Student Fan Group
by 2013Terp on Feb 22, 2012 1:45 PM EST
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PrintAs you guys know, attendance has not been that great this year, expect for the big games (Duke and UNC). I don't like it and I am sure that other current students, fans, and alumni that are passionate do not like it either. Having said that, I think it is time for us students to create a fan group, so that we help with attendance, create chants, but most importantly--to make it extremely difficult for opposing teams to win at Comcast. I know that the season is about to be over, so this would be an idea that would not take place until next season. However, I do think that we can use this "off" time to come up with chants so that next season our student section becomes formidable. Please let me know if you are interested by e-mailing me at rrosales@terpmail.umd.edu. I think we can make this happen and I know that there's enough of us out there that can help Comcast be packed for ALL games, not just the Duke and UNC games.
Go Terps!
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I've seen a few of these on the boards
You guys really need to find each other and coordinate. Can’t remember who it was, but there was a couple of students on here saying that they were meeting with the AD about this stuff.
Love the idea, but don’t let the organization get bogged down in the morass of student committees and meetings. Just do it.
get in contact with Maryland Madmen...i know a couple of them and am sure they would be down to help
I'm in the MM..
Was one of the ones that started the group..
by Timothy Bowen on Feb 22, 2012 8:34 PM EST up reply actions
How about we all meet in person?
E-mail me so we can start a solid student group and spread the word.
Ideas from elsewhere
As a former student and current season ticketholder I totally agree. I was at the Duke MD game in Durham this year, and while the Crazies are really lame, their organization is somewhat impressive. Our student section is over twice the size of theirs, COULD YOU IMAGINE THE POTENTIAL! Also, why I chanted my share of F%C^ Duke’s in my day, it just doesn;t work, and ESPN does their best to dim the crowd noise when we play them on national TV. My suggestion, and something we should definitely do as a building, is make fun of Coach K. I for one believe cursing doesn;t help, but could you imagine 17,950 Terps Fans going "HEY COACH K (all grab our hair) NICE TOUPEE! NICE TOUPEE! NICE TOUPEE! thats just embarassing, and hilarious, and mean. We should get creative, maintain our intensity, and jsut flat out embarrass coaches. Greenbergs daughter ebign smoking hot should also be referred to at all Va Tech matchups.
by nyterp on Feb 22, 2012 2:05 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
UMD needs more tradition
I always felt like we lacked a really strong set of traditions that everyone could get behind at all the games. Rock&Roll Pt.2 has kind of become one, but I feel like we need more than that. I always liked the idea of spinning off of Gary’s signature fist-pump, especially now that we don’t get to see Gary do it as he comes out of the tunnel every game.
Either way, having a fan group run by students who can become a community and create their own traditions is a great idea. Make sure the fandom gets spread over all the sports though. After all, the hardcore WBB fans and, of course, The Crew, would have a lot to offer to a Terps fan group.
Crew member and dedicated MBB fan here
I’m all for reorganizing our efforts, it’s just tough to do it because the student section is so large. On a couple of occasions, some good things have started from our spot in the stands [i.e. Shut up, Jim last night] but it’s hard to have continued success.
by broadcastterp on Feb 22, 2012 2:17 PM EST up reply actions
Even generic cheers
don’t work a lot of times unless they’re started by groups. I think people just need a better team to be more excited about. When we do well, like at the end of last night, the student section is as awesome as ever.
im so sick and tired of people saying this
we are FINE there is NOT A PROBLEM. people didnt come out yesterday bc we got our clocks cleaned by UVA in the last game. Next year when shaq and len are dominating the paint, stogs is averaging 25, faust is starting, layman is knocking down 3s, it will fill up again. all this “fan group” and new chants and shit is so FORCED. This stuff comes naturally and as I have said over and over again, chants are so lame. Chants are for dookies. Maryland is known for intensity, aggressiveness and loudness, not weak ass chants like this is some soccer game. When the team is good, and that is very very soon, seats will fill up. heck, i feel like people forget that TWO YEARS AGO we won the regular season ACC, something way harder than winning the ACC tourny, and we sold out basically every ACC game
by terps3030 on Feb 22, 2012 2:24 PM EST reply actions 2 recs
Fundamental problem here
We are fine because people will start coming out again once we start winning again? Are you actually advocating for fair-weather-fandom? How can you honestly be against the hardcore fans trying to recruit others to be more dedicated to supporting their team? Our student-athletes deserve support regardless of how well they happen to be playing at any one point.
I’m not advocating a dookies-type chanting sheet getting passed around every game. I think that’s pretty lame and fundamentally antithetical to the spirit of Maryland fans. What I am advocating for are traditions of our own making in our own style. In other words, it doesn’t have to be a chant; that’s not the only type of tradition (and why the unnecessary soccer bashing?).
by PDXTerp on Feb 22, 2012 2:45 PM EST up reply actions 2 recs
what im saying
is that im sick of fan posts like this. the only people reading this site are already hardcore fans, people who are already going to the game. I know that I couldnt go last night because i had class from 7-9 at night, and i know i wasnt the only one. we dont have a fan problem, and as much as you say its wrong for people to only show up when we are good, you have to understand that is how all sports work, ESPECIALLY college sports.
this is an amazing school with so much going on, you need to make the product more interesting than the other stuff. For me, and probably all of us, sports are always interesting and always a priority but we have to realize that this is not the case for most people. most people only know our basketball team as “not good since vasquez left” and “stoglin is good but everyone else sucks, why should i spend 2 hours watching us lose?”
As recentely as two years ago there was a buzz around the team that brought people out. it brought out the non-hardcore fans and we didnt lose a single ACC game at home that year. once that buzz returns probably next year and for sure in two year, this whole situation will go away.
Im a huge Knicks fan but before last year, you could get MSG tix for 20 bucks easy because the product wasnt good. Knicks fans are some of the most diehard and loyal in the NBA but if the team isnt good, people are gonna do other things. No fan post or student organization will make people come, it has to be the product
Still doesn't sit right
I understand where you’re coming from, at least from this last post. And I understand and agree that people like teams that win. I get that. But just because something is a certain way doesn’t mean it should be a certain way. Just because Maryland has an amazing breadth of opportunities, access to two major cities and a prominent party scene (at least, it did when I was there) doesn’t mean I have to like the fact that people don’t show up and support our athletics teams unless they’re amazing. UMD is a great school; doesn’t mean it can’t also have great fan support.
The fundamental problem might be that our fanbase is too fractured. And because of that, people aren’t dragging each other to games because it’s not fun to sit around with a bunch of kids from campus that you’ve never seen before and watch your team struggle. What this post is really about, and what I really support, is making the game experience fun REGARDLESS of whether we win or not! And that comes from a tight community of fans and good tradition that we can all have fun with. That has to start somewhere.
If you’re sick of posts like this and think we’re ‘fine’, don’t read the posts! Otherwise, help the rest of us hardcore fans build something bigger and better so that Comcast becomes the rowdy, fun bowl of energy it used to be (and sometimes still is) for EVERY GAME!
we dont need a "tight group of fans" to make comcast rowdy or a fun bowl of energy
I promise im not trying to be rude or attack you but if you think we need to spice up game, then you arent really a basketball fan. I am a self-proclaimed basketball junkie, and since I was never good enough to play at any level (being a 5-9 white jewish kid will do that), I get my fix by watching and going to game. The less other shit is going on at that game, the better the experience. Ever been to a game at the palestra? That is about as bare bones as you get, and its an awesome game atmosphere. We dont need chants, and forced traditions, we never have. We just need bodies in the seats. No gimicks are gonna do that. Your kidding yourself if you think that new traditions and chants will bring people to a game that werent already going to go.
Might have to agree to disagree
I’m really not taking this personally, but I think you’ve got your opinion about how basketball games are and should be, and I’m not on the same wavelength at all.
College basketball needs no spicing up for me. I missed 3 home games in 4 years at Maryland. I still have all my paper tickets. I watch mid-major conference tournaments because I LOVE March madness! Dorky and obsessive? Maybe. But I am good at filling out a bracket. But everything I’m saying isn’t for MY benefit. It would be to get those on-the-fence fans to come out more often. And you might believe that’s naive, but my friends and I sat in the second row of 114 for three years and got plenty of fair-weather friends to join us because they knew we could get them close and they’d have fun. And it never mattered who we were playing. (Peer pressure works!)
We do need bodies in the seats, and that’s what I’m trying to promote. And gimmicks DO work; you can’t tell me students don’t come to some of the games for the free t-shirts and beer cozies. I’m not trying to ruin your bare-bones experience. I might have invited tons of people to games, but I largely ignored them once the clock started. I’m saying that if the people who go to every game could help make it fun for the people who could be convinced to go to every game, we could fill up the seats vs. Radford like we fill the seats for Duke. And that matters to the team (and potential recruits).
Problem
You say that “people didnt come out yesterday bc we got our clocks cleaned by UVA in the last game.” Then you say that only the hardcore fans came last night. Do you honestly think all these casual fans even barely knew we played UVA on Saturday, let alone imploded? I don’t buy that as the big reason. You can say the season on a whole, yes, but that didn’t stop more students from coming to the BC game last week, or the wall being nearly full versus VT.
There’s no reason the wall should’ve been half-filled last night. It’s an ACC game versus Miami. I’m tired of it being 10 minutes to tip and seeing empty seats around me on the FLOOR level, while the wall is barely occupied. 3 seats further down my row and 3 in the row in front of me were empty last night, and I was in the 5th row. That shouldn’t happen.
Any given day.
Are tickets still free for students?
If so, this alum finds it to be a complete embarrassment that such a large student body can’t fill out their section unless it’s Duke or Carolina.
Yeah, they still are
And the middling team certainly contributes a lot. Our student sections are always better than the other non-Duke/UNC ACC teams by a long shot. But weeknight games against average opponents have been rough this year and in other years when the team is average.
Even Duke couldn’t fill it’s student section at times this year. But I agree that it would be nice to see the wall filled every night of ACC play. Hopefully in a year or two, we’ll get that.
we need to stop pretending that Duke and UNC have elite crowds
UNC kids didnt show up when their team blew two years ago and when people do show up its a pretty lame crowd, also Dookies have had a MAJOR attendance and interest problem this year. Its swept under the rug bc our conference might as well call coach K its commissioner and ESPN take ever opportunity to bow at the cameron alter, but they cant get ppl to show up sometimes and they are a TOP FIVE TEAM
Puke has only averaged 700 students at Cameron (of 1200 student seats) this year.
Pitiful for a top 10 team. But K has spoiled the students and alum. It’s more like a UNC social gathering this year.
Bob Knight agreed that Maryland has the most Hostile crowd in college basketball. Bar None! Let’s do it for all games, and make Comcast the most feared place for any of our opponents to play. I know K has said he hates playing at Maryland the most of any game on his schedule.
by Snappin Terp on Feb 22, 2012 3:53 PM EST up reply actions
the slope was empty
I couldn’t believe my eyes. To go from sprinting for seats 2 hours b4 game time at Cole to this is tough to see. But I’m with the group that says winning will solve most of it.
"A new era has dawned in Maryland Athletics..."
by bball purist on Feb 22, 2012 3:56 PM EST up reply actions
as far as alumni complaining about students not showing up anymore
you have to understand that the times are different today than things were back then. Number 1, comcast is bigger than cole giving the impression that less people are there even though there are more. 2 basketball is now in competition with way more happening on a nightly basis. Technology has allowed us to see every game at home on tv while sitting at home using a laptop. Many students don’t feel the need to make their way to comcast when they can watch in the comfort of their own homes. These are not excuses, attendance needs to be better, but you cannot equate the times now to how things were back then
by formerlyknownasjinsookim on Feb 22, 2012 4:20 PM EST reply actions
I agree
the new technology has definitely had an impact, but it I think it is worth the try. I just love it when it gets loud and I feel like it might also help us with recruitment. I mean, I don’t know if they take recruits only to big games, but if they don’t then we look kinda bad. But that’s just my opinion.
You're right
Back in the ’50’s before TV, we had to go the games to see them. Just kiddin with ya.
I agree, there are a lot more things happening now than there were 20 years ago for students . However, I guarantee you and every other student will look back at your time as a student and regret that you didn’t get to more Comcast basketball games during Turge’s first year. This is just 3 years before he wins the second natty for UMD.
by Snappin Terp on Feb 22, 2012 5:17 PM EST up reply actions
I went to two games this season and left wondering...
..“where the hot women at? wtf happened to the fashion merchandising program? journalism?” Seriously, why do we never have hot co-eds sitting in strategically placed seats? Another KA failure.
But I like the cheerleaders new white unis.
I'll give KA full credit for the new cheerleader unis...
…vast improvement.
What?
As opposed to what, the girls who aren’t as “hot” but care and know more about this team then many of the guys there do? The girls that are in good seats are there because they WANT to be and make the effort to be, same as any guys. Why should people take seats that should go to loyal fans, male or female?
Any given day.
Fan groups can be cool, but there needs to be really good coordination
Look at the Zoo for Pittsburgh, the Show for SDSU, even the Rebellion for UNLV is half decent and got Flava Flav to a game. I’m not in favor of becoming Crazies or anything but the fans at Maryland are intense and feared and a smart and/or witty bunch helping to coordinate could be a good thing. As much as I love the “_ sucks” chants it’s really all we have in our arsenal and it’s become a little boring.
I agree
That’s why I think we should start now that way we are prepared for the fall. I don’t want us to be anything like the Crazies at all. Also, I think we can do better than the “__sucks,” and “Let’s go Maryland.” Coordination is going to be the key. I’ll be starting up a Facebook group later on today but I have yet to come up with a name. I’ve been thinking we should call it “Testudo’s Army.” But idk. Do you have any suggestions?
Well I had always liked the idea I had heard at South Carolina
They had a big problem with basketball attendance, mainly because their team is terrible, so they created the “Garnet Army” and they give out Garnet and Black camo shirts at the game. I mean if you get SGA approval for stuff you can get some serious funding and start buying shirts and stuff.
by Terrapin Insider on Feb 22, 2012 5:19 PM EST up reply actions
yeah
When I met the AD assistant about this, that person told me that if SGA approves it, they’d fund us. The only drawback to that is that they won’t like us using profanity or saying “__sucks” to anyone. So, I don’t know how to go about that.
Off-shoot Fan Group site on Testudo?
Just a shot-in-the-dark, but could Ben set up a side page on TestudoTimes for a fan group? A place where people could organize and a moderator could post messages for games?
I know the whole site is basically a big chat-board for fans, but if there was a side-page specifically dedicated to attending games, that might help organization.
I was thinking of setting up a facebook page
and invite every single Maryland person I know, have them spread the word, and every time there is a game, I will post the night before and the day of the game. I will also post the days when students can claim their ticket from the UMD ticket website.
A profile for Captain Testudo?
To help lead our loyal soldiers into battle? A good start.
Yeah, the Student Terrapin Club is a fail..
Any given day.
A Twitter account
under the same name might be a good way to get messages out.
by PDXTerp on Feb 22, 2012 6:09 PM EST via Android app up reply actions
I don't think there's any need to focus it here
Facebook and Twitter will be more effective and far-reaching. Best of all is doing discussion in-person, though, and then disseminating ideas/information through the other methods.
Truth be told I’d be fine with the funding/profanity trade off. It’s nice and all but it’s losing its luster.
Thanks Ben
I really think other students and I should meet in person as well. Thankfully I got a couple of e-mails already, so we’re going to make this happen. Thanks for your intake!
Fear the Turtle
Why is everyone afraid that a snapping turtle is going to jump out and bite them? I’m not suggesting that students start throwing turtles onto the basketball court every time an opponent is about to shoot a free throw, but I’ve got a couple suggestions.
We could hand out turtle hard hats and make all kinds of noise and gestures with them. Or, students could get those little clickers and click them in unison during critical parts of the game. Ever been in a swamp or near a lake at night and hear those critters, whatever they are, start clicking loudly? It’s creepy.
What are we making turtle soup with tonight? Oh, it’s Chief Wahoo!
by Snappin Terp on Feb 22, 2012 5:29 PM EST up reply actions
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