Dr Wood better fix this - the game day atmosphere is dead. Between Argent pavilion and about 10-12 tailgating tents is a vast parking lot only 10% full. What used to be a fun event has turned into a ghost town.
|
|
|
|
|
Dr Wood better fix this - the game day atmosphere is dead. Between Argent pavilion and about 10-12 tailgating tents is a vast parking lot only 10% full. What used to be a fun event has turned into a ghost town.
Originally Posted by Bayou Dawg
This is another issue he had no idea he was about to face. He did know about the lack of student attendance and tailgating. I actually spoke to him about the tailgating issues back in late July. His words to me were, "I was unaware." The people working around him and for him never told him. The 8:00am rule is still in place and our leadership still does not understand or care that it has killed tailgating.
The Argent decision, IMO, is political. We are still running scared of the China virus.
This was an obvious result of Tech’s policies. Instead of encouraging student attendance and participation, our administrations demonized greek life and had cops in the student tailgate area working hard to write minor in possession tickets. Turns out most 18-22 year old college students wont come stand in the woods for hours before the game to drink sweet tea and sing hymns. I’m sure that is a shocking revelation to some of you.
They moved the opposing team in front of our student section and then put 5 rows of mostly empty seats in front of them. That helped kill the atmosphere.,
Tech could fix their problem in 4 steps.
1. Create a large, free, first come first served tailgating area where tailgating is encouraged for students and young alums.
2. Instruct police to maintain the peace and to pass out warnings unless someone gets truly out of hand. Even then encourage the person to go home before tickets or arrest. Cops handle it this way at almost all large tailgating schools.
3. Move the tech team back in front of our student section and then make the first 5 rows student section again. That will allow the team and the students to feed off of each other’s energy. It worked previously.
4. Stop scheduling games nobody cares about. I would rather go 4-8 with 12 fun games than 8-4 playing mediocre high schools. UMASS, and UNLV shouldnt be teams we look to schedule. Even scheduling one FCS team is a mistake if our goal is to grow the program. Student attendance is the way to grow a program long term. If students dont attend while it is free and they are on campus, then they certainly wont when they live 4 hours away and it costs money.
I know none of this will be done at tech. Our leaders do what they believe is will make the gray haired rich fanbase happy at the expense of the young fanbase. That is short sighted. But that is who we are.
No doubt our "tailgating" has declined...I would like to say though we have two spots right behind "dawgzilla"...if it's a 6:00 game we start setting up around 10:00-11:00..weve had zero issues..we are the NWLATAG tents...now, granted, a couple of us have "Blue" parking spots, so we just about can drive down to our tent area; however, a few Helpers", "workers" do not...they might have a "red" parking spot, maybe even white...but, personally, for our situation, we've had no issues..Jared Latta from LTAC got us set up...though basically he just took our "money"��....and, first game Dr Wood came by, introduced his "new guy too"...so, in a small defense of them, we've had fun and zero issues..
I WILL, HOWEVER, acknowledge that overall we've got issues--major issues...and, iT ALL COULD BE SO MUCH BETTER! OBVIOUSLY we are still suffering from the last few years of major mismanagement and horrible PR...will if be fixed? How long will it take? I wish I knew...this, coupled with a totally boring product on the field(well, mostly) has just about eliminated the "casual" fan, and only true diehards make the effort....NOT TO MENTIOn ALL THE BIG MONEY PEOPLE in the DAC that have tickets of course, but many do not attend..it's ridiculous..
We've got a VERY LONG ROAD back to any kind of excitement...tailgating and going to the game HAS GOT TO BE A HAPPPENING...and who knows if and when that will return..I continue to have faith and believe this WILL get fixed, but also need somebody "to show me"...we'll be there in full force again Saturday, and then, a month off, which in an of itself is enough to "kill" enthusiasm...and, btw, the "core" bunch of us that has taken this over...well...I think our average between us is like 60...don't have NEAR enough younger folks that want to pay the price...you either want to tailgate and go to the game, or you dont...we just dont have NEAR ENOUGH diehard fans, period..
I will say, and just like everybody else, it's my opinion---YOU PUT AN EXCITING PRODUCT AND CAN"T WAIT TO SEE THEM ON THE FIELD, they'll come back...going to a Tech FB game now is like way down the list of what many Rustonites and others care about doing on Saturdays...it truly is disheartening to witness...
Thanks for the positivity. You guys and your grass root efforts have always been a big plus to LaTech.
The high dollar parking passes and lack of admittance after 8:00am was the beginning of the end of many tailgating crews that began back in the early 80s. McClelland gave no warning at all, he sent the first notice out on a Friday afternoon prior to the first home game and refused to listen to reason from his underlings or long time fans. It still has an impact on fans without the needed parking passes and is an easy fix with practically NOBODY using the lots needed to provide access after 8:00am.
Outside the play on the field, the 'game day experience' is gone.
My family set up a tent on Tailgate Alley for every home game (incl. those in S'port) for 8 seasons. (Save for one game where we had a brand new baby, and Adam McG arranged for ChipDog to cover our spot). It was a considerable investment of time & treasure for a young couple with one, then two, then three small children. Many of yall watched my kids grow up on Tailgate Alley during those years.
We stopped for several reasons, chief of which were the administration's heavy-handed tailgate policies. It was clear that tailgating was intended to be an activity for corporate sponsors -- banks, hosptials, and car dealers -- not for small family groups like ours. We got the hint.
We miss it every fall. But also dont want to be in a place where we're not wanted.
Whoever doesn't think this year's team is an exciting product isn't paying attention. As for tailgating, do yall think that some of the decline might be due to the shuttle service? I mean, that's the reason we stopped getting multiple parking spots (we always just set up by our trucks-- old school). But that's a long day. And it's become much easier to eat downtown and catch the shuttle.
Have you considered those Dogs?
You are a prime example of what McClelland did to the Tech family that he never was a part of. He was a HORRIBLE hire.
I can't for the life of me figure out why students are playing cornhole in the ALUMNI pavilion prior to the game and senior citizens have to eat standing up for lack of tables.
I feel bad for all you out of towners who can’t enjoy a tailgate anymore. I’m sure it makes it rough to drive all the way here from Dallas or Little Rock to watch for 3 hours and huff it back. I honestly don’t participate anymore. We have activities most Saturdays and are doing well to make the games at all right now, so I don’t have a dog in that fight. I hate that our students can’t enjoy themselves even if I don’t and have never understood the drinking scene. Were we ever told whether the crackdown was a liability thing or just Ruston/Tech trying to be ticket happy? If people can have fun without causing problems, I don’t care.
Same here, my kids grew up tailgating in a fun family environment. That all has stopped. Part of our fall tradition is gone, basically replaced by empty asphalt.
Boxerdog---DON'T get all kind of pissy on me!! This year's team does seem to be more exciting--and certainly the play calling last game was much improved, though it remains to be seen if we keep that up! Austin Kendall is definitely capable! We'll see how this bunch handles some tough luck now! But, no doubt 2019 was a boring year, 2020 with the pandemic was a disaster(and our team wasn't good), and then this year has great promise! And, as you know, I PAY GREAT attention!�� But, SH's play calling has most definitely been' a handicap really for several years. Maybe some of the "eye in the sky" dudes up top are ACTUALLY convincing him to be more aggressive/innovative!
I dont know why, but I just feel like we are going to "snap out" of this and be ok!!��
Now, surely like this!!
It’s always seemed to me that the set up cut off shouldn’t be set up in stone but based on game time (ie no more tent setup 4 hours prior to kick off).
What used to be something to look forward to has just become, hey let's just het parked and walk in the stadium.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
