Photo Attribution: US Presswire
One premise we need to clear up before we can begin: the Oklahoma State basketball team this year is superior to the Oklahoma State football team this year.
Okay, let’s jump in.
For most of the second half of last night’s TCU game I engaged in a discourse on Twitter about what’s wrong with the attendance in GIA.
That horse has been beaten to death, buried, dug up, beaten some more, cremated, and thrown in the ocean — but I ultimately think the issue comes down to two things: cost of tickets and production of team.
Okstate.com tells me two tickets for my wife and I to the Tech game next Saturday are $47. I could buy three books on Amazon and go to a movie for that price so, yeah, that’s not happening. Heck, I could probably drive to OKC, go to the Thunder game, and get 18 in with Weeden for that price.
And I’m about as big an Oklahoma State fan as there is. Granted, not a rich one, but still.
Is winning part of it? Sure, but we could have the Fab Five and be 15-0 and I still wouldn’t be able to afford $47 to go watch a game with my wife, I just wouldn’t. It’s not a desire thing, it’s a staying out of debt thing.
Maybe there are thousands of people in the Oklahoma State basketball ticket target market who can afford it, but I’d say that’s questionable at best.
So if you’re the athletic department, why not just drop tickets in the 300 level to $5 for the rest of the season and give fans a reason to come watch one of the best (if not the best) players in the country, and a top 20 team to boot!
It’s not the fans’ fault OSU bit off more than it could chew at the end of the 90s and now can’t fill up the arena. If there’s one thing I could change about OSU, one mistake (and they haven’t made many) I could amend (other than the Bobby Reid era), it would be to go back and shrink GIA.
Truly make it the Cameron Indoor of the midwest. You can make it shiny and nice for recruits and all that jazz, but leave it at 6,381 capacity. Make it mean something to say you were in GIA when OSU knocked off KU or took Texas to the brink.
We got greedy and now we have a big problem on our hands.
But OSU isn’t all to blame. There are plenty of seats that were bought, paid for, and empty last night against TCU (looking at you, 200-section ticket holders). As an OSU fan whose pops used to drive him 70 miles from Tulsa as a kid just to be in the place, that’s embarrassing.
And this is the part where we’re no better than OU. I’m not sure if you’re understanding this correctly, but our basketball team is LEGIT this year. I know it’s been down and we haven’t danced in a while but right now we are no different than the OU fans we’ve made fun of for the last 20 years for filling up their football stadium and ignoring their basketball program.
We have a legitimate player of the year candidate (national, not conference) and the best dunker in the country. And for those of you who opine for the days of short shorts, no shot clock, and sweet strokes — we have that too, his name is Phil.
I just don’t know if it’s going to get any better than this under Travis Ford. And if you argue that it takes multiple years of consistent winning, fine, but you’ll have missed out on one of the best players to ever come through the program if you wait that long.
If this is who we want to be as a school (love football, ignore hoops), that’s fine, I think it’s a joke, but if you’re fine with it then who am I to argue?
Most of the time though I feel like half of you want our hoops program to suck just so you have something to whine about between now and the Mississippi State game and the other half of you are so into Laquon Treadwell’s Twitter timeline you don’t even know what month it is.
Like I said, if that’s who we want to be, then fine, but I do know this to be true…
I’ll never understand what’s better to do on a Wednesday night in January in the state of Oklahoma than a game at GIA.
— Nolan (@nolancox) January 10, 2013
…and we need to find out a way to meet in the middle (university and fans) and make it happen again, because a rocking GIA on a Wednesday night in February is like no other place in the country.
I’m here to go to go to school. School is my priority in the week. Not overprice basketball.
I cannot help you.
1. During my days at OSU, 04-08, basketball was something like $240 on top of the all sports pass. I simply didn’t have that. I made it through on nothing but hopes, dreams, and student loans – and there sure as hell is an extra direct loan application for ‘basketball ticket expenses’.
2. Weeknights for me in school were awful. Truly awful. I studied. Then studied some more. Then took a break and slept. And then hung out with my society/fraternity friends. I simply didn’t have time for it during the week. You know what’s better than GIA on a Wednesday night in Oklahoma? Not failing your tests.
3. Who studies on Saturday @ 2pm when there are tailgates everywhere and seemly 1/2 the state of Oklahoma is on campus? No one. We all go to the game.
4. Travel. Even when i lived in OK after college, i didn’t have time to take off work to make it back to Stillwater to watch a game. I could have done it every months, but i never could have held down season tickets – the time to get from work, to home, to Stillwater, and back home was just too much. Once again, a Saturday football game is much easier to make happen.
As far as the cost…correct me if I’m wrong, but if someone is getting student loans, is $200-something really that much on top of the thousands already borrowed? If you are getting by without student loans, then the cost thing is a little more understandable.
As far as time…I get that. I worked my butt off in college. I got tickets my (first) senior year, and it was a lot of fun, but I didn’t my second senior year. Sometimes I wish I did, other times I think there is no way I would have had the time, but I’m glad I did at least one season of basketball. I feel that I would have missed out otherwise.
As far as the money issues go, I took out the max in student loans and spent it all and then some. It wasn’t a matter of percentage – basketball just wasn’t a priority.
Looking back I definitely wish i would have made it a priority. I could have made the time to go to at least a few of them a year. To any OSU student reading this: Just go. You won’t regret it.
You’re pretty stupid so you’ll need all the schooling you can get to have a shot at enjoying life.
With that comment what would you know about enjoying life?
You are really missing out on the college experience…
Signed,
Attendee when GIA sold out every time.
Oh I’m a doctor, so you can always find time to study!
I concur…..only valid excuse is no money.
AGREED!!!!
……. And here I thought it was due to the new propensity of OSU football fans to act entitled, e.g., fire DCBY! (Or similar)
It’s a combination of these things:
- A lot of fans left when Eddie was fired and haven’t come back. They may never come back.
- The games are on tv. For fans in towns other than Stillwater, it’s easier to just watch on it tv. Especially during the week.
- They have been pretty bad for a while, and most fans have lost interest in that time span. It’s going to take a full season of success for people to revive their interest.
Single game student tickets are $15 a piece… That’s ridiculous. The majority of my friends didn’t go last night because of the price.
troof
Too f—— expensive, that’s the thing. (Also, being a full time grad student with a teaching assistantship usually means my Wednesday nights are WORK, not play.) My dad used to drive us four hours from tiny Smithville, OK to go to games at GIA, it didn’t get much more exciting than that. Speaking as someone who used to prioritize basketball over football and has totally reversed that, I say (1) in agreement with you, they’ve gotta cut prices for those of us who just don’t have any money and (2) they need to f——- WIN SOME BIG-ASS GAMES.
To answer Nolan…church.
That’s what we’re talking about.
He said BETTER to do ; ) just playing
When my son was in school there, you couldnt have put one more person in GIA, always full ,rowdy and loud fans. Most of the seating in GIA belongs to old alumni that never relinquish their seats, they keep them year after year, and some are too old to go anymore, so their seats are empty or they leave them to their children, and most dont show for the games. Alot of alumni are still upset over Eddie Sutton and rightfully so, I wish he would come back as our coach, you could count on winning those 1 point difference in games!!The Thunder has also taken away from our basketball as well. Its sad to watch on tv, seeing all those empty seats!!! Love my cowboy basketball!!
Yes, good point bonita – the Thunder is Oklahoma’s team now. Not OSU.
Enhanced cost is not too great when adjusted for inflation. Yet, there is a feeling of well its just another flash in the pan and we are just going to fail again when the basketball meets the floor. Like well, we cant really expect to beat KState in their home field. This is like the old football syndrome, OSU cant beat OU, UT, Neb, etc. We can if we want to and if we support the teams that have a chance. If I was not 2700 miles away I would go to the basketball games to support my school and cheer for the underdogs like I did of old. OSU has a proud tradition in basketball, but we always felt we could win the all. Sometimes we just fell a little short, but we had the ability. That is missing. Some of this is the fact that many dont connect emotionaly to the players. We used to see them for 4 years, and grew fond of them. They were around campus and the community. We knew them and loved and supported them. Now we wounder if they are good if they will play two years or just use the school as an elevator to the NBA. Get a degree, “who needs one man money now is the main thing”. Loyalty and relationship with a team is important and it translates to attendance. No chemistry with the players relates to less attendance. True we might not be able to buy a season ticket, but we could go to some games. I remember going to a game we were not expected to win while I still lived in Oklahoma. Drove 180 miles one way to go to the game. We lost by a last second basket and one point. I loved the effort of the players and the feeling of family by the fans even in adversity. We were supposed to lose by double digits. I remember Big Country and the snide remarks from down south in some little berg called Norman about a project which would never amount to anything. LOL. Then the charges we did something illegal as if he was that good he would never have gone to OSU in the first place. We loved him and supported him even when he did not have a great night. He loved the fans and the team. I remember and I feel sad, but that the new reality. Players are just tansients ont he road to the NBA.
I’m not a businessman, that’s why I switched from a Business major to Journalism. But it’s obvious to me ticket prices do not equal demand. Plain and simple. My Dad gave up his season tickets after 25+ years. Price was the chief, primary reason.
Also, you will never be able to convince me expanding GIA was a bad decision. I have been many places, but when I was in school during the 2003-2004 seasons, GIA (13-thousand strong) was the most remarkable, intimidating atmosphere I’ve ever seen in sports. GIA is built a lot like The Swamp. The stands are so steep you feel like if you missed a step you would free-fall. My dad used to take me to Old Gallagher. It was great, no doubt. But for OSU to be a Hoops Power expansion is/was the right move.
Expanding was the right move, but it should have been in the 10,000 area instead of 13,611.
The first half of this is how it is too expensive to go to the games and the second half is about how we act like OU fans for not going? Seems contradictory, to me, to have a legit reason, affordability, to not go, but then get called a Sooner because you can’t attend. OU is located close enough to the OKC metro that they have no reason other than lack of interest to not attend their games.
+1
I did note that there are plenty of people in the 200 section who have already paid for tickets and aren’t showing up. Wasn’t necessarily dogging the people who can’t afford it.
Klark has it right, I think. Also, a lot of those fans who lost interest but like basketball are probably spending their money on Thunder tickets instead. It will take a couple years of success (being competitive in conference and making the dance)to lure people back.
$15 a ticket is a fair price for major college basketball and cheaper than what I remember paying as a student.
I just can’t get over the first paragraph. Superior to the football team??
You’re an idiot, Kyle. And trust me, I’m a bigger osu basketball fan than 99.99% of the alums out there.
As bad as we want this team to be good, they’re still pretty average. Better than last year by a lot, but still pretty average on the national landscape.
“I just can’t get over the first paragraph. Superior to the football team?? You’re an idiot, Kyle.” THANK you!
I cannot help either of you either.
Please tell me what makes you think this team is so great?? They’re not that great. And this IS coming from someone who goes to all the games… Unlike yourself.
Pretty hypocritical to come on here and bash the fanbase when you’re only showing up to the free games.
If you think they’re that great then pay and go. I don’t think they’re that great but I still pay to go. But instead you try to troll the fanbase by posting this b.s. behind a computer screen.
You’re a joke.
I live in Dallas, I can’t go.
And part of my post was saying that it’s too expensive to go.
As for trolling — I think we all know who’s doing the trolling here.
Oh now I’m trolling you for calling you out on your BS? Haha that’s rich.
If you don’t go to the games you have no room to complain.
And I am still waiting for your explanation of why the basketball team is superior to the football team. One of the dumber things you’ve ever said…
OSU will finish better than T3 in the Big 12 in hoops.
Hahaha that’s all you got?? Wow. Pretty pathetic. THAT makes them superior??
You’re argument fails so hard it’s not even funny.
Let’s not forget that this is probably the worst big 12 basketball league ever…
The product the last few years has been horrible to average. Why should we expect to sell out with a crappy product?? Just because you’re too stupid and think that we’re all world in hoops again (far from it), doesn’t mean we should be selling out the arena. Pretty simple stuff. But I guess that’s too hard for you to understand.
And I don’t care if you live in Dallas. If you want to make it to the games, you make it a priority. I have and I still don’t think we’re that great.
You realize Kyle didn’t even have season football tickets, right? He did make it a priority to show up and sling those awful Choo Choo shirts though.. I love the “I’m such a great fan and everyone else sucks” act, but it’s pretty much the exact opposite. This blog is a joke and so is “Pistols Guy”.
In all fairness, equating the O-State fan base to the OU fan base is sort of trolling. True or not, them’s fightin’ words.
Exactly. Kyle could have limited the post to expressing frustration with people who buy tickets but don’t show up, but he purposefully invoked the “no better than OU fans” to give his (semi-incoherent) argument a visceral edge and rile people up. Defend your stance if you want, Kyle, but don’t pretend you weren’t trolling. Of course you were.
OSU football went 8-5. I think our b-ball team will win more than 60% of their games this year.
I live in Moore. I can do football games because it is a Saturday. I have 6 kids. No way I’m driving on a weeknight for a basketball game. If I lived in Stillwater, I would go. Wednesday is a church night for 3 of my boys anyways. I can sit at home and watch though, and talk about it to all my friends and hoop and hollar in front of the 60inch. Times have changed, 6 ESPN channels and Fox almost always assures the game is on tv. Didn’t used to be that way.
OSU is very near and dear to my heart. But why pay exorbitant ticket prices to watch amateur basketball when I can pay less (or the same amount if I choose) to watch the pros in OKC?
Oh, and I will gladly hype the next great basketball prospect just like Laqoun Treadwell for football. I always believed it was great that OSU was so hard core at every sport other schools and fans didn’t care about.
Nolan states that he will never understand what is better than a Wednesday night than a game in January at GIA. That is very true if this was 10 years ago.
I personally (as on OKState Alum) would rather pay the money to watch the Thunder play a bunch of white dudes than watch OSU play TCU in a half filled arena. And yes, I might not be better than an OU fan when I say that, but it’s true. Heck, even famous former alums spent last night enjoying the Thunder game (Weeden, Desmond Mason, Brandon Pettigrew, Randy Couture).
Lowering the ticket price would help but I don’t believe it would get the GIA atmosphere where it used to be. It’s like the famous quote off the movie the Field of Dreams… “If you win… the fans will come….” (wait, I know that’s not right… but for the sake of the comment, I’m going to act like it is…)
+1
I was a faithful OSU basketball fan and a historical regular attender to the games. I will add my 2 cents.
First, I completely agree with the pricing. This has Holder’s fingerprints all over it. It is similar on the football pricing. When your team can’t get to a tournament, you have to drop, not raise prices, to continue to get butt’s in the seats.
Next, for those in and surrounding OKC, I don’t think you can underestimate the impact the Thunder has on both of the state’s school basketball attendance. Most of us can’t buy both college and pro basketball ticket packages. This is the heyday of the Thunder team and it won’t last forever (see the 1990s Sacremento Kings, the late 1980s to mid 90s Utah Jazz, and the 1970s Milwaukee Bucks to name a few.) Many of us are taking advantage of this exciting time with the Thunder.
Finally, I think there is a silent protest about not supporting Ford. He is a GREAT recruiter. However, his major problem is that once players come into his system they don’t get better. Sutton’s team started to peak every year in February because he helped the players to improve and the team chemistry to improve as the season progressed. We don’t see that with the Ford teams. The 10 year extension that was given to Ford was dumb. The program doesn’t generate excitement any more, although we have some very good individual players.
+1
“A lot of fans left when Eddie was fired and haven’t come back. They may never come back.” That’s totally me. My freshman year was the year of Sutton’s DUI. I was fired up for OSU basketball that year, and held the torch through the Sean Sutton years, but once James Anderson left, I was pretty much ready to call it quits. I just couldn’t justify spending my time and money on that when I had better things to do.
“I just don’t know if it’s going to get any better than this under Travis Ford.” I also have zero confidence in Ford and have always hated his scheme. I doubt they will go over .600 in conference play this year despite the hype. (Kool-Aid drinkers like Kyle can wait until the end of the season and you’ll see.) And the fool Holder signed him on a long-term contract. Ridiculous.
“Thunder is Oklahoma’s team now. Not OSU.” This was the last straw for in-state basketball fans, and not just at OSU. Ever since the Hornets came to OKC for two seasons, my interest in the NBA started to grow. I loved watching KD play at Texas, and followed the Sonics once he got drafted. The franchise moving to OKC was like a dream come true. Any last glimmers of attachment to OSU basketball faded once Anderson got drafted, and I became a 100% Thunder, 0% OSU basketball fan. I’m guessing a large portion of the OSU (and OU) crowd did the same.
I must also point out that the University of Tulsa had a booming basketball program in the 90′s and early 2000′s, with coaches like Tubby Smith and Bill Self. TU was selling out the Reynolds Center almost every night. Now the program has had a few down years and they can get anyone to come to the games. I think performance and the interest in the Thunder have something to do with this as well. Much like OSU on a smaller scale.
I do agree with Kyle on one key point: we should have never reconfigured Gallagher Hall….I walked on the wrestling mat in Gallagher in 1971 and it was so loud I literally could not hear what Coach Chesbro was saying from 2 feet away….I think we screwed up a good thing with the “expansion”…..the old Gallagher was a seriously intimidating environment for visiting teams; hell, it was intimidating for our own folks. I watched a visiting #2 ranked OU (when Tisdale was their stud) come in against an unranked Cowboy team and we destroyed them and my ears were ringing for three days afterwards….It was a lot more fun when the student seating when all the way down to the floor…..
It always amuses me when I read comments about the university firing Eddie Sutton. I loved OSU baseketball with Eddie as the coach and was a season ticket holder for much of the time, but let’s be clear, Eddie Sutton fired himself. The university had zero choice after the decisions that the man made. I don’t disagree that other bad choices have been made by OSU, such as ticket prices and maybe even hiring the wrong coach the last time, but they had no choice but to part ways with Eddie when they did.
Kyle, you make a lot of good points. I choose to disagree with you on the expansion of GIA, just because I remember how hard it used to be for me to even get tickets before expansion. However, even in pre-expanded mode, that wouldn’t be a problem today.
You didn’t touch on the effect of the Thunder. It’s hard to compete with that — especially given the level of play and convenience for OKC-area fans. $3-$4 per gallon gas is probably another factor.
Student attendance — that’s another story. I haven’t heard this year, but last year there were MANY student season tickets that weren’t even picked up. I’ve paid many a Bursar bill with those tickets on there, and that’s ridiculous. Students can make time for everything else, so they ought to be able to fill those stands for a 2 hour basketball game. Time management is just part of college. One thing the Athletic department should do is make it easier to transfer student tickets — at least to other students.
I’m am fortunate enough to hold both Basketball (300-level) and Football tickets. I’ve been there through the bad years and the good years, but it’s getting hard for me to continue to justify the Basketball tickets at this point. It’s especially hard since I know what I pay per ticket, and can almost always get a cheaper one at the ticket window or from scalpers outside (which I can’t believe are still there).
For those of us in the stands last night, I can assure you the poor attendance was a discussion point. it was really tough to set there and look at all the empty orange seats, thinking about what I paid for my season tickets. This is a shame as the 2012-2013 Cowboy basketball team is truly special — they can go a long way if we’ll just get behind them.
Fill the seats — Bring the Rowdy back!
Go Pokes.
Thank you for the only rational, positive response in this entire comments section.
Great post, Kyle.
Most of my favorite memories from Stillwater were from hoops: camping for tickets and lining up to get the “good” student seats.
I’m with you – I’m not paying $50 for a game. But, maybe I’ll splurge for one before I head east…
As far as OU or OSU fans being “bad”, I don’t really care too much about the sports that someone is interested in. Is someone missing out if they NEVER go to a basketball game? Yeah, I think a little bit. But if someone just isn’t that interested in basketball in general, well, that’s their preference. I think the irritating thing though is when a fan from one school mouths the other school because their football team is superior, but no other sport supposedly matters when it comes to comparisons.
Mike Holder killed OSU basketball. I had season tickets since Hamilton’s first year. Paid the construction fee and higher ticket prices. But when Holder was named AD, he raised ticket prices year after year. He essentially gave a big middle finger to long time, loyal fans and told them “pay or leave”. I have no doubt Holder loves OSU, he just can’t stand the fans unless they have a million or two to give. Certainly there are other factors, but Holder ran off the loyal fans that used to be known as the “OSU family”. All those lower seats are now bought by corporations or well off folks, and they come only come for a few games. Those seats used to be filled with die hard OSU basketball fans. It’s hard to get those fans back when you have told them to go to hell.
+1
+1
I just don’t get it. How many students went to the football games last year and this year and claimed to be huge fans of this University? I did. I loved it. Basketball is different though, in a huge way. A football game takes an entire day for most students, assuming they tailgate, a basketball game can simply be that 2 hour study break you so desperately need sometimes. Not that a study break was need by many last night…it was only the 3rd day back. Part of loving OSU is loving everything it has to offer, and if it’s that difficult to love a really special basketball team with a potential player of the year, then I guess I’ll just continue being disappointed in my fellow students here. Go pokes.
+1
We still haven’t filled Boone Pickens yet. The goons fill that place week after week. . .
Their place. Sorry.
I have attended every men’s game for the last two years. I take 16/17 hours a semester. I work two jobs. And I still maintain a 3.8 GPA. Time is not an excuse. Even my engineering friends attend every game.
I agree that prices need to be competitive. $5/$10 seats that make a full house make more money than the $30 seats that sit empty. I believe the same argument could be made that Oklahoma State had the reigning Big 12 Champion Football team this past season and did not sell out ONE football game. If the reigning champions not selling out a stadium and an empty GIA doesn’t say something about OSU sporting ticket prices in general, I don’t know what more of a hint our athletic department needs.
Absolutely. I remember sneaking into lewis field with my daughter as a grad student to see Garrett Limbrick and Barry play. I couldn’t afford the tickets then. I am 52 now, a working proffessional and would love to buy season tickets for both football AND basketball. But i can’t afford one OR the other. Holder, drop your prices so loyal cowboy fans CAN fill these venues.
Look, I get very annoyed at OU fans that want to fire Stoops if he doesn’t win the NC every year. They’re out of touch. However, OSU fans are similar when it comes to BB. Our standards are higher. We haven’t won the big games with Ford. I know lifelong ticket holders that gave up their tickets because he used profanity during games. Frankly that didn’t bother me as bad as not making the NCAA tournament. I’m sick of the whining. You want attendees, then beat Kansas. Then win 30 games. Then win the conference tournament. I don’t blame the kids. i don’t blame the fans. I blame the coaches and the administration. But guess what, golf sure seems to be doing well. Well duh sherlock. OSU can reap what they sow.
Do any of you people realize how much cheaper ticket prices are this year??? The season ticket plans they put together this season are the best packages we’ve seen in a long time. I’m pretty sure they have dropped basketball ticket prices the past 2 years at least. Griping about the price is silly, IMO. You want them to knock it down to $5 per ticket for the 300 level? Sounds great to me, can’t help but love low prices, but think about how much you value OSU basketball if that is all you’re willing to pay. How much do you regularly spend on green fees, movies, dinner, etc. etc. etc. Five lousy bucks is all you want to pay for an OSU game? Seriously???
My son attended OSU in 2000-2004!! Granted our bb team then was fantastic, went to the Final 4. We did not want our son to miss out on any of the college experiences that he wanted to be a part of. We paid for him to go to the football and basketball games and he very much appreciates it now!! The students were so into it then, but now even the students arent showing up, and that is really disturbing to me. To see GIA empty just breaks our hearts!! Our football team then wasnt that impressive, but he nor any of his friends ever missed a game, true and loyal OSU fans…….
It kills me to watch games down here on TV now and see the place so empty. I was in OKC about a month ago and was talking to a current student and she seemed shocked that GIA used to sell out every game. I told her my first 2 years (04-06), if you didn’t get to the game an hour or 2 early there was no way you would get a seat in the lower level. Again she was shocked because now you show up 10 minutes after the game starts and your court side. Current students just do not feel connected to the team like we did in previous years. I know when I went there it almost felt like my duty as a student was to go to the games and make as much noise as possible.
I do not think that the students are the only problem by any means. I think a large factor in all of it is the Thunder, before they came we never had issues selling out the EXPANDED GIA. Last year we couldn’t even sell out the Mizzou game when they were #2 (I think) in the nation and we played them at home and WON. I think we were hit by a perfect storm of down OSU teams, rise of the Thunder which stole fans, people’s dislike of Ford, and Holder continually raising prices on seemingly everything and pissing off normal alumni. Eventually you would think that all of this will come to an end and things will get back close to what they were. But the sad thing is that many people are missing some great things going on right now because they are too caught up in there own feelings towards parts of the athletic department instead of supporting the University as a whole like they should be. LOYAL AND TRUE TO OUR ALMA MATER. O-S-U!!!
PS I Should get extra points because I have watched the last 2 games in standard definition because it wasn’t offered in HD in Houston. I didn’t even know they had standard def channels anymore.
I think that DJ Khaled says it best………
All I do is win, win, win no matter what
Got money on mind, I can never get enough
And every time I step up in the building
Everybody hands go up
O-S-U
And they stay there, and they say “yeah,” and they stay there
Up, down, up, down, up, down
‘Cause all I do is win, win, win
And if you goin’ in, put your hands in the air, make ‘em stay there
Win…..and the students will return!
I’m a member of the Spirit band. I give up more time than the average student to be in GIA every basketball game and wrestling match.
And I can hear myself echo off the walls in GIA.
It’s one thing to be a student and say, “Oh, we’re bringing the rowdy back!” by purchasing tickets. Occupying a seat doesn’t make it rowdy. Being LOUD does. I don’t get how someone can pay $200 for tickets and just sit there when Markel dunks or Phil hits a 3. How can you not get crazy when you’re facing down an opponent as he shoots free throws?
I get that the first step is buying tickets. But once you get there, participate in the game. It’s only a couple of hours.
At osu from 94-00, made every game I could. It was one of the highlights of my time at osu. I remember racing to get an o’colly to see what or if you we’re selected for season tickets! To me it all comes down wins, a connection to the team, and Coach Sutton. We felt connected to the team, many players were in school for 5 years and then still found around Stillwater. We always had a couple stand out players from Oklahoma. I can even remember playing pick up games in the annex with players. I don’t know the answer to getting back to that atmosphere but it starts with winning. Is Ford the answer, this season should answer it. I know back in the 90′s I would be expecting this team to make the final four and looking forward to a repeat of the near riot that occurred in the Spring of 95. I’m not sure theta pond ever recovered!
my facebook profile picture is of me, my wife, 2 kids and our neighbor kid that we drug along – we’re in GIA near the end of a game earlier this season. All the comments on that pic are “wow that place is empty”. and it was – there is literally only one couple behind us and we were in the lower 200 section.
We can talk about the Thunder or the Sooner fans and their habits and ticket prices and Nate can whine and be a cyber bully – but in the end, i think until Ford has some real success – or unless Boone buys us all tickets – the stands will remain embarrassingly empty.
Nate, quit being a jerk. He DID state that some people have season tickets and didn’t go to the game. He said ticket prices were too expensive. He wasn’t trolling anyone or saying you need to go buy $50.00 tickets.
As far as the students are concerned I think a lot of them are younger and don’t remember the basketball glory days of OSU, especially once you start considering how many students are coming from the DFW area. The last really good teams (03-05) most of these students were in middle school, they don’t know that GIA use to sell out every game like an earlier person posted. Then you look at football and we have been relevant since knocking off Mizzou a few years back and that is what these current students grew up knowing. They know we will be relevant and the football game is the place to be. Basketball hasn’t been the place to be in quite some time.
Students grow up to be alumni and fund those donor tickets for years to come. I was a freshman E. Sutton’s last year and by my senior year there was a problem attracting students – that has translated into a problem filling other seats. At the rate things are going, we’ll have the same problem for the next 5 years.
And if this year is like some previous years, students won’t understand how good our team is until the last 10 games.
The solution to the student ticket problem is finishing off this year strong, include basketball into a slightly higher priced All Sports pass (they’ll pay just to see football) and then campaign harder from the start of school next year.
Yeah. Porter is an idiot. Who gave him this job anyways?
To give perspective to my comment I attended OSU from 1990-1996…some fine years to be watching the Cowboys at GIA.
1. To say you’re too busy to go to a game as a student is ridiculous!! I was an Architecture major and pretty much lived at my desk for 5 yrs while going through the program…in addition to working at Eskimo Joe’s and Karsten Creek (the greens don’t mow themselves at 6:00 AM).
2. Two things I never missed while attending OSU, a football game or a basketball game my Senior Year…because it took me UNTIL my Senior Year to get season tickets to the basketball games. I waited in line for hours on the day my number was called which enabled me to buy season tickets to basketball. GIA was the finest basketball atmosphere you could get in those days.
3. I’d give anything to be able to go a game now, you’re missing the college experience if you don’t go.
4. Ticket prices outside of the State of Oklahoma are outrageous, for most everything. I live in Los Angeles now and paid $200 for nosebleed tickets to watch the Thunder vs Lakers. $15 for OSU tickets is a couple of beers (good beer) at the bar.
It’s a self fulfilling prophecy. People don’t go to the games because nobody goes to the games. It’s no more complicated than that.
PREACH.
You can’t get people to show up because it’s not rowdy & fun. It’s not rowdy & fun because people don’t show up.
It breaks my heart. I was raised on OSU basketball. I got goosebumps whenever I walked into GIA and couldn’t wait to get to college and be a part of it…. But when I finally got to Stillwater people stopped caring. It was one of the few but most significant disappointments of my time at OSU. I still attended every basketball game but it wasn’t what I had waited so long for.
I agree with many people who’ve said if you are really loyal and true then you love both sports despite their ups and downs. You love them when they loose that way when they’re winning you can say you stood by them and supported them. It makes the victories that much sweeter. My dad has had season football & basketball tickets since ’83. He’s missed 3 (THREE) football games since 1983 and trust me he is a very busy man living in OKC. He sat through every loosing season in the ’90s (minus ’97) and when the fourth quarter ended at the Bedlam game last fall no one was more overjoyed than my Dad and other dedicated alumni. If people stick with this team they can get that same joy from basketball one day. You can’t guarantee when it will happen but that’s part of what being a fan is about.
ALSO: I know we were spoiled and went to the tournament all the time under Eddie but we have gone to the tournament twice under Ford. I’m not saying there aren’t issues under Ford but don’t say that going to the dance will get you back in the stands. I was in the stands in ’08-’09, ’09-’10 when we were going dancing and no one was in them with me. What will get people in GIA is other people in GIA. At some point people will need to stop complaining and just attend games so that others will stop complaining and just attend games.
I also agree with the person who commented that Eddie’s actions got him fired. I love Eddie Sutton & what he means to OSU. I chant Ed-die, and cheer when his name is called but the school had no choice but to fire him. I will not hold what happened in 2006 against this current team and I will not scorn my school for taking the appropriate actions given the situation they were in.
Go Pokes.
#Bringtherowdyback
I took my wife on our first date to a game in GIA. It is sad to see such a poor showing in the arena. Maybe OSU should host a “Then vs. Now” game and have this team play against Allen, the Graham brothers, Mcfarland, Lucas and maybe even throw in Marcus Dove to get the crowd pumped up(gestures a bird with both hands).
For my part, I work five – six days/ week until 10 PM, so I miss most games unless I remember to record them.
As for the non-student and casual fan, there is a lot of competition for the sports fan’s entertainment dollar. Compare OKC Thunder ticket prices starting at $30 – $50 each to watch an entertaining game with one of the NBA’s best and dynamic teams (and 3-yr NBA scoring leader) with a decent seat in GIA for an inconsistent men’s b-ball game is $140 per person (not floor, but mid-level, mid-court). I believe the price gouging is an unfortunate result of financing Coach Ford’s $20.375 million salary + his annual $400K into his 401K program (Tulsa World, 12/15/09).
A few years ago, I would have denied that the Thunder could compete with my Cowboys for the state’s basketball fans, but the proof is 83 consecutive sellouts in OKC. If sell-outs are what’s important, then I would recommend Coach Holder revisit Coach Ford’s salary and/ or his ticket pricing structure.
Has anyone actually gone to the okstate.com site and checked ticket prices? They are NOT EXPENSIVE. Way cheaper than the Thunder and the season ticket packages are really good prices. Single game tickets range from $10 to $25 depending on the opponent. If you are griping about prices I can only assume you are misinformed or are making silly assumptions.