same behavior described.   If you think the same drunk foolish behavior doesn't occur anywhere you congregate 30,000 then I don't know what to tell you.

Our students chant obscenities when they don't agree with the officials. That's pretty classless. 😎

[MeanGreenTexan]

SMU fans have always been fine when I interact with them.   Nowhere near as bad as TX Tech fans.

EDIT:   Realized just saying "Tech fans" might make some think I'm referring to LA Tech fans (great), but I mean TX Tech fans (awful).

Edited September 13, 2021 by MeanGreenTexan

[Mean Green Matt]

3 hours ago, UNT 90 Grad said:

I may try the 200’s next year.  Last time I sat up there, I don’t remember having issues. 

Highly recommend. 

[trud1966]

Their stadium, blech...I think it's closing in on 20 years old now.  And I have to admit, when it was built, and even now to a degree, just how it looks from Mockingbird/Central is nice. It's depressed down so it's not so towering over all the homes.  But that's where my compliments stop.    People compare Ford to Apogee and Ford has slightly more seating, but those extra seats were shoe-horned in by take inches out of the rows of seats...Anytime someone had to come sit in your row, you have to do that sit/stand/turn as sideways as possible dance with a barrage of "excuse me, excuse me excuse me, sorry, excuse me..."  If you notice when youre at Apogee, there's like an extra 6" width per row, and it makes all the difference.  You can easily walk by people and they barely have to shift in their seat.

The circulation/flow around the concourse at Ford is a disaster.   It's too small, concession lines serpentine back n forth, cross over the path of people trying to work through there.  God,  I just wanted a hot dog and I felt like I had floor seats at an Aerosmith Concert.    Oh, and the Men's bathroom...like 25 urinals, 2 toilets...Makes total sense.

Edited September 13, 2021 by trud1966

[PlummMeanGreen]

1 hour ago, trud1966 said:

Their stadium, blech...I think it's closing in on 20 years old now.  And I have to admit, when it was built, and even now to a degree, just how it looks from Mockingbird/Central is nice. It's depressed down so it's not so towering over all the homes.  But that's where my compliments stop.    People compare Ford to Apogee and Ford has slightly more seating, but those extra seats were shoe-horned in by take inches out of the rows of seats...Anytime someone had to come sit in your row, you have to do that sit/stand/turn as sideways as possible dance with a barrage of "excuse me, excuse me excuse"  If you notice when youre at Apogee, there's like an extra 6" width per row, and it makes all the difference .  The circulation/flow around the concourse is a disaster.   It's too small, concession lines serpentine back n forth, cross over the path of people trying to work through there.  God,  I just wanted a hot dog and I felt like I had floor seats at an Aerosmith Concert.    Oh, and the Men's bathroom...like 25 urinals, 2 toilets...Makes total sense.

And like him or not we can all salute Rick Villarreal & the UNT students of that era. Apogee happened under RV’s watch.  Some of us never dreamed it would happen in our lifetime.  

🔹Former Dallas Cowboys super scout & new NFL Hall of Fame inductee Gil Brandt said after a tour:  “Apogee Stadium is a Taj Mahal of college football stadiums & trust me—I’ve seen them all.”  

❇️🦅❇️

Edited September 13, 2021 by PlummMeanGreen

[eulessismore]

The bar for what is acceptable public behavior has dropped so low that one can expect the social media reactions excusing anything short of physical assault. I will say that there have been those on this forum criticizing the profanity directed by the UNT student section towards opposing teams and anyone who has to listen to it.

When I consider that in 1969 I attended the Texas International Pop Festival, along with about 100,000 others, and never saw or heard of any violent activity, and in 2019 attended a commemoration of that event with about 10,000 others and saw a physical assault happen while waiting for a bus after the event, it did make me think about the decline of civility in public during those intervening years (actually getting worse during the pandemic).

Perhaps some of this behavior is alcohol induced, but I think that overall there has been a decline in what people expect anymore. I wonder (hey, all this talk of branding), if the educational system should start considering how to teach common courtesy, if for no other reason, that one who wishes to attain the best positions in government and business may have their behavior be subjected to the kind of scrutiny that searches into job applicants' social media accounts may provide.

At least folks should be reminded of the quality of video recording available in devices just about everyone carries with them these days, which might record behavior embarrassing or dangerous to one's career or freedom. It's not hard for reputations to be damaged to the point of causing one serious harm through this wondrous thing called the internet.

 

[DeepGreen]

If you want to know the meaning of football fan douchbagery, go to a Louisiana Lafayette or LSU football game and sit next to the students.  Just don’t bring your children.  At LSU, if you’re an opposing fan, watch for flying objects.

 

[GreenTexan13]

Every fanbase has it's bad apples.. I remember being a student witnessing parents and small kids come sit in the student section at Apogee and quickly getting up after the Bull Sh*t chant to the refs. But to the original post, I agree SMU can be a draining experience, which is too bad because being as unbiased as possible, they do have a beautiful campus. 

SMU fans, which mostly look like the students that get rowdy are the one's you get called the letter "C" followed by UNT and getting cussed out. I even went to a University of Houston vs SMU in Dallas game just to watch some football a couple years ago and witnessed SMU college age fans run to the side of the stadium where UH would go into the locker rooms so they could flip off all the players and tell them 4 letter words. Sexually harrassing cheerleaders is pretty embarassing too.. 

I have never seen something like that at UNT. EVER. And I have sat many times in the student section in my days of going to our home games.  

[NorthTexasSportsNetwork]

Apparently there was a big fight in the SMU student section between some frats… typical

[SMU2006]

4 hours ago, trud1966 said:

Their stadium, blech...I think it's closing in on 20 years old now.  And I have to admit, when it was built, and even now to a degree, just how it looks from Mockingbird/Central is nice. It's depressed down so it's not so towering over all the homes.  But that's where my compliments stop.    People compare Ford to Apogee and Ford has slightly more seating, but those extra seats were shoe-horned in by take inches out of the rows of seats...Anytime someone had to come sit in your row, you have to do that sit/stand/turn as sideways as possible dance with a barrage of "excuse me, excuse me excuse me, sorry, excuse me..."  If you notice when youre at Apogee, there's like an extra 6" width per row, and it makes all the difference.  You can easily walk by people and they barely have to shift in their seat.

The circulation/flow around the concourse at Ford is a disaster.   It's too small, concession lines serpentine back n forth, cross over the path of people trying to work through there.  God,  I just wanted a hot dog and I felt like I had floor seats at an Aerosmith Concert.    Oh, and the Men's bathroom...like 25 urinals, 2 toilets...Makes total sense.

Haven't posted here in years but am disappointed to hear some folks had a negative experience at Ford on Saturday.  I will say most of the UNT folks we interacted with were very friendly and courteous.  However, the UNT tailgate tent near ours had a drunk moron screaming "F&CK SMU LETS F&CKING GO!!!" every five minutes directed at our tent puffing his chest out.  When I pointed to my two year old (and the half a dozen other elementary school kids) he just laughed and kept doing shots.  Point being, as others have stated, bad apples exist in every fan base.  Too much binge drinking before games leads to terrible behavior IMO.

As to the quote here the poster is 100% correct.  Ford has started to look a bit dated for years now.  Concourse is a nightmare as well as the bathroom/concessions situation.  For this reason and a myriad of others, SMU has committed $150-200m for a major facelift to Ford as well as a Football Operations building that will take the place of the existing "grassy knoll" in the south end zone.  Some of the key features will be a total gut on the existing concourse for widened walkways, improved concessions, as well as an extension of the existing suites to go completely around to the east side of the stadium.  Suites will be indoor/outdoor style (not the enclosed stadium club behind the west side stands).

https://247sports.com/college/smu/Article/Ford-Stadium-football-operations-building-set-to-be-main-focus-of-SMU-next-projects-168387414/

The plan is for shovels in the dirt by summer 2022.  Roughly 50% of the funds have already been accounted for, however SMU does not begin any construction projects until it reaches 80% of the anticipated costs so we've got a bit of a ways to go.  

Hopefully when we see you in a couple of years the situation will be better.  Best of luck the reason of the year.

[bstnsportsfan3]

2 minutes ago, SMU2006 said:

Haven't posted here in years but am disappointed to hear some folks had a negative experience at Ford on Saturday.  I will say most of the UNT folks we interacted with were very friendly and courteous.  However, the UNT tailgate tent near ours had a drunk moron screaming "F&CK SMU LETS F&CKING GO!!!" every five minutes directed at our tent puffing his chest out.  When I pointed to my two year old (and the half a dozen other elementary school kids) he just laughed and kept doing shots.  Point being, as others have stated, bad apples exist in every fan base.  Too much binge drinking before games leads to terrible behavior IMO.

As to the quote here the poster is 100% correct.  Ford has started to look a bit dated for years now.  Concourse is a nightmare as well as the bathroom/concessions situation.  For this reason and a myriad of others, SMU has committed $150-200m for a major facelift to Ford as well as a Football Operations building that will take the place of the existing "grassy knoll" in the south end zone.  Some of the key features will be a total gut on the existing concourse for widened walkways, improved concessions, as well as an extension of the existing suites to go completely around to the east side of the stadium.  Suites will be indoor/outdoor style (not the enclosed stadium club behind the west side stands).

https://247sports.com/college/smu/Article/Ford-Stadium-football-operations-building-set-to-be-main-focus-of-SMU-next-projects-168387414/

The plan is for shovels in the dirt by summer 2022.  Roughly 50% of the funds have already been accounted for, however SMU does not begin any construction projects until it reaches 80% of the anticipated costs so we've got a bit of a ways to go.  

Hopefully when we see you in a couple of years the situation will be better.  Best of luck the reason of the year.

The concession lines were the worst I have ever seen. 60-70 people deep per stand and I walked the whole stadium. Gave up on eating and just ate on my way home after the game. Did finally manage to get a water in the middle 3rd quarter when the lines were not as bad

[SMU2006]

Just now, bstnsportsfan3 said:

The concession lines were the worst I have ever seen. 60-70 people deep per stand and I walked the whole stadium. Gave up on eating and just ate on my way home after the game. Did finally manage to get a water in the middle 3rd quarter when the lines were not as bad

Trust me I know.  Its been a problem for years.  SMU did start doing mobile ordering where you can have whatever you want delivered directly to your seat.  I haven't seen many people using it for these first two games.  That said, the stadium was designed in the late 90's (opened in 2000) and hasn't really seen any significant upgrades in the subsequent 20 years.  

Ford is a beautiful place to watch college football with the aesthetic blending in with the surrounding SMU campus.  It just needs to be pushed into the 2020's with some creature comforts and design improvements 🙂

If we can improve the bathroom/concession situation and make Ford similar to the $75m Moody renovation then it should be good to go.  

[bstnsportsfan3]

Just now, SMU2006 said:

Trust me I know.  Its been a problem for years.  SMU did start doing mobile ordering where you can have whatever you want delivered directly to your seat.  I haven't seen many people using it for these first two games.  That said, the stadium was designed in the late 90's (opened in 2000) and hasn't really seen any significant upgrades in the subsequent 20 years.  

Ford is a beautiful place to watch college football with the aesthetic blending in with the surrounding SMU campus.  It just needs to be pushed into the 2020's with some creature comforts and design improvements 🙂

If we can improve the bathroom/concession situation and make Ford similar to the $75m Moody renovation then it should be good to go.  

I saw that feature the only thing was it said delivery was not available to my section (122) and I was worried the pick up line would be just as long as the other concessions

[northtexassigep]

Sat in the unt area so didn’t have a bad experience with the fans but the concession stands and the entrance into the stadium were the slowest lines I’ve ever been in at any game in my life. 

[Mean Green 93-98]

48 minutes ago, SMU2006 said:

However, the UNT tailgate tent near ours had a drunk moron screaming "F&CK SMU LETS F&CKING GO!!!" every five minutes directed at our tent puffing his chest out.  When I pointed to my two year old (and the half a dozen other elementary school kids) he just laughed and kept doing shots.  Point being, as others have stated, bad apples exist in every fan base.  Too much binge drinking before games leads to terrible behavior IMO.

I am sorry to hear about the experience you had with the drunk moron.  Being an anti-social moron is inexcusable regardless of what team you happen to cheer for.  And any surrounding UNT fans who didn't do anything to put a lid on this moron are also without excuse.

[greengal]

54 minutes ago, SMU2006 said:

However, the UNT tailgate tent near ours had a drunk moron screaming "F&CK SMU LETS F&CKING GO!!!" every five minutes directed at our tent puffing his chest out. 

I apologize on behalf of our fans on this.  No excuse people for drinking more than you can handle.  Let's try and act more responsibly UNT.

That said, I have to also say that the SMU fans next to us were also quite loud and one of them kept playing music videos on his giant phone.  One of them had very long legs and would not move them when we needed to go to the bathroom.  I felt like the SMU fans for the most part were ok.

[SMU2006]

3 minutes ago, Mean Green 93-98 said:

I am sorry to hear about the experience you had with the drunk moron.  Being an anti-social moron is inexcusable regardless of what team you happen to cheer for.  And any surrounding UNT fans who didn't do anything to put a lid on this moron are also without excuse.

Eh it happens.  Nowhere near the worst experience I've had at a college football game.  I think the others at his tent were doing their best to calm him down but he was pretty riled up.  I tend to give everyone under the age of 30 a pass (to a certain extent) and certainly to college students.  When you're young you do a lot of regrettable stuff.  As long as its not violent and/or obscene I can pretty much laugh it off.  Its amazing how sometimes a little humor and levity can defuse an otherwise volatile situation.

[trud1966]

3 hours ago, SMU2006 said:

Haven't posted here in years but am disappointed to hear some folks had a negative experience at Ford on Saturday.  I will say most of the UNT folks we interacted with were very friendly and courteous.  However, the UNT tailgate tent near ours had a drunk moron screaming "F&CK SMU LETS F&CKING GO!!!" every five minutes directed at our tent puffing his chest out.  When I pointed to my two year old (and the half a dozen other elementary school kids) he just laughed and kept doing shots.  Point being, as others have stated, bad apples exist in every fan base.  Too much binge drinking before games leads to terrible behavior IMO.

As to the quote here the poster is 100% correct.  Ford has started to look a bit dated for years now.  Concourse is a nightmare as well as the bathroom/concessions situation.  For this reason and a myriad of others, SMU has committed $150-200m for a major facelift to Ford as well as a Football Operations building that will take the place of the existing "grassy knoll" in the south end zone.  Some of the key features will be a total gut on the existing concourse for widened walkways, improved concessions, as well as an extension of the existing suites to go completely around to the east side of the stadium.  Suites will be indoor/outdoor style (not the enclosed stadium club behind the west side stands).

https://247sports.com/college/smu/Article/Ford-Stadium-football-operations-building-set-to-be-main-focus-of-SMU-next-projects-168387414/

The plan is for shovels in the dirt by summer 2022.  Roughly 50% of the funds have already been accounted for, however SMU does not begin any construction projects until it reaches 80% of the anticipated costs so we've got a bit of a ways to go.  

Hopefully when we see you in a couple of years the situation will be better.  Best of luck the reason of the year.

Yeah - apologies for that screaming moron...Here's how bad that is....I was NOT at this tailgate, but I'm fairly certain I know EXACTLY who this idiot is...He's at every UNT home game, doing the same thing, and you can hear him completely across the entire parking lot...I'll all for school spirit, but someone/cops needs to shut this guy down, there's ALOT of kids at the tailgates.   He'll do it at this tailgate, and I've seen him and his entourage of friends walking to the stadium and he screams out every 30 seconds.....Idiot...

Edited September 13, 2021 by trud1966

[SMU2006]

2 minutes ago, trud1966 said:

Yeah - apologies for that screaming moron...Here's how bad that is....I was NOT at this tailgate, but I'm fairly certain I know EXACTLY who this idiot is...He's at every UNT home game, doing the same thing, and you can hear him completely across the entire parking lot...I'll all for school spirit, but someone needs to shut this guy down.   He'll do it at this tailgate, and I've seen him and his entourage of friends walking to the stadium and he screams out every 30 seconds.....Idiot...

Yeesh.  That's really too bad.  Also this was not what I would categorize as a young guy.  Probably around my age (mid to late 30's).  

In other words, old enough to know better.