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Ohio Basketball Topic
Topic: Ohio Announces Update and Refesh of Student Group The O-Zone
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oldkatz
3/4/2018 10:02 PM
OhioCatFan wrote:expand_more
To be honest I had actually expected a rebrand to get it away from the O-Zone name period. Apparently not......
Yes, I thought they might go back to the CrazyCats, or something like that. But, that's OK. The O-Zone name is just fine. Does anyone remember when the O-Zone name was chosen? I kind of think I remember that there was some dead time between the end of the CrazyCats and the beginning of the O-zone, but I'm not at all sure of the timeline here.

Believe it was TOS who coined the term, squid-dog. And there was a time gap.
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boydhallbobcat
3/4/2018 10:23 PM
Gotta get rid of the Bobcat Black and the table in front of the OZone.. Been saying that since they put it in. Kills the vibe for students. Let the leaders get their feet on the floor. Also, any way to make it a requirement to stand up in the Ozone? I HATE seeing students sitting down during the game.
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Buckeye to Bobcat
3/4/2018 11:03 PM
boydhallbobcat wrote:expand_more
Gotta get rid of the Bobcat Black and the table in front of the OZone.. Been saying that since they put it in. Kills the vibe for students. Let the leaders get their feet on the floor. Also, any way to make it a requirement to stand up in the Ozone? I HATE seeing students sitting down during the game.
The Cameron Crazies do just fine working from behind a table.......

I am tired of hearing that argument. The bottomline is the kids never owned the O-Zone and the creativity that came out of there were Bob Knight profanities. Sorry, just thought I'd state the obvious.

I mean let's be real here too, our kids have the best set-up in the conference to be hostile. How many schools have sideline seats for their students in the conference? Heck, Western Michigan's are on the upper deck like something out of Hoosiers in that crackerbox gym. Now if we wanted to send a message, move the O-Zone kids to behind the bucket in the upper deck until they can earn those seats back.....not like a lot of the kids on campus would give a hoot but would at least tell the kids that if they want them back, they gotta kick and howl to get em back and guarantee attendance and activity there. Which is my way of saying some kids on campus need to grab that section by the balls and rebuild ranks.
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boydhallbobcat
3/5/2018 7:54 AM
Buckeye to Bobcat wrote:expand_more
Gotta get rid of the Bobcat Black and the table in front of the OZone.. Been saying that since they put it in. Kills the vibe for students. Let the leaders get their feet on the floor. Also, any way to make it a requirement to stand up in the Ozone? I HATE seeing students sitting down during the game.
The Cameron Crazies do just fine working from behind a table.......

I am tired of hearing that argument. The bottomline is the kids never owned the O-Zone and the creativity that came out of there were Bob Knight profanities. Sorry, just thought I'd state the obvious.

I mean let's be real here too, our kids have the best set-up in the conference to be hostile. How many schools have sideline seats for their students in the conference? Heck, Western Michigan's are on the upper deck like something out of Hoosiers in that crackerbox gym. Now if we wanted to send a message, move the O-Zone kids to behind the bucket in the upper deck until they can earn those seats back.....not like a lot of the kids on campus would give a hoot but would at least tell the kids that if they want them back, they gotta kick and howl to get em back and guarantee attendance and activity there. Which is my way of saying some kids on campus need to grab that section by the balls and rebuild ranks.
The Cameron Crazies have a little more to be excited about. Plus it's a tiny arena. They've got to seat people wherever they can cram them in. Moving the students behind the basket won't work. They'll just become even more disconnected and the few students that at least try to be peppy, will stop coming.

The Black Seats are too "big time" for me. I hate the idea of people getting to sit on the floor because they are donors or they have a lot of money. I understand it's the nature of the beast, but we got along so well without them for so long...Do we really need them? I've sat down there and it is cool, I admit, but there are plenty of other good seats in the Convo.
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Andrew Ruck
3/5/2018 9:07 AM
OhioCatFan wrote:expand_more
Does anyone remember when the O-Zone name was chosen? I kind of think I remember that there was some dead time between the end of the CrazyCats and the beginning of the O-zone, but I'm not at all sure of the timeline here.
Ozone was created in the fall of 2001, Tim O'Shea's first season. We had a select-your-seat event at the Convo before the season even began. Dan Lowe and others camped out for it...most others were there at least an hour before, and the entire bleacher section was filled out, without the 110 who were still in the end at that time. They fed us some pizza and talked to us for a little bit and sent us on our way with our t-shirts pretty quickly. I want to say it was $10. This was also the event that John Rhodes re-introduced the Winning Team / Losing Team chant that he remembered the Ohio student section doing in his playing days but had fallen off the playlist years ago.

We were coming off many years of mediocrity and no postseason success whatsoever, but it was very well attended. If you tried to do something like that on a random Saturday morning in early November now, I am confident less than 30 students would show up.
Last Edited: 3/5/2018 9:08:28 AM by Andrew Ruck
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GoCats105
3/5/2018 9:13 AM
Maybe we need another one of these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZkebd9ehkQ
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OhioCatFan
3/5/2018 10:41 AM
Andrew Ruck wrote:expand_more
Does anyone remember when the O-Zone name was chosen? I kind of think I remember that there was some dead time between the end of the CrazyCats and the beginning of the O-zone, but I'm not at all sure of the timeline here.
Ozone was created in the fall of 2001, Tim O'Shea's first season. We had a select-your-seat event at the Convo before the season even began. Dan Lowe and others camped out for it...most others were there at least an hour before, and the entire bleacher section was filled out, without the 110 who were still in the end at that time. They fed us some pizza and talked to us for a little bit and sent us on our way with our t-shirts pretty quickly. I want to say it was $10. This was also the event that John Rhodes re-introduced the Winning Team / Losing Team chant that he remembered the Ohio student section doing in his playing days but had fallen off the playlist years ago.

We were coming off many years of mediocrity and no postseason success whatsoever, but it was very well attended. If you tried to do something like that on a random Saturday morning in early November now, I am confident less than 30 students would show up.
Thanks for the history lesson. I appreciate it!
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Alan Swank
3/5/2018 3:07 PM
Buckeye to Bobcat wrote:expand_more
Gotta get rid of the Bobcat Black and the table in front of the OZone.. Been saying that since they put it in. Kills the vibe for students. Let the leaders get their feet on the floor. Also, any way to make it a requirement to stand up in the Ozone? I HATE seeing students sitting down during the game.
The Cameron Crazies do just fine working from behind a table.......

I am tired of hearing that argument. The bottomline is the kids never owned the O-Zone and the creativity that came out of there were Bob Knight profanities. Sorry, just thought I'd state the obvious.

I mean let's be real here too, our kids have the best set-up in the conference to be hostile. How many schools have sideline seats for their students in the conference? Heck, Western Michigan's are on the upper deck like something out of Hoosiers in that crackerbox gym. Now if we wanted to send a message, move the O-Zone kids to behind the bucket in the upper deck until they can earn those seats back.....not like a lot of the kids on campus would give a hoot but would at least tell the kids that if they want them back, they gotta kick and howl to get em back and guarantee attendance and activity there. Which is my way of saying some kids on campus need to grab that section by the balls and rebuild ranks.
Not sure how you can make the statement that the kids never owned the OZone. Matt you were in elementary school when the OZone was founded and in it's early days, it was very much owned by the students. When the current AD came in and began the quest to control everything is when it began to lose it's authenticity. As for the black seats behind the table, 90% of them sit empty every game. Move the tables and let the "kids" have their space back. You can't tell people how to cheer and your so called kids are the same way. Let them run the show.
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GraffZ06
3/5/2018 6:44 PM
Alan Swank wrote:expand_more
You can't tell people how to cheer...
"Stand for Defense" claims otherwise :-p.
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Speaker of Truth
3/6/2018 9:01 AM
Another elephant in the room seems to the departure of Drake. Tough to say how much attendance drop off was affected by him, but it has to be factored in.
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Recovering Journalist
3/6/2018 9:06 AM
It doesn't need a new logo, seats removed or any other updates or refreshing. All it needs to come back to life if a good team on the floor. I'm not too optimistic about that happening any time soon.
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Alan Swank
3/6/2018 10:06 AM
GraffZ06 wrote:expand_more
You can't tell people how to cheer...
"Stand for Defense" claims otherwise :-p.
But to be effective more than 20% need to do it.
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RPKirtland
3/6/2018 12:00 PM
Alan Swank wrote:expand_more
Man, I forgot all about this. Yeah, that ended up being bullshit. The seating enforcement lasted maybe 4 BBall games.
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RPKirtland
3/6/2018 12:06 PM
the123kid wrote:expand_more
Another elephant in the room seems to the departure of Drake. Tough to say how much attendance drop off was affected by him, but it has to be factored in.
I won't speak to the departure or replacement of Drake, as I probably can't provide an objective opinion without getting emotional.

All I will say is that Drake did a heck of a lot and was willing to try pretty much whatever we could come up with if we would justify it. There was a whole summer at Peden where we were probing the viability of smoke bombs in the O Zone to start the halves, just because we threw it out there and Drake said "F*** it, worth a shot"

Even the last year I was there, when the dirt sheets got neutered, there was a discussion with Drake about loopholes, ways to keep the info going, and how to keep that edge going. You could tell with him that if he were in school, he would have been right there with us, and he was as invested as we were. He always did a very good job, in my mind, of straddling his professional responsibilities with his desire and love for OU to be a power.

I cannot speak to how that relationship is going now, but I only hope that whoever took over Drakes role is as open to these type of unique ideas.

I also hope that someone steps up to take charge of the O Zone soon.
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GraffZ06
3/6/2018 3:17 PM
RPKirtland wrote:expand_more
Even the last year I was there, when the dirt sheets got neutered, there was a discussion with Drake about loopholes, ways to keep the info going, and how to keep that edge going....
I am not now, nor have ever been a student member of the OZone. However, this sentence is extremely disturbing and revealing to me.

Who, in their great wisdom, decided it was a mother-loving good idea...to REDUCE THE EFFECTIVENESS AND THE FUN of the students, by denying them (or at least neutering as is stated - which to me means, now now boys tone it down we don't want to hurt anybodies feelings) the very ability to get under the skin, annoy, get in the heads of our opponents (and thus helping create a very real competitive advantage) all while having fun and encouraging ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT AND PARTICIPATION during a game (aka not just following standard, boring cheerleader cheers and/or neanderthal profanity laced tirades)???

Is this the limp-wristed PC police and anti-bullying indoctrination garbage rearing its ugly head?

Want to kill student enthusiasm, participation and attendance? Take a good look - you've succeeded.

Maybe I'm way off base. Like I said I have 0 knowledge about the inner-workings of this organization. But if it IS what it sounds like to me - whoever made that decision needs fired. Immediately. And probably sent out with a good old fashioned OZone mocking.
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The Optimist
3/6/2018 5:58 PM
Buckeye to Bobcat wrote:expand_more
Gotta get rid of the Bobcat Black and the table in front of the OZone.. Been saying that since they put it in. Kills the vibe for students. Let the leaders get their feet on the floor. Also, any way to make it a requirement to stand up in the Ozone? I HATE seeing students sitting down during the game.

I mean let's be real here too, our kids have the best set-up in the conference to be hostile. How many schools have sideline seats for their students in the conference? Heck, Western Michigan's are on the upper deck like something out of Hoosiers in that crackerbox gym. Now if we wanted to send a message, move the O-Zone kids to behind the bucket in the upper deck until they can earn those seats back.....
Best setup in the conference? Not exactly a high-standard you are aiming for here, huh?

We shouldn't want our student section to be like WMU or Akron or Kent or Miami or any other "student section" in the MAC... For awhile, the O Zone was the ONLY student section in the MAC worth their weight.

The Bobcat Black seats are a nice little revenue boost for the athletic department, but hardly some massive cash windfall that has reshaped the finances of the department. Bobcat Black seats=absolute failure. Whatever cash we've gained from that endeavor isn't worth what we've sacrificed in home-court advantage.
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Pete Chouteau
3/6/2018 7:04 PM
In the early 90s, Bobcat Black seats were creatively called "press row". And they were occupied. And it stifled nothing.
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Alan Swank
3/6/2018 8:21 PM
Pete Chouteau wrote:expand_more
In the early 90s, Bobcat Black seats were creatively called "press row". And they were occupied. And it stifled nothing.
They were occupied Pete. The black seats behind the table are rarely occupied now. One of the reasons to move them was to get the students closer to the action.
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RPKirtland
3/9/2018 10:12 AM
GraffZ06 wrote:expand_more
Even the last year I was there, when the dirt sheets got neutered, there was a discussion with Drake about loopholes, ways to keep the info going, and how to keep that edge going....
I am not now, nor have ever been a student member of the OZone. However, this sentence is extremely disturbing and revealing to me.

Who, in their great wisdom, decided it was a mother-loving good idea...to REDUCE THE EFFECTIVENESS AND THE FUN of the students, by denying them (or at least neutering as is stated - which to me means, now now boys tone it down we don't want to hurt anybodies feelings) the very ability to get under the skin, annoy, get in the heads of our opponents (and thus helping create a very real competitive advantage) all while having fun and encouraging ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT AND PARTICIPATION during a game (aka not just following standard, boring cheerleader cheers and/or neanderthal profanity laced tirades)???

Is this the limp-wristed PC police and anti-bullying indoctrination garbage rearing its ugly head?

Want to kill student enthusiasm, participation and attendance? Take a good look - you've succeeded.

Maybe I'm way off base. Like I said I have 0 knowledge about the inner-workings of this organization. But if it IS what it sounds like to me - whoever made that decision needs fired. Immediately. And probably sent out with a good old fashioned OZone mocking.
Oh, I guess I never said this story. It was actually my Junior spring. We were making a few comments about a Miami (and future Green Bay Packer) player, and his mom got a little upset about our comments and complained to some folks who had power at OU. We had a convo with a few folks about toning it down a tad.

I don't think we went over the line with him compared to some of the stuff we said to other players.

We then made a few "Nice sheets" that were over-the-top saccharin sweet to drive the point that we thought that concept was unsustainable, and in due time we got back to doing as much research and posting as much personal stuff as we used to.
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ts1227
3/9/2018 12:16 PM
RPKirtland wrote:expand_more
Oh, I guess I never said this story. It was actually my Junior spring. We were making a few comments about a Miami (and future Green Bay Packer) player, and his mom got a little upset about our comments and complained to some folks who had power at OU. We had a convo with a few folks about toning it down a tad.

I don't think we went over the line with him compared to some of the stuff we said to other players.

We then made a few "Nice sheets" that were over-the-top saccharin sweet to drive the point that we thought that concept was unsustainable, and in due time we got back to doing as much research and posting as much personal stuff as we used to.
This has always yo-yo’ed over the years. It’s a continuous cycle of dirt sheets go too far and/or someone whines, higher ups yell, sheets tame some, everyone forgets over time as there are no issues, sheets ramp back up, repeat.
Last Edited: 3/9/2018 12:17:39 PM by ts1227
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RPKirtland
3/9/2018 5:15 PM
I've got to take this opportunity to give a massive shoutout to the OU athletic department.

I received an email today asking for my time to hop on a call and workshop some ideas for the O Zone refresh, so that this year can be different.

Some of the ideas being floated by the administration now should *really* re-energize the casual students.

Insofar as the O Zone is concerned, I pushed hard for active recruitment and identification of leaders to really "make the group theirs" starting with freshman orientation.

Future's brighter than it was this morning.
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bigtillyoopsupsideurhead
3/9/2018 7:48 PM
RPKirtland wrote:expand_more
I've got to take this opportunity to give a massive shoutout to the OU athletic department.

I received an email today asking for my time to hop on a call and workshop some ideas for the O Zone refresh, so that this year can be different.

Some of the ideas being floated by the administration now should *really* re-energize the casual students.

Insofar as the O Zone is concerned, I pushed hard for active recruitment and identification of leaders to really "make the group theirs" starting with freshman orientation.

Future's brighter than it was this morning.
I don't know if this still happens, but when I was in the O Zone during pre-college the incoming Freshmen were played a video showing different on-campus activities and groups and the O Zone was featured prominently in the video right near the end. Right when the video is over the Freshmen (with their parents) are unleashed to the Baker ballroom to sign up for various student groups. We always got a huge line of students ready to buy their membership + shirt for $15 right there.
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Buckeye to Bobcat
3/9/2018 10:36 PM
The Optimist wrote:expand_more
Gotta get rid of the Bobcat Black and the table in front of the OZone.. Been saying that since they put it in. Kills the vibe for students. Let the leaders get their feet on the floor. Also, any way to make it a requirement to stand up in the Ozone? I HATE seeing students sitting down during the game.

I mean let's be real here too, our kids have the best set-up in the conference to be hostile. How many schools have sideline seats for their students in the conference? Heck, Western Michigan's are on the upper deck like something out of Hoosiers in that crackerbox gym. Now if we wanted to send a message, move the O-Zone kids to behind the bucket in the upper deck until they can earn those seats back.....
Best setup in the conference? Not exactly a high-standard you are aiming for here, huh?

We shouldn't want our student section to be like WMU or Akron or Kent or Miami or any other "student section" in the MAC... For awhile, the O Zone was the ONLY student section in the MAC worth their weight.

The Bobcat Black seats are a nice little revenue boost for the athletic department, but hardly some massive cash windfall that has reshaped the finances of the department. Bobcat Black seats=absolute failure. Whatever cash we've gained from that endeavor isn't worth what we've sacrificed in home-court advantage.
Sorry for the comparison. Apologies. Just sticking with around the league and been a little sloppy with being on the road for the last month.......
Last Edited: 3/10/2018 10:10:38 AM by Buckeye to Bobcat
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GraffZ06
3/10/2018 12:09 AM
RPKirtland wrote:expand_more
I've got to take this opportunity to give a massive shoutout to the OU athletic department.

I received an email today asking for my time to hop on a call and workshop some ideas for the O Zone refresh, so that this year can be different.

Some of the ideas being floated by the administration now should *really* re-energize the casual students.

Insofar as the O Zone is concerned, I pushed hard for active recruitment and identification of leaders to really "make the group theirs" starting with freshman orientation.

Future's brighter than it was this morning.
This is fantastic news.
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Alan Swank
3/10/2018 8:25 AM
RPKirtland wrote:expand_more
I've got to take this opportunity to give a massive shoutout to the OU athletic department.

I received an email today asking for my time to hop on a call and workshop some ideas for the O Zone refresh, so that this year can be different.

Some of the ideas being floated by the administration now should *really* re-energize the casual students.

Insofar as the O Zone is concerned, I pushed hard for active recruitment and identification of leaders to really "make the group theirs" starting with freshman orientation.

Future's brighter than it was this morning.
Looks like they are monitoring this board again or maybe they never stopped. That said, parking, exterior lights to the Convo, hand dryers and please GET RID OF STAND FOR DEFENSE. Thank you.
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