How to get non-students cheering

[CAHoya07]

I already started a thread on the Hoya Blue board about students, so this is for the all fans not seated in the student section. What can we do to get more fans into the game and cheering? I'm not even talking organized chants, just making noise.

The most important thing is to get more butts in the seats right now. I mean, last night's non-student turnout was just pathetic. But once that happens, how can we get more people into the action? We all know MCI Center sucks as a college venue, but we're stuck with it for a while, so we have to make the best of it.

We've had this discussion before, but I don't think we've had a thread specifically on it in a while. I don't want a sociological examination on why Georgetown fans and alums don't cheer, I want ideas that will get them to cheer.

I have a few ideas myself (expanding the new H-O-Y-A-S spellout cheer to include the student sections is one of them), but we need more. What can we do? What hasn't been done yet? I'd hate to think that the only time we can get a good atmosphere at MCI is when we're playing the #1 team in the country. We are Georgetown. We are better than this.

[SFHoya99]

Win.

[DrumsGoBang]

Free beer night

[YB]

Cheerleaders/Dance team/HB in our aisles and sections, making fans feel in the game and improving the atmosphere. These folks are jaded and will not cheer unless people are forward in asking them to.

[DrumsGoBang]

Beads for Boobs program. The kids will love it.

[michiganhoya]

When was the last time you saw an ad on TV for a G-Town game? I can't remember any recently, but there used to be.

The free ticket giveaways seem to help with attendence.

[RockawayHoya]

yb said:

Cheerleaders/Dance team/HB in our aisles and sections, making fans feel in the game and improving the atmosphere. These folks are jaded and will not cheer unless people are forward in asking them to.

I think that's the first step that needs to be taken. IMO, a fan that gets called out by a cheerleader/dance team member/Hoya Blue member for not cheering and decides not to come to games anymore is not a loss. The person wasn't making noise to begin with, so it's not like we lost crowd noise because we put in effort to increase crowd noise.

In addition, I think one key would be to get EVERY student amped. If the crowd sees 2,000-2,500 students jumping up and down and hollering at the top of their lungs, they might think about cheering. Note, I'm not talking about 2,000-2,500 students merely "showing up." I'm talking about screaming... loudly. Improved coordination between both sides, which I have already heard has drastically improved compared to the past, would also help energize the fans caught in between.

[Big Dog]

You can't badger people. This isn't Russia.

I'm telling you, its all about the atmosphere at MCI, and when that place isn't filled, its pretty depressing, even if there's tons of students on each end.

Mark my words, the alumni will be revved up on Saturday and very loud because they'll feel the energy in the building.

Third-best solution (assuming no on-court arena and no perpetual sell-outs): Put students along at least part of one side of the court. If you're sitting on your hands but staring at a raucous bunch going crazy, you're more inclined to get involved yourself.

I've been to more Marquette games when I was little than I can count, and that place used to be completely dead too. But once the program demonstrated it was committed to being a national player, and once the student sections really started to dominate the environment, alumni really started to get involved as well.

[SFHoya99]

IMO, a fan that gets called out by a cheerleader/dance team member/Hoya Blue member for not cheering and decides not to come to games anymore is not a loss.

Ahhhh! Living in SF and being rather loud, I have no dog in this fight, but this statement is ridiculous.

Crowd noise is not the only freaking goal.

One, the program needs all the money it can get. It doesn't need you scaring off paying customers.

Two, scaring someone off means you never, ever get a chance to get them to cheer again. So I'm not sure how that's a loss.

See, this is why I hated HB when I was in school. The arrogance is astounding. Let people cheer how they want. If you can't convince them without badgering them, let it go. They pay money for entertainment. Not everyone is on the whole 'nother level that HB is on.

Furthermore, stick to the students. You can't even get the students to cheer, and you want to go around insulting alumni?

Last year you folks wouldn't even give up your precious front row seats to spread cheers. You won't stand in the back with the megaphone facing the right way according to the other thread, yet you want the right to walk up to someone you don't know and badger them?

Get the students loud. Win. Get more people in the MCI. Win. People will cheer. But worry about yourselves before you go blasting other people.

[Big Dog]

Agree with everything SF said. There's no magic tonic for crowd noise. It takes winning and creating an all-encompassing fun (i.e. non-harassing) atmosphere.

Lots of alumni want to go and watch and enjoy hoops, and they'll get into a good game if one develops. They don't want to waste their time memorizing silly chants or reviewing cheer sheets, etc.

Building school spirit is a ground-up process. It starts with success, then includes student spirit, and then gradually catches alumni.

[HoyaSinceBirth]

First of comparing last year to this year is unfair because this is an entirely different Hoya Blue. True I think we need to spread out more to work thestudent section more effectively. We diefiently shoudln't have the Megaphones in the frint row unless they're yelling back towards the section. But atleast a large group of students cheer. About 10 alumni cheer. The only time Alumni get loud and stand is when they're throwing out t shirts. If we ran aroudn the entrie game pretending to be about to throw a shirt would you be loud then? I also really wish they would later the seating arangement. Have the student section ring the entire court or at least 3/4 so that our prescence is through out the arena not just on either end with the majority of the arena un affected by our enthusiasm.

[jerseyhoya34]

If MCI had caviar vendors circulating in the arena, at least the adults would shout to get their attention.

[SFHoya99]

hoyasincebirth said:

We diefiently shoudln't have the Megaphones in the frint row unless they're yelling back towards the section.

I honestly can't believe you had yell leaders and megaphones and didn't face them towards the crowd you were trying to direct. What's the point, otherwise?

Cal has yell leaders. They get to see very little of the game. It is part of the job.

[Deleted]

cahoya07 said:

What can we do? What hasn't been done yet?

Play every game in McD. Only the die hards will come out.

[Big Dog]

you absolutely cannot ring the court with students. that's ridiculous.

I'll submit the same proposal I did a year ago. Rather than put students at both ends, put them at one end, and then give a sort of wrap-around effect on at least one of the adjacent corners of the floor. I don't think there'd be enough students to reach all the way to mid-court, but maybe one section or so along the side. Set it up so the section reaches to the point where its directly across from the visiting bench (behind the visiting bench would invite trouble).

Effectively, I'm talking about devoting sections 113-117 (check out this link to see what I'm talking about: www.mcicenter.com/cgi-local/seatview.pl?sport=bball§ion=116) to students. Would there be enough to fill these seats?

[paranoya]

Right on SF. If the students are raucous that can be very infectious. Badgering people will only lose money for the program. Winning also doesnt hurt either.

[Deleted]

I say devote 109-113. Or 100-102 and 120, 121. Whichever side the TV cameras would face.

[Big Dog]

109 puts them right behind the visitors bench. Scary.

[Deleted]

bigdog said:

109 puts them right behind the visitors bench. Scary.

Ok... then the second grouping of sections I mentioned. Besides, wouldn't those be the ones the TV cameras caught?

[Just Cos]

Let me try to offer something constructive instead of pointing a finger…

I attended a San Diego Gulls minor league hockey game last week. Not surprisingly, the crowd was rather small and quiet. In fact, the atmosphere was comparable to a Georgetown weak conference opponent game. However, since there was no student section, the Gulls had a few people that they used as “yell leaders.” These guys roamed through the crowd throughout the game. At appropriate moments, these people would get a small section of the crowd going using chants, free t-shirts (even jerseys), and other simple tactics (one of the most effective thing was just getting people clapping in rhythm). Occasionally the excitement of the small crowd spread into other sections and a buzz was created. It is not difficult to do and would energize more people.

Some things to note:

- One reason this worked was because it was organized, not some drunk individual
- It is important to note the balance between “cheer sheets” and “cheering”
- Also important to note that they were exciting groups versus individuals
- Lastly, it is amazing how much a dancing, fat man giving away stuff can energize a crowd

Also, I’m very tired of people pointing fingers. HB has done a great job. The YA have done a great job. Other HHC members and season ticket holders have done a great job. Each group has a different measure for success. So please understand this:

- Students will always come to the game and a some will lead cheers
- Non-students will always come and some will be vocal
- Non-diehards will always come and some will be hesitant to cheer

That is the way it is. We need all these people as a PROGRAM. No one group is at fault. Are there things that can be improved? Yes. Have things been better? Yes. Have things been worse? Yes. But finger pointing is just pointless. It is not going to do anything. For better or worse, we play at the MCI Center and maybe that makes things more difficult. But remember to think about the program as a whole and not your worldview.

My rant is over. I’m excited for Duke and to come back to the Hilltop. Never watched a Hoya game from the 400s, so that will be interesting. I’ll see some of you at the HHC pre-game.