I have never seen so many mad fans as I saw attempting to get Rocket gear at the game. There were 4 yes I said 4 not 14, JUST 4 people trying to sell the gear out of boxes, yes I said boxes. The gear was not seperated by size so the order would be taken, the worker would look around trying to determine which box was the correct one to look into. They would then meander around the maize of boxes and get to the one they hoped held the shirt etc requested. Then they would quickly pick up the correct size. NONONONONO. They would be forced to look through the box trying to find the correct size. If this was ever completed. About 1 in 10 customers probably got gear who wanted it before the game started. The person would write out a slip and you then after about a 20 min [if you were lucky] wait have to get in line to pay. It's to bad that we can't send whomever setup this system somewhere there may be business educated people so they can plan a better system. Maybe BGSUCKS has a business dept that could train our staff because whomever their degree is from should give them a refund. How about this. Seperate all type hats into one section, tshirts in another, sweathirts into a third, hoodies a fourth. Have atleast one person in each area. Add about 8 people to take the order at go to area call to them, WHATEVER and have the one who is the hat expert get the correct hat. OR set it up like a high school cafe lunch line. I dont care, but get it figured out before the CINCI game so you can make the money you should make off the fans. By the way, The increased number of staff only needs to be there before the game and at half time, so labor costs wouldn't be that much higher. Why such a looooooong post? My wife waited 25 minutes then finally gave up. If momma not happy no one is happy :')
Bring back Ranger and PhotoDan!
Therre's no excuse for not being "ready for business" on the home opener. Best have it together next week.
I ran into this same exact problem last year when trying to buy something at one of the games. SOOO FRUSTRATING.
(09-16-2012 12:56 AM)tolfbfan Wrote: [ -> ]I have never seen so many mad fans as I saw attempting to get Rocket gear at the game. There were 4 yes I said 4 not 14, JUST 4 people trying to sell the gear out of boxes, yes I said boxes. The gear was not seperated by size so the order would be taken, the worker would look around trying to determine which box was the correct one to look into. They would then meander around the maize of boxes and get to the one they hoped held the shirt etc requested. Then they would quickly pick up the correct size. NONONONONO. They would be forced to look through the box trying to find the correct size. If this was ever completed. About 1 in 10 customers probably got gear who wanted it before the game started. The person would write out a slip and you then after about a 20 min [if you were lucky] wait have to get in line to pay. It's to bad that we can't send whomever setup this system somewhere there may be business educated people so they can plan a better system. Maybe BGSUCKS has a business dept that could train our staff because whomever their degree is from should give them a refund. How about this. Seperate all type hats into one section, tshirts in another, sweathirts into a third, hoodies a fourth. Have atleast one person in each area. Add about 8 people to take the order at go to area call to them, WHATEVER and have the one who is the hat expert get the correct hat. OR set it up like a high school cafe lunch line. I dont care, but get it figured out before the CINCI game so you can make the money you should make off the fans. By the way, The increased number of staff only needs to be there before the game and at half time, so labor costs wouldn't be that much higher. Why such a looooooong post? My wife waited 25 minutes then finally gave up. If momma not happy no one is happy :')
I would like to see a permanent Rocket Shop at the Glass Bowl. The Owl Store at FAU's new stadium has a Subway Subs(breakfast to late night) adjacent to it. The sub shop(on campus) is doing killer numbers and also brings regular traffic flow right next to the school's merchandise location.
First, because I've not seen it anywhere. Anyone know how that guy is that got hit by the car in lot 10?
Debbie Downer mode:
I generally have thought stadium/crowd involvement management not really that spectacular. We left early, we were bored. The Glass Bowl is great but UT is one of the most boring places I've been to watch a football game.
I might as well watch the game on tv. Game was a blow-out. Crowd un-involved. Game was getting close. Crowd un-involved. One or two yelling but in general, na-da. No crowd leadership coming from the field or the announcer (snore). Players shouldn't have to feel a need to start waving their hands to get a crowd involved in third down. That's the announcer's job. That's the band and cheerleader's jobs.
It's my old tirade I understand but they KNEW they were going to have a full-house and again, they did nothing to get the crowd involved. They did nothing pre-game to advertise and ENCOURAGE the fun of tailgating, that there might be advantage to getting there early and socializing.
There's a lot of potential new fans who may or may not have gone to the University but would willingly become a part if felt welcome. There's more to throwing a party then sending out invitations. Someone has to lead it. There was no "teaching" of the alma mater. No "teaching" of the chants and traditions and certainly no stadium level chants, like "TOL" "EDO" to rock the place or a T-O-L-E-D-O chant around the stadium. A school song? Anything? The Band? Would have been a great time to steal from OSU and do that walking Rocket with the exhaust, presuming they could keep a straight line.
It was the quietest full stadium I've ever been in.
On a more positive note: the chicken sandwiches were good and well made on fresh roll. Chips cold though.
Well, I'll try and stay off that rant the rest of the year but it's not a mystery to me why the University has such a small fan-base.
I've long thought the merchandising for this school/program/team is a civic embarrassment. Try being a big guy trying to find a decent selection of Toledo shirts - it's a joke.
It's the one thing I'm jealous of OSU about. A Buckeye fan can go into almost any place in the state and find Buckeye stuff - and go to Buckeye stores in almost every market and find selection out the wazoo of clothing.
(09-16-2012 09:47 AM)eastisbest Wrote: [ -> ]First, because I've not seen it anywhere. Anyone know how that guy is that got hit by the car in lot 10?
Debbie Downer mode:
I generally have thought stadium/crowd involvement management not really that spectacular. We left early, we were bored. The Glass Bowl is great but UT is one of the most boring places I've been to watch a football game.
I might as well watch the game on tv. Game was a blow-out. Crowd un-involved. Game was getting close. Crowd un-involved. One or two yelling but in general, na-da. No crowd leadership coming from the field or the announcer (snore). Players shouldn't have to feel a need to start waving their hands to get a crowd involved in third down. That's the announcer's job. That's the band and cheerleader's jobs.
It's my old tirade I understand but they KNEW they were going to have a full-house and again, they did nothing to get the crowd involved. They did nothing pre-game to advertise and ENCOURAGE the fun of tailgating, that there might be advantage to getting there early and socializing.
There's a lot of potential new fans who may or may not have gone to the University but would willingly become a part if felt welcome. There's more to throwing a party then sending out invitations. Someone has to lead it. There was no "teaching" of the alma mater. No "teaching" of the chants and traditions and certainly no stadium level chants, like "TOL" "EDO" to rock the place or a T-O-L-E-D-O chant around the stadium. A school song? Anything? The Band? Would have been a great time to steal from OSU and do that walking Rocket with the exhaust, presuming they could keep a straight line.
It was the quietest full stadium I've ever been in.
On a more positive note: the chicken sandwiches were good and well made on fresh roll. Chips cold though.
Well, I'll try and stay off that rant the rest of the year but it's not a mystery to me why the University has such a small fan-base.
You only have to go to a NBA game to see how to get the crowd involved. I did notice there seemed to be alot less venom prior tothe game this year. Part of that is the two programs are going in different directions, much like the Miami-UC rivalry, which has less and less meaning each season.
I did notice the refs working hard before game keeping the two teams apart. I did hear there was quite a bit going on verbally during the game. More than usual game. Dont think that this couldnt get sparked quickly into chaos. Glad it didnt. I do agree that there needs to be a total effort made to improve the fan involvement. I think the problem stems from our "usual" home game attendance and atmosphere. A big game appears and no one is ready or has "out of the box" ways to get it going. Small band ensemble moving thru stands playing a song etc. We do need public address anouncer to motivate the crowd. But, 4 years ago I went to a BG game and heard a guy say to a recruits dad that "he should sit down, we dont do that here". That was standing during a big 4th and 1 at 2 yard line. All he did was stand so he could see because others ahead of him had done the same thing." Recruit said to dad. """""Not coming here"""""". What a wonderful sentence.
(09-16-2012 11:19 AM)tolfbfan Wrote: [ -> ]I did notice the refs working hard before game keeping the two teams apart. I did hear there was quite a bit going on verbally during the game. More than usual game. Dont think that this couldnt get sparked quickly into chaos. Glad it didnt. I do agree that there needs to be a total effort made to improve the fan involvement. I think the problem stems from our "usual" home game attendance and atmosphere. A big game appears and no one is ready or has "out of the box" ways to get it going. Small band ensemble moving thru stands playing a song etc. We do need public address anouncer to motivate the crowd. But, 4 years ago I went to a BG game and heard a guy say to a recruits dad that "he should sit down, we dont do that here". That was standing during a big 4th and 1 at 2 yard line. All he did was stand so he could see because others ahead of him had done the same thing." Recruit said to dad. """""Not coming here"""""". What a wonderful sentence.
Kevin Mullan (our previous announcer, before he moved to Texas) would do that and (attempt to) get the crowd going.
What was up with the music playing for 3 or 4 seconds between every play? Stupid.
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(09-16-2012 02:18 PM)adunifon Wrote: [ -> ]What was up with the music playing for 3 or 4 seconds between every play? Stupid.
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They needed something to fill the silence.
(09-16-2012 09:47 AM)eastisbest Wrote: [ -> ]First, because I've not seen it anywhere. Anyone know how that guy is that got hit by the car in lot 10?
Debbie Downer mode:
I generally have thought stadium/crowd involvement management not really that spectacular. We left early, we were bored. The Glass Bowl is great but UT is one of the most boring places I've been to watch a football game.
I might as well watch the game on tv. Game was a blow-out. Crowd un-involved. Game was getting close. Crowd un-involved. One or two yelling but in general, na-da. No crowd leadership coming from the field or the announcer (snore). Players shouldn't have to feel a need to start waving their hands to get a crowd involved in third down. That's the announcer's job. That's the band and cheerleader's jobs.
It's my old tirade I understand but they KNEW they were going to have a full-house and again, they did nothing to get the crowd involved. They did nothing pre-game to advertise and ENCOURAGE the fun of tailgating, that there might be advantage to getting there early and socializing.
There's a lot of potential new fans who may or may not have gone to the University but would willingly become a part if felt welcome. There's more to throwing a party then sending out invitations. Someone has to lead it. There was no "teaching" of the alma mater. No "teaching" of the chants and traditions and certainly no stadium level chants, like "TOL" "EDO" to rock the place or a T-O-L-E-D-O chant around the stadium. A school song? Anything? The Band? Would have been a great time to steal from OSU and do that walking Rocket with the exhaust, presuming they could keep a straight line.
It was the quietest full stadium I've ever been in.
On a more positive note: the chicken sandwiches were good and well made on fresh roll. Chips cold though.
Well, I'll try and stay off that rant the rest of the year but it's not a mystery to me why the University has such a small fan-base.
I tried to read your whole post, but fell asleep. Boring....
Wow, I hadn't had a chance to post this yet but was planning to see if anyone else has such a terrible experience as I did with four people I brought to the game who I'm trying to recruit to be rocket fans.
First thing -- we get to campus, park and head straight to the fan store off of the Glassbowl because one of my friends showed up in a red nike hoodie and I would not let anyone mistake him for one of those OSU fans at a Rocket game. I had vouchers from the fan pack tickets I bought for them and they were pumped to each get some gear.
We roll up inside Sullivan and there's about two dozen people standing outside, adult and children, bewildered. They just locked the doors at 5 p.m. and wouldn't let anyone in.
Ok, I can live with it, they gotta close sometime. MAYBE they could stay open until kickoff on the FREAKING OPENING GAME DAY AGAINST THEIR BIGGEST RIVAL. But ok, their call.
Then we go to the game and lines are long throughout the game, so eventually we just bite the bullet at the beginning of the 4th quarter and say we have to suck it up and wait, miss a little of the game, but we'll get our gear.
So we go to the booth at the South East corner. Wait in line for about ten minutes, when we're 2 people away from getting served a seller who said his name was "Lens" said "No more sales, we're closing down. go to the other booth on the east side of the stadium. Now I'm getting pissed because I'm missing the game and waited in line for no service. They couldn't have cut off the line after the people who were already waiting? WTF. I'm pissed now.
So we go to the East booth, another line. And at this one they actually cut it off one person offer we arrived. Luckily we got the gear and after the sellers fumbled with their boxes of shirts randomly strewn everywhere, we all get shirts, a ball and a hat. It took forever to get the items we wanted because they don't have any sort of label system for the shirts, just the price. They could make the transiction SOOO Much faster if they put a letter label clearly shown on each item and people could walk up and say "I'd like 3 of item A in XL and 1 of item W in Medium" rather than "That blue one kind of in the middle there. No the other one. Up. No, down. To the right. That one. Yea, medium, please." We finally paid and got out just in time to see the last 2 minutes of the game (stealing someone else's seats because we didn't have time to do anything else.
What a terrible experience. I was more pissed than my friends just because I keep talking up the school and trying to get them to support the local team, rather than OSU and UM. But the school seems to be fighting us in this endeavor by making it incredibly difficult to be a fan. (JUST LIKE HOW THEY CAN'T FREAKING OFFER THE GAME STREAMING ON WSPD/I Heart Radio, instead you have to sit at your computer... terrible.)
UT MARKETING/MERCHANDISING GENIUSES, PLEASE LET US HELP YOU BUILD A FAN BASE.
DON'T SHUT DOWN EARLY.
DON'T TURN AWAY PEOPLE WITH MONEY IN THEIR FREAKING HANDS READY TO SUPPORT THE TEAM.
GET YOUR STAFF ORGANIZED.
(09-16-2012 02:18 PM)adunifon Wrote: [ -> ]What was up with the music playing for 3 or 4 seconds between every play? Stupid.
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The song is Zombie Nation (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYeajoizd...ge#t=53s), I believe. It's effectively used in some sporting events with the cheerleaders and announcers try to get the crowd involved, but just randomly playing it for 4 seconds isn't going to do anything. :\
(09-16-2012 09:47 AM)eastisbest Wrote: [ -> ]I might as well watch the game on tv. Game was a blow-out. Crowd un-involved. Game was getting close. Crowd un-involved. One or two yelling but in general, na-da. No crowd leadership coming from the field or the announcer (snore). Players shouldn't have to feel a need to start waving their hands to get a crowd involved in third down. That's the announcer's job. That's the band and cheerleader's jobs.
It's my old tirade I understand but they KNEW they were going to have a full-house and again, they did nothing to get the crowd involved. They did nothing pre-game to advertise and ENCOURAGE the fun of tailgating, that there might be advantage to getting there early and socializing.
There's a lot of potential new fans who may or may not have gone to the University but would willingly become a part if felt welcome. There's more to throwing a party then sending out invitations. Someone has to lead it. There was no "teaching" of the alma mater. No "teaching" of the chants and traditions and certainly no stadium level chants, like "TOL" "EDO" to rock the place or a T-O-L-E-D-O chant around the stadium. A school song? Anything? The Band? Would have been a great time to steal from OSU and do that walking Rocket with the exhaust, presuming they could keep a straight line.
It was the quietest full stadium I've ever been in.
On a more positive note: the chicken sandwiches were good and well made on fresh roll. Chips cold though.
Well, I'll try and stay off that rant the rest of the year but it's not a mystery to me why the University has such a small fan-base.
THIS. Totally agree and have made a similar argument before:
http://csnbbs.com/showthread.php?tid=459...pid5834694
http://csnbbs.com/showthread.php?tid=459009&pid=5837859
The stadium audio is still amazingly poor and quiet too, which doesn't help on pump-up songs or even the 3rd down bell. It sounded like the soundboard guy couldn't get his/her act together timing the volume turn up and the sound of the bell, so you'd get this silent half of a ring, then a medium ring. Real intimidating.
(09-16-2012 08:38 PM)R0cket Wrote: [ -> ] (09-16-2012 09:47 AM)eastisbest Wrote: [ -> ]I might as well watch the game on tv. Game was a blow-out. Crowd un-involved. Game was getting close. Crowd un-involved. One or two yelling but in general, na-da. No crowd leadership coming from the field or the announcer (snore). Players shouldn't have to feel a need to start waving their hands to get a crowd involved in third down. That's the announcer's job. That's the band and cheerleader's jobs.
It's my old tirade I understand but they KNEW they were going to have a full-house and again, they did nothing to get the crowd involved. They did nothing pre-game to advertise and ENCOURAGE the fun of tailgating, that there might be advantage to getting there early and socializing.
There's a lot of potential new fans who may or may not have gone to the University but would willingly become a part if felt welcome. There's more to throwing a party then sending out invitations. Someone has to lead it. There was no "teaching" of the alma mater. No "teaching" of the chants and traditions and certainly no stadium level chants, like "TOL" "EDO" to rock the place or a T-O-L-E-D-O chant around the stadium. A school song? Anything? The Band? Would have been a great time to steal from OSU and do that walking Rocket with the exhaust, presuming they could keep a straight line.
It was the quietest full stadium I've ever been in.
On a more positive note: the chicken sandwiches were good and well made on fresh roll. Chips cold though.
Well, I'll try and stay off that rant the rest of the year but it's not a mystery to me why the University has such a small fan-base.
THIS. Totally agree and have made a similar argument before:
http://csnbbs.com/showthread.php?tid=459...pid5834694
http://csnbbs.com/showthread.php?tid=459009&pid=5837859
The stadium audio is still amazingly poor and quiet too, which doesn't help on pump-up songs or even the 3rd down bell. It sounded like the soundboard guy couldn't get his/her act together timing the volume turn up and the sound of the bell, so you'd get this silent half of a ring, then a medium ring. Real intimidating.
That's terrible. That's how it sounded on tv and I mentioned it in the game thread but was hoping that I was wrong because of the difference between physically being there and watching it on tv. Really hope they do something about this soon. Like east said, you can easily make an event out of Rocket games like they used to and get the casual observer to become a fan. Look at the Mud Hens...they aren't an MLB team and baseball is one of the most boring sports and when I ask people why they go, even if they hate baseball, they tell me that it is always a fun experience.
Someone in Toledo should bring this up to MOB.
Maybe they should tap into Joe Napoli.
(09-16-2012 08:08 PM)AquaRocket Wrote: [ -> ] (09-16-2012 09:47 AM)eastisbest Wrote: [ -> ]First, because I've not seen it anywhere. Anyone know how that guy is that got hit by the car in lot 10?
Debbie Downer mode:
I generally have thought stadium/crowd involvement management not really that spectacular. .
I tried to read your whole post, but fell asleep. Boring....
Sorry if you were offended.
There's several other posts you might find more interesting. We're just try to say, there are ways to improve the experience, create real fans loyal to the University as opposed to those just around when the team is winning.
(09-16-2012 08:25 PM)R0cket Wrote: [ -> ]Wow, I hadn't had a chance to post this yet but was planning to see if anyone else has such a terrible experience as I did..
I must have gone up to the shop in Savage about 5:30 or so and was VERY disappointed to find the door locked. But, a woman was nice enough to come to the door and speak with me. She told me they closed because the shop in the stadium was now open and that "they had taken a whole lot of stuff over there to sell." I kind of understood, but why would they not want to use the store to draw people into Savage and see the great facilities? They should at least stay open until kickoff. Two more hours would cost them what, 45 bucks? If they don't think enough people use the store maybe some visitors don't know it's there. How about like a yellow neon/LED sign in the window that says "ROCKET GEAR"? Turn that puppy on on game day and people will come!
Yeah--went by that stand at the s/e end, too, and was puzzled by the appearance of disorganization. They had this big bin that looked like somebody just pushed it through store and picked up arm loads of gear and threw it in. Honestly--it looked more like a laundry hamper than a cart of expensive new retail merchandise. They did not have what I wanted, and I really wouldn't have wanted to attend it during the game, so I guess I will have to make a special trip to the store during
business hours to buy it. Sheesh....
(09-16-2012 09:22 PM)Toledo Football 1st Wrote: [ -> ] (09-16-2012 08:25 PM)R0cket Wrote: [ -> ]Wow, I hadn't had a chance to post this yet but was planning to see if anyone else has such a terrible experience as I did..
I must have gone up to the shop in Savage about 5:30 or so and was VERY disappointed to find the door locked. But, a woman was nice enough to come to the door and speak with me. She told me they closed because the shop in the stadium was now open and that "they had taken a whole lot of stuff over there to sell." I kind of understood, but why would they not want to use the store to draw people into Savage and see the great facilities? They should at least stay open until kickoff. Two more hours would cost them what, 45 bucks? If they don't think enough people use the store maybe some visitors don't know it's there. How about like a yellow neon/LED sign in the window that says "ROCKET GEAR"? Turn that puppy on on game day and people will come!
Yeah--went by that stand at the s/e end, too, and was puzzled by the appearance of disorganization. They had this big bin that looked like somebody just pushed it through store and picked up arm loads of gear and threw it in. Honestly--it looked more like a laundry hamper than a cart of expensive new retail merchandise. They did not have what I wanted, and I really wouldn't have wanted to attend it during the game, so I guess I will have to make a special trip to the store during business hours to buy it. Sheesh....
Another problem with a BG home-opener. No chance to work out opening night jitters in front of a smaller crowd. I suspect they weren't prepared for the onslaught and a lot of the staff are students who may be working their first game. Not excusing it, but playing Coastal Carolina first might have given them some experience and corrected some of this stuff.
the rest of the stuff never phases me-Rocket football is enough. Fireworks were a nice touch-saw lots of people taking photos, etc. Two bands, something going on on the field during every TO (almost to the point of annoyance) but they could have done more I suppose for the non-football fans. The announcer did try to get the crowd going at times but he'd say "Make some noise" or whatever when the playclock was at 24. You can only yell for so long-by the time the play went off it was pretty dead.