Re: Boston University 2011-2012 Part V: At least 6 more games, maybe 13... who's with
I suggest we should be able to have a great atmosphere in the arena and still have it be family friendly.
Personally I think that instead of splitting the students up, they should have concentrated them all in the sections surrounding 118... sections 115 to 101 are students (or however many sections are required). People in those sections should expect to stand up for the whole game. Other sections, expect to be sitting down (and cheering) except for the points of the game when something brings you to your feet.
Cheers from the students need to be more creative. The "BC Sucks" thing inserted at every possible opportunity has become about as old and as lame as it gets. (Are they still inserting "the song" into the "seive" chant after a goal? Way back, I remember 108 being loud and even boarderline obnoxious, but never overly vulgar but at one point it did start to get pretty bad and they started leaving notes on everyones seats about the use of profanity etc.
There are some cheers that seem to be long lost that always seemed to involve the whole areana (not just the students):
- Rhett skating on the ice, pointing to sections 1-7, lowering his hands to the ice then lifting them up making the crowd louder, then repeating for sections 8-14... kind of like a contest between the two sides on who could be louder.
- Ogre or Roachman standing up with the "Hey Everybody... give me a T (etc etc) cheer.
I agree the atmosphere does need to improve though.
I agree, it can still be an atmosphere that everyone can enjoy, even children. I'm just objecting to them overdoing it to the point that it becomes a Sesame Street Live atmosphere. When I was student, there were some at Agganis that tried to get us to stop saying you're a racist when Yip took a penalty. They tried to get us to stop I suck, I blow, I'm Benedetto. Of course, this all stems from the original swearing ban that came at the beginning of 06-07, but it has gone WAY beyond what the original intentions of that were. And from what I understand, it's not even administrative, it's arena. From things I've heard since I graduated, there are many in the administration that don't believe the security presence is necessary anymore since there really are no problems, but the arena insists on having the RSIG in the student sections in high volume. I certainly am not advocating for the overt use of profanity, but even before I left in 09, it was reaching a point where the culture of the student sections was such that no one wanted to do anything or say anything beyond generic Go BU cheers so they wouldn't have to deal with RSIG. They still go around before games and tell everyone "let's keep it clean tonight", and I understand to this day, they still do it from time to time. THERE IS NO REASON FOR THAT! That is the overly proactive culture I'm talking about and what started the culture I saw if everyone just going mute. I think the students made some huge strides this year in getting back to a more unified fun atmosphere, especially on the road - interestingly enough, not under the constant watchful eyes of RSIG. (The guy at the bottom of 116 literally stands looking up into 117 and 118 the ENTIRE game, even these spring break UNH games when there were 50 kids there.) And sure enough, they still rarely use profanity. And I've even seen them self-police themselves, when some rogue kids start yelling BS, others around them tell them to shut up. We can discuss various cheers that should or shouldn't be used, but that's not the argument I'm making. I'm arguing about the culture that is created throughout the student sections, and to an extent, throughout the whole arena, by the needless pervasiveness of RSIG that has completely sucked the life out of the place and made it into a morgue, and it needs to stop, that place is becoming an embarrassing home environment, and that's one of the main reasons why. Get these freaking people out of the arena next year, they are a disgrace to the program and the atmosphere that I, many before me, many with me, and many after me worked extensively to create as students.
brass, have you brought this up with anyone? If the section feels that way, I'd strongly suggest contacting the school, particularly the President's office instead of just the athletic department. BU is desperate to increase their donor base as during the end of the Silber Reign of Terror they sunk down to single digits in % of alumni donating. Telling them that 1000 students are going to be so PO'd by their school experience and will give zero dollars due to an overaggressive arena staff might get somebody's attention.
In my experiences with the arena, albeit not within the past few years, they don't care. I've filled out the season ticket holder surveys with answers longer than anything I've written here, about various things, RSIG and beyond, and nothing has changed. I even complained to the head of security when I was age profiled and asked to take my hat off before the Denver game without being given a reason why (to check for nips?!) and he looked at me and justified it as a reasonable search for alcohol. He claimed there was an abundant problem of empty nips being found in the student sections after games. Never mind that was only the second regular season home game of the season so this problem apparently occurred in abundance at the first UNH game. In all of my time in the student sections, I never once saw anyone take out, drink from, or mix a nip into a drink. I also know of instances where RSIG got the arena into trouble at concerts and other non-BU events for taking too much action against concert goers and grossly mistreating other guests, and in the end, nothing was done. I would not anticipate getting any type of reasonable response from arena staff about this.
If anyone there is reading this and would like to contact me directly, my account number is 574344, you have my email/phone, I'd be more than happy to discuss this further with you.
