Personal Decision whether to go to games or not

[rgamecock1]

I have read on this site where several posters have made negative comments about fans who decide to purchase tickets to football games. First of all I will be the first to say noone likes losing and noone

likes the way the football team is playing. With that being said if a person decides they want to support the team through the hard times through thick and thin that is their perogative. If you do not want to

go to the games that is a personal choice as well. Do not criticise people who make a personal choice to attend the games. Like I said noone is happy and noone likes losing. I see this issue as as sign of the

times we live in. When the going gets hard lot of people have been taught to quit. Look at marriages the divorce rate in America is over 60%. Once they face a hardship they cite irreconcilable differences.

Instead of trying to tough it out they quit. I remember when Dawn Staley took the USC womens basketball coaching job she was told by a lot of her peers not to take the job. The first couple of years she

struggled but the administration and the fans stood by her, well you know the rest of the story. Please do not tell me not to go to the games if I choose. That is not your choice. Anyway lastly when USC

applied for membership in the SEC I remember several coaches and AD'S and Presidents in the SEC that one of the major factors for inviting USC was the loyalty of their fan base that stood by their team

no matter. Tennessee is another school where the fans have stood by their programs. They too have been through hard times but on Saturday when you watch them the stadium is full. That too is personal

decisions made by their fan base. Finally i will be attending and supporting any program that USC has no matter what. That is my personal decision. Hope everyone has a great day.

 

[Carolina4]

The suggestion that fans not go isn’t a permanent decision. It’s one to force a change so that everyone can enjoy going in the future.

 

[rgamecock1]

Trust me change will happen, quitting is not the answer. If you want to quit that is your personal decision.

 

[Legendary Cock]

Trust me change will happen, quitting is not the answer. If you want to quit that is your personal decision.

Except that fan attendance last year was specifically cited by Ray and Caslen as an excuse to give Muschamp this pathetic extra year. It was literally spelled out for us.

The fact that we aren't even selling out the limited seats available during the pandemic says to me fans are starting to catch on.

 

[BobbyBReloaded1975]

I appreciate your passion and loyalty but enough is enough . The main reason we are not Clemson , Alabama , UGA , LSU etc etc quite frankly is because we accept mediocrity and our leadership knows this . As I’ve stated many times , continuing to spend money is the equivalent of enabling a junkie . Our Admin will see no need to make a change if we don’t force it . I’ve seen fan and more importantly Booster revolts make immediate changes in Gainesville. Tallahassee, Baton Rouge , Auburn and yes Clemson . When the money and support evaporate changes come quickly . I will never shame others for attending games or buying gear but personally I’ve quit spending the day Muschamp was hired . I still watch the games when convenient but I’m not giving a penny to the AD until they give me a reason to .

 

[LBGCOCK]

Trust me change will happen, quitting is not the answer. If you want to quit that is your personal decision.

Everyone knows that anybody else can do whatever they want to do. If you want to go to the games then, by all means, go and enjoy. I haven’t read anything from people saying you’re crazy if you go or anything like that. What they’re saying is if you want to be heard and be taken seriously about wanting change, then the best way to go about that is to not show up for the games. And that is just plain fact, not as much so this year as in a normal year, but it is true. You want to get the decision makers’ attention? Have a football game on national tv and only have a handful of people in a 80,000 seat stadium. You say you read posts criticizing people for personally choosing to attend games, but you’re calling people quitters for personally choosing not to attend. Nobody on one side is a better fan than anybody on the other. You’re not a better(or worse)fan because you continue to go to the games and financially support the embarrassing performances on display. And other people are not better(or worse)fans because they have stopped going to the games and financially supporting those embarrassing performances. GO COCKS!!!

 

[Carolina4]

Trust me change will happen, quitting is not the answer. If you want to quit that is your personal decision.

Its not quitting. It’s forcing a change. Big difference. And when it comes to Ray and Muschamp, I trust nobody. The change should’ve happened last year. In fact, this clown should have never even been here.

Im not critical of fans who go. I get it. But Im not afraid to suggest that fans should consider skipping 1 game to make many more games in the future bearable.

 

[Gamecock Lifer]

The suggestion that fans not go isn’t a permanent decisions. It’s one to force a change so that everyone can enjoy going in the future.

Which is ridiculous. Especially in this climate, we have virtually zero revenue coming from tickets anyway and any lack of fan support at games can be easily explained away as a Covid by product. Not going to games to “stick to the man” just makes no sense right now at all. If people want to go to a game, GO- have fun! Too many “fans” take this way too serious. This is entertainment. If any of you personally are not enjoying it because we lost some games... Maybe sports just isn’t your thing. Loses HAPPEN. Wouldn’t be too interesting if you were just assured a win every time you went out there would it? The idea that fans are shaming other fans for going to games and supporting their respective teams is asinine and completely out of sorts with what it means to be a fan IMO. To each his own. I will gripe when we lose, cheer when we win and go to any game, any time I damn well please.

 

[Carolina4]

Which is ridiculous. Especially in this climate, we have virtually zero revenue coming from tickets anyway and any lack of fan support at games can be easily explained away as a Covid by product. Not going to games to “stick to the man” just makes no sense right now at all. If people want to go to a game, GO- have fun! Too many “fans” take this way too serious. This is entertainment. If any of you personally are not enjoying it because we lost some games... Maybe sports just isn’t your thing. Loses HAPPEN. Wouldn’t be too interesting if you were just assured a win every time you went out there would it? The idea that fans are shaming other fans for going to games and supporting their respective teams is asinine and completely out of sorts with what it means to be a fan IMO. To each his own. I will gripe when we lose, cheer when we win and go to any game, any time I damn well please.

Where do you get I’m fan shaming? I’m not. Other’s might. I’m not. A suggestion isn’t fan shaming. What you just said is way more of fan shaming than anything I’ve posted. If you’d actually read a message in it’s context, and not make assumptions...you’d realize that.

And a stadium flat out empty would certainly get the attention of the admin. Sure, losses happen. But we hired a big loser. And we tend to lose a lot more, in a worse way than many others. Big difference.

I get why fans continue to go. I get that it’s tough on some not to go. At some point I think this fanbase just needs to demand more. It’s not the losing. It’s how bad we botched this whole situation with giving a proven loser a $17 million buyout and allowing him to coach here for at least 5 years when the program looks worse and worse. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I can’t imagine how damaging another year of Muschamp would be to the future of this program.

 

[Gamecock Lifer]

Where do you get I’m fan shaming? I’m not. Other’s might. I’m not. A suggestion isn’t fan shaming. What you just said is way more of fan shaming than anything I’ve posted. If you’d actually read a message in it’s context, and not make assumptions...you’d realize that.

And a stadium flat out empty would certainly get the attention of the admin. Sure, losses happen. But we hired a big loser. And we tend to lose a lot more, in a worse way than many others. Big difference.

I get why fans continue to go. I get that it’s tough on some not to go. At some point I think this fanbase just needs to demand more. It’s not the losing. It’s how bad we botched this whole situation with giving a proven loser a $17 million buyout and allowing him to coach here for at least 5 years when the program looks worse and worse. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I can’t imagine how damaging another year of Muschamp would be to the future of this program.

I did not say “you” were fan shaming. I was speaking broadly to the idea of it, and just happened to be quoting your post during my reply- no intent to single you out.

My point, again, is that this will never happen- it would take a coordinated effort of all fans to agree not to attend a game/games. Impossible. Since that will never happen- any fan who says “I will show them by not buying a ticket”- will immediately have their spot filled by another eager fan. Especially during limited seating due to covid, the admin will never notice... The BOT supports Muschamp and a few fans boycotting games will not sway them- there are bigger fish to fry this year especially. We 1- do not have the money to make a change and any scheme to further reduce revenue will only further compound that problem and 2- do not have the big money donors with enough gumption or INTEREST for one to simply write a check big enough to impact the problem.

Contrary to your scheme, I would counter that the only way to make this change happen would be a massive fund raising effort. Since we have no billionaires looking to stroke one check to “fix the glitch”, we need a concerted effort to rally all donors to make a collective endowment for the sole purpose of paying the buyout and funding a new staff. A directed contribution for that nature signed off on by all of our biggest donors is the inly way to get this done sooner rather than later. Jamie Harrison (who just lost his senate run to LG) joked about this online, but seriously an organized fund raising campaign with the express goal of paying the buyout is probably the only way to get the attention of the BOT and provide them the means needed to act now. A few more fans not showing up for games when we are at 30% capacity anyway is literally a fart in a hurricane.

 

[The Gadfly]

You all want to fix this mess? It’s simple; all we need is a new BOT committed to this university, instead of their political cronies over at the Statehouse. Until that changes, anything else that’s done is a band-aid over a growing access that needs to be drained. Until and unless that happens, you won’t have a chance to get a quality coach in here, or enough quality players. All we’ll get is everyone else’s failures and leftovers (see the current example), or washed-up has-beens looking for a place to retire. If that’s the way we’re going, we might as well stop recruiting, and giving scholarships, and just find a team of whatever former high school players who happen to be students at Carolina; I think I can guarantee they would be as “coachable” as the players we have now (at least with this staff)

 

[Cocky4SC]

Which is ridiculous. Especially in this climate, we have virtually zero revenue coming from tickets anyway and any lack of fan support at games can be easily explained away as a Covid by product. Not going to games to “stick to the man” just makes no sense right now at all. If people want to go to a game, GO- have fun! Too many “fans” take this way too serious. This is entertainment. If any of you personally are not enjoying it because we lost some games... Maybe sports just isn’t your thing. Loses HAPPEN. Wouldn’t be too interesting if you were just assured a win every time you went out there would it? The idea that fans are shaming other fans for going to games and supporting their respective teams is asinine and completely out of sorts with what it means to be a fan IMO. To each his own. I will gripe when we lose, cheer when we win and go to any game, any time I damn well please.

This is a business at the end of the day. A return on an investment should be had. I think most would be happy with the 8-4 and 9-3 years contending occasionaly for the East. Many would under stand the occasional year with a 7-5 record and not really complain as long as we were in most of the games and competitive. The fact of the matter is, we came into the SEC almost 30 years ago. It took ten years to become competitive in the league both financially, recruiting, and facilities. We should not be light years behind everyone in our conference now not named Vandy.

As you mentioned in other post, COVID makes people reevaluate their priorities and where their money is spent. I've sat through the streaks and beatings by our rivals (Clemson, Georgia, Florida) long enough. Our program currently is sitting in the same place we were when Brad Scott was here. If I'm spending money, I dang sure better be getting some type of return on my investment. We haven't been competitive in almost three years.

So, if it means people not showing up evokes a change from the top down, then that is what needs to happen. Otherwise, the perception is, change isn't needed as long as the money is coming in. After all, this is a business. We are paying a coach over $4.5 million a year. Last year we paid him $1million per win. Looks like we are headed at best in the same ball park. If my stocks aren't producing, I'm not going to keep money in hoping that eventually it would get better. Muschamp's stock is so far negative, you can't bring it back.

 

[Gamecock Lifer]

This is a business at the end of the day. A return on an investment should be had. I think most would be happy with the 8-4 and 9-3 years contending occasionaly for the East. Many would under stand the occasional year with a 7-5 record and not really complain as long as we were in most of the games and competitive. The fact of the matter is, we came into the SEC almost 30 years ago. It took ten years to become competitive in the league both financially, recruiting, and facilities. We should not be light years behind everyone in our conference now not named Vandy.

As you mentioned in other post, COVID makes people reevaluate their priorities and where their money is spent. I've sat through the streaks and beatings by our rivals (Clemson, Georgia, Florida) long enough. Our program currently is sitting in the same place we were when Brad Scott was here. If I'm spending money, I dang sure better be getting some type of return on my investment. We haven't been competitive in almost three years.

So, if it means people not showing up evokes a change from the top down, then that is what needs to happen. Otherwise, the perception is, change isn't needed as long as the money is coming in. After all, this is a business. We are paying a coach over $4.5 million a year. Last year we paid him $1million per win. Looks like we are headed at best in the same ball park. If my stocks aren't producing, I'm not going to keep money in hoping that eventually it would get better. Muschamp's stock is so far negative, you can't bring it back.

That is my point though... A few people not going to games will not force anyone’s hand right now. We don’t have the MONEY. It is estimated we will lose between $50-70 MILLION in revenue this year for the athletic department alone! How do we pay $15MM in buyouts to remove this staff and pay the buyouts and new contracts of whole new staff? Ya’ll really think the couple grand they might lose from a couple fans boycotting games will force their hands to spend $20-30 Million we don’t have?? Nope. Nobody will even notice. Talking about the losses does nothing to counter what I said- I never defended the performance of this staff or implied we SHOULD keep them. I am just being realistic about the chances of a change happening now.

The only way we move on now is through a concerted effort by our biggest donors to pay the buyouts and DEMAND better. Nothing any of us as average fans do will matter.

 

[Cocky4SC]

That is my point though... A few people not going to games will not force anyone’s hand right now. We don’t have the MONEY. It is estimated we will lose between $50-70 MILLION in revenue this year for the athletic department alone! How do we pay $15MM in buyouts to remove this staff and pay the buyouts and new contracts of whole new staff? Ya’ll really think the couple grand they might lose from a couple fans boycotting games will force their hands to spend $20-30 Million we don’t have?? Nope. Nobody will even notice. Talking about the losses does nothing to counter what I said- I never defended the performance of this staff or implied we SHOULD keep them. I am just being realistic about the chances of a change happening now.

The only way we move on now is through a concerted effort by our biggest donors to pay the buyouts and DEMAND better. Nothing any of us as average fans do will matter.

Buyouts have been spoken about over and over. We don't have to pay it all up front. Many others have been paid over a 5-10 year span. I can promise you that enough people not renew their tickets next year, it would speak louder than words ever could. When we can't even sell out the tickets this year in a limited capacity, it isn't because of covid. It's because of the product that has been put on the field.

The loss of $15 million is pennies compared to the damage that is being done this year by this staff. The amount of revenue from parking, concessions, team apparel, etc. all will be impacted because of Muschamp and his results. Now that people don't have that "play money" like most would have during a non-covid time, people will look to figure out is it worth it... and 4-8 or 4-6/3-7 years aren't worth it to most people.

 

[PalmettoG27]

No more of my time or money goes to USC unless major changes happen. (Except for complaining about the mediocrity on social forums.) The current administration is unable or unwilling to take the football team to the next level.

 

[FORKCOCK]

Champ doesn't merely just lose here, he trots out teams that are not even competitive.

 

[uscnoklahoma2]

Even our fans are losers...the administration has succeeded in conditioning the fans to lose with grace and keep the purse open. Some of yall are being played and don't even realize it.

 

[Carolina4]

That is my point though... A few people not going to games will not force anyone’s hand right now. We don’t have the MONEY. It is estimated we will lose between $50-70 MILLION in revenue this year for the athletic department alone! How do we pay $15MM in buyouts to remove this staff and pay the buyouts and new contracts of whole new staff? Ya’ll really think the couple grand they might lose from a couple fans boycotting games will force their hands to spend $20-30 Million we don’t have?? Nope. Nobody will even notice. Talking about the losses does nothing to counter what I said- I never defended the performance of this staff or implied we SHOULD keep them. I am just being realistic about the chances of a change happening now.

The only way we move on now is through a concerted effort by our biggest donors to pay the buyouts and DEMAND better. Nothing any of us as average fans do will matter.

The tickets are sold. The fans not going isn’t about the money. You gotta stop thinking the “no-show game” is about money for that particular game. The empty stadium is the message. It’s about fan support which will costs the university WAY more money down the line than just one simple game. I don’t see how any admin can justify keeping any coach when the entire fanbase makes that statement. If everyone, even just the 25k who can attend, coordinated the effort not to show up...the University would do what they have to do. They’d basically have the choice of keep the fans, who support the program, happy, or take a massive $hit on them by keeping the loser.

The massive fundraiser makes some sense. But the problem is when we do that then the admin and BOT won’t see everything is wrong. We basically reward them for doing a horrible job. I certainly wouldn’t want to give a ton of money to Ray Tanner at this point.

 

[ghostofpepsicock]

Think about it...how many of us would say "there's no way I could come up with $10,000 in two weeks..." but if you were told "your child needs this surgery or they will die," you'd find a way to make it happen regardless of what it would take...

If it was important enough, we'd make it happen...

 

[Gamecockben1979]

Champ doesn't merely just lose here, he trots out teams that are not even competitive.

Last week reminded me of the 59-0 beat down FSU gave us in 1988. Completely out of it from start to finish. Had no business even being on the same field

 

[Jpcooper]

I did not say “you” were fan shaming. I was speaking broadly to the idea of it, and just happened to be quoting your post during my reply- no intent to single you out.

My point, again, is that this will never happen- it would take a coordinated effort of all fans to agree not to attend a game/games. Impossible. Since that will never happen- any fan who says “I will show them by not buying a ticket”- will immediately have their spot filled by another eager fan. Especially during limited seating due to covid, the admin will never notice... The BOT supports Muschamp and a few fans boycotting games will not sway them- there are bigger fish to fry this year especially. We 1- do not have the money to make a change and any scheme to further reduce revenue will only further compound that problem and 2- do not have the big money donors with enough gumption or INTEREST for one to simply write a check big enough to impact the problem.

Contrary to your scheme, I would counter that the only way to make this change happen would be a massive fund raising effort. Since we have no billionaires looking to stroke one check to “fix the glitch”, we need a concerted effort to rally all donors to make a collective endowment for the sole purpose of paying the buyout and funding a new staff. A directed contribution for that nature signed off on by all of our biggest donors is the inly way to get this done sooner rather than later. Jamie Harrison (who just lost his senate run to LG) joked about this online, but seriously an organized fund raising campaign with the express goal of paying the buyout is probably the only way to get the attention of the BOT and provide them the means needed to act now. A few more fans not showing up for games when we are at 30% capacity anyway is literally a fart in a hurricane.

If you have a person in the GCC you know that you know well you can get a copy of all donors, their contact info and level they pay. Then you

Think about it...how many of us would say "there's no way I could come up with $10,000 in two weeks..." but if you were told "your child needs this surgery or they will die," you'd find a way to make it happen regardless of what it would take...

If it was important enough, we'd make it happen...

The comparison between me Saving my child’s life and giving to a fund raiser isn’t even close.

 

[kidrobinski]

Last week reminded me of the 59-0 beat down FSU gave us in 1988. Completely out of it from start to finish. Had no business even being on the same field

And 45-0 vs clemmons in 89. And 63-17 vs clemmons in 03. All three home games and unfortunately I was there for all three.

 

[kidrobinski]

Even our fans are losers...the administration has succeeded in conditioning the fans to lose with grace and keep the purse open. Some of yall are being played and don't even realize it.

No one's being played son.

Some are completely delusional, witness post #19, but no one's getting played.

 

[Gamecockben1979]

And 45-0 vs clemmons in 89. And 63-17 vs clemmons in 03. All three home games and unfortunately I was there for all three.

That 89 Clemsux game was horrible. I don’t even think we got to midfield. I was at 63-17. Didn’t think it would get worse than that until muskrat came along.

 

[Horseshoe 04]

Tailgating is still awesome. Covid & the schedule shuffle has kept me from going into 2 of the 3 home games which is out of Character for me & most of our tailgate crew. Everyone should do whatever brings them peace, harmony, confidence etc...... I don't like to miss home games, never have & the coach at the time had no bearing on this. I have stayed at the tailgate in a couple rare instances, but the joy of seeing family & friends and knowing that we share history and bonds over years and years of tailgating means more to some of us than can be expressed in a paragraph on a message board. Now we have children, nephnews, nieces, some attending school, some who have graduated recently etc..... & their friends. These are priceless encounters that out rank the display on the field. Winning adds some great postgame, but for some of us this was built long ago. I can remember being 6 years old sitting in the old sheds in the farmers market with the partition walls between the parking areas & my one day "tailgating mentors" parking on either side like we had a fortress for us. Now I get to do most of the planning and mentoring & we make life easy on our elder statesmen & ladies that still love going. Thankfully we have some younger than me that are building their path.

 

[ghostofpepsicock]

If you have a person in the GCC you know that you know well you can get a copy of all donors, their contact info and level they pay. Then you

The comparison between me Saving my child’s life and giving to a fund raiser isn’t even close.

I never said it was...I was just making the point that if something is important enough, you make it happen...Not equating the two

 

[northGAcock]

Decision to attend a game or not is a personal choice. Like with anything, a decision should be based on ones on values. environment, entertainment value, etc. and where one chooses to spend their time is just that.....ones own decision. No one owes us any explanation during these times. No judgment should be made about choices. Football is entertainment, and we should all keep that in mind.