How was it? Likes and dislikes? Food, entertainment, the people, etc. What did you think of our city?
Please exclude the 60 minutes yesterday.

The city was great and I thought was beautiful overall. Seemed like a larger Hattiesburg, and I really did like the entire city.

Wish I could exclude the 60 minutes, but the result wasn't my issue. The game is a game and the victory is yours. But the booing and overall classlessness of fans I encountered (even outside of the booing), did not make me enjoy the fanbase. And I know that not all fans are like that and I don't want to lump everyone into it, but a large portion were unpleasant.

Also, maybe it's because I had a headache, but the bell resounding over and over again for thirty minutes really got old fast and only made my headache worse. But I'll admit if I didn't have a headache, this wouldn't have been an issue.

Forgot to say, the stadium was small, but looked fantastic. Felt like you were on top of everything, which reminded me of The Rock. It was a beautiful campus as well. Seems that WKU has the same attendance issues we do, where the surrounding area is far and away large enough to fill up the stadium, but for some reason they don't come.

(12-06-2015 01:31 PM)EagNBran Wrote:  Forgot to say, the stadium was small, but looked fantastic. Felt like you were on top of everything, which reminded me of The Rock. It was a beautiful campus as well. Seems that WKU has the same attendance issues we do, where the surrounding area is far and away large enough to fill up the stadium, but for some reason they don't come.

Traditionally a basketball school and state... It's going to take time and the administration realized this when they built a smaller (but upgradeable) stadium.

Regarding the classlessness - I'm curious to hear some examples outside the booing. Not saying that you're wrong, but would like to know what things happened for you to say this.

We invited 2 groups of USM fans over to our tailgate for food and beverage. Both times they acted like we weren't there. Actions among fans are a two way street!

As with S. Miss Western is sitting right in the middle of SEC country. To those fans there is only one conference that plays football.

It doesn't matter if the two SEC schools are worse than half of CUSA. They are SEC. Then we are also close enough to Tenn to get the 3rd SEC school in the mix....Big 10 and ACC up to our north with in a 2.5 hour drive.

People outside the foot print of the SEC really don't have a clue how that affects fans

Then when you have two of the top 5 basketball programs in your own state...a state that lives and dies with those two programs. It's hard to get those fans to enjoy good football. I think that's the biggest problem. Basketball. If you read the Western boards today..a fan might expect to see FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL! There's more or at least just as much traffic on the loss in basketball last night.

It should be 95% about Western first CUSA Football championship and first top 25

Honestly it's sad. Especially for us fans that know how special this is. At one point I would have missed half a season in football if I had to exchange it for 1 basketball game...Western still has fans like that. Now I wouldn't give up 1 football game for anything but if it was the NCAA Tourney..but those dates are not in play.

Western will have 20-24k to travel to Nashville to watch Western play uk . Western had 10-12k to travel to Vandy to watch Western play them. Yesterday outside of the student and 1500 S. Miss fans and band Western had 10-12k fans

The listed attendance was 16+k but there were 18-20k fans at this game probably closer to the 20k.

(12-06-2015 01:47 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  The listed attendance was 16+k but there were 18-20k fans at this game probably closer to the 20k.

I do wish we would actually count those in attendance using turnstyles instead of just scanning tickets and waving students through if they have an ID. I honestly do believe we undercount by the way we do attendance.

I know for a fact not all students counted on the attendance. Turnstiles were not counted for students yesterday. The student attendance count was decided before game time on the number of ticket bought by BG companies that sponsored student tickets.

Like I said in another topic....

if only 1000 students shown up our listed attendance would have been higher than actual butts. With 6500 or so students the butts were 2000-2500 above listed attendance. I don't know how correct it is but I heard 4000 student tickets were sponsored but ALL students got in by showing a ID. Those 4000 bought and paid for tickets are the only ones that counted.

I can see why..this is a CUSA Event, not Western's so profits belong to CUSA and if the actual attendance was higher than sold tickets...

Western could have been put on the spot for that extra 2000-2500 count

I'm coming up on graduating from WKU 20 years ago and have been a season ticket holder for 10 years or so. That listed attendance number is not correct and some of the ticket scanners were not working, so they were just letting fans. My guess is that it was understated by 2-3K.

(12-06-2015 01:00 PM)Theflash Wrote:  How was it? Likes and dislikes? Food, entertainment, the people, etc. What did you think of our city?
Please exclude the 60 minutes yesterday.

Kind of hard to overlook the cheap shots, mouthy players and fans booing injury.

Y'all will have to come to Hattiesburg eventually, hopefully next year. What you get then will be well deserved.

(12-06-2015 01:00 PM)Theflash Wrote:  How was it? Likes and dislikes? Food, entertainment, the people, etc. What did you think of our city?
Please exclude the 60 minutes yesterday.

I was unable to attend due to a work outing, so I was not there in person. But my facebook wall had plenty of friends who were there, and most did not have a positive experience. I'm not sure what the common denominator is. Our fans travel pretty good, so it's not like we've not been at hostile game atmospheres. And it is not like we haven't been in championship games. So...I don't know. Most all said the atmosphere was pretty, our boys got beat, and they didn't care much for the host fans.

On another note, a reply mentioned WKU being in the middle of $EC country. We are all similar in the battles we face, but I would have failed that geography test if Western Kentucky is the middle of ESPN's prized possession. Ha.

(12-06-2015 02:32 PM)Eagle in the gym Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:00 PM)Theflash Wrote:  How was it? Likes and dislikes? Food, entertainment, the people, etc. What did you think of our city?
Please exclude the 60 minutes yesterday.

I was unable to attend due to a work outing, so I was not there in person. But my facebook wall had plenty of friends who were there, and most did not have a positive experience. I'm not sure what the common denominator is. Our fans travel pretty good, so it's not like we've not been at hostile game atmospheres. And it is not like we haven't been in championship games. So...I don't know. Most all said the atmosphere was pretty, our boys got beat, and they didn't care much for the host fans.

On another note, a reply mentioned WKU being in the middle of $EC country. We are all similar in the battles we face, but I would have failed that geography test if Western Kentucky is the middle of ESPN's prized possession. Ha.

Right?

I mean, USM is less than a 4 hour drive from Ole Miss, MSU, LSU, Alabama, and not much further if you want to bring up FSU and Auburn.

Not many other schools with that issue, IMO.

(12-06-2015 01:41 PM)LifetimeTopper Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:31 PM)EagNBran Wrote:  Forgot to say, the stadium was small, but looked fantastic. Felt like you were on top of everything, which reminded me of The Rock. It was a beautiful campus as well. Seems that WKU has the same attendance issues we do, where the surrounding area is far and away large enough to fill up the stadium, but for some reason they don't come.

Traditionally a basketball school and state... It's going to take time and the administration realized this when they built a smaller (but upgradeable) stadium.

Regarding the classlessness - I'm curious to hear some examples outside the booing. Not saying that you're wrong, but would like to know what things happened for you to say this.

Obviously, all fans are different so maybe I just interacted with the wrong ones. For me, the fans I came across were very cold and didn't want to say a word to you. The ones who did say something to you told you about how bad your team was while they slurred in their drunken stupor with their pants almost falling off of them. Just wasn't a fun environment.


To the person who said they offered USM fans to come to their tailgate, I suspect it's the same situation I dealt with. Just depends on the fans you meet. Some people aren't big into tailgating or have places they need to go. I don't want to put what I experienced on the entire fanbase, because I know that's not how everyone is. Heck! Some of the WKU posters on here, outside of a few, are extremely nice to talk sports with. Just sometimes what we encounter isn't what norm, you know?

(12-06-2015 02:56 PM)EagNBran Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:41 PM)LifetimeTopper Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:31 PM)EagNBran Wrote:  Forgot to say, the stadium was small, but looked fantastic. Felt like you were on top of everything, which reminded me of The Rock. It was a beautiful campus as well. Seems that WKU has the same attendance issues we do, where the surrounding area is far and away large enough to fill up the stadium, but for some reason they don't come.

Traditionally a basketball school and state... It's going to take time and the administration realized this when they built a smaller (but upgradeable) stadium.

Regarding the classlessness - I'm curious to hear some examples outside the booing. Not saying that you're wrong, but would like to know what things happened for you to say this.

Obviously, all fans are different so maybe I just interacted with the wrong ones. For me, the fans I came across were very cold and didn't want to say a word to you. The ones who did say something to you told you about how bad your team was while they slurred in their drunken stupor with their pants almost falling off of them. Just wasn't a fun environment.

Look you had your experience and precised it they way you did...

with that if you noticed someone pants almost falling off them you either..

1. in the restroom meeting people
2. went into this looking for something negative

I've talked to many visiting fans and to many home fans while the visitor and a lot of drunk ones on both sides...

I've yet to notice anyone's pants falling off them. But i don't seek out negative people and I must have something about me that tells those negative folks to stay the hell away

The whole "pants falling off" thing being a negative or a positive is 100% dependent upon the gender and attractiveness of the fan in question.

I enjoyed the city. Right after we parked in the parking lot across the street from champions street we crossed the street and as was stepping foot on your beautiful campus a WKU fan stuck half of his body out of his car and shouted..."F@#$ Mississippi". I looked at my crew and said I hoped this wasn't an indication of what was to come. I stayed around the USM Alumni tent and watched our Eagle Walk into the stadium.

I spoke with several older WKU fans who were very hospitable and courteous. I had no problems with anything WKU until the cheap shot by the WKU lineman on our top defensive end, who piled on him shoulder first on the ground after he was already injured. It was downhill with your fans after that.....
Now, with that said, the best team won the game, and I wish them well in their bowl.

A few idiots can make a whole fan base look bad.I apologize for our group of foolhardy knuckleheads.

Much respect to SOUTHERN MISS and your proud tradition.We feel glad we were able to win and hope to be able to build more on our tradition.

"Based on the results of the game, I could have predicted most of the responses in this thread" - Capt. Obvious

I've been to several away games over the years and the only common thread I've ever seen with "classless fans" (NEWS FLASH: EVERY fan base has some) is when I'm walking through the student tailgating area. Never had any issues at other campuses with the older/alumni tailgating areas.

We had a couple USM alum/fans in our tailgating area and we shared food and beer with them.

Not once on a message board have I ever shared the negative experiences I've had with fans of opposing teams. Well, I did mention once about a MT adult and his expletives and hand sign during a basketball game when my little boy was with me. I will, however, typically share the good experiences, as I did last week and this week. That's just me though. I'm a grown up and mature enough to know that one or two or three bad apples do not represent the fanbase of a school.

I could write some nasty stories about a handful of Marshall fans from last week and Southern Miss fans yesterday and the minor damage to my truck yesterday but it serves no purpose. I'd rather focus on the USM college students I met and how excited they were that they could buy beer in our stadium or the Marshall college students I talked sports with during that game.

It was better than Ruston, I'll give you that.