CSNbbs

has anyone else noticed an increase in the number of drunk and belligerent students doing nothing but trying to start fights at away games?

Obviously, students being drunk at football games is nothing new but I never remember them trying to incite violence like at CMU and OU. At Mt. Pleasant, a CMU student tried to pick a fight with a Blue Crew member by using racial slurs and getting up in his face. At Ohio, a group of students decided to camp in the middle of Toledo fans with the sole purpose of starting an altercation.

Now I know our spirit can seem pretty obnoxious but I've never seen us pick out an opposing fan who's minding his own business and scream FU*K YOU! That situation is all too common for Toledo fans at opposing venues this year.

Is it that schools aren't cracking down on drinking like they have in the past? Is it just typical envy of Toledo's great tradition of winning? Is it the fault of the individual school in how they plan their event?

At this point, I think it's all of the above with special blame put on the individual schools. CMU has to understand that sharing the main student tailgating lot with visiting fans is really dumb if you aren't going to have adequate police presence, allowing the students to drink until they're extremely intoxicated. OU has to figure out that surrounding the visitor's seats with student sections is also asking for trouble if their student body lacks the ability to control themselves.

-Dan

OU did have a rather large number of idiots last night. However, I did notice that after they announced the winning numbers for "split the pot" the crowd seemed to mellow out a bit.

No, Dan. I didn't realize.

That crowd there sucked. I expect some ribbing from the other teams fans when at their stadium but lines were crossed last night and I don't appreciate drunken students touching me or anything I'm wearing. There was NO security of any kind right underneath us around the concessions or even around us in the stands even though they had us basically surrounded by the student section. The team walking into the lockerooms at the half was a joke too. having 2 people hold a rope on one side to keep people away from them but nothing on the others to allow idiot OU fans to walk amidst our team. Possibly the worst fans(and security) I've witnessed so far which goes a long way since I've been to Marshall twice and BG numerous times.

It was pretty bad at the Western Mich game in 2000 as well. Bunch of drunk students screaming at the UT players as they came off at halftime. Some of them were within punching distance of a couple of UT players and I'm sure it was all they could do to keep from nailing them.

OU fans were the same way during the MAC basketball tourney this past year, drunk and taunting other afans

I told everyone in band that we'd get yelled at by their fans, and not just because they love their band there. I always say that their fans give you a hard time like they have a good team or something. In '01, they were winless, we had very much the opposite record, and when we went in there, there were tons of "Toledo sucks!" coming from the hill when we were walking onto the field. But OU parties hard, and football games are no exception. I don't think that they're as bad as NIU was, but with a record like NIU's, they might get that way. Like I said after Jordan's INT, when the students evacuated, that Jack Daniel's stock would be up a point the next trading day.

I would suggest that if any of you felt like these fans from either school crossed the line, that you should send an e-mail to the schools' athletic departments about it. I know that this has happened in the past to both OSU and Wisconsin and their administrations have taken steps to improve this for visiting fans. If they don't respond, I'd send an e-mail to the MAC office about it.

Most fans refer to Toledo and UT as trash but I always see respect shown to visiting fans. Of course, there will be times when this isn't the case, but it is the minority. If UT fans acted like that, I'd be embarrassed if the administration didn't do something about it.

Buffalo's message board fans are the worst that I've seen before. With that said, I made an effort to say "hi" or "how are you doing" to each UB fan that passed me today at Miami. I want visiting fans to leave Miami or Toledo thinking that it was a great visit despite the beat-down received. Even though I despise BG, I'll never be anything but polite to their fans in the Glass Bowl unless they are rude themselves, which hasn't been the case.

I agree many of OU's students were very bad and intoxicated. However, most of the students (and non student fans) were fine. The worst fans will always be Marshall. The whole stadium were jerks to us everytime we went down there.

However, after being in UT's section I can that we aren't the model of sportsmen. First of all, it's a terrible idea to have our student section next to the visiting section. Every few seconds, there are shouts of "You suck!!" being exchanged and we almost had several students, who admitted they were drunk, removed at the Buffalo game.

With Northern coming into the Glass Bowl for a first place nationally televised showdown, I hope we have enough security. NIU travels very well with loyal and energetic fans. Maybe Carty's first job as mayor should be to make sure we have adequate police between our students and their fans.

However, despite all the annoying stuff, the Rockets played very well. The D looked great 2nd half and we are ready for this stretch run of hopefully 4 more games!

I was suprised as well that their student section was right between us and the field. That is asking for trouble. Luckily their "security" was kind enough to remove those that tried to weasel into our section. Hoesntly though, it was a good time.

UT needs to move the visitors to the press box side of the stadium. Us old farts aren't going to harrass them and when we're on television viewers won't see a gaping hole on the 40 yard line when the visiting team doesn't buy thier allotment of tickets. People see those empty seats and think we're inflating our attendance figures and it just looks bad.

BigBigRocketFan Wrote:However, after being in UT's section I can that we aren't the model of sportsmen. First of all, it's a terrible idea to have our student section next to the visiting section. Every few seconds, there are shouts of "You suck!!" being exchanged and we almost had several students, who admitted they were drunk, removed at the Buffalo game.

That is the beauty of homefield advantage. I loved it when we were placed behind the visitors bench. Those were the good old days

msopher Wrote:

BigBigRocketFan Wrote:However, after being in UT's section I can that we aren't the model of sportsmen. First of all, it's a terrible idea to have our student section next to the visiting section. Every few seconds, there are shouts of "You suck!!" being exchanged and we almost had several students, who admitted they were drunk, removed at the Buffalo game.

That is the beauty of homefield advantage. I loved it when we were placed behind the visitors bench. Those were the good old days

I thought there was a NCAA reg that came out a few years back prohibiting the students and band from being behind the visitors bench? Isn't that why we moved ours?

Yeah but when I was a student 4-6 years ago, we could sit directly behind the visitor's bench and yell stuff at Marshall players.

utisgr8 Wrote:

msopher Wrote:

BigBigRocketFan Wrote:However, after being in UT's section I can that we aren't the model of sportsmen. First of all, it's a terrible idea to have our student section next to the visiting section. Every few seconds, there are shouts of "You suck!!" being exchanged and we almost had several students, who admitted they were drunk, removed at the Buffalo game.

That is the beauty of homefield advantage. I loved it when we were placed behind the visitors bench. Those were the good old days

I thought there was a NCAA reg that came out a few years back prohibiting the students and band from being behind the visitors bench? Isn't that why we moved ours?

It's a MAC "guideline." Unfortunately, it's one that has never been enforced. We abide by the rules and try to make visitors feel welcome (before their crushing defeat) and other schools refuse to return the favor with no repercussions.

-Dan