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

(10-25-2021 10:55 AM)58-56 Wrote:  Blaze entering in a chariot. There is nothing as cool as that (I can't get my photos to upload).

The motorcycle - does anything scream "redneck" more loudly? - was awful. I hated it. But now it pulls a chariot with a dragon. A chariot with a dragon! NO ONE has a Dragon Chariot. It's ours and it's unique.

And speaking of screaming "redneck," the Birmingham song is gone. This was a good move.

The foghorn or whatever the hell it is just blends into the background. From where I sit, the interstate is always visible in the background. I must have heard the horn four or five times before I realized it was for third down and not some wind shift that made a horn off the highway audible.

So. The gameday experience has improved markedly since Opening Day. Now just feed Speedy to the dragon.

The stadium's not going to fill itself. The experience is going to have to be marketed as an experience. I've no idea how to do that, but it had to start with a better experience and now we see some of that.

And we have a Dragon Chariot. I never knew we needed one.

If they want to sell the experience, make beer cheaper than it is. Or have a $3 special during one quarter. Maybe even every time UAB gets a turnover, they reduce beer prices for a bit. That kind of stuff sells. The reason I say this is because look down the street to Regions Field. Who the hell enjoys watching a minor league baseball team that isn’t particularly even good? Not much of anybody. So why does Regions Field consistently have tons of people in attendance (especially Thirsty Thursdays? Connect the dots. On top of that, there are play areas and inflatables and whatnot for kids. That north end zone could accommodate some stuff for kids to play on easily. Make it a fun time for the family too. There really hasn’t been a push to sell the experience. It’s just been about the football game, which apparently isn’t dragging any more butts into seats than Legion Field did. I mean, the only advertisement I’ve seen about the hundreds of beer taps and selection of craft beer, as well as the UAB themed cocktails, was from Joe Goodman on Twitter.

If you don't have top of the line wifi, you aren't keeping people in the stadium. It isn't 1995. You want to keep those students around and have them come back when they are 30? Better make sure they can live on their phone. If you are not thinking this way, you are as disconnected from them as they are from you. I have a kid who chooses not to drive. Didn't even get a license until in college. Why? Who in their age bracket wants to put down their device long enough to go from point A to point B without looking at it?

No one under 30 watches sports (or anything else) like people older did. By this, I mean the *way* they do it. Many current college kids wouldn't even know what to do with a TV. They've never had one or wanted one. Sportscenter? What's that. They watch highlights on TikTok. Sitting through a 3-hour game? Not gonna happen.

EngBlazer and DuelingDragon

Blazer marketing department:

(10-25-2021 10:55 AM)58-56 Wrote:  So. The gameday experience has improved markedly since Opening Day. Now just feed Speedy to the dragon.

Please. No mas. No mas.

(10-25-2021 11:05 AM)DuelingDragon Wrote:  If you don't have top of the line wifi, you aren't keeping people in the stadium. It isn't 1995. You want to keep those students around and have them come back when they are 30? Better make sure they can live on their phone. If you are not thinking this way, you are as disconnected from them as they are from you. I have a kid who chooses not to drive. Didn't even get a license until in college. Why? Who in their age bracket wants to put down their device long enough to go from point A to point B without looking at it?

No one under 30 watches sports (or anything else) like people older did. By this, I mean the *way* they do it. Many current college kids wouldn't even know what to do with a TV. They've never had one or wanted one. Sportscenter? What's that. They watch highlights on TikTok. Sitting through a 3-hour game? Not gonna happen.

...I actually asked what is the Stadium WI-Fi password (or I guess if there even IS a stadium wi-fi) on the UAB Athletics FB page a few days back - a few nice folks on there tried to find out, to no avail... and today I received the response from the page admin that "Protective Stadium does not have a public wi-fi option. If you would like to express your frustration with this choice, please share via email directly to the BJCC." So it appears I'm not the first one who has inquired...

But yeah, I can more or less live without it during a game (cool to check scores during timeouts) - but kids, and a LOT of older folks, seem to need wi-fi cooking all the time... ...we have Verizon LTE, which for some reason doesn't work too well in stadium settings... but I am not much of a techgeek, so who knows...

It boggles the mind that a new stadium opening in the year 2021 doesn't have wi-fi.

I would be better with Speedy if he wasn't screaming as if he didn't have a microphone and needed to be heard in the upper deck. I know it's his job to hype us up, and volume can do that, but not when he is screaming for some reason. He could be worse, it could be Mickey Ferguson

I think they need more interactive bits during End of Qtr breaks. Audience participation type stuff.

(10-25-2021 10:55 AM)58-56 Wrote:  Blaze entering in a chariot. There is nothing as cool as that (I can't get my photos to upload).

The motorcycle - does anything scream "redneck" more loudly? - was awful. I hated it. But now it pulls a chariot with a dragon. A chariot with a dragon! NO ONE has a Dragon Chariot. It's ours and it's unique.

And speaking of screaming "redneck," the Birmingham song is gone. This was a good move.

The foghorn or whatever the hell it is just blends into the background. From where I sit, the interstate is always visible in the background. I must have heard the horn four or five times before I realized it was for third down and not some wind shift that made a horn off the highway audible.

So. The gameday experience has improved markedly since Opening Day. Now just feed Speedy to the dragon.

The stadium's not going to fill itself. The experience is going to have to be marketed as an experience. I've no idea how to do that, but it had to start with a better experience and now we see some of that.

And we have a Dragon Chariot. I never knew we needed one.

Same!! I HATED the motorcycle.... until they put that chariot behind it! Now its awesome! I do wish they showed scores from around the conference or top 25 throughout the game. And for my last wish.... a smaller scoreboard or ribbon on the west side of the stadium.

(10-10-2021 06:08 PM)hooverblazer Wrote:  

(10-10-2021 05:26 PM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  I miss the old U-A-B chant. I think a U-A-B-GO! chant in Protective with 3 sides taking a letter and the west side finishing with GO! could be pretty strong. Or just everybody chant all four parts.

Or one side saying "Green!" and the other side saying "Gold!"

Rip 'em up, tear 'em up, give 'em hell Blazers!

RIP

TEAR

HELL!!!!!

I actually loved that one. My least favorite was for awhile we would do D-D-D-D-D-Defense! where it literally was like a stutter. It was pretty silly.

(10-25-2021 01:39 PM)jaymay2525 Wrote:  I would be better with Speedy if he wasn't screaming as if he didn't have a microphone and needed to be heard in the upper deck. I know it's his job to hype us up, and volume can do that, but not when he is screaming for some reason. He could be worse, it could be Mickey Ferguson

I think they need more interactive bits during End of Qtr breaks. Audience participation type stuff.

Im fine with speedy cause he is doing his job which is attempt to hype the crowd; albeit a bit louder than he should at times. I feel bad for him because we have terrible football fans who don't cheer even on third down. Im tired of getting looked at funny because i cheer loud. Its like we cant be bothered to give our team a home field advantage. So many people act like its beneath them to cheer.

(10-25-2021 03:27 PM)UABOG85 Wrote:  

(10-25-2021 01:39 PM)jaymay2525 Wrote:  I would be better with Speedy if he wasn't screaming as if he didn't have a microphone and needed to be heard in the upper deck. I know it's his job to hype us up, and volume can do that, but not when he is screaming for some reason. He could be worse, it could be Mickey Ferguson

I think they need more interactive bits during End of Qtr breaks. Audience participation type stuff.

Im fine with speedy cause he is doing his job which is attempt to hype the crowd; albeit a bit louder than he should at times. I feel bad for him because we have terrible football fans who don't cheer even on third down. Im tired of getting looked at funny because i cheer loud. Its like we cant be bothered to give our team a home field advantage. So many people act like its beneath them to cheer.

I keep waiting on one of the coaches or players to call us out for not getting loud on defense and creating a true home advantage.

I would also love for the jumbotron and ribbon boards to say GET LOUD etc during defense and specifically 3rd downs.

(10-25-2021 08:25 AM)BlazinBham Wrote:  I didn’t like the DJ playing music during our last few drives, especially.

I agree. Our team needed to be able to easily hear what the coaches were saying and getting the plays relayed to the players by the QB with all that loud music down the stretch didnt help. I was hollering ( of course without effect) for the PA folks to STFU with that stuff.

I'd like ACDC's Hell's Bells blaring on third down. I just heard it dung the Braves game.

Some good ideas and positive responses from the admin. But why work so hard to avoid the obvious? A dragon roar on 3rd down. How was that not option 1,2, & 3 in brainstorming? “But dragons don’t exist” Just get a damn roar. If the other team has time to point out it’s not a real dragon, that’s a job well done.

Again, just get a damn roar and let the fans get used to it firing them up…because it will.

(10-29-2021 08:29 PM)BlazerDave Wrote:  I'd like ACDC's Hell's Bells blaring on third down. I just heard it dung the Braves game.

They play the "Bells" portion only in certain situations. I havent exactly figured out what the situations are...maybe when an opposing batter has 2 strikes? This would be cool for 3rd down.

On a side note, everytime I hear those bells I just picture Trevor Hoffman walking out of the "arm barn." ?

To keep it short and sweet:

Common sense would be to not have the DJ or band playing, ever, when your team has the ball.

Makes a home game, a road game for the home team. Go to a Minor game if you want an example.