Here's a few ideas that I think could go a long way as far as gameday experience is concerned.

Don't sweat the complaints on this board too much.

1) I really think it should be the entire bleacher section. I'm sure there are more than enough official card-carrying O Zone members to fill those sections four times over, and people can do laundry. Entrance to those sections has been policed by event staff in the past. It's doable. I know there are plenty of casual members that attend games more frequently in conference play. One idea would be to keep the section open to any students in games prior to winter break and then police it in conference games. I'm neither here nor there with that idea.

2) I wouldn't suggest doing anything that might discourage non-"leaders" from starting a chant, but I do think it's a good idea to spread leaders around the sections.

I watched some of the Valpo game online. It seemed as though it was louder than in recent non-conference games. I did notice that when there were dunks or threes from Ohio, some students went straight into the jumping "OHHHH" thing and then they eventually stopped jumping. If those are "leaders", they need to keep going. If they are non-leaders, then something needs to be done to encourage them to make it last the entire possession.

1.) The marketing department (last year and, as they said, this year) are policing the O Zone for member shirts only for conference games. Frankly, I don't have a problem with letting someone get hooked and then getting them to buy the shirt down the line. We will include a notice in the dirt sheets during conference play about wearing the shirts.

2.) We did after our mass meeting last year, only to have 60% of the leaders stop showing up or stop wanting to sit where they volunteered to. Right now we have leaders for three sections, the main group in the middle two sections, and myself and two other students on the farthest section from the 110. For the Valpo game, we were having some numbers problems beforehand, so my section moved to the middle to fill it up. This consolidated the sound, but it could have been louder.

3.) I tried, during the Valpo game, to get something started on almost every possession, and I feel it worked better than normal. I thought it would work kind of like a "capo" in soccer cultures. However, I have some upper respiratory sickness that I am too stubborn to go to a doctor for, so many of the chants actually stopped when I broke down into a coughing fit. There were 3-4 occasions where "OOOOOOOOOOOH" started, and when I started coughing and hacking, stopped. It's a bit of an irk, but we'll find a way through it.

I like it, keep it coming guys!

I want the O Zone to be the damn best it can be. Granted, I am not taking any comments made on a web forum to heart, but every complaint has some origin, and if we can pinpoint that, maybe there is something we can do to keep improving.

Is there a video replay of the Valpo game somewhere?  I wanted to hear the Ozone in action, but I couldn't keep the radio at work turned up.

I went to the Heidelberg game, my first game of the season. The majority of the O Zone looks like a bunch of followers, which is fine, but their body language suggests they want to be involved and are too timid to be the one to start some action. Whoever said earlier that the O Zone needs leadership that really embraces the role (a Dan Lowe type) is spot on. It doesn't have to be one person. If after a dunk or a three, "leaders" go absolutely apeshit, jump around, get some real volume on the OOOOOOOO, it should prompt a timid person to at least do the OOOOO with you. If the leaders do a tired, lazy-sounding OOOOO without jumping, then the timid person might not do anything at all. This might sound miniscule, but I bet it would make a world of difference.

By the way, Heidelberg had three guys shoot airballs in the game, but there were almost no airball chants the rest of the game for any of them. I realize it was only Heidelberg, so the energy in the building wasn't naturally there. I watch other college basketball games involving schools with notorious student sections hosting "lesser" teams, and I see the same thing - not a ton of natural energy, so we're not the only ones. But like Situation said, those are some of the things that should be second nature to student sections, whether we are playing Heidelberg or Akron.

Let's be positive, see the basketball thread.  I love the Ozone.  You need shirts...and more followers.  Let me/us know how we can help.  

I was at the Akron game, too, and I agree that the O Zone seemed a bit reserved. Like they wanted to get rowdy, but they weren't sure if the person next to them would. An interesting thing happened toward the end of the game - a guy behind the Akron bench got the whole arena to do "OU - Oh Yeah", and it worked because he started it loud enough for the O Zone to hear. I see the front row gang making an effort to do something organized on most possessions, but be sure to be loud and passionate enough to get those who are not near you to join in.

Can I ask why the "OHHHH" (we need to make a name for that) at tipoff has devolved over the years. It used to be that the O Zone went from the last O-H-I-O from the fight song straight into it all the way to the tip (O-H-I-O-HIOOOOOOO...). Then the O Zone would start it right when "Let's Get Ready to Rumble" kicks in. Now, you only do it after the song is turned off, leaving only about five seconds until the tip. Starting it at least when the song kicks in would go a long way towards setting the tone for the game.

Those Mo dunks were huge. Dunks and threes really should induce bedlum, not golf claps. At the Ball State game, I was surprised to see more people in the section between the O Zone press row than in the O Zone. Some were even wearing O Zone shirts. You leaders need to make sure you are loud, passionate, and inclusive enough to make that section fun for everyone there.

Thanks Ozone for the Toledo game.  I really liked "strip."

Yeah, I am no longer worried about OU/Oh Yeah. It used to be that one side wouldn't get it, or it'd be too quiet, but everybody gets it now. I was the one that started it at Miami, and I basically just went "F*ck it" and stood up and led it.

Would It be possible to release colored smoke at the kickoff of football games or when we score a TD. Fans do it a lot a soccer games I'm not sure if there is a heath risk or anything but if there isn't why not.

http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/brownsvillehe...

Something like this but more controlled. It would really look cool and would create an atmosphere that no other school has.