The Name: An Absence of Diehards
The Date: November 1, 2012
The Idea: With a nationally relevant program and the best stadium in FCS football, why the hell do fans, particularly students, suck so much this season?
The Unedited, Original Version:
Is there a kegger somewhere?
We had three home football games in the month of October, and I’ve never quite seen fans leave games early like they have in the last 31 days. The miraculous Justin Thorpe comeback against Towson University was well-watched, sure. There was nary a crowd member in all of 25k-strong Bridgeforth that would have been caught dead leaving that game before the clock reached all zeros.
But William & Mary? From my perch in the press box, I witnessed droves of student fans leaving the game with a tie game at the end of regulation. People are saying “thanks but no thanks” to free football. That is concerning.
Perhaps it was just an aberration. Surely students would stick around for a homecoming game featuring a brand new, starting freshman quarterback?
Naturally, the end result was different than what I expected. The stadium was half empty by the third quarter, and Colonial Athletic Association cellar dweller Georgia State nearly ran out of vaunted Bridgeforth Stadium with a win. Part of the reason for the comeback? JMU’s normally ferocious home-field noise was quiet enough to pass for Sunday mass with Father O’Leary.
What is going on? Why have people suddenly lost interest in the end of pretty tightly contested games? Is something else going on that is distracting students from the boys of fall?
I return to my previous inquiry: Is there a kegger somewhere?
In fairness to you deserters, last Saturday was cold and rainy, and it featured an offensive performance that wafted back and forth between offensively challenged and atrociously hard to watch.
On the other hand, screw fairness. I have a personal 35-point slaughter rule, and I will leave only in the event of a comeback-is-beyond-impossible type of blowout. But until then? Cancel my dentist appointment and bring me a parka because I’m like the US postal service. I’ll be in the stands rain or shine, sleet or hail.
That’s the type of attitude JMU fans seem to be missing this year, that devil-may-care, to-Hell-with-it-if-I-catch-a-cold attitude. I’m certainly not the only avid football fan in Harrisonburg, yet I’ve talked to dozens of alumni who all wonder the same thing. Where did all the diehards go?
My investigation concludes with the new student ticket system. It’s got to go.
I don’t want to sound like an old man here, but back in my day, getting a football ticket required some advanced planning skills. Tickets went up for grabs on the Monday 12 days before a football game, and when they ran out of seats, it was better luck next time. Maybe instead of doing something futile like “paying attention in your 8AM,” you should have been on your laptop reserving yourself a seat at the Homecoming game.
The result was a palpable desire to snag football tickets on Mondays and a total feeling of being letdown if you were too slow on the draw. That showed on game days, as students were ready to be loud for a full three and a half hours. They were emotionally invested in their tickets and the planning required to obtain them.
Instead, I now watch freshmen prance up to the library half an hour before kickoff to print off a ticket for entry. It’s maddening, and it’s got to stop.
I can’t make people care about JMU football. As much as I’d like, this strongly-worded letter will likely fall on deaf ears, and people will leave the Nov. 17 ODU game early, if they show up at all. The athletic department is likely at a loss too, quietly shuffling papers and whispering as to how they can keep this new breed of student in the stands through the fourth quarter. Should they drop money from the sky like Georgia State does? Would that even work? Probably not.
Maybe they should throw a kegger at halftime.
The Reception: Putting aside my Boston Marathon sign-off, this is arguably still my most popular column to date. This was part of the portfolio that won me Regional Sports Columnist of the year, and it was well-received by many fans of the program as well as members of both the athletic and alumni outreach/annual giving departments. It's well-documented that I love to receive hate mail, but I don't mind positive feedback either, and this got plenty of it. When The Breeze posted this on its Facebook page -- a rare get for me, because the Breeze Web moderators usually like to distance themselves from my writing style -- it got TONS of likes and comments, sparking a conversation that actually rolled through the ODU game mentioned above. This was the rare column that may have actually had an impact beyond garnering a few laughs with strangers.
The Relevance Today: This upcoming season is a critical period for JMU athletics. If the University has any designs of moving up to the FBS level in the near future, JMU fans must show strong support of the programs they claim to care so much about.
JMU plays Akron in September. Some people have told me, "It's only Akron, what's the big deal?" And if you have said that, then Congratulations, ass hole. You are part of the problem.
Akron is an FBS program -- the third winnable FBS game JMU has played in five years, mind you -- that looks an awful lot like a potential future conference game. If the Dukes go on the road and win in Ohio, that's the sign of a strong program capable of competing and winning at the FBS level. Of course, one win does not an FBS season make, but it's a big statement to the world that Harrisonburg, Va is ready to step up to a bigger stage.
On a larger scale? This season, JMU somehow has managed to snag more nationally televised TV games than any other CAA school. Must be a branding thing, because we certainly don't look better on paper in the preseason. Regardless, Bridgeforth needs to be electric. JMU must show up, stay put, be loud, and be proud to be wearing purple. These are the things that make the loudest statement about the health of our programs. JMU needs that support, now more than ever.
If these things happen, it sends the right messages to an Athletic Department that needs to see more student involvement to justify its big ideas. So put down your beer and remember to yell on third down. This stopped being about a football game a long time ago.
