Re: BU season thread volume 3.1 cause board/priceless/tippycanoe deleted ours
I was expecting a bigger BU crowd than this. Chance to go to FF, haven't had this chance in Worcester since 2006.
Just wanted to give a more complete response to this than I was able to on my phone from the arena. There are basically three reasons for this:
1) BU (and BC, PC, etc) are private schools. They don't have the huge fan bases that the big state schools do. BC and PC both brought way fewer fans to the Garden and the NCAA regionals (well, Hockey East playoffs this year, since BC wasn't in the NCAAs). In the days when UNH and Maine were here regularly (for example), they brought HUGE fan bases. And we're not even talking about states where the schools are gigantic (like Texas, Ohio State, etc). New England per capita I believe has more colleges than anywhere else. So allegiances are split. No disrespect to a place like North Dakota, but that's basically all there is there. The entire state comes and fills the arena. We just don't have that and never will.
2) BC is "New England's School" when it comes to sports. Remember, they have been the only viable Division 1 football school for years. And they have visibility in basketball being in the ACC. BU, on the other hand, is in the Patriot League. People who didn't go to any school cheer for BC. My high school football coach was a BC nut (and he didn't even go near Boston). I have several friends who cheer for BC. One went to WPI. Also, (and especially in Worcester, who has St. John's, St. Peter-Marian and Holy Name) there is a HUGE catholic population here. MANY friends routinely say to me "I'm a BC fan because it's a catholic school (I'm not joking). Where the only people who cheer for BU are alumni. Not trying to stir up controversy, but that's the way it is. You were there yesterday. Did you hear the cheer from the Cornell fans aimed at the BU fans, "B-C re-jects?" That's the perception from everyone if you DIDN'T go to BU. We can't change that, and as a result, don't get the "neutral" fan. All we have is us. When BC plays you will get a lot of neutral fans to come out.
3) BU hasn't played in Worcester since 2006 (and we all remember that game). They don't have a lot of visibility here. In Worcester it's all about Holy Cross (and to a lesser extent, Assumption - both catholic, by the way). They aren't going to attract the "causal" fan.
But what's kind of funny about all this is that the BU crowd this weekend was as large as any I've seen since I have been going (which is since the early 70s).
I came in the other entrance (near the will call) and was standing next to a scout, who was at the box office window buying a ticket for today's game. This was the conversation: Scout: How much?" Attendant: "Fifty." Scout: "Five OH???" Attendant: "Yes." Scout: "For TODAY? For ONE GAME? Even for me? I'm a scout."
THERE'S your biggest problem...
