Oh great a thread about UC's starting QB situation turns into an attendance/fan support/fading program thread.

Speaking of the bad Reds attendance: They drew 2,476,664 for an average of 30,576 per game (72.3% capacity). Without Votto, Phillips and many pitchers for a lot of the season. UC only wishes they could have that kind of following.

(11-11-2014 10:52 AM)ctipton Wrote:  Speaking of the bad Reds attendance: They drew 2,476,664 for an average of 30,576 per game (72.3% capacity). Without Votto, Phillips and many pitchers for a lot of the season. UC only wishes they could have that kind of following.

Wow. Those are incredible numbers. And its not cheap attending a baseball game. But that's the Cincinnati culture - all Reds, all the time.

There will be announced attendance of about 28,000
It will look like about 7,000 in the stands
People on the club level will be inside watching in TV
Most of the students will leave at halftime
The stands will be empty when the clock hits zero

There that's out of the way. Deal with it. Enjoy the game . cheer for the Bearcats

(11-11-2014 10:52 AM)ctipton Wrote:  Speaking of the bad Reds attendance: They drew 2,476,664 for an average of 30,576 per game (72.3% capacity). Without Votto, Phillips and many pitchers for a lot of the season. UC only wishes they could have that kind of following.

Tickets distributed not actual butts in the seats.

Wonderful suggestions all around on how to fix the problem. I would have hated watching this thread turn into yet another b**** fest....

I hope Kiel gets most of the plays unless he's still crippled by the ribs. Munchie is a capable backup, but he should remain that way. It's only a matter of time before he has a multiple turnover game, and we can't have that this week.

(11-11-2014 10:31 AM)bearcatmill Wrote:  

(11-11-2014 09:05 AM)BeerCat Wrote:  

(11-11-2014 08:54 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  I am with Superfly here. This town/fan base is awful when it comes to supporting UC athletics. I have made the point but I think we legitimately only have around 25-30k fans, 15-20K who show up to home games most weeks and another 7500-10k who go to bowls. It is loyal, passionate bunch but very small. To get the optimum turn out for a game and draw interest of the casual fans all the ducks have to be in a row-- opponent, weather, good season, game time, etc.

I don't know why people still act like this is shocking news. UC has had a good football program for what? Maybe 10 years? And as has been mentioned ad nauseum, Cincinnati has professional sports that have a wider appeal.

What professional sports? A bad bad bad Bungles team. A bad Reds team. A Reds team that has a hard time attracting fans as well. This is a poor sports town, unless you happen to be high school fball. At the end of the day it's just excuses.

Speaking of school, one of co-workers was bragging about how he only pays $140 for season tickets to Elder basketball (he is a notorious cheapskate). He about fell out his chair when I told him he could get season tickets to UC basketball for $99.

(11-11-2014 10:25 AM)Ragpicker Wrote:  

(11-10-2014 10:51 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  Hell we have people complaining about bowl games that are no different than the Pizza Bowl and International Bowl.

You have to see the difference between UC playing in those previous bowls vs UC today. Those bowls all came prior to the BCS games, Liberty and Belk. We were on our way up - and I went to all of those minor games.

But we are now clearly on the way back down. And that's what I've been bitchin' about for 2 years. And I do, sorry BJ and others, look for every possible angle to bring it up. Because our reality is the 2nd half of the Memphis game, the lack of ticket sales for Thursday (it will even look worse on TV with the no shows and folks in the Club), and the empty stadium in early Dec against a mediocre Houston team.

You are right. Our alumni and fan base is not strong. Anyone over 35 and under 70 knows how bad support was for UC football during their undergrad days. It was if the program didn't exist - even demoted to I-AA for one season. No one cared, the papers didn't cover the team, and there was no culture built. Only those students who came to UC under the Big East and watched great football develop still support the team by tailgating and coming to games. So that is an improvement. But what will happen if this life inside a mid-major continues?

HuH? We were actually demoted to D1- AA ? when was this ?

Back in 1973 they restructured Division One and we got the short end of the stick. UC made its way back in but playing down at that level hurt the support of the program.

(11-11-2014 10:25 AM)Ragpicker Wrote:  And I do, sorry BJ and others, look for every possible angle to bring it up.

Rag, since I was actually a participant in this rant, I would look pretty silly to jump your $hit now

Nonetheless, Mark is basically right (although the article did mention the attendance, it wasn't the main point). I would like to see Gunner at close to 100% before he starts. I don't want to see him, more or less, fall apart on the first long pass that he attempts. Sure, we all prefer Kiel, but, I see a healthy Munchie as a better option as a Kiel that is about to fall apart. I just hope Gunner is healed.

(11-11-2014 11:46 AM)Bearcat Jimmy-93 Wrote:  HuH? We were actually demoted to D1- AA ? when was this ?

1983 - Yet we beat Penn State and tied UK

http://www.footballgeography.com/history...-fcs-i-aa/

(11-11-2014 12:57 PM)Ragpicker Wrote:  

(11-11-2014 11:46 AM)Bearcat Jimmy-93 Wrote:  HuH? We were actually demoted to D1- AA ? when was this ?

1983 - Yet we beat Penn State and tied UK

http://www.footballgeography.com/history...-fcs-i-aa/

Yes and wasn't Penn State the reigning National Champ from '82? Watson Brown's remarkable one year roller coaster career as UC coach!

(11-11-2014 01:41 PM)indycat Wrote:  

(11-11-2014 12:57 PM)Ragpicker Wrote:  

(11-11-2014 11:46 AM)Bearcat Jimmy-93 Wrote:  HuH? We were actually demoted to D1- AA ? when was this ?

1983 - Yet we beat Penn State and tied UK

http://www.footballgeography.com/history...-fcs-i-aa/

Yes and wasn't Penn State the reigning National Champ from '82? Watson Brown's remarkable one year roller coaster career as UC coach!

They were. But lost most everyone from that team. It took them sometime to get things going again with a younger squad losing their first three, but then righted the ship to go 8-4-1.

(11-11-2014 12:57 PM)Ragpicker Wrote:  

(11-11-2014 11:46 AM)Bearcat Jimmy-93 Wrote:  HuH? We were actually demoted to D1- AA ? when was this ?

1983 - Yet we beat Penn State and tied UK

http://www.footballgeography.com/history...-fcs-i-aa/

"it's not in the record book but several newspaper articles mention it"
I'd like a more authoritative source here. I was around back then and while I recall concerns about the designation I don't recall it ever happening.

(11-11-2014 11:27 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(11-11-2014 10:31 AM)bearcatmill Wrote:  

(11-11-2014 09:05 AM)BeerCat Wrote:  

(11-11-2014 08:54 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  I am with Superfly here. This town/fan base is awful when it comes to supporting UC athletics. I have made the point but I think we legitimately only have around 25-30k fans, 15-20K who show up to home games most weeks and another 7500-10k who go to bowls. It is loyal, passionate bunch but very small. To get the optimum turn out for a game and draw interest of the casual fans all the ducks have to be in a row-- opponent, weather, good season, game time, etc.

I don't know why people still act like this is shocking news. UC has had a good football program for what? Maybe 10 years? And as has been mentioned ad nauseum, Cincinnati has professional sports that have a wider appeal.

What professional sports? A bad bad bad Bungles team. A bad Reds team. A Reds team that has a hard time attracting fans as well. This is a poor sports town, unless you happen to be high school fball. At the end of the day it's just excuses.

Speaking of school, one of co-workers was bragging about how he only pays $140 for season tickets to Elder basketball (he is a notorious cheapskate). He about fell out his chair when I told him he could get season tickets to UC basketball for $99.

Season tickets for high school basketball? You got to be sh!tting me...No idea such a thing even existed.

(11-11-2014 02:04 PM)cmhcat Wrote:  

(11-11-2014 12:57 PM)Ragpicker Wrote:  

(11-11-2014 11:46 AM)Bearcat Jimmy-93 Wrote:  HuH? We were actually demoted to D1- AA ? when was this ?

1983 - Yet we beat Penn State and tied UK

http://www.footballgeography.com/history...-fcs-i-aa/

"it's not in the record book but several newspaper articles mention it"
I'd like a more authoritative source here. I was around back then and while I recall concerns about the designation I don't recall it ever happening.

I wrote for the News Record back then. UC was given temporary status in I-AA for one year mainly due to attendance and the poor condition of facilities. That led to the move to play downtown. UC even sued and temporarily kept it from happening. But it became reality for the 1983 season.

This is why I have been so vocal about our demotion to the minor leagues. I watched it happen. And history can repeat. It is already starting to show signs.

Here is a link to an article written by Frank Diekmann (my News Record editor) for Cincinnati Magazine entitled "Up From the Tidy Bowl". Page 20 explains the demotion.

Up From the Tidy Bowl

(11-11-2014 02:34 PM)Ragpicker Wrote:  I wrote for the News Record back then. UC was given temporary status in I-AA for one year mainly due to attendance and the poor condition of facilities. That led to the move to play downtown. UC even sued but was unsuccessful.

This is why I have been so vocal about our demotion to the minor leagues. I watched it happen. And history can repeat. It is already starting to show signs.

Here is a link to an article written by Frank Diekmann (my News Record editor) for Cincinnati Magazine entitled "Up From the Tidy Bowl". Page 20 explains the demotion.

Up From the Tidy Bowl

Scary how much of this rings true today some 30 years later. UC trying to be one of the big boys...again. Coaches leaving for more money and using UC as a stepping stone. At one time (1950's) the program was among the best in the nation and then floundered. Even a decent team or two during the 70's but then back to irrelevance. And even a comment on how the city of Cincinnati wouldn't support Xavier football either (X decided to shut it down). Even the "Bad News Bearcats" comment that CTT rolled out frighteningly appears in this article. Heck the basketball coach at the time was even complaining about how the football team got too much attention.

(11-11-2014 02:33 PM)JackieTreehorn Wrote:  Season tickets for high school basketball? You got to be sh!tting me...No idea such a thing even existed.

Wow, you are quite out of the loop. My high school regularly graduates ~70 people, and they have had season tickets sold (and lots of them) for at least 40 years now. Ours only cost about $50.

(11-11-2014 05:17 PM)Bruce Monnin Wrote:  

(11-11-2014 02:33 PM)JackieTreehorn Wrote:  Season tickets for high school basketball? You got to be sh!tting me...No idea such a thing even existed.

Wow, you are quite out of the loop. My high school regularly graduates ~70 people, and they have had season tickets sold (and lots of them) for at least 40 years now. Ours only cost about $50.

I'm waiting for Elder to build luxury suites at The Pit.