To be fair, I was also in college during the O'Shea days ('01-'05) and if I'm remembering correctly I went to maybe 3 or 4 basketball games during my entire college tenure. Easily been to more games as an alumni (who has never lived in Athens as an alum) than I went to as a student. Looking back, I wish I'd have gone to more basketball (and baseball!) games, but I'm sure whatever I was doing at the time was at least as entertaining.

Beg to differ. There are things they could do. And it has nothing to do with free crap to hand out at games. They could start with making a splash with the first real home game of the year and not scheduling it against the football game on ESPN against the biggest rival we have.

What is Buffalo sucks?

I'm just throwing something at the wall here: Do they need to think about scaling it down for quality over quantity for the time being? Fill one section and make it rabid. Maybe if one small portion of it is rabid, it will attract more students over time? Isn't that how it grew to be such an institution? People seeing how much fun that small group of students was having and wanting to be in on that?

The real answer, of course, is importing hundreds of Brazilian students to Athens and just letting them party courtside the entire game.

Fair point on the influence and efforts.

My son is a junior too, grew up in Athens going to every game and still goes to every game and is definitely not 'meh about OU hoops. However, he comes and sits with us most of the time, his friends are usually not in attendance.

But as Shab noted, we had some pretty mediocre teams during the TOS era, yet the OZone was bananas. Hell, midweek MAC games were some of my favorite times to go to the Convo. Finish up my shift at Shively Dining Hall and throw my OZone shirt on and get rowdy for a couple hours.

That was a golden era for the OZone because of the active people running it, and it was good before the surprise tip in by Leon to beat UB. Winning clearly doesn't hurt, but it's not the only reason. As for the bandwagon, you need the bandwagon fans because eventually some of them become goofy loyal fans like the regulars on this board.



That said, In my opinion....

Getting butts in seats now-a-days means doing more than just winning. It requires making every game day an EVENT, and an event that's not to be missed. A portion of that has nothing to do with winning, but has to do with game day experiences that fans get when they buy a ticket, or students get when the choose to get in for free.

It's things like how much fun it is in the building before the game, during player intro's, and during TV timeouts, halftime entertainment. It's the music played, and things done with the video board that engage people. It's decorating The Convo to make it FEEL cool, and show off the successes of the past to make people truly feel the winning tradition that has been in there for a long time. And right now, Ohio Athletics is falling short in this area in my opinion. Compared to many big/nice arena's in the State of Ohio, it is bland. The hallways are white and concrete, and in general have nothing on the walls that screams tradition, fun, or coolness. While that might have gotten it done when I was in school in the late 90's, it doesn't now. The walls of The Convo should look as great as the walls of Baker Center - and they don't.

The ease of getting in and out of the building is an issue with these annoying 'security' people funneling everyone through one entryway. Concessions, as stated a million times on this board, could be drastically improved. Blue painted restrooms....you get the picture.

Meanwhile, in-state students who hail from Columbus, Cincy, Dayton, or Cleveland spend time in places like the Schott, Fifth Third Arena, UD Arena, or The Q, which all make The Convo look a lot less cool. Maybe I'm all wet here, but to me, all those things are big factors in the current age. Looking cool matters. Looking like you won a lot matters. And other than a bad-ass video board, and a few banners on the roof, there's nothing in The Convo that shouts "cool", or this is THE place to be. Heck, as several of us have noted on here before, it's not even well lit up at night and on Game Days to know there is a game taking place.

Specific to students, want to figure out what gets them in the seats? Go to UD, UC, Ohio State, and Xavier and ask the hundreds up to maybe a thousand WHY they consistently turn out for games regardless of the tip time --- because they do. Then ask those Athletic Departments what they're doing with their student sections. It's the same state, with a whole bunch of the same types of kids, and they routinely fill most of their student sections. Yes, I'm aware that there's a huge difference between Big East/B1G basketball and the MAC. The gap isn't nearly as huge though from the AAC or A10 to the MAC. UD wasn't very good last year, won't be this year, and will STILL put butts in student seats.

If you make The Convo THE place to be, and restore the cool factor, whatever it is now, and usually win 18-22+ games a year, students and fans will show up more than they are right now. Because unlike us, the regulars of this board, not everyone shows up just for the game because they're basketball junkies.

Well said. Since this is the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Convo, the entire year should be spent celebrating all of the great events that have happened in this building. Aside from the deplorable hand driers in the restrooms that obviously came with the facility in 1968, there is very little to reflect upon the storied history of the building. Lots of sports history there and I can recall when The Convo was a great concert venue as well.

As another aside, is there a reason why we have nothing but holes and patching for the 2 video boards that were removed on the floor? If we can't replace them with other better video options, at least get an Ohio banner or flag or something to cover them up.

I would add that the Ozone began the decline when the games began having "Hosts, or MCs". When a time out comes, and the Ozone really would get going; suddenly the mic comes on and drowns them out to prepare for a "commercial" or buritto toss. The involvement of the student section has been replaced by uncomfortable antics that have no business in the Convo. I'll add, the 110 plays about 2 songs before halftime, and seems to stand there awkwardly, at times. We all get to listen to Rap music, in stead. This is not the atmosphere conducive to rowdy fan involvement.

While some don't like the "rap music" and prefer the 110 at all hours of the day, I have sincere doubts that students, and younger alumni actually feel this way. And those are the people who generally stand up and make the atmosphere loud. I haven't been to hundreds of college arena's, but I've been to Hinkle, UD Arena, Fifth Third Arena, The Schott, Crisler Arena, among a few MAC venues and the Nutter Center.

At all of the places I've been to that really rock besides Athens, the band is not the center piece of the college basketball experience during down times like everyone on Bobcat Attack seems to desire. They do, of course, use the pep band, but it's probably about the same amount as is done right now at Ohio, maybe a little less.

Every building has Em-Cee'd moments where there is something on the floor in conjunction with the video board being done to engage the crowd. I think what needs a little help in The Convo is smoothly orchestrating how all that goes - so the 110 plays this media TO, and that one, and two songs right as the halftime begins, or whatever. And I'm sure they're working on this with the new board, and have worked on it prior to the new board.

And, making those sponsored moments something that actually engages the crowd. Personally, my favorite promo from years back was the realtor's mini house that a blindfolded student had to find with the help of the crowd. Stuff like that is fun - but maybe it's not to others and students now, I don't know.

50 cent beers.