Big Bluezilla
All American
Posts: 2,920
Joined: May 2012
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I Root For: Old Dominion
Location: Norfolk, VA
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Home(court/field) Advantage and How to Recreate It
I think most of us would agree that sizable portion our fan base tends to be reserved, quiet, and gives our team little home court advantage.
What can WE do and what should the athletic department do to work on rebuilding our atmosphere into an intimidating place to play. I want the TED and FF to be loud and an advantage in a bad way.
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12-23-2017 10:03 PM |
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AimHigher
Heisman
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Joined: Oct 2012
Reputation: 70
I Root For: ODU
Location:
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RE: Home(court/field) Advantage and How to Recreate It
(12-23-2017 10:03 PM)Big Bluezilla Wrote: I think most of us would agree that sizable portion our fan base tends to be reserved, quiet, and gives our team little home court advantage.
What can WE do and what should the athletic department do to work on rebuilding our atmosphere into an intimidating place to play. I want the TED and FF to be loud and an advantage in a bad way.
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Free Beer
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12-23-2017 10:07 PM |
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ODUsmitty
Heisman
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Joined: May 2012
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I Root For: Old Dominion
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RE: Home(court/field) Advantage and How to Recreate It
Midway through the second half, the NSU band did a song, to which a large group (of mostly NSU supporting women) starting chanting. Went on well into when the action started.
Was easy to follow, and seemed to unite the band and the older NSU fans in attendance.
Cost nothing, yet brought together different generations of their fan base, and these older women really seemed into it. Kinda liked it.....a lot.
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12-23-2017 10:12 PM |
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EverRespect
Free Kaplony
Posts: 31,330
Joined: May 2012
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I Root For: ODU
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Home(court/field) Advantage and How to Recreate It
Simple, create more big moments. A snoozefest against a 1-11 MEAC team isn't ever going to cut it. Being in a race for the conference championship would work wonders.
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12-23-2017 10:35 PM |
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Monarchblue
Heisman
Posts: 8,740
Joined: May 2012
Reputation: 170
I Root For: ODU
Location:
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RE: Home(court/field) Advantage and How to Recreate It
(12-23-2017 10:03 PM)Big Bluezilla Wrote: I think most of us would agree that sizable portion our fan base tends to be reserved, quiet, and gives our team little home court advantage.
What can WE do and what should the athletic department do to work on rebuilding our atmosphere into an intimidating place to play. I want the TED and FF to be loud and an advantage in a bad way.
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Hire a new coach that isn't the Webster's definition of boring and then win.
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12-23-2017 11:01 PM |
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MonGNARch
1st String
Posts: 2,478
Joined: Jan 2015
Reputation: 64
I Root For: The Ol' Dirty
Location: DC
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RE: Home(court/field) Advantage and How to Recreate It
I've said it before and I'll say it again. The passion from students needs to come from the students themselves. It's a bit of a chicken-or-egg statement though, because passion comes from great traditions that are carried down through the years (and winning), but at this point none of the traditions we used to have have been carried down to the current students. All it takes is one or two students to make it their priority to go to these games, every game, and restart the student culture that we used to have. A group of students in the front row leading chants and standing all game leads to people in the second row standing and eventually joining in, then the third row, then the fourth... etc. Eventually, when most of the student section is standing and chanting it creates that home game atmosphere which trickles into the rest of the crowd. The fans who like to sit the whole game and stay quiet will complain but I'm sure the AD won't be upset when the Ted is rocking. I've seen it before when I did this and saw when myself and others left to cheer or graduate, no one stepped into our shoes and the student section died. The NIT games showed promise but that group of students (one of them posted on here for a little bit) didn't carry through into the next season.
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12-24-2017 01:55 PM |
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ODU Hoops
Special Teams
Posts: 725
Joined: Sep 2013
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I Root For: ODU
Location:
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Home(court/field) Advantage and How to Recreate It
Our student support is terrible let's not sugar coat it. They have no interest in college sports which is shocking to me, I loved going to all sports while in college. I watched some pretty bad soccer teams while in school in the 90s, thanks to coach Dawson for turning that around!
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12-24-2017 02:19 PM |
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ODUBB35
Heisman
Posts: 8,864
Joined: May 2012
Reputation: 214
I Root For: Old Dominion
Location: Stuarts Draft, VA
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RE: Home(court/field) Advantage and How to Recreate It
Win. Field a consistent NCAA Tournament Quality team and the fans will come and make noise.
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12-24-2017 02:20 PM |
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jasdf
Banned
Posts: 523
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I Root For: OD
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RE: Home(court/field) Advantage and How to Recreate It
we keep saying the students need more pride, the crowd needs to be louder... How is the university going above and beyond in order to achieve these things? you don't just get a rocking college basketball atmosphere by luck. Top to bottom, our leadership doesn't appear to be ABSOLUTELY COMMITTED TO EXCELLENCE ON THE COURT OF BASKETBALL, and as a result our fans exemplify that. A ho-hum team, league, coach, and schedule lead to a.............ho-hum home atmosphere.
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12-25-2017 05:17 PM |
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Cyniclone
Hall of Famer
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I Root For: ODU
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RE: Home(court/field) Advantage and How to Recreate It
I think the way to tackle this is to think untraditionally, at least by college standards. It'd be good to have a super-active student section, but there's plenty of schools that wish they could have a consistent performance from their students. I don't know that ODU will ever have that, especially given that their student population skews older and more off-campus than more-established schools.
But what ODU does have is a pretty loyal following among older locals. The tailgates tend to bear this out. Many of them have adopted ODU as their school even if they've never attended there, or for that matter any college. It's almost like another minor-league franchise.
So my suggestion: follow the example of soccer clubs and establish supporter groups. Independent organizations of fans that sit (stand) together and take the lead on providing enthusiasm. D.C. United has played miserable soccer the past couple of seasons in a raccoon-infested dump on the Anacostia River, but they also have a strong supporter culture with multiple groups taking one side of the stadium and making it a party. Without them, the atmosphere would be hopelessly dire.
Obviously basketball and football are different sports than soccer and the game flow dictates a different approach to chants and the like, but I think with some work it'd be a viable option.
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12-26-2017 01:43 PM |
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ODUDJ96
Banned
Posts: 3,075
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I Root For: Monarchs!!!
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RE: Home(court/field) Advantage and How to Recreate It
(12-24-2017 02:19 PM)ODU Hoops Wrote: Our student support is terrible let's not sugar coat it. They have no interest in college sports which is shocking to me, I loved going to all sports while in college. I watched some pretty bad soccer teams while in school in the 90s, thanks to coach Dawson for turning that around!
So true - I’ve noticed an increase in the student attendance from last year...but it appears to be mostly the ODU football players. At least someone is showing up to represent the students!
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12-26-2017 09:43 PM |
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