who was" mini thug" ?

One of the Ozone leaders screamed in these quiet girls faces, telling them to get louder etc. one of the girls yelled back saying she was sick and couldn't yell. Ozone leader then decided tell everyone to go home if they weren't cheering.

Notice how he yelled at the quiet girls. Didn't yell at any of the guys who weren't being loud. People stood up for the innocent girl that was yelled at, and chanted asshole at the ozone leader.

Ozone has been terrible recently. The section leaders cannot be taken seriously and have just been doing an awful job. I do find it slightly disapponting that some people aren't being loud, etc, but they're there, standing up and attentively watching the game. That's fine by me.

Holy cow, that's terrible. Not that this needs to be said, but that isn't leadership. People shouldn't have their fellow students screaming in their faces and berating them. Aren't we on the same team?

Exactly. Other people and I stood up for the girls, which is more in line with the spirit of OU.

Getting yelled at and ridiculed isn't going to motivate people to cheer. Maybe try a more mature, positive approach instead of the Holier than Thou Ozone approach.

Indeed. Lead by example. You get people to follow you by being genuine and enthusiastic, not through begging and berating.

Just want to make it clear, I am NOT saying what the OZone leader is justified (I don't know the particulars of what happened, who did it, etc.) That said...

-We do need to be serious on making sure that those who sit in the OZone actually stand up and cheer (see what I did there?) during the game. If you're sick and can't yell that loud, that's one thing, but there's no reason to sit in an OZone bleacher seat texting or doing whatever the entire game, when you can give up that seat to someone who is actually willing to cheer. That is something I and the other board members have discussed.

-To answer Shabamon's question about what happened to the section leader arrangement, I say, what happened to Situation? He's the one that pushed for that whole meeting back in December, he came to the games and participated in the games before break, but he's been gone since then. Am I the only one who thinks that's a problem? There's a reason the OZone is regarded as a STUDENT section. Non-students can offer advice and positive feedback, but any attempts to actually change the structure of a student section when you're no longer a student is just pathetic.

Again, was the particular OZone leader right in what he did? NO! But the girl who wasn't paying attention to the game, while sitting in an area where it is imperative you pay attention, is not off the hook either...

Agreed.

And I don't think there's a need to go HR on the guy who acted out today, Tim. He probably reads this board.

My fiancee, who only goes to games because I like to go to games, said that they should have event staff policing who gets to go down in the section (like, people wearing the official shirts), not even knowing that was the way it used to be. Sibs weekend isn't the day to do that, but I've always thought it was the right way to go.

This will just get more people calling the front row a bunch of assholes. From reading the Akron board, there is a perception that the AK-Rowdies are not "cool" in the eyes of other Akron students because they employ some of those same tactics. Instead, I would strategically sit next to the girl who's not fixated on the game, and do your normal O Zone fare.

Do NOT become the AK-Rowdies!

This will just get more people calling the front row a bunch of assholes. From reading the Akron board, there is a perception that the AK-Rowdies are not "cool" in the eyes of other Akron students because they employ some of those same tactics. Instead, I would strategically sit next to the girl who's not fixated on the game, and do your normal O Zone fare.

Do NOT become the AK-Rowdies!
[/QUOTE]Don't worry about that! We aren't like that and we never will be. Something does need to be said about us becoming a nationally recognised team and more people showing up. More people means less noise from individual fans, but more overall noise.

Brilliant, Brian. Simply brilliant!

Fundamentally, I sort of disagree with this. If I'm an O Zone member who actively participates in games and I'm too sick to yell but healthy enough to still go, I'm still going to want to be where I always watch the game for. No, the girl who was yelled at probably isn't that way, but you get the picture.

I would rather have a smaller student section that made a ton of noise rather than huge numbers that are quiet. Last week I saw Cornell @ Penn in Philadelphia. Penn has little talent and they're not well-coached. They had ten guys in their student section but they were going absolutely nuts all game, and that made it okay that there were so few numbers.

My freshman year, I went to a Saturday game against Bowling Green (the game where Clay Mcgowan hit a 3)with an O Zone section that was maybe a third of the size of the one today. I swear, it was one of the most fun times I've had watching games in the Convo.