Are We Still The Best Fans In The World?

[Black Cock Down]

We used to constantly brag about being such good fans, but I now wonder about this.

Attendance at baseball and men's basketball games was awful this year, and many so-called fans publicly disparage a baseball coach with a winning record and a great career record.

That baseball coach is a good Christian family man whose son previously had cancer. Not sure if our fans aren't the problem.

 

[USCRBCOCK]

With all due respect....his being a good Christian family man whose son previously had cancer has absolutely nothing to do with his coaching prowess. With that said, I'm praying for a turnaround this season and that he'll have a long, very successful career at The Carolina.

 

[Black Cock Down]

With all due respect....his being a good Christian family man whose son previously had cancer has absolutely nothing to do with his coaching prowess. With that said, I'm praying for a turnaround this season and that he'll have a long, very successful career at The Carolina.

I also am supporting Chad. Ray never won anything without Chad.

Regardless of what happens on the field, Chad gets 6 years here. As Spurrier previously stated, we honor contracts here.

 

[Cackdiesel]

We used to constantly brag about being such good fans, but I now wonder about this.

Attendance at baseball and men's basketball games was awful this year, and many so-called fans publicly disparage a baseball coach with a winning record and a great career record.

That baseball coach is a good Christian family man whose son previously had cancer. Not sure if our fans aren't the problem.

I am a Christian and I've had cancer. I will get fired if my performance slips at work.

I'm not saying he should be fired, but whether he's a Christian or not has nothing to do with whether or not he should keep his job.

 

[Rod Dangerfield]

I'm a good Christian man. Have lost loved ones to cancer. I doubt my job performance, when being evaluated, takes that into account.

Holbroke has to go!!

 

[ChairForceCock]

Definitely my own opinion, but I think much of our "best fan" status was related to football more than other sports. I think much of that had to do with official attendance during our ho-hum years. We carried around the badge of honor with our top ten attendance through a winless season. I say official attendance because most of the stats are related to how many tickets are sold versus how many actually show up for the game. We stick with our Gamecocks win or lose. I recall a post a few months back that stated he was moving down here from up north and was thinking of branding South Carolina as his new favorite team, but backed out of it because we went 7-6 after 11 wins seasons. Most replies pretty much stated "good riddance". I don't see how a true fan can just move and begin pulling for a new team. I lived in numerous states due to the military, and would never pull for another college. I don't care if we have winning seasons or losing seasons, I will always pull for the Gamecocks. I must be honest in saying that I don't attend a lot of games. I will let the fan police figure out where they would place me in the "fan status" category on that one.

 

[Cackdiesel]

Definitely my own opinion, but I think much of our "best fan" status was related to football more than other sports. I think much of that had to do with official attendance during our ho-hum years. We carried around the badge of honor with our top ten attendance through a winless season. I say official attendance because most of the stats are related to how many tickets are sold versus how many actually show up for the game. We stick with our Gamecocks win or lose. I recall a post a few months back that stated he was moving down here from up north and was thinking of branding South Carolina as his new favorite team, but backed out of it because we went 7-6 after 11 wins seasons. Most replies pretty much stated "good riddance". I don't see how a true fan can just move and begin pulling for a new team. I lived in numerous states due to the military, and would never pull for another college. I don't care if we have winning seasons or losing seasons, I will always pull for the Gamecocks. I must be honest in saying that I don't attend a lot of games. I will let the fan police figure out where they would place me in the "fan status" category on that one.

I don't attend many either, and it has nothing to do with money. It's more enjoyable to me to watch on tv. I'd actually stay at home even if I had to pay the full ticket price.

 

[ipull4usc]

Carolina still has some of the best fans around.

The "Best Fans" label was particularly bounced around in the past because our football fortunes were so pitiful. 15-20 years ago just making a bowl game was considered a miracle and cause for a week-long celebration in Five Points. It took over 100 years to get our first bowl win, which is embarrassing. Given our horrendous football history, we had little else to hang our hat on; thus, the "best fans on earth" label was the biggest point of pride for Carolina athletics.

Now that we have a solid football program, our fans have elevated their expectations, and "attendance for attendance's sake" is no longer a priority. We still have fantastic football attendance. Furthermore, the cost of attending a sporting event has risen exponentially, as have the comfort and ease with which fans can watch games at home.

As for basketball, our arena is simply too large considering the lack of basketball success we've had. Unless we somehow become a basketball juggernaut, I can't see us regularly filling an 18,000 seat arena. We have the 4th largest arena in the SEC... and we have far and away been the least successful men's basketball program in the conference.

With regards to baseball, no doubt the team's struggles have affected attendance, but I also think the weather has played a part in keeping fans away. It feels like so many games this spring have been affected by poor weather. Also, given that it's our poorest season in roughly 20 years, it can't be a surprise that folks aren't showing up in droves. It's a long, time-consuming game with tons of home games and a lot less of a social aspect than football games. I won't blame folks if they want to spend their time elsewhere, rather than watching the worst Gamecock team in two decades display terrible fundamentals and struggle at all aspects of the game.

 

[Quisp]

I never bragged about being "best fans". And the same goes with the ridiculous "classiest fans" label we used to get. The only reason we got it was for losing and keeping our mouths shut on the long walk out of the stadium.

Who really cares? It's subjective anyway. I'd rather win and be hated than lose and be praised for attendance and nicety.

 

[Bongsummers]

I also am supporting Chad. Ray never won anything without Chad.

Regardless of what happens on the field, Chad gets 6 years here. As Spurrier previously stated, we honor contracts here.

Yeah, Ray could never have done it without Chad. Sigh. Just stop.

And if CH has another year like this, he is gone. Contract or not. That's called accountability.

 

[GamecockTripp]

I'll start with 3 facts:

1. In 2014-15 we were 32nd in the nation in men's basketball attendance averaging 11,445 people per game. That's more than Texas, UConn, Wichita State, Oklahoma, Georgetown, and Villanova.

2. In 2014-15 we were 1st in women's basketball attendance averaging 12,540 people per game. We were over 1,600 people per game better than 2nd place Tennessee.

3. In 2014 we were 15th in the nation in average football attendance with 81,381 people per game. That's more than Notre Dame, Clempson, Wisconsin, Michigan State, UCLA, and Southern Cal.

The "best fans" label we got for football back in the 80's/90's/early 2000's also had a lot to do with the price of season tickets. I distinctly remember Mike McGee standing at a podium saying, "We have the cheapest season ticket packages in the SEC." Well, it was easy for grandpa to order 12 season tickets in the west lower on his Roundhouse membership when a season ticket was only $175. Back then everyone went (including some that didn't care about football and only wanted to be seen) because it didn't cost that much to take the whole family and look like a high roller at the same time.

Heck, I've read on this board in the past few years about guys dropping their Full Scholarship donation and 8 season tickets in the west lower because they couldn't afford to take their kids and grand kids anymore. What? That's half of the problem. Since when is it grandpa's job to take the whole damn family to Columbia for the day? I went to USC and have my own season tickets now. So does my sister and brother in law. Why don't you move those 8 tickets to the west upper and have your youngins pitch in $1,000 or $1,500 each? That would still be a heck of a lot cheaper than getting their own membership and tickets. If you'd rather go home and watch it on TV than move your season tickets to another section of the stadium then you weren't a real fan anyway. (Yeah, I said it.) You were only there to "see and be seen." I sit in the south upper and couldn't be happier. Could I pay more? Probably. Would I like better seats? Of course. Am I willing to double what I pay now? Probably not.

My dad is a RH donor and sits in section 8. He's been in since 1972. About 10 years ago he still had my ticket from when I was a kid just because it was cheap and it was convenient to always have an extra ticket "just in case." For some games he would use the extra ticket to walk out to the car in the farmer's market at halftime and drink 2 beers. When the price of it doubled, then tripled in just a couple of years he gave it up and now my parents just have their 2 tickets. He usually sold it for the bigger games to a friend and then most smaller games he just gave it away to whoever needed it.

Now that the tickets are priced correctly, several thousand of those "down in front" and "Hyman took my tickets" bitchers and moaners are gone. It opened the lower levels up (especially the west lower) to newer, younger donors with money. It also opened it up to newer, louder fans who actually watch the game and cheer. There will always be those Golden/Platinum Spur types who buy an extra ticket or 2 just for the hell of it but the days of 1/2 of the west lower being full of people who don't give a damn about the game are finally over.

 

[Number1pjones]

I never bragged about being "best fans". And the same goes with the ridiculous "classiest fans" label we used to get. The only reason we got it was for losing and keeping our mouths shut on the long walk out of the stadium.

Who really cares? It's subjective anyway. I'd rather win and be hated than lose and be praised for attendance and nicety.

I absolutely agree with the 'losing and taking it' mentality of Gamecock football fans in the past. As far as winning and being hated is concerned, we haven't won enough to qualify for an attitude like that. But let's be honest. We are in the SEC with traditional powers like Alabama, Georgia, Tenn, LSU, Auburn etc......but I feel closer to teams like Iowa and UCF. I wish we had multiple conference championships, a couple NCs and were part of the old guard. But it looks like we're part of the new guard, that can only write the future.

 

[4thgengamecock]

Basketball attendance has been way, way up since Martin took over. I wouldn't be shocked if we draw 14000-15000 a game next season. Now, if we could get the people show up to do something instead of sitting with their thumbs up their butts the whole game, we'd be on to something.

 

[ReadR00ster]

We used to constantly brag about being such good fans, but I now wonder about this.

Attendance at baseball and men's basketball games was awful this year, and many so-called fans publicly disparage a baseball coach with a winning record and a great career record.

That baseball coach is a good Christian family man whose son previously had cancer. Not sure if our fans aren't the problem.

Why do so many people on here keep posting asinine stuff like this on here? We have so many fans show up for a BAD COLLEGE BASEBALL team. What does that tell you? They aren't showing up because the coach's kid has cancer. The team isn't losing because the fans are complaining. The fans are complaining because their team is losing. The fact that as a college baseball program we have a lot of fans that hate losing shows how passionate this fanbase is. I understand some people like complaining even less than their team losing, but that complaining is not effecting anything. It's actually a GOOD thing to see about the fan support at USC. So get over it. Fans need to worry about the the team losing and stop worrying about the complaining. The state of the team is what matters.

When you consider how bad our Men's basketball team has been and how bad our baseball team currently is, our fans have been showing up more than they would if it was anywhere else.

 

[colacock#]

"Unless we somehow become a basketball juggernaut, I can't see us regularly filling an 18,000 seat arena."

I hate when people say this, because it's definitely NOT true. Why do people forget the pretty good teams that Dave Odom had? During those 2 or 3 years, every conference game had around 18,000 people. I know...I was there. Now it's been a while, but saying CLA is too big is showing a lack of knowledge.

 

[Cock-a-Doo]

Hi

 

[Cock-a-Doo]

Haha, sorry that was a test - just seeing how this works

 

[67gamecock]

I'll start with 3 facts:

1. In 2014-15 we were 32nd in the nation in men's basketball attendance averaging 11,445 people per game. That's more than Texas, UConn, Wichita State, Oklahoma, Georgetown, and Villanova.

2. In 2014-15 we were 1st in women's basketball attendance averaging 12,540 people per game. We were over 1,600 people per game better than 2nd place Tennessee.

3. In 2014 we were 15th in the nation in average football attendance with 81,381 people per game. That's more than Notre Dame, Clempson, Wisconsin, Michigan State, UCLA, and Southern Cal.

The "best fans" label we got for football back in the 80's/90's/early 2000's also had a lot to do with the price of season tickets. I distinctly remember Mike McGee standing at a podium saying, "We have the cheapest season ticket packages in the SEC." Well, it was easy for grandpa to order 12 season tickets in the west lower on his Roundhouse membership when a season ticket was only $175. Back then everyone went (including some that didn't care about football and only wanted to be seen) because it didn't cost that much to take the whole family and look like a high roller at the same time.

Heck, I've read on this board in the past few years about guys dropping their Full Scholarship donation and 8 season tickets in the west lower because they couldn't afford to take their kids and grand kids anymore. What? That's half of the problem. Since when is it grandpa's job to take the whole damn family to Columbia for the day? I went to USC and have my own season tickets now. So does my sister and brother in law. Why don't you move those 8 tickets to the west upper and have your youngins pitch in $1,000 or $1,500 each? That would still be a heck of a lot cheaper than getting their own membership and tickets. If you'd rather go home and watch it on TV than move your season tickets to another section of the stadium then you weren't a real fan anyway. (Yeah, I said it.) You were only there to "see and be seen." I sit in the south upper and couldn't be happier. Could I pay more? Probably. Would I like better seats? Of course. Am I willing to double what I pay now? Probably not.

My dad is a RH donor and sits in section 8. He's been in since 1972. About 10 years ago he still had my ticket from when I was a kid just because it was cheap and it was convenient to always have an extra ticket "just in case." For some games he would use the extra ticket to walk out to the car in the farmer's market at halftime and drink 2 beers. When the price of it doubled, then tripled in just a couple of years he gave it up and now my parents just have their 2 tickets. He usually sold it for the bigger games to a friend and then most smaller games he just gave it away to whoever needed it.

Now that the tickets are priced correctly, several thousand of those "down in front" and "Hyman took my tickets" bitchers and moaners are gone. It opened the lower levels up (especially the west lower) to newer, younger donors with money. It also opened it up to newer, louder fans who actually watch the game and cheer. There will always be those Golden/Platinum Spur types who buy an extra ticket or 2 just for the hell of it but the days of 1/2 of the west lower being full of people who don't give a damn about the game are finally over.

Damn good post!