The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(10-02-2013 08:02 AM)TheGORILLA Wrote:  Oh, come on guys. I am looking at the big picture and not game to game. I am referring to annual attendance figures. It ain't gonna get better, no matter how hard you try or how hard UAB Athletics tries to promote, or who they play. Location is horrible and always has been.

Were you at the USM game in 2003? Oh wait. You'll probably say we had 44,000 only because of Ruben Studdard. Were you there for the TCU game on Friday night with 33,000 others?

It can get better and will get better. Years of losing has made already-negative UAB fans exceedingly negative.

The foundation of support is there. I don't think it will take very much winning to get folks going to the games. UAB fans, alumni, students and faculty are starving for the chance to support a winner. WHEN that happens, folks will be surprised how quickly the winds of UAB football will shift.

(10-02-2013 08:58 AM)Blazer85 Wrote:  

(10-02-2013 08:02 AM)TheGORILLA Wrote:  Oh, come on guys. I am looking at the big picture and not game to game. I am referring to annual attendance figures. It ain't gonna get better, no matter how hard you try or how hard UAB Athletics tries to promote, or who they play. Location is horrible and always has been.

Were you at the USM game in 2003? Oh wait. You'll probably say we had 44,000 only because of Ruben Studdard. Were you there for the TCU game on Friday night with 33,000 others?

It can get better and will get better. Years of losing has made already-negative UAB fans exceedingly negative.

Years with people like TheGORILLA and Bamanblazerfan have made this forum a joke.

Every message board's got 'em.

Having fans that continually remind everyone how horrible your own stadium is doesn't help attendance, either. I'm guilty of this as well, esp. during the #freeUAB campaign. We haven't helped ourselves.

Part of what makes the Legion Field experience not enjoyable is the number of losses and meltdowns we've all witnessed there. Bartow Arena isn't always full but it's almost always fun because we usually win. I'm not saying Bartow is as bad as Legion Field. Bartow is worlds better than Legion Field.

Point is, winning cures a lot. If we become even a 6-7 win type of program, I think you will see attendance averages return to 20-25k. Throw in an 8 or 9 win type season every now and then and we could easily be up to 30-35k IMO. But easier said than done so far with us. Hopefully this will be the beginning of a string of success. If we can get to .500 this season I would consider that a success.

(10-02-2013 08:50 AM)USAFBlazerFan Wrote:  

(10-02-2013 12:16 AM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  

(10-01-2013 11:39 PM)blazerwkr Wrote:  Not to mention we've only had 1 home game while most of the others have at least 2 if not more. Not enough data to make the stats worthwhile yet

Well, at the current rate, South Alabama has already had more cumulative attendance than UAB will all year. Pretty sad.

I also think USA being the only venue in town makes a big difference as well (in addition to all the other OCS points).

I agree. If you live in the Mobile area and you want to watch some college football and you don’t want to travel then USA is your only option. With UAB you have Samford right there in the city. Now I know that Samford doesn’t draw well but that’s 6 or 7k that has been taken out of the potential UAB pool. You have Miles College who draws VERY well so you take those people out of the pool. You have Tuscaloosa 45 minutes West, Jax State an hour East, AAMU an hour north, and ASU an hour to the south. I know in the case of ASU a great deal of fans who attend our home games are from the Birmingham Metro area. Birmingham has such an impact of our attendance that the Birmingham area alumni has bus trips to Montgomery and away games that leave from several locations in Birmingham. AAMU does the same for homecoming. For $35 I can ride the bus and get a general admission ticket for the game. With all of those schools who have a hand in the Birmingham drawing pot, there are still more than a few casual fans that spend Saturday's on the couch or in the man cave watching college football. That’s the fan UAB will grab once winning starts. That’s the fan that came out to see UAB play Southern Miss in 2003, or Mississippi State in 2006. You'll also grab those other fans who'll attend UAB games on weekends where their team will have an away game that they aren’t traveling to.

(10-02-2013 08:58 AM)Blazer85 Wrote:  

(10-02-2013 08:02 AM)TheGORILLA Wrote:  Oh, come on guys. I am looking at the big picture and not game to game. I am referring to annual attendance figures. It ain't gonna get better, no matter how hard you try or how hard UAB Athletics tries to promote, or who they play. Location is horrible and always has been.

Were you at the USM game in 2003? Oh wait. You'll probably say we had 44,000 only because of Ruben Studdard. Were you there for the TCU game on Friday night with 33,000 others?

It can get better and will get better. Years of losing has made already-negative UAB fans exceedingly negative.

The foundation of support is there. I don't think it will take very much winning to get folks going to the games. UAB fans, alumni, students and faculty are starving for the chance to support a winner. WHEN that happens, folks will be surprised how quickly the winds of UAB football will shift.

We did. Let's not turn that into something it wasn't. With or without Ruben, it was still a really good crowd for UAB, but I would say at least 25% of the people in attendance left after he performed.(I was at the game, and I stayed through the whole thing, so I watched this happen)

(10-02-2013 09:01 AM)demiveeman Wrote:  

(10-02-2013 08:58 AM)Blazer85 Wrote:  

(10-02-2013 08:02 AM)TheGORILLA Wrote:  Oh, come on guys. I am looking at the big picture and not game to game. I am referring to annual attendance figures. It ain't gonna get better, no matter how hard you try or how hard UAB Athletics tries to promote, or who they play. Location is horrible and always has been.

Were you at the USM game in 2003? Oh wait. You'll probably say we had 44,000 only because of Ruben Studdard. Were you there for the TCU game on Friday night with 33,000 others?

It can get better and will get better. Years of losing has made already-negative UAB fans exceedingly negative.

Years with people like TheGORILLA and Bamanblazerfan have made this forum a joke.

Granted, I haven't been on here long, but Bamablazerfan seems like a good guy, and makes some good points.......who routinely gets bashed for no real reason........maybe it's because he has "bama" in his username (?).

(10-02-2013 09:58 AM)Bham Blazer Wrote:  

(10-02-2013 09:01 AM)demiveeman Wrote:  

(10-02-2013 08:58 AM)Blazer85 Wrote:  

(10-02-2013 08:02 AM)TheGORILLA Wrote:  Oh, come on guys. I am looking at the big picture and not game to game. I am referring to annual attendance figures. It ain't gonna get better, no matter how hard you try or how hard UAB Athletics tries to promote, or who they play. Location is horrible and always has been.

Were you at the USM game in 2003? Oh wait. You'll probably say we had 44,000 only because of Ruben Studdard. Were you there for the TCU game on Friday night with 33,000 others?

It can get better and will get better. Years of losing has made already-negative UAB fans exceedingly negative.

Years with people like TheGORILLA and Bamanblazerfan have made this forum a joke.

Granted, I haven't been on here long, but Bamablazerfan seems like a good guy, and makes some good points.......who routinely gets bashed for no real reason........maybe it's because he has "bama" in his username (?).

You haven't been here long enough if you think it's because he has Bama in his username. I don't have a problem at all with people supporting Alabama or whatever they want to do.

(10-02-2013 09:58 AM)Bham Blazer Wrote:  

(10-02-2013 09:01 AM)demiveeman Wrote:  

(10-02-2013 08:58 AM)Blazer85 Wrote:  

(10-02-2013 08:02 AM)TheGORILLA Wrote:  Oh, come on guys. I am looking at the big picture and not game to game. I am referring to annual attendance figures. It ain't gonna get better, no matter how hard you try or how hard UAB Athletics tries to promote, or who they play. Location is horrible and always has been.

Were you at the USM game in 2003? Oh wait. You'll probably say we had 44,000 only because of Ruben Studdard. Were you there for the TCU game on Friday night with 33,000 others?

It can get better and will get better. Years of losing has made already-negative UAB fans exceedingly negative.

Years with people like TheGORILLA and Bamanblazerfan have made this forum a joke.

Granted, I haven't been on here long, but Bamablazerfan seems like a good guy, and makes some good points.......who routinely gets bashed for no real reason........maybe it's because he has "bama" in his username (?).

This being the operational qualifier.
Yes, he is a good guy. He just has a way of seeing the present through the presbyoptic prism of the past that distorts the reality of the present-day. Hang around and you'll understand.

(10-02-2013 10:06 AM)USAFBlazerFan Wrote:  presbyoptic prism

Quote:Hang around and you'll understand.

I hope so.

I thought I already understood until you started throwing words like that.

(10-02-2013 10:06 AM)USAFBlazerFan Wrote:  

(10-02-2013 09:58 AM)Bham Blazer Wrote:  

(10-02-2013 09:01 AM)demiveeman Wrote:  

(10-02-2013 08:58 AM)Blazer85 Wrote:  

(10-02-2013 08:02 AM)TheGORILLA Wrote:  Oh, come on guys. I am looking at the big picture and not game to game. I am referring to annual attendance figures. It ain't gonna get better, no matter how hard you try or how hard UAB Athletics tries to promote, or who they play. Location is horrible and always has been.

Were you at the USM game in 2003? Oh wait. You'll probably say we had 44,000 only because of Ruben Studdard. Were you there for the TCU game on Friday night with 33,000 others?

It can get better and will get better. Years of losing has made already-negative UAB fans exceedingly negative.

Years with people like TheGORILLA and Bamanblazerfan have made this forum a joke.

Granted, I haven't been on here long, but Bamablazerfan seems like a good guy, and makes some good points.......who routinely gets bashed for no real reason........maybe it's because he has "bama" in his username (?).

This being the operational qualifier.
Yes, he is a good guy. He just has a way of seeing the present through the presbyoptic prism of the past that distorts the reality of the present-day. Hang around and you'll understand.

OK, thanks.

UAB gets very little bump from visitors attendance. If UAB moves west starting next year as expected and with unfamiliar CUSA teams it'll probably be worse. Not many fans are gonna come from Texas to UAB...

(10-02-2013 11:30 AM)WesternBlazer Wrote:  UAB gets very little bump from visitors attendance. If UAB moves west starting next year as expected and with unfamiliar CUSA teams it'll probably be worse. Not many fans are gonna come from Texas to UAB...

Next year we will play Troy and Alabama A&M. I expect those will be well attended at least.

I still hope UAB leverages its founding member status to avoid a move west. I would much rather us be facing WKU, Charlotte, ODU etc.

(10-02-2013 11:39 AM)Blazer85 Wrote:  

(10-02-2013 11:30 AM)WesternBlazer Wrote:  UAB gets very little bump from visitors attendance. If UAB moves west starting next year as expected and with unfamiliar CUSA teams it'll probably be worse. Not many fans are gonna come from Texas to UAB...

Next year we will play Troy and Alabama A&M. I expect those will be well attended at least.

I still hope UAB leverages its founding member status to avoid a move west. I would much rather us be facing WKU, Charlotte, ODU etc.

If the way realignment has been handled up to this point by UAB is continued, don't count on it.

It sucks that we will likely go west for football, but it is what it is at this point.

As far as basketball, I really hope we stay at 16 conference games and get creative with the scheduling. I think we should go off of the prior year's finish to attempt to help our teams at the top the most:

Have teams 1-4 play each other home and home, 4-8 home and home, and then just make the numbers work with the bottom 8. But with our luck, we'll go to 19 conference games and be stuck playing UTSA, UNT, and Rice 2 times a year.

(10-02-2013 10:01 AM)demiveeman Wrote:  

(10-02-2013 09:58 AM)Bham Blazer Wrote:  

(10-02-2013 09:01 AM)demiveeman Wrote:  

(10-02-2013 08:58 AM)Blazer85 Wrote:  

(10-02-2013 08:02 AM)TheGORILLA Wrote:  Oh, come on guys. I am looking at the big picture and not game to game. I am referring to annual attendance figures. It ain't gonna get better, no matter how hard you try or how hard UAB Athletics tries to promote, or who they play. Location is horrible and always has been.

Were you at the USM game in 2003? Oh wait. You'll probably say we had 44,000 only because of Ruben Studdard. Were you there for the TCU game on Friday night with 33,000 others?

It can get better and will get better. Years of losing has made already-negative UAB fans exceedingly negative.

Years with people like TheGORILLA and Bamanblazerfan have made this forum a joke.

Granted, I haven't been on here long, but Bamablazerfan seems like a good guy, and makes some good points.......who routinely gets bashed for no real reason........maybe it's because he has "bama" in his username (?).

You haven't been here long enough if you think it's because he has Bama in his username. I don't have a problem at all with people supporting Alabama or whatever they want to do.

I have BAMA in my name because I graduated from there in 1963 at the end of a summer session that began with Gov Wallace's "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door" which we commemorated this summer of sorority furor there. What school's team did you cheer for in that year? The rest of my name comes from graduating in 1972 with an MA in Education from UAB when there were no NCAA teams, no "Blazers" and no "green and gold" colors at UAB.

Ever since the Blazers played basketball at the BJCC, I have been a BLAZERFAN. One of my former students @ West End HS was Barry Bearden who played BB for UAB and was its first "club team" QB for one year. He now coaches MBB at Altamont School, my HS (by merger with B.U.S.) alma mater.

I consider choosing between the two schools to be like choosing between my father and my mother and as long as they don't face each other on the gridiron or court, I can be for both without a need to apologize to anyone. I vent my anger at our treatment by the BOT, but I don't wish any misfortune on those who play and coach for the Crimson Tide because they have as much control over the school's administration's policies as we do.

Did you know of someone named Adrian Sims? I used to work with him & I believe he went to West End. He may have graduated around the early to mid 80's.

(10-02-2013 02:12 PM)the_blazerman Wrote:  Did you know of someone named Adrian Sims? I used to work with him & I believe he went to West End. He may have graduated around the early to mid 80's.

The name is familiar but I don't come up with a face to match. We had about 4 American History teachers then, and I may have only had him in a 1/2 study (Lunch/study period). I was there from Sept 1972 to May 1997 and my memory has not kept up over the years.

(10-02-2013 09:58 AM)Bham Blazer Wrote:  Granted, I haven't been on here long, but Bamablazerfan seems like a good guy, and makes some good points.......who routinely gets bashed for no real reason........maybe it's because he has "bama" in his username (?).

He is a good guy, period.