There is not a single MAC school that could have half as many students at the game as we did yesterday.

Our fans have never been (and likely will never be) rabid. That's not OUr culture. Games are a social experience.

If we ever get to the point of selling alcohol, I could see that possibly changing for the better. Though also possibly more "incidents" of the nature we had yesterday.

average home attendance for 4 conference games this season-

5,609 OHIO
4,080 Toledo
2,956 Ball St
2,830 Buffalo
2,751 Akron
2,493 CMU
2,242 Miami
2,093 Kent St
2,148 WMU
1,717 NIU
1,667 EMU
802 BGSU

I can't think of a MAC campus that has less people within a fifty mile radius of their campus than us, yet has more dedicated fans than us. The intensity waxes and wanes (at the least the 35 years that I have been following it) but we continuously remain on top as far as fan support ( both townspeople and students.)

Keep in mind the long MLK holiday weekend probably meant some students were not in Athens.

Go Cats 105, it would an interesting case study. Before the Ozone in the 80s when I was a student, we had a loud impromptu student body. I just assumed that most of these student like myself came from high schools who had boisterous student participation at games. I still check out a few high school games each season and many schools still have loud student sections (the difference being they have themes like "Hawaiian or Patriotic" dress for the games.) Outside of not having a stellar season the last couple of years, I am not sure why our student body has not brought their A game recently. Time will tell, or perhaps some budding Sociologist has the answer. Other than that, I just don't know.

Being there - and "They know they are there" are two different things....

There are some real interesting posts on the subject. Cc-Cat, I remember the Crazy Cats well. It was almost like there was this underground buzz about the Bobcats on campus and yet there were still so many students, even sports fans who weren't completely in the loop. I can remember being at the dining hall on East Green before the game, there were some Crazy Cat guys who were trying to get others to go to the game. Most were even sports fans, but just didn't quite seem to understand that the Bobcats had a chance. So many underclassmen knew very little about the MAC, since they came from places where Ohio State, Cincinnati, Dayton and even Cleveland State was the talk of the town.

If you think we don't get much local sports publicity now across Ohio, you should have seen in the early 1980s. This was an era when ESPN was still in it's infancy and there was no Time Warner Sports or anything like it.

Today, you can watch college basketball on plethora of networks, and or read about it on the internet via sports sites or social media. Back then, you literally had to take ownership of your team. For both guys and girls, it was more than going to a game to socialize and meet girls and boys, you could do that after the game uptown or at a victory party in a dorm. The dynamics are so much different now. I am not saying everyone is different compared to the 1980s. However, today I think sports are seen by many as a socializing opportunity, whereas back in the Nee era it was about rallying around your team, the socialization "let's celebrate a big victory" was something you thought about and did after the game.

Some really good assessments here. Hey man…I Love My Bobcats. I was an 80’s Bobcat and would put the heat on my baseball buddies to come to the games. Women’s and Men’s. Once I was able to get them to a game, most never missed a home game. It was a little easier than getting my dorm buddies there but many of them became instant home game locks. The points made about lack of knowledge (statewide) on the Convo and our Men’s Program compared to the other schools in Ohio are spot on (in the 80’s). Today it’s hard to pinpoint why we have seen the drop off (in fandemonium).

We need a strong core of students to turn this around. I’m sure it’s not as bad as it seems. Hopefully the students will settle in this week and be back in full force for the Toledo Game.

My biggest regret this past weekend is not having Danny’s Knee there to help me rag the EMU players. :)

BANG! Oh baby what a big time miss of Danny’s Knee!

Its the underground buzz that is missing at the moment IMO.

Does anyone really want to argue this?! Take a poll of fans at the game. How many have a clue who we played on the road last week?

The vast majority of our fans/students (read: not the folks on BA) come to the game as a fun/social experience. They are not living and dying by the outcome. Our crowds are more akin to minor league baseball.

Never going to happen. For some reason our athletic department thinks having these seats makes us more big time. I think inserting these seats in and the table in front of the student section was the beginning of the end for the really rowdy crowds at OU. We don't need those chairs on the court. We aren't OSU or UNC that have to give our big donors seats on the floor. A lot of times those seats are empty on weeknight games anyway.

I'm amazed at the amount of navel gazing and whining this board does about fans. We had a great crowd Saturday despite dire (erroneous) weather warnings and the first instinct here is to bitch.

A completely full student section watched a crappy game on a cold and rainy day, but they somehow did it wrong. We sell more season tickets than any team in the MAC, but the old folks aren't loud or they don't come often enough, or they aren't standing all day.

Get over yourselves. Stop worrying about about who does and doesn't come to games and how they do or don't behave. Be glad they're there supporting our teams.

Actual excitement is organic. It doesn't happen when you're watching a team that can't solve a zone and can't hit a shot. The Convo will get loud when there's something to cheer about.